Cologne meeting II - The Parking Lot

(continues from Part I - Breker Wonderland)
After the brief detour to Breker's, we continued to the relatively close-by parking lot (it's about 10 minutes drive, but walking, yet again, would be impossible - collecting is car business). A parking lot? Yes, THE parking lot. It might sound strange but the parking lot of the Decksteiner Tennisclub is the main meeting point and attraction of the bi-yearly collectors' meeting under the auspices of the German collectors' club IFHB. These meetings take place in Spring, and in late Autumn, so: warm, cold, warm, cold. This time it was the "cold" meeting, and we would notice after a few hours, with the cold creeping in from underneath our feet. So the concept of the gathering is to spend four hours on a parking lot? YES INDEED! And it's a great meeting! Cologne is ideally placed for collectors living in Germany, nearby Netherlands, Belgium, but also France. It is a densely populated area, and for many German collectors it's within a couple of hours drive. Which makes for a nice day trip. Others, e.g. coming from Basel in Switzerland, certainly have to spend the night in order to be on the parking lot on time. The second paradox is that the Breker auction and the parking lot event take place at the same time! So unless you split yourself in two, you will have to choose the one over the other. This makes it an ideal place for typewriter collectors couples, where the husband would go to Breker and the wife in the meantime secure the scouting on the parking lot. No joke, this is happening. And as you know, the early bird catches the worm.
I was happy to at least have a look at Breker's, but we then skipped the actual auction in order to be at the parking lot IN TIME. And I was. Only my wallet wasn't. So I took a couple of pictures, for the glory of the mythical parking lot, and in order to collect some eye-candy for you, dear readers in the typosphere.
Speaking of the TYPOSPHERE: this year, the mythical parking lot added to it's already rich history by hosting the FIRST COLOGNE MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN CHAPTER OF THE TYPOSPHERE. As you know, we are not so many over here in Europe, and apart from occasional Swiss meetings, and - if I recall correctly - a transborder meeting between Switzerland and Italy organised by maschinengeschrieben last year, these real-space encounters are still rare. So I was very happy to be introduced to Frank from Frank's Typewriters over at http://schrijfmachine.blogspot.com. This made the freezing quite enjoyable, and I already look forward to future meetings.

PS: there is a nice restaurant just on the spot for warming up and a decent meal.

Here is some impressions:

A beautiful Masspro! Next time I should take some more pocket money.

Early morning, but everybody in a good mood

Lambert!! Dream!! Next time!!

A Polygraph. Very very special.

A table plentyful.

A Melotyp music writer (detailed photo of keyboard below)

et encore, encore, encore

This picture was taken right at the beginning - best be there around 9 for the best worms.

An Austrian "Courier" (Oliver), an electric toy typewriter "Electric 600" by Jolux which I eventually bought, and a Mitterhofer model. Above, a Babycyl.

A Conti portable, special because of the Chinese characters below the main decal. Made me think of history, and the Jewish refugees in Shanghai.

What a nice booty, with a "Radio" inside

This beautifully preserved Princess I didn't buy this time. Regret, regret!

This boot is made for typing (and calculating)

Lord fill my pockets with money so I can buy them all

Germania N°5

I also had to pass on this nice Monarch Pioneer, which would fit my collection perfectly. Regrets, regrets...

Talking, swapping, and haggling is the name of the game.

A "Piccola", rather rare.

At the board meeting, our new secretary was taking notes.

Excellent Knödel and Gulasch

DRGM 639849 (which I couldn't locate)

DRGM 227046 (too lazy to look it up)

Photo hunting

One more coffee?

The Armada: park, get out of the car, trunk's open - yes!!

It's Christmas soon

Mercedes Elektra

I was particularly happy to meet with the editor of the mythical typewriter magazine "kwartaalblad voor de schrijfmachineverzamelaar". I recently bought the entire Kwartaalblad (later also: Dutch Q) collection and am reading it as I go along --> true pioneer work, true treasures!! (more on this magazine later)

postscript 1, as the blogger photo upload skipped a few pictures at first: keyboard of the Melotyp for typing music scores

PS2: Hammond and Oliver

PS3: No typewriters??!?

PS4: now you tell me what that is

  That's all folks. Long live the typosphere!