Maida Vale Monster Vintage Markets—Nov 2023
I went along to the Maida Vale Vintage Markets today; the 5th of November 2023. Luckily the temperature was under 30˚C because I have a policy of not attending events if the temperature is over that. Anyway, just thought I would share a few thoughts.
I think these markets are an annual event at the Maida Vale reserve.
I overheard a discussion at the front gate as I was going in and paying my $3 entry fee that there were over 130 sellers this year. And I can confirm that I did a lot of walking up and down rows of sellers so I would suggest that 130 might even be on the low side.
There were also about ten food and drink vans and the hot dog I had was awesome. Even though, as a type 2 diabetic, I should not be having all that bread and I doubt the ‘dog’ actually provided much nutrition. But it tasted awesome with a bit of mustard and tomato sauce.
One of the things I watch out for when I go to such markets, and I think the last time I went to one was at least four years ago, is old genuine baked enameled advertising signs. Back when my dad had a general store in Morawa (P. H. Lodge & Sons) we had a number of these enameled signs just lying around the place. Little did we know they were going to be worth good money in the future. In fact my dad used a few of them to fix up holes in the wooden veranda around our house in Morawa. I can clearly remember the Fanta one just outside his sleep-out and the Aspro one in front of the steps at the front of the house.
I did find one seller with metal signs but they were ‘modern’. They were copies of the real thing. These signs were likely made in China and were not the real McCoy.
As it turned out none of the 130+ sellers had any genuine enameled signs from the early- to mid-1900s.
A number of sellers were selling used DVDs and CDs. Basically DVDs were $1 and CDs were 50c. Or, in the case of CDs, at one of the sellers you could get 12 for $5. But I did not see anybody actually buying any DVDs or CDs during my two slow walks around all the bays.
I did come across some old engine oil bottles and for about a minute I was tempted to buy one or two of those. But I resisted.
Back in the days of my dad’s shop in Morawa one of my weekend jobs as a young kid was to refill all the oil bottles. I cannot remember the grades now but we had three large square tall Mobil Oil tanks of oil at the back of the shop with hand pumps on them. Each of the three tanks contained a different grade of oil. The bottles would be refilled from these tanks and then put back in the stand at the front of the shop.
There was one bay there selling old hi-fi equipment, all of which worked—apparently. I have to say it was kind of sad to see that really hi-end hi-fi equipment, such as Sansui and Yamaha, that back in it its day would have cost $1,000 per item (or more) but was now trying to be sold for $50 to $100 a unit. Not that I saw anyone buy any of it.
Ambling around half aware of where I was going, as I was, I almost literally bumped into a couple who had a trolley of stuff they had bought. I commented on their trolley with something like, “I see you’ve had a good day,” as they had a good number of items in their trolley. But I was then told that they go to these bigger markets in the metro area and buy up suitable stuff at the ‘right’ price and then sell that stuff at regional and country markets with something like a 50 or 100 percent increase in price.
I also spied two very old metal trunks. They were quite battered but I considered buying one of them for $50. But then thought about carrying it back to my car and decided not to. Anyway, I am trying to get rid of stuff out of my house and not pick up more stuff.
