Happy-“It’s-Almost-Ground-Hog’s-Day-And-Winter-Is-Half-Over”-To Everyone!

All of us have been “waiting for the other shoe to drop” concerning the weather. We were secretly wondering how long we could get away without an accumulating snowfall. At least when last weekend’s snow DID arrive, it was a quick-moving storm that left us with the kind of snow that skiers love….downy and easy (for us non-skiers) to shovel! It looks as if it is “clear sailing” for the next week or more, so get out there and enjoy this North Carolinian-like weather!

If you missed the first meeting of 2012, (attended by 35 members)here are some of the highlights: Craig, our treasurer, opened the meeting with a rundown of November’s show which had a total of 459 in attendance, up 57 people from November, 2010’s show. Although the spring show has had a greater attendance over the past 5 years, we still did well overall. With a $500 reduction in $$ spent on ads and the fact that we sold $250 in raffle tix, we were able to put $2400 back in the club treasury after expenses.

Walter reported that our 2011 donation of $200 went to Fenton. This year someone has stepped forward and will match every dollar for dollar that is donated to the Heisey Society up to $250,000 (yes, you read it correctly!). Paul made a motion that this year’s DG club donation should go to Heisey b/c our $200 will turn into $400. Motion carried.

Kathy Mahaffey suggested that each glass club member receive 2 passes good for a ½-price ticket to our show. Antoinette said that this idea would be discussed @ the next executive mtg….. Adele Cesareo sent a “thank you” to the club for honoring her @ our holiday dinner….Chris Madison, who is in charge of our FaceBook page, said that it is set up but needs links to glass articles, shows, etc.

OLD BUSINESS: Several different ideas were discussed for the club’s spring trip. Walter mentioned Gillander Glass in Port Jervis, NY, just over the Jersey border. They have not only the factory on the premises but also tours and a gift shop. Possible car pools to save $$ and spend it on lunch (?) instead. We also discussed traveling to the Hartford, CT, area where we could visit the Olney Institute of Art and the Museum of Glass; there is also the Museum of Milk Glass in this area.

FOR SALE: One of Geri Brino’s relatives was willed 800 (that’s not a typo!) egg

Cups. If you know anyone who might be interested in the lot, please call Geri @ (201) 337-6997 or talk to her at the next mtg.

OOPS!!!

This definitely fits under the “Oops Category”….if you look at the new membership lists at the next mtg. ( I have already mailed copies to all members at a distance as well as our charter members.) you’ll find that I left out LORETTA AND TONY DENTE’S e-mail address, and….they have only been members for 23 years!

My apologies! Please add to your individual lists:

ardlld@att.net

FEEL BETTER! Our best wishes go out to longtime member and great dessert maker, MARILYN LACH, who has been ill for the past months. She says she hopes to be back soon! A card would help to cheer her up, I’m sure.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: MINI COLLECTIBLES

LINDA HITTEL aptly substituted for sister-in-law DONNA HITTELwho sent in a selection of Marcrest, brown-colored stoneware given away at service stations, movies, etc. Although it was thought that Hull may have produced some of the items, it was later found that the Hull mark did not appear on any of them…ANNE AND RICH OORTHUYS, who are better known for their collecting of carnival glass, surprised everyone with an array of pewter porringers which are small bowls or dishes with 1 or 2 flat handles. They became popular in both Europe and the U.S. b/c travelers had to bring along their own dinnerware for use in inns and stopovers. One of the most famous porringer makers was Paul Revere. Quipped Rich,” We don’t have any of his, but you have to have a purpose in life!”…Their best buy so far: a porringer worth $500 found @ a garage sale!….WALTER LEE said that he didn’t start out wanting to collect rabbits, but “they just started to multiply!” (As rabbits are known to do!) His collection of hares included a very popular black Dalzell Biking one worth $75 as well as an equally popular one in Crown Tuscan (pink). In the 1980’s Heisey re-issued their glass animals, this time with Fenton as the manufacturer…..JUNE LEE removed her collection of signed GONE WITH THE WIND autographed pictures from her dining room wall and related to all that this book and movie have always had a special place in her heart b/c her parents saw this movie on their 1st date in 1939. Included in the collection were Evelyn Keyes, Scarlet’s sister, Olivia de Haviland, Melanie, and her personal favorite, Cammie King who played Bonnie Blue Butler……Kathy Mahaffey completed the evening with decks of Tarot cards, many of which she “inherited” from other Tarot readers. She demonstrated how the older cards have an oily feel b/c they absorb the oils from the hands that touch them; new cards have a different feel. She does Tarot reading parties where participants must bring food items for local food banks. (nice touch!) It’s any wonder that she has such a great interest in this field: her grandmother w

