Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show July 18 2013

This week’s Rotator is a group effort by several people filling in for others who had glitches in their schedules.  Great thanks to MATT CABOT for getting notes together for part of the meeting, and MARLENE COWAN for stepping in to assist.

Pres. JACK KELLY, settling in as new president, called the Los Altos Rotary Club meeting to order at 12:15 PM. 

Arriving Rotarians had been greeted by DAVE SMITH, JEAN MORDO and SANDIE WHIPPLE.

With the flag on the wrong side, there was a bit of confusion in the Pledge of Allegiance, but the club got through it.

PAUL GONELLA gave the Thought for the Day.  He said while he was a teacher, there were easy teachers and tough teachers. . He said that the toughest teacher is Experience.  Why?- Because experience tests first, and teaches afterwards….

KATHY BERRY led the song. KATHY BERRY led the song.

There were three visiting Rotarians.  President Elect KENDRA GJERSETH wants a member of our club to introduce the visiting Rotarian, and it is still a bit confusing.  Maybe we will get it by the time she is President.

There were 9 visitors, a third of which were LINA BROYDO’s.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

PP MARLENE COWAN stepped up to make two announcements on behalf of Public Relations Chair CAROL GARSTEN, who was out ill:

There will be a Publicity Committee meeting Thursday July 25th at 11 a.m. in Garden
House.  People interested in joining are welcome.

 A sign up sheet for greeters is being passed around (and thanks to all who signed up and got this filled at Thursday's meeting).

JUDY OTT passed around a card for CLYDE NOEL who had surgery last week.

KATHY LERA and KIRK MAHNCKE made an announcement about the Wine and Cheese Social which will be held at Kirk’s house Friday July 19 at 7:30

PP JACK HEIDMILLER thanked everyone who helped sell Chef Chu’s Chicken Salad last Saturday at the Art and Wine Festival.  He said that the booth grossed $6,715.  A major portion of that will go to Rotary, so that is great. 

RON LABETICH announced that the Golf Committee made available a $1,500 scholarship to the Foothill Veterans from the excess funds from the Golf Tournament. 

PE KENDRA GJERSETH announced a “learning opportunity’ on how to use the COMMITTEE module on our Club Runner website.  LARC pays extra for this module, and should be used by every committee chair.  It is quite simple to use to communicate with committee members and allows direct access to the Committee page on the website.  EVERY COMMITTEE CHAIR SHOULD ATTEND.  It will be held at the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College Aug 12, 2013 from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM.  Lunch can be provided, but you need to sign up.  Go to the Club website and click on the event.  Or click here: 

DAVE SMITH announced that next week there would be a short discussion about the upcoming Parcel Tax Renewal.  You should have already received a ballot in the mail. 

President JACK KELLY announced that the District Governor’s wife has a theme for 2013-2014.  It is providing new underwear to the homeless.  The District Governor and his wife will be at our meeting on September 19th.  It would be great if we could collect a ton of packages of new underwear to give them for distribution at that time. 

President JACK also announced that as of August 1st, First Republic Bank in Los Altos will no longer be able to house our various meetings, which it has done for that past number of years.  This is a temporary move, and eventually we should be able to use their conference room once again.  In the meantime, President JACK has offered his State Farm Conference Room office.  See President JACK for the procedure. 

NEW BLUE BADGERS:

Newly minted Director JEAN MORDO started his tenure of as Membership Chair with inducting three new members:

This was followed by a standing ovation for the group.

DEBORAH PENDER
(sponsor BONNIE BURDETT)

SHELLEY EMERSON
(sponsor KATHY BERRY)

RICHARD (DICK) GREENBERG (sponsor STEVE SHEPHERD)

PRESIDENT JACK talked about PP BOO BUE (and JACK’s decision to dedicate his  Rotary Year to him.)  He said, when BOO was LARC President, (87-88) PP DICK HENNING (71-72) made a recommendation to the Board of Directors that the Rotary meeting be smoke-free.  It was passed.  So thank you DICK.

