The second question relates to the fact that one seldom finds good shots for sale at the Baltimore show, and the reason is, of course, that they all sell before the show opens to the public. The Baltimore show is unusual in that they have no early buyer session. Contrast this with the FOHBC show, for example, where a hefty fee allows you access to the show room while the dealers are setting up, and one can literally grab the good glasses while they are being pulled out of their boxes. Most local clubs allow dealers to begin setting up in peace and then allow early birds to have the show to themselves for a couple of hours before the doors open to the general public.  Again, early entry requires a premium fee, but it's trawling these sessions that separates the serious collectors from the casual. If you want the good glasses, this is when they sell.

Although I had suspected that all of the primo glass that comes to Baltimore was disappearing during dealer set-up, I'd never had the opportunity to test this theory until last year, when Ralph Van Brocklin invited me to join him as his show assistant. The Baltimore Bottle Club limits access to the set-up session to paid-up dealers and a single helper, so this was a generous offer that I seized with gratitude.

Set-up occurs on the Saturday afternoon and evening before show day, and it seemed strange to be pulling into the Community Center parking lot when the sun was waning rather than on the ascent. The Phys. Ed. center was an uncannily barren landscape of empty tables when I walked through the side door.

After connecting with Ralph and securing our badges, we took stock of what was unfolding before us. It was, in short, a feeding frenzy. Dealers were bringing in boxes from all sides and their assistants, if not pressed into service, were urgently running from one table to the next in search of expensive glass at bargain prices. I covered the room 5 or 6 times, spent approximately $500, and left at around 9 pm with some wonderful shots, including a much-prized label-under. The down-side to this access is that dealers have their hands full for the duration of the show on Sunday, and there's little time to explore all that it has to offer.  If one's interests extend beyond shots or bottles, that's a sobering trade-off and to be honest, even though I'm a dyed in the wool shot-collector, I don't know where I fall on the issue.

Bob Ford was forthright when asked why there's no early bird: this is the way dealers at the Baltimore show want it run because they want the chance to make some nice deals for themselves.  I can't argue with them on that, although if I were a paid-up member of the Baltimore Club, I might feel short-changed by this arrangement that puts dealers' interests before those of the membership.

So the inevitable question that remains is, "if you're a purist shot-collector, is the Baltimore show worth attending?". To the purist, and assuming that adding to collection was the only goal, I'd answer "probably not". I was a purist in the early days, I knew no-one, and I was so disappointed by the lack of shots that I stayed away for years. As my interests expanded beyond shots and I started to appreciate how much more the old liquor industry left behind (look at the old advertising, for example, the same artwork that we love to see on the glasses is there in perfect detail on the billheads and flyers), the more I grew to love the show. I even bought a few bottles along the way.

Before closing out this year's show, I dropped in on Bob Daly. The dealers were already melting away but Bob is a Philly bottle expert that I had corresponded with several years ago in attempts to understand how one goes about researching a vendor. He patiently guided me through the process and I've never had the chance to thank him in person. After introducing myself, the conversation turned to shots and he mentioned that he had three, that he knew nothing about them, and would I want to buy them?

They turned out to be three text-only Hayners. Now I need another Hayner like a proverbial hole in the head, but they were minty mint and I did owe the man a favor. So I bought them from him. Anyone else need another Hayner as a souvenir of The largest one-day bottle show in the world, 2006???

It WAS a spectacular show...

<< back    go to intro >>