36th Northeast Marble Meet - October 10 & 11, 2015

The 36th Northeast Marble Meet began on a wet note. Early evening on Friday, at the height of rush hour in central Connecticut, the heavens opened up and provided a deluge, slowing down the arrival of those attendees who had not gotten an early start to the 3-day holiday weekend. This didn't stop those intrepid collectors who were at the hotel from engaging in brisk room-hopping during the evening. Some real treasures changed hands Friday night.

Saturday morning the auction viewing began at 9AM. The auction consisted of 225 lots of handmade, machine made and contemporary marbles and related ephemera. It was carried live on iCollector, as well as in the auction room at the hotel. Over 100 online and live bidders competed for the lots in the auction. The two highest bid items in the auction were Lot 220 and Lot 221, a Solid Core Swirl and a Single Pontil Onionskin, both just under 2-1/2". Some highlights of the realized prices (including 10% buyer premium) were:

You can download the full catalogue with realized prices below.

The auction ended in mid-afternoon and was followed by the annual meeting of the Marble Collectors Society of America. The MCSA is the oldest and largest marble club in the world and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The Board of the MCSA passed a resolution thanking Stanley Block (founder of the MCSA) for his 40 years of service as Chairman of the Society and thanking Claire Block for her 40 years of service as Secretary. Both retired from the Society this year. MCSA financial statements and plans for the upcoming year were also discussed at the meeting.

While some attendees took a break from room-hopping to take a drive and enjoy the colors of the changing leaves, and a trip to Lyman Orchards for fresh apple cider and apple cider donuts, the late afternoon and evening saw very spirited room trading on the second floor of the hotel (where the attendees were located).

On Sunday, the Marble Show itself was held in the Nutmeg room. 32 dealers and organizations filled 40 tables. Highlights are pictured below. Traffic through the exhibit room was brisk throughout the day, only dropping off during the last hour of the show. Almost two hundred people attended the show. Highlights of the show included the exhibit of "Treasures from the Marble Collectors Society of America Collection". The theme this year was Marble Tournament Awards and the exhibit included a 1929 Championship bronze statue from the National Marbles Tournament, a silverplated loving cup awarded to the 1930 North Jersey Champion, and an award trophy from a school tournament in 1962. At 10am we observed a moment of silence for Bert Cohen, who managed the show from 1985 to last year. The MCSA also presented honor awards to Stanley and Claire Block for their 40 years of service to the Society. Among the many marbles changing hands at the show were two Peltier Glass Company Blue Galaxies in Mint condition, and a No. 1 Peltier Glass Company (Gropper) National Line Milkies box. Numerous other rare and beautiful handmade, machine made and contemporary marbles changed hands. Both collectors and dealers expressed their satisfaction with the show and their transactions. There were door prize drawings at the top of every hour, to the enjoyment of all (especially the winners). 

Amongst the emails we received after the show were:

"This gives me an opportunity to thank you also for the hard work you put in on the show. In my opinion and from what I heard on Sunday, you can count this as a success. You may have figured it out on your own, but it's always good to hear it from others. It's always nice to see you, we don't get enough chances. It was a fun show and profitable!  Thanks one more time for a job "well done"."

"Steve and I wanted to extend our thanks for putting together the show yesterday and for having us part of it. It was both an inspiring and educational experience for both of us. I believe Steve intends to be more active in the marble community and we will certainly look to participate again in the future."

And from Facebook:

"Hello FB friends...a post about the Northeast Marble Show; our first time there. This was a nicely organized show..in room trading Fri and Sat, marble auction Sat, show Sun. In room buying/trading is such fun..Mark and I got to become face to face friends with Jeff Lewis, David Lenz, and Gary Stetson. Trust me FB marblers..these are great guys! Got to meet Robert Block and other members of his family; all working hard to make the show run smoothly..nice folks for sure (thank you Ben for pulling my ticket for the door prize..woohoo!). Met contemporary marble artist Steven Furman and got to chat with marble friends we had met at other shows and some new friends as well. Despite a horrible, trafficky, dark, tornado-warning drive up (I think we were moving??) it was lovely marble overload from there on. If you have not been to a show, do yourself and your addiction a favor and make some serious plans to attend one in the near future...you will not regret it!"