The SBCS has just heard from RSL Auction Company that the Bob Kneisel Collection auction is scheduled for
Friday 26 February 2021 starting at 12 noon EST.
The auction will be hosted by Cyber Toy Auctions (a subsidiary of RSL Auctions) on LiveAuctioneers. This auction will feature a fantastic variety of Souvenir Buildings, Still & Mechanical Banks, Boats, Automotive, Trains, Wind-ups and more!
Please note that this auction will contain items from the Bob Kneisel Collection along with other souvenirs, banks and toys. It will feature almost half of Bob’s total collection. The remaining items in Bob’s Collection will be featured in another auction later on in the year. We will be sure to let you know when that auction is scheduled.
The good news is that there are 100’s of wonderful souvenir buildings in this auction. The more good news is that we all will have yet another opportunity to bid on even more wonderful souvenir buildings at the next auction.
So use the above link to visit the LiveAuctioneers site and register for this auction. Then join us on Friday, 26 February 2021 starting at 12pm EST for Cyber Toy Auction’s 14th sale entitled :
Architectural Souvenir Banks & Toys!
Check out all of the delightful little buildings awaiting your bids on February 26, 2021.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day, Sunday, February 14, 2021. SBCS’s first Zoom meeting of the year features a very special guest, Paul Goldberger, Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair, former Architecture Critic for the New Yorker, recipient of the Pulitizer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, and souvenir building collector. Learn more about Paul here https://www.paulgoldberger.com/biography/
Congratulations to Mark Fine, SBCS Zoom Ringmaster, for starting the 2021 ZOOM Calendar with this distinguished guest. Mark’s stewardship of the Zoom gatherings that were established to bridge the loss of 2020 activities has morphed into a well-received benefit of membership in the Souvenir Building Collectors Society. The 2021 Zoom meetings are scheduled bimonthly on the 2nd Sunday at 2PM Eastern Time. The 2021 Calendar is below.
The first Zoom meetings in 2020 were based in our classic Show & Tell format from the annual meetings. Participants shared stories about their new finds and long held treasures. In October Mark interviewed Jon Merwine soon after his publication of Replica Buildings – A Visual History was published. Then in December Anton Tremblay, long-time member and founder of Microcosms was featured.
These interactive Zoom meetings are only open to current members of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society. All current members are sent an email a few days before the event. Registration is by reply to the email. The emails contain instructions for registration and for accessing Zoom. Memberships are now due for 2021.
The newly published REPLICA BUILDINGS, A VISUAL HISTORY will be the focus as Jon Merwine is interviewed by Mark Fine, ZOOM Master.
You will have an opportunity to ask your own questions of Jon.
Sunday, October 11, 2020 at 2 PM EDT, 1 PM CDT, 12 Noon MDT, and 11 AM PDT.
This opportunity is open to current members of SBCS. Check your October 7 emails for your invitation and directions on how to respond to confirm your attendance.
Jon has graciously provided printable downloads of the KEY and INDEX pages of REPLICA BUILDINGS, A VISUAL HISTORY. These are available in the MEMBERS ONLY section of this website.
SBCS members Mike and Jon Merwine have produced a book for us to savor in our hunkered down, isolated state.
“Replica Buildings: A Visual History”, contains over 2400 items cataloged with clear, high resolution images along with material, maker, size, location, function and age information per piece. It is over 340 pages with a hard cover – detailing pieces from the Grand Tour all the way to the modern miniatures made by InFocusTech.
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“What started as a hobby in 1998, quickly became the Merwine family business – what many collect today as Cast Metal Buildings by InFocusTech. Over these past 22 years, the company has created over 1000 building replicas from all over the world in various shapes and sizes. This hobby was greatly influenced by the souvenir building collecting obsession – one held by both Mike and Jon. While the collection was around 300 very common pieces in 1998, it rapidly grew over the past two decades and currently sits above 4000 items. Being a family of collectors and creators we felt a great way to express our passion for the hobby was to create a guide using our collection.And also to inspire others to take up the mantle of collecting as “Monumental Miniatures” by Majua and Weingarten did for us 21 years ago.” Jon Merwine.
Hear Ye!Hear Ye!SBCS September ZOOM Meet & Greet is cancelled.
