We had so much fun last July at the Muncie Fruit Jar Show Hotel Get Together. Amazing jars + amazing people = an amazing time!
Here are some snapshots that show just a teeny-weeny part of the fun and activities. Hope to see you all at next year's shows in January and July!
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The gathering of all the known SOLID POUR JARS was an exciting event. With just 6 fruit jar collectors owning all of these examples, it was a museum-worthy exhibit, and discussion.
Owners: Ron Ashby (5), Don Burkett, Russ Crupe, Jeff Klingler (2), Bruce Schank and Jim Sears (2) (and Rick Lease brought a solid pour Heisey teacup).
Don Burkett with his.
Jeff Klingler brought 2
Ron Ashby kept unwrapping more examples - he had 5!
The discussion included where the solid pours were found, and what provenance and history was known, and was followed by an enlightening talk by Dick Cole about the making of solid pours, which includes an amazing vaporizing-glass magic trick. (No pix, sorry)
The line-up
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Another impressive line up: an impromptu showing of several killer amber Ball jars. A few collectors brought them up to the hospitality room, and the sounds of oohs and aahs drew in a big crowd. These jars were the subject of a lot of deep discussion.
The BIG Jar
Jerry McCann had an auction-win delivered, and we all shared in the unboxing. This was a chance to see and touch one of the very scarce over-size jars.
Wow - 4 gallons!
The discussion included the history of the jar, and whether or not it was the original lid.
4-gallon jar embossed: Manufactured at the Whitney Glass Works
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Jerry also gave one of his wonderful talks about the history of early-1800's fruit jars and how they transitioned from bottles to jars, discussing patents, shapes, closures, and makers. One of the nice things about Jerry's talks is he illustrates with some prime examples from his collection, and uses different jars for each talk (so if you think you've heard it, you haven't "seen" it).
Jeff Klingler, Ron Ashby, Tom Sproat and Phil Smith examine some if the jars from the talk.
Old mystery contents.
Thanks to the Signature Inn and Manager Jeff Bryan, we have the use of the upstairs meeting room and the Hospitality room for the entire time, so there's always a drink and snacks on hand, and a place to hang out and share jar stories. The group in the room ebbs and flows and changes, but there's always something going on upstairs, in addition to the continuos room-hopping/shopping downstairs.
Jeff Bryan, the Signature Inn's Manager.
Food and drinks, and good conversation always happening in the hospitality room. Also, several dealers set up in the room with jars for sale. Shop, eat, visit. Repeat.
Another benefit to having the hospitality room is having enough space to bring lots of show-and-tell goodies (like the above mentioned amber swirly line up). Since Jeff Harper missed Jerry's talk, Jerry was able to bring his jars out and give an impromptu repeat performance, and everyone else in the room got to hear it, and see these rare jars again. And have an even more detailed discussion about them.
Just another one of those "You had to be there" moments -- one of MANY of those moments! Did you make your 2012 reservations yet?
Jerry McCann, Jeff Klingler, Richard Elwood
Jeff Harper, Greg Spurgeon, Tony Kukwa (a brand new collector in the right spot at the right time)
_________________________Among the scheduled talks we had Tom Caniff w/ Labeled Jars, and Jean Harbron w/ Non-Ball Indiana Jars. Talks not pictured (my apologies): Jeff Harper w/ Non-1858-dated-patents and Dick Cole on Solid Pours.
Tom Caniff
Jean Harbron
Saturday was the Jelly Jammers Club meeting, and the MAFJBClub's meeting, with open-floor Show-and-Tell and then the auction (covered in an earlier post).
Junne Barnett (far right)
Ann Szopa and Sue ______
Jeff Harper w/ his Cracker Jacks Toy DAFFY DOLLAR made from Ball jar band centers that Ball sold in bulk.
Joe Coulson
Ron Ashby
Don "Mr. Mason" Burkett
Lou ______
Russ "Mr. Atlas" Crupe w/ rare clear THE HAZEL glass lid/insert.
Bruce Schank w/ his big amber swirly.
Dick Bere, Dick Cole, Phil Smith
Greg Spurgeon w/ wood patent mold
______________________There were so many more people I wish I had photographed, and of course so many more gorgeous jars.
Thank you again to everyone for making Summer Muncie 2011 such a special time.
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Hey, this was great! I got to put the names I knew with the faces I didn't!
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