Steven C. and son, Ethan C., returned home from Nashville with lots of great additions to their collection of souvenir buildings and monuments. Check out these photos!
And finishing off with a collectible Beer Tap Handle.
More Convention Finds!
Category: News
I LOVE LUCITE!
Hugh Connolly (1958 – 2014) Architect and Long-time Member of SBCS
Hugh Connolly, Show and Tell, Charlottesville, 2008
Monticello, VA; Old Capitol, IA; Broadmoor Hotel, CO; Super Dome, LA
Hugh Connolly, enthusiastic collector of souvenir buildings, member of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society, an architect who became an early proponent of LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, will be greatly missed at SBCS Convention time for many years to come. At Show and Tell in Charlottesville, VA (2008) Hugh shared his love for Liquor Decanter buildings and inspired others to collect them as well. Click here to view Hugh Connolly’s Tribute in the Trenton, NJ Times
GOOD NEWS – Hotel Discounted Reservations Extended to Oct. 3
GOOD NEWS!!
The SBCS Convention Hotel (Millennium Maxwell Hotel) has extended the deadline to receive room discounts.
If you have not yet signed up for the SBCS convention – you can still get the special convention rate at the Millennium Hotel if you call or visit their website by Friday, October 3rd. Spaces are filling up fast and Thursday night is already sold out.
Please call the Millennium Maxwell Hotel directly at 800-457-4460 and give them the “SBC” group code – 1410SBCCON or go to their website at: www.maxwellhousehotel.com.
Hope to see you in Nashville. Let me know if you are having any problems at omemrick@bellsouth.net
Time is Passing Fast – SBCS Convention Hotel Discount Ends Sept. 30!
Hotel Room Discount ends on September 30. Rate goes up significantly. Good idea to make your reservations now.
Convention Late Fee is $20 for 2014 SBCS Convention registrations received after October 1st. Since registration (as of now) is by snail mail, it is time to get moving.
Click here for Registration Form and link to Millennium Maxwell House Hotel.
A quick review of the SBCS 2014 Convention Highlights:
Friday, Oct 24: Registration, Downtown Walking Tour, Meet & Greet with host and lots of Show & Tell.
Saturday, Oct 25: Annual Business Meeting, The Swap Meet, afternoon Driving Tour, Dinner and featured raffle and auction.
Sunday, Oct 26: Foot-Loose and Fancy Free. Options include sight-seeing, flea market, antique shops.
READY, SET ………. SHOW & TELL! October 24, 2014
Are you ready to share a special souvenir building (or two or three) with the “heavy grazers” at our Nashville Convention Host’s home? Show & Tell is scheduled for Friday evening, October 24.
One highlight of Show & Tell in 2012 was David S. and his cork replica of San Giovanni Eremite, Palermo, Italy. He told how “when he paid his entrance fee to visit the church, the monk in the the ticket booth had several replicas of San Giovanni made of cork. The monk whittled these little gems from wine and other corks, giving him something to do while in the ticket booth.” It turns out that David likes to collect souvenir buildings when he has met the person who made the building.
David’s Show & Tell evolved into a full article in Souvenir Building Collector, Fall-Winter 2012. Click here to view the full article.
Have you made your reservations for the Souvenir Building Collectors Society Annual Convention – October 24,25,and 26, 2014?
SBCS 2014 Convention
October 24, 25, and 26, 2014, Nashville, Tennessee
It’s time to start planning! Which souvenir buildings will you bring to the Auction or donate to the Raffle? Do you have enough buildings to have a half table or a full table at the Swap Meet? Or are you just going to add to your collection? Do you have a couple of favorite buildings you just can’t wait to share their stories at Show and Tell?
The 2014 SBCS Convention is just around the corner. The program is set, the excitement is building (pun intended), all that is needed is your registration and enthusiasm.
The program includes a walking tour and a driving tour, a visit to a SBCS collector’s home, swap meet, business meeting, and a southern-style dinner in an 1840s, residence. and, of course, the Auction.
History of Souvenir Buildings
In the Spring and Fall – Winter 1995 editions of the Souvenir Building Collector, Dave Forman authored the 2 part “MAGNIFICENT MINIATURES: A History of Souvenir Buildings.”
