The Second Annual Southwestern Ontario insulator swap & show was held on
the Nicpon farm outside London Ontario. Co-host Barrett Nicpon was good enough
to write a show report for others who couldn't make it, but wanted to be there.
Thanks Barrett!
So, another show, only the second in a hopefully expanding
series of Southwestern Ontario insulator swaps, has slipped away beyond sight
over the diminutive foot hills of time. Diminutive for me, anyways - a young
collector in his element surrounded by all the most seasoned, skilled,
intelligible, and sometimes, eccentric collectors of his known geography. Yes!
The Second Annual South Western Ontario insulator swap & show is in the
book.
The day is June the 4th, 2005. Waking, I begin to fear the worst, as the
weather reports have indicated even the slightest chance of rain today - and
such a rain would completely ruin the day for me! However, no such luck! Not
even the slightest sign of rain! Like a finely organized orchestra in tuning
session, the day, though still young, was shaping up to be an ideal one for such
as an outdoor insulator swap! The sun was shining, the freezer was filled with
ice for the cooler, my mother was putting the finishing touches on breakfast,
and the barrage of food which would later turn out to be the REAL gem of the
show! At least, in my opinion.
The collectors, omitting Kyle Waters and myself,
who were already present, began to show up around 9:30, much earlier than the
designated time, but no one was complaining! Simply eager to swap & tell
stories, I suppose! I sure was! By 11:00 or so, most of the collectors who
would be coming during the day had shown up. This would include about 20
collectors, along with family.
A relatively small show, for sure, but
nonetheless, a successful one! Jack Barna & his wife were the first to show
up, coming from Ohio. I was intrigued by the stories he told me while I was
caught off guard trying to clean my "insulator storage barn" up!
The
three Banks Brothers, Gord, Walter, and Howard, showed up. Those three are
absolute veterans in the hobby from their 30+ years digging threadless here in
Ontario & the world, and are quite famous for their incredible finds and
amazing knowledge of the local lines! It was a pleasure to have them back again!
Mike Csorbay" & "Debbie Kinloch showed up around 10:30, along
with their usual company of several young parrot chicks. As usual, Mike &
Debbie were in good spirits, and had good terms on their insulator prices! They
set up a table with many an excellent trader, and some key pieces to be shown
off, including a pair of light green G.N.W. CD-145s, a cannonball which Debbie
had found washed out by heavy rainfalls, several broken threadless in
extraordinary colours, and my personal favorite - a sage or gray green G.N.W.
CD-143 which they had an extra of to trade, and with which successfully tempted
me all day.
Paul Axman & Manfred Hagar showed up bringing extraordinary
traders and walk-ins! Manfred had several broken threadless, including a half a
cobalt 718, which he had found, and several amazingly coloured DOMINION - 42
CD-154s, including a couple of amber shades (which he had colour-matching
ashtrays also made by DOMINION to correspond with), and a breath-taking dark
cornflower piece! Paul had just returned from Saskatchewan with a boatload of
colourful and unusual telephone and telegraph pieces, which no one around here
would ever find! Suffice to say, I had my eyes on a lot on his table!
Steve
& Linda Wessel showed up, bringing with them only a handful of pieces - much
to my surprise, one of which was a snowy G.N.W. of a present for me! They
wouldn't accept anything in return, either! The generosity of some folks... They
also had among my personal favourites of the day - an N.E.G.M.CO. CD-145 which
Steve & his sonin-law had pulled themselves, with the most incredible amber
swirls all evenly swirled throughout the glass, so as to give the piece an
incredible yellow-green glow! It was again a pleasure to have them here!
Richard
Hiiuvain attended his first show here in the side yard of my house - it was a
pleasure to have him here, and I hope to see him back again! The Brookfield
Boys, Pat & Mackenzie Young, and Mark Bauer came from Michigan to set up a
table & talk glass. I was proud of Pat, Mackenzie, and Marks' interest in
Canadian glass, though they all still seemed more intrigued by the snowy No. 40
152s I had than any of my Canadian stuff. They claimed they came here without
hunting... but I don't know, they arrived pretty late. I'm not convinced!
And,
of course, there are the other collectors who arrived individually, not in
clique groups such as all the above. Shawn Long came from Windsor, and had some
really interesting pieces to show off! He stuck around afterwards during which
Kyle & I enjoyed a most pleasant conversation with him... not necessarily
about pleasant things, however.
Alex, a collector friend of mine, whom I know
fairly well, but for unconventional reasons, came from London, and went home
with a box of goodies from my surplus shed! I hope he enjoys them!
Greg, a
collector from Chatham, whose surname I consistently forget, came and thoroughly
impressed me by having TWO light green G.N.W.s where I had only managed to
gather a very few in the time I've specialized in them! I wound up holding on to
one of these G.N.W.s.
Rick Dellow also showed up, and brought with him some of
the more incredible of last year's walk-ins, as well as a few which were new to this year! Rick is a former lineman from a nearby small town, and an
extraordinarily interesting and nice person to talk to!
"Collectors doing what we like best"
There were other
collectors who showed up, but I'm sad to say I can't quite put faces to all
names yet at this point in the game! I admit to switching up Paul Axman's and
Manfred Hagar's names as recently as last year's spring show! Either way, it was
a pleasure to have them here!
Now for the unsung heroes of the show: my mother,
Hilary blew everyone away with her superior cooking abilities, my brother, Brent
did an exquisite job barbequing enough meat products for an army, and my
girlfriend, Paige, did an excellent job in tolerating my unconventional
collecting interest. I even caught her fondling some of Mike's surplus! She
seemed to be enjoying herself! She really knows how to make me happy...
Through
all this though, it is sad to report that the man who made it all happen, Tom
Iannelli, was unable to make it due to a thorough devotion to his career, which
called for a long trip to Baffin Island. I would like to thank him above
everyone else for all his time & effort into organizing the show and sale! I
never would have thought 3 years ago when I started in this hobby that I would
have had so much success and interest in it. Thanks to Tom's patient help &
mentoring, I have.
Thank you to everyone who attended, and I hope you enjoyed
yourselves! See you back here next year... I hope!
Au revoir, mon amis! Barrett
There are quite a few pictures of the show on InsulatorsCanada.com. Click on
the "Shows and Events Forum" and look for the 2nd Annual SWIS posting.
This column's photo is used with thanks to Ian Macky. The header insulator for
this column is a CD143 Canadian Pacific Ry Co, skirt embossed in an odd but
authentic shade of purple.
Feel free to drop CJOW or myself a note if you have
anything you would like to see covered in the way of Canadian insulator news or
information.
