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21 August 2011
President’s
Message
I
am so used to writing a Secretary’s message you would think writing my
first President’s message would be easy. I can assure you that is not the
case.
I
have big footsteps to follow in our past Presidents like Wayne, Maurice
and Andrew. All have made big contributions to our club in their own way.
Not sure if or how I can do the same. I would like to thank Andrew for
all the hard work he has done for our club over the last two years. It
has been a pleasure to work with him and I am looking forward to the coming
year in our role reversal and working as a team again.
I
joined the club eight years ago (I think) as a very novice collector of
Carnival glass, not knowing one maker from the next and still make
mistakes today. I bought anything that I thought was Carnival, paid too
much in many cases, but as time went by my tastes changed from any maker
to Australian and European Carnival.
I
have to thank all of those members who helped me along the way. You all
helped me develop a deep and lasting passion for Carnival and to instil
in me an understanding of how great our club is, which has led to me
promoting the club whenever I have the chance.
From
being ‘just a member’ to a committee member, secretary and now President
I can say the years have been a ‘Carnival of different rides’. Andrew has
spoken below about all that has happened over the last three months, much
of which was enhanced by his expertise and knowledge so I will not repeat
them. Our next meeting is our Christmas get together and I for one look forward
to this to being held at the home of John and Iris and seeing their
fantastic collection.
It
is also the one where we decide on the venues and themes for the coming
year - an important meeting on our calendar that sets the scene for the
coming year.
Even
if you have never attended a meeting this should not stop you putting
your hand up if you wish to do so. We welcome any new venue for our
meetings. See you on November 20th in all your Christmas finery.
Lesley.
Secretary’s
Message
This
is my first real attempt at the newsletter and I know I’ll have very high
standards to maintain following the absolutely excellent job that Bob has
done. I think I speak for everyone in thanking Bob for the fantastic work
he (and Lesley) has done in producing a professional, entertaining and
interesting newsletter. I only hope I can follow in his footsteps. I
would welcome any feedback or comments you’d like to make on content and
layout.
At
the AGM at Lesley and Bob’s in August the following Executive Committee
was elected:
President
– Lesley Smith
Vice
President – John Saunders
Secretary
– Andrew Mitchell
Treasurer
– Ray Rogers
Committee
Members – Cindy Mackley, Jean Rogers and Iris Westren
Ex-officio
committee members are:
Public
Officer – Andrew Mitchell (as Secretary)
Newsletter
Editor – Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster
– Wayne Delahoy
Librarian
– Lorraine Friend.
Congratulations
and thanks to those who stood for the Executive Committee, and thanks
also to those who served previously – Olive White and Kevin Mackley.
Some
of you should be receiving this edition of the Newsletter electronically.
This is partly to help reduce costs and partly to embrace current
technology to provide a better service to members. I would be grateful
for any feedback on how you find the system works.
And
in terms of technology our tech-savvy members may be interested to know
that Tampa Bay Carnival Glass in the USA has a Facebook page. Perhaps
that’s something we would also like to consider in terms of providing
information to members beyond the Newsletter – have a look on
Facebook
under Tampa Bay Carnival Glass.
Other
items at the AGM included the financial report where for the first time
in a while we have been able to stem the continuing reduction in our
financial reserves. This is mainly due to a reduction in public liability
premiums. Nonetheless, with ever-increasing costs we will need to look
at both increasing revenue
(possibly through an increase in membership fees) and further reducing
costs, which is where electronic distribution will help.
We
opened the year with a balance of $1979.80 and closed with a balance of
$2640.03, with $468.72 due for the public liability insurance. Income was
$2526.93, including subscriptions of $1100, and donations, commissions
and auctions of $1421. Expenditure was $1866.70, including newsletter
$740, public liability insurance $675, and web site $263.
Our
September exhibition at historic Linnwood House was again very
successful, with a steady stream of visitors and many exclaiming ‘wow’ as
they came through the door. The extra lighting certainly added to the
brilliance and would have been even better if I’d remembered to bring
mine! We took over $700 in revenue, including two new memberships, and
the total return to the CGCAA was $133.50. Many thanks indeed to all
those members who exhibited and those who visited. We can only make it a
success through your support and hard work. And I’m still enjoying Jean
and Ray’s very tasty homemade jam – yum!