These friendly monthly ZOOM gatherings will resume on Sunday, October 11th.Mark your calendars.
An official invitation to this upcoming meeting, with more information, will be sent via email to all current SBCS members in early October.Remember that you must respond to the email to be included in ZOOM meeting.
In the meantime, the Souvenir Building Collectors Society Facebook group continues to engage with photos, conversations, and collections, everything from a Sunsphere throwdown to a staid Lincoln Memorial. Check it out.
It’s a Sunday Bunch! Join with fellow SBCS members on ZOOM in a virtual “MEET & GREET” at 2PM Eastern on Sunday, August 9.
Not wishing the Society’s camaraderie to languish during the 2020 Pandemic, cancellation of Convention 2020 and the long wait for Convention 2021, the Executive Team started this monthly virtual gathering. Join us for our third monthly Sunday meet and greet.
The platform is ZOOM. The moderator is Mark Fine. The length of time is 45 to 60 minutes. The loose plan for the initial meeting includes:
EMAIL INVITATION: An invitation to all paid-up members will be sent via EMAIL from Joe Kopitz on Wednesday, August 5th. Members wishing to participate will need to use the ‘register in advance” link in Joe’s email to indicate their interest in attending the virtual “MEET & GREET.” This initial email will explain how to sign up for free ZOOM (if not already a user), and the steps you will need to take when you sign into the meeting.
EMAIL REGISTRATION: A 2nd EMAIL, which will come from AMY MATCHEN (Account holder), is generated by ZOOM and sent to only those members who used the link within the 1st email to indicate their interest. This 2nd email will contain the LINK and PASSWORD needed to join the meeting. On the day of the meeting sign in at 2PM EDT or a few minutes earlier. Refer to the instructions in your first email.
3. This month’s Show & Tell continues the theme of a Great Story. Where you found it, how you found it, a special moment, a story about the piece itself, etc. Please do not plan to take us on a tour of your collection.
THERE ARE PLANS FOR FURTHER MEETINGS. Please let us know your recommendations for themes or topics. As of now the recurring date and time is the 2nd Sunday of the Month at 2PM Eastern. Be sure to stay tuned.
The 2020 Annual SBCS Convention scheduled for October 23-25 in Jackson, MS has been postponed until October 2021, exact dates TBD (to be determined).
Stay tuned for further information regarding the Convention and what plans are brewing to keep SBCS Members engaged with each other. Fun events using new technology are in the works.
In the meantime there are the FaceBook Follies over on the SBCS Facebook page to keep us entertained. They started with the ABCs and before the group got to Z(ed) the National Building Museum followed suit with an A-Z Tour of the David Weingarten Collection of 20th Century Buildings. When it seemed the ABCs were exhausted new categories for sharing sprung up: Real buildings that look funny, Multiples, Masked Statues (Right On!), Postcards paired with their miniature buildings.
Take a trip over to Facebook and feast your jealous eyes on those “look but don’t touch” gems.
Souvenir Building Collectors under “STAY SAFE” guidelines are finding a myriad of ways to stay busy.Are you one of those surfing the netways to find the next acquistion?Are you actually dusting your collection?Or maybe you are organizing it into themes, or countries, or materials, or by size.Some are even going to the effort of cataloging.
The participants in the Souvenir Building Facebook Group are finding ways to share their collections with other members via various challenges: the A-B-C challenge, a castle challenge, a multiples challenge. Come join the fun.
This slideshow consists of photos taken at Bob Kneisel’s home during the 2009 SBCS Convention in Pasadena and of photos taken in 2016 of the emptied cases. Some of the buildings depicted could be in your FLASH SALE Box.
If you missed out on the Bob’s Better Buildings sale last year – here is your chance to score! And for those who did score – a second opportunity to add more wonderful buildings to your collections.
The up-coming Kneisel Collection Flash Sale #6 is Monday, March 16th. This Flash Sale will consist of more of Bob’s Better Buildings and be limited to 30 boxes (with an average of 4 items per box). The cost will be $60 by check or $65 by PayPal ($60 plus $5 processing fee) per box.
As a reminder, each SBCS Member in good standing (membership paid through 2020) can order only ONE box. If you are part of a Family Membership and wish to purchase TWO boxes (one box for each Member), please include BOTH names and pay double the box price.
