For those of you who have not attended a meeting before, this is a tremendous opportunity to meet other collectors and pick up glasses you don’t typically otherwise see. If you are not familiar with Allentown, it is central to a number of large areas in the Mid-Atlantic region, and an easy drive from New York City, Baltimore, Harrisburg, and New Jersey. The meeting often attracts collectors from as far away as Buffalo, Boston, Indiana, Tennesee, and Florida. There are also numerous antique shows and malls in the area. It’s a great way to kick off the weekend.

And remember, you do not need to be a member to attend.. Hope to see you there.

It’s always nice to see promotional glasses get some serious attention in auctions that don’t cater just to glass collectors. Most recently, the always exciting Hakes Americana and Collectibles auction saw a prototype Gravel Gertie prototype break the $900 mark. This glass was intended to accompany the popular Domino’s Pizza Dick Tracy, but never went into production. Congrats to the lucky winner.

We are a bit behind the eight-ball on this one, but this past summer saw the US phase of a McDonald’s/Coke glass promotion. This promotion had various incarnations in Europe and Asia and saw the release of up to 6 different colored Coke glasses. However, in the US, it appears that only 4 different colors were distributed. Keep your eyes peeled on ebay–we’re sure they’ll all begin showing up.

Except this time it’s Star Trek, not Star Wars.

For the first time in almost a decade, there’s a glass promotion that has the general public abuzz. Burger King is currently offering 4 Star Trek glasses (yes, glass glasses) for $1.99 each. Apparently, there is little point in going over the purchase rules because, as has been noted on the message boards, there is virtually no location-to-location consistency as to how the glasses are sold or made available. But, hey, who’s complaining when we have four gorgeous new glasses to add to our collections.

Well, folks, it has finally happened. After much anticipation, a few delays, and lots of hard work, the PGCA website has finally been updated. Not only will it look nice, but it’s designed to encourage participation by ALL glass collectors and promote the hobby. So look around, enjoy, and contribute.

Here’s some features you may enjoy:

• Not only does the message board continue, but the PGCA now has a Flickr account. What does this mean for you? You can share photos of recent purchases, rare finds, your favorite glasses, your glass displays, etc. Use it to brag or just to ask questions about glasses in your collection. Other collectors can respond, both by adding text comments below, and by highlighting parts of your photos and adding comments that become visible when users rollover that part of the photo.
• A new main section for the home page that will take the form of a blog. This will enable to site to be updated with greater ease and frequency. This includes new releases, meeting information, auction postings and deadlines, etc. All entries will be archived for easy browsing.
• A new “This Week on Ebay” feature. Every week, a new and unusual glass from ebay will be highlighted. If you see something you think is rare or noteworthy (either the glass itself, or the price it sold for), let us know at pgcaebay@pgcaglassclub.com.
• A new “Bookstore” feature that will not only show collectors some of the many books available and hopefully encourage the growth of the hobby, but will also provide the club with a bit of revenue via Amazon’s associates program.
  Membership sign-up using paypal

Why make all these changes? Because we want to make it as easy as possible for all collectors to participate in this great hobby. It doesn’t matter how fancy a site is—without member participation it will simply be the same. So, send in your photos, provide feedback and information to other collectors, and most of all have fun.