Tea Leaf Club International    |     Additional Tea Leaf OnLine Back Issues

Back Issues - July-December 1999
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  July 19, 1999

As usual, I think that my being away may have given us an excuse not to write.  There weren’t very many letters the last three weeks but I know we all appreciate those who did take time to write.  We have a wonderful new topic this week and I hope to hear from lots of you before the next TLOL two weeks from now which will be August 8.
TLOL MEMBER INFO

Carol Chadwick writes that she now has a new email address.  It’s carolzc@xxx.xxx

NEW DISCUSSION TOPIC

What effect does/will the Internet, particularly eBay have on Tea Leaf collecting?  Will it be positive or negative?  How will it influence prices?  Supply of Tea Leaf?  What are your experiences with eBay or other online auction sites?  How do you feel about bidding against Club members?  What about last minute bids/snipers?

LETTERS

Walt and Pat, in addition to providing the above new topic, write...

We will be traveling for the rest of July but wanted to get a TLOL
message out before we left.

To bring up an old discussion cleaning; cleaning!  Woody B. and his
friends where kind enough to supply us with some of the 40% by volume
Hydrogen Peroxide.  It worked wonderfully.  Now here is the question,
instead of baking the pieces after soaking we exposed them to bright
sunlight for several hours.  We know that the ultraviolet rays interact
to clean the pieces but how.  When we baked pieces in the oven a lot of
gunk leached out but washed away.  When we dried the pieces in the sun
nothing leached out but the pieces looked great.  We did bake a few
pieces in the oven after exposing them to the sun but didn't see any
improvement.  question to chemists is sun drying enough or do you still
need to bake Tea Leaf after soaking?

Hope to report many great finds after our trip east.

Regards
The Stevens

[W&P, I know I’ll see you this week in Rochester for the Godden presentation and am looking forward to it.  Your question about sunshine vs. oven is an interesting one, perhaps one of our more “chemically-minded” folks can reply.  DA]

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Margaret Payne is visiting away from home but sent...

I have a new temporary email addressmjpayne@xxx.xxx.  and would love having a message from ALL of youas well as TLOL.  I have been in Victoria since the 22nd and my sisterinlaw has been quite critical, but is improved for the moment.  I have been caring for her since she came home from the hospitalthis is day 10and it is so gratifying to see some improvement.  It is a 24hour proposition (hence the urgent plea for messages!!). She has a malignant tumor just at the base of her neck and is in a haloTrust me, there is nothing angelic about those things.  She is stabilized but was within a hair of losing all function from her head down.  There is a lot of responsibilityher medications, blood sugars (she is diabetic) getting her up and down carefullyas well as just the work of keeping a 2500sq. ft. house neat and clean cooking for my brother, whom I spoiled when we were down here in the winter.  So far, I am hanging in there, but some input from the real world would certainly be welcome.  As you might guess, I haven't been looking for Tea Leaf or anything else along that line but no doubt some of you have made some great finds.  Convention time is almost upon us and it won't be long before we will all be gathering in Peoria.  I haven't heard anything new about the auction, but at last report, there were some interesting items coming inand then of course there will be wonderful table sales.  Perhaps it is just as well that I am in a spot where I can't spend any moneybut heaven only knows what Fonis is doing while I am gone.  I don't ask for too many details.      

Margaret

{MP, Our thoughts and prayers are with you.  DA]

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Lowell and Diana Youngen write...

We have been catching up on TLOLPrinted 3 weeks the other eve. Don't take much time to use the computer when weather is nice outside.

A couple thoughts as we read the printoutsGlad to read that Dick B. is adjusting well in his new environment. Different than the hills of southern Ohio, right Dick???????

We like Marjory Y. suggestion of creating a <Market Place> for TLOL members.
As for thoughts on being a Tea Leaf collectorWe have gone from the idea of adding to a single family piece, collecting quality pieces for a complete dinner service w/accessory pieces to now being satisfied with obtaining an occasional hard to find item.

As we search out various antique shops & malls we like to think of it as the joy of the hunt.  Occasionally making a hit but usually our quest is not found.
We just came home from such a weekendyou guessed itno luck!!!!!!
Lowell & Diana

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Margie and Bob report on their Ohio regional meeting...

Thank you to all the TeaLeafers who made Saturday such a lovely day.  Can you
imagine all those people and not a single complaint.  What a wonderful group.
We met such lovely peopleevery one of them and look forward to the
national meeting.

And just in case the Great Lakes Regional needs a host next year, please
consider us.  

Sincerely,

Margie and Bob Reisdorf

[M&B, I’m sorry I was away on vacation and couldn’t join all of you for the GL regional.  Who was there?  What was available at table sales?  Was there a program?  We’d love to hear more!  DA]

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John M sent this note...

I hope everyone is fine and enjoying the summerwe've had really wonderful
weather here.  As far as the question of passion vs. collecting goes, I
guess I have a passion for antiquing and for collecting.  I truly enjoy
getting in the car and hunting around from shop to shop just looking for
things.  The thrill of the hunt is very exciting to me and just striking up
conversations with like minded people is lots of fun.

Preparing for a flea market or show is pretty simple for me.  My backpack is
always in my car and it contains a tape measure, small notebook, magnifying
glass, a few photos of existing collections and an umbrella.  Add my
checkbook and I'm ready to go.

Since I last wrote in I have been to Chicago, Maine, N.H. and Conn. as well
as to some local shows and flea markets.  I have seen an abundance of
platters, plates and similar common items.  The most exciting items I have
found are a LOV honey dish, a Shaw Bullet mug and a LOV soup ladle.  This
ladle is by far my most exciting find in a while.  It is in mint condition
and sits on a shelf right above my sink where I can admire it .

So Long,

John

[Wow - I can’t remember the last time I saw a LOV soup ladle!  DA]

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The last letter this week came from Julie with enough finds - and visitors - to make us all jealous...

Had a wonderful week full of Tea Leaf visitors.  First met new member,
Virginia Beaky at Gloria Weatherby's house (Gloria isn't a TLeafer but she
finds it for a few of us) and the two of them came home with me to inspect my
collection(s).  We had a wonderful visit and ate sandwiches and salads off of
nothing but TL:.

Then on Tuesday I received a call from Pat and Wally Stevens  telling me they
were in Wilmington on an Elderhostel trip.  Since I'm only 25 minutes away,
they came buzzing down to also inspect my collection.  We had a wonderful
visit but no eating off of TL this time.  I would have been very hurt if they
had not stopped to visit and that goes for the rest of you who may be in this
area.  There is always a bed/breakfast here.  Thank Goodness, we had cleaned
and picked up for the  ladies' visit so I hadn't had time to mess the place
up before the Stevens came.  

The best news of all is what Gloria found for me at a local auction which I
found out about a week after it was held.  Now sitting on top of my display
of Tea Leaf in our living room are two (not one but two) punch cups.  These
are not posset cups, they are the little round footed punch cups that seem to
be rather rare.  One of them came home with me from Gloria's the other is
my birthday present from Roxann.  Along with the first cup came a MG sauce
tureen sans ladle and underplate but a beautiful piece  that I had to have.  
The most wonderful piece happens to be a Davenport pink lustre shaving mug.  
I held back from buying any other pieces but she had some wonderful buys and
since she doesn't collect anything with copper lustre on it, we few who do
were the lucky ones.

That's my news for the nonce (I've been reading Shakespeare again) and am off
to Bev & Ernie's on Tuesday to make the trip to Rochester for the great days
of meeting Geoffrey Godden.  I'll get to see Jean W. (we're roomies) and lots
of the others who are attending.  Till then, good nite Sweet Prince(s) and
Princesses also.
Juliehoo!

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Thanks for the letters this time.  I had a nice drive through PA to Long Island and, for a change, did manage to pick up some nice pieces.  At the very first place I stopped into there was a wonderful Shaw cable covered punch bowl which I was excited to be able to snap up.  A couple shops later I picked up some Pinwheel pieces for my own collection - a Quartered Rose creamer and a Gothic creamer as well as the only Pinwheel soup bowl I have ever seen - a biggie at 11".  Also was lucky enough to get a 3-piece New York Shape (Lustre Band only, not Teaberry) sauce tureen, including a magnificent ladle, sans undertray.  Of course, the best pieces was one I knew I was going to pick up, a Niagara Fan slop jar base.  If anyone has a lid for sale I’m VERY interested.  

I’m off on Wednesday to the Geoffrey Godden presentation in Rochester NY in conjunction with the Flow Blue convention.  I’m not a FBer but sure appreciate the kind invitation to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event.  I know that Bev & Ernie, Juliehoo, Jean Wetherbee, Nancy and Don Upchurch, Gale Frederick, Arnold Kowalsky, Stan Moreo  and Walt and Pat will be there and hope I see lots of the rest of you there, too.  The following weekend I’ll be on a family vacation at my Mom’s cabin.  Soooo...the next TLOL will be August 8 - please write!

Dale

P.S.  After I put together this TLOL I found an article on the ‘net that is related to our current Discussion Topic of eBay.  The woman who wrote the article was addressing the issue of “reserves” and “minimum bids”.  Thought I’d share it here...

ONLINE AUCTIONS: TO RESERVE OR NOT TO RESERVE
by Valerie Tate [valerie@internetauctionsecrets.com]
http://www.internetauctionsecrets.com/

What is reserve pricing? Sometimes called a "seller's bid," a reserve is a
minimum selling price, hidden from the buyers, while a lower minimum bid
starts the auction. In the extreme, sellers have been known to start an
auction at 99 cents and to set the reserve at hundreds or thousands of
dollars. In common use, a reasonable reserve is usually recognized as less
than two to five times the minimum bid.

Why should you NOT use a reserve price?
1 Reserves drive bidders away. Many refuse to bid on any reserve action
on principle.

2 A true auction sells to the highest bidder. period.

3 It is deceptive.
 a. Most search returns don't show that an item has a reserve price and
thereby mislead the customer into thinking he has found a great bargain.
 b. The ad page shows the high bidder as the "winning bid" even though this
bid is not eligible to win the auction.
 c. Some people consider it to be "false advertising."

When SHOULD you use a reserve price?

1 On an item that will get little or no activity if started at the
necessary minimum.

2 To keep an item from selling lower than a standing offer.

3 To protect the item from selling too low for reasons a seller cannot
control such as the site going down near the ending time or an
attentiongetting event (such as a big news story or sports event) drawing
users away from the internet at that time.

4 To get that first bid. Without an initial bid, it will never sell.
Buyers are more likely to look at the item (and bid) a second time when
they receive the "outbid" notice.

5 To generate multiple bids and thus cause the item to appear more "wanted."

BAD reasons to use a reserve price:

1 Listing an item with a very high reserve in order to determine its
value, without intention of selling.

2 In order to bypass payment of the ending fee, by contacting the high
bidder and negotiating a deal beyond the reach of the auction.

3 To create a "shilling space" where the seller or his agents can place
bids on the item without fear of winning the auction.
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  August 8, 1999

The eBay topic has generated quite a number of wonderful and insightful letters which I think you will all enjoy.  Also, with our new TLOL members, we are now mailing almost 100 copies of TLOL each time - wow!  There will be a TLOL meeting at the Peoria convention so plan to attend on Friday afternoon after the tour returns to the hotel...time and location to follow.

TLOL MEMBER INFO

Sandy and Dan Widder of Ulysses Kansas join our group this week along with Bill and Jean Cain.  WELCOME!

Sandy and Dan write...

Morning Dale from Southwest Kansas.  This is to request that you put Dan
and I on the mailing list for emails and receiving weekly TLOL reports.
We will be attending our first Tea Leaf Convention in Peoria this
September, thanks to Dan's retirement, and are really looking forward to
same.  Also looking forward to meeting everyone we have read about, seen
their picturers and have done business with some.  Thanks again.  
Dan and Sandy Widder

DISCUSSION TOPIC

What effect does/will the Internet, particularly eBay have on Tea Leaf collecting?  Will it be positive or negative?  How will it influence prices?  Supply of Tea Leaf?  What are your experiences with eBay or other online auction sites?  How do you feel about bidding against Club members?  What about last minute bids/snipers?

LETTERS

Linda McElwee wrote...

  Just a note this morning before the day gets off to a busy start.
  I must tell you that I am fascinated with the eBay system. I have not
bought anything, but enjoy looking at the new items being posted. I have
some mixed feelings about the system. The first is that it allows us to have
the opportunity to see and buy things we would never be able to see. It is a
good learning experience to see different styles and shapes that, again, we
might not see. I have been told by one of my friends who has an antique
store that in many areas, dealers are not wanting to rent space, instead
preferring to sell over the net.

  My daughter Rebecca finally decided to humor me and join TLCI and DAR. It
took many years, but she has come around. Some of you have met her and I am
pleased that she will be coming to conference this fall.
  I am very interested in sun baking as I worry each time I put a piece in
the oven.

  See you in September    Linda

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New TLOLer Virginia Beakey wrote...

I am responding to the eBay question, hopefully.  I discovered Tea Leaf via
eBay due to my lifelong interest in copper lustreware.  Fell in love with the
Tea Leaf variants and shapes.

Then I took my new interest to a variety of antique venues.  What a waste.  
One could find a chipped plate, a cracked platter, you know the drill.  Then
I found out how to access eBay, where there 5070+ items up for bid every
DAY.  You "oldtimers" might have connections and dealers calling you, but
for we "newbees" eBay is where it's at.  No question.

I joined the club and TLOL, as you know.  But other than the Hansens finding
a ladle I needed, and Juliehoo being so kind with advice, I'm at the mercy of
eBay.

After attending the regional in Springfield. Va. and seeing what really NICE
pieces are, this stopped my indiscriminate bidding on eBay.  This is what
everyone needs to look out for.  It's so easy to outbid someone else.  NOW,
here's the rub.  Is the excitement of auction bidding raising the prices or
is the old real estate jargon really true?  "If you want to find out what
something is worth, offer it for sale and see what the public is willing to
pay."  I think, in my deepest heart, that "old TeaLeafers" are much more
conservative than most "newbees" like myself, as to prices.

Nonetheless, eBay is where it's at.  A Shaw cuspidor did NOT sell this week.  
No one bid on it.  The opening bid was $800.00.  Are we getting frugal, or
just waiting for the national and Julie's cuspidor?  Who Knows?  This is
really an imponderable.  I hope others with more experience can address this
question.  Anyhow, this is thoughts from a "newbee".

Virginia Beakey and the "loosin hair crew" here at Swanhollow Labrador
Retrievers

P.S.  I forgot to mention snipers on eBay.  First of all I'm not one (I hope).  Often, however, I as a "newbee" wait to see if other TeaLeafers that I know think the piece is a good item.  If it's in my price range, I often bid late and I watch the number of bids from day to day on something I'm interested in.  I HAVE BEEN SNIPED!!!  NO DOUBT ABOUT  IT, AND IT WASN'T BY SOMEONE WHO PLACED AN ABSOLUTELY HIGH BID TO KICK IN AT THE LAST SECOND.

My recommendation is for anyone who thinks anyone has the illegal bidding
software to report it to eBay.  We need a level playing field, don't you
agree?

By the way, I live pretty close to Juliehoo and had not only the opportunity
to see her MAGNIFICENT collection of Tea Leaf, but to have lunch  with her
and her lovely daughter and friend on a totally Tea Leaf table of the very
BEST goodies.  Could have stayed all night!  

Ciao, again, from Virginia.

[Virginia, Thanks for your wonderful insights.  I, too, have been “sniped” on many occasions but don’t think that the practice is illegal - just annoying.  I will often check in on pieces at the last minute but have generally let folks know of my interest by bidding early.  I know that the Johnsons share this philosophy.  DA]
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Sam and Fran Miller sent...

I would like to respond to Walt's latest comments about cleaning. First of all let me tell you, I am not a chemist, just a poor old uneducated, jobless, country boy who has cleaned a lot of TL. After soaking, if you just expose to the sunlight and do not bake you will have 2 problems, one will be a strong odor that will remain on the dish and the other will be after a period of time the dish will start to discolor again.

On the EBay topic, I feel that the good pieces of TL that  dealers in the past would put in their stores, not really knowing values, will now go on EBay  so we can determine the values for them. I've noticed that good pieces bring convention auction prices and common pieces bring practically nothing. Fran has bid on a few items but she normally gets outbid at the last minute. In the future I may get my own bidding name and start participating myself. That in itself seems like it would be a big problem. How do people come up with those funny names? Do you think Mr TL, Deallybob, Samtub or Lustreband are already TL club members? This ties in with one of your other questions. How do you feel about bidding against other club members? I see no problem at all with it . Don't we do it at the convention auction?

As for recent TL finds, I am very envious (and happy for) John on his LOV ladle, Julie's many rare pieces and Eleanor's teaberry childs set. I keep looking but items like that just are not in the Midwest. Oh, I did find one piece that fits in with our collection, an 8" Meakin plate with chip on the bottom. Hopefully after soaking the deep stains out, we won't be able to see the many hairlines.

And now back to the "Cabin In The Woods"               Sam   

{Sam, Thanks for sharing your Meakin “find”.  I think everyone knows that I’m “MrTeaLeaf” on eBay but will let Deallybob, Samtub and Lustreband identify themselves.  I think that most TL bidders on eBay are TLCI members but it would be great to find a way to recruit non-members to join the Club.  DA]

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Carl and Ginger caught up on several topics with...

Dear TLOL friends...

  Sorry we have been absent for so long but this has turned into one of the most hectic
summers of record.

  I, Carl, got back from Burma/Thailand in April and have been trying to catch up on work.  Ginger was off for two weeks in Europe and No. Africa and is just back.  I leave today for two weeks in Denmark and Iceland and while I'm gone Ginger goes to Texas to visit family.  I return while she is still gone and then I fly out to Idaho and Montana to follow Lewis and Clark's footsteps across the Lolo Pass.  When I'm back from that I'm off to Belize.

  So we will basically be out of touch for the remainder of the summer.

  I did want to share some of our thoughts on eBay and the Internet in how it effects our collecting of TL.  

  We have found and purchased numerous wonderful pieces on eBay.  Most were not bargains but some were very reasonable.  Other items we wanted we were not the high bidder on.  Just like the convention auctions there are some pieces that someone else wants WAY more than we do.  But we do appreciate seeing these TL pieces that we would never, otherwise, have a chance to bid on.  If you haven't checked out eBay you really should.  There are some spectacular pieces going there.  (Maybe I shouldn't say that because then you all will be out there bidding against us?)  :^)  

   One thing eBay has seemed to do is set a pretty believable level for the more common pieces.  Plates, platters, butter pats, nappies, open bakers etc are often lucky to get a bid and seldom sell for over $10.  Of course there is always the exceptions where someone, for some reason, pays $60 for a common soup plate.  But that new bidder usually learns and doesn't repeat the mistake.  Some real unusual pieces go way below what they have sold for at convention auctions.  Other pieces we have purchased or seen have never come up at the recent convention auctions.

   We have been disappointed in only two of all the pieces we purchased.  One we asked to return and the people were most obliging.  The other we probably could have returned but we didn't ask to in a reasonable period of time so we ate the mistake.

   We snipe and have fun doing it.  It is part of the strategy.  There are other options but in the end the person who is willing to spend the most money for the piece walks away with it.  Sniping just adds to the excitement.  We've lost many times to other snipers and hold no grudge because their bid was higher than ours.

   We do feel a little odd bidding against fellow club members especially if we don't end up getting the piece and only ran the price up on them.  We have our own way of judging what we'll bid and what we'll bid on.  If we think there is no way we can win a piece and don't really need it and feel a fellow TL club member will be the eventual winner we will not make a final bid and hope our friend wins.  However, if we want a piece badly enough all bets are off just like at the convention auction.  We are still friends after the auction dust settles.  In fact we are often congratulated by friendly losers and congratulate the winners we know.  We are always happy to see a nice piece of TL go to a friend's home if it doesn't go to our own.

   Regarding other Internet auctions.  I have tried others even won on one.  But they are so poorly organized and have such limited selection that I don't even look at them anymore.  The one where I won I never figured out how to make sure I had won and how to contact the seller.  The seller never contacted me and the pieces we won ended up on eBay the very next week.  EBay works because it is very well designed and there are 250,000 auctions up for bid each and every day.  They are suffering some growth problems but that is understandable.  They have no real competition for the types of items we are looking for.

   Pat and Wally...Regarding your sun cleaning.  In my opinion the sun method works well if the piece isn't heavily impregnated with fats.  If the discoloration is from tannic acid (tea/coffee) or something else the sun seems to work.  However, I have never attempted to air/sun dry a piece that was heavily stained and oozes that foul grease.  One of our problems is that we don't have a safe (people proof and dog proof) place to expose our pieces to the sun.  Did you try this on a heavily greased piece?

  John M...LOV soup ladle get outa here!  :^)

  Our most interesting find recently is a very large bone dish about 8 1/4 inches wide  and six inches high.  It is obviously not real old.  It has a plain body and the ironstone(?) is a slight off white.  The TL and copper lustre band are over glaze only.  The TL looks like a typical Shaw or other potter.  On the back is the interesting part.  It has no backstamp but instead, hand painted in copper lustre is: PAT NO 187996.  Who made it?  Cumbow, Ruth Sayers?  It is very pretty but oversized for most uses.

  Well I need to get to packing.  Will catch up on my return.

Cheers...Carl, Ginger and Tigre the TL pooch.

{G/C/T - Thanks for catching up on so many topics.  I agree with you about eBay - it’s certainly exposed all of us to pieces which we wouldn’t have known were for sale otherwise.  I, too, have occasionally been “burned” on eBay and sometimes the dealer has corrected the problem and sometimes not.  DA]

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Margaret Payne writes from Texas...

Greetings from Sunny Texas. The situation here continues about the samethough we have moved to an oncologist who just opened her practice here and are receiving much more compassionate and informed care.  I so appreciate the emails for my TL friendsit helps keep me saneor at least as sane as I ever was.  Fonis came down for a week. which was nice even in all the chaos, but he is back in IN now running amok , no doubt  It is my hope to be home for the month of September at least, if we can get some arrangements made.

The ebay question is quite interesting.  I have had only experience from the observers standpoint and not a lot of that.  It seems that when I retired to become a lady of leisure, the leisure part flew out the window and I have had even less computer time that when I worked. The following observations are from the buyers' standpoint Having looked at the offerings on ebay and heard of others' experience, the first thing that comes to mind is the lack of knowledge and the ability to give accurate descriptions on the part of some advertisers.  This would result in disappointment and also cause one to not bid as confidently.   Some of the prices that are paid by people who likewise are not as informed has a tendency to cause the values to be inflated or at least inaccurate for the specific piece or type of item purchased.  This is no different than what we see in antique shops, except that it could be more widespread.  It could have a negative effect on the number of items offered in the traditional market because of the perception of more possible profit  and a wider market on ebay, plus quicker sales.   A positive effect would be that Tea Leaf becomes more widely known and some pieces may surface for sale that otherwise would never be offered.  People who do not have an opportunity to travel widely could have a chance to see and buy(or at least bid on) items from a much wider area and then there is the time elementyou can power up the computer and check out ebay much more rapidly than, say, running up to Ohio or NY especially if you are in TX.  It would require a certain amount of skill and savvy to know how and when to bid, especially if you are bidding against the real computer gurus, and I would think that the chances of getting a real bargain are slim to nonenot like walking into a shop and seeing that child's set for $100(what a dreamyou see, I have not lost my sense of imagination) that no one else has spotted. Like all facets of the new century, ebay will take its place in our lives and we will just have to learn how to deal with it in a way that brings us the best resultsor at least that causes the least harm.  I am really anxious to hear all of the thoughts from those of you more informed about this and look forward to learning more myselfas I always do when TLOL arrives.  Have a great week and if you have a free minute, I am still at mjpayne@xxx.xxx.  

Margaret

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Jim Barrett remarked about the sunshine issue...

A comment on last week's TLOL Email.  My computer didn't save & I don't have a copy.

The question was on the effectiveness of sun light versus low temperature oven treatment after H2O2 soak.

My opinion and explanation:
The original discoloration is from foreign material entering the body thru tiny fissures (crazing). This happens with the expansion/shrinking of glaze and body with every temperature change (room, weather, washing, cooking, etc.)

The H2O2 enters fissures and oxidizes the foreign material.

The product is expelled by volume change in the mild oven baking step. Odor!!! But at least it comes out and can be wiped off.

Sunlight will do this to a lesser degree (opinion). Temperature will push a minimum of the mess out. Sunlight is a bleach as is H2O2 but can't really get inside

In time I expect some discoloration to be evident as foreign material is still inside.  The mild oven bake works.  

Unrelated, don't ever take a chance with H2O2. It is a powerful oxidizer, depending on its strength!!          

Jim Barrett

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Mike and Marie comment on the eBay question...

An intriguing topic this month so I thought I'd try to respond.
As to the effect Ebay and other auction houses can have on Tea Leaf supply
and demand, I think it can be a positive.  We have looked for years for
certain items (including nonTea Leaf things) and EBay has certainly helped
us connect with the right dealers.  Probably 75% of the time we have been
pleased with the purchases and have felt that items were accurately
described.  

However, I don't think conventions and antique malls will ever be totally
replaced.  For one thing, nothing really replaces the ability to see and
touch the item before you bid.  At conventions, just seeing a room full of
Tea Leaf is exciting, not to mention the many friendships that form there.  
Online auctions put you at the mercy of accurate photos and faultlessly
described items and judging from many dealer's ability to even identify
what the piece is you know right away there is a challenge.

A few months ago we had a really bad experience with a dealer from whom we
purchased two pieces of Tea Leaf.  I specifically emailed them with
questions about crazing and their answer back said it was in excellent
condition.  I assumed this meant no crazing since that was the question!  
Both crazed pieces arrived in fine shape and the dealer then refused to
return them.  Even though what they did was legally fraud who needs to have
that hassle as it would cost more than I paid for the items.

