Minutes
March 12, 2016
A much needed drizzle of rain did not dampen the spirit of the Great Plains Heisey Club's first meeting of 2016. Nineteen members and one guest made the trip to Glen Gall's home in Urbandale, Iowa. Glen's family manned the kitchen with Chef Tim, Marian, Peg, and Jim serving a delicious “lunch” – more of a wonderful full course dinner enjoyed by everyone present.
President John Mock called the meeting to order and welcomed our guest, Carol, sister of member Lehi German. Minutes and Treasurer’s report were approved. It was noted several GPHC members plan to attend the April Auction in Newark to further benefit HCA.
Trudy Mock's “Martha's Moment” was presented by proxy (John) as Trudy was in the hospital being monitored for a medication change. The Mocks had found a Peerless footed jelly with gold edging and a frosted foot. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder – some felt the piece was less than attractive, others saw it as attractively different.
Glen presented the program on tall candlesticks with a great reference handout and a table full of examples from his collection. Thank you, Glen, as we got to ask questions and examine the merchandise. Eric provided a clarifying paper on #20 Sheffield candlestick variations and other members added interesting facts and tidbits about candlesticks.
A new fund raising feature was introduced at this meeting – a blind raffle for a box of glass donated this time by John and Trudy. Members generously bought raffle tickets and, who else, our host Glen had the winning ticket. He then opened the box for all to enjoy and had the option to keep any or all of the pieces inside or resell some with the proceeds going to our treasury. So HCA will ultimately benefit from the raffle ticket sales and the sales value of the pieces Glen elected to resell. It was a fun and profitable event we decided to repeat at the next meeting with the box filled by Tom and Kathy.
John and Trudy donated a Cobel decanter with a Heisey Naval Academy etching as the Great Plains contribution to the June Convention auction. The members voted to include a $100 bill inside the decanter to increase the bidding value and ultimate donation to HCA.
It may have seemed like a long winter but our members used their time to search for Heisey to fill the Show & Tell table. Items on display included Crystolite: blown comport, ice bucket, and 14 inch shell sandwich plate. Animal related: large Elephant, Giraffe, Horsehead bookends, standing/balking Colts, Seahorse cocktail with honey amber stem, and Marshall decanter with Horsehead stopper. Creams & Sugars: footed 1189 Yeoman set/flamingo, Eileen set with pale gold iridescence, New Era set with Normandie etching, and Tudor sugar pourer/thin neck. Syrups: Earnshaw/cut and 363 Larkin with elaborate rock crystal cutting. 8070 Triple Band 1 and 2 oz. bars, Emogene vase/flamingo, Stanhope candlestick with Maytime etching, Groove and Slash jug, 8120 Hexagon Stem footed puff box with Minton-style gold band ... to name most but not all the items on a very large and crowded Show and Tell table.
Our usual 50/50 auction, Jean's jam/jelly sales, the new raffle event, and passing the hat for the meal (which Glen generously donated back to the club treasury) raised $544 that will eventually go for the benefit of HCA.
After all that it was time to adjourn for dessert – an array fit for royalty. Thanks to Glen for getting 2016 off to such a good start for the GPHC. The next meeting will be May 14 at the home of Chris and Lehi German in Kansas City – details to follow closer in. It's always a good idea to keep up with club happenings, pictures, and other information by visiting our website at www.greatplainsheiseyclub.org.