A Letter to David

I miss Carder Steuben Club’s web master, the late Marshall Ketchum. I still have well over a thousand private e-mails of our Steuben discussions and plan to keep every last one of them.. I have another best friend in California that wants me to see their collection before either one of us goes to be with the Lord. There is a big elephant in the room and nobody wants to talk about it. What happens to our collections when we go? Will there be young blood to pass it on to? Will popular interests just change making our collections worth a tenth of their present value. Shall we give them to a museum or sell them for our heirs ? What happens to the market if 10 major collections sell in 2 years time? Who will the next generation of buyers be? Will Intarsia fall from $14,000 to hit $1200 again?

He are some thoughts I shared with my close friend concerning youth, age, and the true value of Steuben. Perhaps they will stir the hearts of some fellow collectors and add vision to the year 2015. Some memories are just priceless.

Hi David

My brother lives in Palmdale California , not far from you so I would like to come sometime. We grew up in Palmdale often walking 3-5 miles from home at age 4 and brother at age 7. We were exploring the wonders of the world even back then. We saw the California condor flying with a 12 to 16 foot wing span in a canyon. I knew for positive I had seen a pterodactyl. There was a super hero in our desert who kept his costume in a hollow rock cracked in half not far from the almond tree.

We sold glow in the dark dirt from our red wagon door to door for 25 cents and killed black widow spiders for 50 cents each. We were poor and many a time just had to watch the ice cream man go by without a purchase unless we had a good “business” day. Our toys were limited and all fit in one box. That did not stop us from delivering 3 of our good used toys to a random house three blocks away on a rumor that a poor child with no toys lived there. We left them on the front lawn so as to not embarrass them with a knock on the door.

One Saturday morning we decided to rob the stage coach while I was still 4. We got a real map and picked the maps compass as our destination. Bandanna masks on and six guns blazing we jumped into the street about 4 blocks from home and forced a brand new 1957 Chevy to the edge of the street at gun point popping off a half a roll of caps or more. Much to everybody’s surprise my grandfather and grandmother from Iowa were in the car coming to visit for Christmas. That was the year we got the Radio Flyer red wagon. My brother was my best friend.

See David it was all about friendships and stories, ,the cache of treasures, acquisitions and our posse . Now it is about False Flags, gun control, and a treasonous president with a pen and his cell phone. Time is growing short and I limp a little now. See we already got to live the sweet part and Steuben was part of it. See you and I never stopped strapping on the six guns and taking the stage coach for the treasure till we had one of every color.We even have a color the museums don’t have. The value never was in the glass David. It is in the adventure. We have already received every penny’s worth. Anything above that is just gravy.

We paid the price for the rights to tell the story in first person and as they say, I would never trade that for even a million dollars

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God willing David I will come see ya and what you have done in time before it is too late.

As always

Rande Blye, Birmingham, AL