The ICGA/HOACGA 2025 MegaConvention
WHERE: Columbia, Missouri
WHEN: MAY 28TH – JUNE 1ST, 2025
2025 is the year of the MegaConvention, sponsored and organized through the partnership of ICGA and HOACGA. When you think of a MEGA carnival glass convention, double your expectations because that is what you will get. Amazing seminars by some of the most knowledgeable people in carnival glass, wonderful displays of carnival glass, and lots & lots of rare and hard to find pieces of carnival glass for sale. There will even be TWO auctions (one Friday with Contemporary Carnival Glass & one on Saturday with classic Carnival Glass) where you can personally touch and see the glass that is being sold.
The Plan: Double the fun, Double the Events, Seminars, and Activities – Double the Creativity and Planning
Convention Schedule
Note: All convention activities will take place in the Event Center. Casual Dress encouraged.
Wednesday, May 28th
5:00pm – Early Bird Dinner (Jimmy’s Family Steakhouse)
7:00pm – Setup in common room at hotel for Sale glass tables, Room displays
Thursday, May 29th
Morning – Free hot breakfast
7:30am – Setup in common room for Plate display setup/check-in; seller setup; room display setup
8:30 – 10am – Annual Business Meeting ICGA
10:15 – 11:15am – Seminar (HoC – Galen & Kathi Johnson)
11:15 – 12pm – Lunch on your own
12 – 3:30pm – Plate display check in
Concurrent with:
1:30 – 3pm – Gift swap/steal game
4 – 4:50pm – The Highs and Lows of Carnival Glass Collecting (Tim Cantrell & Sam Scott)
Tim Cantrell introduces himself: Growing up in Springfield, MO in the 60s, my best friend and I played in his basement. We were told, “DON’T TOUCH that glass!” I didn’t realize until years later that Dorothy Franks had one of the biggest Carnival Glass Collections around — primarily Northwood Grape and Cable. She told me she had a peach opal Pony bowl! Where is it?
In 1978, I got interested in “Depression Glass.” I found a pink Mayfair Open Rose sugar bowl and lid for $15. I sold the lid for $1000! I was hooked! Over the next few years I “picked” for other dealers and collectors, learning in the process. I was searching for, as Gene Florence used to say, “bargains and mistakes.” But I kept what I liked.
Finally, in1998, I began my “Inventory” with #1: My next purchase will be #7365, although I have set aside #7000 for that next “something special!” I have sold a lot of glass, hopefully “upgrading” along the way. That same year, I attended a “Woody Auction,” joined eBay, and started going to Mickey Reichel auctions. And I believe I have attended every HOACGA Convention since then: I remember one year being on the 8th floor! Those were the days! I have joined ICGA each time they were within “driving distance,” — St. Louis, Des Moines, Indianapolis — unless there was a conflict with another Glass Show.
My family “vacationed” in Florida for two weeks — first in Ft. Lauderdale and then in Tampa — meeting Tom Burns and others. It’s the PEOPLE — lifelong friends — that is the best part of this hobby! My business, PrettyThingsAntiques.com — “No Ugly Here!” — began in 2004. Earlier, I had purchased a Northwood “russet” compote and three Imperial “Stretch Glass” plates — not knowing what they were. Shortly thereafter, I found in a flea market, the “American Iridescent Stretch Glass” book. I served as SGS President from 2009 — 2012. I continue to enjoy the “thrill of the hunt,” along with sharing my finds with all my friends, especially those that match my personality — the “odd-balls” — the glass, not my friends!
I have rubbed shoulders with “the best of the best” — and got to handle some special glass too!
And Sam comments: ‘Sharon collected Fenton for many years and I was along for the ride. Water sets were one of my favorites. After visiting friends for several years, enjoying their carnival collection we were hooked. Studying for a couple years, I jumped in and bought my first piece. Now Sharon is along for the ride! We have been collecting for 11 years. We enjoy a wide selection, but plates and water sets are our favorites. We enjoy feeding the birds and seeing the wildlife on our country property. We like to go antiquing for glass, primitives etc.’