FEBRUARY MEETING

Our February meeting will take place next week on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1st. Meeting time is 7:30. The program for the evening will be CONSOLIDATED GLASS. If you have any pieces that you would like to share w/the club, please bring them along.

REFRESHMENTS

Loretta Dente…..Anne Oorthuys…..Rose Marie Brino (a cake)……we need 2 more

volunteers; it does not have to be a dessert… can be cheese/crackers, fruit, bagels, etc.

Call Lori or Gail if you can help out.

For our newer members, here is the address of the meeting place: The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood. Limited parking in rear of bldg. or park @ King’s supermarket and walk thru’ the fence.

MARCH’S PROGRAM

On the agenda for next month will be Paden City Glass, so start digging out any samples that you may have. We still need a program volunteer for April. May looks like Victorian art glass. June, of course, is the covered dish dinner. Wow! This year went fast!

NEW MEMBERSHIP LISTS

… will be available at the meeting. Look for the cover that sports tropical fish!

Until next week, enjoy this beautiful spring-like weather!

JUNE LEE

For further information 1-609-240-3765
or e-mail thelegantable@verizon.net

Dear Ghosts, Goblins, and (of course) Witches!

Having just returned from a 15 day vacation I have been plummeted into a

swirling vortex of falling leaves, already-barren trees, and the culmination of the World Series…. not to mention that Halloween is just around the proverbial corner! Somehow, when you leave Jersey in early October you return to what is tantamount to early winter conditions (Channel 7 is predicting up to 6” of snow on Saturday for the northwest corner of our state!). A word to the wise: Place your snow shovel next to the trick-or-treat tray!

In case you missed our October meeting, here are some of the highlights:

Gail Duchamp met a lady who manages a TV station in Summit, and she would like to advertise our show by having a club member(s) do a 15-minute presentation on DG. Both Ken and Rolf volunteered, so we are hoping it comes to fruition……Rich Oorthuys suggested a program on “How to Photograph Glass”… … Walter announced that our annual monetary donation would be heading to the Fenton Art Glass Club… President Antoinette restated that she will be presenting a mini talk each month on “a lesser glass company” that helped to produce some of the wonderful items that we all collect. (When people mention glass companies, we immediately think of Heisey, Cambridge, Fenton, Fostoria, etc.). In November Antoinette’s first foray will be into the Indiana Glass Co. (Anyone who would like to bring in 1 or 2 pieces of the proposed monthly company is welcome to do so.)

SHOW UPDATE

As most of you are already aware, our fall show takes place on November 18-19.

Kindly pick up some flyers and distribute them in your hometown or surrounding ones.

To reiterate the refreshment procedure for Friday night’s preview, all donated cakes, cookies, donuts, brownies, etc. should be “ready to serve” and placed on throwaway platters. Fruit and cheese and crackers, etc. are also acceptable, but they, too, must be ready to be served, so kindly arrange them as such. “Thanks” to all members who generously donate for each and every show.

After our usual break for refreshments (Great food! Such a variety! Yumsville!),

we called the 50/50, and $40 went directly to Kathy Mahaffey! A runner-up prize, a set of decorated Halloween goblets, went to Ann and Rich Oorthuys; Walter won the 3rd prize, which merely gave him his $5 back!

Ken Filippini, our resident Cambridge expert and past president of the National Cambridge Society, presented a program on Cambridge” nudes” stemware. From cordials to cocktails to wines and beyond, this stellar company made some of the best of the best when it came to glassware. Ken informed us that nude stems start as low as $65, but one in “Carmen red” usually goes for a much as $2000! (Yes, that’s EACH!) Of course, that’s b/c there are only 10 known worldwide! And, as one can imagine, the “odd ball” items are the hardest to find.

