VOLUME 9, NUMBER 3 - OCTOBER 2009
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Convention 2009
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The passing of time is a funny thing; it plays tricks with one’s memory. On the one hand I think of the Convention as a recent development in the world of Sebastians, while on the other hand this year’s Convention was the fourth such gathering. Then there is the feeling that the Convention has been going on for a much longer period of time. It now seems as though it is part of the natural course of events to set off for North Reading during the end of June. In all honesty, I think the reason that the transition to the Convention has been so smooth is because of all of the hard work put into the event by John Scannell and Sally Dietrich and the fact that so many good Sebastian friends show up. There may not be as many of us as there once was, but the friendships are just as strong. The silver lining to this situation is that we can do more with the folks who attend the Convention than we could in the past. The festivities start on Friday night with a dinner and a Chit Chat where I have the opportunity to discuss events that have happened in the world of Sebastians over the past twelve months. The doors open for the social hour at 6:15 p.m. and collectors gather. Margery and I have found the Social Hour a great way to start the evening as it gives us a bit of flexibility with regard to our time of arrival. The trip to North Reading should take us three quarters of an hour. However, with Friday night rush hour traffic and the fact we are coming up from the south on RT 95/128 it frequently takes us twice the normal amount of time. It is not uncommon for us to average somewhere between 20 and 25 miles per hour for the trip. On Saturday morning we can average 55 to 60 miles per hour. The best feature of the social hour is that it allows one the opportunity to move about the room and greet all of one’s friends. In the past Margery has not been as involved with the collectors as I have been, but over the past few years she has gotten to know many of you and she and I often separate and chat with different groups. The Masonic Lodge, where the Convention is held, provides the food and they do a wonderful job. Finger food and punch are in abundance during the social hour and when it becomes time for the dinner, everyone is treated to a feast. My only regret is that I have found from past experience that a stuffed lecturer is a drowsy lecturer. Therefore, for many years I have had to restrain myself at the banquet table. This has become increasingly difficult as a result of the wonderful food served at the Conventions. In an attempt at full disclosure, I will say that what seems to be constraint to one person might appear to be over indulgence to another but this could be a function of size. As dinner came to a close it was time for me to fire up the Chit Chat and discuss the pieces that had been introduced since the 2008 Convention. The “Stars of Hope” was introduced in March at the annual Eastern Star event. This piece was first shown to collectors in the May newsletter. The design consists of a penguin and a polar beat extending paw and flipper in a gesture of a “handshake”. A good friend whose opinion I respect once said that a handshake is the objectification of a friendly internal thought. To show the all encompassing nature of the handshake between north and south a relief of the globe was added behind the polar bear and the penguin. Not only did the globe add to the story the piece told, but it added a colorful element to the composition. The medallion for this year’s convention was patterned after the spade as used in a deck of playing cards. A “4th” was added in raised lettering to the two sides of the spade. With this fourth piece the initial grouping is complete and all the recessed spaces on the base, that was introduced a couple of years ago to hold the medallions, are now full. As with the previous pieces the fourth medallion was produced in two versions, a painted piece and a pewter piece. During the Convention John let it be known that he was looking for ideas for the fifth medallion which could be a single piece or the start of another series. Another piece I was able to discuss was the “Old Main”. As I explained in the article that introduced the piece in the March newsletter, the “Old Main” took a long time from the start of the program to the completion and production of the piece. Carved onto the side of the base is a brief history of the farm house that is known as the “Old Main”. The farmhouse was in the family of J. Martin Esbenshade and was given to the Lancaster Bible College in 1954. While explaining the significance of this piece, I reminded those at the Chit Chat that the farmhouse was owned by the family of Jean Sebastian, Paul Sebastian’s wife. During the two years the piece was being developed the real “Old Mail” was fighting a loosing battle for survival. Although the farmhouse had been expanded over the years, the original structure was built in 1883. The college was outgrowing the “Old Main” while at the same time the local building inspector was concerned about the safety of the building. After much consideration the building was torn down during the fall of 2008. Therefore when the miniatures of the piece were introduced, the building was still a recent memory. As it turned out the timing was perfect for the piece as it was a reminder to students, faculty, and alumni of the building that had been part of their lives for many years. Next on the list of pieces to discuss was the 2008 Masonic piece – “The Bunch of Grapes Tavern”. The Bunch of Grapes Tavern was a gathering place for a group of Masons who had