8th Annual Marx Toy & Train Collectors National
Convention
and
JohnnyCon 2006 West Virginia
On June 15th-17th, several members of the NoVA Joe Club (Scott, Curtis, and
Brian) attended the 8th Annual Marx Toy & Train Collectors
National Convention at the Kruger
Street Toy and Train Museum. The curators, Allan Miller and Allan
Miller (father and son) where incredible hosts - and you could tell they
were dedicated and cared a great deal about the museum!
In addition, the Circle X Ranch (Noah
and Terri Coop) hosted the West Virginia 2006 JohnnyCon.
Along with the incredible displays at the toy museum (some of which
appear below) and the fantastic Marx Toys sale and convention, there was
a custom figure contest Scott Stewart of
Stewart's Attic (and our very own
NOVA Joe club!) co-sponsored along with the Circle X Ranch..
In addition, Friday night we had the chance to attend a Turner
Museum and Toy Show Marx figure and playset sale hosted by Francis Turner.
We got some truly incredible items . For example, Brian got a complete
Stony Smith soldier in box - a toy he had as a child - in great shape and
a great Sam Cobra to build a custom James West, Scott and Curtis picked up
some Johnny West store display figures and horse, and a whole lot more!
What can we say - that toy museum was incredible. Certainly something
for everyone! From old tin toys to modern toys, old trains to modern
trains, old dolls to new dolls, this museum was a joy.
This is the museum from the front. There are two floors of exhibits.
The Toy Show/JohnnyCon was held on the display floors as
well as the basement. |
The Toy Displays
Note that these photos are of just a fraction of the displays in the museum.
 |
|
One of the Marx Safari sets. These were the smaller
figures. |
The jet is cool ... but is not really Joe Scale - but it IS
cool! |
|
A lot of the Hasbro and 21st Century Toys vehicles. |
They actually do a lot of stuff with their displays that look
nice with a my Joe display - they add in 1:1 scale items,
like the German Helmet seen above the US Army truck. |
|
Ok .... one of the playsets Brian had as a kid. |
Now - who WOULDN'T want that playset? |
|
Johnny Apollo with his three boxes: "Johnny Apollo",
"Kennedy Space Center Astronaut", and
"Johnson Space Center Astronaut".
Jane Apollo (in blue) is in front. |
Matchbox!!!!!! On the bottom may be TootsieToy - not really
sure. |
The Train Displays
The Caboose
The B&O Railroad left this in the City of Wheeling for the
City to have and display. The City left it down by the
waterfront where it deteriorated. The City auctioned it off with
the stipulation that the winner had to be in Wheeling.
The Toy Museum beat a $10,000 bid with - a $1.00 bid. |
Curtis reads the itinerary. |
|
Yes, the stove really does work! |
Walking around the convention all day is tiring. These beds
sure looked nice by the end of the second day! |
|
Time to put the brakes on and get back to the show! |
Convention
One of the vendors. This vendor had some incredible stuff -
Dragon figures, Gearbox Helmets, Airfix soldiers, giant
1/32 castles, and an incredible amount more! |
|
Lots of different toys - tin toys, cast iron toys, toys from the
20's to modern toys - Ideal, Hasbro, Marx - you get the idea! |
The Coops. Terri (with her back to the camera) talking to Scott
Stewart. Noah Coop is in front of her. The Coops - owners of
the Circle X Ranch - sponsored
the JohnnyCon portion of the
event and were two of the nicest folks you would want to meet! |
|
Tom Heaton - Author of
"The Encyclopedia
of Marx Action Figures"
and the associated
"Module 1: The Johnny
West Adventure Series".
You can get the book and its module direct from Tom at his
Vintage Toy Room website.
Tom was great to talk to and a real great person to spend time
with - we hope to see him again at next year's show! |
Scott Stewart's incredible saloon wall display. |
|
Scott Stewart of Stewarts
Attic. One of the members of the
NoVA Joe club, Scott has been a wealth of knowledge about
an area of action figures most of us are less familiar with.
Scott was also the co-sponsor of the
Custom Figure and Display Contest |
Roy Allen (aka Buddy) and Jeffery Reese with some incredible
cutom figures of themselves. |
|
Jefferey's custom figure and horse. |
Roy's custom figure. |
|
This vendor had some truly incredible saddles and tack.
Each one is a work of art by itself. |
This had to be one of the coolest (ok - THE coolest) Johnny West items
at the
show. Up close - this is truly a work of art. |
"FOUR!!!!!!" |
|
Terri Coop's custom figure (and box!) for the Roland
character from the Stephen King "The Dark Tower"
series of books. |
This side of the room was the Marx toy and action figure side.
There were boxed figures and two large tables of loose figures and items.
In addition, LOTS of different Marx toys (farm toys, tin toys, cap guns)
were available. |
This side of the room was the playset side. Some of these sets
were priced over $2000!!!! Wow - guess we should have kept them
in the attic when we were done with them! |
The stage (you can see it at the back of the room in the playset picture
above)
held a bunch of these "PL Boards". According to Scott, people aren't really
sure what "PL" stands for - perhaps "Parts List". These boards were on
display in the Marx factory in Wheeling for the employees to use as a
reference
for what parts went with what set. This board was priced at $875.00
and is
for the Stony Smith Army action figure. |
