Collectors Spotlight

Paul Merolle:

Those of you who know me are well aware of my lifelong fascination with comic books and animation. Obviously, this interest is at the root of my collection of cartoon glasses. Unfortunately, for most of my early years of collecting I dismissed memorabilia and instead focused solely on actual comic books and cartoon videos. I didn't start collecting glasses until the late 1980's and missed out on the early years of incredible bargains. Eventually, in 1988, I attended a Northeast Collectibles show at the Bayside Expo in Boston in search of comic books. I struck out with the comics, but was hit by a wave of nostalgia and picked up a bunch of ‘73 Looney Tunes glasses. And it all started from there. At the time, though, I collected largely in isolation, not knowing other collectors and unaware of the bounty of glasses that existed in other regions of the U.S. Over the years, my PGCA membership, Collectors Glass News, and of course the Internet, have not only put me in touch with collectors from around the world, but have also greatly expanded my collection. 

One of the aspects of glass collecting I like best is the fact that people are constantly amazed at the number of cartoon glasses that exist. When I tell non-collectors about this hobby, they think there might be a few hundred different glasses out there and are amazed when I tell them there have been thousands made in the U.S. and Canada alone. Even comic collectors, who are familiar with the experience of seeing their favorite characters depicted on a ridiculous variety of merchandise, are surprised to see the sheer numbers of cartoon glasses that exist. The response of non-collectors to the glasses is also different from their reaction to my comic books. It definitely takes a certain breed of person to love comic books and most individuals outside the hobby just don't understand their passion. It's a different story with glasses, however. People seem to have an immediate appreciation of them once they see them, and inevitably a smile comes to their face when presented with shelves full of glasses.  

Although I collect all cartoon glasses, my two main areas of interest reflect my fascination with superhero comics and Looney Tunes cartoons. My favorite glasses include Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies glasses from the 1930's. Even as a young kid, I enjoyed Looney Tunes cartoons more than those made by Disney. Looney Tunes cartoons had an edge and wit to them that was lacking in Disney's productions, and it is this quality that continues to make them appealing to me as an adult. When it comes to memorabilia, though, early Looney Tunes merchandise is rarer than most Disney items, and the glasses are no exception. I've been lucky enough to find four of them in the past 5 years, more than I ever expected to come across. I've been equally lucky with superhero glasses, also. Five years ago, I would have been content to someday own all of the regularly released superhero glasses, such as Pepsi's, WB store glasses, Polaner Superman's, etc. Due to a stroke of immense luck, I made a few finds that resulted in me picking up a Superman and a Wonder Woman prototype. I never dreamed of owning these and now I fantasize about completing entire sets of known superhero prototypes. Riiiight. 

Following the example of Dick Ladd, I thought I'd share some stories of great finds. My first involves the LSC copyright Elmer Fudd glass that appears on my web site. I found this on ebay about 5 years back. At the time, very few sellers had scanners or digital cameras, so no one realized what the item was. It was listed strangely and even the seller wasn't sure what it was. I had to go to work the day the auction ended and didn't have Internet access while there, so I put in a bid that morning, for what then seemed to me an ungodly sum of money, and hoped things worked out. The first thing I did upon coming home was check the auction. My jaw dropped. I was the only bidder and picked it up for only $5. The real kicker was that the seller lived only 20 minutes away from me and he had found the glass locally. You never know what's right under your nose. My next big find was unbelievable. At the time, I didn't have a single 1930's Disney glass in my collection. I was at an antique show, where a dealer had a 1989 Canadian Batman glass. He told a collector it was French, I corrected him that it was Canadian, and we struck up a conversation. At first, it seemed like the same old story we've all heard from antique dealers: "I have thousands of glasses, but I can't bother to bring them to show. They don't sell." Meanwhile these same ignorant dealers have something as worthless as an Erkel doll on their tables, or can't understand why they can't unload 2000 Smurf glasses. However, this dealer then mentioned two-color dwarfs, and it was at that point that I knew he was not only telling me the truth but had a quality collection. After months of phone tag, wrong addresses, and missed opportunities, we finally worked out a deal for thousands of glasses. Most of these I had to sell off because I either had them already or just couldn't afford to buy that many glasses at once. Still, I managed to pocket some gorgeous glasses, including some truly hard-to-find 1930's Disney's. Among these were a complete set of Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf with lids, Canadian Pinocchio's, borderless All-Star Parades, and others. Of course, it was only fitting that I wouldn't find another great glass in person for almost two years following this discovery. It all evens out in the end. 

Finally, one of the things I love most about this hobby is the fact that, even though people have been collecting and cataloguing for over 20 years, you never know what you'll find. I recently picked up a 1940's glass featuring Joe Palooka, a popular comic strip character. No one I knew had any idea this existed and it makes you wonder if the newspaper syndicate released a whole set. Another example is the 1960's Yogi Bear glass on this page that is apparently extremely scarce and has been seen by very few people. It's not just the glasses that make the hobby interesting. I love all of the associated memorabilia that has never been documented before: the posters, the buttons, the advertisements, the translites, the counter displays, etc. It's all wonderful. My favorite is a die-cut counter display for the 1978 Pepsi DC comics round-bottom set. The display features the classic Neal Adams image of Superman breaking chains over his chest against a red background, with images of the rest of the round-bottom set next to him. It's offbeat stuff like this that makes glass collecting great.