Summit Art Glass Co. (a much newer glass co.) had some of the nude stems, but they were unsuccessful in producing them b/c it takes a special process to achieve the end result: 3 men working a machine called the “Hokey Pokey” made the original Cambridge nude stems as one spun the foot, one the stem, and one the bowl.

The “chintz” pattern on Carmen red is “ridiculously rare” said Kenny. This led to a great (and almost unbelievable) story that ended the evening: Ken and a few other Cambridge collectors bid (as one group) $2000 each for 6 of these goblets when they came upon e-Bay, but he was outbid!! When the person who outbid him didn’t want to spend $2000 each for them, the seller called Kenny and offered him the deal. Kenny ended up meeting the seller in a supermarket parking lot! Armed with $10,000, Kenny closed the deal! Now that’s a true collector.

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday, 2 November beginning as close to 7:30 as possible. The program for the evening will be “HOLIDAY COLLECTIBLES” presented by Ken Brino. Feel free to bring along a few of your outstanding holiday items. For a change of pace, we are having pizza during our break, so we only need 1 more person besides Gayle Babitz to bring in a “sweet” refreshment. Call Gail @ (973) 267-7511 if you can be that person.

MISSING FLAG!!!

Did anyone take home the American flag that we use for our Pledge of Allegiance? It has been missing since the September meeting.

HOLIDAY DINNER

If you are planning to attend our annual holiday dinner @ Portobello’s in Oakland on Friday evening, 2 December, Craig will begin collecting checks for $25 per person during this upcoming meeting. Rather than waiting and paying for the dinner at either the show or sending your check through the mail, it would be easier for all concerned to pay next week. REMEMBER: We will not be having another meeting before the dinner! It is a festive night of mouth-watering food, prizes galore, a 50/50, and what will probably be our last ever book raffle. As they used to say in the 50’s, “Be there or be square!”

DUES WERE ALREADY DUE!

If you haven’t done so yet, please pay your dues for this season….$15 single and $20 family. If you cannot attend the meeting, please send them to Craig Kratochvil @ 9 Joseph Lane, Ringwood, NJ 07436. I will soon be working on the new membership list and cannot include anyone who has not paid his/her dues by the end of November.

Thanks a bunch!

My next newsletter will be written some time after Christmas to announce our January 2012 meeting, so please do not look for a letter next month. See you all at the next meeting, at our glass show, and, of course, the dinner. “HAPPY HAUNTING!”

JUNE LEE

Due to a conflict we will not be offering food service at this show. Coffee and cake will be available on Friday only.

There will be 27 quality dealers on hand with Depression and Elegant glassware and pottery from the depression and mid century era.

Directions to the show: From the north take Rt. 17 south to Allendale Rd. (Cr 90 ) exit. follow west for 6/10 of a mile to Church on left.
From the south take Garden State Parkway north to exit 163 ( Rt 17 N ) to Allendale exit. Church is 1 mile on left.

Our next Spring show and sale will be March 30th and 31st, 2012

Hi Everyone!

What is the answer to the old and often-asked question: “If April showers bring May flowers, what does May bring?” To put it bluntly:
MORE RAIN!!! It has been such a quasi-miserable month that many of us have probably forgotten that the summer opener, Memorial Day Weekend, is less than 10 days away. Soon we will all be soaking up the rays, attending barbecues, and enjoying the sizzling temps that a NJ summer can send our way; our memories of a soggy spring will fade as quickly as a September tan.
If you did not attend our May meeting earlier in the month, here are some of the highlights: Craig, our treasurer, was on a business trip and absent from the evening, so we did not have a full report; we have approx. $8500 in our coffers…..Walter mentioned that the yearly museum/glass donation would go to either Duncan Miller or Imperial…..Ken said” other ideas” in lieu of a fall bus trip had been discussed at a recent committee meeting; these ideas will be further discussed over the summer….Paul said that he and the rest of the show committee would work on ideas that will be more profitable for our next show; this includes working on our club website….the girls in charge of hospitality asked everyone to look for tablecloths for our refreshment table.