So, what I have learned is ALWAYS email the dealer.  First, establish as
best you can the condition AND their return policy.  Will they agree to use
Iescrow (we are a big fan of this now)?  If they don't and the piece is on
the expensive side I don't bid.  It's all about risk management.  I find it
impossible to understand even tolerate that any dealer would not allow a
return when you feel it has been misrepresented and when you have not been
able to observe it first hand.  Now, we pass on some items when the response
comes back "All sales are final."  This is a bad experience waiting to
happen.  If more people said no maybe they'd change their ways!?

As to bidding against friends, I guess it can be uncomfortable but all is
fair in love and bidding.  Hopefully they'll forgive you in the morning.  

I used to not like sniping but after being victim to it many times, have
gotten over it.  It is a silent auction and he who gets there last often
wins.  Since I travel a lot I cannot always be there to bid at the right
times, but I guess that's just life.  It isn't always fair.  I often feel
that were I to bid early it just causes the price to escalate even more.  
That's only your goal when you are the seller!

Hope your trips are all going well.  Mike's off to Chicago this week and
we're in Peoria/Kewanee, Illinois for his aunt's 100th birthday on the 7th,
then to Seattle for Labor Day.

Marie

[M/M, Can you tell us more about i-escrow?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -
A horror story from Convention Chair Denny Kear...

I hope that everyone has either sent in their convention registration or
are about to.  Time is drawing near and we hope to have as big a group
of TLOL folks at this years convention.

Horror story! While on our way back to Ohio in June, we stopped at one
of the big antique malls in Springfield, Ohio.  Connie had never been
there, and I had only been their once, during last years TLCI
convention.  We saw more Tea Leaf than we are accustomed to but nothing
that jumped out at us and said take me to Texas, except one little
Meakin bamboo creamer that was stained but had great lustre.  The price
was right at $35 and it looked like it would clean up and be a good
little piece.  We called one of the clerks over and I handed him the
pitcher to take up to the check out area.  Well you probable already
guessed, he dropped it and it broke into a zillion pieces.  I still see
that poor little creamer juggling in mid air and then hitting the cement
floor.  The clerk said I knew this was going to be a bad day, I agreed
with him. For two weeks all I could say was, I can't believe he dropped
that creamer.  This made me wonder who else has a horror story to tell
about a similar disaster.

I did find one other keeper at an antique shop.  I was rooting through
the stuff on third floor of a shop and came across a box that had four
TL bone dishes setting on top.  None of them were in great shape but I
had never seen the pattern before, they were Grindley but were neither
Bamboo or Favorite.  I had to buy the whole box for $15 but even in
their not great shape they were worth it.  I have since found out by
using the Tea Leaf Readings, Photo Guide that they are referred to as
"Leaf" and they do have a leaf like appearance.  Makes me wonder if
there are any other pieces out there that could be "Leaf".  At any rate
thanks to Nancy Upchurch who compiled the Photo Guide, I was able to
identify the pattern.  Thanks Nancy!

Well back to the convention drawing board.  Hope see you all in Peoria.

Denny Kear
(I still can't believe he dropped that creamer)

- - - - - - - - - -

A timely reminder from Prez Maxine...

Hello Tea Leafers,

My input this week is not going to be on any of the topics suggested.  
Instead I'm going to focus on the convention.  Since I'm still the President
for a few more weeks, I'm going to take advantage.  ~Smile~  

I received a phone call from one of our members wanting suggestions for
roommates at the Hotel.  With my help I think she has found one, so that
means two more people who might not have come will be coming now to join in
the fun.  If you know of any member who needs transportation or would like
suggestions for  a roommate, call them & help them by offering them a ride or
suggest someone you think would be willing to share a room.  We want to get
as many members at this convention as possible.  Denny & all his chair people
have been working very hard & have some very interesting ideas.  I know this
will be a super weekend.  I hope everyone who is reading this is planning to
attend the convention.  Who knows, we may have some surprise guests.

Fran has less than 100 registered so far.  Get those registration forms sent to
Fran.  Remember,  postmark 8/14 is the dead line for early bird registration.

I would like to leave the Presidency in a blaze of glory by having the
largest convention ever.  ~Smile~  Of course I'll share my glory with
convention chair & cochairs.  Let's start recruiting.  

Maxine

[Maxine - Thanks for the reminder.  The Bears wrote about their convention registration form and Julie called me to say that one of the occurrences of the hotel phone number in the last Readings was incorrect.  So...to make sure everyone is ready to be in Peoria - if you didn’t receive a Registration Form you should have - let me know and I’ll be sure to get you one ASAP.   The phone number for the Pere Marquette Hotel is 309-637-6500 or 800-447-1676.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Here is a contribution to TLOL from Marjorie:

Hi, Group!

July antiquing in northeast Ohio can turn up some interesting items. My
favorite find this summer has been some children's pieces copper lustered,
Chelsea Grape Octagon teapot with two handleless cups and sauces. Wonder if
I'll ever find more. Good trading items!

The Pappabello Show at the IX Center in Cleveland only featured a Wedgwood
Square Ridged covered veggie, a platter and a few butterpats and nappies.
Disappointing!

Dale, have you given any thought to a format for a monthly TLOL buy, sell,
trade opportunity? Perhaps post convention would be a convenient time to
formulate a plan.

Getting excited about Peoria. Ordered my Tshirt, sent in my registration
form and fee, and made hotel reservations. The green and gold Tshirt
costumes should be a show stopper.

Happy summertime.

Marjorie

[M - I’ll be happy to list “wanted” and “for sale” items in every TLOL - folks just need to send them to me and they’ll be included.  Looking forward to seeing you in Peoria.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Bev and Ernie Dieringer report on the Godden Day...

The Flow Blue Convention in Rochester, New York was great fun and very
entertaining.  It was wonderful to share it with Dale and Julie Rich and Jean
Wetherbee.  Not to mention a great dinner with Walt & Pat Stevens and Gale
Frederick.  We were having so much fun that the owner of the restaurant came
over to see who we were and why we were having such a good time.  When we
explained that we were all ironstoners and had just been at the Flow Blue
Convention in town, he brought out a shard of blue transfer that he had
unearthed next to the restaurant.  He was excavating to make an addition.  
Ernie recognized the pattern but I can't remember the name of it now.  
Anyway, he treated us to dessert which was wonderful.

Mr. Godden turned out to be a very nice, at ease gentleman with a wry sense
of humor and a great deal of patience.  I liked him very much. I kept
thinking that if I gave it some time, I would be able to write clearly about
meeting him and all the wonderful opportunities to ask questions and hear his
answers to other people's questions.  I finally understand that I am
suffering from overload.  However, a few things have surfaced.

Godden said that it took eighty people to make an ironstone cup and saucer set.  From
gathering the clay and working it, to the final firing in the kiln.  Take any
one person from that process and the ironstone could not be made.  A very
specialized manufacturing process.  

We have been hungering for years for information about the potteries and who
made what and how many and when.  Godden related, in his Friday presentation,
a story about wartime England.  Everything was rationed there as well as
here, and almost all of the old records that were stored in the basements of
old factories were deemed not of much use and were gathered and sent to be
made into pulp.  The big record books at Kew contain almost all that is known
about our ironstone.  It is no wonder then, that he knows so little about
white and almost nothing about Tea Leaf.

Thankfully, there were professional people video taping the whole thing.  So
nothing will be lost this time.  There is so much more to tell but I have to
wait until it surfaces.

Bev

{B&E, I, too, m thankful that the sessions were videotaped.  I’ve already ordered my copy.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Also on the Flow Blue Convention, Stan Moreo reported to his listverv...

Dear Readers,

Well one of the annual milestones is over the Flow Blue International
Collector's Club meeting.  Only the Tea Leaf Club meeting (Sept.)
remains to be held for 1999.

The FBICC meeting was at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Rochester, NY.
Preevents included a visit the Genesee County Village and to the
Strong Museum, which houses the Petra Williams' collections of Flow Blue
and Staffordshire Transferware.  The museum exhibit had been totally
reworked for this occasion, so it was something new for everyone to see.

I did not arrive in Rochester in time to participate in the Thursday
events.  Hopefully, some of you did and will tell us more details of all
that went on.

The highlight of this year's meeting was the programs by Geoffrey
Godden.  These sessions all day Friday were open to members of the Tea
Leaf and White Ironstone clubs.  The morning was a talk by Mr. Godden on
how to learn more about ironstone (with emphasis on FB).  His talk
explained a lot about why and what we do and don’t know.  My description
makes this all sound pretty boring; but, in fact, it was not.  Among
other things, Mr. Godden has a good sense of humor and enjoyed his visit
to the U.S.  He was the first to admit that he knew less about FB, and
particularly TL and WI, because it was made mostly for export.  And it
was obvious that he was barely familiar with TL and WI.

The afternoon sessions were show and tell sessions of rare and unusual
pieces, as well as other questions and answers.

The facilities and food for the event were first quality.  Dealers had
to work extra hard to get everything in and out of the hotel.  Downtown
hotels most always present these challenges.

I know that many of you also attended the meeting.  Please jump in and
tell us about what you enjoyed and learned this year.  And it also is
fair to do just a bit of bragging about that special piece that you were
able to purchase.

== Stan ==

- - - - - - - - - -

Walt and Pat have returned and report on their travels...

It's been a long time since we sent something to TLOL so hope you will
excuse us if we become too verbose.

Spent most of July traveling.  Went to an Elderhostel at Winterthur.
Covered 1640 to 1840 so Tea Leaf wasn't covered.  While there tried to
call Julie Who but couldn't reach her until we remembered she also goes
by the name of Julie Rich.  Had a great visit seeing her wonderful
collection.  After Winterthur drove completely through Delaware and
Maryland's Easter Shore to Chesapeake Bridge and then to Williamsburg,
VA, to visit family.  Then to Rochester NY to hear Geoffrey Godden at
the Flow Blue convention.  Mr. Godden was impressive and his knowledge
of English pottery legendary but when it comes to Tea Leaf and White
Ironstone his message was look to American sources.  The English only
made the stuff, the Americans ordered what they wanted.  His suggested
that if wanted to know about TL  we should study Americana.  After the
presentation we had a fun filled dinner at the 2 Vines restaurant
(promised them we would get them on the Internet) with the TL/White
Ironstone contingent.  Attracted attention to ourselves when everybody
looked at the bottom of the plates for marks and then Juliehoo wondered
where management found the beautiful wait staff.  The wait staff
wondered who we were and after explanations one of the owners brought
out a shard of pottery that had been excavated on the restaurant site.
The White Ironstone people promptly identified it and promised to send
details.  We really enjoyed ourselves particularly the owners sent out
complementary deserts for all of us.  They really treated us royally.

If you have questions about Mr. Godden those who heard his presentation
were: Dale, Julie, Bev and Ernie, Jean Wetherbee, Nancy Upchurch, Jim
and Anne Miller, Stan Moreo and Gale Frederick.  Gale helped Godden in
the rare and unusual portion of the program and his knowledge was
impressive.

Of course, we stopped and looked for Tea Leaf as we traveled and can't
report any super finds.  Did see some and bought some in the big malls
I.E.. Springfield OH and Webb's in Indiana.  Saw a lot of Pinwheel in
Adamstown PA.  Don't know much about pricing of Pinwheel but knew it
wasn't a steal, so passed.  If interested worth exploring for those who
are near.  Our only buys were a cable 3 piece soap. a favorite relish
dish and LOV salad dish.  The cocktail flag is being lowered so will
close this TLOL.  Hope to submit a second covering current topic.

Best  to all,
The Stevens

{W&P, Welcome back!  How are we doing on Vignettes?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.

I want to add my enthusiasm for the remarkable Godden program.  He was charming, witty and so very knowledgeable.  His new Ironstone book is now in print and I’ve ordered a copy.  I got a chance to browse through Bev and Ernie’s and it’s worth the high price tag for all the new educational material it contains.  Thursday’s combined Education Committee meeting (Flow Blue, White ironstone and Tea Leaf) gave us all a chance to get to know one another and share a question-and-answer afternoon with Mr. Godden.  Friday’s program was also excellent and I for one very much appreciate that the Flow Blue Club invited the other clubs to join them for this very special day.   Julie, Jean Wetherbee, Bev, Ernie and I all stayed at the same motel outside of Rochester and had a fantastic time hanging around together.  We also got to have dinner one evening with Gale Frederick and Walt and Pat Stevens which was great.

Speaking of new books, Arnold Kowalsky’s marks book is about to be released by Schiffer Books and it’ll be an absolute MUST for all of our libraries.  It’s a superb book which updates Godden’s Encyclopedia and cross-references many of the other marks books which we all have in our libraries.  I have had a xerox copy of this book for over a year and it’s the very first book I turn to for mark and backstamp research.  

I’ve received a couple of phone calls and emails recently about an article about Tea Leaf which is in the new issue of Romantic Homes magazine.  I spent a couple hours this afternoon driving around Columbus trying to find a copy but had no luck finding a copy - I should have let my fingers do the walking!  Chris W called this afternoon to say she had seen the magazine and it features much of Riene Wells’ wonderful Tea Leaf collection at her B&B.  Does anyone have a copy?  How is the article?  Is it accurate??  For those of you who might be visiting Wisconsin the Eagle Center House B&B is wonderful - check out Riene’s web site at http://www.eaglehouse.com/.  Several of us have stayed there and very much enjoyed ourselves in this comfortable home  surrounded by wonderful Tea Leaf.

I also got my copy in today’s mail of the September issue of Antique Trader’s Collector Magazine and Price Guide which features a full page of TL photos on Page 28.  Linda Slates’ press release about the Peoria convention prompted this full-page spread.  

I can’t help but feel that this kind of publicity will certainly help us achieve our goal of 1000 members by the end of the year!  I have received at least an email or two a week from my web site from people all over the country asking for Tea Leaf Club membership brochures.  Of course, if we could manage to get “the Big one” (Martha Stewart’s magazine) our membership would explode.  Lately lots of membership inquiries seem to be coming from the South and don’t worry, Denny, if I get inquiries from Texas I tell them that you’re not permitting any more Texas members/competition!

Looking forward to hearing from lots of you this week...

Dale

P.S.  Has anyone ever been to Martin’s General Store in Old Mill Creek, Illinois?  Their Web site (http://nsn.nslsilus.org/wrkhome/hmca/eceramic.htm) says they have some Tea Leaf on display.
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  August 15, 1999

Not too many letters this week so I bet everyone was busy filling out their convention registration forms instead.  If you’re not planning to be in Peoria you’ll be missing a spectacular meeting.  The “early bird” registration deadline has been extended and you’ll all be receiving a flyer this week with photos of some of the special auction items and another registration form.  

TLOL MEMBER INFO

Nancy Upchurch is now online!  Her email address is Laurel-Ridge@xxx.xxx
And Chris Weinbrenner has a new email address which I’m not sure I’ve reported to you, it’s chrisw@xxx.xxx  And Carol Chadwick’s current email address is carolzc@xxx.xxx

DISCUSSION TOPIC

A Tea Leaf Club member recently write to me to say that she was looking for a new career and was thinking about opening an antique mall in a mid-size Ohio town.  What advice would you give her, especially in light of our recent conversation about eBay?

LETTERS

Walt and Pat sent...

It was a pleasure reading so many messages last week.  Like so many of
you we have mixed feelings about eBay.  There have been many pieces of
Tea Leaf auctioned on the Internet that we would probably not have
seen, the Maidenhair Fern master chamber pot or DeSoto relish for
example.  You also know, unlike visiting a large antique show without
seeing a single piece of Tea leaf , that is seems you can always find
some TL on eBay.  It might not be what you want or at your price put
something's there.  It does make shopping easier but we do miss the
inspecting an item and being able to take it home after purchase.  Also
miss the opportunity of seeking out the hidden treasure that Margaret
mentioned and John seems to find.  The serendipity of finding a these
treasures makes collecting fun.  Also not too sure of the long term
implications, Linda McElwee mentioned dealers abandoning direct sellers
and we have read about some dealers turning off customers by saying they
can always sell it on eBay.  Will the Internet significantly decrease
the number of facetoface dealings.  The immediate implications of
eBay are positive with a wider selection, easier shopping and more
publicity for Tea Leaf but wonder about long term effect on the club.
If the club members sell there surplus Tea Leaf on the Internet will we
see smaller auctions at the Convention and less funds for the club.  And
if some people attend the Convention simply to buy Tea Leaf will they
stay away and shop on the Internet. Obviously these things aren't
happening now but as the Internet continues to grow there might be some
negatives impacting the club.

 Our personal experiences with eBay are also mixed.  We have more than
satisfied with some buys but a couple of times the merchandise just
doesn't measure up.  Dealers have offered to refund the purchase price
but we would have to pay for shipping and on a small purchase, it wasn't
worth it.  That's another negative with buying on eBay; shipping cost.
It can double the price of a plate or butter pat and it isn't always
what the seller pays.  Some seem to use shipping as an additional source
of revenue.  Shipping cost might be a reason people don't bid on single
plate etc.

Having said that, must admit that we once purchased a stained plate for
$6.  We thought it would be shipped with a Corn coffee pot that we were
announced as high bidder.  Unfortunately, after the bidding was over and
final bids announced eBay extended the auction for 24 hours and Denny
Kear was the new high bidder.  We have a print out showing the bidding
"closed" and open at the same time.  EBay might be the best on the Web
but it's not perfect.  Another pet peeve is the excessive delay in
receiving merchandise when one pays by check.  It seems that if one has
10 to 20 positive feed backs the dealer wouldn't worry about a check
bouncing.

Dale, asked about vignettes.  We still have room.  Vignettes give one
the chance to share the pleasure of  and show off their Tea Leaf.  If
you are bringing something for Sunday table sales you can include it in
a vignette and get extra marketing exposure.

Thanks to everyone who commented on oven vs sun drying, We don't like to
use the oven in the summer but note the downside of just using sunlight,
however we haven't noticed any lingering odor after sun drying.  We will
experiment with different stains and bake anything that we don't want to
soak a second time.

Best to everyone
The Stevens

[W&P, Funny you should mention the eBay shipping issue.  Just last week someone put some nice TL pieces on eBay and said they were from Columbus, Ohio.  I wrote to the seller asking if I could pick up any items on which I might be the successful bidder in order to save the shipping and insurance fees.  I gave the seller my address and phone number and not only did he write back right away but he is a NEIGHBOR of mine!  He lives just a couple blocks down the street where I live.  Sure wish I had known about these pieces before he listed them!  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Marlene D’Aboy did some eBay research for us and provided LOTS of information about the online auction...

Dale this is my first contribution to TLOL although I have been reading the
newsletter ever since I joined during 9798 (old age is making me
forgetful).  I have been saving some emails received from Tip World hints.
Some are pretty interesting.  I think eBay is a very good site.  I have bid
on a few items which were not Tea Leaf.  Needed a couple plates from the
Norman Rockwell collection that I had not gotten during the collection
period.  Must admit that what I did win the bidding on was much cheaper than
the original cost of the plates.  I lost out on a couple bids but did not
push it because they were items I would only have used as gifts.  It
was an exciting experience as a beginner on eBay.  I emailed the seller
with questions when my first bid was accepted, before the closing. Mostly
about shipping, was it ok to send a personal check, and mentioning that I
was new to eBay and auctions in particular.  Responses were received
quickly and with a friendly attitude.  Not like corresponding with a big
business but family type atmosphere.  Not only were they great at the
beginning and end of the sale but also when I sent a thank you after
receiving the merchandise, I received a heartwarming thank you in return.  I
was told I probably did not need insurance for any of the items and I didn't
because they were packed very well.

There are so many items to sell, as you know, you could spend all week just
browsing.  Well enough of that.  The following are the tips which might be of
interest to you and maybe our readers.

From: TipWorld <tips@tipworld.com>

  SEARCHING ON EBAY
                        Here's one lesson I learned the hard way: eBay's
basic search box feature interprets traditional search modifiers such as
"and," "or," "not," and so on as words to search for within the text itself.
If you want to employ these kinds of modifiers, you have to get familiar
with eBay's basic search functions: Instead of typing
baseball and autograph
just type
baseball autograph
eBay's system automatically inserts the "and" command.
And instead of typing baseball or autograph
you should type
baseball,autograph
(Note that there is no space after the comma.)
For more details, check out the eBay Search Tips page at                 http://pages.ebay.com/aw/tipssearch.html

EBAY'S SAFE HARBOR INSURANCE
                        A couple of months ago, we mentioned that eBay was
planning to offer an insurance policy for bidders. Well, it has arrived:
Subject to certain exceptions, the program is available to all eBay users in
good standing. The insurance covers qualified items bought on eBay listed on
or after March 1, 1999. Purchases will be covered for up to $200, less a $25
deductible. To qualify for the program, your final bid amount must exceed
$25, and reimbursement fees will only cover the final bid price; it doesn't
cover ancillary costs, such as shipping and escrow fees. All requests must
be registered within 30 days of the end of the auction. Get the details at

                        http://pages.ebay.com/aw/safeharborinsfaq.html

EBAY AND IESCROW
                        The Internet has certainly contributed greatly to
the cause of global communication. At the same timedue to strange
spellings and random capital lettersit's taken its toll on the English
language. Hence we've seen the emergence of eBay and iEscrow, a sequence of
alphanumerics that would've been nothing more than an egregious typo a
decade ago. Still, we must carry on. As part of its Safe Harbor program,
eBay has entered into a deal with the online escrow service, which acts as a
neutral third party in a transaction. iEscrow collects payment from the
buyer until the item is delivered and accepted. Once the buyer accepts the
merchandise, iEscrow forwards the payment to the seller. iEscrow charges 5
percent of the final value of the item up to $5000, with a $5 minimum feea
good option for highpriced items. For more specifics, stop by

                        http://pages.ebay.com/aw/safeharborescrow.html

EBAY POWERSELLERS PROGRAM
                        The landscape of online auctions has evolved
speedily over the last year or so. What was initially a promising idea to
bring individual buyers and sellers together in an electronic flea market
has exploded into what is arguably the Internet's fastestgrowing arena. To
get a sense of how things have changed, check out eBay's PowerSellers
program. To anyone who has regularly visited eBay, the powerhouse of online
auctions, it's no secret that many sellers out there are making a living
trading online. eBay has finally come around to courting this crowd directly
by offering special service benefits, such as dedicated email and phone
support. How serious are these professional auctioneers? To earn a Gold
PowerSeller rating, the seller must clock minimum monthly sales of $25,000.
Find out more at
                        http://pages.ebay.com/aw/powersellers.html

POSTING PHOTOS ON EBAY
                        If you're looking to unload some old items from
around the house on eBay, be advised that including a photo of your item can
dramatically improve your chances of a sale. (Some estimates from
highvolume sellers suggest that a photo attracts up to ten times as many
bidders.) Uploading the photo can be tricky, however, because the image file
does not reside on eBay's servers. Instead, you have to post the image to an
independent hosting space, whether it's through your ISP or via a
payperclick hosting service. eBay has some good help pages on posting your
photos at

                        http://pages.ebay.com/aw//help/helptsllimag.html

You can also check out these independent tutorials and hosting services:

                        http://www.pixhost.com
                        http://www.twaze.com/aolpix

ESCROW SERVICESHOW LONG DO THEY TAKE?
                        An escrow service is a good way to protect yourself
at an online auction, whether you're buying or selling. One drawback to an
escrow, however, is that it can delay a transaction. Under optimal settings,
if the buyer pays the escrow service by credit card and the seller ships via
an overnight delivery service, the transaction can be completed within one
or two days. If the buyer uses a certified check or money order, expect
three to four days before the escrow service can verify payment. Personal
checks often take up to five days to clear. At the close of the transaction,
the escrow service will send a company check to the seller; express and
overnight delivery options are usually available.

ESCROW SERVICESWHO PICKS UP THE CHECK?
                        In almost all cases, the buyer is expected to pay
escrow service fees at the time the actual transaction amount itself is
paid. But that doesn't mean the fee can't be negotiated between the buyer
and the seller. Escrow services benefit both parties, so if you're buying an
expensive item, consider asking the seller to split the escrow fee with you.
Five percent is the typical transaction fee, so if you're buying a $600
item, the escrow service will charge $30. Have the seller subtract $15 from
his or her selling price, and you've effectively split the cost.
(Technically, if you do the math, the buyer will pay only $14.25 after the
$15 initial deduction is made by the seller. Bonus!)

If anyone would like to subscribe to any of the Tip World services just use
the following address:           <tips@tipworld.com>

Thank you Dale and all for making my Sunday nights such a pleasant occasion.
After printing the TLOL newsletter and sitting in my comfortable chair,  I
take a trip into your lives and enjoy all the excitement and wonders of Tea
Leaf collecting.             .

Marlene D'Aboy

[Marlene, Thanks for the tips - I will definitely subscribe to the service.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Sam and Fran wrote...

More comments on the cleaning topic. I use a Perfection Aire convection oven for my cleaning. It's very handy as I carry it outside to use so there is no offensive odors in the house. I bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees and as Dale suggested, allow to gradually cool to normal temperature. I do clean all year around also. I've found that the hardest by far to clean is Clementson.

And now for our latest excursion. This week we took a short trip to cities we had never visited before. The area included Western Tenn, Northern Miss,  Western and Northern Ark. Surely, I thought, this is where that elusive Laurel Wreath soup tureen with ladle and u'tray would be. Well, let me tell you how bad it was. It was so bad that upon asking if they had any TL, they didn't even show us their Jewel Tea. Our next trip is definitely going to be EAST. I think John and Juliehoo need some competition.

