Mini QCI rendevous in Brest, Brittany.

This past week saw the Thierry-Lannon December Quimper auction take place at l'Espace Port de Plaisance de l'Hotel des Ventes.

We met up with Dale, Anne-Marie & Judy beforehand for lunch, which was a lively affair as we caught up with each others news and reviewed this years QCI meeting in Savannah with Dale who hadn't been able to attend.
Dale is the 1st VP elect, and his main responsibility, from January 1st, will be the planning of future annual meetings.

We got the inside track on his ideas for meetings in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015!
I could share this information with you here but then I'd have to kill you.
I'm sure it won't be long before you're hearing it from Dale and the rest of the new Board in 2011.
There were some lovely items up for sale during the auction and prices were very reasonable.

One treasure that appealed was this large melonnière with swan neck handle, finely hand painted with the figurine of a lady dressed in the traditional costume of Normandie, carrying an umbrella (of course) and assorted floral decors.

This Henriot Quimper piece was originally produced in the 1940's, as a holiday souvenir to be sold in the seaside town of Le Tréport, and now, fittingly, it's back home in Normandy.
As we were preparing to leave the auction house I was approached by a young French man, a QCI blog follower who had also attended the auction.
Imagine! He had some very kind and complimentary things to say about the blog, too.
He mentioned that he finds our posts very informative overall, always enjoys seeing our collections and learning about the variety and history of faience from other collectors.
I didn't catch his name and he isn't a member of the QCI, yet (!) but I believe he plans on joining in 2011 in order to meet up with us all again next year at the annual meeting in Quimper.
Just think, if we all recruited a new member from time to time in this way the membership would soar!