5:15 – 6:15pm – Carnival games
5:30 – 7:30pm – Welcome Party
6:30 – 8pm – Horse Race game (hosted by Tony DeMichael, assistant Brian Foster)
Friday, May 30th
Morning – Free hot breakfast
7 – 12pm – Viewing of the plate display
8:30 – 10am – Annual Business Meeting HOACGA
10:15 – 11am – MEGA Plate seminar #1 (Gary Sullivan – “What is a Plate?”)
11 – 12pm – Lunch on your own
12 – 1:50pm – Roundtable Seminars (6 separate tables)
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- 1) Northwood 6″ Advertising Plates and Bowls by Pat and Joan Halliburton
- 2) Hatpin Holders by Mike Hendren
- 3) Passing Your Collection On by Jim and Val Stangel
- 4) Uncommon or Not So Much…….You Be the Judge! By Neal and Sue Becker
- 5) Ways to Display Hatpins by Vernette Shaffer
- 6) Grape and Cable by Ed and Heather Strawn
2 – 3pm – MEGA Plate seminar #2 (Speakers to be announced)
3 – 4pm – Plate display check out
4 – 5:30pm – Dinner on your own
5:30 – 6:30pm – Contemporary Auction seminar (Tony DeMichael & Mitchell Stewart)
6:30pm – Contemporary Auction (Sheffield)
Saturday, May 31st
Morning – Free hot breakfast
8am – Sheffield auction preview
10 – 11:30am – Carnival Glass Roadshow (with Annie and the experts)
12 – 1pm – Banquet Brunch
1 – 2pm – Banquet Speakers Anne & Max Blackmore – Expanding Beyond Early Offhand: Fenton Rarities through the Decades
Anne and Max Blackmore will be speaking on “Expanding Beyond Early Offhand – Fenton Rarities Through the Decades”. When they think of Fenton rarities, most folks think first of the 1925-1926 era of offhand. But there is so much more! The Blackmores will look at some rarities from Fenton’s beginnings up into modern times.
Max grew up in an antique shop and has been learning about and collecting glass for over 60 years. He is well-known in the glass world for his early Fenton offhand collection and his Hobbs Brockunier Leighton collection. Max is also a licensed auctioneer, and does several glass club charity auctions annually.
Anne became interested in glass in 2006. She was fascinated with Fenton and started reading every book about Fenton she could find. Her primary collection is Fenton’s 1920s and 1930s Jade. After joining the National Fenton Glass Society, she was their newsletter editor from 2011 through 2015. She is currently the newsletter editor for the Fenton Finders of Greater Kansas City.
After they married in 2013, Anne and Max started their own glass-dealing business, traveling 30,000 miles per year selling at various shows and presenting seminars around the country. They volunteered for several years as the Glass Experts at an annual “Roadshow” event sponsored by Milwaukee Public Television. Max was featured in a television program based on this event in 2015 with an appraisal he provided.
They’ve spoken to glass clubs and at glass/antique shows across the eastern US on a wide range of glass topics, presented two seminars at the National Fenton Glass Society, and were the featured speakers at the Mid-America Fenton Gala in Kansas City in 2017. Anne and Max regularly lead the Glass ID and Table Review events at the National Fenton Glass Society convention as well as at the Mid-America Fenton Gala in Kansas City.
In 2019, the National Fenton Glass Society, presented their highest award, The Ed Tell Education Award, to Anne and Max for their efforts in Fenton education across all venues.
2 – 3pm – Room Display awards, 50/50 winner announcement, and White Elephant auction
3:30pm – Sheffield auction (live)
5pm – 6pm – Free Auction munchies
Hotel
Hampton Inn & Suites at the University
1225 Fellows Place
Columbia, MO 65201
Booking Link
Group Code: 92K
Rate: $125 /night
Includes Breakfast