2011 National News
May 25, 2011
Hotel Stay & Banquet Reservation Status
Hello Everyone,
We are now at 125% of are blocked hotel room nights. If you are planning on staying at the DoubleTree Hotel and want the special convention room rate of $99 per night for single, double, triple or quad occupancy, you will want to make your reservations in the next ten days. (be sure to mention NIA Annual National Convention) The cut-off date is on June 7th. I can't guarantee the $99 per night rate after June 7th. The normal rate is $219 per night, if the hotel tells you that they are out of blocked rooms, please let me know and I'll try to get more rooms at the $99 rate.
We are at a head count of 100 for the Banquet Dinner on Saturday night, this to has a cut-off date of June 7th. The cost per plate is only $29. If you have paid for your dinners, Bill Rohde will hand out the dinner tickets at the show. If you have any questions please ask away.
Thanks.
Dave Elliott
2011 NIA National Co-host
May 4, 2011
More Seminars Added to the National!
Your 2011 National Show Hosts will be adding more seminars to the list of activities available to NIA Convention attendees. Dwayne Anthony has graciously volunteered to have two, impromptu mini-seminars on heat-treated and irradiated insulators. These mini-seminars will be conducted in front of the altered insulator display in the ballroom. The San Jose display will be different from the display that is currently circulating around the central and eastern region shows. The display will be larger and include new items, not previously seen. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask Dwayne in person about his procedures and the results and the insulators in the display. Don't miss this opportunity to get your information first hand.
Colin Jung
Shameless Huckster and 2011 NIA National Cohost
P.S. Skip that planned vacation to Afghanistan and come to San Jose instead.
May 2, 2011
Extra Goodies Will Be Here
At the always superb Rohde Ranch Tailgater this past weekend, I was informed by a few attendees who have tables at this year's National that they are saving some special stuff for the upcoming National. One person will be doing some "thinning" of his high end collection. Also, a couple of insulator collections have been purchased and will be offered for sale for the first time in San Jose. Names have been intentionally withheld to prevent pre-dealing and pre-reservations of insulators. If you are planning to attend the National, please be sure to be present on NIA Day, which is Friday, July 8th. Activate your NIA membership early. You don't want to be fooling around with that the morning of the Convention.
Colin Jung
2011 NIA National Co-Host
in San Jose, California
March 29, 2011
Walk-In Silent Insulator Auctions
One of the fun activities we organized for the both the 2003 NIA Regional and 2005 NIA National, were walk-in insulator auctions. With the right kind of targeted advertising we have been able to attract some truly amazing insulators to the delight of both sellers and buyers. We have had bottle diggers, relic hunters, former insulator collectors and even a few dealers take advantage of the auction services. How does it work? A prospective seller meets with one of our veteran collectors to get his insulators informally appraised. The seller then has the option of paying the show admission and trying to sell his insulators on his own or take advantage of our on-the-spot auction services for a 10% seller's premium.
The seller gets advice on how to split up the auction lots and setting a reserve price. The auction sheet is prepared and the auction is announced on the public address system. Interested bidders participate in the fifteen minute write-in, silent auction. Bid sniping is prevented as any bid submitted in the last 30 seconds of the auction automatically extends the auction another minute. Bid sheets are posted after the auction for public inspection. At each show we auctioned off $10,000 worth of walk-in insulators.
What kinds of insulators showed up at our past auctions? At the Regional we had not one but TWO CD700 threadless egg insulators in an unlisted puce/cranberry color, two McLaughlin USLD's, a California crosstop and many more.
At the 2005 National, we auctioned off a CD155 Kerr with cobalt blobs, CD145 American in yellow green, CD110.6 National corkscrew in aqua, CD112.4 Hemingray No. 8 in golden amber, CD735.3 Chester in teal aqua with original pin, nail, burlap cloth wrap around the pin and the provenance, CD317 Chambers, a NEGM Co. cable and a collection of composite insulators. We also auction off some crazy stuff: a wooden stool with four EC&M's mounted on the legs, another stool with purple Canadian ponies and a goofy lamp with purple Whittal Tatums as legs.
http://www.insulators.info/pictures/?id=125524263
http://www.insulators.info/pictures/?id=125799541
Bottle diggers have dug up some gnarly stuff around here. I am hoping to persuade some diggers to auction some of their local threadless, EC&M's and a pancake Fisher.
