Mel Price was a friend of mine. If you were a train collector in the 1980s-1990s, in the Northeast, and attended the shows, you probably saw, or purchased from Mel. He was always the first set of dealer tables on the right when you first entered most train shows in NY, NJ and PA. His theory that since 95% of the people were right handed, they would normally start walking the aisles to the right. Mel would have the latest and greatest items that Lionel, Samhongsa and later Mikes Train House (MTH) offered at great prices. (Some claimed too low) His selection was vast, and included all things in the Lionel modern era (1970 on). He had a “plan-a-gram” (table organization) that never varied and the boxes were all strategically placed to combine various genres of collectables. The engines would be stacked on the right, sometimes displayed in their foam, the 9400 and 9700 series boxcars would be at eye level in the middle, tankers in another box, Standard O all together and the expensive items along the top. Sometimes the stacks were 4-5 feet above the table. This layout would lead to complicated discussions of what item complimented what other item, and what was the latest in this series of trains, or that series. He carefully labeled the collectable items with date of manufacture, set affiliation if any and what was needed to complete that collection of items. These tags acted as both an inventory system and sales tool. He did them by hand, so not to look too sterile or slick. I used this trick many times in my later businesses.
He set the market for odd and unusual items such as the Lifesaver tank car and anything made with Budweiser on it. Mel would walk the floor and buy any good pieces he could prior to the show open. This was sometimes to resell immediately, fill someone’s wish list or sometimes just to have the only one of “those” at the meet. The other dealers actually liked that, as they could pay for their tables before the shows opened. He liked that because he just reduced his competition.
Mel had hundreds of regular customers. Some loved him, some hated him, but everyone respected his knowledge of the hobby. His smart buyers would put up deposits immediately upon the release of the new Lionel catalog, knowing full well that if anyone could get a limited edition item, upon first release, he could. There was magic there, supported by various elves who sold this “pirate” truckloads of the hottest merchandise. They were often big distributors that could lose their sweet deals with Lionel if they got caught back-dooring the product outside the normal distribution channels. Such transactions took place many times in the dark and in places like the NJ Turnpike rest areas where cash and boxes were exchanged not unlike drug dealers. Having participated in the activity with a local dealer Tony Picciuto, I can attest to the excitement of “you got it?” Yeah, the cash? OK here you go….great memories at 3 AM in the freezing NJ night swapping boxes with Mel. Today surveillance cameras would have turned us into Homeland Security, for sure.
Mike Wolf, founder of MTH Trains in a telephone interview commented “nobody could figure out” where Mel purchased the huge quantities of Lionel (and his products) and how he was able to sell them so cheaply. The answer (as we know now), is EVRYONE was selling to him. Mike said that Lionel even went as far as marking boxes to try and trace the leak in the dealer system. Can you imagine that? Mel was selling enough product that the higher-ups were changing their distribution chain to stop him.
Mel was the PT Barnum of toy trains in that the “show” was everything. He had a large following of loyal followers who hung on his every prediction of huge gains in value of any particular item. The funny thing is that having controlled a large part of the market in some items, he was right, more than he was wrong. It’s almost as if he KNEW the production quantities of items, which of course had always been a top secret of Lionel going back to Post-War times. People I interviewed, in the know, discredited that notion, but I’m not convinced.
Time and place had something to do with the Mel phenomenon. Richard Kughn, a Michigan developer had purchased Lionel in 1986. At the time it was floundering brand with mediocre products that for the most part were hacked copies of the golden age of Lionel, the 1950s where every kid in America had to own the electric train. He (Kughn) purchased the legendary Madison Hardware in 1989, cementing him in Lionel folk lore, forever. Kughn even took the shelving, nails and empty boxes out of that NY Company, and moved them to Detroit. He brought excitement to the product line again, with limited edition sets, new technology, such as sounds and smoke, and combined with a booming 80s economy set the stage for Mel to be the king of train dealing in the Northeast. Kughn was a big collector and ran Lionel as a collector would. Not over producing, selling series of related items that went together and numbering sets, so if you had such and such set # 1, you had to have the rest. And set # 1 always had smaller productions so later when you discovered set # 3, and went back to buy 1 and 2, they were always in short supply. Brilliant marketing, almost as if Mel was coaching hm.
