Three Decades of Memories -The History of the National Show Glass Commemoratives

Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", May 1999, page 19

The Commemorative Originators, Frank and Margaret Miller

(Part I)

Being an enthusiastic insulator collector, Frank Miller of Tulsa, Oklahoma, went home from the first national insulator meet held in New Castle, Indiana, in 1970, with an idea that collectors should have something by which they could remember the national meets. After months of struggling, he managed to have an insulator mould made. Frank said it was often referred to as "Frank's Last Folly", since he retired from teaching shortly thereafter. He also said it was worth the struggle. 

The commemorative insulator he designed replicated the early threadless "pilgrim hat" (CD 736) and is almost 4 inches high and 3-1/4 inches across at the base. Since 1970 the glass commemorative has marked every national show with a new embossing and color for each location.

The Mould

Mr. Miller's mould consisted of two hinged halves, a base ring, and a dome ring with two dome embossing disks. The embossing for the first national meet was engraved on one of the dome embossing disks and the Second National Meet information on the other.

The first two years were the only years that the location and dates of the national show appeared on the dome. Because the surface area is only about 2 inches in diameter, the embossing had to be extremely small and, on many of the units, is faint and somewhat difficult to read.

The Overmyer-Perram Company

After the location of the second national meet had been announced, Miller prepared the mould to produce commemoratives for both the first and the second national meets during the same production run. Mr. Miller contacted the Overmyer-Perram Company, a glass manufacturer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the run. 

Mr. Overmyer had worked at the Hemingray plant in his early years -- a real "natural" to produce the first commemorative for the insulator hobby. Overmyer-Perram's primary glass production color was a dark olive green black glass. The company supplied glass block bases for fountain pen sets. Frank contracted to have the commemoratives for the 1970 and 1971 national meets run in Overmyer-Perram's dark olive green black glass and in apple green.

One day Overmyer phoned Frank and told him he was running some of the commemoratives in an experimental amber color. When Frank Miller arrived at the plant, he stopped the production because he didn't like the looks of the amber. (The color was really a straw, ginger ale color.) This is the reason so few commemoratives from the first two years' runs are available in the straw color. The first two years are the only years when three different colors were used.

When Frank and Margaret Miller arrived in Colorado Springs for the second national meet, they brought with them the commemoratives for the first and the second national meet -- a surprise for the collectors assembled. 

In July 1971, Dora Harned, editor of Insulators -- Crown Jewels o/the Wire, wrote, "Frank says he will not make any more of these (the first two national meet years), and he owns and possesses the mould, although possibly he may later make them in a different color if he can find a glass company interested in small orders." Dora went on to say, "We predict these will become a collector's item in themselves, because there just aren't enough to go around, and everyone who sees ours wants one, even if they didn't attend the national meets."

The commemoratives for the first two years were sold for $6.00 each plus postage. Frank Miller was not interested in volume sales, but in giving the collector a chance to have a beautiful memento of the national shows.

1970 Commemorative Embossing (on dome):
NEW CASTLE, INDIANA NAT'L MEET (outer circle)
JUNE 20-21, 1970 FIRST (inner circle)

As the embossing ring for the dome of the 1971 commemorative was being prepared, the engraver made an error in the dates. There are at least two known examples of the commemorative that have the wrong show dates; a solid pour and a regular insulator, both in the black glass color. The incorrect dates are "July 11-12, 1971". Fortunately, the correct date was engraved and production completed. What a disaster it would have been had the Millers arrived at the second national meet with the incorrect dates on the souvenir glass insulator! 

Three straw commemoratives from 1970 have domes imprinted with a Lincoln penny. The coin was placed into the top of the mould, and molten glass was added so the impression appears on top of the embossing. The penny again "left its mark" on the domes of four insulators... two are in black glass and two in straw.

