I was chatting about the wonders of shot-glass collecting with an attorney recently, something I'm always a little sheepish about because 99.999999% of the American public equate shot-glass collecting with either "dipsomaniac", "loser", or quite possibly "dipsomaniacal loser".   Admitting being a shot glass collector always precipitates an urgent need to explain that they're NOT worthless pieces of junk, at least not of the kind can be found in every airport souvenir shop and natural attraction between here and Timbuktu.  Rather, they are fragile antiques bearing inscriptions created by artisans of yesteryear. 

Not that such pleas are necessarily sufficient to change the mind of the person now looking at me (or worse, my spouse) with great pity in their eyes, but it makes me feel a whole lot better.  Anyway, to cut a long and probably tedious story short, the attorney in question collects telephones.  She and her husband have an entire wall covered in them (over 100!) representing "Telephones Through the Ages", and all are connected to jacks.  Yikes. 

Enough to put a sensitive soul into cardiac arrest every time a telemarketer called, and imagine trying to catch the plot twists in the latest installment of "Law and Order" when the living-room threatens to implode with sound!  Yet another argument in favor of pre-pro shot-collecting,  just in case you still need to justify the expense and potential humiliation suffered at cocktail parties (do they still have those?).  The only time my shots make a sound is when a heavy military chopper flies overhead, which makes them all starting jingling in their cases, rotating millimeter by millimeter until the labels are all facing the rear.  I really need to hot-glue them to their shelves (just kidding!  Please do not try this at home - severe injury to self and/or collection may result).

eBay is still in the throes of its latest round of formatting contortions, an effort to make itself more attractive in response to its dwindling stock price and user base.  I think the latter has more to do with the ridiculous fees and broken feedback system than the look of its logo (which is due to change in October) but, regardless, it's playing havoc with all the hosted and resident sniper programs.  You may also have noticed that the color of that pretty little star next to your user id has changed - in fact, I'm sure you can barely contain your excitement in waiting to see what the eBay geeks are going to come up with next! 

All of which is good, because there's bugger-all shot-glass related excitement in the 'Bay at the moment.   Labor Day is now well behind us and we should be seeing gobs of gorgeous glass starting to list, but the pickings continue to be limited in the wake of the traditional summer lull.  This stands in stark contrast to the contents of the sales page here at pre-pro, where top-of-the-line glasses in fabulous condition have been selling the day they list, showing that there's still enormous demand for the rare and desirable even as values climb well into the three-digit range.   Puuurrty glass, no?

Here's three "splinter glass auctions" that had me wondering in the past few weeks. 

"What do you mean splinter?"

Oh.  As in, "auctions that make me scratch my head".  Duh.  Old joke.  Seemed funny when I was 10, at least.      

Elgin, IL seems to have a loyal collector following and the glass at far left below is a pretty example from Philip Freiler, so perhaps $76.67 is not so much for a plain text glass.  A year ago, maybe, but now?  Hmmmm.

Scritch, scratch, scritch. 

How about the Huntington, W.VA. glass, center?  VA is one thing, W VA is quite another - maybe $35 - what do think?????

 Scritch, scratch, scritch.  This one listed at $125 at the end of July, and the Poobah took note and figured he'd be re-logging it into the database once a week for the next 22 weeks until the price dropped to $9.99.   NOT SO.  It sold on August 4 for the asking price of $125 to discodave.  The Poobah is grateful NOT to have to relog this one, but....  hmmmmmm.

The Edelweiss Rye or Clara Belle first listed back in August with a $1.00 opening bid and a reserve, and -- snicker snicker -- a $215 bin.  The Poobah almost saved this listing for the hee hee page, but we have long since stepped through the looking glass and upside down is now rightside up.  These glasses are relatively common and much despised by collectors for their non-conventional globe shape, so asking even $20 for one would seem excessive.  The auction closed without hitting the reserve on August 25, with whatchagot513 in pole position at $53.66.  The seller relisted immediately with a reserve and bin of $155, closing 7 days later with whatchagot513 in pole position at $15.56.  So now the Poobah is figuring the glass will miraculously disappear and leave us alone, but no, it relisted immediately with an opening bid of $75, no reserve, no bin.  It sold seven days later.  For $75, with old watchahisname the winner.  Scritch, scratch, Ow! Damn, that hurt. Where's the tweezers....  

Here's the tale of seven bears and Little Red Riding Hood.  Methinks there were eight bears originally, but probably one got eaten by LRRH without leaving so much as a belch or a f---  eedback.  :)

The bears - which appeared on a Golden State Wine Co. glass from Los Angeles, CA, were offered in a sequential series of auctions by coltboy36.  The seller noted in the last of these listings that he/she had "found several of these glasses in the basement of an old Los Angeles Hotel just a block or so from the Main Street Address."

The same auction photograph was used in all 7 listings, but there's no reason to suspect that they were not all in near-mint condition and even at $75 were probably bargains given that I've only seen one adrift in the 'Bay in the previous 10 years.  Rich Lucchesi (rcl-1949), who's usually on the seller end of eBay transactions, managed to grab two of them before the porridge went cold.

Enough rambling, what about a SOTW?

Tough decision, given the lack of any clear choices.   Here are three runners up that might easily have fit the bill: 

It's not that often we see a pre-Pro Jack Daniel glass on eBay and they usually sell high.  Perhaps the market for them is softening or perhaps the bar glass at lower left is just too boring to warrant more than the sales price of $204.38.  Can't have a boring SOTW, just wouldn't do.

I love the American Navy - a classic pre-Pro picture glass from the Poobah's old stomping ground in PA.  You'd have thought that this one would have gone higher that the JD glass, instead it's a lakerdude33 steal at $104.50.  But although a classic picture glass, it's one we seen every other year or so, so not quite an SOTW. 

The Cabin Creek (lower right) is a stellar picture glass, but there's something very fishy about it.  It's probably pre-pro.  It waddles like a pre-pro glass.  It quacks like a pre-pro glass.  But it smells like a goose for some reason.  Can't have a goose as SOTW.

Ultimately, the Father Marquette from Cincinnati wins the Poobah's vote for the most interesting offering from the past few weeks.  It's a crying shame that this glass has rim damage, but it could easily be ground down if one had a mind. 

The image is so strong and powerful that this glass just begs to be put in the "best of the collection" display case - maybe next to a Bride of York so that the Father has something to look at until Arky Joe decides to sell out once again.