|
19 November 2006
G’Day Everyone
Well,
another Christmas has come and gone and I trust that we all enjoyed
ourselves, but not too much that the scales are starting to growl at us
now though! Mine are! In fact, I’m certain that last year I used a whole
lot more packing in that Santa’s suit, although my thought is that it’s
probably just shrunk in the cupboard, again.
So,
as we launch ourselves into yet another year, we can reflect on some
truly successful club meetings that we held last year. The differing
coloured glass theme was an excellent idea right from the start. So much
so, that many a meeting would extract some of the most amazing colours,
shades and variations of carnival glass, not to mention the types of
examples those club members had found them in. Everything from vases to
bowls, from plates to comports, necklaces to electrical insulators…. Yes
even those!
It
never ceases to amaze me what incredible examples of carnival glass
continue to appear at our club meetings. Just when you think you’ve seen
it all, someone will turn up with a piece that will make you think, where
on earth did they find that? Considering that, Lord knows how many
antique shops, garage sales and eBay auctions I have gone through to find
nothing more impressive than a glass crystal bowl. Mind you, not that there’s
anything at all wrong with glass crystal bowls, but they just don’t seem
to 'do it for me'. And I’m still trying to find the 'Tasmanian Tiger' of
Australian carnival glass, the elusive 'Koala' bowl. Does it really
exist?
There’s
something incredibly satisfying about finding or stumbling upon a
carnival glass piece. Well, maybe not that impressive if it has more
cracks in it than a farmer’s drought ridden dam, but never the less, a
find is a find. Someone once told me in the club quite some time ago that
exceptional carnival glass pieces are a bit like car parking spots at
shopping centres at Christmas time - all the good ones are probably
already gone. Isn’t that the truth?
So
with this in mind, why do we still do the obligatory 'trudge' through all
the usual haunts in order to satisfy our almost 'prime-evil' urges trying
to find this stuff called carnival glass? Occasionally, I wonder the same
thing, but in the end I know I love the stuff and some of it could be
worth a fortune someday. So that more than justifies why, doesn’t it?
Just the same, try convincing a 'non collector' of that type of logic and
you might have a job on your hands. Good luck anyway!
Recently,
Carissa and I enjoyed a break on the far south coast of NSW, which
included numerous antique shop stops and anywhere else that carnival
glass may be found on the way. By sheer chance, we happened to drop into
an antique shop, come glass museum, not realizing that it was actually
owned and run by own club members, Sheila and Doug Russell. They made us
both feel so very welcome, and gave us the 'grand tour' of their
exceptionally beautiful carnival glass collection. Certainly one of the
best collections of Australian carnival glass I have personally seen for
quite some time. And I hope we can see them both at one of our club
meetings in the not too distant future.
Whilst
I’m still on the subject of Australian carnival glass, some pretty
intriguing news has surfaced, yet again, about the likelihood of fakes or
replicas of some of the Australian fauna. This time, it appears they may
have set their 'creative' talents on our kangaroo design. There are some
question marks over the authenticity of the piece that was shown in the
diagram; however there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest it was an
attempt to 'cash in' on what is truly an iconic piece of Australian
carnival glass. I really do hope this is not going to be the start of any
type of trend in this type of activity.
Our
sincere thanks go to Dot and Rob Butler for hosting our recent Christmas
meeting. Again, they provided a superb array of food and treats for
everyone to enjoy, and I don’t think anyone left feeling hungry, that’s
for sure. Not even Santa!
Our
upcoming meeting is on 17 February 2007 featuring a 'Fakes and
Fruits' theme. A meeting where I’m sure there will be plenty of
enthusiastic discussion and stories to tell. Cindy and Kevin Mackley are hosting it at their home in Tumbi Umbi NSW. Further
address details are at the end of this newsletter.
Also,
please don’t forget that this is our 'Dutch Auction' meeting. So,
remember to bring along something worthy enough of being up for auction.
Something that you would like to receive yourself if you were the
successful bidder. As we know this really good fund raiser has always proved
a winner financially for the club, helping to pay for things like our
printing costs, insurance and other expenses that crop up through the
year.
And
again, in signing off, I’m really so looking forward to seeing you all at
our next meeting. So if you haven’t been to one for a while try to make
it for this one. You're bound to have an enjoyable day catching up with
everyone.
We’d
all love to see you there, and maybe bring a friend along!
As
always, cheers
and happy carnival
glass hunting.
Your
Club President,
Maurice
Geake
|
Some of the beautiful carnival glass
on display at this meeting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Club members enjoying the convivial
atmosphere of the meeting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Back to Last Meeting Report
|