1970 Lincoln head imprint on the dome 
of the first year's commemorative.

1971 Commemorative Embossing (on dome):
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. NAT'L MEET (outer circle) 
JULY 10-11, 1971 SECOND (inner circle)

The St. Clair Glass Works

Since Frank exhausted all of Overmyer-Perram's three glass colors in the manufacture of the first two years of commemoratives, he had to find another glasshouse to keep the tradition going. You can't imagine how difficult it was to find a glasshouse willing to run approximately 300 to 350 units of anything! Although in 1972 there was an abundance of glasshouses throughout the midwest, Frank Miller was only able to find one, the St. Clair Glass Works in Elwood, Indiana, willing to use his mould to produce the commemoratives. 

Apple Green, Black Glass and Straw colors for 1970 and 1971.

Since the dome embossing on the first two years of commemoratives had been less than satisfactory, a decision was made to erase all embossing from the dome ring and to use the base rim of the insulator to mark the location and dates of the national show.

The Base-Embossing Ring

The embossing on the base rim was configured so the top line of embossing faced the bottom line. This layout was used for all base rings used at St. Clair Glass Works from 1972 through 1976.

During the production years at St. Clair Glass Works, Frank Miller selected glass colors that were already being produced at the factory. He never knew when the color selected for each year would be run, but he would wait to receive a phone call from Joe St. Clair saying that they were currently running the selected commemorative color and "to get up to Elwood, Indiana, with the mould."

Frank would pack the mould, which he stored in a specially designed and partitioned ammunition box, into his Bronco, and he and Margaret would drive "sometimes round-the-clock" in order to get to Elwood from their home in Tulsa. Glasshouses don't like to have molten glass sit idle in a tank waiting to begin production, so Frank and Margaret had to move quickly in order to make the "production-time window" in the given color as dictated by St. Clair.

The 1972 color chosen for the production was a deep cobalt blue, but some unusual "art pieces" were made -- all without the knowledge of Frank Miller. The pieces look like they contain small pieces of multicolored cullet thrown into a red glass or a green glass base. There are two known examples made with the red glass -- one perfect and the other cracked. Only one example in perfect condition is known using a base color of green glass.

A handwritten note in the pinhole of the red speckled art glass piece indicates 
that it was purchased by Forrest Jones at an Ohio flea market (1972 mould);
 1972 cobalt blue, 1972 mould carnival glass test for 1973.

There were two carnival pieces made; one over the cobalt glass being used for the 1972 run, and one over clear glass. Most glasshouses always have tanks of clear glass in operation. One can visualize that an employee probably pulled and dropped clear glass into the mould and then had the piece carnivalized. Apparently, employees were "testing" to see what color they might suggest be used the following year! 

There were also two employees, "JOE MC" and "MIKE MITCHELL", who left their embossing marks on the dome of a commemorative during production. As easy as throwing a penny into the top of the mold, their embossing dies were dropped into the mold and a commemorative was made. Only one of each has been located. Neither of these units nor the "art glass pieces" were authorized by Frank Miller. This is what can and does happen in glasshouse production when employees enjoy making their own souvenirs! In 1972, the .price of the commemorative was raised to $7.00.

1972 Commemorative Embossing (on dome):
KANSAS CITY, MO. JULY 1-2, 1972 
THIRD NAT'L MEET (reverse rim)

Within the last six months, two oddities from the 1973 run have been located. There is a warming pour and an embossed unit in clear glass. Both were found in the collection of an early collector and it is assumed that they were never carnivalized. There has never been a solid pour located in carnival. or any odd colors --produced that year. Probably two units just were never treated and given by the Millers to a friend. No one would try to "clean" a brand new carnival insulator in an acid bath, especially the only known warming pour to exist.

1973 Commemorative Embossing:
FOURTH NAT'L MEET 
HUTCHINSON, KANSAS JULY 7-8, 1973 (reverse rim)

1974 Commemorative Embossing: 
NIA FIFTH NAT'L SHOW 
HERSHEY, PA. JUNE 29-30 1974 (reverse rim)

During the 1975 run, when a red amberina glass was the chosen color, another "souvenir" piece occurred during manufacture also, there were four units sprayed with carnival. They have an incuse circular marking on the top of the dome which reads "JOE ST. CLAIR" (pictured at right). The examples were purchased at the St. Clair Glass factory and from an individual living in Indiana. 

