A few good points Gav. 
One thing about your last comment, the hobby is bigger than just the forums, yes, But I havent seen anyone outside of a forum try n organise a pinball expo in the last 3 plus years.
Is there such a person who loves pinball and has as much passion as a forum member.
Michael Shalhoub organized the 2009 Expo. He does not frequent forums. He never has, and he never will. Of all the people who know the industry and hobby, he is the right man for the job. He knows all the big collectors who are also not on forums.
He also covered his costs with the so called " container sale".. and i think at this point i might clear some stuff up.
Expo "09 barely covered its costs... it really was a fine line... no one is going to do this if its just a big financial sink hole.
The auction at "09 was meant to be a NO RESERVE.. yes it was a bit of a storage shed clear out, but each game was meant to be sold at whatever price it found.
" Other" people were then allowed to enter games into the auction... this was a bad move as suddenly BALLY ROLLING STONES were being sold off, very badly restored... STAR TREK with an overlay... again a piss poor restore... all these had a reserve on them and a hefty one at that... it was a blatent ripp off and money grab by one party ( whos name will not be mentioned).
Mike Shalhoub had many games for sale.... not one of these had a reserve... to the side were GENCO GYPSY FORTUNE TELLERS... restored $12K... unrestored $8K. These were one off items to be sold... which the restored one did... Mike also had a stall of EM parts... whole trays of NOS coils being sold for $25... original schematics - $5... GTB bumper assemblies NOS - $.50.
Try getting those prices ANYWHERE
Im afraid in the end Mike doing a few well known collectors a favour bit him on the arse.. he wasnt happy about it i assure you, but typical Mike " what do you do about it... its done.. so what do you do?"