On the subject of TL for sale or wanted. I will buy ALL of your unmatched lids or bottoms. Bring to convention or EMAIL @ fmiller@xxx.xxx
And now back to the "Cabin in the Woods"             

Sam and Fran Miller

- - - - - - - - - -

Margaret is still in Texas but took time to write with...

It is warm and dry in TX todayand most every other dayand, from what I hear, it is a little "dry" as far as Convention registrations go .
If there could possibly be any of you our there not yet registered (unbelievable as this may be) there is good newsit is not too late to take advantage of the "Early Bird" discount.  In talking with Denny yesterday, I learned that there will be a little reprievehe will probably tell you morebut if you grab your checkbook right now and address that envelope quickly, you are in business.  This will be the greatest $65 bargain you will ever buy.  Not only will you get to hear and see a legendary figure present a legendary program (Dale and the 20th Anniversary of TLCI), you will participate in what may be the best auction yet (and we have had some doozies) see more tea leaf at table sales that you ever knew existed, have a chance to view over 120 teapots in the display, partake of our Anniversary tea, go on a riverboat cruise and tour that has been planned to the nth detailand be part of the family to end all families.  But why am I going on about all of thisit has been so well covered in READINGSI guess my enthusiasm just ran away with meas yours will when you link up with us in Peoria.  So hurry upget that check in the mailWe don't want to miss meeting a single one of you.

Thought the insights into eBay were great and am anxious to hear more maybe we will sometime have a sampling wide enough to come up with a general summary or at least reach some consensus on this.

I hope to be home in IN in about 2 weeks if things continue as they are at present here.  It is a grave situation and one that has begun to exceed our ability to give the needed care.  Thanks to so many of you for your words of encouragement and your prayers.  The TL family does a lot to help me maintain an even balance.

Margaret

- - - - - - - - - -

And the last letter this week is from Bev & Ernie...

We shared the pain of Denny Kear last week when he couldn't believe the guy
dropped that creamer.
We can't believe she did that!  We went to photograph a collection in New
York City and the more we photographed, the more excited the collector got.  
She brought out some large pitchers which we thought rare and unusual.  Then
she said, "If you think that's something, wait till you see these."  As she
walked down a narrow hallway, a pitcher by the handle in each hand, she had a
childlike swing to her arms.  One of the pitchers hit the other and she was
left holding the handles of two rare pitchers we'd never seen before.  We
still can't believe she did that!

More on our meeting with Godden.  Ernie says he also liked Godden, however,
his English "class" structure came out more than once when he referred to
that heavy plain white ironstone china as never intended for the English
market but rather for overseas which was a different class of people!!  He
added that we determined the kind and number of things.  We ordered cup
plates as cup plates.  They didn't make them for the English market.  He also
said that 'nappie' is an American term.

Bev & Ernie

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.  I’m so glad that Nancy is now online and can contribute regularly.  As Chair of the Education Committee she’ll probably be able to answer lots of those questions which seem to stump us!

Looking forward to hearing from you this week.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  August 22, 1999

Not too many letters this week but I bet everyone is now getting ready for convention.   Fran Miller wrote yesterday to let us know that we’re already up to 165 members registered for the Convention.  I’m guessing that this will be our biggest year yet.  51 tables for Tea Leaf have been reserved for Sunday Table Sales and 35 tables are reserved for lids and $1-$40 items for Friday evening.  Whew!  

TLOL MEMBER INFO

No new members this week.

DISCUSSION TOPIC

A Tea Leaf Club member recently write to me to say that she was looking for a new career and was thinking about opening an antique mall in a mid-size Ohio town.  What advice would you give her, especially in light of our recent conversation about eBay?

LETTERS

Dan and Sandy Widder ask...

Afternoon Dale from hot and dry Southwest Kansas.  Dan and I have sure
enjoyed reading the TLOL issues and have now made a booklet of same.

Dan has a question or two for you.  We have always been uneasy about
baking that "treasured" piece in the oven.  Sounds like we shouldn't
have been.  We would like to know the proper temperature and the length
of time for baking in the oven?  As hot as it is here today, is probably
cooler in the oven than outside.

After much confusion from not receiving the July Readings, and through
the help of several members, we have our registration form filled out
and mailed, will also receive the July readings and have our suitcases
up stairs to pack for the long awaited trip to Peoria and our first
convention.  Thanks to all for their help.  See you there.  Dan and
Sandy Widder

{D&S, I bake my pieces for at least an hour at 225-degrees.  Be sure to put the china in a cold oven and then not open the door until it’s baked and completely cooled down.  Introducing colder air to hot china will definitely cause additional crazing.  I think others use different temperatures and would like to hear from TLOLers regarding their baking processes.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Would you believe Dick Brackin bought a 4-pc Lily-of-the-Valley soup tureen in Hong Kong for $10?  Well he didn’t but wrote anyway...

It had been my intent to respond to the eBay question when it
first surfaced, but...I am not certain where the time is going, but it is
FLYING by at breakneck speed!

Sometime ago I related a relatively disappointing experience with
eBay, but my disappointment had more to do with the behavior of
the consignor rather than the behavior of eBay.  I finally received notice
from MasterCard that a credit had been recorded to my account from the
consignor.  I still suspect strongly that the dish was damaged before it
ever left the consignor's shop and that they collected, fraudulently, I
might add, from UPS or the insurance company whoever that was.
 I have missed out on a couple of pieces recently that I would have
liked to have had and for which I had the high bid up until less than
an hour before the auction closed.  I could not keep online however, to
continue bidding since I had to leave my "flat" for work and it was over
before I reached the office in one case.  In that one, I lost by 49 cents.
In another case I did not discover the difference in my bid and the winner
since it was several hours before I could check.  I was disappointed, but
that is all part of the game, isn't it?

On the other hand, just last week, I bid on a piece, had the high
bid when I came to the office and when I went home discovered that the
piece had not made reserve.  The very next message was from the consignor
(whom I know) who indicated that if I wanted it for the reserve bid, I
could have it.  When I left home, the bid was somewhat below my high bid
which was just under the reserve and I do not know how near that point
anyone else may have bid.  In any event, I was glad to agree to the
reserve bid and now it is in my collection.

I think it is like any auction, if I want the piece enough and am
willing to stick in there, I will have the winning bid.  If I am not
willing or able to stay to the end, likely I will lose the bid.

My impression is that there is a good bit of preliminary work and
time involved in putting pieces on eBay.  My guess is that not everyone is
willing to invest that kind of time.  My guess also is that there are
still plenty of us like the Stevens, who relish rummaging, seeing, and
touching so I think that there will still be a place in the market for the
shop or mall, the flea market, the real live auction.

Enough.  It is just about a month until I shall be flying out on
my way to Athens, then Peoria.  I am ready to see my friends and family.
:)  Dick

[Dick, When I’m not able to sit at the computer until the last moment a piece sells I feel quite comfortable submitting my high bid and let others bid against it.  I think eBay works well this way and I have occasionally purchased pieces at well under the max bid I had left.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Of course, what Disk isn’t finding John M is!...

I've been meaning to write for some time, but decided to wait till I got
back from New Hope this past weekend.  All of the comments on EBAY have been
especially interesting to read.  It seems to me that just about every issue
both pro and con has been covered.  I have bid on a few items but have yet
to be successful in obtaining any.  Overall, EBAY is a positive thing but to
me it can never replace the thrill of the hunt and finding that treasure
just sitting on a shelf waiting to be scooped up.

On the subject of cleaning, I still continue to bake items in the peroxide
in a lightly covered (using aluminum foil) hard plastic container.  I set
the oven at 200 degrees and bake for hours, then turn the oven off and let
the whole thing cool thereby continuing the cleaning process for hours more.
When I take the item out of the peroxide and bake it, rarely does anymore
gunk ooze out.  I have been using this technique for years and  have yet to
have a negative experience.  I know that heating the peroxide can be
dangerous so I take no responsibility for problems that anyone else might
experience.  One important  fact to add is that I only use over the counter
drugstore strength peroxideNEVER anything stronger.

Now onto an update of some recent finds.  On a trip to the Cape several
weeks ago, I found a Morning Glory creamer and pitcher on Friday and on that
Sunday another creamer, pitcher and a matching coffee pot in the same body
style.  I guess it was just my weekend for Morning Glory.  A couple of the
pieces have some cracks and a minor chip, but they were all very well
priced.    The woman in the shop where I found the three piece set thought
that it was sold enough to be "Paris Porcelain."  I also stopped into a shop
where the dealer told me a very funny story.  She said that a woman came in
and bought a piece of tea leaf from her.  Apparently the woman had just come
from Boston where she had acquired her very fist piece.   She that it had a
very interesting low and one of the reasons she was starting the collection
was because of the connection of tea leaf to the Boston Tea party.  Wow!    

Other recent finds include a fairly large Walley  copper luster Grape
Octagon covered vegetable with a little damage to the lid and a huge Walley
bowl with undertray in copper luster Gothic Cameo.  The bowl is approx. 10"
high by 10" wide.  I had seen the piece for years in a shop and never
thought much of it because it was minus a lid.  The shop is now going out of
business so I bought it for a very good price not realizing what the exact
body style was.  Upon close examination it does not appear to me that it
ever had a lid.  I always assumed that this was a soup tureen.  Dale, do you
think that it is possible that it never had a lid?  

Lastly, there were also a few finds this past weekend.  In Connecticut I
found three honey dishes ( 1 LOV and 2 Shaw Chinese) and three small
unmarked 3 1/2" plates.  I assume they are cup plates and not
child'scorrect?  Finally, I returned to the shop in New Jersey where I
found the Walley preTL covered veg., sugar and coffee pot and believe it or
not, lightning struck again in the form of a perfect Fig Cousin creamer.
The price was very good and as the woman was ringing it up she asked if I
realized that there was an additional 15% off.  Talk about a lucky day!

So Long for now,

John

[JM, I agree that your 3.5" plates aren’t child’s pieces.  I suspect they’re cup plates.  Your Walley question is a little harder to answer.  Without seeing the piece I’m not sure whether it might or might not have had a lid.  How about bringing it for “show and tell & ask”?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Marlene expanded on her “Tips” from last week...

Just in case you wanted more on Escrows see below.  Also URL to join
is www.pcworld.com    As you probably found out   tips@tipworld.com is email
address.  Under the URL you will find a place to enroll for the tips.
Sorry.
Marlene D'Aboy

- - - - - - - - - -

TLOL member and eBay seller Valerie writes...

It has been awhile since I have written.  The subject of eBay has been of great interest to me.  I would like to add my thoughts more as a seller than a buyer.  It is certainly nice to receive friendly emails from buyers stating their name and address.  Very seldom can I identify a buyer from their email address and I have sold items to Israel, Singapore, Australia, Canada, etc.  There is a big difference in figuring postage and shipping to places outside of US.  When a buyer sends their payment in the form of a money order or check they really need to enclose a copy of the email correspondence regarding the items they purchased and their name and address typed or very legibly printed so the packaged item can be sent properly.  All email correspondence needs to include description of item, EBay number and any other specifications such as insurance, tracking, priority, regular or book rate mailing.  Also, EBay user name is often useful.

Some people do feel there is an overcharge for postage and I agree at times I feel I have been over charged, but there are other expenses incurred by the seller than just the postage such as trip to post office (we are now paying $1.67 a gallon for regular gas) packaging materials (not all are given at post office) stickers such as fragile, mailing labels, tape, etc.  Sometimes postage is as much as item purchased which is something all buyers need to consider.

If you are satisfied as either a buyer or a seller it is very courteous to give positive feedback.  We all like a friendly "thank you".  I personally have found buying and selling on EBay a very worthwhile project.  I have had a great deal of experience renting in antique malls and EBay seems to have fewer problems than malls.  At least there is not the thief issue that I was constantly dealing with in malls, even with security cameras and locked cabinets their were problems.  

I had another seller ask me one time how I kept track of all the items I sold, which seemed to be a bookkeeping nightmare for him.  I use my Excel computer program and set up a simple spread sheet with a separate column for each of the following: date item sold inventory number description of item amount item sold for amount charged for postage actual amount of postage California Sales Tax Original Cost of Item Buyer's Name Buyer's Email Buyer's address Date Mailed Date Seller's Feedback Date Buyer's Feedback.  You can design this spread sheet with whatever headings you want.  This spreadsheet works the same if you are a buyer, but with a couple alternations to the headings that are appropriate.

Looking forward to the convention in Peoria.

Valerie

[V-Thanks for the sellers perspective.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Mike and Marie contribute to our Peoria visit...

I thought I'd pass on some of my thoughts as to extracurricular activities to
partake in if your trip to Peoria includes some extra days.  Having grown up
there, these would be some of my recommendations:

First, September is the perfect time to visit Tanner's Orchards (take
Knoxville (Route 5) north out of Peoria and you can't miss it near Speer,
IL about 25 miles).  Tanner's raises apples and their store is only open in
the fall.  Drink free samples of apple cider whilst you walk among all the
goodies.  They have a bakery going this time of year and you won't be able to
resist something!  Apple butter's, peaches, and apples.  A real treat.

My family's favorite place to eat if you like homestyle meals served family
style is Fairview Farms.  All the things mom used to make right down to the
corn fritters served by the bowls full.  You kind of have to know about this
to find it, so ask for directions at the hotel.  They've been there since
1952!  My father used to deliver their newspapers!

Of course German cooking and Jumer's go hand in hand.  Marie and I will
definitely be going there Sunday evening.  They are near downtown at the top
of Western Avenue hill.  Worth a reservation.  They are decorated with lots
of nice antiques from the black forest area  (no tea leaf I'm afraid!)  We
held our wedding rehearsal dinner there.

A good steak house and right down town is Jim's Steak house at 110 SW
Jefferson.  Very nice atmosphere and good beef.

The Wild Life Animal Park is also worth a visit.  They house animals that are
native to Illinois and they live in a more open environment that a
traditional zoo.  We love going there to get out and walk.  They also have
replica school houses and cabins to show what prairie life was like.

Finally, the Pleasant Hill Antique Mall and Tea Room in East Peoria is a must
do.  We love it because it opens at 7:00 a.m. every day (including Sunday).  
You can eat breakfast there and sit amidst al of the antiques on what used to
be a stage in a gymnasium.   They are open until 10 p.m. Wed. Sat.  That's
my kind of hours!

As you can tell I usually eat my way through Peoria!  We were there 2 weeks
ago and my Aunt had a very nice 100th birthday celebration.  She was so cute
in her pink suit and corsage, and she received over 60 cards.  She would only
drink water and scraped all the icing off her cake Marie says this accounts
for her never weighing over 110 pounds!

We found one nice piece of tea leaf during our Illinois trip:  A brocade
gravy (we had the underplate or pickle!).  In Oklahoma we recently found a
Coronet covered vegetable by Corn (finial reglued but still gorgeous) and a
child's mug via some email contacts (our first).

The next few weeks will take Mike to Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco.  
Marie will actually join him in San Francisco but her new job has started so
she's busy with that now.  Looking forward to September!

Mike & Marie

{M&M, Want to tell us about any of the special new Giftique items you’re planning to bring?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.  

On the “wanted” front, I purchased some copper lustre decorated Ceres pieces this weekend, 12 plates, 6 saucers, a damaged creamer, coffeepot, teapot and sugar bowl.  The last three pieces are all missing their lids so if you have any Ceres lids available I need three of them (in three different sizes).

Thanks to all who wrote this week.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  August 29, 1999

TLOL MEMBER INFO

Convention registrations are pouring in.  We currently have 281 people registered with 36 tables reserved for Friday evening’s swap and sales activities as well as 56 tables reserved for Sunday Table Sales.  The hotel has no guest rooms left but there will definitely be facilities around Peoria with space if you’re still interested in attending.  It’s definitely our largest convention yet!

NEW MEMBERS

Cindy Pramann joins us again and writes...

Its been almost a year since I've had Internet access and I've missed the
weekly discussions.  Please add my name & address to the list:   
capramann@xxx.xxx

For a novice collector it is very informative and educational.

I look forward to receiving the emails,
Cindy

DISCUSSION TOPIC

With the convention coming up in less than a month, what is the one piece you would most like to find in Peoria to add to your collection?

LETTERS

Margaret writes...

Hope all of you are signed up and ready to pack up for Peoria.  We are at record levelsisn't that great?  I won't steal anyone else's thunder by tellingbut I am sure Maxine or Denny will update you.

Now, right off the topwe need help from all of you TLOLers.  We have only 9 or 10 decorations for the tables at the banquetand with a record number of attendees, we will obviously have a record number of tablesSOHELP!! I will be here through Monday , at least, and will be looking for at least 10 or 20 emails telling me that you will be bringing something for the table.  I will not name names, but I do have a list of most of you who are on line but I thought this would be so much easier and faster than a phone call.  I don't even yet have much free time, but these are my Convention duties and I need your help to get them completed.  My email through Monday is mjpayne@xxx.xxx.  If you don't get it done by then, just send a note to mjpayne@xxx.xxx and I will get it when I do get home.

There will be some fun categoriesit is not just a contest to see who has the most beautiful I hope you were not scared off by the word "contest"the names will only be on the bottom!  Please find a less than perfect piece and put something in itI know all of you have a piece or two that is damagedyou don't??  Not a problem Bring a fistful of flowers or fruit to the Friday night sales, buy an appropriate piece there, and you are in businessyou won't need it until Saturday anyway.  Now, any other problems?  You aren't talented at arranging?  It does not matterget your 5year old grandchild or a kid from down the street to do itthen you can blame it on somebody else.  More objections?  This is just to be a small arrangement, so you will be able to see your neighbors across the table, and will be picked up by you when we have the auction break and you will be taking your treasures to your room anywayor putting them in a box.  

Now the serious appealI know we can count on younever yet have Tea Leafers failed to come through in a pinch.  It would be a real downer to have 300 people at our 20th Anniversary Convention and only have 1/3 of the tables decorated.  

Many people have worked many hours putting this show togetherbut in the final analysis, how it plays in Peoria depends on you, our membership  and we are depending on you to decorate those tables.  A round of applause and two curtain calls in advance!!

To update you on the status heremy sisterinlaw was transferred to a care facility where hospice operates and was there 5 daysgetting along pretty well.  Then, Thursday, she was admitted to the hospital with a large blood clot (from groin to midcalf) in her left leg.  She is on a new drug to dissolve the clot and  plus the compression stocking  has reduced the swelling effectivelyshe will likely be dismissed on Monday or Tuesday to return to the care center.  She has no paineither with  this or the halowhich means you have to watch so carefully because she does not complain if something is wrong.  The amount of care she needed had increased beyond what I could do alone and we could not put together a team to operate 24 hours when I had to go homemy brother cannot do any of thisexcept sit beside her bed and watch, so I have had 2 patients most of the time.  The doctors had recommended the care center even from the beginningbut we had such high hopes for at least some improvementand there has been some, but it is one step forward
and two backward it seems.  

Fonis arrived Thursday and we will be leaving the first of the week (hopefully) and take a few days along the way for a change of scene for both of us.

Thanks again for all your supportive emails and also, in advance, for helping with the table decorations.
See you in Peoria.
Margaret

- - - - - - - - - -

Marjorie Yambrovich, via Linda Slates, inquires...

Marjorie called me yesterday with a question for you and the TLOLers. She has
friends who have a TL Boston egg cup and recently found another Boston egg
cup without a tea leaf, just plain white ironstone. They have not found any
reference to a Boston egg cup in white ironstone reference materials. Is this
a rare occurrence, or what? Any insight anyone can give would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Linda Slates

{Bev and Ernie - can you help us out on this one? DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Julie also needs some Convention assistance...

HI!  I've been quiet for several weeks because I just didn't take the time to
write or I was involved with other things but a lot of our members of TLOL
seem to enjoy reading more than writing.  It's like pulling teeth to get you
all to make comments just like in my Sharing column.  I have to pick up
things from what people say and then you'll share.  I think we really
appreciate Dale's efforts, obviously, or there wouldn't be more and more of
you joining us every week.  I'm sure that Dale, in return, would enjoy having
a word or two from you.

Just to reinforce the above I've been getting a few Rare and Unusual notes.
 Unfortunately, some of our members are still sending to Tom, and Carol, in
turn, is sending them on to me.  Some have gone to Denny.  We will have a few
but we could use more.  It's a way to educate all of us.

Thanks, Marlene D'Aboy for the information on eBay.  As usual, I'll be the
last to get the hang of using the Internet.  I can get on to eBay, thanks to
Carl H and Virginia B.  But I just can't seem to get them to let me bid.  I
did so early on Tasha Tudor books and then forgot my password and I haven't
been able to get it straightened out since.  Yes, I've sent notes and gone on
that incredibly long www they sent me.  

I'm not so sure that I really want to start on this insanity, although many
of you youngsters (that's anybody 60 and under) seem to be indulging.  The
prices have scared an oldtimer like me to death.  I'm not going to reiterate
some of the prices that I paid for things 10, 20 or 30 years ago.  I know
those times are gone.  But I'm really floored by some of the prices that are
being paid for rather ordinary pieces.  Plus postage and insurance.  And I
really like to hold these things in my hands before I'm willing to pay such
high prices.

One of the things that really irritates me, however, is the misinformation
some of the sellers have accumulated.  So I've taken to emailing them
corrections the spelling of Meakin as "Makin" or whatever floored me.  The
use of "rare and unusual" for everything from nappies, butter pats, platters
to plates is another annoyance.  When I turned on the email today, I had two
answers one rather snippy about the use of the word "reticulated" for what
appeared to be a simple paneled platter.  I referred that one to Jean's book.
 The other was a very nice "Thank You" and where could she learn about
ironstone.  That person (I can't find it in my heart to call them 'dealers' )
was also referred to Jean's  book and Annise' too.

About Antique Malls.  I love them, I visit them whenever I can but I miss the
education that I got from old time antique dealers (and they were educated
dealers) who were happy to tell you everything they knew about what I was
interested in Tea Leaf first, Ironstone later.  And a few other things in
between.  Like everything else in modern times, there is a lack of the
personal touch in the business.  Clerks in Antique Malls are frequently
uneducated in antiques.  They know how to open the cases and some of them
even have a little knowledge about the antiques that are displayed.  I'm
becoming frustrated at the lack of what I call antiques and the  substitution
of things from the 30's, 40's, 50's and even the 60's.  I'm sure that our
kind of antiques are getting scarce;  they are becoming more difficult to
find and they are becoming more difficult to pay for.  I'll continue to
patronize malls (there at least you can pick it up and hold it in your hands)
and notice when the wrong lid is on a teapot or when something called "rare"
is as ordinary as a butter pat.  

Well, the old lady has had her say as usual.  See all of you soon, I hope.
Juliehoo!

- - - - - - - - - -

Suzi and Allen have some interesting finds...

Dear friends,

We have been preoccupied with the final weeks of preparation for our annual
192 mile bike ride for the Dana~Farber Cancer Institute so have been out of
touch for some time.  But, it's over another incredible experience 
and we're thinking Tea Leaf again.  Yes, we have registered to attend our
first TL Convention and are looking forward to it immensely.  We're excited
about meeting many of you, seeing all the Tea Leaf, meeting many more of
you, hearing the presentations, meeting the rest of you, and, of course,
attending an auction of TL on a scale so grand that it is nearly
incomprehensible.  We can hardly wait!!

On the eBay question, it is quite obvious that it has both good and bad
qualities.  We have actually met some very interesting people through sales
and have enjoyed communicating with and, in some ways, educating them about
Tea leaf.  We have only been 'burned' once when we received a shattered
piece that had been poorly packed.  The seller purportedly contacted UPS (we
don't do business with UPS anymore) but we never had any further contact.  I
suspect neither the seller nor UPS were much interested as we only paid $9
for the piece and $5 postage.  An inexpensive lesson?!  We do feel that eBay
has changed many dealers perspectives.  Seldom do we go Tea Leafing that we
don't hear dealers discussing eBay and/or using it.  We have seen pieces
that we would have liked to have bought that were on shelves marked as eBay
sales.  We also, more recently, have heard dealers bemoaning the amount of
effort it takes to photograph, scan, list, package, ship, receive, etc., to
conclude a sale.  But, from the amount of Tea Leaf appearing on eBay, it
doesn't seem to have deterred too many!  It is neat to see some very unusual
pieces and I suspect that eBay prices are close to club auction prices for
the real unusual pieces.  We haven't had a lot of success finding TL in this
area over the past year.  But John still seems to be doing fine so not all
of it has gone to eBay!  It has been fun to participate in the bidding and
I(Allen), personally, find sniping to be another exciting way to be a part
of it.

John wasn't specific on the prices of his finds.  Sometimes I wonder what
dealers pay for their pieces and, therefore, where they find them.  While
camping last week, we discovered a Shaw open soap dish for $9same style
as shown in the Butter Dish vs. Soap Dish supplement of Readings (photo no.
31, I think) but with the TL on the front and back sides and raised ridges
for holding the soap.  What would the dealer have paid to be asking only $9?
And where did she buy it?  One way to beat eBay is to buy where the dealers
buy probably at auctions and from estates.

Another interesting find the same day is a set of small, 43/8", saucers
with the Pinwheel motif.  Dale, are these child's saucers?  They are exactly
the same size as our Walley child's saucers and only 1/8" larger than our
Shaw saucers.  They definitely have an indentation and ring that identify
them as saucers not honey dishes as the dealer had them marked.  We have
never seen pictures of children's pieces with the Pinwheel motif.

Other nice finds included a complete Furnival, Cable chamber pot, an
unmarked (probably Shaw) child's waste bowl, a lidless Daisy 'n Chain sugar
(anyone have a lid?), and others such as a cream colored handled cup (Thomas
Elsmore?) and a lid for those Morning Glory coffeepots that John found.
This was our first successful excursion in a long time and very thrilling to
be able to pick up pieces in a shop.  We were satisfied for......oh, a day
or so!

