The Ken Schwartz Collection

Cataloging Shot Glasses for Addition to the Databases at www.pre-pro.com

Introduction

Meet Your Host

Temple of Glass

Chat with Ken

Shot glasses:

Showcased

Indexed, A-Z

Collectors who wish to have their glasses added to the databases here at pre-pro.com are requested to provide a good, sharp photograph of their glass and a complete set of measurements (i.e. height, width at rim, width at base). I'm more than happy to undertake the task of photographing and measuring myself if need be, either on site or via the mail.

The addition of Ken's glasses to the database was made possible because the owner himself photographed all 860+ glasses and then submitting the raw images on a CD-ROM. Glasses look their best when they are clean, so Ken first washed every one of the glasses in his collection: a monumental task in its own right. Even when kept in a closed cabinet, glasses attract air-borne dust and grease and slowly become clouded with a film of dirt and oil over time.

Once I received the CD-ROM, I adjusted the orientation of the images, cropped them, and then resized them for optimal presentation on the web. I then began a database file for Ken, logging each glass in with a unique ID number based on the owner's initials (KWS), researched their background, matched them with the distiller or wholesaler who gave them away, and noted if and where they appeared in HSG and/or HSG.

Ken did not provide me with measurements of the glasses, but we were lucky in that Barb Edmonson had already done this job for us. The majority of Ken's collection was cataloged for inclusion in her two classic reference texts, although many of the glasses were then owned by Ralph Hollibaugh before passing them on to Ken. Thus, I was comfortable using the measurements noted in HSG and OASG, although the database entries note that they have not been confirmed either by the owner or myself.

A primary goal of my visiting Ken was to take measurements of as many glasses as possible in the time available. I use a pair of digital calipers, a voice recorder, and a voice-recognition software package to speed the process, allowing me to document on the order of 300 glasses per hour.

But as you can see from the photo above (bottom left), my databasing efforts wreaked havoc with Ken's neatly ordered display cases. Not only did I leave greasy fingerprints on many of his prized glasses, I neglected to ensure either that the spacing between glasses was consistent or even that the labels were facing out. Sorry Ken!

I was fortunate that Ken maintains his display cases in alphabetical order. That made the task of finding a particular glass very easy, although it does create problems when a new one is added to the crowded display. Imagine finding a mint "Alter Bismark" bitters glass for a song, only to be faced with the prospect of shuffling 800 glasses one space to the right in order to insert the new glass in the correct position!