Ottawa Valley Insulator Collectors Show and Sale

The Ottawa Show was held on Saturday, April 24th, 1999 and it was a lot of fun. This was a first time event in Ottawa and we're already getting requests for next year. There was a lot of swapping (insulators and stories) and sales. One table which was full of glass was swapped for 4 insulators! There was a noon raffle with draws for six insulators and a 1999 NIA commemorative which was added at the end when all the tickets were combined.

We had 15 collectors / dealers with 18 sales tables and 3 displays. There was a short video showing Mark Lauckner pressing his commemoratives which attracted a lot of attention too. Manfred Hager brought an assortment of colours and styles. I brought samples of early threadless, BC ponies and a range of coloured CD 143's. We even had a blue-aqua CD 718 (with minor chipping) that was picked from a ditch a week earlier!

Both Bill Rosato and Kevin Lawless made the trip with some rare pieces that we would not normally see up here. Gary Scott, Bruce Templeton, Manfred Hager, Paul Axman and Tim Denton were our other participants from beyond the 'valley'. Ted Ingram was present in spirit, he kindly donated 4 pieces that went into the raffles and auctions.

An NIA ribbon was awarded to Graham Catt for his backlit display of over 200 tolls and Jack Hayes received a Crown Jewels crest for his table presentation.

The walk-in traffic was just under 50 but people seemed to stay and circulate. I had been interviewed on the radio the day before and this generated a few visitors. One was a fellow from a telegraphers society and we'll see if he can help with a working display for next year.

The show ended with a clean-up (clean-out) auction that helped put the show in the 'black'. We did not plan anything further although some folks did head out for dinner.

There will be a report / photos appearing in a future Crown Jewels. We'll put some photos up on a web page as soon as we recover from our income taxes which are due tomorrow.

Once again, thanks to all who participated and attended; we'll do it again next year and hope to see many more ICON members.

Jack Harynuk,
Stephen Moore,
Steve Goodell,

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Written Sunday, May 2, 1999
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