Minutes
March 15, 2008
Winter just wouldn't end in the Midwest! The Great Plains Heisey Club had its first meeting of 2008 on March 15 in Platte City, MO at da Capo's Tea Room, in spite of some early morning snow. Fortunately, no one had to abort drives from Iowa or Nebraska. Several members had to cancel at the last minute because they were flu victims but we still had 12 hale and hearty souls anxious to talk Heisey. Now there's a language we all understand in these times of political rhetoric. We had a new member present from California, MO - welcome Eric and his guest Bob.
President John Mock called the meeting to order after a nice lunch with a wide variety of accompanying tea choices. Some even sampled the decadent desserts. The previous meeting minutes were approved as submitted and Tom the Treasurer reported a balance of $449.57.
We were happy to report that our Club secured a pattern name - the #466 fruit basket is now the Great Plains basket. We also sponsored a playing card in the second deck of HCA cards - the Four of Clubs (we have members from 4 states) showing the Sunflower pattern (sunflowers are grown in all 4 states). We have an unopened deck of the red cards and a wonderful 12 inch Sunflower bowl to be auctioned at our next meeting in May. We will also solicit absentee bids in advance of the meeting. Glen was the winning bidder at this meeting of another deck of the new red cards. Thanks to Glen for his generous fund-raising bid.
Dues were collected for 2008 from those present. Members not present should send them to Tom in order to remain in good standing and on the membership list submitted to HCA for certification.
President John listed 2008 Heisey dates of importance so we all have time to make plans for the Convention and other projects. He also read an email from the Michigan Club requesting Heisey donations for an auction to be conducted in conjunction with the Percy Moore Dinner to be held in Michigan in September.
Trudy Mock related a "Martha Moment" and showed pictures of an unusual Plantation piece. Always fun - thank you, Trudy.
Our program, "Decorations on Heisey" was presented by my favorite researcher, Tom Files. Tom brought over 40 Heisey pieces as examples of outside company decorations and members added about 2 dozen more. Tom had prepared an informational 6 page handout telling about many of the outside companies. For example, he pointed out 87 different companies purchased Heisey blanks for decorating in only a 5 year period in the early 1940's (the program handout will also be posted on our website - thanks to Mary and Gregg for that site). We viewed pieces from The Charleton Line, Wheeling, Lotus, Hawkes, Apollo Metal Works, Reed & Barton, Plascon, and many other companies connected with decorations of stains, gold trim, enamel painting, and metal holders. Some decorations enhanced the beauty of Heisey's glass and some did not! You decide. As usual, Tom did a great job of teaching and answering questions, providing reference sources, and showing examples. Thanks to all our members for bringing such a variety of decorated pieces. Our Club strives to impart Heisey knowledge so every meeting centers around a good program - thank you, Tom.
Show and Tell brought forth a backlog of items obtained since our last meeting in 2007. Too many to report but some of the items shown were: #122 Zig Zag candlesticks in Flamingo, #355 Quator cream and sugar in Moongleam, #469 Reverse Hartman candy jar, #1205 Fancy Loop cracker jar, #355 Quator cigarette holder/ashtray, Imperial Ipswich candy jar in Heather, #1425 Victorian footed divided bowl with 2 ladles, #1569 Droop floral bowl, #14 Flat Rim floral plateau bowl in Flamingo with cutting, #1252 Twist nut dish in Marigold, #310 Ring Band oil, and #339 Continental 8 inch nappy with cover (crushed fruit).
The tea room offered delicious food and lovely teas - even an area where our members could shop - Max found some new teas and nice necklace, Trudy! The Platte City location spared some of our away members a trip through Kansas City so maybe we'll have a da Capo tea/meeting again. They said we behaved ourselves well enough to come back. Tom and Kathy gave them a Crystolite cruet as a gift of appreciation for hosting us - and for displaying a little Heisey in their restaurant.
Our next meeting will be May 10th at Jean Will's where the sign invites you to spend a little "time" in Leavenworth, KS. If you don't understand that link, Jean can explain it to you.
The Great Plains Heisey Club always invites guests to join us when in our area during pleasure or business visits. The dates/locations of our meetings and contact info are on our website www.greatplainsheiseyclub.org along with lots of other data and pictures - even recipes. We have a great Club with wonderful members - we probably have more fun every other month than should be allowed. Come join the fun!