~ Lew Marquart
Description
I guess, like everyone collecting, I was "on my own" at first. When I decided to become a more serious collector, a couple years after my first few purchases, I headed up to the Cooper auctions in Michigan in the early 1990's. They were pretty cool, you could get a VHS video ahead of time, which showed the pieces pretty well.
About my second or third time up there, I wanted to buy a fairly serious piece of glass, and was worried if I had enough knowledge to do it. I was looking at an amethyst Rose Show plate that was the best I'd seen. So, before I pulled the trigger on the plate, I went and asked Bob Gallo if it was as good as I thought. He told me it was one of the best three he had ever seen. That was good enough for me, LOL! I pulled the trigger.
Bob became my first serious mentor. He was very friendly and giving, and had a ton of knowledge. I could always ask him a question and get a great answer. He made me feel good about asking, not stupid.
I remember how blown away I was the first time I went to his house and saw his collection. It was spectacular, by any standard. He collected for excellent color, and I tried to follow in his footsteps in that way. Bob was, in my opinion, one of the nicest guys in the business, and he really took me under his wing, taught me a ton.
It also made me feel comfortable to seek knowledge from others, because of the way he had treated me. So, I would be remiss not to add that I sure owe a lot to Tom Mordini, Tom Burns, Chuck Kessler - a wonderful character <smile>, Harold Miller, and Dave Cotton--who were always very helpful and giving with mentoring and information for me along the way. Every one of them a titan in the hobby in their own way.
~ Lew Marquart
