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21 February 2010
Hello
Everyone
Our
February meeting was held in glorious weather up on the beautiful Central
Coast. My thanks to Cindy & Kevin for their hospitality – and for the
air conditioning! Several matters were discussed and approved at the
February meeting that all members need to be aware of.
Because
the exhibition at Linnwood House and the November meeting are only a week
apart, there was a request to hold the November meeting on the same
weekend as the exhibition. This would enable non-Sydney members to attend
both functions on the one weekend.
I
realise that this change might not suit everyone, especially as we have a
routine of meetings on the third Sunday every three months. However, as
we are the Carnival Glass Collectors Association of Australia, I think it is important to be responsive to
members’ requests. The meeting will now be on Saturday 13 November with the exhibition the next day, Sunday
14 November.
I
think it is important to build on our past success, and part of that is
ensuring a sound financial position. We have been successful in
attracting new members and generating extra revenue from sales at the
Linnwood Exhibition. However, commissions for member sales at meetings,
through the web site and at special events such as Linnwood, have been at
a very modest 5%.
At
the last meeting, members agreed that this sales commission would rise to
10%, effective immediately. I acknowledge that this rise might not be
universally supported, but I believe a 10% commission is still very
modest, and will assist our finances. Some of the auction houses I
frequent charge a commission of between 15% and 20% (plus GST). Members
wanting to sell items will need to take the new commission into account
when setting their prices.
Our
next meeting at Orange on 16 May has been planned to coincide with the
Cowra Bottle Show, to enable members to attend both this, and the CGCAA
meeting.
The
Cowra Bottle Show will be on Saturday 15 May (10:00-5:30) and Sunday 16
May (9:00-2:30) at the Cowra Showground Pavilion, Grenfell Road. Mark and
Vicki tell me that there is usually a wide range of glass for sale,
including carnival.
The
Friends of Linnwood have kindly invited us back again on Sunday 14
November. A committee of Lesley Smith, Cindy Mackley,
Ray Rogers and myself will be undertaking the
planning for this, so please speak to any of us with your ideas. I would
be particularly interested to hear from members who would like to
exhibit, including items for sale. The other area of concern is how to
improve our security to stop the glass from being handled. Bring your
ideas to the May meeting.
It
seems many people took the opportunity to have a clean out during Easter,
because some of the op shops I visit reported large volumes of donations.
Although I didn’t find any carnival, I did pick up a number of bargains
in my other glass collecting areas.
There
was a recent press report that a charity shop in England received a book
of Victorian period photos of Fiji in one donation. The astute manager
had it checked by the charity’s ‘expert valuers’ and it subsequently fetched £37,000 at
auction. On the topic of op shops, the Red Cross has opened a new
boutique at 359 King Street, Newtown, which they’ve named – 359 King. I
walked past the front several times before I actually found it because
it’s been designed to look like a hip, cool, clothing boutique. It stocks
top-of-the-range vintage and street wear, as well as a few decorative
items. It’s a far cry from many of the other op shops I’m used to
visiting.
I
was also able to travel to the Hunter Valley for a few days, including a
visit to the wonderful Hunter Valley Gardens, billed as Australia’s
largest display garden. On the way up I stopped at Newcastle and on the
way back I passed through historic Maitland. At Newcastle I thought I
might have discovered the first piece of Lenora carnival glass, from
Australia’s ‘other’ glass maker, but alas it seems to be more a strange
coating of amber colour.
At
Maitland there are a surprising number of op shops and antique shops. I
was pleasantly surprised at the range (and price) of carnival glass in
the antique shops. I found several interesting non-carnival glass pieces
in the op shops. It seems that these days, everyone recognises carnival
glass and thinks it is highly collectible and thus valuable, with prices
set accordingly. At one small antiques shop in the rural Hunter I saw a
Frosted Block nappy for $250 (David Doty says $20-30) and a Stork &
Rushes mug for $350 (David says $10-20) – so buyer beware! For
non-carnival glass, lack of recognition can be of benefit for the astute
buyer if they recognise an under-valued piece.
Several
of the auction houses that I frequent (too frequently, I’m afraid) had a
number of good pieces for sale. I bought several, including a purple
Scroll Embossed (Imperial) large comport, with what I think was very good
iridescence. But I’ve also seen pieces with quite obvious and noticeable
cracks go for high prices. I did make what might be a new discovery. In
one lot I saw a small green “ball and swirl” iridised bowl (as depicted
on page 92 of Ken Arnold’s 1984 book) with a Gem Lustre label.
There
was an interesting article on auctions in the Sun-Herald of 7 March,
where auctioneer Antony Davies says you should only buy what you are
prepared to live with for at least five years and not an item just
because it looks cheap. It is more important to buy because you have a
passion for it and if there is a financial improvement along the way,
then that is good, he says. The trick to getting a bargain is to be as
educated as you can before you buy and know more than the next person. You
can even take a wireless device with you to do research as you inspect
the items, or take photos with your mobile phone and send them to someone
knowledgeable for another opinion.
And
speaking of auctions, did you see where a 1939 comic book in which Batman
makes his debut, sold for more than $1 million in the United States. The
consignor bought the comic in the late 1960s for $100.
Happy
and safe hunting
Andrew
Mitchell
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Some of the beautiful carnival glass
on display at our last meeting
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