~ Mitchell Stewart

Mentors can add that personal touch to your collecting habit that you just cannot get from a book.

I was a Vaseline/Opalescent Glass Collector prior to buying Carnival Glass. I was at an auction. I was looking at this little small item…a satiny yellowish looking item, when I turned it over, it was Vaseline camouflaged by the other stuff. Yes, I still have that Fenton 2-Row Open Edge Ruffled Hat. And, that day, I outbid Mutt Raines…I had not seen him in 10+ years…he used to shoot pool at one of my places and he built chicken houses. I would run into Mutt at local auctions and we talked and I gleaned some Carnival Glass info from him.

Then I had a show in Cleveland, OH at the Front Row Theater and I went to an auction in another town I saw advertised…a Tom Burns Glass Auction in Cuyahoga Falls and he announced a new daily newsletter via the net…and gave me the address. I joined the Woodsland World Wide Carnival Glass Assn. I consider all of these www.cga members to be mentors of mine. I learned so much from them and this newsletter.

On a personal level, it comes down to Fred Stone, who was one of the fellows who dreamed up this FREE newsletter...yes, it was Free for the 1st 9+- years. He just recently passed away…the Carnival World lost a good supporter. I lost a good friend.

And, Lloyd Ward, a TX boy living in KY. Lloyd has answered every question I ever asked him about Carnival Glass. You could ask him something at a convention and, if he did not know, he would remember it and call you later with the answer and, well, maybe a recommendation for a piece that he would like to sell you…but, you always get your answer.

 ~ Mitchell Stewart