RECOGNITION

CRYSTA KRAMES was fine master for the first time ever doing a bang-up job.  She had a few volunteers, like BONNIE BURDETT, CLARI NOLET, and SALLY MEADOWS.  Also among the happy “givers” were DONNA VERNA, FRANK ELMER, GREG DABB, ALAN LAMBERT, DIANA NEIMAN, JULIE ROSE and JERRY TOMANEK

THE WEEKLY PROGRAM-STEVEN YVASKA ON THE VALUE OF ANTIQUES

LINA BROYDO introduced this week’s speaker, Steven Wayne Yvaska.  He has been a collector since he was nine years old.  His topic is:  “The Six Factors that Determine the Value of Antiques and Collectibles.” Mr. Yvaska is perhaps best known for his long-running column “The Seasoned Collector” which appears exclusively in the San Jose Mercury News and other Media News papers.  
Several years ago, he began to make guest appearances at Bay Area Home & Garden Shows where he offers "informal evaluations" of local resident’s heirlooms, or newly found treasures. He enjoys telling folks how to care for their goods, as well as explain their history and value.

Steve pointed out that the question he is always asked is, “what’s it worth?”

Steve pointed out that there are several factors, and age is not always the determining factor.

The first factor you mentioned was Supply and Demand.  He pointed to a pretty ugly green opaque glass mug that was actually worth over $1000 because it was only manufactured for one year in 1899.  On the other hand, there are only a few people who collect it.  So when determining value, a large number of collectors chasing a small supply of items will drive up the value.

AGE is a factor, but it is tricky.  Steve pointed out that he had seen a gold coin that was 2000 years old, but no one wanted it because the owner had punched a hole in it to turn it into a piece of jewelry.  It was worthless to a coin collector.  On the other hand, Steve let us know that there is actually a museum for PEZ dispensers.  They have only been around for about 40 years, but they are in high demand.  Some are worth $10,000.

The next factor was the CONDITION of the antique.  The highest values go to those that are flawless.  Also, items in pairs are better.  Matching figurines command more value when both items in the pair are together.  Similar rules apply to candlesticks and sets of china.

The next factor is LOCATION.  There are regional differences in demand for different antiques.

The next factor that Steve mentioned was PROVENANCE–who owned it.  Some people pay very high prices for jewelry that was owned by Liz Taylor or golf clubs that were owned by Jack Kennedy.  Steve himself had purchased asparagus tongs that were once owned by the film director George Coker.  He estimated that these could be worth $1000.

Steve then pointed out that when it comes to “old junk,” the best rule is seller beware.  Learn what you have before you sell it.  He pointed out that he was helping some friends who were “getting rid of some old stuff.”  They offered to sell him an old painting for a dollar.  Steve pointed out that this was probably a bit low.  It turns out that the old painting was actually a valuable antique, that eventually sold at auction for $98,000.

In response to various questions Steve pointed out the problems of people producing fake antiques, and thieves who steal and resell valuable collectibles.

At the conclusion of the presentation President Jack chimed the meeting to a close at 1:30 PM ending with this week’s quote from Dale Carnegie; “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain but it takes real character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”

This Thursday's Program: Senator Jerry Hill "The California State Senate-

A Look Under the Capitol Dome" Senator Jerry Hill joined the California Legislature's upper house last year with a strong track record of leadership and public service. He was the mayor of the city of San Mateo, a San Mateo County supervisor and a state assembly member before being elected to the Senate in November 2012.

As the state senator who represents the innovation hub that stretches from Brisbane to Sunnyvale, Senator Hill works closely with local government, education and community leaders to monitor and address the developments that enable California to be in the vanguard of the emerging innovation economy.

He is the Senate's Majority Caucus leader and chairs the Environmental Quality Committee and the Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee's Subcommittee on Gas and Electric Infrastructure Safety. Senator Hill also serves on several other high-profile senate committees including Appropriations; the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee; Business, Professions and Economic Development; the Joint Committee on Rules; the Select Committee on Emerging Technology: Biotechnology and Green Energy Jobs; and the Select Committee on Procurement.

Senator Hill grew up in the Bay Area, attended public schools, graduated from UC Berkeley and has a teaching credential from San Francisco State University.