Scottie Collector

A Few Finds in South Pasadena

2009-09-01T19:40:00.001-07:00

The summer has flown by and I haven't been spending too much time on my Scottie collection, as I have been throwing clay every weekend since the convention.

I took a brief break this weekend from the fire burning in my backyard (1.5 miles away) and went to South Pasadena (just down the street). I was on the hunt for an antique postcard to use in my advertising for my upcoming events (going to be a busy fall, too.)

Anyway, into the antique store I went and I found a stack of Zito prints taken out of a book. I flipped through knowing that I would find Scotties and sure enough, three. Such an easy sale.

FIRST THE DEPRESSION -- AND NOW THE REVERSE

WHAT DID I TELL YOU: NO PANTS

IT'S THE TECHNIQUE THAT COUNTS

I then proceeded to spend a half an hour looking through a huge box of antique cards from California. I did not find what I was looking for; however, I think it was worth my time as I found this ink blotter mixed into the cards.

Finally, I was checking out and the proprietor mentioned that she had some Scottie pins, if I was interested. There were several to choose from, I left most of them for other collectors and came home with these three in their colorful hats.

It really is amazing how the pointy ears and tails really jump out at you, without even putting too much effort into looking.

The fires have moved away from my neighborhood into the mountains. Still a lot of smoke and ash, but the dogs and I are safe.

Scottie Convention 2009 -- Scottie in the Arts

2009-07-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just returned from the Scottie Convention in Cincinnati. Had a great time visiting with my friends and family.

The Convention began on Wednesday with Room Hoping. Thursday brought the Scottie parade around the hotel led by a bagpiper.

Bagpiper and Gary Moore

After the parade, we had "Show & Tell" followed by lunch and a educational seminar led by artist Constance Coleman. After her informative talk about Scottie in the Arts, she signed autographs and Campbell's Scottish Terriers took pictures.

In the evening, the auction began. There are "no friends at auction"; however, it was a lot of FUN!

Margie Jones won this large plush Scottie bag.

On Friday, there was more shopping at the Sale-a-thon. In the afternoon we learned about ceramic Scotties.

Saturday is the Old Displays. Lori used the theme of the conference to create a Scottie museum diaroma. Wow!

Lori Shurte Old Display

On Saturday afternoon, I lead a Scottie Scrapbooking class. If you'd like to see photos of the scrapbook pages, click here.

Kylie did a great job on her page.

Saturday evening was the formal dinner followed by the Scottie fashion show.

Dave & Doreen Pichette

Can't wait for the Scottie Convention 2010!

A very special thanks to the Cincinnati Scotty Friends for organizing all of the convention.

Scrapbooking at the Scottie Convention

2009-04-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Scottie Collector's Convention is in Cincinnati, OH, June 24th-27th. The theme this year is "Scotties in the Arts".

Seminars will be given by artist Constance Coleman (don't you want to meet her?) and Marty and Cathy Rose and Bill Harrison about "Pottery to Porcelain with Our Earth Dogs" that will include an extensive display of pottery. Artists Marion Krupp and Nancy Pallan will also be in attendance.

The magnificent old displays on Saturday are not to be missed! There is an auction, a fashion show, a Parade of Scotties and a huge Extravaganza Sale.

We'll have an open forum with questions and answers, a Scottie memories scrapbook page workshop with Heather Morrow and another very exciting, happy event that we can all attend - you have to be registered to find out about this special, special event.

For registration information, email me at clare1121@aol.com or Van Jones at cincinnatiscottyfriends@fuse.net.

Caution: Attending the convention may lead to wild outbreaks of acquisition and lifelong friendships with other Scottie collectors who have addictions to pointy ears and tails.

Two "New" Scottie Finds

2009-03-14T22:34:00.001-07:00

I got this cute "little" game several weeks ago when Shelly Estes sent a link mentioning that it was available on Amazon. I am pretty sure I got the last one on Amazon; however, you can order it through the manufacturer (http://paizo.com/titanicGames). The game box really is small (5" x 3") as it is expansion pack for their full game Kill Doctor Lucky.

The back of the box describes the game:

"Fury Unleashed! For over ten years, you've tried to kill that simpering old fool, Doctor J. Robert Lucky. Sometimes you succeed, but most of the time you don't find the right weapon, or you find yourself lost inside the old man's mansion, or you notice someone watching and postpone your attempt.

