148…149…150…151…152…Done!
The last box was loaded onto the U-Haul rental. All items fit snugly in the 10’ Box truck. The Bob Kneisel Collection was ready to travel 2600 miles across country from Los Angeles to Oldwick, New Jersey. The trip was planned and executed to complete the planned dispersal of the Collection four years after it was bequeathed to SBCS by Bob Kneisel.
The destination was RSL Auctioneers in Oldwick, where Leon Weiss and his Associates, Julian and Andrea will take over and prepare the items for a “cyber” auction later this year.
The travel plan included a drive-by stop at Steven and Ethan Chevalier’s home in Ridgewood outside of Jackson MS. There, eight of the boxes were unloaded to await the 2021 SBCS Convention in Jackson.
The route was simple but a jumble of interstate routes. First it was I-10 to I-20 straight into Jackson. Then, back on I-20 to Birmingham, northeast on I-59. East on I-40, northeast again on I-81 and then due east on I-78 to New Jersey. The road trip included several picturesque parts of the country, including the Mississippi and Alabama forests, The New Mexico and Arizona Sonoran Desert, and the Shenandoah Valley.
All this done in 5 days. And yes, we were employing best social-distancing practices in accordance with our current National situation.
51..huff…99….huff….118…..huff…..135……hufff……144……HHUUFF….YEAH!
At the New Jersey location, Joe Kopitz met me, and we unloaded the truck along with Leon Weiss, his son Julian, and Andrea Abernethy. But, as a surprise to Joe and me, it included unloading and moving those 144 boxes up a flight of stairs. Yes, RSL Auctions is on the second floor of a commercial building with no elevator. Even though fitness centers are starting to reopen nationally, no StairMasters were needed that day.
After the delivery, Joe started his meandering way back to Brooklyn, intending to stop at several New Jersey thrift shops that he had not visited in the past.
Me? I chose to relax until my flight from Newark to Los Angeles the next day. Up to that point the trip was extremely satisfying. However, commercial flying today is challenging… but that it another story.
RSL intends to issue the Kneisel Collection as an exclusive two-day cyber-sale, meaning that is will be on-line only for two days and only include items from Bob’s Collection. Look for announcements regarding the sale on the SBCS and RSL websites and by email blasts from SBCS.
Update from Chris Spry. The Kneisel Collection Committee Mediator, Moderator, Maintainer of Decorum, Boxes, Documents, and Long-Haul Deliverer! Thank you!
SBCS 
Thanks for everything you’ve done Chris. You’ve gone above and beyond for your fellow collectors. Thanks from everyone at SBCS.
– Mark Fine