Pomona, 2009

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OK, I've babbled on long enough. All you're really interested in is in hearing the answers to the following questions: "did he find anything good", "did I miss anything," and "should I have made the effort to attend", correct? The short answers are "yes", "not much" and "probably not", the latter depending on your proximity to LA. Read on for the long version, or just check out the pics below.

Shots typically don't start appearing on tables until most of the bottles are out so I hadn't expected to make any immediate buys, but I made several circuits of the show floor without finding anything other than a purpled and faded Baer-Fox. I was seriously beginning to wonder if I'd be going home empty-handed. Then I noticed that a dealer near the entrance was filling a glass display case with shots, and my spirits finally rose. He ultimately put out six glasses, one a Wolf's Famous Distilling Co. from Kansas City and two Los Angeles Brewery Co. Mission Malt Tonic glasses. The Mission Malts appear regularly on eBay but I don't usually bid on them, but I made a deal on all six and FINALLY had a grocery bag of bundled glass to reward my long trip out west.

The next circuit around the room yielded a plain Cyrus Noble text glass and a tiny flared Samuels No 33 whiskey glass from Jacksonville, FL. The condition was not great - actually it's pretty bad now that I look with a more critical eye - but it was from FL and unlisted so far as I know.

After two more trips around the room, I made my way back over to Paul Van Vactor's table. He'd been putting out beer glasses when I'd passed previously. I'd seen him a few weeks ago at the Atlanta show so I knew what his shot-glass sales stock looked like, but was surprised to find that he had a Foust label-under sitting with a group of glasses out front. I reached for it and turned it over to see how much he wanted for it. It was marked at only $145! I was about to claim it for myself when an elderly gentleman to my right cradled the group protectively and told me that these were his! Ooops, sorry, didn't realize that they were taken. I subsequently discovered that this was Bob Mraz, a long-time collector who had recently lost his second wife and was back out hunting with a serious bout of glass-lust!

More on Bob later, but for now I focused on the other end of Paul's table, noticing a W A Lacey Whiskey from San Francisco that was in considerably better condition that the one I already had.

I also grabbed an unlisted glass from Detroit that featured an old-fashioned automobile with the brand name "Pride of Michigan". General Motor's bankruptcy had been filling the news in recent weeks, along with tales of Chrysler's near demise and ongoing troubles at Ford. The timeliness of the find and irony of this glass were poignant.

Paul also had an unlisted, multi-line text glass from TX, but the price was a little steep and I passed.

I chatted with Paul and Pat for a while, then ambled off. Virtually the dealers had completed their set-up by now and I figured there was little else to be had, so I headed off to the side of the show floor to take a few pictures for a show report.

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