I was a not so young CPA at the time, who through a good friend and client Toby D’Andrea was reintroduced to toy trains and collecting in the early 1990s. I attended many shows, studied the history of Lionel and the hobby, which pretty much was the history of the 20th Century, and ultimately became a customer of Mel. Later, I would become one of the inner circle of “helpers” or weekend warriors if you may, who worked the tables, learned the patter and sold Lionel as the next greatest investment vehicle in America. I attended the legendary York, PA TCA Train meet, which was a multi-day event attended by maybe 20,000 train aficionados. The days were 12 hours and transporting the boxes and setting up the displays had a carnival feel to it. We set it up and took it down. Maybe we were best described as “roadies” that also performed in the show. I was a reasonably successful professional at the time, who really didn’t need to work two extra days a week, three weeks out of some months, but I loved the action and the challenge. The toy train market was ripe, the baby boomers were reaching their peak earning years and the quality of the trains continued to increase. All pieces were in place for a second golden age of Lionel.
We would start out at a typical show on Saturday morning with a dozen or so of whatever item was “hot” at a very low starting price. The “lookie loos” might walk by noting the prices and sometimes circled back to grab that “deal”. Many times they were disappointed to find out that the price had gone up significantly because the early birds understood Mel’s tactics and grabbed the first items. After they were gone we continued to increase them until the market said “ouch”. When questioned about the earlier prices, my answer would be something like “yes they WERE” that price, but those were gone now. Fear or greed usually kicked in and they reluctantly paid the higher price or risked a later increase, or worse missing the item altogether. It was brilliant; it was capitalism at its very best.
In researching this article, I spoke to several colleagues, including Stu Rankin (currently the VP of the METCA Division of the TCA) who also worked with Mel. He tells a story that at a York meet, prior to being a helper he was asked to baby sit the tables while Mel took a phone call at registration. Mel was just worried about theft, but when he returned, looked at the tables and noticed missing items. He turned to Stu with a look on his face, wondering what happened to his goods. Stu reached in his pocket, took out a pile of cash and some of the aforementioned inventory tags. He was a regular helper ever after. I heard another story from a collector in Colorado who as a young boy was introduced to trains at one of the shows. He complimented on how Mel took the time to speak to a young man interested in the hobby. Other dealers who felt Mel was a crook and a charlatan. Another of those stories included witnessing a transaction where Mel refused to sell an item at what he felt was too low an offer, then dropping the item on the floor and stomping on it. (A brilliant visual, for sure.) I also found out that Mel redecorated and remarketed Standard O Lionel cars under his Warren Street Express Ltd name. From time to time you will see one on EBay.
Mel taught me how to market and sell, how to better deal with customers on a one to one basis, and how to create demand for something that wasn’t really rare. One should work a flea market if they want to learn how to sell, and what’s it like to size up the local completion, price an item and convince a walker-by to buy from you and not that other guy.
Mel often complained about Lionel re-producing older items, thereby cheapening the originals, or flooding the market with new items that were historically ridiculous. He was a walking encyclopedia of Lionel trains and production history. He was an officer in the local TCA division in NJ/NY (METCA) and helped get convention club cars produced and specially stamped.
Mel was an avid collector himself and made his living as a salesman in a family owned business prior to his conversion to a full time dealer. Initially we guess it started because he collected too much stuff and needed to sell some of it. The rest as they say is history.
Epilogue
Mel passed away suddenly in 1995 while packing for the fall York TCA meet. A fitting end for a true “train guy” I guess. Like Patton who said he wanted to die from the last bullet fired in the last battle of the last war. Mel passed as the era of Richard Kughn ended and EBay began. Kughn sold Lionel in 1995. The investor group that bought it included Neil Young (from CSNY fame) and became more concerned about production quantities, selling direct to the customer online, and reproducing the rarest Postwar pieces further reducing the original values.
After Mel’s death we spoke to some of his regular customers and competitors and the best quote we acquired was that “trains were no longer fun without buying them from Mel.” I could not top that one in my research.
Many years later I attended a York meet and heard his name on the paging system. “Mel Price, would you please come to the registration area to meet your guest” Sometimes I wonder if he still walks the aisle at the old halls looking for purchases to fill in a collectors list, or steal a bargain for resale later. I know he still gets write in votes for president in the various train clubs, which by the way he had a lot to do with their growth and research history. Rest in peace my friend, maybe the TCA will name a hall after you someday at York, or maybe Lionel will produce a commemorative boxcar for that golden age of collecting.
