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Bakersfield 1996 Personal Show Journal by Christian Willis.

This journal was written on Sunday, November 3, 1996.

Out of all four Bakersfield shows so far, this has been the best. I am writing this journal five hours after I came back from the show. I had a great time and picked up some real good Hemingrays and Hemingray products, including a real beautiful Royal Purple H.G.Co. from Larry Shumaker; in pretty good condition for $130 (He had it marked for $150, but I talked him down.) It turned out that a Royal Purple H.G.Co. signal in the price guide was worth $300-$350! Not bad! As soon as I walked in the door, my dad and I greeted Fred Padgett, who then told me that a man across the way had a smooth base Hemingray-42 and that he had told the man that I’d probably want it. How right he was! That was my first buy of the day. In the three minutes I had gotten there, I had already bought three insulators, a definate record in my books!

Another beauty I picked up was a Hemingray Blue Am. Tel. & Tel. Co. toll, and practically mint, too! It really displays beautifully, and will be in my permanent collection. Another interesting piece I picked up from Dwayne Anthony was a CD 118 Hemingray product. It was badly damaged on the rear of the skirt, so he sold it to me for $10. It displays O.K., although it can’t stand up, so I put it on my wooden display peg. Dwayne had another rare bird: a Hemingray-63 in mint condition! I practically jumped out of my skin when I saw it! Unfortunately, it was priced at $195, a bit too high for me at the time. Hopefully, if he hasn’t sold it at the next show, I’ll try and save up to buy it, because I need it!

I also found the CD 102 Hemingray №14 mold variation that was at the Visalia show, and so, not to be foolish in passing it up again, I bought it, and it will most likely remain in my permanent collection, unless, by chance, I happen to find an upgrade in mint condition. Also, I picked up two Jade Green Milk CD 106’s: One had the fat wire groove lips, and one was the normal mold. Dwayne Anthony also had two spools he sold to me pretty cheap: The first one was a MINT Hemingray-107 to replace my old, beat-up one, and the other, I’m almost sure, was a small, unembossed, ice aqua spool, which I believe to be in Hemingray’s catalog as either №100, 101, or 102... I can’t remember.

I ran out of money on the first day, and had to borrow $8 from my dad to pay for the two spools I found under Dwayne’s table on the second day. After saying goodbye to everyone, we headed for home. It was a wonderful show and we enjoyed it thoroughly!