Looking forward to our first timer experiences in Peoria.

Suzi & Allen

[S&A, Nice finds!  Yes, I do believe your Pinwheel saucers are child’s pieces but have to admit that I have never seen a Pinwheel child’s set.  What a spectacular find that would be.  I think your Thos Elsmore attribution for the off-white cup is probably correct - the only other option would be Edge-Malkin which would be more buttery-colored than cream colored.  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

Maxine Johnson wrote to let us know that Annise Heaivilin will be joining us for our 20th Anniversary celebration.  Hooray!

- - - - - - - - - -

The Comptons checked in with...

Hi!  I just skimmed the last online (I'll read all of it later, right now I'm
too busy eBaying!) and had to add my two cents for whatever that's worth.  
I'll get back to eBay in just a minute.  First, I'll let you in on what the
Giftique will have for your buying pleasure at convention.  As you'll hear in
my report our search for truly unique things was hindered by vendors who
didn't quite take their business seriously.  So rather than a lot of new
things, we have some new things and lots of resurrected goodies.  Our new and
replenished items for 1999 are: greeting cards (both birthday and blank so
you can add your own message), foil seals, beverage napkins with a brown tea
leaf imprint, white polo shirts with brown tea leaf intheround chest
emblem, bars of hand soap (both round and rectangular!), and key ring tape
measures.  We also had the three remaining flags stitched with the word
"Welcome".  If you were hoping we would resurrect some other items, please
stop by our booth and give us your suggestions.  

Now about eBay.  I've been selling on eBay (mostly Blue Ridge) for the past
couple of months and am having a ball.  I'm not selling everything for high
book price, but inventory is moving and our customer base is growing by leaps
and bounds.  Our experience with mall selling wasn't nearly as
profitableit's too embarrassing to detail.  As a seller, my interactions
with customers has been a pleasure.  I've always used a database to track my
inventory and sales; it's in Microsoft Access.  But with eBay keeping track
of the emails, payments, and administrivia has been a challenge.  I now print
off all notes pertaining to an auction and file them in one of four files:  
1) Auctions Pending, 2) Auctions waiting for payment, 3) Auctions closed,
feedback entered, and item sent, and 4) Auctions closed, waiting for check to
clear & feedback.  As I get things done the paperwork moves from folder to
folder.  This has been the only way I've been able to keep track of all that
I have to do.  Personally, I think it's been worth the effort.  However, I've
been working on this while taking a break from work.  Who knows how I'll feel
once I really start working again.

Can't wait to see you all at convention!!!  Please stop by the Giftique
booth.

M&M

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.

There was a big TL auction this weekend in Eaton Ohio and quite a few TLers showed up.  The sale had 200 interesting pieces with absolutely none of the “normal” beat up plates and platters.  There was a nice selection of Variants and TL and the sale had something for everyone.  Lots of Morning Glory and Teaberry made the sale somewhat unusual.  No one knew whose collection was being sold but all agreed that the collectors had a good eye.  Prices were strong and since I noticed Maxine taking notes I’ll let her report on prices next week.  

I know I’ll be forgetting someone but I recall seeing Bob Skinner and Paul Risch, the Pleines, Jim and Betty Barrett, Gerald and Maxine Johnson, Don and Nancy Upchurch, Terrell Medd, Ann and Jim Miller, Peggy and Vic Regnaud and their neighbor-collector Donna Turner, Jeanette and Eileen, and more.  The big complaint that the TL folks had about the sale is that this was a 2-day sale and the auctioneer chose to sell half the TL on Saturday and the other half today.  This sure didn’t seem fair to those who had to stay extra nights in local motels and was an inconvenience even to those like me who were driving.  Also, the auctioneer only sold a couple of TL lots every hour so we all had to sit there all day long waiting for the remaining pieces.  The experience made me appreciate so much more that at our convention auctions we get to see TL sold all the time!

I purchased some nice Gothic shape Walley lustre-banded bath pieces yesterday (covered brush box and soap dish) and a couple of Morning Glory jugs.  I decided not to go back to the auction today because Ann Miller told me she would bid for me on the half dozen lots I was interested in.  I am particularly excited about a Cockscomb Handled lustre banded sugar bowl which would exactly match my coffeepot.  I left a pretty hefty bid with Ann so I hope I get it.  By the way Dick B, there were three lustre banded creamers and I left a bid on your behalf for the trio.  It’s a bad time to be spending money when I know we’ll all need a couple extra bucks in Peoria but you gotta buy it when you find it!

Looking forward to hearing from many of you this week.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  September 5, 1999

TLOL MEMBER INFO

Fran reports the following convention registrations:
- Reservations   297 (Looks like we may set a new record for attendees and meet our goal of 300.)
- Cruise   126
-Tour   137
-Tables  Friday Night $1-$40 Sale and Lid Swap - 37 tables
- Sunday Table Sales - 59

WOW!

NEW MEMBERS

Please put the following activity on your calendars.  On Friday afternoon, after the tour returns, TLOLers will be meeting from 4:30-5:30 in the Peoria/Illinois/Lincoln Room.  Please plan to be there to meet one another so we can again match up names and faces and talk about TLOL plans for the coming year.

DISCUSSION TOPIC

With the convention coming up in less than a month, what is the one piece you would most like to find in Peoria to add to your collection?

LETTERS

Denny Kear wrote last week within minutes of my emailing the last TLOL so he gets to go first this week...

Just a quick note to encourage anyone who hasn't registered for the TLCI
convention, to get their registration in.  By  all accounts, this will
be our largest convention yet.  The Peoria tour is just about maxed out
and is up to three bus loads.

The riverboat cruise is also well received with over 120 people signed
up.  Pat and Walt have at least 10 Vignettes and tables reserved for
Friday night and Sunday morning sales promise that there will be lots of
Tea Leaf for sale.  The tea pot display will be dazzling, so bring your
camera.  The table top contest is new this year and will be fun, let us
know if you want to enter.  Dick and Julie will make the Rare & Unusual
fun and educational.  Then there is Dale's presentation which will cover
a lot of ground over the clubs first 20 years.  Of course we can't
forget about the regional luncheon where you can help plan your next
regional.  Then there is our TLOL gathering, where we can put a face
with that email address.  We will have anniversary cake at the tea party
and plenty of pizza at the pizza party.  Last, but not least, we expect
a very special guest, but that's all I'll say about that for now.

The excitement is building, and if you are still undecided, don't let
this one pass you by.  We will have a great time and we will miss you if
your not there

See you soon.

Denny Kear

Then Denny wrote again this afternoon...

I said it all last week but missed the deadline.  Here is a scoop for
all our TLOL readers, the reservation total for the convention stands at
297 and we have hopes of breaking into the 300+ range.  This is by far,
our biggest convention turn out.  Hope you are all part of that 297.  If
not, get going, time is running out.

Denny

- - - - - - - - - -

With such high attendance in Peoria Sam and Fran wish for...

The latest total for convention registrations is 297. Hopefully someone out of that high of a number will bring our Laurel Wreath soup tureen.  Really, we're wishing for any pieces of Laurel Wreath that is moderately priced.  The closest we came to anything LW this week was we spent one night in Laurel, Maryland.  They had the usual rare TL platters and plates. If anyone is interested in Tobacco Leaf, there is an unmarked  TL soap dish in a mall in Frederick, Md for $385 firm. If I had a job I would have bought it.
Sam and Fran

- - - - - - - - - -

Walt and Pat are back from their travel and focusing on the Convention...

Hello Everyone.
Have been traveling so have missed the last couple of TLOLs, didn't
spend much time looking for Tea Leaf, just having fun in San Francisco
and San Jose.
Regarding the current topic we believe that we will find our most
desired piece of Tea Leaf in a "Secret Garden" vignette but doubt that
the set designer of that vignette will let us add it to our collection
even on a loan basis.  Hope Maxine's vignette does include the piece in
question.  When you see her vignette you will know what we are talking
about.  From the information we have received about vignettes there will
be many pieces most TLOLers would like to add to their collections.  The
line up of vignettes sound exciting and we would like to say thank you
in advance to those TLOLers who have agreed to produce a vignette.
If we can't talk the Johnson's into sharing their Tea Leaf we will be on
the lookout for: a lid for a Maidenhair Fern chamber pot, lids to Cable
sugars and coffee, Maidenhair Fern bath pieces.  Coffee pots and
Creamers in: Elegance, Burgess Beaded Handle, and Laurel Wreath, a
Creamer in Walley Niagara. Also would be happy to find trays for sauce
tureens in Furnival's Gentle Square (Rooster) or Wilkinson's Daisy and
Chain.  If you have any of these bring them with you to the convention
and we can talk.

See you in Peoria

The Stevens

- - - - - - - - - -

Maxine and Gerald report on the Eaton auction which so many of us attended last weekend...

It is Sat. evening & we're finally getting rain.  As always, another week has
slipped away & I'm writing at the last minute.  Dale put me on the spot last
week to report the Eaton, Oh. sale prices.  This was a nice Tea Leaf
collection of 200 pcs. spread over 2 long days.  They (auctioneers) grouped
many lesser items with good ones & you had to bid on the lot.  Also there was
some damage so that had to be taken into consideration.  There was copper
lustre, Morning Glory, Tea Leaf & Teaberry.  Following is a sample of some of
the prices.

Grape octagon sugar bowl & teapot $275.
Balanced vine waste bowl with Portland shape saucer & a small teaberry
creamer $315.
Prairie sugar & N.Y. shape teapot $750.
Niagara shape teapot, copper lustre $300.
N. Y. shape teapot, copper lustre & no lid $105. (I understand the people had
a lid at home).
Brocade butter dish $295.
4 Wedgwood Chelsea berry dishes $95.
Copper lustre Walley covered soap dish with unique insert & matching
horizontal brush box (I call it a razor box) $625.  Another piece sold with
this lot, but it was insignificant compared to these two pieces.  Obvious,
since I can't remember what it was.
Tall & short M. G. pitchers sold together $550.
M.G. platter $110.
Mayer gravy & a sunburst undertray $90.
Shaw hexagon covered veg. $95.

After the sale ended on Sat. several of us went to a restaurant to get a bit
to eat.  Believe it or not, we still had money for food.  We went back to the
sale site for a preview of the Sun. sale & planned our strategy for the next
day's battle. ~Smile~.  Gerald & I were happy to see our Tea Leaf friends &
are looking forward to visiting with everyone at convention.  I heard from
Fran we have 297 registered.  Beat the bushes & try to find 3 more people so
we can have 300.  Only 18 more days til we depart for Peoria.  We leave the
22nd.  See you at convention.

Maxine & Gerald

- - - - - - - - - -

Janet and Mark sent...

We're sorry to report that we can't be with you all at Convention this year. Other travel plans have put a strain on available money. No finds in this area to share with everyone. Only additions to collection have been a Walley Chelsea lustre mug and a Walley PreTea Leaf  pitcher, both picked up on eBay.

As everyone undoubtedly knows, the item we would most like to find "anywhere" is the mug to the Davenport Fig Cousin wash set.

We really appreciated Julie's comments about malls. We used to chafe badly at the amount of "early Woolworth" too. But since we decided it was one of those things we couldn't do anything about, then we just accept it and hope to occasionally find a pearl among the swine.

Janet and I hope you all have a wonderful time in Peoria and will be thinking about you.

M&J

- - - - - - - - - -

Just a quick note to encourage anyone who hasn't registered for the TLCI
convention, to get their registration in.  By  all accounts, this will
be our largest convention yet.  The Peoria tour is just about maxed out
and is up to three bus loads.
The riverboat cruise is also well received with over 120 people signed
up.  Pat and Walt have at least 10 Vignettes and tables reserved for
Friday night and Sunday morning sales promise that there will be lots of
Tea Leaf for sale.  The tea pot display will be dazzling, so bring your
camera.  The table top contest is new this year and will be fun, let us
know if you want to enter.  Dick and Julie will make the Rare & Unusual
fun and educational.  Then there is Dale's presentation which will cover
a lot of ground over the clubs first 20 years.  Of course we can't
forget about the regional luncheon where you can help plan your next
regional.  Then there is our TLOL gathering, where we can put a face
with that email address.  We will have anniversary cake at the tea party
and plenty of pizza at the pizza party.  Last, but not least, we expect
a very special guest, but that's all I'll say about that for now.

The excitement is building, and if you are still undecided, don't let
this one pass you by.  We will have a great time and we will miss you if
your not there

See you soon.

Denny Kear

- - - - - - - - - -

Dick Brackin is moving from his small Hong Kong flat to far more spacious digs...

    The new apartment has three bedrooms, though one is minuscule and I
shall use it as a work space, storage, etc.  It has two bathrooms, one en
suite.  I think that I decided on the place because of the bathrooms and the
kitchen.  The kitchen has an oven, this is the only building of about 30
that I saw that has an oven as standard equipment.  It also has a washer in
which I can do more than three shirts at a time.  The building is one of
three at the end of a short street that has five towers.  The cul-de-sac is in
front of my building and there is a mountain park behind and a river across
the street in front with open space and another green hillside beyond.
There are wild birds singing outsidethis is the nearest thing to Willow
Creek in all of Hong Kong, I am certain!

- - - - - - - - - -

Bev & Ernie responded to Marjorie’s question from last week...

The Convention sounds like it is going to be the best ever.  Wish we could
join you all There.  Just can't take the time after all the traveling we did
this summer.

Checked out what a Boston egg cup looks like in GTLI.  Not only is this not a
shape name we use but, it is a form that we don't have in white.  It looks
like a very useful item.  I can see serving any number of things in it,
especially deserts (yum).  So obviously, we are not going to be any help.  My
guess is that, like some early pieces of Mason's ironstone, this cup escaped
the factory without getting decorated, in the hands of some worker.

About eBay.  I concur with everything that's been said so far except for the
sniping.  I was delighted to find that someone else uses the same system of
file folders for keeping the paperwork moving along.  The only thing that I
haven't heard any one add to the list of positive things about the process
is, NO HAGGLING.  I can put my reserves or opening bids at a modest profit
and not have it melt away.

That's all for now.

Bev

- - - - - - - - - -

Jim Barrett added a couple names to the list of the TLERS who were in Eaton last weekend...

Arthur & Dorothea Campbell of Eaton
Geo. & Alice Schaller of Bunker Hill, Ill.
    Enjoyed the two days. No purchase of Tea Leaf. Sunday all good pieces
were variants.

- - - - - - - - - -

Virginia B wrote...

I went to New Castle, DE today in
the heat and humidity of the East Coast and found NADDA.  That's Italian for
NOTHING in English.  There were about 68 white ironstone pieces, chipped,
hairlines and all the rest, NO TEA LEAF and over 100 dealers.  Aside from the
heat stroke issue, yes, I spent 2030 minutes in the EMT van, it was a total
loss.  Juliehoo must have bought all the tea leaf in Delaware!

I did receive (finally) my "Readings" from Chris and also the supplement to
register for the convention.  I think bulk mailing is something the club
should be thinking about doing away with.  I personally would be willing to
pay $5.00 more in dues to get my Readings on time, if ever.

About eBay, I’ve had my say a couple of months ago, but doggonnit, where do
we go to find tea leaf.  You yourself, bid all the time, whether to mark
pieces of to get them.  Ii, personally have bought 40+ pieces on eBay.  Three
turned out to be not as advertised, and the seller refunded my money.  
Sellers care about negative feedback especially when it's from good customers.

What do other long time club members think about increasing dues to mail
Readings first class?

Virginia and the furry crew here at Swanhollow Labradors

- - - - - - - - - -
That’s it for letters this week.  I’ll only be producing one more TLOL before convention so look for it in about 10 days with new letters and last minute convention news.

 I found an interesting web site this week called “CLAY PRODUCT CONDITION ASSESSMENT”.  It was really created for Red Wing collectors but has some very intriguing grading guidelines.  I know that Nancy will find this especially interesting.  

http://www.redwingnet.com/Full_Disclosure/index.html

What's the definition of a "flea bite?" How do you determine a "hairline crack?" What does "mint condition" really mean? This website provides a comprehensive set of terms and definitions to help assess the condition of stoneware, artware, and dinnerware.

Looking forward to seeing so many of you in Peoria and hearing from the rest.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  September 13, 1999

*** SPECIAL BULLETIN ***

I have received emails from several TLOLers today regarding an Ironstone Discussion online tomorrow afternoon.  Read on..

Walt writes...
You said a TLOL recently “if we can only get Martha Stewart...”.  Well, we might have a chance.  Can we get this out to TLOL or to interested parties.  Sorry about short notice just got this..

And Marlene D’Aboy wrote...
Dale did you know anything about this from Martha Stewart?  I hope you did not miss
it.  If you are not a member of www.marthastewart.com you probably could sign up and
still receive it.     marlene d'aboy

The Announcement from Martha Stewart says...
Don't miss our upcoming Q & A Hour on collecting ironstone, the classic nineteenthcentury English china, with style editors Fritz Karch and Brian Harter Andriola on Tuesday, September 14, at 4 P.M. EDT.

- - - -

I am not available tomorrow afternoon at 4PM but perhaps some of us can participate.  Check out www.marthastewart.com for details.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
 October 2, 1999

Well, Convention ‘99 is over and what a convention it was!  Great attendance, a $52,000+ auction, rare and unusual pieces, a spectacular teapot display and lots of special new and renewed friendships, including a visit from Annise.  The TLOL meeting couldn’t fit in the room I had reserved for it because we’ve grown so large.  I came home with some treasures and know that the rest of you did, too.  Can’t wait for next year!

NEW TLOL MEMBERS

Welcome this week to Wayne and Maryhelen Chadwick, the Diederich's in Bucyrus, Ohio, Anne and Jim Miller from Spring Valley, IL and Beth Brewer Stepp from Angola IN.    We would like for each of you to tell us about how you got started collecting Tea Leaf and perhaps a little about your favorite pieces.  

- - - - - - - - - -

DISCUSSION TOPIC:

Walt and Pat pose this new Discussion Topic: Memories of 99 Convention.

How were the auction prices?  Anything overpriced?  Underpriced?  Did
anyone have what Sam Miller calls "buyer's regret"?  What stands out for
you?  What purchases did you make?  Did you go on any of the trips?
What did you think of Peoria?  What so you have to say to non-attendees?
Those who did not attend, any questions?

- - - - - - - - - -

First Timers Allen and Suzi wrote early this week...

We have often talked about the value of Tea Leaf.  In those conversations we
have considered price guides, auction prices, general and expert opinions,
experiences, etc.  But, having had a most exhilarating experience at
convention, we would have to say that the real value of our collection lies
in the people it has connected us to.  From the moment we entered the Pere
Marquette Hotel until we got into our car to drive back home, we felt like
we were with friends we had known all our lives.  It was an absolutely
incredible experience.  Dale, Julie, the Kears, Chris, Marjorie, John, the
Stevens, the Earles, Kimmey, and dozens more you all made us feel
welcome and very much a part of everything that was happening.  Thanks for
making it such a great experience.

We have come away from the convention with a real appreciation, too, for all
the work it takes to make it happen.  So many of you have been the standard
bearers for a long time and have made our club the success it is today.  We
are in awe of the dedication and enthusiasm you invest for the benefit of us
all.  I hope you know how much we appreciate your effort.

In case you couldn't tell, we did have fun at our first convention!!  It all
started with the relaxing stern wheeler cruise up the Illinois River.  The
pianist was incredible.  Dale's program was very interesting and informative
for us newbies.  The tea pot display and vignettes were great.  We won the
one bid that we really wanted in the auction and a couple others.  And
we didn't spend too much at the table sales.  We've never seen so much Tea
Leaf at one time before and never been with such a fun group of people.
Those who couldn't attend missed an excellent convention.  I know we will
make every effort to be there again next year.

Thanks, again to all of you who work so hard to make this happen.

Suzi and Allen

- - - - - - - - - -

Wayne Chadwick wrote...

Just a quick note to thank you for your kind words and good times this
weekend. Once again I was reminded of why my father was so involved with
you specifically and the club in general.

I hope to be a little more involved than I have been lately. It is hard
for me to believe the last Convention I was at was in 1992 in Milwaukee.
It is also hard to believe I was only 26 at the time. My how time flies.

I have already talked to Carol and she thanks you for your kinds words,
thoughts and wishes. She hopes to be in Akron next year. I hope to be
there as well.

My email address is mhwhc@xxx.xxx

Wayne Chadwick

- - - - - - - - - -

Immediate past Prez Maxine sent...

Hello Everyone,
Was that a convention or what!!!!!  We had 300 attendees.  Every year I think
it can't get any better, but this one was the very best.  The weather was
perfect for the Thursday night cruise.  We had a wonderful time at the online
meeting.  Some were new online & some were wanting to be online.  I'm sure
our numbers will be growing.  The teapots were just great & the whole
convention just flowed like clockwork.  The auction was super.    Thanks to
everyone who had any part in making this convention a huge success.  Already
looking forward to next year.  Perhaps we will have 350 in attendance.

Gerald & Maxine

- - - - - - - - - -

From Margaret Payne comes...

Thinking back to our TLOL meeting and seeing all the interested attendees has me convinced that there will be  a huge number of letters this week from all of you who found great Tea Leaf either coming or going or who just want to check in and communicate with those names that now have a face. Although I did not find anything great in my travels, I would be most remiss if I failed to express a special thank you to all who had a part in making the 20 th anniversary celebration the best show to play in Peoria.   

There are so many people who play a part in making TLCI the great organization which it is .  This is true all year around, but even more so when Convention time comes. This year has to rank as the best yet, not just from the standpoint of attendancewhich was a record (if there were ANY of you who were not there) but also from the quality of the program & other activities,  the display, the record auction, and the overall enthusiasm of the entire group. We always remember to thank those who had a part in putting the Convention together, but without those who attended, there would be no Conventionso thanks to all of you.

I was able to add 3 new covered veggies and five gravy boats to my favorite collections, but did not find the Shaw hexagonal creamer or the Furnival rooster one that I need.  I also got a few pieces of red, white, and blue and think that may be something which I will look for now. Also added 7 saucers to the saucer museum and now have to catalogue everything.

This week should be our biggest TLOL yetto match our biggest Convention, so I will be anxious to hear from all of you.  It is starting to feel like winter in IN, with temperatures in the 40's, but I hear that some of you may have seen that white stuff fallingTHAT makes me think of heading back to TX !!!
Margaret

- - - - - - - - - -

Karl Schilling reported...

I just thought you might enjoy a convention story that is a sideline to the
main interest of Tea Leaf itself.  As most of the TLOL people know, the
hotel in Peoria hosted a Barbershop Quartet convention at the same time as
ours.  I found myself in an elevator with a couple of other people when
three barbershop singers came in wearing their costumes.  A woman on the
elevator said to the barber shoppers, "You can't use our elevator unless
you sing!"  They said they couldn't because they only had two baritones and
a bass.  I said I was a tenor and sang a couple of measures of "Lyda Rose."
 The woman then said to me, "You must be with the Tea Leafers!" We would
also encourage others to be willing to host a first timer.  Peg and I
enjoyed meeting our first timer and helping him become more familiar with
the organization and tea leaf itself.  It was a good convention and very
well organized and executed.

Karl

- - - - - - - - - -

Sam and Fran ask...

At the convention this year someone  asked me what convention event I enjoyed the most. Right away I responded that  the Hospitality Room was probably my favorite. There I get to tell stories of  the TL that I almost bought and listen to others tell about their finds.  What was your favorite?  Now for a question. Has anyone ever  seen a Meakin washbowl that wasn't plain? I don't think they made any others  such as Chelsea or brocade. I've never had a response from a wish.  Lustreband showed me the overpriced  EBAY soup ladle she bought just before the convention. It is Meakin Chelsea and  in perfect condition. One thing that is unusual is the depth of the bowl. It is  2 inches deep whereas my other ladles are 1&1/4 inches deep. I told her it  was probably a farmers ladle!  By the way, Lustrebands bidding  rights have been suspended for 30 days.
 Sam and  Fran

- - - - - - - - - -

New TL Club Prez Denny writes...

Well, our 20th anniversary convention is over and those of us who were
able to attend had a great time.  If you were unable to be there this
year, start making plans for next year in Akron, Ohio.

We had a super turn out for our TLOL gathering at the convention.  I
didn't get a count but the room was overflowing.  It was nice to finally
put a face with some of the TLOL folks and eBay competitors.

For the benefit of you TLOL participants who were unable to attend, I'll
mention a potential project that was discussed during our gathering.  I
brought up the fact that the club does not have a web site and in this
electronic age of communication, we may be missing opportunities to make
our club better known and increase membership.  It was also mentioned
that other computer related advantages may be available to enhance
educational items, research, selling, buying etc.  It was pointed out
that our TLOL group has a lot of "inhouse" computer expertise.  A
suggestion was made to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate how
we would develop a TLCI web site, further utilize the use of computers
for the benefit of the club, cost involved (initial and ongoing),
advantages to the club to justify the cost, and how it should be
maintained/updated.  It was felt that this would be a worthwhile project
for TLOL to take on. There appeared to be considerable interest from the
group attending the gathering.

On Sunday, at the post convention board meeting, the board and officers
approved a motion for the development of an ad hoc computer committee.
This committee will investigate advantages and disadvantages of a web
site and any other computer utilization for education etc.. It will
then  submit a report and a list of recommendations to be considered by
the board of directors and officers at the club's mid year meeting to be
held next spring.

