What You'll Find In Allentown - From The Beatles to President Nixon

Twice A Year Allentown Hosts A Collectibles Show That Has A Bit Of Everything

It’s about a 95 mile drive from New York City to Allentown, PA. Leave by 7:00 a.m. and drive through the traffic free streets of New York, you can arrive in under two hours at Agricultural Hall. Because of Allentown’s location, visitors arrive in large numbers from the surrounding states. If you get there a few minutes before the doors open — you will then see this sight – lots of people waiting in line to begin an odyssey at the Allentown Paper Show.

For the over 100 dealers at the show, it is not just paper they are selling. Because whatever you collect, there is a good chance that at least one dealer, if not several will have what you are looking for.

Collectors know this and that is why they line up early to get in.

Before the doors were opened to the public at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday October 5, I checked in and saw dealers readying themselves for the rush. This is what the main postcard section looked like at 8:50 a.m.

Before the doors open and crowds file in – over a million postcards for sale and dealers get ready

Once the doors opened the crowd hurried in, going to favorite dealers or scouring each booth to quickly scoop up what they wanted.

Among the items you will find here are: postcards, stereoviews, movie posters, film memorabilia, vinyl LP’s, magazines, menus, advertising, sports memorabilia, autographs, photographs, important documents and surprises.

Here are just a few of the things that were available for purchase.

Hundreds of magazines. Life, Look, Holiday, Popular Mechanics, Rolling Stone, Time, Sports Illustrated, The Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker and many other titles past and present. A fair number of dealers had items related to the Beatles as this booth did.

No, make that thousands of magazines.

Halloween items. You’d be surprised how many people collect Halloween thing-a ma-gigs.

Framed prints by art legend Maxfield Parrish at the booth of Imagine Antiques and Appraisals. Owner William D’ Anjolell gave me a lesson on how to tell an original Parrish print from a reproduction print.

Books of every type on every subject, most out of print, hard to find and interesting to read.

Frosty! Man. Frosty! This was very cool I don’t know if this Dr. Pepper chair was for sale. I’ve never seen another one and I’ve been at hundreds of flea markets, shows and auctions.

Lost? Before Waze and google maps, this was the best way to find you way from point A to point B, was a road map. This vast and well organized display was at Jared’s Vintage Maps.

The name’s Bond, James Bond. And you could own a poster featuring the best Bond, Sean Connery.

Dog memorabilia.

How much is that doggie on the show floor? This dog definitely wasn’t for sale.

Once upon a time not everyone had a camera attached to their body via their phone. Before Apple’s iPhone came to fruition, you generally would not take three hundred pictures to get two good ones. You had to own an actual camera and buy film. And you didn’t know if you gt the picture right until the film was developed and returned to you. Selfies? Not with these. You needed a good eye to be a good photographer. Want to give it a shot the old fashioned way? These cameras were all for sale.