The carnival glass program, presented by Ann and Rich Oorthuys,
Taught us that the Fenton Glass Co. of Williamstown, WV, first produced this famous type of glass that is really pressed PRESSED glass that has been iridized. Fenton got their ideas from Tiffany, but their glass was very expensive; Fenton soon came up with a cheaper way to produce it, calling the result the” poor man’s Tiffany”. Marigold was the 1st carnival color; today it is still 70% of their line. Ladies of that era (1908-1920 was the “heyday” of carnival) liked this color b/c it brightened up their dark post-Victorian homes. When sales began to dip after 1922, Fenton packed the glass in barrels and sold them to passing carnivals; hence the name “carnival glass”.

Old carnival is never colored on the bottom; newer pieces, on the other hand, are. The difference in iridizing changes the price up or down.
Over the years, 2000 patterns were produced, but unfortunately, only 1000 are recognizable. Ann and Rich found 2 rare vases at an estate sale in Warwick, NY and one at an antique shop on LBI; this latter vase, for which they paid $20, sold on e-Bay for $638. Rich suggested that TUMBLERS are a good way to start a collection b/c they are both affordable and plentiful, but they both suggested that collectors be cautious when buying RED carnival, for it is the most expensive color. “Thanks” to the Oorthuys for a great program!

JUNE COVERED DISH DINNER

Our annual covered dish dinner, which is traditionally held at the last meeting before we break for the summer, will take place on Wednesday evening, 1 June ( my fave month!) commencing @ 7 P.M. ( not 7:30).

(1) Each person who is attending will kindly bring along a dish in one of the following categories: appetizer, salad, entrée, or dessert. At the present time we have these numbers: 0 appetizers (there is a limit of 6 in this category); 4 salads inc. pasta, macaroni & tuna, Middle Eastern, and fruit (2 more are needed); 6 entrees inc. lemon chicken, sausage & peppers, ham, roast beef (provided by the club), kielbasa, and a corn casserole (2-3 more needed); 1 dessert which is a cobbler( 5 more needed).

Please, no repeats. (that’s why I listed everything). Call Lori Kratochvil or Gail Duchamp ASAP and tell them what you are bringing.
Beverages will be provided by the club.

Festivities for the evening will include a 50/50 with all monies going to the winners, a brown bag auction,(***directions to follow) as well as a silent auction, so bring extra cash!! Tickets will be sold for the silent auction, which will include prizes and gift certificates. As for the brown bag, here is how it works: Find a Shop-Rite bag. Fill it with an item (glass, china, or otherwise) worth at LEAST $10(more like $15). Decorate the bag. Easy!

It has been fun bringing you “all the news that’s fit to print” (or unfit!)
during this 2010-2011 season, and I hope to be back with the next newsletter in late August . (We will alert everyone if the Sept. date is changed b/c of the Labor Day Weekend.) In the meantime, have a relaxing, fun-filled 90 days, better known as”SUMMER”!!!

See you soon,
June

Hi, Everyone!

A FOOL and his money are soon parted….There’s no FOOL like an old FOOL…
Everyone enjoys a bit of TomFOOLery now and then…FOOLS rush in where angels fear to tread…. (and my husband’s favorite) My mama didn’t raise no FOOL….
BEWARE: April Fool’s Day is fast approaching, so don’t be caught napping!

If you did not make March’s meeting, which was attended by 36 members, you not only missed some important info but a great presentation as well. Here are all the major highlights for your reading pleasure:

Craig reported that there was $6696 in our treasury. Many show expenses were already covered, but we still had $1800 outstanding for the show hall rental. On the positive side, he had not as yet deposited all the monies that came in for the booth rentals.

One of our main discussions for the evening centered on a future club bus trip that will be taken in the early fall. Several members had researched places to visit some of which included the Moravian Museum and Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA, the MMOA in NYC which has a traveling exhibit until August, The Historical Society Museum of NJ in Trenton, the Dupont, Delaware Wintertour, the Brooklyn Museum, and Wheaton Village to be combined w/the Columbus, NJ Flea. More discussion this month.