And if that weren't bad enough, Doctor Lucky bought a dog. His name is Shamrock, and he's just as lucky as his master. He also has an annoying habit of making you feel fond of him. And that makes you mad -- mad enough to Kill Doctor Lucky . . . and His Little Dog, Too."

Speaking of Shamrock, just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I found this little MIJ (Made In Japan) in an antique store in South Pasadena.

The Annual Scottie Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio is fast approaching. Can't wait! If you need information on the convention, please do contact me.

Be careful what you wish for . . .

2009-02-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of chatter in the Scottie world about the new animation release of Coraline. I wasn't paying much attention, but yesterday when there were a set of Coraline alphabet cards up for grab at Curves - I took them thinking I could use them for my Creative Souls workshop.

The packet was sealed and I didn't think to open it until this evening when I saw another comment on a Kathy Edmunds email about how someone had caught a picture of the Scotties in the theatre in one of the scenes (see picture below) in the movie. There are 500 Animated Scotties that fill the Theatre - Wow!

In the movie trailer on the Internet, you can see the Scotties in the theatre - http://www.coraline.com/

So I opened the deck of Alphabet cards and low and behold under U - not S there is a Scottie Angel.

It says "U is for Up -- Where Scottie Dogs Fly Anything's Possible in an Otherworld Sky".

Thanks to Kathy Edmunds for keeping me up-to-date via email and Ann Brocklehurst for the additional information on her blog -- http://scottishterrierdogs.blogspot.com/.

In surfing a bit more on the web, I found this video which has a clip of the Angel Scotties on the shelf (towards the end). It is interesting how they did the stop animation.

Another video which shows the Scotties barking and jumping.

A visit with the Larsons

2009-01-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, January 19, my Mom (Karen Campbell) and I went out to Chatsworth to visit with long time Scottie Collectors, Phyllis and Harry Larson.

I met the Larsons the first time 8 years ago at my first Scottie Convention. They are a delightful couple who fell into collecting Scottie treasures 30 plus years ago while hunting for old clocks (Harry's passion).

Like many of us, their collecting is not limited to Scotties and my Mom and I really enjoyed learning about their other collectibles, including their cut glass, hand painted porcelain creamers, clocks, and other fabulous flea market finds.

I took over 150 photos of their collections and the link to all of them is at the bottom of the post. I picked out a couple of photos to feature.

The cut glass piece (below) is from "American Brilliant Period" 1880-1920. The Russian Pattern (which it is) is the most difficult to cut and Harry says that the White House has a full set of the pattern. It just sparkles.

This bellman is delivering up a gold Scottie.

The piece below is one of their favorites and a rare find.

This is their Maggie. She usually doesn't like strangers; however, she was on my lap as soon as I sat down for a visit. Guess she knew that I was a fan of hers.

Then we have Penny, their latest rescue. Despite her looks, she is a Scottie at heart. She was very excited to know that I know how to play "Scottie" style.

Phyllis told me the story of this wonderful old leather chair. Apparently she and Harry were coming home from some dressy event, many years ago, and saw someone throwing this chair out. It was filthy, but Phyllis (dressed up), approached the man and asked if he was really throwing it out. He said yes and they loaded it into their car and never looked back. A little saddle soap revealed the beautiful painting on the old leather.

This green porcelain Scottie is one of Harry's favorite pieces.

Phyllis started out collecting the painted porcelain sugars and creamers; however, when they got too expensive she moved onto Scotties. Some of the painted china is "RS Prussia" done in the early 1890's. They have about 8 pieces and the rest are German.

Phyllis is also an artist. I took several photographs of her oil paintings. This one is of one of their early Scotties. Truly a one-of-a-kind collectible.

I failed to get a "good" picture of Harry & Phyllis together; however, here she is telling me how much she loves having "Mr. Lonely" in her Scottie collection, as Harry looks on. "Mr. Lonely" is an animated singing Scottie that was out several years ago and was a gift to them from their good friends Peggy and Gary Moore. The Larsons are standing in the threshold of their Scottie room. You will have to check out my photos (link below). There are an incredible amount of collectibles in just this room alone.

The 2 electric clocks (below) with the Scottie second hands were made by Sangamo Electric in IL in the 1920-30's. The pink is 50 cycle and runs 12 minutes fast every hour. The black one is 60 cycle. CA did not change to 60 cycle until 1946, some other states were 60 cycle earlier than CA. The black one was not running until Harry tapped it. He was as surprised as we were to see it running.

