Shot of the Week

Each edition of SOTW will begin with some stats on sales in the past 28 days to give us all a sense of where the hobby is going. In the past four weeks, 142 pre-pro glass auctions closed, 41 closed with no bidder, average price of the glasses that sold was $18.86. Two glasses sold for >$100, none sold for >$1,000.

Welcome to 2010 and a new decade of sniping, stealing, and slugging it out on eBay!!! Let's hope the coming of the new year encourages sellers to list some INTERESTING shots because the Poo-Bah is dying of boredom right now. Maybe he's just becoming jaded? Too many glasses have passed before his eyes, and he now sits embittered, unshaven, unwashed, whiskey glass in hand, sniping at everything and everyone that moves.

Nah!!!!

This past month included the Christmas-New Year void which kinda put a damper on the Bay. That's the time when sellers and bidders alike drop offline to visit with relatives, shop, watch TV, and in many cases shovel snow. Dedicated (read "don't have a life") glasslusters know that The Void represents a week when they don't have to watch their backs too closely and they're pretty much guaranteed to pick up bargains, but when sellers ain't selling....... different story.

Here's a round-up of the "Best of the Bay" in the past few weeks:

First, two glasses that didn't sell. Both are strictly fringe-collector interest only, but both caught the Poo Bah's eye because a) their asking price was wayyyy out there, and b) they would both have made highly unusual additions to the collection, even though not whiskey glasses. First was a fair glass with George Washington's head embossed on the base. The seller noted that it was engraved on the side with the date of the Chicago World Fair (1893) and the name of the owner - "Amelia". The seller wanted $1,250 for it - not surprisingly, no one took him up on his offer.

Only $1,250 - what, no bidders???	Tempting at $395...

The second was a paperweight glass. It stands 2-1/4" tall - the same as the regular thin-walls we're all familiar with, but the base of this one contains a thick domed cane design seen in many old-time paperweights. It went unsold at $395 but the Poo Bah was sorely tempted to take a shot at this one. Very purrrty, to say the least.

The Poo Bah particularly liked this listing because it featured a print-out of a page from the database, complete with Google ads! It went unsold at $12, but mrkmitch later picked it up on the relist for only $9.99.

This past month saw two "fancy" enamel transfer glasses list within days of each other and both were STOLEN. Neither were whiskies, which may have had something to do with the final bid price, but gee folks, how often does a glass like this show up for grabs???

The first was a souvenir from Postville, IA. Nice gold rim, nice colorful label, nice take-home price of $54.00 for Arizona Ed Sipos (azsaloon). There can't be too many of these glasses out there - this is only the second time I've seen one. The other is in the Poo-Bah's display case.

Four days after the Postville glass listed, this Prez McKinley commemorative glass dropped into the Bay. Again, there was minimal interest and deweynut walked off with it for $54.77. flubberdoo was the only other glasslusting regular to show up on the "also ran" list.

Probably the best and most desirable etched glass to list in the past few weeks fell victim to poor photography. It's shown at right - it's a Union Club, probably from New York . Getting good pics of shotglasses is tough, I know from countless hours of experience, but if you're going to sell them on eBay then you have to have a nice sharp image that's big enough for the punters to get worked up over. A good picture can boost final bids by 100% or more. Conversely, a bad picture can sink even the most desirable glass.

The pre-pro featured at right was put up by Joe Walsh (walsh632) - it looks to be a wonderful glass and if the photo was in focus, we might be able to see the details of the etching. Indeed , it looks as if it might be a classic pre-pro but -- since the photo is blurry and there are no other examples listed that we might use to gauge desirability -- it's really difficult to make any conclusions about the quality of the etching and calculating a snipe value is something of a gamble. Ultimately it sold to bluroc (the inveterate gambler) for $177.50 with oldwhiskey snapping at his heels, but I'm betting it would have added another $75 or so if the pic had been decent.

So what about a pick for SOTW?

The Poo-Bah is a sucker for souvenir glasses, so this month's pick has to be the "How to Pack Pork in Pittsburgh" that was mentioned in the chat room:

Comic Pack Pork Pittsburg Pre Pro Shot Glass

Dimensions; 2 1/2" x 2"

Description; Unusual pre pro shot glass. Comic feature on this glass of a pig mounting another pig with a woman with a long stick in her hand standing behind them. The glass reads "How to Pack Pork In Pittsburg." The glass is very thin and multi vertical paneled sides around the glass. The rim still has most of its thin gold ring around the lip. I don't know if this was a souvenir or a shot glass for liquor but nice detail and unique subject matter.

Condition; The shot glass is in very good condition with no sick glass, chips, breaks or cracks. Modest reserve!