been meeting in Boston. When Henry Price returned from England in 1733 he brought with him the authority to organize lodges in the new world. Therefore, to celebrate the 275th anniversary of organized Masonry in the colonies the new Grand Master chose to commission a piece that commemorated one of the first meeting places of colonial Masons. I have mentioned David Hackett Fisher’s book on Paul Revere before in previous newsletters, and his description of the early meetings of our founding fathers which frequently took place in taverns like the Bunch of Grapes. In his book Fisher describes how Revere could mix with different levels of colonial society and how this quality made him valuable in 1775 Massachusetts. When deciding how to commemorate the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, the Grand Master thought the carved bunch of grapes that hung over the door to the tavern would be the most effective symbol of the tavern. Had the tavern been the subject of the piece the bunch of grapes would have been so small that they would have had to be pointed out to the recipients of the piece. The “Bunch of Grapes” piece leaves no doubt as to what is being commemorated. Should you wonder what the Bunch of Grapes tavern looked like in 1733, there is a picture of it on page 6 of the March 2009 newsletter. The Chit Chat ended with the introduction of the Gingerbread Bakery and the Gingerbread Santa Ornament. Both of these pieces had been sculpted at press time for the May newsletter, but there was not enough time to have samples painted. The Bakery and the Santa ornament complete the gingerbread series. Therefore, this was the first time that collectors had had the opportunity to see the Gingerbread House, the Gingerbread Church and the Gingerbread Bakery displayed together. One collector said that until he saw all three pieces he did not fully appreciate the series, but now he does. The ornaments also look like a set with the three pieces. Because there were not painted samples ready when the May newsletter went to press, we were not able to offer the pieces to collectors until this issue. Therefore the Convention was an old fashioned introduction of the 2009 Christmas pieces and required me to dust off my red pens. In the past few years most of the new pieces were introduced via the newsletter and by the time the Convention rolled around the pieces had been available for a number of weeks. In the interest of full disclosure let’s embark on a short side track. Most of you know that at some point in the 80’s I started to sign and date new pieces at the first day of introduction with red ink. The red signature on the bottom of a piece connoted that the piece was purchased the first day it was available to the public. Collectors would come to the introductions to insure their pieces received a signature in red ink. But did you know why it was decided to initiate the red ink policy? Well, the story goes something like this; in the 80’s when I was drafted to sculpt my own pieces the Sebastian line was exploding across the country and there was a need for more new pieces than my father could create. Therefore, I started to work on my own pieces. In addition to the increased number of new pieces I could create I was available to make personal appearances. Because of the marketing demands for more and more new pieces I sculpted in the vicinity of twenty new pieces a year. After a few years at this hectic pace collectors were finding it hard to keep up with all of the introductions. Believe me I could sympathize with them, after all I had to attend all of the introductions as well. There were a number of years when I would work more weekend days than I would take vacation days. Collectors started to stay at home and call in an order for a new piece. This allowed the store hosting the introduction to make one sale, but they were looking to make more than one sale. The dealers liked appearances because they brought collectors into their stores and this gave them to opportunity to sell more pieces. When collectors started to stay at home and call in their orders this had a negative effect on sales. One day an enterprising dealer came up with a solution to get the collectors back to the stores, Sign the pieces that were being introduced that day and only that day with red ink. For a while the red ink exclusivity did bring collectors back. Today I don’t think the red ink matters that much, but it has become a tradition and as a result I always carry a number of red pens with me whenever I go out. Now you know one of Lance’s marketing tricks. Can you imagine the tricks the national and international brands use to attract customers? Now back to the Convention. The 2009 gingerbread pieces that were introduced at the Convention and signed with red ink will be available to all newsletter subscribers through this newsletter. At future Conventions I will be happy to sign these pieces for you, but it will have to be with black ink. With the end of the Chit Chat the Friday night festivities came to a close. Collectors and exhibitors alike made their way home to get a good night’s rest. The exhibitors would need to be up at the crack of dawn to make their way back to North Reading and set up their tables for the opening of the Convention. When the doors opened at 8:15 a.m. collectors entered the premises to find the perimeter of the hall lined with tables featuring old Sebastians, new Sebastians, and services to restore your nicked or chipped Sebastians. Collectors also found that the folks who had prepared the wonderful dinner the previous night were there with coffee and doughnuts. At 8:30 a.m. the first group of Paint-Your-Own contestants took their places at the table in the foyer. I try to give each