He told how his “first souvenir building was a family heirloom my grandparents bought for fifty cents. It was a gleaming blue and white Trylon and Perisphere they brought back from their visit to the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Sleek and elegant, the metal miniature symbolized a promising vision of the future. Little did I know, when it eventually was passed down to me, the enormous role it would play in my own future.” Dave went on to describe how this initial replica became the foundation of his collection, which in 1995 numbered over 500. “Cathedrals, skyscrapers, monuments, museums, towers, spires and landmarks. They are tacky and elegant, crude and highly detailed, mundane and fantastic.” His “history” covered primarily the history of souvenir buildings in the United States starting with the penny bank replica of Independence Hall sold at the 1876 Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia and ending (remember his article is from 1995) with the observation that “Today building replicas are noticeably absent from the souvenir shops in airports and tourist attractions.” 1876 – Centennial Celebration, Philadelphia 1886 – Statue of Liberty, New York 1893 – World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1920’s & 30’s – Many replicas as company favors, commemoratives 1950’s – Tourist items from travel in the USA
Empire State Buildings, World Trade Center, Chrysler Building
Varied dates and sizes of the Statue of Liberty
The article describes some of the major manufacturers of “magnificent miniatures” as well as some of the interesting miniatures and the forms they come in – thermometers, salt & pepper shakers, cigarette lighters, etc. Click here to purchase copies of Vol 2, No 1 & 2, of Souvenir Building Collector, Journal of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society.
REMINDER! SBCS Membership Renewals Due!
Now is a great time to renew your annual membership and it’s easy to do. If you need a membership form to send a check or want to simply renew your membership online via PayPal, Click here to use this link to the SBCS Membership Site.
Remember, the SBCS has One-Year Individual Memberships at $35 and One-Year Family/Household Memberships at $70. Memberships outside the US are slightly higher at $40 and $80 respectively.
Here are the benefits of SBCS membership:
· A one year subscription to the Souvenir Building Collector, published three times a year.
· Annual membership directory.
· Free 35 word classified ad in the newsletter for three consecutive issues.
· Invitations to member-only events, such as regional meetings and national conventions.
· Back issues of the newsletter for sale to members only.
· Lots of fun, and a great opportunity to build your collection. You’ll also find people who will actually enjoy seeing or hearing about your buildings.
There is a special reason to renew your SBCS membership right now – this new website includes a “Members Only” section.
The SBCS is the only organization that supports our very special interest of collecting and enjoying souvenir buildings. Please join with your fellow collectors and renew your membership today.
And again, thank you for your loyal support of the SBCS.
Sincerely,
Joseph Kopitz,
SBCS President
Top Ten List of NOTABUILDING
With David Letterman announcing his retirement, perhaps it’s time for a republication of Bob Kneisel’s “TOP TEN LIST OF NOTABUILDINGS” FROM 1997.
What’s a Notabuilding, you ask? It’s one of those objects that you initially see and think is a building, but turns out not to be. You’ve all seen ‘em, been disappointed by ‘em, and wanted to call them something printable. Now you can. In true David Letterman style, here are the Top Ten Notabuildings, gathered from the letdowns of fellow collectors.
10. Cheese Graters (Look like skyscrapers from afar)
9. Fire Hose Nozzles. Are they towers? Steeples? Or All Wet?
8. Cone-topped Beer Cans. These castaways of our youth are now collectible, (which is OK), except they look like buildings, which they aren’t, (which isn’t).
7. Book Banks. They’re rectangular. They’re tall. They’re upright. But save your money, and wait for a real bank.
6. Those tall, brass cigarette lighters that look like skyscrapers. You’ve seen ‘em. The Johnson Wax Tower they’re not.
5. Transistor Radios. Who’d have thought to hold onto these things? In bad light, from a distance, they can seem to be an office building with rows of windows. Resist the transistor!
4. Those obnoxious little replicas of typewriters, weather vanes, sewing machines, etc. Pot metal they are. Buildings they’re not.
3. Flashlights, when stood up on end. They are definitely notabuildings.
2. Bookends, which have the pattern and detail of a building, but turn out to be replicas of library shelves, bookcases, or anything butabuilding.
1. San Francisco Cable Cars. They’re oblong! They have regularly repeating rectilinear features! They’re copper-plated pot metal! They’re souvenirs! I have some! They’re NOTABUILDINGS!
SBCS 