2013 Convention
2013 Convention Summary
Our Convention theme this year was based on Native American Indians depicted on our Nippon porcelain. Our first scheduled speaker, Dr. Christine Ballengee-Morris was to speak to this theme.
However, due to unfortunate automobile problems, she was unable to show up. Linda Lau stepped in to save the day. Her talk was scheduled to appear second on the program, but she was ready. Linda spoke about the American Indians as they were pictured on many Nippon pieces. Many different types of Nippon depict Indians including plaques, humidors, vases and various sets for the table. She showed us pictures of the Chiefs that were portrayed and told us something about each one. She also discussed the famous paintings that were reproduced on Nippon pieces such as Remington's "Coming to the Call" and "Shadow at the Waterhole." There was also Wyeth's "In the Crystal Depths" and "The Hunter".
After lunch, guest speaker, Dr Richard Torrance presented "Cultural Interactions between the West and Japan, in documentary film: 1890's to 1920's using the old black and white films. Dr. Torrance told us about the industrialization of Japan and Japan's move toward Westernization. There was a lot of interesting information to absorb and the films were fascinating.
Our next guest speaker was Harry Rinker, a very well-known expert and author on the field of antiques. The title of his talk was "What's Going to Happen to My Stuff When I die? (Planning for the Future)." Although the title sounded beyond ominous, his talk was both informative and (thankfully amusing. He spoke about estate planning and the possible fate of your collection. As collector's age, the things that people collect change. The clubs which collectors form, like ours, decline in membership. That is why it is important to constantly attract new collectors. He encouraged us to allow our grandchildren to hold our Nippon items so that they might have the opportunity to develop an appreciation of them and hopefully develop a connection to them. Mr Rinker also discussed auctions as a way of disposing of collections. All in all, although it was an amusing talk about a very sad subject.
Our dinner that night was a varied and delicious buffet. Dinner was followed by the traditional "Ugly Contest" and an auction of some Nippon-related items. After all of this, as is our custom, we all trooped back to each other's rooms to look and (maybe) buy.
Friday morning, it was time for Harry Rinker to speak again. This time his topic was "The Traditional Collector vs. the 21st Century Collector: What Will the Future of Collecting Be Like?" This was a more upbeat and very informative talk. He discussed how attitudes toward antiques have changed since World War Two. No longer did collections have to be 100 years old to be considered. TV changed our lives; the 60s changed our lives; new inventions changed our lives. Collecting memory has the biggest impact at ages 10 to 25 as one creates nostalgia about happy times. Now, there is a longer time between generations, family ties get broken along with ties to the past. New priorities have appeared for one's disposable income and people are not necessarily spending for antiques. This generation believes in buy it, use it, and throw it out. They don't expect things to last and they look to the future and not the past. The antiques market has now changed, he told us. People want to use things that they buy. Only 25% of buyers are collectors and 50-60% are decorators. The new trend-setters are Martha Stewart and Oprah, among others. Young collectors are trendy, don't like the hunt (hence, Ebay) and want instant satisfaction. He concluded by saying that nobody needs our stuff - we have to sell the passion and the enthusiasm for collecting.
Dr. Ballengee-Morris resolved her car trouble and arrived to present the next program. The title was "Native Americans Depicted in American Art... 1890-1920". She gave us some background on herself and the history of Native Americans at this time period. We saw some works by George Cotlin, a prolific painter of American Indian Life. Charles Russell was another artist whose works we viewed. Frederick Remington was probably the most famous of the Western artists. His works romanticized the Old West. We also learned about more modern art forms through which Native Americans satisfy the tourist market including pots, blankets, jewelry and baskets. Dr. Ballengee-Morris urged us to visit the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
The next presenter was our own Tom Sarkus who spoke on, and displayed postcards of Japan. Some of these were quite old and all were very interesting. There were historical pictures and some of the modern day. Included among the subjects were Mt. Fuji, the Feast of Dolls, and Geishas.
The general meeting followed.
Our convention in 2014 will be in Cleveland, Ohio from July 30
to August 2. In 2015, we will be in Lexington, Kentucky. Tomo
reminded us that for next year's Convention, we must all learn to speak Japanese.
2013 INCC Auction Report
Bright and early Saturday morning, the auction check-in began. After the preview, we settled down in earnest for our auction. Thanks to Maria Letizia and Rella Jean Clock, our hardworking auction chairwomen, everything ran smoothly. Jim Wroda and his staff, aided and abetted by the INCC busy bees, produced our best auction yet.
Among the items sold, both in-house and over the internet, were:
Pretzel-handled vase with flowers
- $160; Fish set, Molded in Relief
- $275; Pitcher with Halloween scene - $260; Lamp vase with cows - $1,700; Portrait Plaque - $200; 13.5 inch vase with Texas Rose - $310; Cobalt trim bowl with Man on Camel - $120; 20 inch urn with Gondola scene - $1,100; 24 inch urn with Swan scene - $6,750; Moriage swan vase - $725; Bolted vase with swans in flight -$1,000; Moriage Ewer - $375; Cobalt vase with orchids - $475; Moriage flying geese tankard and 5 mugs
- $3,000; Molded horse plaque
- $475; Silver overlay & cobalt demi-tasse pot -$700; tea set with roses - $675; Christmas deer tankard and 4 mugs - $950; 7 inch Coralene vase - $1,100; 13.75 vase with roses - $525;
- cardinal humidor - $900; Ferner with jeweled butterflies -$175; Coralene portrait plaque - $300.
This is just a small sampling of the goodies our 2013 auction had to offer.
Saturday night brought the final banquet dinner. The food was fine. The raffles and auction prizes were exceptional. The afghan, once again hand-made and contributed by our very dear Gloria Addison (Gloria, we miss you and Bruce) was won by... tada.. Marie Latizia.
Another successful INCC Convention concluded.
See you next year in Cleveland.
Learn Japanese.
