When Kevin Lawless asked me in September, 1985 if I would be interested in coordinating a display with Marilyn Albers for the 1986 National Show, I thought "Why not?... a few hours work." The ideology was to have people from throughout the hobby share their really unique and rare insulators with everyone who was to attend the show. What a swell idea! Marilyn and I started in December with proposals, questions, answers, and worries. I can safely say I did about 95% of the worrying. We soon realized that this project was going to take much more than a few hours of work and the mail route was "hot" between our two homes. Kevin, Doug MacGillvary, John deSousa, Marilyn, and myself all felt that this display should be extra special in any way possible. Heck.. .we wanted people to still be talking about it in 1999... talk about egos!

Looking back now, I feel it was everything we intended. It took some very simple things to make the display the success: it was a lot of preparation, a lot of help, and a lot of patience, understanding, and cooperation. Marilyn and I took care of the first. We designed the receipt system to make setting up on Friday go as quickly, but as smoothly as possible. This meant dozens of hours of work before the show, but it was worth it. With such rare glass and porcelain going thorough our hands we surely didn't want any "slips." (Pun is intended.) Marilyn and I both felt that written information on the insulators to be paramount to the overall success. I designed the notebook system of cataloging the insulators with this in mind. (There's my ego again.) We found that while setting up the display, people were asking about CD/U numbers, who owned what, and why certain pieces were considered rare. Gosh.... we surely didn't know right off hand, but the display notebooks answered all of these questions on each insulator. (Notebook information is provided on each page preceding the picture of the case found in this issue of Crown Jewels.) It took several hours for the final write up, but I feel it was worth every minute. The display included several new CD and U number examples and even a few unlisted insulators. Doesn't that make you just want to go out, quit your job, and go hunting? 

As far as help goes, we had plenty. On behalf of Marilyn and myself I would like to thank these people for giving us assistance to the maximum. Ray Klingensmith built five beautiful wood cases. He could have sold a couple dozen... people really liked them. Kevin Lawless drove his wheels off to deliver them to the show and had them all set up ready for our "arranging of the goods." Speaking of which, it was about four dozen great collectors from all over the United States and Canada who really made this a success in sharing their extra special glass, porcelain, and go-withs with us. They put their trust in Marilyn and me to handle each one of their treasures. Boy... we were sure nervous!! Len Linscott helped a great deal during set up time which allowed Marilyn and me some "extra" time to keep the system running smoothly. Thanks a lot to Len... .and Jackie Linscott for relieving me for a food break. "Hey... doesn't he do anything hut eat?" I think I heard someone say. I don't know where he gets it from, but Bill Albers has more patience than I can even imagine. He helped from start to finish; from a cup of tea to writing up the notebooks. A great big thank you, for sure.

I would especially like to thank eleven great folks for saving our sanity. The display was numero uno I guess, but what about all those great buys and super people to see out in the main hall? Marilyn and I wanted to see it all too, by golly. The volunteers who sat with the display allowed us this time and they all deserve a round of applause. They are: Dave Wiecek, Dan Wagner, Bob Lanpher, Evelyn Bowman, Elton Gish, Mr. & Mrs. Mesmer, Andrew Gibson, Bill Snell, Larry Emmons, and Charlie Angeuine. Their time was greatly appreciated. 

Now......  the patience, understanding, and cooperation I mentioned earlier came from everyone. From start to finish, people were just grand. We needed help matching insulators with receipts and "What color is this??" got to be a common question of the day. I know Marilyn and I were really excited to just see some of these neat insulators up close. I, along with some others, had to be careful not to drool on some... .and I obviously had my eye on a certain piece of PYREX on loan to us. I couldn't get over all the nice comments regarding the display. All day Saturday people were snapping photos like crazy and I thought about going out to buy some stock in Kodak. And then people were asking for copies of the notebooks. Wow! What next.... autographs? Even better than that though was the very simple, but extremely nice standing ovation Marilyn and I received at the banquet. I'm very pleased that our work was appreciated that much.

All too soon, Sunday morning arrived and we had to start thinking about returning the insulators. Boy.. .what if no one wanted them back?.. talk about fantasy. Anyway, everyone showed up to claim the goods and again the comments were so nice to hear. It's really true that some of the nicest people collect insulators. What a great hobby!

Well, seriously now... on behalf of Marilyn, I would like to say we are glad we coordinated this display for the Saratoga National. Whether people talk about it or not years from now is unimportant. This gathering of extra special insulators I think was a great boost for the hobby. Collectors of one year through twenty years got to share it together. We got to see the anticipation, excitement, envy, and just plain fun hundreds of people had in looking over these items. Just knowing there are still new insulators yet to be found gets a spark going. In my fifteen years of collecting, I don't remember ever seeing such beautiful sapphire blue insulators until this show. Little things are important sometimes.

Marilyn and I are very appreciative of the nice comments you all gave us. Thank you very much. It was our pleasure and a labor of love to coordinate this display.

I have known John and Doug for over ten years now and Kevin about six years or so. They have given all of us so much and I thank them for hosting such a fantastic show. I'm really glad I was a part of it. They did an extraordinary job and the entire bobby benefited due to their efforts.

The Seldom Seen Display notebooks of insulator descriptions with accompanying photographs were donated to the NIA c/o Chris Hedges, Historian.