The
November meeting is at Iris and John’s and will be our Christmas
function. Catering will be provided and you should bring both a raffle
prize and a small ‘Kris Kringle’ gift to add to
the fun and celebrations.
I
have been away on two trips recently with limited CG finds. We were in
Singapore for a few days, unknowingly just before the Singapore Grand
Prix, so we were pleased to leave just before it started and the hotel
rates tripled. Like Hong Kong, there was virtually no second-hand glass.
Though the hotel we were staying in had a lobby display of eight very
large art glass pieces, all by Australian glass artists, and included a
magnificent iridized cone vase by Rob Wynne.
I
flew to Melbourne for my younger nephew’s 21st and although managing to squeeze
in quite a few op shop, market and antique centre visits was not able to
find any interesting carnival. I did bring back some other interesting
finds in non-carnival, but only those I could struggle onto the plane
with – I had to leave the rest with my Sister to pick up later. The party
went on to 4 am (well past my bedtime) and I felt very sluggish indeed
when I got up again at 8 am to go to visit the Camberwell market,
probably Melbourne’s premier second-hand market. But in typical Melbourne
fashion two rain squalls swept through while I was there, soaking both
the buyers and the sellers, with the wind gusts blowing many items off
the stalls and unfortunately breaking some.
New Riihimaki Carnival Glass e-book
A
wonderful new e-book on Riihimaki Carnival
Glass has been produced by those inexhaustible chroniclers of all things
carnival, Glen and Stephen Thistlewood. The
e-book, ‘Riihimaki Carnival Glass from
Finland’, has been produced after 10 years of research. It lists 64
different patterns, some in a multitude of shapes and sizes. The e-book
is over 100 pages long and is lavishly illustrated with hundreds of
photos and catalogue images from 1915 onwards. It is in PDF format
(9.5MB) and you can either download it directly to your computer for £10
or get it on a CD for £13.50 including postage. More information and
ordering details (including how to pay via PayPal) are on Glen and
Steve’s website at www.thistlewoods.net
. I have a small collection of non-iridized Riihimaki
glass and have been to the fantastic Finnish glass museum at Riihimaki town several times, which includes a
display of carnival glass. I haven’t yet got any examples of carnival
that I can definitively attribute to Riihimaki,
but I’m sure this new book will provide me with both the resources and
the motivation to pursue some more acquisitions.
Snippets
Fryerstown
(Victoria) Antique Fair is on again next year from Friday 20 to Sunday 22
January 2012. I know some of our members visit and find it a very
interesting and sometimes rewarding trip, depending on what they are able
to find.
In
the USA an Ice Green Grape and Cable master punch bowl set sold for a
jaw-dropping price. The bowl (only the third known) was found in a farm
house attic with the cups strewn about on the floor under a very thick
layer of dirt and dust. Bidding started at $10,000 and it ended up
selling at
$42,000!
And the buyer then drove 16 hours and 800 miles in a round trip to pick
it up. A boomerang said to have been collected by Captain Cook in
Australia in 1770, was found in an English attic, along with two wooden
clubs. Although expected to sell for up to £20,000 it does not appear to
have sold according to the auctioneer’s web site. The same auctioneers had
sold parts of a renaissance altar piece found in a pensioner’s spare room
in Oxford for £1.7 million in 2007. Thirty-five rare paintings of
Macquarie-era Aborigines from around Newcastle and scenes of Sydney were
found in the back of a cupboard during a house clearance after the death
of the elderly occupant in Ontario Canada. The State Library of NSW paid
$1.75 million to buy them, so hopefully we’ll get to see them soon. A
significant indigenous artwork by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri that had
been received as a gift by
an American woman in 1975, sold at
Sothebys for $120,000. So you just never know
what you might find in the back of the cupboard, in a relative’s attic
hanging on the wall,
or even in an op shop – perhaps another People’s vase.
Andrew
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Some of the beautiful carnival glass
on display at our last meeting
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Club members
enjoying the convivial atmosphere at the last meeting
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