Colin Jung
February 17, 2011
Used Book & Magazine Sale
Deepen your enjoyment of the hobby by becoming a more knowledgeable collector. I will be sponsoring a used book and magazine sale in the ballroom foyer to benefit the Golden State Insulator Club. You will find all types of hobby literature: Crown Jewel of the Wire magazines, auction catalogs, older price guides and hobby books. In addition, there will be numerous books on related topics: railroading, model railroading, bottles, utility and other company histories like General Electric and Ericcson, telephones, treasure hunting, old West, dawn of electricity, biographies (Tesla, Edison, etc.) city histories and much much more. Books will be priced to sell.
If you would like to make a donation of related books and magazines just bring them to the National.
Colin Jung
2011 NIA National Cohost
February 8, 2011
Shipping Services Available
at the National
You have flown into San Jose for your first western region National and you found your dream insulator on NIA Day--- that green coolie hat with dark amber swirls or that micarta core suspension with purple sleeves or perhaps that old classic string of porcelain Duncan-patent suspensions or the ever popular Locke guttertop with glass base. Now that you have bought it, how are you going to get it home?
At the 2011 National you will have several shipping options to get that treasure home, whether it is more insulators than your suitcase can hold, or more weight than the airline will allow, or perhaps 25 years of Crown Jewels magazines. Perhaps, you decided to carry your purchases on the airplane and are prepared to discuss the fine points of the hobby with Homeland Security. You still have to ship your clothes and toiletries home.....right?
1) The DoubleTree Hotel has an on-site UPS Store that will custom package your purchases and ship it home. It will be open Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. closed Sunday.
2) Your hosts will have a self-service, packaging station set up and stocked with flat rate USPS boxes, bubble wrap, peanuts, stuffing paper, packing tape, etc. We will be selling postage and the hotel will ship hotel guest packages on Monday.
3) We will be maintaining a sign-up list at the National for collectors who can volunteer ground transportation to various destinations and a separate list for people who are interested in ground transportation.
See you in San Jose!
Colin Jung
2011 NIA National Host
February 3, 2011
NIA Awards Banquet Menu - Cost has been significantly reduced!
Your National hosts have decided to go with another banquet provider, a popular local restaurant called Sonoma Chicken Coop, which is within a short walk/drive of the Doubletree Hotel.
http://www.sonomachicken.com/
The banquet meal will be served buffet style and will include the following menu items:
Roast of Sirloin sliced and topped with house recipe brown sauce, fried leeks and a roasted bell pepper garnish
Lime Grilled Chicken (their specialty)
Apple Harvest Salad: salad greens with green apples, toasted almonds, dried cranberries, strawberries, blue cheese crumbles tossed in a raspberry vinegrette
Creamy mashed potatoes
Grilled veggies: fresh cut bell peppers, thick-sliced onions and zucchini tossed in a balsamic vinegrette and then grilled
New York style Cheesecake
assorted soda beverages provided by a dedicated dispenser and coffee service.
There is an in-restaurant bar so you may order drinks separately throughout the banquet.
The great news is that we have been able to significantly lower the banquet cost to only $29 per person! National attendees: mail your banquet payments payable to the "Golden State Insulator Club" directly to:
Dave Elliott
440 Moffett Blvd. #110
Mountain View, CA 94043
National attendees who have already paid at the higher $46.00 per person rate will be issued refunds of the price difference by Bill Rohde at the National. If you need your refund sooner, please contact Bill directly at: norcalmud@yahoo.com
January 27, 2011
Transcontinental Telegraph 150th Anniversary Activities & Projects
The 2011 NIA National will be a theme convention, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the construction of the transcontinental telegraph. The hosts are organizing a set of events to honor this noteworthy achievement in communications.
1) The Friday seminar will be presented by NIA President Lou Hall and Mike Doyle who will be detailing the history of this historic telegraph line, including their 10+ year field project to map this line in Nevada.
2) There will also be a combined display of insulators and other artifacts from the transcontinental telegraph line. Contact Lou Hall if you have a contribution for this display.
3) One of our club members is designing a working telegraph line that will span the width of the show hall. Conventioneers are welcomed to try the telegraph equipment, but we
are looking for talented telegraphers who are interested in showing us how it is done.
4) We have commissioned the design of a logo for this National Convention. It will be used to brand the NIA display awards, among other things. Check out the design:
http://www.insulators.info/pictures/?id=300767538
5) To raise funds to cover the National costs, we are also producing a T-shirt for the Convention. Check out the design here:
http://www.insulators.info/pictures/?id=300768838
We are accepting pre-orders now. The cost is $16.50 per t-shirt plus an additional $3.50 for shipping for a total of $20 per shirt. Save the cost of shipping by picking up your shirt order at the National. Specify your T-shirt size preference and address if you want the t-shirt mailed to you. Shipping date will be announced later. Make your check payable to:
Golden State Insulator Club
c/o Colin Jung
1544 Norland Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94087-4433
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