Keep an eye out for the official FLASH SALE Notice on March 16th and remember to follow the instructions.
It has been three years since the SBCS was willed the Bob Kneisel Collection.As in every other aspect of Life, Time marches on.The Kneisel Committee, an ad-hoc group designated by the SBCS Leadership in 2016, was organized.The Committee started a series of meetings to determine how to best use Bob’s Legacy for the benefit of both the SBCS and the Souvenir Building Community.
Kneisel Bequest 2016
Initially, the goal was to donate the entire Collection to an Organization that would curate, and display all or part of the Collection in a public setting.This would allow both SBCS Members and the public at large access to the comprehensive Collection and provide a fitting Memorial to Bob.
There were several interested candidate Organizations.Most were non-profit and required that SBCS include an ongoing endowment for curating and managing the Collection, something SBCS is not in a financial position to support.Other interested Organizations wanted to market the items as a fundraising plan for their own organization thus splitting up the Collection.
School Children at the Architecture Museum in Lahore, Pakistan
One Institution that did receive the benefit of a donation of buildings from the Kneisel Collection was the Cultural Foundation of Pakistan, Museum of Architecture.The Museum used the souvenir buildings as part of a larger display of world architecture aimed toward school age children.This was a rewarding donation for SBCS, but was not a venue available to the North American public or SBCS Members.
In 2018, the National Building Museum announced the pending acquisition of a Souvenir/Miniature Building Collection like Bob Kneisel’s Collection.This event changed the focus of the Kneisel Committee.With the other Collection becoming available in a National Museum at a national level, the Committee looked to other ways to utilize the Collection.
Discussion at both the 2017 Chicago and 2019 Kansas City SBCS Conventions revealed that many Members in attendance wanted a chance to obtain pieces from the Kneisel Collection.The Committee then looked for ways to honor this request.
Bob’s Collection had over 4000 pieces and was very eclectic.At each SBCS Convention since 2015 a selection of items was presented and distributed to SBCS Convention Members through auction, sale or raffle.For these events items selected from the Collection were themed toward the Convention location.
SBCS 2017 Convention in Chicago
These distributions only benefited the small percentage of SBCS Members who attend the SBCS Conventions.The Committee wanted other ways to start the distribution of the Collection to benefit as many SBCS Members as possible.
The Committee started offering Category and Flash Sales to all qualified Members.Initial offerings were specific categories in the Collection including certain levels of souvenir building quality and/or other types of Collectibles categories such as human and animal figurines, snow globes, charms, stadiums and crested porcelain.
FLASH SALES! And Bob’s Better Buildings Sales
Grouping of Stadiums
These sales allow for an expanded group of SBCS Members to participate, but do not meet the desire of the SBCS Organization to distribute the remaining Collection into the hands of more SBCS Members or the Collecting Community at large.
Moving Forward in 2020
As the Flash Sales end in Spring 2020, we will be moving to the next and final phases of distributing the Kneisel Collection.It will happen in two phases that will start concurrently.
Phase 1 will be the offering an expanded selection of items from the Collection at the October 2020 SBCS Convention in Jackson MS. This selection of items will be offered in the traditional way items have been offered at past Conventions including a Swap Meet,a silent or live Auction item or as raffle items.
Phase 2 will be the offering of the entire remaining Collection through an Auction House.The actual scheduling of this event is still in the planning stages, so it may or may not happen in conjunction with Phase 1. One Auction House under consideration utilizes Live Auctions allowing a greater number of souvenir building Collectors (and SBCS Members) to have access to the auctions without having to travel to the auction site.
Through these two Phases, SBCS Members will reap the benefits of the Kneisel Collection
SBCS Management and the Committee will be holding one part of the Collection as a legacy SBCS Collection.The SBCS Convention Souvenir Buildings from 1999 through the 2019 Kansas City Convention will be held by the Society for historical purposes.Bob Kneisel had collected all of the Commemoratives through 2015, and the Kneisel Committee has added each year’s Commemorative since.
All fees charged to date, and all future fees charged from remaining Flash Sales and the profits from the two final Phases are used to defray costs for distributing the Collection and support other SBCS activities.
SBCS 