This gives our TLOL group an  opportunity to take on a worthwhile
project for the club.  What we need now are volunteers willing to be
active participants on this ad hoc committee.  I believe this is
excellent opportunity for member involvement in the growth of TLCI.. As
club president, I was pleased that we received the support from the
board and officers for this worthwhile project.  This could eventually
lead to  establishing a computer committee.  This would help ensure the
club takes advantage of all that the electronic age has to offer.

If you are willing to serve on this committee please email me. I will be
looking for someone to act as chairperson from the list of volunteers.
Please let me know if you are willing to chair the committee.  I look
forward to hearing from you.

Denny Kear

[Denny, Sign me up to be on this committee.  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

Extracts from a note from Julie which I received prior to the convention...

Jean Wetherbee now has moved to Florida permanently.  Her new address is:
    Jean Wetherbee RR #2, Box 1415FF
                              Crescent City, FL   32112

I know she shared it with many of us but she may not have gotten around to
all of her admirers.  

My second sharing is about the article in Romantic Homes, October issue.  I
had never heard of the magazine but Maxine called to tell me about the article
on Reine Wells' Bed and Breakfast and her collection of Tea Leaf.  The photos
are beautiful and so's her collection.  I know that some of us stayed there
before the Minneapolis Convention but try and find a copy of the magazine.  
While I was looking for Romantic Homes, I picked up another magazine called
American Country Collectibles.  Looking at the photo on the cover, I noticed
that there seemed to be some white ironstone with copper trim and just a hint
of a TL on a sugar bowl way down in the corner of a cupboard.  Sure
enoughinside was a better photo and a mention of the owners collection of TL
along with a lot of other things.   The article mentions how the owner,
Barbara Howery, started her collection.  I don't find her name on the
membership list.  but she and husband, Ken, live in Orange, Calif.  Maybe
some of our west coast members should look her up and let her know about us.

I'd also like to inquire about a piece of Meakin Bamboo I bought at auction
earlier this month.  It's a butter dish sans liner but on the bottom I found
an impressed registration diamond.  I looked at all of my other Meakin pieces
and can't find any with this feature.  Any of you have something like it in
their collection?  

Juliehoo!

- - - - - - - - - -

Woody Birch writes...

Since Juliehoo yelled at me at the online meeting, thought I'd better sit
down and write. In all seriousness, she was right, there really is no good
reason for any of us not to write to TLOL more often.  I know my summer has
flown away, and I'm sure many of you feel the same but, writing to TLOL
isn't that demanding is it?

My real reason for writing is to compliment everyone who was involved in
putting on the convention. What a fun experience!  For those who didn't go,
it was like meeting up with 299 instant "old friends".

For us, Glen, Lee and myself, the trip to Peoria was an easy day's trip, with
lots of shopping stops both ways. The Friday bus tour was delightful, and
thanks to Margaret P. for being such a good bus hostess, the sights were
beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. The Friday evening
program was fun, as it was my first experience doing a vignette, they all
were great, where else could you go to see TWELVE TOBACCO LEAF POSSET CUPS!

Saturday was a great educational day, with more information than a person
can absorb, and meeting more new old friends. The auction was as usual a
first class affair, (I spent more than my budget, but you gotta buy it when
you find it right?). And last but certainly not least, Sunday morning table
sales! More budget busters!

As I started, thank you all for an excellent fun and educational weekend.
Woody

- - - - - - - - - -

Dan Widder Jr sent...

Mom and Dad are home and they had a great time. They enjoyed meeting everyone and Dad picked up a couple of Morning Glory pieces he really wanted. That was quite an auction bill. They are already after me to go next year. But this letter does have a purpose. Mom took a lot of photos at the convention. If you are interested I can scan 2 or 3 and email them to you so you can attach them to the next TLOL. Might add a little twist to the mailing.  Let me know,

Dan

- - - - - - - - - -

Linda McElwee wants:

We are looking for 3 Peerless saucers to match the cups we bought last
month; an undertray for a Scroll Sauce, and some other pieces to finish out
little groupings.

- - - - - - - - - -

Bill and Joey Bear ask...

    We are wondering if you were able to come up the name and address of the
gentleman who likes to make jewelry and other items with the Tea Leaf motif
from broken Tea Leaf bowls, plates, etc.    We have a few pieces (mostly left
over from our 1989 earthquake) which we can sent to him, but have misplaced
his name.

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.  

Chris Weinbrenner called a couple days ago to report that she is on her way down South to go to daughter Val’s wedding.  I asked her why she didn’t share the news at the convention and she said it was very sudden and she didn’t find out until she got home.  Congratulations Chris!

I’d like to hear from many of you over the next few weeks with your memories on our 20th anniversary meeting.  

I wrote a couple weeks ago about the ironstone discussion on Martha Stewart’s web site.  I am including a transcript below.

Dale

= = = = = = = = = =

From Martha Stewart Live:

COLLECTING: IRONSTONE,  SEPTEMBER 14
 Martha Stewart Live (MSL):  Please welcome Fritz Karch and Brian Harter Andriola!
 BRIAN:  Hi! Thanks for joining our chat! Good afternoon! Here comes some
answers.
 gamut:   When was ironstone created?
 BRIAN:  Ironstone was created by Charles Mason in England in 1813.
 kim098:   what is a good source to read about ironstone?
 BRIAN:  We recommend "White Ironstone," a collector's guide by Jean
Wetherbee from Antique Trader Books, 8003347165. Martha recently did a
segment on TV on collecting Ironstone in which she recommended a book
entitled "White Ironstone, A Survey of Its Many Forms".
 blueox:   I am interested in starting to collect ironstone and wanted to
know the best way to get started.
 FRITZ:  First, buy a good book and study the topic. We recommend Jean
Wetherbee's book. Teach yourself the great variety of choice within the
topic. It's best to begin with a specific area, for example, pick a pattern:
Gothic shapes, or a particular vessel, pitchers or soap dishes to start. As
you see and touch more and more, you will begin to get a personal view of
your favorites within the area. As time goes on, your taste will naturally
evolve to one area of the topic.
 livefree70:   hello. is there any way to clean discolored ironstone? Thank
you.
 FRITZ:  The answer is yes. There are several popular formulas. Many are too
complicated to explain in detail here. We are currently working on a magazine
story on this topic to explain and weigh the success and difficulty of
different recipes. Stay tuned!
 georgia52:   Is there such a thing as patterned ironstone?
 FRITZ:  Yes, ironstone has always been merchandised in individual patterns.
An example, the Sydenham pattern or Berlin swirl. Many collectors search out
one pattern. Over the last 150 years, there have been so many companies
introducing so many individual patterns that it's a large world to choose
from.
 imkaren:   Do you know what causes the crackled look in ironstone?
 BRIAN:  The crackle in ironstone is called crazing. It's caused by repeated
exposure to heat and stress. The discoloring or browning is a result of food
and grease penetrating through the tiny cracks and staining the porous
center. This effect can actually be quite beautiful, but we understand the
desire to have it removed as well.
 VernaThayer:   Good afternoon, I have a place setting for eight with extra
pieces of a brand of ironstone I purchased in the early seventies from a
company called Red Cliff. I cannot find this company listed anywhere. Do I
have something collectible? Thank You.
 FRITZ:  Yes, the Red Cliff company is an American pottery manufacturer,
which during the last fifty years has reproduced many early desirable English
ironstone patterns and pieces. Although technically they are reproductions,
they are becoming collectible as well due to the increasing rarity and
expense of early nineteenthcentury wares.
 vera:   Is all nineteenthcentury white china ironstone?
 FRITZ:  No, just because the pottery is white is no indication of material.
It may be bone china, porcelain, pearlware, soft paste, for example. One
clue, if the article has no markings to identify it as ironstone, is the
density and the weight. Although the name "ironstone" refers to its
durability, it also can weigh as much as iron.
 steve:   how important is crazing in judging the age of a piece
 FRITZ:  Not at all Judging the age of a piece of ironstone has nothing to do
with crazing. Crazing is caused by exposure to extreme heat, either in water
or in the oven. This effect could happen to a piece from the eighties as
easily as a piece from the forties.
 OonaS:   Where is the best place to find ironstone? Are there countries in
Europe where it is easier, other than England?
 FRITZ:  Although a great portion of ironstone was produced in England, much
of the production was intended for export. America was a huge customer as
well as Australia. Therefore, right here in the U.S. is a great place to
search for ironstone.
 AvaJane:   What's the difference between English and French ironstone.
 BRIAN:  The French didn't start producing an inexpensive whiteware until
almost fifty years after the English. The characteristics of the French wares
is that it is thin and grey tinted. However, something that's been confusing
was that the English produced ironstone with French names to confuse
consumers, making it sound more exotic. For instance, Elsmore and Forster has
a stamp stating "imperial" Parisian granite, although they were an English
company. Another point is that the English also made ironstone to appeal to
the French market as well, developing French marks to appeal to the French.
 EdeeTX:   What company is the leading or most noted manufacturer of
ironstone?
 FRITZ:  There are many. In England, manufacturers such as Maddock, Meakins,
Johnson Brothers, and Wedgewood are examples of prolific producers. In
America, there were quantities of ironstone produced in both New Jersey and
Ohio regions. Examples would be the Mercer Pottery Company in Trenton, New
Jersey or the T.T. & K. Company in Ohio.
 sbartlett:   What about a reference showing different marks for different
companies, any place that I could determine which company made a particular
piece that does have a marking on the bottom side?
 FRITZ:  Earlier we recommended Jean Wetherbee's book on ironstone. There is
a chapter listing all known makers of ironstone and showing examples of their
marks. Many companies copied each other. Therefore, some patterns were
produced by more than one company, and you will find slight variations of
several patterns.
 Nentwich:   What information do you have, price/availability on the tealeaf
pattern
 BRIAN:  Tea leaf was a popular lustre pattern that was added on white
ironstone. Other popular patterns were the pinwheel, pomegranate, and the
rose. There is a book dedicated to the tealeaf pattern, which you might be
able to find on Amazon.com. There is a great newsletter by the White
Ironstone China Association. The email for information on obtaining the
newsletter is Dieringer1@aol.com or fax the request at 2039388378.
 TGR1:   My mother has a significant collection of ironstone pitchers and
dinnerware. Are certain types of pitchers and bowls more valuable than
others?
 FRITZ:  Yes, generally the earlier the pattern the rarer and more desirable
the piece. Many collectors stalk a specific pattern, for example, fig or
fluted hills. Examples of these are a great prize to a collector. Many of the
later and more plain designs produced in the beginning of the twentieth
century are more readily abundant and available. Probably they are less
expensive than the earliest patterns.
 Glimmermist:   I have a jam pot that has a little handle on the lid; it
snapped off, and I was wondering which type of glue I could use to reaffix it
without affecting the collectibility of it.
 BRIAN:  Unfortunately most household glues will stain the ironstone over a
period of time. It's very important to have this done professionally as most
glues will yellow and tarnish.
 Denny1:   There are clubs and organizations for all kinds of collectors.
What is available for ironstone collectors?
 BRIAN:  The White Ironstone China Association Inc. offers the best and most
comprehensive quarterly newsletter and has a convention each year where
dealers and collectors meet, and share and swap information and ironstone.
Send an email or fax to the address we listed.
 Glimmermist:   Is there a region of the country where ironstone is most
heavily sought after? And where are the best dealers found?
 FRITZ:  No, we believe ironstone to be collected evenly throughout America.
The best places to shop are the Ironstone Association's annual convention.
Also, large annual outdoor sales such as Farmington Polo Grounds in
Connecticut or Adamstown, Pennsylvania, have concentrations of dealers
specializing in ironstone.
 Pegham:   I have a set of English ironstone from the sixties, the brand is
Adams. I also have an old ironstone chamber pot from my grandmother's house,
also Adams. Could they be the same? Is this an old English company?
 FRITZ:  Yes, it's possible that the same company has been in business
continuously for a long span of time and may have made both items mentioned.
Yes, this is an English company, but I don't know if they are still in
business or not.
 melbl:   I saw ironstone for the first time on Martha Stewart last week. I
was at an antique show and bought a piece this weekend. I realize that I know
nothing. What should I be looking to collect as a beginner?
 FRITZ:  We always find the best policy is to buy only what you personally
like. Don't worry about what's the most rare or the most valuable but rather
what's the most appealing to you. One big consideration is price. If this is
the concern to you, then educating yourself about the topic is important to
get a general sense if you're over or under paying for a particular piece.
It's fun at first to go to a show, not with the intent to buy but just to
look and learn at first. Don't feel the pressure to purchase always. With
careful observation, you will begin to see a range of price for similar
objects and begin building your own sense of a good deal.
 livefree70:   Have prices for Ironstone risen a lot in recent years?
 FRITZ:  Yes, one unfortunate reality of antiques and collectibles becoming
increasingly popular has limited supply on the market. Since ironstone is so
durable, beautiful, and useful, more and more fans are born each day. Buying
beautiful, early wares in good condition will be a good investment over time.
 sbartlett:   Does "White Ironstone," by Jean Wetherbee show a dollar value
for specific pieces?
 FRITZ:  No, since prices change and increase regularly, this author has
chosen to focus on rarity and history of the topic rather than being a price
guide.
 LoriEstey:   How do you tell old ironstone from newer? What are makers to
look for?
 FRITZ:  One good general rule for dating all pottery made outside of the
United States is as follows. The U.S. government passed an import law in the
early 1890's declaring all foreign goods be marked with country of origin.
Therefore, any china made before this time will not necessarily be marked
with a country. Between the early 1890s and 1905, items were marked as
follows. Example, England, France, Nippon (Japan). After 1905, the government
asked the words made in be added. Example, "Made in England". This knowledge
will give you a beginning basic timeline. Number 1. No country of origin
before 1890s. Number 2. Between 1890 and 1905, just the country name. Number
3. After 1905, "Made in England". I hope this will help you in identifying
the age of your wares. Thank you very much for joining us on our third
collecting chat. We look forward to our next chat. We'd like to hear your
ideas on collecting chat topics, which you could submit on our website:
www.marthastewart.com in the "Contact Us" section. Thanks again! Happy
hunting!  
 MSL:  Once again, thank you for participating today. Please join us for
future Question and Answer Hours at marthastewart.com.
Copyright 1999 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia,  LLC. All rights reserved.


TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  October 10, 1999

More letters this week containing Convention Memories.  Walt Stevens also asks us to think about next year’s Akron Convention 2000.  As convention chair he would like our ideas.

Also, there’s a challenge to all TLOLers at the end of this issue.

NEW TLOL MEMBERS

Several new TLOLers this week.  As promised, I am compiling a complete list of all TLOL participants and should have it ready for next time.  

Anne and Mary Muffley wrote “We are Tea Leaf Club members and would like to join Tea Leaf Online.  Thanks,  Anne & Mary Muffley <anne@xxx.xxxt>”

Margy Miller asks “I have a set of 6 of what I believe to be Shaw unmarked child’s saucers. I bought them all at the same time, they belonged to the same woman. They are a little over 4 1/4 inches wide. How can I tell if they are child’s saucers? What is the difference between a child’s saucer and a cup plate? I hope you can help me.   Denny Kear said he has some white child’s saucers that are the same size.   Thanks , also, I would like to join the Tea Leafers on line.  Margy Miller <franklin1979@xxx.xxx>”

And Anne Miller asked to have her Mother added to the TLOL mailing list so we also welcome Gwen Manning (102602.1435@xxx.xxx).  

-  - - - - - - - - -

DISCUSSION TOPIC:  Memories of 99 Convention.

Next year’s Convention chair, Walt Stevens, asks...

What do you think about Friday nights?  Is it too busy?  What about Friday table sales, should it be confined to distressed merchandise only selling for $40 or less or should it include lids and bottoms costing more than $40.
Walt

- - - - - - - - - -

Denny Kear wrote with a request...

Thanks Dale, for volunteering for the WEB site ad hoc committee.  We need
some other members to follow your lead.  As of Sunday morning 10/10/99,
you are the only volunteer we have.
I hope to hear from some other TLOL volunteers this week.  My email
address is keard@xxx.xxx

Thanks again,

Denny Kear

- - - - - - - - - -

Marjorie Yambrovich comments...

The best buy in Peoria a $65.00 registration fee to the 20th annual Tea
Leaf International Convention. Consider this:  We participated in SIX
functions 

1.  Lid/Bottom Sale
2.  Rare and Unusual Program
3.  Educational Program
4.  Tea Pot Exhibit
5.  Tea Leaf Auction
6.  Sunday morning table sales

In addition, we were treated to THREE meals 

1.  A pizza party
2.  Regional luncheon
3.  Saturday evening banquet

And, creative favors a handsome green mug sporting a gold Tea Leaf. Also,
a demitasse spoon just perfect for use in a child's sugar bowl when serving
tea.

Our leadership should be in charge of the national treasury!  Never has a
dollar been stretched so far.

Personal Reflections and Insights:

Did anyone else notice how you cold hear a pin drop during the auction?

Both the menu choices and the food presentation, especially at the banquet,
were 5 STAR.

Did you experience the curiosity of the Barbershoppers inquiring as to "What
is Tea Leaf?"

Conventiongoers appeared so relaxed and comfortable as they moved from group
to group to renew acquaintances.

The roominess of the facility accounted for the ease in which folks moved
from one function to another.

Indeed, it was a weekend to be long remembered. My sincere thanks to all those
 talented Tea Leafers who made it happen.

For those of you who questioned how my "nonT.L., favorite man" was faring
(left to his own devices), he took in the following: Science and history
museum, wilderness preserve, botanical gardens, and the complete layout of
the city of Peoria. And, I didn't have to worry if he was wearing matching
socks!

Warm regards,

Marjorie

[Marjorie, Thanks from all of us for your kind comments.  Our $65 registration fee, plus the Club’s commission from the auction, just manages to cover the expense of providing meals, renting rooms, AV equipment, give-aways, auction expenses, publication costs (with THREE fantastic publications this year (Convention Program, 20-Year Retrospective and TL Recollections)), etc.  To give you an example of our costs: food, coffee service and other meal functions run above $40 per participant and the special 20-year custom-produced demitasse spoons were just over $5 apiece.  Treasurer Fran Miller and Chair Denny Kear are still tallying up this years costs, but hopefully we’ll break even again!  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Mike and Marie, Giftique Chairs extraordinaire, write...

Well we are still talking about the convention so it must have been good!  We
have scarcely been home at all at least together.  On our journey to
Tennessee to the Blue Ridge Show we found a mint Maidenhair Fern gravy for
only $50.  I snatched it even though I already had one.  What we find
interesting is that the first one we purchased was also in Tennessee a few
years back and it has no potters stamp on the bottom at all (Could have been
produced by another potter other than Wilkinson when they couldn't keep up
with orders?  who knows.)  The second gravy is stamped in black and says
"Ironstone China, Royal _ITFAW??, Staffordshire, Burslem, England"  I am
searching through books to see if I can find the mark which includes a Lion,
a unicorn, a crown and a shield of sorts.  It is interesting that neither of
these gravies says "A.J. Wilkinson" yet they are Maidenhair Fern.  The pickle
does say this!

It was also nice to attend the Blue Ridge show with fellow Tea Leafers Donna
Turner and Polly (Sorry can't recall last name).  We were following similar
agendas that week!

We also found a white ironstone New York shape large milk pitcher on the way
back from Asheville, NC (Biltmore is wonderful).  This pitcher has a stamp
that says "Stone China" but doesn't mention Clementson.  Very similar to the
Clementson marks in the white ironstone books I have with the eagle and
circle so I am sure it is.  I find all these markings interesting.

I still intend to look at pieces to explore Julie's question too just
haven't gotten there yet.

Finally, Mike spent the week in a meeting in Marina Del Rey near Los Angeles.
 He actually saw Bob Barker on the street!  Thursday he stopped at an Antique
Mall in Santa Monica (his first that had valet parking!) and found a woman
cleaning her showcase.  They started talking and she asked about the Tea Leaf
Club and if he was a member.  She asked who had been President a few years
back and Mike asked if she meant Dale Abrams?  She said yes she said her
husband (Dr. Warren) and Dale's father had been in the Medical Corp in WW2
together!  Dale does that ring true?  If so I can give you address
information!

That's all for now Mike's off to Chicago for the week and Marie's hitting
all the hot spots in Oklahoma!  Thanks to all for their support of the
Giftique we sold right around $2500 again this year at the convention.

Mike & Marie

{M&M, What an astonishing story.  I called my Mom to see if she remembered Dr. Warren and she is looking through some of Dad’s papers to see if his name is mentioned.  Mom told me, too, that my niece (her Granddaughter) Carey, age 7, is taking her to “Show & Tell” at school next month because the teacher asked if any of the students knew anyone who served in WWII.  My Mom was a WAC, stationed in Alaska, in the Communications corps.  Regarding the Wilkinson mark, I couldn’t find any reference to a mark containing anything like IFTAW.  Anyone have a more clear mark who can decipher this for us?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Sam and Fran Miller sent...

Hi to One & All,
I was unable to use the computer last week, since you know who, hogged it.  Now that Sam has gone to the cabin in the woods, I thought I would take this opportunity to respond to a couple of the discussion topics.  
To all of the nonattendees, you missed a most fantastic and superb convention probably in the history of the club.  I have only been a member for 9 yrs, going on 10, but I thought everyone involved did a super job.  Enough cannot be said for all of those who put together such a great convention.  The only way this convention could be better is  we would have to have a minimum of 325 to 350 registrations.  Maybe next year or any there after.  That would give Dale something to strive for in finding accommodations for everyone and I'm sure he could.
We were fortunate to make one purchase at the auction and was out bid on many other items.   That was OK, since Sunday morning sales proved to be a success, as I found 4 Laurel Wreath cups.  That made my day and the convention.  Sometimes nice things come lastlast day of convention.  
As for as the tours go,  Sam & I enjoyed the riverboat cruise.  The weather was perfect, the music was fine and the captain was loud.  There were many members in attendance and all of whom I spoke to, were enjoying themselves immensely.  
As for as auction prices go,  I will have to let Sam take over on the computer,  as I was busy attending to the checkout.   Before I give up the computer though, I would like to thank everyone for helping me at the auction checkout.  They all did a superb job.   "THANKS TO ALL"
Gene Burger, Al Giorgi, Ardis Copple, Marilyn Davis, Peggy Regnaud, Donna Turner and my daughter, Kim.   OK, here he is
Even though this was a record auction, $52,000, it didn't seem to me that things were unusually high. I did a lot  of bidding and bought very little, but when you're unemployed you have to set your limits and live with them. I coveted the little Teaberry creamer but I  was not successful.

I think what stood out more than our auction prices were the recent EBAY battles. What does everyone think of  the recent Elegance covered vegetable and pickle dish
sales?  Does this set a price standard like our convention auctions do? I only hope so, if I'm selling.  Until next time.

Sam and Fran

[S&F, It was a surprise to me that the auction proceeds were so high yet not one piece sold for more than $1000.  Last year there was a $4600 sale and I can hardly remember a convention auction in the last few years that didn’t have one $1K+ sale.  What does everyone else think about the prices?  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

New TLOLer from last week, Beth Brewer Stepp, wrote...

  Thank you for adding my name to Tea Leaf Online. Enjoyed reading the
comments from the other members. Peoria was my first convention since
Louisville. I am so glad that I decided to take a couple personal days from
work to attend. My sister, Carol Brewer Dettmer, decided that she would
accompany me, but that meant that she had to become a member. Since
membership was only $20.00 she decided to come on board. But she had no idea
how she would become hooked! After devouring any information she heard, saw
and read, she proceeded to buy several pieces at the Sunday table sales.

  Carol is now a Tea Leafer!!!! We have plans to attend regionals and the
21st Convention in Ohio. We have both volunteered to help out at Convention
and are looking forward to sharing this hobby together. I have been a Tea
Leaf lover since I was a kid, when our mom started collecting for herself.

  My biggest challenge is to photograph and catalog all our pieces. Buying
the Tea Leaf Inventory sheets was a good investment for our family. Pitchers
are probably my favorite thing to collect. I added 3 to my collection at
Convention.

  We enjoyed the activities from Thursday through Sunday, plus all the little
extras. To read about my Tea Leaf "horror" story, see the TEA LEAF OF
YESTERYEAR pamphlet that was given out at Convention.

  Sincerely,
  Beth Brewer Stepp

- - - - - - - - - -

Walt and Pat wrote...

Hello from Minnesota
Enjoyed last weeks TLOL, lots of good letters (messages).

Our impressions of this year’s convention are a blur, so much activity
and a lot going on for both Pat and Walt.  Do remember sitting next to
an eBay sniper at the TLOL meeting but in spite of the seating
arrangements did enjoy the meeting very much.  We sure will have to
include TLOL in next year’s Convention.  As usual had some “buyer’s
regret” at the auction paid perhaps a bit too much for a 2 cups
(Teaberry and Morning Glory) and stopped bidding too early for a Cable
pitcher.

Impressed with Denny’s idea about an ad hoc Computer Committee.  Some of
you may remember that we discussed such a committee on TLOL and several
of us agreed to serve.  Walt will be happy play a part, he doesn't know
much about the technical side but is willing to offer ideas about
organization and planning.

Must chide Julie for taking geography lessons from Dale.  How could a
Kentucky belle turn into an East Coast isolationist confusing Milwaukee
and Minneapolis?  Everyone knows that Minneapolis and its twin city St.
Paul are the gems of the Upper Midwest, home to the Guthrie Theater,
Minnesota Vikings and Twins, Minnesota Orchestra, University of
Minnesota and countless cultural institutions.  Milwaukee, while host to
our 92 Convention is just a producer of beer and a distant suburb of
Chicago.

Regards
The Stevens

- - - - - - - - - -

Bev and Ernie contributed...