The only ordered production color for 1975 was red amberina, different from the 1999 ruby red glass since no gold chloride was used in the batch to stabilize the red color throughout the run. (Amberina pressed into orange and yellow colors on the edges of the glass commemoratives.)

Dome with "JOE ST. CLAIR" marking

1975 Commemorative Embossing:
6TH NIA CONVENTION 
SAN DIEGO, CA. JULY 11-13, 1975 (reverse rim)

Beginning with the 1976 commemorative, the embossing was in one continuous clockwise circle. There seems to be no explanation as to why this change was made. It probably was just the way the engraver decided to machine the lettering. 

1976 Commemorative Embossing: 
7TH NIA CONVENTION 
BEREA, OHIO AUGUST 20-21, 1976 (reverse rim)

The Mosser Glass Company

In 1977 the midwest glasshouses were having to deal with the economics of the shortages of natural gas. Most of the factories had to go with the high-volume customers and refused to cater to entrepreneurs such as Mr. Miller who wanted to have a small quantity of glass products run. As a result, Frank had to look for another glass manufacturer. Frank related, "It was coming up on the national show for 1977 which was to be held in Lakeland, Florida. We had searched absolutely everywhere for a glass company willing to make the run. The mould was ready, but no one was interested in our plight. Finally, Tommy Mosser in Cambridge, Ohio, said, 'Yes.'" The Mosser Glass company has been the production house for the commemorative since 1977, and still continues to cater to the individual who wants to run a limited number of glass products. The cost of the commemorative was $8.00 each in 1977 and was raised to $9.50 in 1978.

1977 Commemorative Embossing:
8TH NIA CONVENTION 
LAKELAND, FLA. JULY 15-17 1977

1978 Commemorative Embossing: 
9TH NIA CONVENTION 
RENO, NEVADA JULY 21-23 1978

In 1979, Frank and Margaret Miller decided that the midnight runs to the midwest glasshouse were more than they wanted to do, so they approached John and Carol McDougald (then of Ohio) to buy their personal insulator collection and the mould to make the national show commemoratives -- with the stipulation that the McDougalds would continue to produce the commemoratives annually.

Continuation of Miller Commemorative by the McDougalds

"I guess that Frank thought that our location in Ohio would make it easier for us to continue his project. He was confident that the Mosser Glass Company would be willing to produce the insulator for us each year. Carol and I accepted the challenge and have continued to work with Mosser each year," says John McDougald. "We are now forced to make the midnight runs from a longer distance since our move to Illinois in 1989."

Entering the plant at about 6:00 a.m., we found the morning run of glass using the amethyst color that we had selected for the 1979 commemorative coming out of the cooling lehr. This COULDN'T be the color we had selected. It was an ugly smoky gray! We had never been involved in glass production of any kind before...and, we were in for some interesting experiences during the 21 years of commemorative-making that have followed since that first attempt at an amethyst glass." 

Glassmaking is terribly critical in nature. EVERYTHING has to be just right, or inconsistencies can occur during production. The amethyst color had not held during the run due to temperature and humidity fluctuations. So, when we received a call two weeks later, we made the same journey back to the plant hoping that they had corrected the problem and our commemoratives in amethyst would be the right color."

At the 10th national show in Denver, Colorado, the-McDougalds arrived with the commemoratives in a "burgundy amethyst" color. Frank and Margaret Miller greeted the new color with approval and a vote of confidence that their project would continue. At the same national show, the Millers were honored as part of the group of seven men and women known as the "Lucky Seven". The reason -- they had never missed a national show. Margaret and Frank Miller were also honored awarded with a plaque from the National Insulator Association for their Outstanding Contribution to the Hobby. It was a fitting tribute to this fine couple's gift of glass --- a commemorative for the national shows.

1979 Commemorative Embossing:
10TH NIA CONVENTION 
DENVER, COLORADO JULY 20-22 1979