By Joe Degennaro Our 75Th Diamond Anniversary Convention Is History and I Feel It Was Great Success. Why?
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RMS BULLETIN NO. 577 November/December 2015 by Joe DeGennaro Our 75th Diamond Anniversary Convention is history and I feel it was great success. Why? Because it fulfilled all that a collector could want in a convention. There were great collectors and friends, a nice gift bag at registration (manned devotedly by Gayle Hofacker), 13 dealer tables (which I believe may be a record for us), overflowing grab tables (thanks to Bob Hofacker), four terrific auctions (thanks to Marc Eedlman, the auctioneer and the great auction group who work so tirelessly), a display room filled with outstanding displays as well as items and pictures from our history (maned by Lorne Ross and his wonderful helpers), a great speaker on paper preservation and a wonderful Collector's Forum. I'm sorry if I missed any names but so many people worked and contributed. Okay, so the hotel involved a lot of walking but we can all use the exercise, especially me. There were 157 registered with 19 first time attendees. These days we like to go for quality rather than quantity. There were 27 states represented with the largest contingent coming from Pennsylvania followed by Ohio with 17, 5 people from Canada and 3 people from the U.K. There were 96 people at the Ice Cream Social (which included some great fun & games) and 97 at the final banquet. The 4 auctions took in $26,500 helped by a lot of great old items that don't come up too often. continued on p.3 2 RMS Bulletin November/December 2015, No. 577 The President’s Message RMS 2016 UPDATE The 75th Anniversary RMS convention is now a nice memory. I'm sure a great time was had by When you arrive in Springfield follow the signs to all. With the fall weather upon us and winter not the Lincoln Museum until you see this 30 story structure. The parking deck adjoins the hotel just too far behind, it is a good time to work on our South of this structure. I assume the signage will collections, sorting and putting covers away. The change for the site of this years convention. It is now a Keystone Lehigh swapfest is coming up. Anyone Wyndham Hotel and will welcome our membership on who attends this annual event, can tell you that a your arrival. If you made reservations with the Hilton - nice time is had by all. As always, I remind your reservation will be honored at the Wyndham. people that conventions and swapfests allow us to keep in touch with other collectors. There is so Please be assured that your party of four per room much information to be gained by talking to other will remain at the $109 charge. If you signed up for a collectors and friendships to be made and higher rate please contact the hotel. renewed. Windy City is offering a prize for the best Abraham Lincoln display. I have seen the award and it is RMS President, beautiful. I hope you can work on displays for the convention this year. We will have plenty of display Carry Van Tol room space for your treasures. Charles Specht ____________ THE RMS BULLETIN Dead E-Mail Dept. The RMS Bulletin is a bimonthly publication of the Rathkamp Matchcover Society. RMS dues are $20 (single), $25 (single) for Canada and $35 (single) for RMS Secretary Shirley Sayers is asking overseas. Add. family members are $4 each. Dues are members to send her a quick email so she has to be submitted to Treasurer. All articles, their e-mail addresses. Seems like some members advertisements, comments, and letters should be sent aren't receiving her e-mails. to the Editor. Publication dates are: Sept., Nov., Jan, Mar., May, and Jul. Deadline for all submissions is 30 ____________ days before the publication month. This publication is owned by the Rathkamp Matchcover Society and is Change In made available for public distribution through first class (Canadian and overseas) and bulk mail rates. Memb. Secretary/Treasurer RMS WEB SITE: http://www.matchcover.org You‘ll notice to the right, here, that Linda RMS OFFICERS (2014-2016): Wolfe is our new RMS Membership Secretary/ Treasurer. Terry Rowe has retired from the post President: Carry Van Tol, 402 Cowan Dr., Elizabeth, after some 20 years [Ah, these newbies! No PA 15037 E-Mail: [email protected] staying power!]