~ Jerry & Carol Curtis

"Our first onset of carnival glass illness began in 1983. Carol and I each had our realtor’s license. Carol got a listing from a little old lady and we went over for the initial walk through. She picked out a few items and then told Carol to dispose of whatever remained any way she wanted. We spied this beautiful carnival glass plate, a green Grape & Cable with the Basketweave backing.

We eventually discovered the beauty and value of carnival glass far exceeded our hobby of Depression glass. We met an elderly lady at the county fair who had some carnival glass in her display and we inquired about it. She ended up inviting us over to her house where we saw such beautiful glass we had never before imagined. She also had Marion Hartung’s Ten Books on Carnival and lent them to us. The books were out of print so I made a copy of all of them that we took with us for many years in our search for carnival glass.

We learned of a HOACGA convention being held in Kansas City, Missouri and made our reservations and eagerly awaited for the day to come around. HOACGA was meeting in Lenexa, Kansas at that time and the first convention we went to had Don Moore as the speaker. Don was an amazing orator and kept us spellbound throughout his presentation. Others have guided us in our hobby such as John & Lucille Brit. John was probably the most knowledgeable of all our carnival friends. The stories he spun of the finds he made whetted the appetites of many collectors.

Of course at that time we met Bob Grissom. We took an instant liking to Bob and I think he felt the same with us. He provided us with a lot of information about carnival glass and was instrumental in getting us hooked on the hobby.

We had brought a few boxes with us in anticipation of going home with a lot of glass and we did just that! Through the years, we have called on Bob to advise us about a particular piece and we always took his advice; Bob never steered us wrong. I know of no other collector with the drive and love for our hobby as Bob Grissom. In my opinion he should be considered as the mentor of all mentors."

~ Jerry & Carol Curtis