Phyllis cranked up one of their Victrolas. She and I had a good time dancing around to the old music. Phyllis paid $200 for this Victrola back when $200 was a hell of a lot of money. I checked eBay and just the Victrola would be $1800. She got almost all of the records with hers.

Harry (originally from Sweden) and his sister used to call the opera singers on the Victrola the "naked arms voice". He was talking about this while I was goofing around singing an Aria playing on the Victrola.

The "office" was the last stop on the tour. This is where the collections all come together. Harry has a huge collection of German Rolling Eye Scottie Clocks along with bookends and Phyllis Scottie book collection in this room. My Mom recorded a video as we went through the house and you can see the clip of this part of the collection on her blog -- http://scottieearsandtails.blogspot.com.

***

To check out more of my photos of the Larson's Collections, click here.

***

A very special thanks to Phyllis and Harry for letting us spend the afternoon with them and giving us so much information and photos to share.

Rose Bowl Flea Market Finds - Jan 11, 2009

2009-01-19T11:39:00.001-08:00

Being in Altadena (just above Pasadena), I literally live minutes from the Rose Bowl and have the opportunity to go to the world renowned Rose Bowl Flea Market the second Sunday of every month. Somehow, years pass and I remember that I should go after the Sunday has passed or long before it is going to take place.

However, on Sunday the 11th of January, the stars aligned and I remembered to go. It was a beautiful Southern California day. While everyone else in the country was freezing, I was enjoying the 80+ degree weather.

I did find quite a few Scottie collectibles. My pocket book was not large, so I was able to resist. I found a woman that had some original Bakelite pieces; including one of the Scottie napkin rings at $100. A gentleman who travels as a comedian on a cruise ship had quite a few Scottie pieces; including the ashtray below.

I photographed this ashtray because I had not seen anything like it before. If you tip the front of this Scottie forward onto the lever, he raises his back leg and puts out your guests cigarette with a stream of water.

He was $400. However, several Scottie collectors have him in their collection and say that he is not worth that much. Apparently there is also a Japanese knock-off of the original.

I did spend $30 at the same booth and got the small Scottie pin holder (below).

It was a delightful day hunting for Scotties.

Larry's Museum

2008-12-21T09:22:00.001-08:00

For years I have heard about Larry Adams' Scottie Museum in Lewes, Delaware and this Thanksgiving while visiting my parents in their new house is Georgetown, Delaware, I got a chance to see this "Scottie Museum" for myself.

Larry has a lovely home along a water inlet. When we first pulled up, I noticed that the shutters had Scotties on them. Very cute!

I was then greeted by his 4 real Scotties.

As I was taken through the house, Larry talked about the additions he'd made to the original house, built long before any of us were born. The interior was very tastefully done with Scottie collectibles sprinkled here and there. Larry was getting ready for a holiday party, so the trees were up with Scottie decorations.

I was impressed with some of his collectibles, but would I consider this a museum? Hardly.

We climbed up to the Widow's Walk and he has an impressive view of the water way. It was cold (remember, I'm from Southern California), so we quickly headed back down.

I was then asked if I was ready to see the museum. I was confused - wasn't his house the museum?

A door was opened and I walked into the most impressive collection of Scottie collectibles I have ever seen.

The room is above his 3 car garage and is probably bigger than my 1000 square foot house. Every wall had book shelves from floor to ceiling and there has to be hundreds of book-ends, salt & pepper shakers, lamps and books. There are thousands of figurines with very few duplicates (if any).

Larry picked out two of the thousands of collectibles for me to inspect closer. The one Scottie below is a cigarette dispenser from France. The back of the bar opens up. Not sure of the history of the other, but it sure is cute.

To see more pictures of Larry's Scottie Museum, click here and if you are ever in Lewes, Delaware, you must stop by and see if for yourself.

Scottie Pumpkins

2008-10-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

You know you are onto something when you hear about your own creation from someone completely across the country from you.

Two nights ago, I was talking with Gary Moore from Cincinnati Scotty Friends and he started to mention the Scottie Pumpkins he had carved and taken to the Michigan Scots gathering.

I, of course, had heard about the Scottie Pumpkins from my Mom (Karen Campbell), who had heard about it from a customer that had gone to the Michigan Scots gathering. Word travels fast among Scottie Collectors.

Anyway, Gary was getting ready for another road trip (3 weeks) and I convinced him to send me photos of the Scottie Pumpkins to post on my blog . . . so without further ado . . .

