Larry's Museum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.