The “Whats-it” table (which, by the way, garnered its name b/c people in the early days of the club used to refer to glass that they could not identify as “what is it?”…later shortened to “what’s it”…thought you’d like to know!) with ID’s by Walter and Tom included a Pilgrim mushroom, a Fostoria handled server, a Cambridge crystal flower frog, a Cambridge footed divided relish, and a red Fostoria “Lafayette” patterned plate.

During the program segment of the evening, Roger Loucks morphed into Ralph Kramden for an engaging 45-minute presentation on transportation collectibles with a heavy emphasis on buses. When Roger was a young boy, he and his family lived in West Orange; since his mom didn’t drive, they always took the bus, especially to Newark. And to make it even sweeter, buses would end their routes near his house! When a nearby luncheonette that was often frequented by bus drivers closed for a 2 week vacation, he and his brother opened a stand and sold soda and other items to the drivers; this, in fact, was how they got to know all the drivers.

It wasn’t until 1989, though, that he began his collecting phase at the Edison Antique Show. Bored with being there, he began looking in the cases and remarked that he remembered this and that as a kid. Thus began a 20plus years’ worth of an amazing hobby that includes models, sinage, badges, postcards, lighters, china, manuals, and much more! “It’s an expensive hobby is you want the premiere stuff, “Roger quipped. Most of the evening was divided into 2 parts: the formation of the Greyhound Bus Lines in l913 and showing us some of his most prized items which included an old fare box, a 1940’s Trailways brochure holder, a Greyhound bus driver’s hat, a large “Golden Eagle” bus emblem, a Greyhound clock from one of their bus terminals, Shenango china used in their terminal restaurants, an unopened pack of GH playing cards, a big Public Service bus emblem, and the most astounding item: a HUGE SIDE of a GH bus!! “Smart people grabbed pieces of buses that were being scrapped so idiots like me could buy them!” he said with a knowing laugh. He admitted “e-Bay is his savior” these days b/c he still enjoys collecting. “The only thing I’m an expert in is spending money, but I don’t buy for investment; I buy for pleasure,” he concluded.

APRIL MEETING
Our next meeting will be AFTER THE SHOW and will take place on Wednesday,
6 April commencing at 7:30. The program for the evening will be a presentation on BLENKO GLASS by Peter Wade who got his start when he liked the colors of Blenko but got them confused w/those of Pilgrim glass, so he started collecting both! He has managed to collect 50 pieces since he began his quest 5 years ago. He will teach us how to ID pieces and discuss his most interesting items.

I’m sorry, but I do not have the refreshment list, so if you signed up, you know the drill! Want to donate?? Call Lori Kratochvil or Gail Ducahmp.

SPRING GLASS SHOW
Our spring glass show is fast approaching! Dealers are busy packing for the upcoming weekend and hoping that this show is as successful as the fall one was. Once again, the dates are this Friday, 1 April (6-10P.M.) and Saturday, 2 April (10-4). All club members are reminded to bring baked goods to the church hall by 5 P.M. Friday; dealers doing the show are requested, if possible, to donate as well in order to take the burden off the remaining club members who are not doing the show. If you cannot donate, perhaps you can spare an hour helping at the door or in the kitchen.

Here’s to a great show! Here’s to spring, albeit a bit wintry! Here’s to us!
June Lee

Dear DG Valentines,

WHAT IS LOVE? To quote the 60’s song with that title, “It’s 5 feet of Heaven in a ponytail.” That may not be the definition that suits everyone, so if you will allow me, I’d like to take a few liberties (since February is synonymous with Valentine’s Day) and talk about “love” using song titles with that magic word in the title. (song titles in caps followed by year it was popular)

Ah…..YOUNG LOVE! (’57) Remember when you were a TEENAGER IN LOVE (’59)?
Even though your parents said it was only A TEENAGE CRUSH (’57), you proclaimed that you had just finished reading THE BOOK OF LOVE (’58) and that he/she was your
DREAM LOVER (’59). The two of you would spend hours writing LOVE LETTERS IN THE SAND (’57) near THE SEA OF LOVE (’59). Before the waves washed away your precious sentiments, you’d hurry to read the words that you had written: ”I CAN’T
STOP LOVING YOU(’62) and “I’LL NEVER FAL IN LOVE AGAIN”(’69)

