How long have you been collecting.

[samcass]

I have just aquired my fist 2 pieces of chalet just the past 2 weeks. It would be interesting to know how long everyone has been collecting. I think it would be interesting to collect only uranium pieces. Sam

[deborah]

Hi again Sam,

Nice to hear that you have bought some Chalet-I agree it's neat to hear how everyone got started. I think my most fun was when I saw a piece (when I first started collecting ) and thought "That's Chalet!" and turned it over and it was signed. Felt like I had given birthLOL. Dealers must have to really work hard sometimes to not shake their heads or laugh out loud!

Deborah

[samcass]

Lol when did you start collecting Deborah? How many pieces do you have now?

[deborah]

Hi again,

I "decorated" (am an interior designer) with Chalet for years as had a friend who was really into it so had gotten up to about 35 pieces. Then a little over a year ago, I bought a huge crystal twist vase and something went "Chalet" (the voices) and I started"collecting" and researching. It's the first thing I've ever accumulated (have weird antique tea pots too) that I wanted to know more about. When I was asked to put on the exhibit for the museum in Feb, I got really serious and started to work at it re the "Should know" part and the tracking down of the marks and labels etc. Felt that since I had agreed to take on co-ordinating the show, I really should know more detailed info re what I was talking about. Plus doing the website also intensified and sped up the learning curve.

I have about 130 pieces in my personal collection - a few pieces are Lorraine and a few are Murano. Probably about 120 are Chalet - I love the amber and olive green (I know they aren't the rarest) and the orange and the red and lime green. I actually redid my laundry room colour scheme so I could incorporate orange and lime green - saw a gorgeous tile and thought "Now I can collect lime green". HA. My daughter collects pink so my urge for the pink has an outlet there!

I got my contractor (LOL) hooked - he loves the animals and my Mom so I also get to "collect" through them. Plus the stuff I buy for the site so all bases covered and all urges satisfied! Luckily my house is quite large and my husband VERY tolerant!

Deborah

[samcass]

Wow so other than using chalet for decorating you only been collecting for little over a year. Ohhh I was under the impression you have been collecting for many many years.

[deborah]

Hey,

Nope - just really unusual circumstances and timing. And let's not forget location, location, location.... I am very fortunate to live where I do. So having a "type A" personalityLOL when I started getting serious I headed down the 401 to Cornwall and Morrisburg. I started learning alot from the dealers there (plus don't forget I had already a base from my friend) which led me to the Cornwall Library and Cornwall museum.

In the meantime, I had met Darlene (posts on site) and she had sold and collected glass for many, many years and was very generous with sharing her knowledge. I was also researching on the Web - both good and bad info. After I received Mario P's info through the museum, I started weaning info and mistakes and went back to the curator and all the dealers "repeatedly"LOL. That's when the curator asked me to do an exhibit - I was floored! Here I was - a newbie and asked to do this! Had to think about it for quite a while and had certain conditions (which I will not go into - suffice it to say, exhibit ended up at galleryLOL) All the while - working my buns off. I had sold some Chalet out West through e-bay and then was out there and saw the mark up plus went to Vancouver and saw all the high end galleries - that made me realize I could do a "gallery" website so stopped selling on e-bay (except my misbuys - which I continue to make - best way to learn!LOL) Doing the website was a huge deal for me - I have over 200 pieces in inventory so tracking those down was incredible research. Now that the show is up and going, time to update the site and put more pieces on. Somewhere in bed, my Web guy is starting to have nightmares!

Then the curator asked me to invite the families on the museum's behalf - well, floored again as I had never approached them on my own. Again - long hard thinking before I agreed to do so. And so glad I did! Incredible people and since July they have been so ready to answer questions and make available pieces ..... Well obviously another huge leap in the learning curve. And you know it's funny - once you know what you don't know or need to know - so much easier to find the answers or to logically link previously unconnected info. Also - there really had been no other opportunity for the artists to share info with us collectors. Mario P. is also immensely knowledgeable and has been very generous as well in sharing resources with collectors.

Also writing the exhibit program and the "Chalet Marks, Labels and Product Lines" also made me really focus and was yet another very valuable learning experince.

