John,
Sorry - I forgot that you did indeed send me good pics and that was very decent of you
Also Walter : you did likewise , for which many thanks indeed
I am second guessing when I say the following : I get the feeling you are at the stage in your collecting where you have a couple of dozen beautiful bottles and your collection has stayed at that level for the past couple of years, just as I was in 2006 - 2008 ( and the same with collecting matchboxes in my infant years) . But then suddenly the collecting bug will attack you and a couple of dozen grows to a couple of hundred as you develop a taste for certain styles and artists . At least that's what happened with me ! Beware !
Everyone : please don't think I begrudge sharing my DB with very little feedback - in fact just the opposite.
I created the DB as a way to "spread the word" and the more copies that are circulated gratis the better. When I retire and if I ever have the time, and if Bill agrees, we will put the whole thing on line forever on Bill's website in a secure server so it will never be lost
But having the DB on line vs in one's hard disc are two completely different matters until roaming download speeds increase . Time and time again I'm in a shop or talking with an artist and want to pull up a pic instantly from my lap top , which I can easily do from my DB . But not so easy on-line when a 3 MB pic takes a couple of minutes to download, and one wants to scan a dozen such pics to find the right one
The DB is currently 7 GB ( it takes my super-fast lap top several seconds just to count the files) and by the time I finish it will be 15 - 20 GB . I will issue the next major update in late 2013
BTW : in the course of my time I have put out many feelers / hooks. Every so often one catches a big fish eg
a) yesterday I got an email totally out of the blue from a painter called Zhang Lei ( CIPMA 260/261) . I met this guy in 2010 at a dinner with Wang Guanyu in Heng Shui, but did not realise that WGY is his UNCLE ! He is based in SH and holds exhibitions about once per year with full cataloge. Next week I am in SH so I will surely find time to meet him
b) I have had a very sporadic correspondence with a French dealer in antique IPBs called Laurence Souksi. Suddenly he sends me an email just after returning from the ICSBS convention in Palm Beach with a load of useful feedback and network info ( and he may soon join the Forum)
This Forum is all about NETWORKING . That's why it's so great , despite some teething problems. Once one starts to network : magic things happen - meeting people on-line like Pat, Richy, Walter, John, and of course George
Our company has a CRM system that is so complicated ( it was designed by GERMANS for GERMANS) , not to metion hideously expensive ( several hundred thousand US$) that no-one ever uses it except a couple of Germans: in fact we all hate it. If only we had set up something as simple as George has done we would all network far much more
Cheers Peter
Hi Peter,
In fact my initial purchase of IPS's in the mid 90's were my first bottles. I then started collecting non inside painted bottles, which now make up by far the largest part of my collection. A couple of my non inside painted have been posted on here.
Cheers,
John.