Pomona National Show Report 2009

The show is over and here is the total for my spending....best find $25.00 for a whiskey barrel tag from John Morrison of Clubhouse Whiskey Fame. You can see photos of it posted on the glob top whiskey blog by Roger Terry. It was dug in Nevada of all places many years ago. $65.00 for a copy of the trademark from Roger for this whiskey, which had really nice graphics. $45.00 for early admission and $400. for a Will and Finck Shaving Mug from San Francisco from Bobby McDearmon. He paid $350. for it in 1998, as I found the receipt for it, so $50. more over the ten year period seemed fair. Total expenditure at the show itself $535. but the memories are priceless. Actually thats the least I have spent at any show in recent memory, and the feeling of going home with your pockets full ain't too bad either....... Dave Guthrie purchased a nice Postel from Ken Morrill and I sold Dave a split applied top John Fauser, US Bottling Co., S.F. Cal. Ken also had a Beer Steam bottling Goepert in Amber Quart one of the early 1880's beers. Ken purchased a pint Lemps Bottling San Francisco from Mike Henness, so everyone seemed to pickup at least one item to bring home. The show was a smaller show for a National Show, and I will personally look forward to Reno next year, as I always seem to come home a winner from that one. While I fully support the FOHBC, I think the hobby has a lot of grey hair, and we really need to mentor younger collectors to perpetuate the hobby, otherwise we all stand to lose what is a terrific way to appreciate history and build a collection. I finally got to meet Warren Friedrich, who spoke on Western Bitters and his forthcoming book on Western Glass Manufacturers, which appears to be a very well researched volume of work. My hats off to you Warren, as I can appreciate the amount of work and research that goes into something like this. The worst part of the show was the sound of an entire table of glass crashing to the floor which made all attendees go silent...the legs of the tables had not been secured and the announcement came immediately for all dealers to check their legs to insure they were locked and could not collapse. Several others found their legs also unsecurred. Whose responsibility will this be? The show or the seller, position unclear at this juncture.........time will tell. The showed also lacked a significant number of regulars, many of whom are solid diggers, buyers and others who add to the inventory, Lou& Leisa Lambert, Ken Salazar, Mike Dolcini, Marty Hall, Tom Quinn, Judy Miyasaki, Louie Pellegini, Mike Mcintosh, Steve Abbott, The Bell Brothers, Tom Jacobs, etc.... all on vacation or digging I guess.