This wonderful trip was made even better thanks to a really great friend who agreed to come along on my excursion to England. He knew nothing about tea cards when he started but now he is the proud owner of a couple of Brooke Bond sets. I have to give him credit, when I told him that I wanted him to go with me to a fair where grown men chase after cards that were put into boxes of tea he said, "When do we leave?"

His name is Tom Prince and as my tour guide he navigated me all about London and Stratford. This is his 13th voyage to England so he is my 'British connection.'

Thanks to Tom for making a great trip even better!

I have been collecting and selling for seven plus years and the one guy who helped get me started into this great hobby was Terry Calleyne. He knows his stuff and he is not averse to sharing that knowledge with you. His research has been published in Teams and even as recent as the May Card Times with the Queen Mum has an article in it from him. Terry taught me an awful lot about cards and I was thrilled to meet him. He even taught me a bit about pubs in the UK. Cheers! 

The Cartophilic Society's 2002 fair organizer was Robin Short. Here's a pic of Robin and I in front of my stall. Robin is the handsome one on the left. 

Here I am at my stall. This was just before the public came in. Quite a few dealers found their way to the Stratford show.   

I got a chance to meet a fellow webmaster, Mark Knowler of TeaCards.Com. He's a heck of a guy and he has a great site about Brooke Bond. I can only think of one other site that even comes close. 

(hint: you are on it right now ;-).

Holy Moly! Is that original artwork from the Red Rose tea cards? Yup, the one on the left is from the Arctic series and the one on the right is from Oceans. 

It was a real pleasure to meet Bill Smart. He's in the record books as owning a bunch of tea cards. What a true resource, and so willing to share his immense knowledge on the subject. The guy knows his tea cards! 

I've had items in Alan Wrathall's auction before but I had never met the guy. Problem solved! He's a great guy (just like I figured!)

Here I am with two guys that were tending the table opposite me. On the left is Martin Prior, an avid collector and super guy. On the right is Terry Calleyne, collector and researcher of Brooke Bond and other tea and cigarette cards. (Yes, it is possible to collect something other than Brooke Bond) The both of them made Tom's and my job of running our booth that much easier. Thanks guys!  

If you have ever gotten serious about collecting Brooke Bond, you have run into Frank Munford. A super guy that has collected a lot of Brooke Bond, sold a lot of Brooke Bond and has even auctioned a lot of Brooke Bond. The guy knows his stuff! 

Look, here's a bloke from the US, just like me! (Almost, I believe he was originally from the UK) It's David Grimes, from New Jersey. I first met David at a card show in Massachusetts. It's nice to know I am not the only one willing to travel thousands of miles to play with tea cards. Sadly, Dave passed and he is sorely missed. He was a great guy!

If you stopped by my stall, this is pretty much what it looked like. There's my buddy Tom Prince on the left, me in the middle and Terry Calleyne on the right. Thanks to Tom for taking the bulk of the pictures and providing the support he did.   

Here's John Townsend, the Cartophilic Librarian and a whole lot more. You can tell he's the kinda guy that pitches in when help is needed.

This shot is at the entry way into the hall. I think Tom is checking out when and where the next shows will be. If I'm not careful, I'll have a new collector on my hands!   

Collectors are the reason I got to come to the UK. Here's a great example of one. Say hello to Peter Beer. We had dealt with each other before on the internet but it is always a pleasure to associate a name with a face. Nice to meet you Peter. 

Here's James Ingham, an avid Brooke Bond collector. His submissions are seen regularly in the card magazines. That's a nice mail-in form in your hand there James!