We just got back from a white ironstone regional at Jane Diemer's in
Wilmington, DE, and photo shoots at Mary Bell and Sandy Jenkins in Bethesda,
MD.  We also spent a day photographing at Harriet Denton's home in Potomac,
MD.  All in search of Syllabub bowls and cups for our winter issue.  Harriet
is our fabulous editor of White Ironstone Notes.  Everything was great fun
except for the traffic.  We were relieved to get back to our nice, calm
Connecticut.

Harriet would dearly love a teapot lid in Wrapped or Double Sydenham with
luster band.  33/4" wide.  It would complete her tea set.  Let us know if
anyone has one.

Your Convention sounded delightful from the comments on line.  I dearly wish
we could have been there to enjoy it with you.

Bev

- - - - - - - - - -

First timer Virginia Beakey wrote...

It doesn't pay to take two days off from my job.  I have been inundated with
federal stuff for the last week, but sure do want to write to TLOL.  WHAT A
CONVENTION!

I met so many extraordinary folks, old and new.  As a "first timer" it was
just incredible.  Juliehoo was my "buddy" and I knew she was busy, so I told
her I would stay out of her way.  Nonetheless, she introduced me to all her
friends and Tea Leaf family, who were soooo very nice to a "newbie."

I can't name them all, but Sam, and Woody and Lee, and Kimmey (who found
that great BOX for me), I just can't stop thinking that I was just going to
be a spot on the wall, when I was made to feel welcome and a part of it all.  
Dale’s AZ was amazing on Saturday, and I have my autographed "Grandma's Tea
Leaf" book.  What an amazing lady Annise is.  Her daughter and hit it off
really well, and I have an invitation to their home when I visit my son who
lives just a few miles away from them.

My auction purchases were fantastic as well as my table sales purchases.  I
would encourage ANYONE in the club to attend the next convention.  I hear
that I'm doing the "first timers" meeting next year and welcome the chance to
make everyone feel as much at home as I was made to feel.  That's it for
tonight.  I know I have not mentioned everyone who went out of their way to
welcome me to the club and to the convention, but you know who you are and
I'm sure you will forgive any omissions.

Ciao, Virginia and the furry crew here at Swanhollow Labrador Retrievers.  

- - - - - - - - - -

Lee Reineke wrote...

Since Juliehoo yelled at all of us in that room that day to write some thing
online meeting, I thought to my self I'd better sit down and write. I don't
know where the summer went too, and I was talking to a lot of people at the
convention they even feel the same way.

My real number one reason I am writing is to thank and compliment on
everyone who help in putting on this 20th convention. It was  the most fun
experience I had in my whole life because I got to "help" on the FRIDAY
evening vignette and Woody and I got to "help" to set up the tea pot display
on Saturday.  Hope we can help again some time.

The bus trip was a learning trip about the pass which was very interesting
to me and the sights were wonderful and beautiful. Thanks to Margaret P for being the very best hostess on the bus trip.
The business meeting was a great educational and the best one we ever had
being this was our 20th meeting. The Saturday night auction was an A1 affair.
We spent in our budget and we still got a lot of great buys. The best buy
to me when we bought that pitcher and bowl set and it is in excellent
condition it was in. We also got a lot of good buys on Sunday morning table
sales.

We all a want to thank ever one for a "perfect" and excellent weekend.
Thanks ever body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sincerely Yours,
Woodylee Reineke

- - - - - - - - - -

Juliehoo sent...

Saturday was Jane Diemer's WICA  Regional.  I think there were about 30 of us
there.  Diane Dorman came home with us to spend the night. I bought a beautiful covered hot beverage pitcher from Mark American but beautifully embossed.

Amy Earls was at the Regional and told me about a program that was being
presented on Sunday at the Trenton City Museum.  Professional restorers who
have been excavating at the Trenton sites where pottery shards and molds were
dumped.  Some great American backmarks.  Got to meet and talk to some really
enthusiastic American pottery aficionados.  I've joined Amy's P.O.T.S. club.
Pottery of Trenton Supporters.  Cost me $15 for Seniors.  She does the
newsletters. Arnold had told me about the program but Amy gave me directions.
By the time I got home from Trenton (2 hour drive up and back) I was pooped
and I'm still exhausted.  Had to be at school this  AM.  Roxann's off to VA
tomorrow for 4 or 5 days.  I'm going to have to tackle a stack of mail, the
copy for the newsletter and start a program for the Academy.  Other than that
I have nothing to do.  Don't retire you'll be too busy.

Your's is the only thing I've read on email since Thursday or maybe Wednesday.  
Love, Juliehoo!

[J, I know what you mean about being tuckered out.  Last weekend I slept until mid-morning both Saturday and Sunday - I was exhausted!  Can you give us more information about the POTS Club?  Sounds interesting.  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

Convention comments from Margaret...

Greetings to all the TLOLersmany of whom I now can recognize.  Maybe we need a photo of everyone when they come online, in addition to a brief bio about their TL collecting.  It is impossible to remember everyone, but even being able to match a dozen or so of new faces and names makes it much more personal.

I guess many of us were anticipating Walt and Pat's subject since there were so many convention comments, but I would, in reply to the topic, offer these opinions:  As for the auction, prices were generally very firmno really big piece as in some prior years, but consistency seemed to be the word this year.  There were several pieces that exceeded my expectationsthe Maidenhair Fern  8 "pitcher,  for one, which would have looked nice with my other 7  pieces!!

The Laurel Wreath, Heavy Square and Walley Pre-Tea Leaf  sold very well, as did the Walley Wrapped Sydenham pitcher with lustre scallopsbut I thought the other luster band pieces and some of  the child's pieces were weaker than in prior years, tho' not the child's creamer.  Lily of the Valley also did not seem as strong and the more common pieces sold at about their usual prices.  

The lighting in the preview area was great, but for the auction I found that the diffused lighting had a depressing effect on the mood of the crowd and also was not good for viewingthe pieces did not show up as well and Terrell had trouble seeing the people's cards.  Another downside was the large number of changesI think there were 39 corrections to the catalog.  It was regrettable that  2 consignors forgot their pieces  and also that the descriptions needed some help with damage.  Some pieces were substituted for the missing pieces by other consignors in order to avoid so many blank lots.  Anytime the rhythm of the auction is interrupted, it creates a problem, but it is also important that people be able to buy with the confidence that each lot has been described as accurately as possible.  We are in a unique situation here in that we are working for both the seller and the buyer and want to insure that each is represented fairly.  

But I said all of that to say thisit was  great auction and Terrell and Phyllis did their usual fantastic jobbut it is to the consignors and the buyers that the credit must go.  We may work hard to sequence and check and arrange and do all of the behind the scenes workbut without those two groups, there would be no auction.

My only buyers regret is that I did not buy more!

What stood out for me at this convention was what always stands out the great group of people that we havethe joy in greeting old friends and making new onesand the appreciation that everyone has for the efforts that are made in putting the whole thing together.

There is no way we can properly understand everything that Dale does and how well he does itand every year we are all amazed that he manages to pull yet more rabbits out of the hat.
We went on all of the trips and had a great time.  The riverboat trip was perfect and getting to play the calliope was my big treatas well as enjoying the piano and  the dancing by the Hansens and the Hicks. It is fun to see people having a good time. The drive to see some of the beautiful homes in Peoria was most interesting There was some crowding as we toured the historical houses, but that was due to the personnel there who were not prepared for a group this size and a lack of advice by the tour company.  Carol Miller did an outstanding job of researching and providing information for the group and, for her first job in TLCI, deserves a big hand.

Everyone fulfilled in fine style the responsibilities given to them and that is what made this such a great Anniversary.

Peoria itself is a very old and interesting towna place I would like to visit againbut this time I would not like to be staying across from "Big Jim's" where the music and motorcycles held forth until the wee hours    
Read with interest the Martha Stewart  info and thought that it was too bad that there was no Tea Leaf address mentioned when the white ironstone one was.  Maybe Denny's web page dream will change this.

MJP

- - - - - - - - - -

Donna Turner commented...

The convention was great.  This was my second convention and  was just as exciting as the first.  The auction pieces were fantastic.  
Dale, I especially enjoyed the educational piece.  Since I am a fairly new collector (2 years), it was very beneficial.   Thanks to everyone for all the work that goes into the convention.  The club as well as the convention is such a great educational resource for a collector.  I did come away with a few treasures.

I also  antiqued  the way home and found a  Shaw cake plate really  cheap, so I was pleased with that treasure too.

Also, this past weekend, I picked up a Laurel Wreath handleless cup in excellent condition.    Are there different sizes of handleless cups?  This one measures 4" in diameter, and 4" in height.  Is this a handleless cup since it is larger than others I have seen?     

Donna

[Donna, The size of the handleless cup sounds right to me but since Sam and Fran bought four of the ones I had for sale on Sunday we’ll have to ask them to measure theirs for comparison.  I don’t recall ever seeing a handled LW cup.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.  I will be in NYC next weekend so we have two weeks between this TLOL and the next.  

I’d like to challenge EVERY Tea Leaf OnLine member who was at Convention to contribute at least 25 words regarding their ‘99 Convention memories.  Shouldn’t be all that hard for anyone to do this.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  October 24, 1999

More letters this week with Convention memories.  At the TLOL meeting I was asked to prepare a complete list of all TLOLers.  It follows at the very end of this issue.

NEW TLOL MEMBERS
No new members this week.

-  - - - - - - - - -
DISCUSSION TOPIC: “The Best”

See Marjorie Yambrovich’s letter (the final one in this issue) to read more about her challenge.  Can you top this?

- - - - - - - - - -
Not as many letter this week as I had expected but some very nice reminiscences of Convention ‘99.

Calvin Johnson was the first to take up the “25-word challenge”...

I would like to add my support to all the  positive comments we've heard so far on the Convention. As a relative  newcomer, I especially enjoyed Dale’s AZ presentation,  including his supporting cast. The only negatives I would mention were minor  the long lines at the pizza party and the teapot show.

Concerning the auction, most prices seemed pretty reasonable. There  were a few that ran up surprisingly (to me) high, and a few that closed off  surprisingly low. I guess that’s what makes an auction  interesting. In the category of buyer’s remorse, I was mildly  disappointed after a close look at a covered dish I won. The lid and the  bottom do not seem to match well in terms of fit and lustre color. These pieces  may have come from the potter as they are, but it seems more likely there has  been a subsequent mating. The combination was presented as an intact lot  with no reservations expressed, but unfortunately it was not one of the items I  had examined carefully in the preview. I chalk that up as a learning experience, but it leaves me wondering what the expectation should be as regards  the matching of tops and bottoms in covered items. Any comments would be  appreciated.

Calvin Johnson

- - - - - - - - -

Juliehoo’s 25(+!)-word contribution...

It was so nice to see newcomers joining in TLOL.  And, Margaret, you are the
only one who joins me in these lonnnnggg emails.  
I loved Marjorie Y's comments.  It took me several years to convince her that
she should go to Convention.  I knew if she or anyone else ever attended,
they would try to never miss another one.  Mr. FavoritenonTLhusband was
certainly busier than we were.  I think his itinerary sounds almost as good
as ours. Walt it is getting harder and harder for me to keep up with
everything going on at Convention.  Teapot exhibit had to be set up before
Business Meeting and then taken down in a hurry and somewhere in there  we
had to take the stuff for auction.  By the by, my notice of time to check in
was waiting for me at home.  I had forgotten you were assigned time so I just
took a chance on taking mine in and they fitted me in a quiet time. I forgot
to tell Jeanette.

Pat S.  What in the world did I say about Minneapolis versus Milwaukee.  I'm
sorry if I offended such a lovely lady.  At least you put me in a class with
Dale [geographically-challenged] and that ain't a bad class to be in.  Whatever I said, I apologize profusely.

Whenever Virginia Beakey becomes a spot on a wall or is part of the
wallpaper, I'll join her.  She's a pretty outthereinfrontofthecrowd
kind of lady (my kind of person) but she does forget what she's bought.   She
didn't remember the LOV c/s, the Shaw toothbrush holder, the LOV sugar bowl
she bought and which I brought home for her.  I tried to convince her that if
she didn't remember them, they were mine.  No sale.  She's off on eBay again
this past week.  I think she's trying to make up for about 20 years of not
being a member.  

25 words are you kidding, Dale.

I think what I mostly enjoyed this Convention was see and talking to Annise
again.  The memories that Dale's program brought back were great ones. As
after every Convention, I'm even more dedicated to research about OUR
favorite subject.  (So I went over a little!)

I just have to add to your information one more item.  Ruth Wilcox gave me a
bone dish that she had had for a while and just didn't know who had made it.
Ruth you gave me one of two pieces that I know about by this maker.  T. & R.
Boote made this TL decorated bone dish at the Waterloo Pottery  The only
other piece I know about is a sugar bowl owned by a member.  Do you have a T.
& R. Boote in your collection?

Juliehoo!

[J - I have heard that T&R Boote made TL  but have never seen one myself.  I think your piece is quite a find.  Do you know the body style?  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

Gerald and Maxine’s convention notes...

I enjoyed the river cruise very much & having an activity on Thurs. night
gives the people extra time to visit & get acquainted.  Good idea!!!  Lee's
testimony regarding the fun he & Woody enjoyed by helping with teapots should
inspire people to volunteer to help on committees.  As for the overall
convention, I felt it was a total success & enjoyed every minute of it.  Like
Margaret said, the motorcycles & all the activity across the street was a
little muchtil 4:00 am.  By Sun. morning we were pretty blurryeyed from
lack of sleep.  4:00 AM for 3 nights in a row is not my idea of a good
night's sleep.

I was very impressed with the auction total even though there wasn't one big
dollar item, but several that sold very well.  Just proves that good quality
items still makes for a successful auction.  I was surprised the child's
scalloped treasure teaberry creamer did not sell for more.  We have one just
like it so we like to think it is very special.  I was disappointed that all
the Johnson Bros. pieces in the auction went home with strangers, instead  of
family, but I was happy with the Adams teapot we purchased because we now
have all three shapes.

Fri. table sales was originally intended to be a vehicle in which to sell
distressed merchandise that might otherwise find its way to the auction.  
However Fri. sales should not be limited to distressed items. The good items
should not be over the $40 limit.  The lids & bottoms should be priced
according to their condition & rarity & be sold during Fri sales & at Sun.
morning sales without a dollar limit.

Well, I think this is more that 25 words, but I do agree with Marjorie, the
registration fee for the convention was very reasonable for all that we
received in return.

Gerald & Maxine

- - - - - - - - - -

Online Nancy sends...

Greetings everyone!  Now that I've finally joined the cyberspace century I'm ready to write my first Email TLOL correspondence.  Yippee!  Here goes:

If the topic under consideration is still the convention, I'd like to add my comments and also respond to reactions written in the 10/10 edition of TLOL.  My favorite parts of the convention?  Two stand out in my mind:  first the fabulous Tea Pot exhibit Eleanor, Woody and their helpers did a fantastic job of assembling and displaying these beauties.  Secondly, Dale's very innovative way of recalling 20 years of TLCI.  The variety of speakers kept it moving and provided a kaleidoscope of memories.  

Now I'd like to respond to Margaret's comments regarding the auction.  Since I'm fairly well acquainted with the before, during, and after of the auction, I think I can shed some light on a few of the problems she mentioned.  The two consignors who "forgot" their consignments:  these two members are from the same area and travel together; one "forgot" all three lots, the other brought two of the five lots committed.  Sounds fishy to me!  Perhaps they were angry at me for rejecting several of their original consignments; perhaps there's another reason.  Whatever, it's a question for the Board to ponder at MidYear.  Now regarding the appropriateness of the substituted lots:  When Jeannette found out that three lots were noshows, she asked me if it would be okay to substitute something else.  I said sure, as long as I know the lot # and consignor's name (so they could get paid!).  I left the room shortly after this.  When the other three lots were noshows, she substituted some lots that I had previously rejected as not being Tea Leaf.  Of course, Jeannette didn't know I had rejected them and we don't really have any clear policy on what can and what can't be auctioned.  I'm referring to the cobalt decorated items.  They brought good money, maybe we should accept them.  On the other hand, we may be opening a Pandora's box.  Another question for the Board at MidYear.  And finally, how about Chelsea Grape?  Although not truly Tea Leaf, Chelsea Grape decorated ironstone has traditionally been included in our auctions, at least for the 15 years I've been attending conventions.  Therefore, I have continued the tradition.  But should the Board decide otherwise, we will ban this type of ironstone also.  I would like to have a definite policy in force by the time consignment sheets go out for auction 2000.  No tabling of motions or appointing ad hoc committees, please!  Just give me the facts, ma’am.

I thoroughly agree with Margaret's statement that "anytime the rhythm of the auction is interrupted, it creates a problem".  As far as damage descriptions are concerned, we can only beg, beg, beg the consignors to give us honest evaluations.  On the positive side, I definitely agree with her comments that it takes consignors, buyers and a great auctioneering team to have a great auction.  That we have so the 1999 auction was a rousing success in spite of a few problems.  Thanks for listening folks, it's time to sign off.

Nancy Upchurch

[How does everyone else feel about the auction “substitutions” and “un-called damage”?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

John M sends...
Finally getting around to jotting down a few thoughts.  The convention, as
always, was great fun.  Having so many people with common interests all
together is very excitinga real rush.  There is so much work involved in
pulling such an event together and I definitely want to add my thank you's
to those already mentioned.  

My feelings on the Friday night events are that they are not really too long
and I think that it is a good idea to include lids at all prices along with
the distressed items.

Also, it did seem surprising to me that we hit a record for auction sales
even though nothing went for over $1,000.  All in all it was a great weekend
that simply went by too quickly.

The Tea Leaf trail has been a little cold here latelymy most interesting
find was a Shaw Hexagon butter dish with liner.  I'm off to the Cape this
weekendhopefully there will be something to report.

Still looking for an undertray to a Shaw Cable sauce tureen and a lid to a
Peerless Feather potty.

So Long,

John

[JM, It surprised me, too, that not a single piece of TL went for over $1000 at the auction.  Of course, with $52,000+ in sales it’s obvious that there were still lots of pieces that brought strong prices.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Sam and Fran write...

Hi To One & All,
First, I must apologize to Annalea Robeson for omitting her name on my "Thank You" list.  You were there when I needed you most.  Thanks again.
Now for LW handless cup measurements.  My cup measures 3 1/2" X 3 1/8".  Donna's cup is definitely larger.  Donna if you would be interested in selling, please email.  (fmiller@xxx.xxx)
And now for Sam:  No TL major finds since our convention. One thing I would like to share with you is that after 4 years of being unemployed I have a job interview this morning. If successful, this will fill one of my goals of being able to bid with the Big Boys on EBAY, whoever they are. (I still think everyone should identify themselves)  It seems our funds never stretch far enough for that special piece.

Sam and Fran

- - - - - - - - - -

An invitation from Gene and Betty Burger...

Enjoyed the 20th convention very much
Participated in all the programs and trips
Sold a little and bought too much however came home with a few more bath
pieces

   We do use the Internet to buy on eBay which
has been a good discussion topic for the TLOL
group. The subject of having a web site for
tealeaf we think would be  an advantage to our club.

   We will be holding the Florida Regional at our
home in Lorida, Fl. the first Saturday in February which will be the
first one held in the     year    2000.  Anyone vacationing or wintering
in Florida is welcome to attend.  Our phone # is
8636552787.  Just let us know you are coming.

Gene and Betty Burger

- - - - - - - - - -

Jim and Betty report a new find...

Yesterday, Betty and I lucked onto a Shaw cream pitcher, Chinese. At
Centerville, Ind. $33.95!!! At long last, we join you and others at such luck.
Jim B. & Betty

- - - - - - - - - -

A question from Mark and Janet...

Has anyone heard of a Master Potty or a Footbath in Fig Cousin or even a brush box?

[Anyone know the answer to this question?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

And the last letter this week comes from Marjorie Yambrovich who issues the following challenge:

You've probably noticed, as I have, that folks strive to be the "best" or
have the "best." In our own Tea Leaf Club it is apparent to astute members
that Chris Weinbrenner has, without question the best collection of cake
plates. Similarly, Margaret Payne has the best collection of saucers. And,
who would doubt that Julie Rich plays hostess to the best collection of
American Tea Leaf?

Well, I don't aspire to having the best but I'm sort of stuck with it unless
some help comes in fast from the outer provinces. What do I have that's BEST?
 Promise to help? Then I'll share it with you. I'll put my assortment of lidless sugar bowls up against anyone's! Really good sugar bowls, but without lids
they become wonderful fly catchers.

Within sight as I write this, I see 7 outstanding examples just pleading for
a cover before cold weather arrives.

If this sounds like a come on for a commercial, you're really sharp. Please
check your secret hiding places where you stash away extra lids and contact
me ASAP if you find one or more of the following:

1.  J.H. & J. Davis Teaberry
2.  Clementson Balanced Vine
3.  Davenport Fig Cousin, Pink Lustre
4.  Shaw Bordered Fuchsia
5.  Wilkinson Hawthorne
6.  Elsmore & Forster Child's Tobacco Leaf
7.  Shaw Child's LOV

If you want to dethrone me, remember, it's the uniqueness and rarity of the
sugar bowls with no lids, not just the quantity. But then, again, I don't
want to be BEST!

Hopefully,

Marjorie Yambrovich

[Can anyone help Marjorie out?  Hat’s the “best” part of your own collections?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Thanks for all the letters this week.  I can report, again, that there’s no Tea Leaf in Manhattan.  I don’t even know why I bother to stop into shops there.  
I had a chance to proofread the November/December issue of Tea Leaf Readings this weekend and it’s an info and photo-packed edition.  Look for it by mid-November.

Below is the current list of TLOLers.  Looking forward to hearing from LOTS of you this week.

Dale

- - - - - - - - - -   

TLOL                                    TLOL@aol.com
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  October 31, 1999

NEW TLOL MEMBERS

Change D'Aboy, David (dmfarm@xxx.xxx) to D'Aboy, David & Marlene

-  - - - - - - - - -
NEW DISCUSSION TOPIC:
One may presume that all TLOLers have access to a computer even if
borrowed, so how do you use it for Tea Leaf?  Do you keep track of your
inventory?  Bid on online auctions?  Buy something from Dale or Stan
Moreo or others?  Track prices of auctions?  Denny has formed an ad hoc
committee to see how the club should use the computer.  Do you have any
ideas for it?

CONTINUING DISCUSSION TOPIC: “The Best”

See Marjorie Yambrovich’s letter (from last week’s TLOL)) to read more about her challenge.  Can you top this?

- - - - - - - - - -
The first letter this week came from new TLOLer Sally Schaffer...

Greetings from a newcomer to TLOL.  We were at an auction last May and
managed to place the winning bid  of $200 on a Wedgewood pitcher and bowl
(pitcher near perfect and bowl that has a crack).  I was so excited I had
goosebumps!  Also bid on a Johnson platter and unmarked relish plate, both
in very good condition for $20 each.

   We just returned from Myrtle Beach did some antiquing to and from Ohio
and the only place we saw any unusual Tea Leaf was at an antique mall at MB.
There were some very nice pieces there and the manager says he expects there
will be more coming from his source in the future.  Good hunting to anyone
who might be in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina.  

Sally Schaffer

[Sally, Thanks for the MB tip.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Prez Denny Kear reports the successful inauguration of the TLOL Internet Committee...

We have an "Internet Ad hoc Committee".  A BIG thank you to Dale Abrams,
Virginia Beckey, Carl Hansen, Annalea Robeson and Walt Stevens for
volunteering.  A special thanks also to Walt, for agreeing to head this
committee up.  If any one else want to grab hold of the oar, please
contact Walt.

This group and any other recruits we may add down the road, will
evaluate the pros and cons of a TLCI web site and other possible
benefits the Internet might offer the club.  There goal is to finish
this project and submit their findings to the officers and board members
by next spring when the TLCI mid year Advisory Board meeting is held.

We look forward to their findings and appreciate their willingness to
take on this worthwhile project for TLCI.

Denny

[Interested in joining this group - drop Walt or Denny an email.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Walt & Pat sent...

Happy Halloween  TLOLers
As some of you may know the Stevens freedom to travel has been somewhat
limited since the Convention so we can't report any great or unusual Tea
Leaf finds.  We have been forced to search for Tea Leaf on eBay and have
witnessed some interesting auctions and bids.  In fact we plead
temporary insanity for some of those bids. (Sam Miller's "buyers
regret".)   (For those not familiar with this term, Sam entertained us
with a little talk in Columbus last year and coined it there.)  The new
topic was inspired by our confinement  to the computer.  Hope it
generates some messages, We so look forward to everyone's Sunday
comments.   The more the merrier.

Denny has formed an ad hoc committee to see how the club can best use
the computer.  The following TLOLers have volunteered to serve on the
committee: Dale Abrams, Virginia Beakey, Carl Hansen, Annalea Robeson, and Walt & Pat Stevens.  The committee will  conduct it's business online so should not be a burden to the members.  Means if you want to join us it won't be a terrible job.   We
remember some of you said that you would serve on this committee when it
was merely a TLOL topic.  We may be contacting some of you for your
advice and feel sure that we will be looking for input from the entire
TLOL group.

Waiting to read this week's TLOL and hope many of you have commented
about Friday night convention activities.  We have heard, second hand, that there have been some questions about the $40 limit not apply to lids and bottoms.  Also
received a private, very thoughtful,  message about this subject.
Consequently we feel that there may be opinions about the present
rules.  Would like to hear from all who have an opinion either
through TLOL or directly.  You can reach us at wbsteve@xxx.xxx or at
wbsteve@xxx.xxx

Time to check an unbelievable auction on EBay.
Regards
The Stevens

- - - - - - - - - -

Sam reports on his interview and eBay opportunities...

