PREVIOUS NEWS
Saturday, April 10, 1999
Fellow Belleekers !! (lettre # 3.1)
I was recently informed that I hadn't composed a current
Newslettre for like ages, so here we go again !!
** Belleek Collectors' Fair **
By the time that the GREAT majority of you receive
this edition and/or read it, the 3rd annual Belleek
Collectors' Fair in Portland, OR. will unfortunately
be history !! I will be in attendence and will
hopefully have a NEW vidio of this years fair !!
** Sotheby's Irish Sale
London May 21st, 1999 !! **
Sothebys' Estate Services, et. all., will again be
conducting an Irish Sale at their London Galleries on,
actually, the same date they did last year !!
Catalogues can be ordered by contacting them by
post at :
Sotheby's
Marketing Department
34 - 35 New Bond Street
London W1A 2AA
Great Britain
Or you can call them direct at 0171 293 5289
or you may FAX them direct at 0171 293 5940 !!
Please NOTE : Apply the proper long distance and
country code for your outgoing call, i.e., for the
U.S. you would dial the number as :
011 44 171 293 5289 !!
** Belleek Millennium Convention **
** Washington, D.C.**
** September 24th.thru 26th. 1999 !! **
WOW !! I hope all of you Belleekers out there in
Belleek land have either finalized your plans for the
upcoming Millennium Convention or if not are well on
your way to doing so !!
I get more excited with every issue of the Newsletter
as Angela makes new announcements of additional exciting
events and promotions !! I would like to take up a bit
of space here with a few personal observations regarding
the WONDERFUL new 1999 Woven Chapter Plate !! But first
a wee bit of history !!
Around 1970, Belleek crafted it's first truly limited
edition woven plate, The Cherry Blossom Plate which was
made to order for one of the mail order firms to the
tune of, what I was told, ONLY 500 copies !! The firm
felt the cost was excessive and refused delivery and
the Pottery then sold the plates, 'out the back door',
for what I was told was $50.00 each !! Unfortunately,
Angela and George were not owners at this time as these
might have been offered to Society members ?? In any
case, you can not touch one of these plates for less
that $600 today !!
We now move on to 1976 and the crafting of the infamous
Bicentennial Woven Platter of which I believe was
limited to a SMALL run of like ONLY 18 !! I also,
somewhat, believe that the Pottery ONLY intended to
sell 13 of these, representing the original 13 states
and the other 5 were the 'safety net' for those damaged
in firing, etc. ?? In any case, I am told that 16 of
these survived the firings and paintings and 14 were
sold and unfortunately the remaining 2 were broken in
shipment ?? In any case, these were issued at $5000
per copy and one can't obtain one at any price these
days !!
I hope that this provides you all with a bit of
perspective on what I feel is not only a wonderful
value but additionally a splendid commemorative item
for the 20th Anniversary of our Society !!
** Words of wisdom
from Lady Marion Langham !! **
For all you sailers and folks from the sea !!
Do you know how the word POSH came about -
when the British sail from the UK to India in the days
we had a Colony. The rich insisted sailing Port Out
Starboard Home - POSH - this was because the sun got in
the cabins and they became very hot.
Direct quote from Lady Marion Langham !!
** BELLEEK BINGO !! **
The Evergreen Chapter has come up with a novel method
of raffeling off their door prizes at their meetings !!
Instead of the rather mundane drawing of tickets from
the old hat trick, they play successive games of, yes,
BINGO !! It's really quite entertaining and much more
fun than the simple old raffle tickets !! Games can
vary from the simple straight bingo to a letter "T" or
a BIG picture frame or a complete blackout !! YOU CALL
IT !!
** THE PRISONER a.k.a. Patrick McGoohan **
I promised you all a series of articles this year on
what I consider one of the most significant items that the
Belleek Pottery EVER crafted !! The following is my
genuine testimony of the events detailing my pursuit
and eventual acquisition of this spectacular item.
Upon returning to the Seattle, WA area following
completion of my college studies, I continued in my
pursuit of Belleek by simply calling around to the
various antique shops on Saturdays and then visiting
those with Belleek the following day, Sunday if open,
or if not the following Saturday as I did have to work
to support this habit !! On one of my journeys, I
heard a strange story of a magnificent piece of Irish
Belleek.
The tale begins on a rather chilly fall day in the
beautiful Pacific North West in the year 1970, when I
boarded the hydrofoil in downtown Seattle, WA which
provides passenger access to the City of Victoria on
Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It's a wonderful
sightseeing excursion which jets you up Puget Sound and
in just about 2 1/2 hours docks you right at the
Southern edge of downtown Victoria, BC. It's only
several minutes walk to Sydney Reynolds Glass and
China shop from the terminal.
Sydney Reynolds established his shop in 1929 and for
years was the largest Glass and China distributor in
all of Canada !! At this time the shops propriator
was still the original owner, Sydney Reynolds, Sr.
As I walked into the shop I was amazed at the variety
and extent of the merchandise on display. The shop is
two stories with an open mezzanine being the second
floor. Thus, there are two staircases in opposite
corners of the main floor leading up to the mezzanine
from which one can view additional displays as well as
glare down on the shoppers below. The facinating aspect
of this all was that attached to the bottom of one of
the banisters was what I would come to discouver was
none other than a Prisoner of Love !! Imagine, just
sitting there atop the pillar at the base of the
staircase ??
(to be continued !!)
Belleekingly,
Del E. Domke, Belleek Consultant
16142 N.E. 15th. Street
Bellevue, WA 98008-2711
U.S.A.
Telephone : 1 (425) 746-6363
Message : 1 (425) 746-6363
FAX : 1 (425) 746-6363
E-mail : delyicious@comcast.net
Web-site : The Beauty and Romance of Irish Belleek (or) :
http://delyicious.magix.net/public/index.html