FOHBC Show, Collinsville, 2007

As usual, Paul had the largest selection of glass of any dealer there, with plenty to interest beer and shot collectors. Even though I'd seen his sales stock less than a month previously at the Shupps' Grove bottle fest in PA, I still managed to find a couple of new glasses that I couldn't live without, including a UECo Elk Ridge glass that I'd not seen previously.

The reason for him wanting me to stop by was not at his table but rather under an adjacent dealer's. When the owner himself was eventually located and permission to look secured, Paul gingerly removed the elastic band from a 10" x 16" x 2" cardboard box and opened it up. It was divided into shot-sized partitions, about 8 of which contained a glass. He pulled them out, one at a time. There were three different variants of a glass from Schwabacher Bros. of Peoria, IL.

All were mint or close to it and, although I'd seen one of them once before on eBay, the other two were new to me. Five of the 8 glasses were red-etched and lusciously desirable. I knew more that couple of individuals who would give their right arm -- OK, maybe a pinkie -- for one of these beauties!

Apparently the new owner had been working on this deal for a long time and I was lucky to be given the chance to see them up close. Later the next day, the owner graciously agreed to let me take them over to an impromptu studio I had set up at June and Wayne (The Jar Doctor) Lowry's table and photo-document them for the database.

With the show closing, I pulled my car alongside Paul Gronquist's and took possession of two boxes of wrapped shots, two large binders, a box of miscellaneous diaries, coin purses, knives and other relics from Kansas City past, and a tray of loose ephemera.

Most of this I would take back down to Atlanta with me to work on in the coming months, but the shots needed to be photographed and measured by morning. I didn't to want risk taking them south and then entrusting them to USPS for return to Paul . Plus there was the fact that I'd just finished moving 2,000+ shots from my own collection and I'd had more than enough exposure to bubble wrap to last me a lifetime and then some!

I knew I was in for a long night, but Paul has some superb material in his collection that made it well worth while: here's a random sample: