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But ultimately, as is typical of Baltimore, I came away with little else. Had it not been for Paul, I'd have had only the Truog novelty shot to show for the day's efforts. The reason is that most of the good glasses sell the day before during dealer set-up, an issue I'll come back to later.
| Once I'd been through the show once, it was time to savor all it had to offer and take more careful note of who the sellers were. First, I stopped by the Federation's table and spent some time with Bottle & Extras editor, Kathy Hopson-Sathe. Kathy is responsible for turning my scribblings into the Random Shots articles as you see them printed in the magazine. As I stood talking to Kathy, I couldn't help notice that there were still people streaming though the entrance. The Baltimore show is always well-attended but this year was notable for a crowd that was still strong at the 3:00 pm closing time. Bob Ford, the show's Chair, later reported a gate of over 1,200. This may not sound like a lot of people, but many clubs would give their eye teeth for even half that number. Contrast this with the Federation show in Grand Rapids, MI last summer, where sellers sat twiddling their thumbs and one could have driven a gas-guzzling Hummer at 60 mph between the tables without fear of hitting anyone on show Sunday! |  |
Now that I've been attending bottle shows for several years, I've come to know
many of the sellers and collectors and it's difficult to both take in all the
show has to offer and touch base with everyone. I missed catching up with Dale Murschell, who had a gaudy display of fancy canes and other whimsies. I did drop
by table L6, which was hosted by long time friend of pre-pro, Andy Regrut.
| Andy restricts his collection to western PA so you may not recognize his eBay handle (linsey_3), but he regularly sends in scans and photos of his collection for the site. At some point we're going to add his shots to the database, including this wonderful Toll-Gate glass from Klinordlinger of Pittsburgh, PA. |  |