A lot things were old and collectable and many were guns, but there was a lot more than that at the Antique and Gun Show at the Prince Albert Wildlife Federation this weekend.
With a room full of vendors and no shortage of lookers and buyers, organizers were pleased with the turnout Saturday morning.
Cathy Applegren is one of two organizers for the event and said no one was sure what attendance would be like with new rules regarding COVID-19 vaccines or proof of a negative test.
“So far the crowd is better than expected,” said Applegren. “Everybody has to have double-vaccine and show proof of vaccination so we weren’t show how it would go.”
The antique shows have been going on for a while, but this year they decided to shake it up and add some interest geared at getting gun lovers more involved.
“We’ve done antique shows for about seven years but this year we thought we would add some guns to it because the antique collectors and the gun collectors go together,” Applegren said. “It’s a good mix and we’ve got a good mix of guns and antiques.”
One highlight at the show is for children; a 1959 Thistle, Canadian-made, chain-driven pedal car in original condition.
“They just don’t survive like that,” said Applegren of the Thistle and finding a Canadian-built car is also hard to do. “We look all over and we happened to see an ad and we went and looked and we actually ran home about a dozen. But the Thistle is an exceptional piece. It’s Canadian made, it’s chain driven and it’s original.”
She also had a Murray Flat Face pedal car from but it had been restored, reducing its value by about $200. The Thistle had a price tag of $850 and the Murray was $650 because of the restoration.
Robin Gyobrick, of Prince Albert, had a display table full of unique items, but unusual is not unusual in such an event as almost all vendors are collectors.
“BB Guns, tin toys, cars trucks, video games. You name it, it’s on the table,” she said. “It’s all toys, probably from the 50s and 60s. We’ve travelled to the States and picked them up there. That’s probably the main place we get our things there.”
Auction sales and other shows are also a good place to find things, such as a brass, turtle shaped spittoon from the 1800s.
The person with the tobacco juice to spit can step on the turtles head and the back opens to collect the spit.
“They spit their leftovers in there. Very nasty,” Gyobrick said of the spittoon.
Pretty much everything is for sale.
“For us this is the first show we’ve done since COVID, and we’ve sold a few things so far so not too bad,” she said of the response, but that was early Saturday morning and there was still the rest of Oct. 9 and all of Oct. 10 to go.
“We weren’t really sure what would happen. People were phoning and asking what the restrictions were before we opened the door.”
Greg Illerbrun of Swift Current, collects and sells older guns “Because I watched westerns when I was a kid,” he said. “John Wayne is still the best as far as I’m concerned.”
“Mostly I’ve got older actions and mostly lever actions and mostly Winchesters. Most go back to the late 1800s or 1900s,” Illerbrun said. “We find them at gun shows, the States and auction sales.”
He also has some Remington single shots and Sharps but one of his favourites is a single shot Winchester model year 1885 but made around 1905.
Illerbrun has a good reason for becoming a vendor over just an enthusiast.
“You need to be on the inside to get the first shot at the good stuff,” he said, “and then you’ve got to figure out how to pay your way.”
A lot of time is spent wheeling and dealing with other people just like him and there is a circuit that vendors travel in normal years.
This year again, many have been cancelled because organizers don’t want to deal with unruly patrons having to meet the vaccine or negative test requirements.