I don't know if everyone remembers my last weeks TLOL article but it was about me being unemployed for the last four years and I was going for a job interview. After all the response I got I have decided to answer all of them on TLOL instead of individual EMAILS.

First I do not need any financial assistance. Yes, I am poor but I have always maintained a rather modest lifestyle so it takes very little for me to get by on. As long as I have a can of beans and a chipped Meakin dinner plate to eat off of, I am contented.
And now for the job interview. It seems that my interview happened to be set up for the exact time that a certain piece of TL (that Fran dearly wanted) was to go off of EBAY. Well, I had a tough decision to make, TL or a job. Since I was currently the high bidder I decided to stay home and watch. As some of you probably already know, I was trampled in the last minute by the BIGBOYS, so now I not only don't have a job but I don't have that special piece of TL for Fran's Birthday. Oh well, maybe it won't take four more years for the next interview. As I have said in the past, I don't know who these people are I'm bidding against but I understand this wbsteve is a big multimillionaire from Minn. If we could get him to join the club, look at the extra money we could get at our auction.

One last thing, since I had so much response last week I want to take this opportunity to make a wish. I need a Teaberry soup ladle to go with our elegance tureen. That would make Fran's b'day special.

Sam (and Fran)

- - - - - - - - - -

Linda McElwee writes...

  I would like to add my 25 words about the convention.
    Great friendsgood funmore good pieces of Tea Leafmany meals of pork
and beans joy that my daughter shares my love of TL.
  Thanks again for all your good work keeping us together. Linda

- - - - - - - - - -

And the final letter this week arrives from Gerald and Maxine...

Thank you Dale for the TLOL addresses you published last week.  

A little reminder.  You may or my not know, Eleanor resigned as membership
chair & I have been given the opportunity to fill her shoes.  A very big job
to do I might add.  If any of you have membership application forms in your
possession, please change the membership address on them before distributing
them to prospective members.  The address should read, Membership, P.O. Box
377, Belton, Mo. 640120377.  If anyone needs application forms, let me know
& I will mail some to you.  Join the Builder's Club.

Marjorie, I also have pieces that need lids.  Edwards feather potty, Powell &
Bishop child's pomegranate sugar, Shaw LOV sugar (large), Shaw hanging leaves
sugar, Clementson NY shape teaberry sugar, Clementson NY shape teaberry soap
dish.  I have had this last item for a number of years.  Come on you people,
find me the lid for my soap dish, P L E A S E .  Looks like this coming week
is going to be fun.  I know where everyone will be next Sat. afternoon.

Maxine & Gerald  

- - - - - - - - - -

Thanks for your letters this week. While surfing the ‘net this week I found an interesting web site you might want to check out - it’s a very comprehensive historical article about lustreware and the address is

http://users.aimnet.com/~tcolson/pages/wdm/wdmlustr.htm

Looking forward to hearing from lots of you this week.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  November 7, 1999

An interesting week for on-line auction watchers, wasn’t it?  See more later in this issue.

NEW TLOL MEMBERS

Several new members are joining TLOL this week.  Brownie Small writes “Gary and I are brand new to the web and email.  Can you add us to the list of Tea Leafers who receive you newsletter via email?  Brownie Small, Spencer, Iowa” and Ann Derner sends “This is all new to me.  I'm an old dog learning new tricks.  Please add me to the rest of the Tea leaf Club on line members.  Ann L. Derner, Front Royal, VA”.

Welcome to all our new members.  If you’re inclined to would you please tell us all about how you began collecting Tea Leaf and perhaps a little about your favorite pieces?

WELCOME!

-  - - - - - - - - -
NEW DISCUSSION TOPIC:
One may presume that all TLOLers have access to a computer even if
borrowed, so how do you use it for Tea Leaf?  Do you keep track of your
inventory?  Bid on online auctions?  Buy something from Dale or Stan
Moreo or others?  Track prices of auctions?  Denny has formed an ad hoc
committee to see how the club should use the computer.  Do you have any
ideas for it?

- - - - - - - - - -

The first letter this week came from Allen and Suzi...

Howdy to everyone!

We were surprised to learn from Nancy's comments that Flow Blue w/ copper
luster is considered a poor step child to Tea Leaf, particularly, Luster
Band.  A favorite "display" in our home is our Elsmore and Forster Tulip
dinner service for twelve with copper luster band highlighted with flow
blue.  It's the closest we have to a complete set coffee pot, creamer,
sugar bowl, milk jug, gravy boat, pickle dish, two sizes of covered
vegetable, an open serving bowl, oval platter, three sizes of plates, cups
and saucers, two mugs, and sauce dishes to go around.  No, it isn't Tea Leaf
but the luster is beautiful and the flow blue adds to the beauty.  You can
bet that we'd be bidding if the TL auction had a butter dish, cake plate, or
waste bowl!

Marjorie, we don't think that our lidless sugar bowl collection measures up
to yours. We're looking for tops to:
1. Shaw Bordered Fuchsia
2. Shaw LilyoftheValley
3. Meakin Fishhook
4. Elsmore & Foster Columbia
5. Wilkinson Daisy 'n Chain
6. Adams Empress
7. Clementson Balanced Vine
Do we need an independent judge?  Nah, we'll concede to you and hope
that you continue to beat us!!

We had one fortunate purchase this week.  I often stop at one of those small
weekly auctions to see if there's anything interesting.  In over a year,
there's been nothing.  This week I spotted a box lot that included four
pieces, all Elsmore and Foster Columbia Shape with Tobacco Leaf motif.
There was a coffee pot, creamer, sugar bowl, and a lonely handleless cup.
They were filthy and included with a blue transfer set, an early paste
teapot, and a couple other pieces.  John Meneghini wasn't there (our worst
nightmare nothing personal, John!) so we walked away with it.  Neither
the auctioneer nor anyone else in the building had any interest in the lot.
The auctioneer made more profit off our two sodas(pop for the
midWesterners) than he did the box lot.  The coffee pot and sugar bowl are
chipped but all four pieces washed up to a bright white, have excellent
luster, and show beautifully.

That's all we have for this time.  Looking forward to others' responses and
reports.

Suzi & Allen

P.S.  In reading the hard copy of our submission, I realized that we left off the
most important detail of the Columbia pieces.  They are child's pieces!!!  Allen

[A&S, Congratulations!  Tobacco Leaf child’s pieces are few and far between.  In any condition, they’re a little treasure.  I agree with your opinions regarding copper lustre items which include touches of blue, green or red.  I know the officers and board members are planning to discuss their place in our sales at the Spring mid-year board meeting.  DA]  

- - - - - - - - - -

Kimmey returns from her travels and reports...
Hi from a recent Hong Kong returnee.  Just to let you know, Dick Brackin is
alive and well in HKyou all probably know, via the Internet anyway.  He did
join my family and me for dinner on our last night, after we had returned
from China (Beijing, Xi'an, and Guilin) and Cambodia, to see Angkor Wat,
famous temple ruins.  As an aside, could you resend the OL for the l7th or
24th ( I know you were away for 1)I got it as a guest in HK on my son's
computer and did not have it here to print.  Thank you if that is possible.  
Also therefore, I missed the list of addresses.thanks.

I don' t use the computer for any other TL functionsI watch Ebay but do not
buy. And I do love TLOL.  The convention was wonderful (I know that is old
news)I think I and many others always love the presentation Sat.
AMdespite glitches, just looking at the pictures  of those wonderful pieces
is always exciting.  The Teapot Display was also very excitingit is such a
large effort!!!, but makes a pleasing presentation.
The auction is always funwhether there are large ($) pieces or not,
obviously the club didn't mind and paid well for very interesting pieces, as
the auction total showed.  Dale, thanks for all your work on TLOL.  Kimmey

- - - - - - - - - -

Beth Stepp sends...

Dale and fellow Tea Leafers,
  The online newsletter is such a fun way to hear snippets of TL
information, and to the receive the thoughts of so many. I decided to copy
it for my mom and sister, who also enjoy TL, to read. I was surprised when 9
pages later the copier quit! I didn't think I had read 9 pages of info.
because it seemed to go by so quickly. The email addresses are nice to
have. Thank you!
  My husband and I attended a HUGE antique show in Nashville, TN the final
weekend in October. Our daughter lives in the area and mentioned we might
want to go while visiting. We loved it, and didn't see much TL until we got
to Gale Frederick's booth. Enjoyed a nice chat with him.
  I finally bought Jean Wetherbee's book on white ironstone while at the
show, plus an Edward Walley Full Panelled Gothic 10 1/4 inch pitcher. Does
this pitcher have a special use?
Beth Stepp

[Beth, I consolidate all of my TLOLs into a single document after I send them out and we’ve produced over 260 pages this year.  Remarkable, don’t you think?   Anyone have an answer or opinion for Beth about the 10 1/4" pitcher?  (Bev & Ernie?)  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Sam and Fran remark about the Friday evening convention program and other topics...

Just a short message as we have very little time this Saturday AM. Tonight is the free EBAY entertainment as we watch the Big Guns in action on the LOV childs set. Fran's popping popcorn and making ice tea for refreshments. Should be interesting.

I have a comment on Wally's latest topic, Friday night lids and bottoms. Some people think they should not be priced over $40. That would be OK if you are only looking for bamboo and fishhook sugar bowl lids. What would people do with the more exotic lids they pay over $40 for. I see very few lids out anymore and when I do they are overpriced but that does not keep me from buying them anyway. I know someone in the club can use them. As for as making any money on them, it amounts to very little. When you average out the lids you buy that you didn't realize until you got home that they were damaged, it's more of a break even. If a limit were to be put on them, where would you set the limit? What would you pay for a child's lid or a Master Potty lid?  I also heard it was mentioned someone may break up a set thinking  they could make more money by selling separate. Totally absurd. It was also mentioned that free spaces should not given . I was told the reason it was like that was to encourage more members to participate when otherwise they may not. I like it the way it is and I see no reason to change. What do you think?

Sam and Fran

[S&F, I’m sure lots of us were glued to our monitors watching the child’s set sell.  What does everyone else think about Friday table sales?  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Regarding the computer use topic the Stevens write...

Hello from balmy Minnesota.  Heard that Ohio has had snow before we
did.  We are considering applying for membership in the Sunbelt.
Drove to Iowa yesterday to discuss next year's convention with Chris
Weinbrenner and what a remarkable women she is.  Most of the chairs were
lined up in Peoria by Chris, Margaret and the Stevens.  Many are from
TLOL,  We have been busy with medical things so have not been able to
contact and thank you  but will be doing it soon.  Still want to hear
ideas about Friday night.  Is it too busy?  What would you like to do?
We will be making changes and hope to get input.

The Computer Committee is getting started and probably will be working
on a Web Page.  Still plenty of room for TLOLers to be a charter member
of the committee.

As to our current topic.  The Stevens use the computer for Tea Leaf.
This time saving device eats up hours and hours of our days.  We keep
track of all our purchases with the computer.  We enter this information
on a spread sheet.  We also track prices on the computer.  We
haphazardly   record Ebay prices and auction prices.  We have been
keeping this information in a spread sheet but think it is better to use
a database program.  Our goal in recording prices is to be a
knowledgeable bidders.  We also bid on Ebay and from some of our recent
bids it doesn't appear that we our too knowledgeable.  The computer
obviously is a tool that we  use but we get the greatest pleasure from
TLOL.  Look forward to hearing from you all
The Stevens

- - - - - - - - - -

Julie reports on her “spring cleaning” a couple months late...

HI!  I have just finished one of those jobs that collectors like us hate!  
With Roxann's help, all of the pieces of Tea Leaf and variants sitting on top
of the kitchen cabinets have been taken down and cleaned.  I must admit that
it has been several years since I've done this.  When the teapots (American)
came down to go to Convention for the display, it seemed like a good time to
take the rest down.  Take my advice, either do it more often or leave them
there forever.  I not only found that hot, soapy water was not doing the job,
I found that two washings didn't do it.  I resorted to Cinch!  I couldn't
understand why some of the pieces were feeling so gummy and sticky.  Those
pieces that were right above the stove were hard to clean.  Believe me.  I'm
sure that my mother was doing a few flips in her grave.  I did find out a few
revealing facts, however,.  I have a Morning Glory teapot lid for both the
teapot and the sugar.  Anyone want to make a swap.  Mine are both sparkling
clean.  The teapot lid for the sugar is larger than the one for the teapot
but it fits the sugar better.  There were two sizes of MG tea/coffee pots!  

On the bottom of an 8" milk jug, Cinquefoil motif on a Grand Loop body, I
found the original price tag.  $20.  I wonder how long ago I bought that.  
Before any of our members formed a liking for variants, I'm sure.
I, too, saw that Jim Barrett was walking out of the auction with TWO pieces
of a variant!  It happens to all of us, Mr. B.

Last Sat. & Sun. I spent helping Gloria Weatherby at the Howard County, MD
antique show.  I used to find a lot of TL there.  In fact, that's how Gloria
and I started our friendship.  She always had some for me and found others.  
There were two pieces in the whole show.  One was in Gloria's booth, a square
Meakin bowl.  The other was a rather sad 61/2" plate in another booth.  
Gloria was at the York TailGate and Antique show on Friday.  Not one piece of
TL could she find.  Lots of white but no TL.  There has to be a message here
somewhere.  It's just not to be found in this part of the world.  But then,
after all that washing and disposing of greasy grime, I shouldn't be looking
for more.

Does anyone have any suggestions about cleaning white ironstone stored above
stoves or kitchen cabinets other than doing it more often.  I guess we could
install glass doors but that's a pretty expensive proposition.  

As for lids where oh where are all the extra lids for a Lily of the Valley
sugar?  I know that several of us are looking.  Virginia B. found a solution.  She
bought another sugar WITH a lid.

Good friends, Ann & Don Derner, are now on line and I've emailed them to
join this group.  Hope they got to you in time for this weeks.

I miss hearing from Dickie B. but Kimmey Decker has just returned from HK and
saw him there.  

Love to all of you, Juliehoo!

P.S.  I'm sorry that I didn't answer your inquiry about the T. & R. Boote piece.  
It's a bone dish and has no evident body style that I can see.  It's in the
cleaner so I'll have to wait until I take it out.  Sorry that I missed
answering the inquiry.

[Julie, Actually I think there are three sizes of Morning Glory coffee/teapots.  I know Nancy will be able to answer this question.  The cleaning issue is quite a chore.  Like you, it happens seldom here on Bryden Road, too.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

And, of course, THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK, Rick N asks...

Please explain the $6,000 childs tea set.  I really don't understand that.  Hope all is well

Rick

[Of course, what Sam and Rick are both referring to is the Lily-of-the-Valley child’s set that came up for sale on eBay this week.  “Early Child's Tea Leaf Lustre Teaset, Item #191121680.  Seller’s Description: Absolutely fabulous set in super condition. This came from a very early estate in Barrington RI. The set includes the teapot, sugar, creamer and 4 handless cups and saucers. The pattern of the ironstone is lily of the valley. The teapot stands 5 1/4" high with cover. It is in super excellent condition. The sugar 4 1/4" high with cover and is also in super excellent condition. The creamer is 3 1/4" tall and also in super excellent condition. There are no chips, cracks or repairs. The handless cups are in the same condition though one does have some discoloration which can be viewed in the photos. The cups are 2" tall and 2 1/4" in diameter at the mouth. The saucers are 4 1/4" wide. I will also include 2 extra saucers which have discoloration.” Selling Price was an astonishing $6,057.13.  Whew...this was sure a surprise to many of us.  The set is, of course, extraordinarily hard to find and the excellent condition would greatly enhance its collectability.  On the other hand, it’s missing 2 cups and all of its plates so I think the price was quite extraordinary.  What do you all think?  I’d love to know!  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

That’s it for letters this week.  Seems like we’re not getting quite as many contributions as we have in the past even though our numbers are growing.  For all the Tea Leaf OnLine vets and newcomers, please remember that if we don’t all participate we don’t have a TLOL.  Looking forward to hearing from lots of you this week.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
  November 14, 1999

WOW...wonderful letters this week - this is what TLOL is all about!  

NEW TLOL MEMBERS

Several of you wrote asking for the email addresses for new TLOLers from last week.  Here they are:
Brownie and Gary Small    bgsmall@xxx.xxx
Ann L. Derner   annlynnd@xxx.xxx

-  - - - - - - - - -

CONTINUING DISCUSSION TOPIC 1:
One may presume that all TLOLers have access to a computer even if
borrowed, so how do you use it for Tea Leaf?  Do you keep track of your
inventory?  Bid on online auctions?  Buy something from Dale or Stan
Moreo or others?  Track prices of auctions?  Denny has formed an ad hoc
committee to see how the club should use the computer.  Do you have any
ideas for it?

CONTINUING DISCUSSION TOPIC 2:
The $6,000 LOV child’s set - what do you think?

- - - - - - - - - -

The first letter this week came from Dick Brackin...

    'Tis true, you have not heard from me for some timeactually since I returned to Hong Kong from the States.  There are several reasons for thatfirst is that four days after I returned, I moved.  I am no longer living in a cubbyhole on the 24th floor in a concrete jungle!  Blessedly, I have moved to Tai Wai, which is not far from City One, and nearer my office.  It is like having moved from the servant's quarters in the basement into the upper rooms of the palace!  My new flat is on the 21st floor on a street with but five apartment towers and I am in the last tower on the street.  My flat is 830 square feet (as opposed to 380 actual) and I have three bedrooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen equipped to use for cooking!  I can actually walk on three sides of my queen size bed now and have room to dress in the bedroom!  Additionally, I look out five of my windows onto a green mountainside park and can hear wild birds singingit is the nearest thing to living on Willow Creek in all of Hong Kong, I think!  Needless to say, I am much more content and find that my outlook and attitude about Hong Kong, the job, life in general, has improved greatly!

    Then, four days after I moved I had two house guests from the States for five days.  (Had I not moved they would have had to stay in a hotel.)  They were easy guests, but still kept me occupied.

    Kimmey Decker was in Hong Kong, rather blitzing about Asia, most of the two weeks that I was moving and hosting house guests, but we did get together for dinner at her son's lovely apartment on Victoria Peak just the evening before she and her other son and daughter returned to the States.  It was GOOD to see Kimmey again, even though I had seen her just a month earlier (we hugged a lot!), and good to have met her son, John and Daughter, Anne.  (I have now met three of her four children.)  Actually, Kimmey and I had our own conversation, much of which centered on our Tea Leaf Family, while the others had their own conversations.  We had a wonderful dinner, all in all, a splendid evening, and I appreciated.

    Now, about TLOL and eBay.  I, too, was appalled at the way the price of that LOV children's set went.  I missed the end, so do not know who was the high bidder, but he/she obviously has MUCH more money than I.  I was able to get in one early bid, I believe, but quickly realized that it was going way out of my league.  It did look good, but certainly not that many $ good to me.  I am now watching the single LOV sugar bowlalso had one early bid on it.  I am also curious about the ultimate price and purchaser of the Black Rose cake plate.  I missed that end, but had been bidding earlier.  I was successful in purchasing two teaberry potholders from Valerie Giorgi for SallyI think that I was Valerie's only bidder!  I am also bidding on another piece, just now, but I am not telling what it is!

    So, I do use the computer, mostly for enjoying TLOL and bidding on eBay.  As some of my friends knowDale, Julie, Sally from Tea Leaf landI kept an inventory of all my Tea Leaf as I was packing it up to store while I am here in Hong Kong.  I started recording the inventory on my computer at home, but only got as far as Box 25.  I intended to finish the process once I got here, but when I arrived, discover that I did not bring the handwritten inventory with me and when I was at home in September could not find it.  So, who knows if I shall ever get the entire inventory recorded on the machine???  That is the reason that my unnamed shape Thomas Hughes coffeepot was not in the exhibit at convention and that is why my Beaded Bow (my name for the previously unnamed shape) Thomas Hughes creamer and sugar bowl were not in the Rare and Unusual program Friday evening at convention.  Those pieces are not in the first 25 computerized boxes and they are not in box 26 though 50 for a friend of mine and I opened those the night before we left for Peoria.  By midnight, we decided that we would not go through boxes 51 through 103!

    SOMEDAY, I shall find that inventory and will get the remainder of the inventory on the machine!  My purchases at convention and via eBay since I have been here are stored in a different basement, separate from the first 103 boxes, so I think that I shall be able to inventory them easily when I return to the States and settle somewhere.  That is IF I settle!  Who knowsin three years when this assignment is up, I will be only 69 years old and may decide to do something else exotic!   All those boxes may have found a relatively permanent home!  I do wish that I had a piece or two of Tea Leaf here.  All I have with me are the Tea Leaf coasters from several years ago and three refrigerator magnets!

    I need to let those of you  who were not at convention that even though in the beginning of the Rare and Unusual program which Juliehoo and I hosted this year, that I was pretty nervous and felt quite in awe at having been asked to follow the master of Rare and Unusual, Tom Chadwick, that I really did enjoy it.  Should Walt wish to ask me and Juliehoo again, I will accept willingly and promise not to forget anything in the plan as I did this year.  Not only did I enjoy cohosting that program, I enjoyed the entire program thoroughly.  I thought it was a splendid show!  Yes, I WILL be in Akron in September, 2000I intend to keep my perfect attendance pin!

    Enough...again, I ramble...BIG HUGS to all...Dick

[Dick, Thanks for the wonderful letter.  I know you’re going to be tied up again with guests soon because my cousin (and neighbor) Lynn and her husband Charlie are on their way to Hong Kong this Thursday and will be looking you up.   $511.50 was the ultimate price for the Rose cake plate which went to our own Walt & Pat.  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

Wayne Chadwick was the first to write about the child’s set and also commented on Friday night sales...

As far as the child's set goes, that is so far out of my realm I can not
comment. You are the expert, I defer to your judgement of the sale (did
you get it??).

Regarding the question of the $40.00 and under sale of Friday of the
convention. I think it is a great idea to limit the price tags that
first night. If people have exotic lids (or whatever) to sell, they can
put them in the auction or table sales on Sunday. The Friday sale as it
stands is a great opportunity socialize and catch up with yearly
acquaintances. If you happen to see something worthwhile, well that is
just icing on the cake.

Even though Convention '99 is long gone, I want to say thank you one
more time to all those who had such wonderful things to say about my
father. I was a little unsure about how I would react once I was there
because the club and the people meant so much to him. All of the
comments (some public, some private) were wonderful to hear. I was a
little afraid of being overwhelmed because I had not attended a
convention since 1992 or 3(?) and I wasn't sure if I would remember all
his friends or what the reaction to my being there would be. I should
have known the people of the Club would make me feel at home just as
they did at my first Convention. Thank you again for all your kind words
and wishes. I hope to see everyone next year!!

Wayne Chadwick

[Wayne, We, too, were all thrilled that you were able to join us this year.  Regarding the child’s set, no I wasn’t the high bidder, or even the back bidder.  I’m thrilled to report that I have two (almost complete - missing plates) LOV child’s sets and am working on a third - piece by piece.  But I can assure you most of those pieces won’t be coming from eBay!  Although I was the successful bidder on the 2 LOV child’s cups and saucer sets that sold a couple weeks ago and thought the $500 price was excellent - where else are you gonna find LOV child’s cups and saucers for $250 each when the going rate for the last couple years has been over $400/set?  They may not have been cheap, but they were definitely a below-market.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Bev and Ernie replied to Beth’s pitcher question from last week...

About Beth Stepp's 10 1/4" pitcher.  We have always called this size a table
pitcher.  This summer we had an opportunity to ask Geoffrey Godden (author of
many books on ironstone, porcelain and pottery, for those that may not know)
what the use was for many ironstone items.  His reply, after asking us why we
needed to know, was that, if you filled a pitcher with lemonade, it was your
lemonade pitcher.  If you filled it with milk, it was your milk pitcher.  You
get the idea!  It has taken us a while but, we are now at peace with that
concept.

Ernie and I were unaware of the goings on about that child's set.  The final
price is mind boggling.  It only takes two who want it badly enough, to push
a price that high.  It is an artificial guide to the value of any other set
in the future.   

Bev

- - - - - - - - - -

Claire Hoffman attended the Ohio regional meeting and writes...

Saturday was a lovely day here in southern Ohio, went to the regional
meeting at Kathy Massey's house in Dayton where a good number gathered.
It was a good time, saw some fantastic pieces, lunch and made new
friends. Thanks to Kathy for hosting it.

The Childs set that sold for over $6000 was a surprise. Yes, it is hard
to find, but that is a lot for not a complete set (a lot for a complete
set too)!

I enjoy ebay.com, watching prices, seeing items I haven't seen before
and may never again. Have actually bought 2 pieces from eBay and were
pleased with both.

Putting the Tea Leaf inventory on computer is a great idea, may have to
look into that....need to inventory it soon anyway so that may make it
easier.

For Julie, the tea leaf is hard enough to clean when above cabinets, but
to make cleaning of the top of the cabinets try laying down wax paper as
it is usually the width of the cabinet. Then when you clean the tea leaf
just throw the wax paper out and replace with new. Now if only cleaning
the tea leaf was that easy!

Ask Mr. Barrett about the piece he found at Webbs in Centerville IN a
couple weeks ago........what a bargain he found! Tried to get a discount
but the price was firm. Oh well, worth the try.

Claire Hoffman/Cincinnati

[Claire, I think Jim & Betty reported on their find a couple weeks ago (Shaw cream pitcher, Chinese, $33.95).  Have they found something else, too?!  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

And, more on the topic of how we use our computers, Carol Chadwick contributed...

Regarding the computer issue:  I use my computer for keeping inventory and
prices and, of course, watching EBay.  I haven't bought anything for a
while, but will get back into it when things settle down, if they ever do.

