Meeting Minutes December 7, 2008

Transcription

1 Since 1972 Midwest Glass Chatter December 2008 Club Officers Dave Rittenhouse, Pres CR 900 W. Farmland, IN Jean Harbron, V.P. 245 E. Oak St. Anderson, IN Anne Szopa, Treas U.S. Highway 35 Economy, IN Joe Coulson, Sec Collingswood Ln. Fishers, IN Norman Barnett, Pres. Emeritus P.O. Box 38 Flat Rock, IN Membership The Midwest Glass Chatter is a monthly publication and is a forum through which collectors can share information. Membership cost is $15.00 per year, per family, due each December 31. All jar/bottle related collectors are welcome. Send to MAFJBC, Attn: Joe Coulson, Collingswood Ln, Fishers, IN Next Club Show January 11, 2009 Make your reservation now! The hotel s phone number is Meeting Minutes December 7, 2008 The December club meeting was held at Minnetrista in Muncie, Indiana. Club president Dave Rittenhouse opened the meeting and welcomed 13 members. Anne Szopa presented the Treasurer s report for November. We had some income from purchases of the Parable of the Jar DVD as well as membership renewals. Dave showed everyone a Christmas card that the club received from Pam Selenak of the Los Angeles Historical Bottle Club. The LAHBC will be hosting the National bottle show next year in Pomona, California (July 31). Dave told us that he had already received 25 contracts for our January Show. He said that two or three new dealers will be coming, and a few are going to be there that haven t been in a while. He has received lots of phone calls about the show. We are all hoping for decent traveling weather. Kay Rittenhouse told us that Pat Van Dyke s husband John has been very ill. Kay also told us that Bill Dudley is recovering well from a recent eye surgery. Please keep them both in your thoughts and prayers. Holiday Greetings from Kay and Dave Rittenhouse! The January club meeting will be replaced by our famous Winter Show & Sale. The show headquarters will be at The Signature Inn ( ). The Jelly Jammers will meet at the hotel at 10am on Saturday, January 10th. Wayne Lowry may be giving a talk at noon on Saturday about his recent findings in advanced glass repair. The Fruit Jar Get-Together & Auction will be at the hotel starting at 1:30pm on Saturday. The show location will be the Horizon Convention Center, and the show will occur 9am to 2pm on Sunday, January 11th. Call Dave Rittenhouse (show chairman) at or Jean Harbron (show information) at for more details and assistance. Everyone is encouraged to bring an item for Show and Tell during the Fruit Jar Get- Together! Happy New Year and see you all at the show. Joe Coulson, Secretary

2 Page 2 Presentation on Ball Christmas Ornaments Evansville, Ind.) over to another company named Princeton in It is interesting to note that the Medallic series of ornaments has a zinc medal in the center. The zinc insert was produced at Ball s Greenville, Tennessee plant (which also made the zinc penny blanks!). During this time period there were other companies that made plastic Christmas ornaments in similar styles. Sue Wilson told us that Folgers gave some away with their coffee in Everyone really enjoyed Dick s talk on the Christmas ornaments. It looks like several new collections are going to start as a result of this! Dick Cole brought his entire collection of Ball acrylic Christmas ornaments for us to look at. Dick also gave us a short presentation on them. Ball started making Christmas ornaments in This is a time when the company was experimenting with plastics in order to diversify their business. The Christmas ornaments are made of plastic which is pressed and etched with a design. The idea was that the ornaments would look just like crystal. Ball never put their name or logo on the ornaments. The cardboard boxes that they come in do say Ball on them. Ball tried to sell things outside of supermarkets, which is where their canning jar expertise was, but they didn t know how to do it. Selling Christmas ornaments was not like selling fruit jars. Dick showed us that there were different packages for each of the different ornament series. Ball made ornaments from 1975 to Sometimes the ornaments would come in a blue felt bag or a grey one or a red one (inside the box). Even the boxes themselves had small variations in the print on them. Dick wrote a complete reference to the Ball Christmas ornaments. This was work that he did while employed as Industrial Curator at the Minnetrista museum. Ball turned the ornaments business (based in After the club meeting Dick and Joe (who also brought his entire ornament collection) swapped their duplicate Christmas ornaments to help each other fill holes in their collections. Some of the ornaments came with a stand

3 Page 3 Pictures from our Christmas Dinner A closeup of the food table before everyone jumps in and wipes it out. We had ham and noodles. Mike Mosier brought home-preserved corn again a big hit! I don t think we have ever had a meeting without a dessert table and this time was no exception. Meredith brought her famous home-made pecan pie. A closeup of the gift table before the Dirty Santa action begins. Members draw a number from a cup to determine gift picking order. We had a good turn out for our annual Christmas pitch-in dinner. Nobody ever goes away hungry. Everybody brings something really delicious. Meredith Robinson chats with Norm and Junne Barnett. Joe Coulson with his gift exchange prize an Alltrista retirement lid. Joe thought about hiding in the restroom to keep from having his gift stolen. Mike and Gusty Monaghan chat with John Elwood. Sue Wilson shares her gift unwrapping (and stealing ) excitement with Anne Szopa. Mike Mosier watches as Anne Szopa makes her rounds inspecting which gift she is going to steal.