Gary mentioned on the phone that when Peggy (his wife) walked into the Michigan Scot gathering with the large Scottie pumpkin cut-out pinned to her top - they all went gaga "like it was Bakelite jewelry."

The hollow foam pumpkins were purchased at Michael's and my mom says that some Michael's will do the carvings for you - if you bring in the design. Gary did his own carvings and said it was very easy - draw the pattern on and then use an Exacto knife to cut it out.

Here's what Gary wrote about the process:

I took the cutouts and put clips on the back and they double as a pin for the girls. For whatever reason the one I took to Michigan Scots was a big hit in the auction for rescue. It took me all of about 10 minutes to do this; so with that said just about anybody can do this - Doesn't take a lot of talent. (so much for my Rock Star status). Wal-Mart has the little flicker lights in packs of 3 for $2.99.

Run, don't walk, to Michael's to get your pumpkins.

Thanks, Gary.

The Connor's Beswick Ware Old Display at 2008 Scottie Convention

2008-08-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

As I promised several months ago (how quickly time passes), I wanted to write a brief blog entry about each of the Old Displays at the 2008 Scottie Convention.

As a Ceramic Artist, the Connor's display of their collection of Beswick Ware intrigued me and I found the pieces with the lady bugs very amusing.

I wrote to Lesley Connor when I was working on resizing and labeling the photos to find out more about this collection -- this is what she wrote back:

"All the pieces were Beswick Ware, Made in England. Everyone is familiar with the black standing dogs which were on the left in the front but everything on there was Beswick.

The white guys with ladybirds and the toothache guy are called "fun models" in the 1996 book we have of Beswick Animals. There is probably a newer version out by now but all those pieces are shown in this one. You will find these also made by Sylvac, Gobel, in Japan and
unmarked. My book tells me they were first issued 1939, 40 & 41 thru 1969,70 & 71 depending on each piece.

The bookends were issued between 1934 and 1966, the ashtrays 34 - 65 and the blue pieces between 34 - 67. I thought about bringing the book for the display but completely forgot about doing that. I love what you can find in a book! Since I am giving date, the larger black Scot was issued 1965 - 1990 and the smaller one 1993 to present (1996 book)."

Thanks to the Connors for such a wonderful display.

Garage Sale Find

2008-07-12T18:16:00.001-07:00

I don't often go to garage sales, but Altadena seems to have a good number of them with good stuff. So, this morning on my way to run my various Saturday morning errands, I stopped at a few.

I was off to a good start only spending a dollar and getting a bunch of chess pieces for my mixed medium art pieces (see Creative Souls).

I continued on and ended up at one sale where the person had no clue what a garage sale is. She was way overpriced on a bunch of junk and no one was buying anything. I told her that her prices were way out of line and that no one cares who previously owned the piece (e.g., my favorite grandmother). If it means that much to you, you should keep it. At the next sale, I was thanked by those who overheard me tell her off.

I then stumbled across a sale at the Zane Grey estate (it is two blocks from my house - who knew). It is no longer owned by the Grey family; however, the house was apparently sold to the current family with everything in it (in the 70's) - the next generation is now cleaning out the house.

Anyway, it was a lot of junk, people and chaos. However, they did have a collection of dogs for sale. I sorted through and picked out ten - only 9 are pictured. The 10th one is a small dog on a magnet and he was still in the bag (forgotten) when I took the photo.

An instant Scottie collection! The Belleek in back is in pristine condition. I did have to pay a little more for it, but I got the rest of them for $10.

Guess I need to start going to more garage sales.

Recovering from the 2008 Scottie Convention

2008-06-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

After almost a week, I think I have recovered from the 2008 Scottie Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was the 25th year of the convention and I must say that we celebrated in style. I've only gone to the past 7; however, there are several people who have attended all 25.

Every year, the convention seems to start earlier and earlier. This year I know many arrived on Monday afternoon. The convention officially starts on Wednesday evening. Shelly (my roommate) and I arrived on Tuesday afternoon to help with Campbell's Scottish Terriers room set-up. Shelly was excited because she was getting her new Wheaton Scottie Puppy (Maxwell). He was coming in from Virginia.

Maxwell was very popular and Shelly is lucky that he didn't end up in my purse on the way back to California.

If you are there on Wednesday, it is all about visiting and shopping. The "vendors" and other rooms are open as people roam and visit.

Shelly brought a cake (see photo) and we had a little social gathering on Tuesday evening and then again on Wednesday afternoon.

