Brad I contacted Conte and asked for clarification on the alleged no-show at the Valley Vorge show and he explained as follows.
Dear Joe The post you forwarded reguarding our alleged 'no-show' at Valley Forge is quite surprising & drastically diffferent from the facts and merits a response as once again collectors are being given misinformation. We very much wanted to do this show and were planning on atteding. We had booked hotel rooms, reserved a large trailer, had stock already segregated & being pulled together to take to the show, had employees scheduled to work that weekend and even had recuited 2 collectors from the area who were going to come in and help work the tables due to the usual large collector crowds we draw. I even had made reservations to fly one of my scupltors in from the West coast to do sculpting demonstrations for collectors.
We tried -UNSUCCESSFULLY- for over 4 months via emails, phone calls and letters to reserve 6 or 8 tables (had planned on about 50' length of dispaly and goods) but stangely received nothing but silence. Finally, we attracted the attention of a very kind gentleman named Mr. Levy who apologized profusely for the lack of response from his fellow show committtee members (one described as being in Europe/another described as generlly not responsive/etc.) and he promised to do what he could for us about 3 weeks before the show. The problem as we were told was that the club committee was renting a much smaller portion of the ballroom/convention room than they had the prior year (about 70% of their prior space)and that they simply did not have enough room for all of the dealers who wanted to attend-Conteco included. We suggested that the convention center would certainly not stupidly turn away $$$ and offered to take even more tables/spaceif we had to in order to make things happen. We were told that based upon our interest & that of other dealers, that the committee would discuss the possibility of renting more space at their next meeting and if the committee approved then the hotel would be approached about the extra space. We were told that it was very likely the committee would rent the additional space.
About 2 weeks prior to the show we began hearing from dealers and collectors that the promoter/committee was amazingly tellin folks we would be at the showand apparently were using our attendance as a drw or inducement to lure collectors in attending. The funny thing about this was that folks were being told we would be there before we were even offered tables at the show!! So, while we were on hold and told nothing, collectors were being encouraged to atted as we would be there....a stange set of circumstances.
Sadly, when we finall heard form "the Committee", we were amazingly told that they had decided not to rent more space from the convention center (so available space sat empty during the show unrented) but we could have six tables in the lobby of the convention center-OUTSIDE- of the show. We were told that the tables we were being offered were not guarded by security and not locked up and that any theft or damage would be at our risk. Worse stil, we were told that our treasures would be out in the public area of the convention center next to the exit doors and escalators and that anyone walking in would be able to access our items. Since we were takin $25,000 worth of product and rare on of a kind orginal sculpts as well as scores of painting masters, one might imagine my worries with regard to theft or pilferage. As I couldn't (a) provide my own security, (b) have an employee sleep by the table and (c) could not lock up or secure our goods in any way I rejected the tables and implored the promoters to do better. I never received any future response.
I've written and respectfullu requested tables at the 2011 show but true to form have not received the courtest of any response. I remain hopeful that given a year's notice that the committee will make room for us next year. I hope these fact explain our alleged 'no show' at Valley Forge.
Kind regards,
RC
