Collector Convention and Steampunk-modeshow, 11th of april 2015

I want one!

‘What’s that? I don’t know what it is, but I want that!’ That was pretty much what raced through my mind when I visited the Verzamelaarsbeurs, or Collectors Convention, at the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht were collectors brought vintage and antiques from all over the world. But you might be wondering, “why the hell would I travel to Utrecht and pay money to enter one of worlds biggest garage sales?” Here is why.

First of all, it’s huge! At least as big as the Chinay Militaria Convention I visited these past years. The items varied from household objects to art. There were even comics and similar stands that were reminiscent of Dutch Comicon earlier this year, also at the Jaarbeurs.
And than there were hall filled with musicstands which sold old LP’s and CD’s along with bandshirts and posters. 

All in all, there was plenty of stuff to go around. Even if you don’t have the intention to buy anything it’s worth going for the sights.
Many of the standholders are collectors themselves of the most peculiar objects. Clothes, maps, illustrations, telescopes and much, much more.

The first stand I ran into was a collector of vitreous enamel commercial plates and signs, Jimmy van Zeelst, who was so kind to give me a present. Thanks Jimmy. 

My gift from Jimmy, and other stuff
I brought home with me

Spiritus powered flatirons

I spoke to one representative of the Dutch Circle of Clothesirons

Collectors (Nederlandse Krings van Strijkbout verzamelaars) who explained the history of the Clothesiron to me which… Well I thought it was interesting!

However, not all stands sold old objects. One of the downsides of technological development is that, especially in media, old formats can’t be accessed anymore because the machines that could read them are old, broken or seized to exist. There already is a great demand for new versions of old gaming consoles, like the Nintendo Entertainment System or Sega Genesis (or Megadrive in the EU). There also turns out to be a shortage of record players for LP’s you can buy for a euro these days. Ricatech has supplied the solution. Ricatech is a young company that produces Vintage-style recordplayers and music stations. “There turned out to be a great demand for new record players because the old ones have become so sparse,” their representative told me. “… Now we are supplying costumers all over Europe and were planning to expand beyond it’s borders.” 

That, I think, is impressive. And they don’t just produce recordplayers. they have radio’s, cd-player and even Elvis Presley style Jukeboxes, that can be connect to any device with a usb-connection. That’s awesome.

While browsing stand after stand I wondered, why does one collect certain items. I mean, why clothesirons. 

‘Coincidence,’ the representative replied. ‘I inherited a old flatiron from my mother with the number 4 on it. One day I found a second one with the number 5. I got curious and that’s how I started my collection’.
Jimmy van Zeelst had a similar story. ‘My dad collected them, so I started collecting them as well.’ That makes me wonder, is this also true for Steampunk? Most designers I spoke with

What brought me to the convention was the Steampunk Fashion-show, but I don’t really have allot to say about it. It was the first time I actually took the time to actually look at a fashion show On of the Dutch designers was Pet van de Luijtgaarden who uses recycles material to fabricate he’s designs. Not bad, but it didn’t strike a cord with me. I actually like the costumes of known Steamers, like Ezekiel Barentszn and Cypher Delandrov who participated on the catwalk. But already knew those costumes and there is a big difference between fashion and character based costumes. And I liked the character ones, made by the models themselves, better. But I had already seen those on conventions. So there was also the question, did this belong on the Collectorsconvention in the first place. I don’t really see why not. Steampunk contains a lot of vintage and I felt right at home there. It also was a good way to expose a new audience to Steampunk, and I have nothing against reaching out to people. But as the show itself, I am not sure to whom it was targeted. There weren’t many cosplayers, like one lost jedi or something. And I don’t think this audience is likely to buy any of this stuff. So It kinda felt like an eccentricity.

However, the convention was great. I see how people could spend two day in the place and of you’re a collector of anything, I would suggest you take a look.

Links:

http://www.ricatechstore.com

www.strijkboutenverzamelaars.nl