Also shown were advertising calendars from the Ger-
lach-Barklow Calendar Co., a personal favorite of the
collector/dealers. Besides buying and selling, the couple
also were promoting the twice-per-year Chicagoland
Petroleum and Advertising Show they co-host. The next
show is slated for Oct. 17 at Peotone, Ill.
A 6-foot-long aluminum full dimension subma-
rine, that advertised a sub sandwich shop, was priced
at $6,500 by Paul Voska, Perrysburg, Oh. The show
regular also pointed with pride to a 2 by-3-foot framed
paper 1920s carinval poster ready to hang and en joy for
$2,800.
Some visitors got an extra treat from Elvis imperson-
ator Michael Clardie, Such-A-Night Productions, Ster-
ling, II I. The black hair side and sideburn Elvis look-a-
like would, on request, belt out a few lines from a roster
of over 768 songs the singer said he could perform. His
booth was filled with collectable soda pop and soda
fountain items and, of course, those commemorating
"The King."
Did the sagging economy bog down buying at the
Pheasant Run show? At a glance, sales appeared to be
brisk, and show vendors expressed the usual bag of good
to not-so-good results. But when all was said and done,
many expressed almost the same theme, word for word:
"It's been ok, it wasn't awful and it wasn't fabulous, it
was just okay."
Twelve year old Nicholas Kindness, son of dealer
Robert Kindness leans on a vintage coin operated
coke machine to rest while shopping the
Chicago/and Show.
Many visitors came to buy, like
Bill Howard of Akron, Ohio, who
purchased a 3 foot-tall restored early
standing 1900s black Palmer Cox
Brownie papier mache' man. The
oddball piece featured two hand-
wound clockwork mechanisms that
move the eyes and mouth. How-
ard said he was "thrilled to find the
piece, one of two known" at a price
of $10,000. "You find something
like this and it takes the gas out of
your tank," he said, gazing at the fig-
ure, complete with stovepipe formal
hat.
What some call "fine art" adver-
tising was featured at the booth of
Tim and Michelle Smith, whose
card reads, "illustration art collec-
tors." On display was an original
30-by 40 inch pastel painting of a girl
and horse, along with printed com-
mercial examples of the same piece.
early 1900s Palmer Cox Brownie purchased for
$10,000 at the Chicago/and Show.
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