Message from the President March 2019

“Funning” Up the Convention

So there I was, sitting outside a restaurant in the Bricktown section of Oklahoma City, enjoying a fire table, some blues, and a fantastic rack of ribs (there may have been beverages, but I plead the fifth), when the phone rang. A raspy, quiet but animated voice was on the phone.

“Brian, this is Jim Seeck.” I was kinda surprised since Jim, our good friend and ICGA carnival glass convention auctioneer, had just had throat surgery the month before and not only did the doctor order him to not speak, but his wife, Jan, also would look at him sternly if he even tried to utter a peep. And if you know Jan, she’s amazing (but that stern look “is everything”, as the kids these days say). When we plan our auctions with the Seecks for our conventions, I learned long ago to listen to Jan. Jim knows exactly what he wants and he is VERY good at what he does, but if you disappoint Jan, then, well, things just won’t be right.

“Oh, hey Jim, what’s up??”

“I have the best glass for ICGA, and I want to do something a little different than normal this year that will be awesome.” When Seeck says something is going to be awesome, he’s not playing around.

So in the next 10 minutes, Jim, with what little voice he had, explained a concept to me that I immediately loved AND saw as a great opportunity for a party at the ICGA convention. It is brilliant, and I can’t wait to enjoy it with all of you. So here is what we are doing:

• Jim has the collection of our beloved Lee Markley. That collection will be selling at the convention this year as our auction.
• Furthermore, Jim has the AMAZING tumbler collection of Lee Markley. The collection will sell separately on Thursday night, during which we will be having the Markley Party at the convention. During the Markley Party, we will be celebrating Lee’s life, will be enjoying lots of fun and refreshments, and we will be ruthlessly outbidding each other for these fantastic tumblers.
• The Markley Party Auction will be in the incredibly vicious online format. Jim will have the tumblers at the party, but you must bid online (competing with others not at the party) and each lot will be automatically closed in short increments from each other, but a bid placed in the last minute automatically extends the auction for that lot until someone doesn’t bid for a specific period of time.

I have seen this type of auction (Air Capital has had it for a few years) and frankly, it can be BRUTAL. Most of the time, you have no idea who is bidding against you. It could be someone in Mexico, it could be someone back home, or it could be the very person smiling and shaking your hand, telling you that you are doing a wonderful job of bidding. EVIL (but deliciously so).

Honestly, if Lee were here with us (God bless his beautiful soul), he would be in the corner just giggling and giggling (and you know Lee, when he giggled, it was usually because something hilarious, like an auction fight, was going on). On the Thursday night of the convention, we are going to honor Lee the best way we can; we are going to battle for his tumblers. I can feel him smiling now.

So, ICGA, are you ready????

Brian