However, APRIL LOVE (’57) doesn’t always last. When one of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF LOVE is broken and your TRUE LOVE (’56) can no longer say WE GOT LOVE (’59)well….it’s BYE,BYE, LOVE (’57)

You were sad. You couldn’t eat or sleep. After all, people in the know always advertised that LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING (’55). What was wrong with you??!!
A few misery-filled weeks after telling your friends that they CAN’T BUY ME LOVE(’64), a cute looking chick/guy just happened to pull up next to you in their ’58 Chevy convertible, and you secretly remarked,”UH OH, I’M FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN!” (’60)
As a brief P.S. to all this nonsense, if you were not a young teen during the time these songs were popular, I apologize, but “I gotta’ go with what I know!”

Now on to the more serious business at hand…

More than 35 DG members braved the cold to attend the first meeting of 2011, There was much conviviality present as members bought and sold glass at a table that is set up at each meeting, conversed with people that had not seen in a while(Rich Tritschler/Bob Bracken), or sipped the warming soup that was provided as part of the hospitality table. Although the fall show was discussed in more depth at the Christmas party, Paul once again remarked that overall it was a great success financially as well as for the dealers. After paying the tab @ Portobello’s ($1800), the treasury still has close to $8000. Contracts for the spring show (April 1-2) have already gone out via e-mail/ snail mail. That familiar chant of “Trip! Trip!” was back. Several ideas were discussed including a return to the Corning Museum or a visit to the Westchester Glass Show in April. I brought up the fact that the bus co. we hire does not allow its drivers to be out more than 12 hours, so we are looking for places with a radius of 2 to 2 ½ hours. Many members said they would check into possible destinations and bring back info for the February meeting.

Chris Madison, who is a twice-yearly participant in the Birchwood Manor Antique Show in Whippany, provided members with free passes. Thanks, Chris!

Bob Bracken’s 91-year-old dad is doing much better after suffering a stroke; he thanked all for their concern. Adele is on the mend after a recent bout with pneumonia.

After Walter and Tom talked about the Whats-it? table (items included both a Heisey “Orchid” and a “Moondrops” piece), we broke for an especially well-laden refreshment table filled with fruit, cheese and crackers, soup and bread, and desserts. If you are one of the kind individuals who signed up for February’s meeting ( I do not have a list), think along the lines of something hot ( we have an oven), fruit, bagels, cheese, etc. for a nice change. Whatever you bring, of course, is always greatly appreciated!

Ken’s program entitled (I’m paraphrasing, so excuse me)”How Glassware Got Its Name” not only enlightened us but also made us lightheaded at the same time! His super gorgeous and expensive array of glassware (mostly Cambridge, what else?) ranged from cordials to snifters to goblets with a myriad of other types in-between. We were all getting a bit “tipsy” while imagining what a martini or Mai Tai or brandy might taste like
in one of these colorful holders. He kept us spellbound while he told us about the background of each of the glasses and how they came to hold the drink that they did.
“Inbibe” was certainly the word of the evening, but all we had to drink was coffee!
Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday evening, 2 February beginning as close to 7:30 as possible. The program for the evening will be TRANSPORTATION COLLECTIBLES presented by Roger Loucks. Garnering most of his items from either
e-Bay or antique shows, his 20-year collection focuses on items that relate to both buses and trolleys from the 1930’s through the 1950’s. When I asked him whether there would be anything pertaining to the world’s #1 bus driver, Ralph Kramden, (AKA Jackie Gleason)he said, “No, not so far.” Sounds like it’s going to be a wonderful program fraught with memories for those of us who grew up riding either mode of transportation!

Until we meet next week, a thought that may help to warm you up: Yankee pitchers and catchers report to spring training in little more than 2 weeks!

See you soon,
June

                                                             Happy Holidays to all from the NJDGC.

                                                   The next meeting will be held on Janurary 5th 2011