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 The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Weekly Newspaper |
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The Virtual Corkscrew Museum's Weekly Newspaper |
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Sunday May 6, 2007 |
Just for Openers
This past weekend the staff of The Weekly Screw attended the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 29th annual meeting of Just for Openers (JFO), a group founded in 1979. A record tying forty-seven members were present including several corkscrew enthusiasts. Some of the highlights for the staff are included in this issue.
Gregan's Castle
Massachusetts reader and JFO member John Donoghue related his story of a trip to Ireland and spending quality time in the Corkscrew Bar of Gregan's Castle Hotel in Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare.
From the Gregan Hotel website we learn "Guests to Gregan's will enjoy the Corkscrew Bar (named after the legendary road that traverses up the hillside just beyond the estate grounds), a relaxed place where the turf fire is always glowing, providing an ideal venue for lunch, afternoon tea, a pint of guinness, or a night cap."
What'll You Have?
Beer drinkers may recall the famous Pabst Brewing Company advertising question "What'll you have?". For reader and JFO member Joe Young, the answer is "a fabulous corkscrew". In the February 21, 2004 we told the story of the Anheuser-Busch corkscrew knives. Various A-B knives turn up regularly on auction websites but to date we have not seen a Pabst knife in this style. Here is Joe's fabulous find:
Cape May Corkscrew Club
Herb & Camille Danzigers, regulars at the JFO meetings, were headed for Cape May, New Jersey after the meeting to stick their feet in the ocean. Their talk of the trip reminded the staff of a t-shirt treasure squirreled away in a box at The Weekly Screw offices. When we returned, we dug it out and sent a photo off to the Danzigers to check into it. They promised to investigate.
Bert's Mysteries
Left to right: John Donoghue, Bert Giulian, Don Bull, Herb Danziger
On Saturday several JFO members had the pleasure of viewing the fabulous wine cellar and corkscrew collection of Bert Giulian accompanied by some fine wine and tasty morsels. The four pictured above plus John Stanley (taking the photo!) drooled over the collection for a couple of hours. While the group poked around at the various treasures, Bert pointed out a couple of mystery pieces.
The first mystery piece is a double lever marked REG. U. S. PAT. PEND. DETROIT / B. BRO. CO., 8062 LUMPKIN. According to Mapquest, all that currently exists of Lumpkin Street is the 8400 block. South of that is the GM-Cadillac Assembly Plant. Any readers know if a patent was issued? What does the B in B. Bro(thers). Co. stand for?
A second mystery in the Giulian collection, is a key with a sliding worm. The sliding function does not appear to serve any useful purpose. The bottom of the key is clearly marked PAT. DEC. 29, 1908. A Google U. S. patent search for that date turned up no patents resembling this key. Any readers have comments?
Corkscrew Art
The December 27, 2003 issue contained a letter from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts artist Richard Kaish together with photos of some of his work. Richard brought some of his art to the JFO meeting so members got to see first hand several of his corkscrews:
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The 30th annual meeting of Just For Openers will be held in St. Louis in April 16-20, 2008. To join JFO, click here.
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©2007 Don Bull, Editor |