Anyways, I think this "Chalet" people year has been a "dog" year in a parallel universe! My next project will be really examing the Chalet bases and colour combos - Tony Tedesco said he would help and I know where Bruno Panizzon lives....LOL Seriously - the Chalet artists are such an amazing group and why not involve them BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT that they wish to be involved with the collectors? They have enjoyed helping us learn so far and do not seem "shy"LOL so I assume will say "Enough!" when they have been asked too many questions.

Deborah

[samcass]

OH So you started to collect then got obsessed i c. Hope I don't fall into that my apt is so small. Well see how I do in collecting I never knew about chalet till your uranium post thats how I found your site. I like the heavy uranium glass pieces very unique I think.

[Glassman]

I'm not even sure when i started,the first one i bought was from Value Village,i later realized it was broken and polished.I've owned over 500 pieces easy.I sold a lot of them to the Blais Gallery,some went to a collector in California.i think they are not as popular in B.C. which means they are cheeper.I have over 100 i actualy like the Loraine ones better,they are usualy bigger and more interesting shapes.I don't buy or collect them for labels or signatures.I just like the unusual ones.

[Dar]

Me about 6 years collecting and selling, I love the glass but just cannot keep it all.

[Wildrose57]

This is a sad tale about a piece we missed, but also a happy one because it set us on our Chalet hunting...

We moved into our new place, and the accent colour we were decorating with was red. We had just begun admiring and collecting Chalet, but didn't know much about it, and the antique stores that carried it knew even less. So, in September of 2005, we took a vacation to BC, and started shopping - a piece in this town, 2 pieces in another town - I think we ended up with about 5 pieces total from that trip (Chalet), all very reasonably priced. One of the places we stopped at was Ft. Langley BC, and there we saw the most beautiful swirled red Chalet bowl, etched. Gorgeous!!! Would be perfect on the coffee table. But the price tag was $125. This is where the story gets sad. Because we knew nothing, NOTHING about Chalet, we thought that it was too expensive, and that we would see others that would be more reasonable, so we took a picture of it for reference, and passed it by.

Five years and many, many antique shows and shopping trips later, we now have about 80 other pieces of Chalet, but we have NEVER seen another red bowl. We are continually amazed by what Chalet has made and done. Sometimes we are shocked by turning over a piece of glass and finding "Chalet" stamped on it. We realized one day, accidentally, that Chalet made animals too, and now we have a collection of those as well.

We have a few things, besides the red bowl, that are on the list of wants and desires so we search on...

[mgledrew]

Started within the past two weeks, started on Ebay, but since Ilive in Chalet Central - Cornwall, I've had some luck locally. Now I have to work out how I want to display it. I think it has been in the back of my head since the show at the gallery last fall.

[deborah]

Hi mgledrew,

Welcome to the forum! Envy that you live in Cornwall - have you gotten to the Montreal area too? I haven't but want to - you see such incredible pieces on e-bay from Quebec.

Am in South Western Ontario right now - some incredible antique malls down here. Lots of glass - most ordinary but found a very unique piece of Chalet - will post a pic when I get home. Definitely a one off piece as a test or just a whim- a 4 curl instead of the traditional spike and curl. Whatever, it is cute and one of the colours I collect so get to keep it.

Looking forward to seeing your collection!

Deborah

[deborah]

Hi! everyone,

There has been an incredible sign up for the forum lately - 10 new members in just a few weeks. One has started his posting- welcome. To the others, also a "Hello". Hopefully we will be seeing lots of new collections very soons! I know there is a piece from one that will blow us all away - have seen it and truly unique.

It has been slow here for a few weeks - holidays. I am away right now but got out yesterday to some incredible antique malls. Found a very unique "test" or whim - variation of the traditional spike and curl that I will post when get home on Thursday. Also an incredible 2 tone basket that I think is an EDAG. Will post it too. No Canada ArtLOL

"Newbies" to the forum - don't be shy! Looking forward to you sharing your knowledge and collections.

Deborah

[Roberta]

Guess I just started "collecting". Inherited two pieces this past week and had another in a garage sale box in the basement. I love the colours of the pieces I just got and so started to research and ended up here. I will post pics of my three items....not a big collection by any means but I am fasinated with one vase that is amber on the bottom and blue on the top.

Roberta in Alberta

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