2007 Huntsville, Ala. ALPCA Convention, Part 2

Day 2 of the convention (day 4 overall) continued the string of fruitful finds in others' trade boxes...although the day began in a bad mood, upon discovering that the number of rinky-dink plates missing from my own trade box was disproportionately larger than the number of plates I actually remembered having sold or traded away. Nevertheless, I worked my way around most of the rest of the convention hall, picking up numerous U.S. and Canada birthyear-run plates and a handful of reasonably-priced West Virginia maps as well. One of the stranger guys I dealed with had a habit of checking the Crisler price guide for everything he had for sale...even a $1 '80s Idaho.

The pace was a bit less frantic than it had been the day before, and I visited the convenient concessions stand (where I received a compliment on the Firefox shirt I happened to be wearing) and had a nice long chat with David Nicholson (15Q.net) about baseplate variations, Subaru mechanics, and other topics that sprang to mind.

(Click for a larger image)

Craig Hardesty (no relation to David Hardesty of my alma mater) arrived from Florida with an outstanding West Virginia type display. He's a down-to-earth guy; a pleasure to talk to, and was even courteous enough to give me a few plates as gifts.

Michigan type-set and Montana county-run displays, both of which incidentally are from 1976.

After the hall closed for the day, Craig, Joe, I, and a few others ate out at a Greek restaurant downtown (which, fortunately, was open at the time of day we went there). The waitress seemed impressed by my pronunciation of the ethnic name of my order, mentioning that "she usually just called it spaghetti with meat sauce." The meal was good, and compared to the previous days the weather wasn't that bad either: It was a tad cooler and rainier than it had been before, although it was still pretty darn hot.

Day Three

Day 3 began with a few surprises: The hotel inexplicably discontinued the continental breakfast service on the fourth floor. My finds on the convention floor were starting to wind down, although I still found a West Virginia camping-trailer plate with a blue-bordered map and a North Carolina plate I haggled down from 3 dollars to 1. I spent most of my time chatting with other collectors such as David Nicholson, Andrew Pang, and Andrew Apgar about license plate minutae.

A colorful display of Mexican license plates. Each state nowadays issues its own distinct design.

For dinner, I resolved to go out on my own...only to find that, in tune with the unpredictable nature of Huntsville dining, the first two restaurants I had in mind were open for lunch only. Oops. Since I was pressed for time, I simply turned around and ate at the hotel.

The donation auction in progress.

The donation auction was held in the evening. The state of Montana had been generous enough to donate samples of most every optional graphic for the occasion, and a few other items such as license plate-themed vests and quilts added variety to the auction. On several occasions, carts of hundreds of license plates apiece were wheeled onto the auction block...and to my surprise, Joe Sallmen bid and won several of them. I had incidentally warned him about carts full of plates beforehand, but he was evidently motivated by a fundamental desire to weed the hobby of chaff, ready to sort out the plates by rarity and condition; sending the worst to the scrap dealer and garbage compactor without reservation.

Although I resolved not to put myself in the same shoes, I did inadvertently end up winning a $20 lot by getting the ball rolling, which contained exactly one plate I really wanted and close to twenty I didn't. If nothing else, my mysterious trade box losses during the convention were offset (albeit mostly by Florida and Kansas crap) on this occasion. Altogether the donation auction raised $14,800 for the club, falling short of the Providence convention's record by "only" three or four thousand dollars.

Day Four

Left: Rich Dragon enters the Hall of Fame. Right: Scott Broady's 1961 motorcycle plate run was definitely one of the more-interesting around. (Click for larger image)

The annual meeting and display awards began with yawns, pastries, and juice, and came and went without too much fanfare. Rich Dragon of "Registered in R.I." and D.C. Plates fame accepted his induction into the ALPCA Hall of Fame...surely deserved, considering his steadfast devotion to researching and supporting both the hobby and the club. Other new Hall of Fame inductees were Jeff Minard and the late G.B. Moore (whose collection was actually depicted on an old jigsaw puzzle I have). It was announced that after next year's convention in Salt Lake City, the event is scheduled to move to Pennsylvania in 2009. Not too much negativity surfaced during the meeting, although the issue of marking and/or condoning fake plates was brought up and debated.

"Hey! They're cheap!"

When the hall opened, I surveyed the aftermath of Joe Sallmen's donation auction purchases. He had sorted out the plates the night before, segregating the well-worn, common junk from potential traders, and actually using the Von Braun Center's trash compactor for doing away with the worst of the worst. Nevertheless he still had probably several hundred plates on hand (still on the original cart), and he arranged a fire sale. As the day went on he had sold off all but a sliver of what he once had, and then someone volunteered to pay him for the rest of the carted plates he had on hand. All's well that ends well, although I definitely wouldn't want to put myself in the same situation.

This expansive Ohio run won a first-prize award. Impressive, although some of the later years were fudged slightly with non-naturals, missing month stickers, and the like. What can I say? I notice these things.

The last day of the convention was a bit of a depressing one, with most collectors boxing up their trading stock, taking down their displays, packing up, and going home. Soon I found myself in the same boat: After a late start once all was packed and done, I checked out of the hotel and "carpooled" home together with Joe. Bound and determined to make it back to West Virginia in spite of our late departure, I did the majority of the driving, making it into the Mountain State in the very early morning hours.

Wow! What a way to spend a week. My "birthyear run" effectively doubled, and the conversations I had with other collectors (near and far) were highly enjoyable. I had a great time in Huntsville during my first ALPCA national convention, and look forward to next time (which will probably be in 2009, unless I move out west in the next year).

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four