Shelby's Collectible Toy Show

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Shelby's Collectible Toy Show in Portland this weekend. The toy show runs in conjuction with the Rose City Collectors Market Show. Saturday is the toys and then Sunday is the antiques. I have been collecting odds and ends with toys for a couple of years now but have just recently became serious about it. This seemed like a great chance to add to my now growing collection of toys and perhaps find some of the more rare toys that are unfortunately only available on Ebay. Since we live about 90 minutes south of Portland we decided to be there at 10:00am. General admission is at 10:00am for $4.00 but you can come early at 8:00am for $10. You can also bring a can of food and get a dollar off of admission. The show was located at the Airport Holiday Inn Columbia Conference Center. The venue was big and there were around 200 tables for all of the sellers.

There were many different kinds of sellers which made the show great. If you were a fan of Hot Wheels then you would be at home. I was surprised how many Hot Wheels sellers and then collectors that were buying. I was able to pick up a Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and a Delorean Back to the Future Hot Wheel car. Both cars I have only seen online and they sold for 2 or 3 times as much as what I paid. There was everything from classic children's books to old toy cars from the 1950's to movie models and Pokemon cards. Being a collector of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I was able to purchase 30 figurines plus a giant bag of accessories for $45.00. This was a killer deal. The local toy shop that I purchased other TMNT toys at sold them from $3.00 - $6.00 per figurine with no or little accessories.

I have also been collecting vintage lunch boxes. I had the original 1978 Star Wars lunch box and thermos but have always been looking for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi boxes to go with my collection. The hard part is finding them because they are nearing 30+ years old and then to find them not dented to pieces and full of rust is another story. On top of that good luck finding the thermos to go with the box. I have seen some at antique stores that sell around $45.00 - $60.00. I purchased both boxes in almost perfect shape with both thermoses for $25.00 a piece. I also found some rare vintage Real Ghostbusters toys and picked up a Ghost Zapper toy. Our older daughters were jealous when we told them about all of the cool stuff there. They are both big fans of Pokemon. My wife was able to purchase some rare Pokemon items for them as well.

Not knowing what to expect I didn't come with a ton of money. I think I will save my money for the next few months and be really prepared to buy some more cool collectibles and stick around for the Collectors Market Show also. I recommend this show for anyone that has an interest in toys or memoribilia from yesteryear. The vendors were great and the selection of many things to purchase was great also. Thanks for the great day Shelby!