Anandale VA meet: Mar 3, 2001

Annandale VA meet (Mar 3, 2001)

ALPCA Independent meet (Spring Thaw)
First Baptist Church, 7100 Columbia Pike, Annandale, VA.

For the record, this meet used to be in Cockeysville, MD. The original hosts decided to retire, so Bob Hughes, Jeff Potter and Don Pendleton of Virginia took over. Obviously it couldn't be called the Baltimore meet anymore, but it's still called the Spring Thaw meet. It was moved here in 2000, so this is the 2nd year at this location.

I went to the meet with my friend Boon, who is a student at American Unversity in Washington DC. As my place (Fairmont, WV) is a 4 hour drive away, I wisely drove up the night before and stayed at Boon's place. Boon wanted to make sure I knew where the meet was - I explained to him that I knew exactly where it was - in fact I used to live just a couple miles up the road, in Fairfax! We got up bright and early Saturday morning and grabbed a quick breakfast. I couldn't help notice that the meet's location was the same as my ALPCA number (7100).

Even though the meet was not scheduled to start until 8:00am, when we got there at 7:30am, already the doors were open and activity was brisk. These meets always keep my adrenalin up the whole time. There will be no time to pause for anything! So many people to meet and say Hi to in so little time. The sooner they start, the sooner they finish it seems.

The unfortunately thing is, I didn't have a lot to trade with me. When that is the case, always bring plenty of money. After buying 1953 & 1961 Inaugurals, a couple Japanese plates you see below, a couple DC Mayor Inaugurals, a VT '67 General assembly, a couple other DC plates I needed for my passenger run, and some '67 DAV keychain tags, it was time for another trip to the bank machine! Boon also managed to spend all his money too! I told him that it was my turn to buy lunch after the meet!

This first plate is probably a prototype: Look at the number (and it's also the wrong colors for '64!)
I have to wonder why that second plate sent unissued - with a number like that!

I couldn't help make a curious inspection of the attendance record before we left. About 50 collectors show up, most from VA and MD as expected. There were members from DC, PA, NY as well. Ironically I was the only one from WV, even though NY is a longer drive. I think either Jeff Lee of Ohio, or Andrew Apgar of CT came the fartest.

Activity on the Floor
Inagural Committee plates in Foreground. Andy Bernstein's Florida graphics in the next row.
Two great finds: Japanese plates from Mikawa & Sapporo (A motorcycle plate, and a US forces, Enlisted)	Trading activity
Andy's Table w/ Chuck Bedall	Fairmont H.S. tag in John Willard's Box. Unfortunately this wasn't Fairmont, WV.
Boon with an Arizona Lizards plate.	Trading DAV Keychain tags with Marty Mozille

Donation Auction
The conclusion of many plate meets is a donation auction. This one was no exception: the plates in the auction are usually the junk that no one wants to take home. But it always seems that someone is willing to take them home for a few dollars (that go to help support the meet). I got a little carried away in my bidding, as usual (perhaps I would have restrained myself if I had ridden my motorcycle to the meet!). There was ONE plate, as Tigerboy, I had to have: One Grr-eat plate for a Tiger Dude.

And that's not all ...

Two years ago, I had a lead for some DC plates, nothing too exciting. The couple was from Maryland, just outside of DC, across from the Antacostia river. I did visit back then, but decided not to buy their plates which were all from DC, and all with extra nail holes, probably because they were nailed up in someone's garage. However since I would be in the area, and with my new found interest in DC plates, I thought I would give them a call. They still had the plates, and told me they found about this meet over the Internet. What better place to meet and make a deal!

They came with the plates. We layed them all out. I made a fair offer, and after a bit of thought, they sold them to me. One reason why I could offer more than I normally would was a couple collectors who were interested in "this, this and such and such" if I completed the deal. Meaning my net cost wouldn't be as high. At any rate, I did get some nice DC plates to help me with my run, including this pair of '43 DC plates with '44 tabs:

Calvin's way of collecting plates - the screwdriver method!