military gun show

Military Gun Show - The 2020 Show of Exhibits was held at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville. More than 750 vendors filled 1,965 tables.

Presentation experience is a very personal thing. Ask 100 people who attended a show and you'll get 100 different answers. If one finds the particular item they were looking for, "It was a GREAT show." The person who went with the intention of getting deals but found none reports, "The show was slow and the prices were high." Realizing that a personal answer is a natural answer to the question, I will try to answer from my own experience the question that many of you have: "How was the presentation of shows?"

Military Gun Show

It was the Ohio Valley Military Society's 28th annual Show of Shows (SOS). I have attended the show since the days when it was held in St. Louis on King's Road. So, without going off on my own, let's agree that it's been a long time since I've been to SOS.

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The lobby leading to the entrance is full of pictures and an SOS explanation of "HER VICTORY, HIS MEMORIES" in an attempt to prevent any misinterpretation by the public or by the media as to why we are gathering for the event.

External factors have a lot to do with creating a good exhibition experience, such as location, ease of access and availability of hotels/restaurants. In this regard, the presentation of shows at the Louisville location scores well. Even if you wait until the week before to find a room, you can find one somewhere in the greater Louisville area.

Easy access couldn't be easier! The Kentucky Expo Center is located next to a major interstate and literally next to a major airport. Again, great hot spots!

But that's just logistics. No one asks about the show cares about that. Of course, they want to know, did they miss something big?

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Even on a bad day, the Show of Shows is fantastic. With over 750 vendors spread across 1,965 tables, if you couldn't find anything to buy, there was the problem.

With the show! I attended this year under very specific orders from my superior to "return with money and no extras." That said, I still spent over $1000 on items I found walking back and forth to the restrooms from my tables in J15-16! Can't find anything in the Mostra d'Espectacles? Well, you just weren't paying attention.

But what about my personal opinions? They are based on the very limited view I have from behind my desk for three days. With that, here they are:

* Quality material came out of the closet. More retailers dug deep into their stores to reveal loads of stuff that hasn't seen the light of day in a while. Of course, a lot of that stuff changed hands Thursday at noon, but there was a lot of new stuff. I think this trend will continue in the future.

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* Price drops across the table. I even wrote things that came out of the boxes from last year's show. Many sellers used the "any cash flow is good cash flow" strategy. They were dealing Very well for buyers, a little less for sellers.

* A good number of young buyers and sellers (ie "under 40"). Although most of the attendees had a lot of gray hair (if any) and bells larger than broadcast, I noticed and interacted with several younger collectors. Although it goes against the national trend of aging collectors, I will honestly say that this group was less than 10% of the entire SOS population. But still, 10% is better than 0!

* Less anxiety. Being a "magazine editor" I often feel like I'm sitting in Lucy's mental booth (from the Charles Schultz cartoon, "Peanuts." Older people will recognize this reference. This 10% of -a younger collector, maybe not). People like to stop at my table to vent: vent on dealers, vent on collectors, vent on parking, vent on magazine, vent on I know almost a h -everything. This year, I think I only had TWO guys stand and joke, and one of them is a good friend who seems to ALWAYS have problems with his subscription!

Although I left the show every evening very gloomy, it was the result of good conversations with collectors about their wishes and ideas for the hobby. I went back to my motel with a great attitude every night. This was a FIRST for me!

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* Logistics. The Ohio Valley Military Society (OVMS) is like my iPhone. It learns from the behavior of the users. This year's schedule which was set up on Wednesday went really well (compared to previous years). This was due to major changes in the work. All this led to more sellers being involved by Thursday morning. Congratulations to the OVMS for the change in this process.

Did I mention the table setting went well? Well, about 25 people still did, and another 55 floated off to the side for "other business" besides replacing tables!

Bill Combs at OVMS oversees all of the show's operations, from set-up to tear-down. He has a calm demeanor, so important in a very tight-knit room of collectors and dealers!

The entrance to the show is still bulky and a bit slow, but it was handled well with very few "anger incidents" of note. Both OVMS and people in line are getting used to the process and they all know, "You'll get into the show if you stand in and wait your turn." Maybe not like many, but if you have bell guests outside the door, it sets a bad tone for the show. That didn't happen this year.

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The ad has been reduced. These PA announcements are very detrimental to salesperson and customer interaction. The SOS did very well in keeping them relevant and to a minimum. There were several "Dealer X, please meet his party at the door" and hopefully people are learning that there are other ways to make personal contact without forcing it on the whole show.

* Resources. The SOS offers an exhibition booklet with a map, very nice and used by many. Food service was available. Long queues were reported, but I didn't see anyone falling over due to hunger. The corridors were wide enough to move around easily. Likewise, the area behind the tables was adequate for vendors to move around without bumping into each other too often.

* Additional incentives for attendance. As in recent years, several famous guests and former authors were available to meet the audience on the SOS. Strategically located at the back of the show, people had to walk through the aisles to get to these dignitaries. Smart move, SOS! My grocer dad would have been proud of you (“We put the burger in the back of the store because people pick up buns, ketchup and pickles on the way to the meat).

Special guests included Art Beltrone (Vietnam Tour Show), Medal of Honor winner Don Jenkins (center) and General Pershing reporter Dane Kaufmann (right).

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This year, the SOS has even tried to arrange short speeches for some special guests. This may not have gone as well as expected due to the lack of a dedicated conference area, but it is a move in the right direction to give audiences multiple reasons to come to the show.

At least three original M1858 caps and fodder variants on display in my short visits alone.

SOS is not a gun show, but good military firearms (mostly pre-1945) can be found there.

My table neighbor, Steve Ackley. What a pleasure to share a place with such a friendly and knowledgeable man. He is a big coin dealer so he was salivating over some of the British campaign coins he had.

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Another favorite coin dealer of mine is Jeff Floyd. You won't find a better one on the show. And what he knows about coins would fill books. He is a quality trader and a quality person.

Lots of WW1 available at the show. I looked at three Tank Corps groups for my own collection. That's a high number for any show!

I love military miniatures. When I win the lottery, I'm going to fill a room with these!

There were a lot of machine guns out of stock at the sale. I know an MG08 with a sled that found a new home, and the new owner was very happy!

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So, to answer your question, "How was the show of shows?" On a personal note, I bought things for my collection, my feet stopped hurting by Tuesday after the show, and I went home with some money for my "high control" staff. So, a very good show for me. I would expect about 10,000 others to share this opinion.

We buy, sell and trade military war memorabilia from every country and every era. It is an honor and a privilege to carry the history of past and present wars