4 Page 4 Club History by Junne Barnett [Editor s Note: The following excerpts come from an article titled Club History written by Junne Barnett in the January 1978 issue of the Glass Chatter. This information is being printed in honor of our club s 35 th Winter Show and Sale anniversary!] The idea for forming a bottle and jar club in Indiana was born at the St. Louis show in the spring of Roger Emery of Hagerstown, Indiana and Norman Barnett of Flat Rock, Indiana were discussing the fact that there were no clubs in the area for collectors. After a discussion with several other dealers and collectors they decided there was a definite interest in forming a club. Neil Wood, the publisher of Bottle Trader, printed notices in his magazine for interested people to contact the Emery s. On Nov. 12, 1972 twenty-two collectors and dealers met at the fire station in Flat Rock, Indiana. The name Midwest Antique Fruit Jar and Bottle Club was selected as the majority of the members were jar collectors and the bottle people were antique bottle people. The first years dues were set at $10 per family, and the second Sunday in the month was set for the meeting date as there were members from Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The first stated meeting of the new club was held Jan. 14, 1973 and the following officers were elected: Pres. Norm Barnett; Vice Presidents Louis Pavey and Virginia Cowden; Sec. Joan Emery; and Treas. Roger Emery. By-laws were presented and a motion was made to affiliate with the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. As early as June 1973 members began thinking about a show and sale for the club and in Sept. voted to hold their first show Jan. 13, 1974 at Richmond, Indiana. The first show was declared a success very little profit but lots of fun and great experiences. It was decided immediately to do it again. A first try at the banquet was when Hal Wagner, Treas. Of FOHBC was Roasted. Charles and Jean Goff started the club s first newsletter in March During discussion and plans for the 1974 show it was decided to have noncompetitive displays, and give ribbons for People s Choice and Most Educational. Special pottery award jars were given to each displayer and have since become a tradition with the award jars depicting some type of canning jar. Fifty-three members of our club attended or participated in the 1976 National Bicentennial Show. Norm Barnett was responsible for organizing and conducting the first nationwide fruit jar gettogether, held Monday after the Expo. Eighty collectors from 17 states and Canada attended. This meeting led to the jar get-together held prior to our Richmond Show in Jar get-togethers are also being held in conjunction with other club shows and will again precede our Richmond Show in Early in 1977 the club decided to change the format of the newsletter. Previously our editors had done a splendid job with a very low budget, however, we were ready to expand and Rick and Becky Norton took on the project. It proved more expensive than thought so the club purchased a Potter and Bodine barrel to use as a raffle jar at the 1978 Richmond Show. Proceeds went to offset the newsletter expenses. The notice as it appeared in the December 1972 issue of The Bottle Trader

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6 MIDWEST ANTIQUE FRUIT JAR & BOTTLE CLUB A jarrific place to share and learn Send articles and info here: Joe Coulson, Editor Collingswood Ln. Fishers, IN JCoulson@LeaderJar.com ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED WE RE ON THE WEB! The most stolen gift in our Dirty Santa gift exchange was this stack of Ball acrylic Christmas ornaments. It changed hands many times during the gift exchange. Anne Szopa went home with this prize. She was able to make the last steal since her number was 1. The first person to pick a prize is also the last person to get a chance at exchanging. Announcements The January club meeting will be replaced by our famous Winter Show & Sale. The show headquarters will be at The Signature Inn ( ). The Jelly Jammers will meet at the hotel at 10am on Saturday, January 10th. The Fruit Jar Get-Together & Auction will be at the hotel starting at 1:30pm on Saturday, January 10th. The show location will be the Horizon Convention Center, and the show will occur 9am to 2pm on Sunday, January 11th. Call Dave Rittenhouse (show chairman) at or Jean Harbron (show information) at for more details and assistance. Greg Spurgeon s North American Glass will soon be conducting the Robinson Museum Part II auction. The auction bidding will open later in January. It s time to renew your club membership for 2009! Dues are $15 per calendar year (Jan. to Dec.). Please send your renewals and address changes to: MAFJBC Membership, c/o Joe Coulson, Collingswood Ln., Fishers, IN For those of you that like to plan ahead, the February 1st club meeting will be at Minnetrista in Muncie, IN at 1:30pm in the Cantina. Bring recently purchased jars, bottles or go-withs. For meeting directions or information, contact Dave Rittenhouse at