After the Welcome Reception on Wednesday evening, we were off and running to shop -- called "Room Hoping." As I was having a Scottie Garage Sale, I had to make a mad dash to Jim Foltz's room to snag a new piece of Bakeolite jewelry (see photo). Luckily he was on my floor, so I was able to then open my door (without missing too many customers).

A "newbie" (a new person to the Scottie Convention) found me and liked the deals I was making on my Scottie stuff. When I say "garage sale," I mean "garage sale." Everything is priced to move from my room to yours.

Thursday morning started bright and early with a Scottie parade. No sleeping through this one as there was a Bagpiper. There were at least 54 Scotties counted in the parade.

We then all gathered for the opening remarks and "Show and Share." There were a wide variety of items shared. My favorite was the artist's proof set of a new Fala book to be released later this year.

My seminar on "Inventorying your Scottie Collection" was after lunch. I will be writing more on the blog regarding this topic, so I'm going to just say that yes, I have updated my inventory with everything I purchased at the convention.

Thursday evening is the auction. There were some really great pieces in the auction this year including several Kirmse prints that went for a lot of $.

Friday was the "Sale-a-thon." It is a big Scottie Swap Meet. I, of course, had my Scottie art work for sale. I also picked up a Salt & Pepper Shaker for my collection.

Friday afternoon we played Bingo. You could have heard a pin drop as everyone listened for the numbers in an effort to win fabulous "Scottie" prizes. My dad gave up early, but my sister played one of his cards and he won the very next round - it was a picture frame challenge.

After a bit of a rest (yeah, right), we gathered again to look at and identify Scottie pieces. I think the hottest discussion was about a metal Scottie pin that had a small "purse" attached. Apparently it was to hold stamps. Several thought it might be for tokens.

Friday evening you are on your own for dinner. We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. They seated us right next to the live entertainment. He will not be the next American Idol.

Saturday morning is the Old Displays. As usual, there was a lot of creativity and tremendous effort put forth to show and educate others on the Scottie collectibles that are out there. I applaud each and every one of them. I plan on writing separate blog entries for each old display, so I just have one photo (for now). The Pikes put together this wonderful display of blue Scottie glass that really caught my fancy.

In the afternoon, Marion and Fred Krupp did a presentation on Barney and Miss Beazley at the White House. Marion has been commissioned to do many pieces of art work of the First Pets. Despite your political views, these Scotties will win your vote every time.

In the time between the presentation and dinner, we take down the Campbell's Scottish Terriers room. We've almost, after all these years, got it down to a science and have time to change for dinner.

The Scottie fashion show happens after dinner. The costumes and creativity are absolutely wonderful. Then it is time for us to say good-bye.

In addition to visiting with all of my delightful Scottie friends, I got to spend time with my parents (The Campbells) and my sister (Noel) and her daughter (Lleyna).

You can see why I am still recovering, a week later. A special thanks to the Cincinnati Scotty Friends for putting together such a wonderful program.

Hope to see you there next year. Mark your calendar - the convention will be June 24 - 27.

New Boyd - Charlie

2008-06-19T11:23:00.001-07:00

A new Boyd available at the 2008 Scottie Convention. It is called "Charlie." There will be 36 colors produced. #1 is Sunshine.

The Start of a Scottie Collection

2008-06-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I was at a Art Fair and found an artist with cute Dog paintings and prints. The dogs (breed specific) were all in martini glasses. Check out http://www.billmanart.com. As I was on my way to the Scottie Convention on Tuesday, I knew that I couldn't just buy one. So, I bought several to bring with and resell to those interested in the small prints.

While I was completing the transaction, my 5 year old niece and her mother were looking at the other dogs. She kept telling her mom that she also wanted a Scottie painting and her Mom said that she would see . . . that we had to look at all the booths first.

We spent the next couple of hours looking at other arts & crafts, doing the kid's art project and shopping at the other additional shops around the area.

This did not deter my niece, she knew what she wanted and she would have it.

On the way back to the car we stopped and got her a small print. She was so proud of her "first" Scottie collectible. I had previously given her a floppy Scottie dog and her grandmother is making her a Scottie quilt (her request several months earlier).

We then stopped by Michael's and got an art project. She picked a polymer clay project because it had a Scottie on the packaging. I was to help with the craft project, but she had to make the Scottie. Her brother and I were assigned a rabbit and a floppy dog (respectively).

So, I think we have the beginning of a life-long Scottie Collector.