I have sold my gorgeous home and moved into a replica of "the money pit" for
a short time until I decide where I want to be and what type of abode I wish
to buy.  I know I need to downsize it's hard to justify around 3,000 square
feet for one fairly small person with 2 uppity cats!  But it's always been so
nice to be able to display all the Tea Leaf.  Right now all Tea Leaf is
packed away and it's amazing how much I miss seeing it every day.  My new,
albeit temporary, address is:  6520 Vista De Oro, Las Cruces, NM  88005.  If
this seems familiar, it is I only moved across the street and up one house.
 The move, however, was far from easy!!  I was really out of commission for a
few weeks I didn't even know about the LOV child's set.  I certainly hope
the price tag doesn't set a precedent for child's sets in general!!  That is
the interesting/fearful thing about the Internet and EBay.  Speaking of
moving and Tea Leaf, Julie, I washed EVERY piece of it before packing it away
now that was a chore!!  But it looked beautiful.

I'm so sorry I missed the convention; it really sounded like it was a good
one.  Next year!!!

I like the idea of the Computer Use ad hoc committee.  It is such a useful
resource and there are so many people out there that really understand them
and know how to "get around" on them wish I was one of them.

Not much Tea Leaf news to share as it is nonexistent in this neck of the
woods, but wanted to at least say hello and wish everyone a Happy
Thanksgiving.  I'm on the road pretty much for the next 3 weeks.  Bye for now.

Carol

- - - - - - - - - -

And, of course, remember the fantastic Plate research book that the Dieringers are working on - it’s definitely coming along.  Bev reports a new find...

We are working hard on the Plate Book and will send you a copy sometime soon
to have your input on the copper luster and Tea Leaf listings.  Jean
Wetherbee has done some of the work on this.  But, every time we think that we
have the information nailed, something new shows up.  Jim Kerr found a  
tensided Berlin Swirl cup plate.  The only shape for plates we have seen so
far is round.  Who knew.

Bev

- - - - - - - - - -

Fifty-year (!) Collector Sally Schaffer sent...

Dear TLOL members,  I'm very new on the use of the Internet and don't
understand what you do when you go into eBay.  I tried the other day with
not very much success.  If someone can explain in a few easy to understand
for us "Dummies", I know I would appreciate your help.

    I started collecting Tea Leaf when I was in high school (almost 50 years
ago).  My grandmother had an antique shop in Morenci, Michigan and when my
folks took her to buy antiques for the shop she would buy Tleaf for me.
So, have had about half of what we own since 1953 or before.  We look for
mostly serving, unusual pieces as we have lots of plates.   There doesn't
seem to be much Tea Leaf available in the area around Defiance anymore.  We do
keep hunting for that special treasure.  Sally Schaffer

- - - - - - - - - -

Perhaps John M will have an exciting find to report on next week when he returns...

I'm just about to leave on a four day jaunt to Gettysburg and Adamstown,
but promised myself that I would write a few words first.  As far as the
computer and TL are concerned, I only use it for TLOL and searching auctions
sites.  I have not yet catalogued my collection on it.  Perhaps some day I
will get the ambition up to do it.

Very happy t o hear of Suzi and Allen's recent findwhat great luck.  I just
goes to show that perseverance eventually pays off.

On the cleaning issue I find that a quick going over with a Windex moistened
paper towel does wonders and helps keep the dirt from building up.
I don't know who bought the LOV child's tea set, but the one I have has the
exact same number of pieces.  I'm not sure that I would sell it, but it is
something to ponder if a someone was willing to pay that kind of price.
When I return to work on Monday I will be in a new office and hopefully I
will have some happy TL news to report.

So Long,

John

- - - - - - - - - -

A wonderful letter this week from Virginia B...

I hope this response isn't too disjointed. I just have gotten around to
reading the 11799 TLOL and want to speak to the recent CHILD'S SETLilly
of the Valley.

A:  Those of you who have 'em, cherish 'em.

B: Those of us who don't, buy 'em or at least bid on 'em!!!

I'm not a "heavy hitter" as someone said, but had some disposable cash and
was the UNLUCKY second highest bidder on that set.  Juliehoo was correct, I
think.  I am possibly trying to make up for 20 years of NOT collecting Tea
Leaf.
Nowwhere on earth would I find as complete a set OR CLOSE TO IT, if not on
eBay?  If there are any more out there in "Tea Leaf land," what will the price
now be?  All of these questions come to mind, when I know that one single
teapot (with damage) was sold at the convention for $1,000.

An amazing factoid was that someone bought on eBay two LOV child's cups and
saucers about 2 weeks ago for a really amazing price, and a BADLY damaged
Teapot and creamer went for $1,900 plus at about the same time.

The person who paid $6,057.13 is also a Tea Leaf "newbie."  She and I have
become "new best friends" since the auction closed.  She is a lovely person
who has had had Tea Leaf in her family (unlike me) for several generations.  
She, too, never hoped to find an almost complete set, and bid accordingly.  I
have encouraged her to contact you and join TLOL.

OK, if it isn't at an auction, isn't in the shops and sales, where is it?  ON
EBAY, OF COURSE.  My exhusband is a real estate broker of some note.  He has
a truism.

"IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT SOMETHING IS WORTH, ADVERTISE TO THE WIDEST AUDIENCE AND SEE WHAT SOMEONE IS WILLING TO PAY."

Now the question becomesWhat is our stuff worth?  Julie says she paid $20
for something that would fetch $200 plus today, maybe more.  Who is the
judge?  Well, we all are.  Each and everyone is limited by their own personal
financial constraints, as well as their desires. (i.e. How much do I want it?
 Must I have it to reach a goal?)

For the edification of everyone on TLOL, I am completing my 12 piece Meakin
Fishhook place settings  with all the extras.  I will serve a lovely dinner
on it soon.  I will also be collecting Shaw LOV pieces that will never see
gravy or soap.  These pieces, I hope, will be a legacy to my daughter.  It
only gets older and more collectable, I hear.

Julie also mentioned in the last post that I found a lid for my LOV sugar
bowl at the AUCTION.  I bought a damaged bowl with a perfect lid just to have
the lid.  Several folks told me that I could not have bought a lid (if I
could have found one) for the same price.  Now I have a perfect LOV sugar
bowl as well a really NICE vase for some dried flowers.  

Well, that's my thoughts for tonight.  EBay has been an eye opener, and most
of the Tea Leafers I have gotten to know and respect, deal on it.  I'm such a
computer hopeless person, I can't even figure how to sell anything on it yet,
but am hoping to learn soon.

I have started a program to catalog my pieces of copper lustre and tea leaf,
but it's going slowly.  By the way, in a small shop in Woodbury. NJ, I found
a copper lustre mug with what looks to be the tea leaf motif, etched on it.  
Had a chip, paid $5.00 for it.  That's my one find of the month.

Ciao,  Virginia and the furry crew here at Swanhollow Labrador Retrievers

[Virginia, Thanks for your observations and thanks, too, for the second letter you send to the Ad Hoc Web Committee - your comments are very much appreciated.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Allen and Suzi check in...

We had hoped to put our two cents worth in on the issue of the Friday night
sales last week.  But, the week went too quickly so here it is now.  We
wonder why there is even a distinction between the two sales Friday vs.
Sunday and, therefore, would ask if it is necessary to have them on two
separate days.  It seemed that several who sold on Friday also sold on
Sunday and there seemed to be enough room to accommodate more tables both
days.  Why not consolidate the two sale days into Sunday and add another
educational activity on Friday evening?  We felt that the teapot display was
too rushed and, if it could have been displayed longer, would have enjoyed
going back through at a more relaxed pace.  Perhaps it could have been
incorporated into a discussion/presentation Friday evening.  Also, because
we sold items at the Friday night, under $40 event, we missed most of the
First Timers gathering much to our disappointment.  Finally, while we
did find a saucer that we needed, there didn't seem to be much to swap.  It
was mostly sales.

On the other hand, if both sessions of table sales are going to be offered,
we liked the format!  We don't think that it is necessary to place a maximum
$$ amount on lids and, to avoid redundancy on Sunday, there seems little
justification to raise or lower the $40 limit on everything else.  Was
something different from other years?  Perhaps we just don't understand the
issues!

Computers and Tea Leaf?  We do have our collection completely recorded on a
spreadsheet.  Its primary use is to keep us in touch with what we've paid
for specific pieces and we would rely heavily on it if we had a loss due to
fire, flood, etc.  Otherwise, we do track eBay auctions for entertainment,
placing bids with less and less frequency.  But we don't have the time or
inclination to surf much.  We did succeed in contacting the British Registry
in an attempt to gather information on one of our pieces.  This brings us to
our next topic.
Many of you saw our unusual "Pleated Swirl" covered vegetable at convention.
This past weekend we discovered another identical piece but with a blue
transfer design.  Both vegetables have an 1886 registry mark.  One of the
legs on ours says "Opaque China" while on this second piece, the same leg
says "Ivory".  The transfer piece has a small, partial bottom stamp in
blue/green with _  _  _  O across the top, L S & S across the bottom, and a
stylized "plus" sign connecting them.  We could not locate the L S & S
initials in Kowalsky's new book but did note that, according to that
reference, Ridgeway is the only firm to use both "Ivory" and "Opaque China"
on their pieces.  We're pretty certain that they did transfer ware but don't
recall any reference to them producing Tea Leaf.  So, our search continues.
Does anyone else have a suggested reference?  Incidentally, the electronic
contact with both the British Registry and the Kowalsky's resulted in the
conclusion that the info is there if someone makes the trip to London.
Anybody going over and want to spend half a day doing research?

Marjorie,  Suzi just called me to tell of your surprise.  I haven't seen it,
yet, but must tell you that we are overwhelmed.  We'll send a picture.

Because this is so long, we'll share our most recent finds in a later
edition.

Allen & Suzi

{A&S, I agree that there is information to be had in England if we had the time and resource.  You might want to consider attending the White Ironstone convention next Spring in Lancaster PA).  I understand that Neil Ewins, a British ceramics researcher, will be one of their speakers.  Can anyone help with the L S & S mystery?  Have you tried to contact Arnold directly?   My own opinion of Friday evening is that I like the format but don’t think we do a good enough job explaining the pricing guidelines.  Friday evening is an opportunity to get a small and inexpensive place to sell miscellaneous items for folks who may not have sufficient inventory to set up on Sunday.  Also in order to improve the quality (and cut down on the number) of pieces in the auction, we make the Friday selling opportunity available to everyone.  Actually, too, I think if we combined the events we wouldn’t be able to find a room big enough in most hotels.  I know the Board will want to hear all of your opinions on all aspects of the Convention and encourage you to use TLOL as a forum for sharing ideas or send them directly to Denny Kear (Pres) and Walt Stevens (2000 Convention Chair/VP).  DA]
- - - - - - - - - -

Answers to many of last week’s questions, plus comments regarding the issue of copper and blue pieces, came from EdComm Chair Nancy...

Whoa Hansens!  Please don't get me wrong!  I'm not putting down cobalt decorated ironstone.  I collect it and I sell it!  The question is:  is it appropriate to be included in the Tea Leaf Auction or at Table Sales?  WICA only allows white undecorated ironstone; I'm not sure about Flow Blue's rules but I imagine they have some limitations too.  Should we limit what is acceptable as Tea Leaf?  That's the question to be put to the Board.  

What do I use my computer for?  All my inventories, personal collection and Laurel Ridge stock are in databases and all have been transferred to my new computer.  So far I haven't traveled into cyberspace land to do any bidding on EBay or other auctions nor have I purchased anything (Tea Leaf for otherwise) on the Internet.  At this point, I'm a little shy of getting into this realm, especially in view of the reported auction price for a Lily child's set.  Will I eventually get into some of these activities?  Probably.  Right now I'm taking a comprehensive Internet course and learning all sorts of valuable information.  We haven't touched on Auctions yet, but when we do, watch out!

I'd love to have more information about the Myrtle Beach Antique Mall mentioned by Sally Schaffer.  Tried to Email you, Sally, but my service says they're not on speaking terms with your service.  Could you try to Email me info such as name, location, etc.?

Dick, I tried to Email you also, but again, our carriers are not on speaking terms.  Will answer your note via snail mail.

Julie, there are indeed three sizes of Portland Morning Glory teapots.  And I need a teapot lid, but a small one. Evidently your sugar bowl has a large teapot lid, in fact, it's probably a coffeepot lid.

Friday night lids and bottoms:  To me, these are not in the same category as the flea market items; therefore, flea market pricing policies should not apply.  Is there too much going on Friday evening?  Yes.  I can't keep up with everything I'm committed to do so I usually miss out on lids that I need!  How to fix it?  I'm sure Wally, Chris & Margaret will come up with a great solution.  My own recommendation would be to keep the flea market and lid swap on Friday evening.  Possibly move R & U or Vignettes to some other time.

That's it for now, folks. Don't forget to send photos of ladles with their tureens.     

Nancy  

[Everyone please pay attention to Nancy’s ladle request - this is important to all of us!  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Maxine writes...

Last week you mentioned several new TLOL members joining the TLOL, but you
didn't give their email addresses.  Could you please include them in this
week's writings?  Like to keep my address book current.  Thanks.

Saw Dale & Pat at a show Fri.  She said they were going to Columbus to do the
Scott show.  They do get around.

All for now.

Maxine

[Maxine, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Pat and Dale here in Columbus for Thanksgiving weekend.  Now all the rest of you STAY AWAY from the Scott show!  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

And Kimmey also asked for addresses...

Could you please include the email addresses of new members of TLOL, such as
the Smalls and Derners, who just came on after you published the list.  Thanks.

To answer this week's questions, I use the computer mainly for TLOL.  I watch
the auctions but do not buy and don't keep inventory yet on it.  Can't think
of Web uses for TLOL yet; I think these online  messages are great. Kimmey

- - - - - - - - - -

The Kears report on Texas doin’s...

Not much new to report from the Houston area regarding Tea Leaf finds.
The week after the convention we did come across a Shaw fluted comport.
It was pretty stained and lacked lustre but it cleaned up nice and is a
nice piece even with out the lustre.

As far as the discussion topic is concerned, we have been known to bid
on a piece or two on eBay.  Thought I had a sleeper the other night when
someone was selling an old three piece Anthony Shaw "Potpourri Steamer",
sure looked like a cable covered butter dish with liner to me.  Must
have looked like the same thing to someone else right Dale? :^)

In addition to eBay, which helps take up the void in Texas tea leaf, we
also have a very out dated inventory of our Tea Leaf set up on our PC.
We keep saving the update chore for a rainy day but it is so far behind
it will take a flood before it is up to date.  Not that we have added
that much Tea Leaf, it is just that it is on Excel and Denny did a sort
and got it all mixed up and saved the mess and lost the original data.
:^(  Not a cool move, sooooo, it is start over again.

We keep all TLOL issues filed on the PC.  Denny kept all the convention
correspondence filed on the PC and now corresponds via Email with the
officers and board members.  There are only a couple of officers/board
members who are not online.  Someone said since they don't have a PC
they must be Amish.

There have been some really neat Internet uses mentioned by the Internet
Committee.  So possibly down the road there will be even more uses for
the computer and tea leaf.

Guess that is all for now,  look forward to reading the next TLOL issue.

Connie and Denny Kear

[Denny and Connie, I have a cute Texas story for you.  Yesterday afternoon I got a call from a Texan who had bought a piece of TL at a local sale - he got my phone number from the web site.  He told me all about the shallow, low, large (12+”) salad bowl with a green Tea Leaf he had purchased yesterday morning for $36.  I have seen two of these pieces in the past, one in Dick Brackin’s collection.  They are a very heavy ironstone and have an unusual profile.  He especially wanted to know if he had paid too much.  When I told him that the piece would probably sell for at least $150 he went wild.  I felt like I was on the Antiques Roadshow - he was SO HAPPY.  So how did you let this one get away?  Yes, I did get the TL Shaw Cable “potpourri” steamer (3-pc butter dish!) And am looking forward to receiving it.  DA]

- - - - - - - - - -

Also regarding the child’s set, the Millers observed...

One comment about the LOV childs set. What does that make the Teaberry Prairie Shape set worth?

Another comment about Friday night Lids and Bottoms. I suggest to Marjorie and Allen and Suzie that they bring their sugar bowls next year and just set them out. You might be surprised at the number of people that have lids at home to match that they would part with. Just a thought. Oh, I almost forgot, the Club provides these spaces free so there would be no cost to you.

And now to report on a recent TL find. South County Antique Mall in St Louis has one whole display case full of TL. We managed to bring home with us a nice Wedgewood   butter dish. The rest of their items were reasonably priced with a wide selection.

Do you remember when I wished for the Teaberry Ladle to go with our Elegance soup tureen. I want to thank everyone that responded, it was just overwhelming.

Sam and Fran

- - - - - - - - - -

Wow, what a lot of letters this week.  We really appreciate all of your comments, observations and stories. Thank you.

It’s been a busy day here on Bryden Road.  We had 150 people for brunch and many of them visited the third floor where the TL is kept.  While most of our guests don’t know squat about TL everyone always has lots of questions.  The welcome mat is always out for TLers so please feel free to call if you’re going to be in Columbus.  

I decided to take the plunge this week and had a cable modem installed in the house.  No more slow 56K modems for me.  A cable modem is 20+-times faster than a telephone modem and its installation means that my computer is always connected to the ‘net - 24 hrs a day.  So my favorite Internet sites (as well as my office :{, boo ) are now only a click away.  I hope this wasn’t a bad idea or investment but as a computer consultant it finally seemed to me that I had to take the plunge - plus it’s a business expense so I can write it off!

Well, I’ve spent a couple of hours on TLOL tonight and know that some of you are probably chompin’ at the bit to see your letters in print so I’ll get this out right now.  Please write again this week.

Dale
TEA LEAF ONLINE                            
 November 21, 1999

More great correspondence this week.  I especially love the letter from Bob Sawtell.

NEW TLOL MEMBERS
No new TLOLers this week.

-  - - - - - - - - -

NEW DISCUSSION TOPIC

Thanksgiving report: How did you use your Tea Leaf on Thanksgiving?  What styles or services pieces were used?    Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions or foods?  Remember as  young Midwesterners our surprise when our southern friends served us ambrosia not pumpkin pie for desert, what do you serve?  How was the dreaded cleanup?

We’ll all be enjoying Thanksgiving holidays this week, even Dick in Hong Kong, so we should all be able to comment on this new topic.

- - - - - - - - - -

Several letters this week from folks catching up on Discussion Topics from the last few weeks.  The first one is from Donna Turner...

I am a little late in responding to the questions, but I do have some comments.

Friday Night Lid Swap and Under $40 sale
I find the Friday night sales a good way to buy plates etc. to add to collections.  For new collectors, this is a great source.  Also, as I acquire more items, I am sure the lid swap will be an excellent source.  I realize there is a lot of activity going on and time is scarce, but not sure how to resolve.

Use of Computer
For now, I use the computer to check ebay and other auction sites.  I do not have my inventory recorded, but do plan to set up in a database file or excel spreadsheet.  I just have not taken the time to do it, but I do maintain a written listing of all purchases, price, description, where purchased, date, etc.  So all I need is to take the time to record the listing.

I have been out to some searching in the past few weeks, but no findsonly saw some bad plates at high prices.

I too am astonished at the price of the child's set on ebay.  It is apparent I will never own any children's sets.

Donna Turner

- - - - - - - - - -

Bev & Ernie’s first letter this week relates to Tea Leaf research in England...

I'm just beginning to accept the fact that winter is on the way.  The leaves
are all down and the sun is down before 5 PM.  So I'm huddled in front of my
nice warm computer and catching up with communications.  

Alan and Suzi proposed that someone might go to England and do a half hour's
research.  Well... first of all, several of the registry books have been
retired from public access because of their deteriorating condition.  That
could be a definite frustration.  One of the many things that we learned from
Geoffrey Godden, was that most of the business records of the potteries that
had been stored in basements all over England, were used to make pulp for new
paper during W.W.II.  All that information that would have answer all our
questions about what was in a set and how many sizes were made and so on.  
Gone!  The only records that are left are in those volumes at Kew.  

We discovered that a lot of information is available on the Internet.  The
records can be accessed at Keele University.  It means registering with the
University and then, for a research fee, you would be put in touch with a
researcher who would charge by the hour to find what you are looking for.  
This is not easy because the information is recorded by a registry number
which was in date sequence.  Not by name.  And to make it more confusing,
pottery was recorded in between silver, rugs and several other categories.
But it still would be more cost effective than air fare and hotels.  It's
been a while but I think the address is www.keele.edu.

Keep warm,

Bev

- - - - - - - - - -

Laura Butler writes...

     I have not written in a while, but have enjoyed all the convention
and eBay play by play reports.  I would have really loved the teapot
display, they are my favorite things.  We went to the Cape in late August
and found a mint, unmarked, Portland shape Morning Glory teapot in the first
shop we went into. I don't know how John missed it.  We never saw another
piece all week, so I knew he was there!  Only when I got home did I realize
it is quite a bit larger than the other Portland shape teapot I have, in
Reverse Teaberry.  TLOL enlightened me just last week that these came in 3
sizes, which brings me to ask the experts, at what point do teapots become
coffeepots?  Did most "sets" have both, or only certain patterns/makers?

     I do not have Internet at home, only at work, so have limited time
to look at eBay.  At those recent prices, I'm not sure I want to. While home
with a cold last week, I started a small Excel spreadsheet for TL, but would
love to hear from those with more database experience what is important to
document besides the basic description and bought/sold price. I started to
enter where I purchased pieces, just because it was fun to remember.

     I flew from Seattle a few years ago with a Hexagon ewer on my lap
for 3,000 miles. My boss still brings this up now and then, he'll never get
over it.  Shopping online just doesn't have the appeal for me that getting
out there and "hunting" does.

     I loved the "best" list of missing lids, I have a few of my own but
they pale in comparison.  I'll give it a try anyway:
     1. Lid for Wilkinson plain round teapot cover of GTLI and
         Lid for Livesley & Powell Teaberry Gothic shape teapot.
     2. Lid for Clementson Prairie Teaberry sugar.
     3. Christmas is coming, and I'm still wishing for a really nice
Feather creamer.

     Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[Laura, Your question about which potters made pieces in several sizes is a very interesting one.  Portland Shape comes in 3 sizes and even Fishhook seems to have three sizes, but all very similar.  Ceres definitely comes in several sizes; Chinese shape has two sizes of sugar bowls and creamers but only one coffeepot size (that I am aware of).  I don’t believe that anyone has ever done any research on this but it would be a fascinating topic.  Perhaps Nancy would like to add this to her long list of Educational projects!  DA]

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TeaLeafer Linda McElwee discusses her collecting history and her daughter’s new LOV child’s set purchase...

TL friends,
  Haven't been able to surface from school this term for much
correspondence. But, am just about finished with research papers and class
so have a couple of TL stories to share.
   Was in Chicago week before last to Am.Public Health Assoc. meeting and
the kick off of our project with the pilot sites. I did get out Saturday
afternoon to do a little antiquing and found a nice c/s in Asiatic
Pheasants (which I never see) so was nicely surprised. In a little shop at
220 W. Kinzie I found a wonderful waste receiver by John Alcock in white
ironstone in Gothic no lid, but quite beautiful. The gentleman's name was
Alan and he was very nice and helpful. I did not buy the piece, because Ron
is good natured about 1 collection, but doubt that he would enjoy starting
another!!

     Over 20 years ago, Mother, Rebecca and I had the chance to spend a
lovely afternoon with Carolyn and Cheryl Nickerson. The little girls,
numerous teddy bears and dolls had a great tea party using TL. On the way
home, Rebecca said, Momma, I REALLY liked the TL with the flower on the lid.

     In my family, 6 generations of women have loved and cared for TL,
starting with my great great grandmother, Rebeckey Butler. The pieces were
handed down to my great aunt, Pinnie Rebecca. Mother got the pieces 40 years
ago, and our collection was born.

    When I got back to the hotel in Chicagothe phone message light was on.
Now, I never get messages unless it's bad news.  Once when a man ran a red
light and crashed into Rebecca another with a death in the family, Imagine
my surprise when I called home and Rebecca said, Mom, guess what? I thought
about car wrecks, elopements, etc.

She told me then she had purchased the LOV child's set with some of her
inheritance from her beloved great great aunt Pinnie Rebecca.

   Maybe she's an idiot maybe she'll be a good keeper of TL like the women
before her. Either way, she now has a set to play with when my granddaughter
comes along. The set I started for her years ago now will need to find a new
home.

  She has had extremely good beginner's luck recently found a Teaberry
open soap in a little shop for less than $20. If she can find enough of
those, the set might not look so expensive.

   Thank goodness for the next generation of TL lovers. They will make our
collections worth enough to pay our nursing home bills! Thank good ness for
a system that lets all have an equal chance to buy a special piece of TL.

     Thank goodness for the generations of past TL lovers, who cared for and
saved our beloved dishes from the trash bins.

   Better get back to advance statistical methods Happy Holidays to all
and Good Hunting!!!

Linda

[Linda, Amen for those TLers who went before and those to come - something else to be thankful for this week.  The Teaberry open soap definitely caught my attention - I’ve never seen one before and bet its quite spectacular!  Can you send a picture?  DA]

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Beth Stepp sends thanks for the answer to a question...

A note of thanks to Bev and Ernie for kindly answering my question regarding
the 10 1/4" pitcher I recently purchased. I enjoy the comments everyone
makes on TLOL. Sounds like many of you are having some wonderful
discoveries.
Beth Stepp

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Tea Leaf Readings should have arrived on your doorsteps by now and Giftique Chars Mike and Marie would like to made a few corrections to the Giftique catalog...

Tea Leaf Giftique Catalog for the Year 2000