Miami Toy Show

Our trip down to the 2017 Miami toy show was quite an adventure and great opportunity to network.  Steve Fuller organized the annual event right in the heart of the north’s big winter; perfect for planning a southern vacation.

This year we went from the west coast of Florida down I-75 and made it to the Ramada Inn and official Miami toy show.  This year there was an emphasis on 007 merchandise.

   

Well to start the trip off, we were suffering from a very cold (for Florida) 40-50 degree Fahrenheit cold front with quite a bit of rain.  Not that that these are really lower temperatures, but you need to realize that Miami is tropical, and the front extended from Tampa another 240 miles or so to our destination.  It was the coldest temperature in Miami all year.

At my estimate there were about 20-25 vendors in the banquet room of the Hotel.  The Hileah area of Miami is actually right by the airport, but a good distance west and north of Miami proper.  Don’t get visions of south beach, get visions of the airport distant suburbs.  It was superb for travel and arrivals, but suburbia.

 

My spot was in the far corner and next to Scott T. Smiles of Mechanical Toys.  Scott had more whimsical toys, more windups, and more small tin toys from the 50’s and 60’s than any display I’ve ever seen.  He has been a contributor to O’Brien’s Toy guides and knew his stuff.  Scott and I made connections for future trades and business.

I also had a chance to meet John Reece of Titusville and see his Antique Guns and cast iron.  John’s gun display was exquisite.

Other dealers included Gerrie Brand, a big Hot Wheels collector, the founder of Toys Around The Clock in St. Petersburg, Larry and Karilyn Brown of Indiana, and other great people that I’ll continue to network with.  The dealers were gentleman and ladies and really knew their area of collecting.

As the event started, the crowd came in a bit slow, it was early for Sunday happenings, and then steadily built.  I enjoyed meeting a group of German collectors, a local “Villa” gallery owner, and some hard bargaining Turkish collectors.  Rhumba and Yosi understandably had a tight budget as they were working on the www.RMK-Museum.org.tr site and collection.  They picked up my Distler penny toy bus as well as a great ocean liner pop boat.

Overall the show was good, but I’d love to get more traffic out of it; likely a result of terrible weather.  We had very good people to visit and do business with, but I’m looking forward to more volume next time.  That said, the networking was incredible and the dealers made it a pre-show within a show.

Have a great week ahead & pencil in the Miami Show for next year!

 

P.S. Other friends and vendors, please feel free to send in more photos.  I was confined at my table for a while, so pardon the sparseness of photos.

Happy Toy Hunting!

Ed