group a short introduction and explain to them the rules of the contest and how long they will have to paint their piece. The pieces that are chosen for the Paint-Your-Own Contest vary in difficulty. For the past few years we have been working our way through the Dickens collection. This year I selected Sam Weller. Some of the contestants reminded me that Sam has been the Paint-Your-Own piece at a Mid West Fair a number of years ago. However, since we were focusing on the Dickens collection and some of the collectors who have been painting in the recent contests did not travel to Farmer City, it seemed appropriate to use Sam again. The reason that Sam is a memorable piece is that he has a striped shirt and stripes are hard to paint. One of the reasons for starting the Paint-Your-Own Contest was not only because it would be fun for collectors to try their hand at painting, but it was thought they would better appreciate the labor and skill that is required to hand paint a Sebastian. Therefore, a piece with stripes drives this point home with a sledge hammer. I recollect that an early piece, if not the first piece, was Betsy Ross and the flag as well as the stars had the same effect. To give you an idea of the intensity required by the Paint-Your-Own contestants we have included a page of photographs of the contestants at work. In the center of the page Jim Garrabrandt and I are shown hard at work choosing a winner. While some collectors were painting Sam Weller others were making the rounds of the tables looking for old and new pieces to add to their collections. In the past I have not hosted a table at Sebastian events. Now that the times have changed and Sebastian dealers have become extinct I have taken a table to offer the new pieces to collectors. Not only does this give collectors the opportunity to pick up new pieces, but it gives me a chance to chat with folks as I gather their orders and sign the new additions to their collections, some with red ink. As the morning wears on, more folks arrive and the time comes for Jim Garrabrandt and me to judge the Paint-Your-Own “works of art”. After a few decades of painting one Sebastian a year, sometimes two in the old days, some of the contestants are getting quite good. Therefore, it is becoming more and more difficult for Jim and me to pick the winner. Over the past few years we have found that there are usually four or five pieces that are good enough to have won one of the early Paint-Your-Own contests. Because of the caliber of the work we find that we need to become increasingly specific with our analysis of the painting technique. It seems as if we are now looking at smaller and smaller areas of the pieces and how the paint is applied. However, we were able to come to a decision. This year’s winner was Sharron White from Conifer, Colorado. It should also be said that 100% of the proceeds from the from the Paint-Your-Own contest are donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The Komen foundation meant a lot to Jim Waite and the donations are made is his memory. This year $300.00 was raised while in 2008 the figure was $600.00. The amount raised in 2008 was aided by the sale of the pewter phone booths. Should you not have picked up one of the pewter phone booths, or the pewter medallions John still has some available. The price is $30.00 each, which includes shipping. You can contact John at:
John Scannell By now the good cooks from the North Reading Lodge are ready to put their lunch on sale and attendees look for comfortable spots in which to settle down and enjoy a bit of refreshment with their friends before the auction starts. At 2:00 p.m. the all Sebastian auction commences. This is usually a signal for Margery and me to pack up the items on our table. We fill up the van and Margery heads off to Wayland to prepare for supper. Because of the more intimate size of the crowds over the past few years, Margery and I have invited them to join us for dinner. Collectors attending the dinner for the first time are given a tour of my studio and the paint room where Margery and I work on the orders too small to source overseas. Because we are looking for something that can be prepared prior to the day of the Convention Margery has found that a couple of large casserole dished of lasagna are a good foundation on which to build. In addition to the lasagna Margery prepares a salad and this year there was a cheese and cold cut platter and of course there is always some sort of ice cream for desert. Everyone seems to enjoy the gathering and after dinner groups form around the house to discuss their favorite Sebastian topics. How to value the pieces is a common topic as well as the latest pieces one added to their collection earlier in the day. Now back to the auction. After a quick perusal of the auction results elsewhere in the newsletter, it will become obvious that the prices for which many of the lots sold were down from previous auctions. As a matter of fact there were some very good buys. Here is a perfect case of the glass being half full or half empty. To the folks who consigned pieces to the auction, this year’s auction was definitely half empty, but to the collectors who were looking for rare pieces to add to their collections the glass was definitely half full. Now should we have many more auctions where the prices followed the pattern set by this year’s auction it might become difficult to attract contributors to put items into the auction but for the collectors it was a bonanza. With this summary we will wrap up the article by urging you to set aside the third, or maybe the fourth, weekend in June 2010. You will want to come because you might find some great buys.
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