The Hartford Antique Arms Show, October 11-12, 2008 -- myArmoury.com

Jonathan Hopkins

I know it is still months away, but...

http://www.hartfordshow.com/

October 11-12, 2008

Saturday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Tickets $10.00

If you like the Baltimore Show, or wish you could have gone, this show is probably the next best thing. Many dealers do both shows (including the VAF favorite AntiqueWeaponStore.com Wink

), so the quality and diversity of items is there. As with many antique arms shows, firearms abound, but there is plenty there for edged weapon enthusiasts as well. As Bill Grandy mentioned in his article on the Baltimore Show, the show is not just about the antiques themselves, but books (and sometimes authors of said books). If you are in the Northeastern US you owe it to yourself to attend!

I hope to see you there!

Jonathan

Ken Speed · Posted: Tue 18 Mar, 2008 4:48 pm Post subject:

Gee guys,

What do you think? Could we get a few of the myArmoury inmates from the general area to get together and have a beverage with a foamy top and put some faces to some names?

A warning, I went to a trade show there once and I'd never been there before and NO ONE in the Hartford area had any idea where this place was or even that it existed so bring your own map or get good directions before you go.

Ken Speed

Nathan M Wuorio · Posted: Tue 25 Mar, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject:

I live in Maine so this is perfect for me. Only one problem, I have my permit, not my license. If anyone else is in Maine near Portland, could we perhaps carpool? One thing that I think I will enjoy about the arms show, is that it's focused on weapons and nothing else. That was one of the things that I didn't like about Ren faires, I saw too many strange people in strange costumes. No offense meant to anyone.

Allen Andrews · Posted: Wed 26 Mar, 2008 4:07 am Post subject:

Nathan M Wuorio · Posted: Wed 26 Mar, 2008 10:53 am Post subject:

Vikings are fine with me. But I would have to have my parent's permission first. [forgot to mention that].
Sounds great though.

Nathan M Wuorio · Posted: Wed 26 Mar, 2008 11:03 am Post subject:

As an afterthought, are there any groups of armour and sword enthusiasts that meet around Portland Maine? If there are I would very much like to join one. If some of you guys are involved with a group, it would be a good way to meet some like minded people. Because my parent's want me to get to know someone in person first before I go anywhere with them. [carpooling]

Ed Toton

Bill Grandy · myArmoury Team

Allen Andrews · Posted: Wed 26 Mar, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject:

Jonathan Hopkins · Posted: Tue 22 Jul, 2008 11:15 am Post subject:

Just a reminder that the Hartford show is less than 3 months away! Does anyone else plan to attend?

Jonathan

Jonathan Hopkins · Posted: Sat 11 Oct, 2008 5:09 am Post subject:

The show is upon us. I'll be leaving for Connecticut momentarily! I'll be at the show this afternoon and tomorrow morning. I'll be wearing a red rain parka (or carrying it around, depending on the temperature); I'm 5'11" and wear glasses. If you are there and you see me, please say hello!

Jonathan

Glen A Cleeton · Posted: Sun 12 Oct, 2008 9:15 am Post subject:

Yesterday saw me there with the aid of Todd Pelletier for getting there and then one of the volunteers for setting me up with a scooter. After a couple of hours, my meds and back had me taking a lot of breaks but someone we knew scooped an old fart cart for me.

There were not as many tables this year but it seemed more dealers I was familiar with from browsing their sites. I made it a point to talk to a few. I had taken one piece to sell of trade and was keeping it in a gun sock. Virtually every dealer wanted to know what was in there (a French spadroon) and by midway in the day, I had set up some possible trades. A forumite from SFI ended up buying it from me, as he had admired it greatly when I had first adopted it. . Although I am an eagle pommel fanatic and have really been concentrating on swords pre War of 1812, there are other sword patterns that have been on my list for some years. I ended up adopting one of my wants late in the day, a French mle 1854 dragoon sword. This is a fairly massive straight bladed cavalry sword, not quite four feet long and with a thirty-eight inch blade. Everyone was(is) cutting deals and I manged to bring the fellow down two hundred dollars from his tagged price. That brought it down to reasonable low street price and it followed me home. One of the southern dealers was right on me as soon as I had it in hand and I might have parlayed more but I had seen his table earlier and there wasn't really anything I really wanted. This is one sword I have been wanting for the past six years or so.

Another row of tables included a display and some sale items from U.S. Naval collector and author Peter Tuite. His table neighbor is someone I had chatted with for about half an hour last year regarding eagle pommels and I spent some time in trading notes and trying to get a less stratospheric price from him on an early contract Ames piece. there were aso some other great historically arranged display tables and if I was there today, I would be browsing those more.

This annual show is really a great opportunity for New Englanders. There are some other regular regional shows and sales events but this one is definitely worth the time. There may be a more organized effort next year in maybe getting a table or three. It seems something that would be not to difficult to split up cost for and as with most shows, it is the set up day (Friday) when most of the real deals go down. still you never know. Even if I had not sold my sword to a fellow forumite, I definitely had some interest from others for it and I think would have done ok in a trade with the right person.

Jonathan has mentioned taking some pictures today, so we should hopefully have some more notes forthcoming on this.
A great benefit for some of these shows would be getting at least one table for forumites to rally at but somehow we managed to connect with some yesterday.

Cheers

GC

Allen Andrews · Posted: Wed 15 Oct, 2008 4:33 am Post subject:

I was sorry I could not attend. Oh well, maybe next year Happy