. I‘ve worked closely with Terry 1st V.P.: Marc Edelman, 8822 Hargrave St., for those 20 years and have always appreciated Philadelphia, PA 19152-1511 E-Mail: [email protected] his efficiency and dedication to the job. His has 2nd V.P.: Nancy Smith, 3810 Edinburg Dr., been a job well done, indeed. Murrysville, PA 15668-1060 Secretary: Shirley Sayers, 1290 Corporation St., Thus, be certain to send all membership Beaver, PA 15009 [email protected] renewals and questions about hard-copy bulletins Membership/Treasurer: Linda Wolfe, 13 Creekstone Drive, Mont Alto, Pa. 17237 to Linda now. Linda is currently busy compiling E-mail: [email protected] the new membership roster. Please see her Editor: Mike Prero, 12659 Eckard Way Auburn, CA statement on p.15. 95603 E-mail: [email protected] RMS Bulletin May/JuneNovember/December 1996, No. 460 2015 , No. 5 77 3 3 Display awards were spread around pretty well but some long time winners still prevailed. Marc Edelman won six RMS awards and three Club awards, Michael Midda won three RMS awards and four Club awards, Ellen Gutting won two RMS awards and four Club awards, Jack Barnes won three RMS awards and three Club awards and Dick Hagerman won three RMS awards and two Club awards just to name a few. All award winners were greatly deserved. This year People's Choice and Best of Show awards were won by Mitzi Mantz for her great display of full book features. Not too bad for someone who doesn't display often. Nice going Mitzi! John (JJ) Bachochin was awarded this year's Outstanding Collector Award and he was very touched and honored to receive it. Two of our past Presidents, Bill Gigantino and Shirley Sayers were elected to the Hall of Fame. All were very deserving and I congratulate them once again. The final banquet was kind of typical with a choice of chicken or salmon but it was a great time for friends, old and new, to enjoy each other company. It seemed to be enjoyed by all. Mitzi Mantz made some very nice table centerpieces that had a jar of great matches and with a large diamond on top that lit up. It added a nice touch and was appreciated by all those who won them. We ended the night in the cocktail lounge as we always do with Bob Borton continuing the final toast with "Not goodbye, but until we meet again". If you missed it you missed a really good one and I congratulate Co-Chairs Marc Edelman and Robert Lamb, the Liberty Bell Club and all those who worked so hard to make it a success. We hope see you all in Springfield, Illinois for our 76th! __________________ Brewery Tour! The suds were flowing on the brewery tour during the recent RMS Convention in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Attendees got a guided tour of the facility and did a little sampling along the way. 4 RMS Bulletin November/December 2015, No. 577 A Woman Is a Woman...But a Good Cigar Is a Smoke! The origins of cigar smoking are still unknown. In Guatemala, a ceramic pot dating back to the tenth century features a Mayan smoking tobacco leaves tied together with a string. Sikar, the term for smoking used by the Mayans may have inspired the name cigar. Christopher Columbus is generally credited with the introduction of tobacco to Europe. In due course, Spanish and other European sailors adopted the hobby of smoking rolls of leaves, as did the Conquistadors, and smoking primitive cigars spread to Spain and Portugal and eventually France, most probably through Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal, who gave his name to nicotine. Later, the hobby spread to Italy and, after Sir Walter Raleigh's voyages to the Americas, to Britain. Smoking became familiar throughout Europe—in pipes in Britain—by the mid-16th century and, half a century later, tobacco started to be grown commercially in America. In 1885, Spanish cigar manufacturer Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his Principe de Gales (Prince of Wales) operations, buying land near the then-small city of Tampa, Florida and building the largest cigar factory in the world at the time in the new company town of Ybor City. Friendly rival and Flor de Sánchez y Haya owner Ignacio Haya built his own factory nearby in the same year, and many other cigar manufacturers soon followed, especially after an 1886 fire that gutted much of Key West. Thousands of Cuban and Spanish tabaqueros came to the area from Key West, Cuba and New York to produce hundreds of millions of cigars annually. Local output peaked in 1929, when workers in Ybor City and West Tampa rolled over 500,000,000 "clear Havana" cigars, earning the town the nickname "Cigar Capital of the World". RMS Bulletin November/December 2015, No. 577 5 In New York, cigars were made by rollers working in their own homes. In 1883, cigars were being manufactured in 127 apartment houses in New York, employing 1,962 families and 7,924 individuals. As of 1905, there were 80,000 cigar-making operations in the United States, most of them small, family-operated shops where cigars were rolled and sold immediately.