After arriving at the highly anticipated 49er Historical Bottle Association's 26th Annual Show and Sale in Auburn, California along with thousands of other anxious collectors and dealers that have come to and expect a great show, I must say, I for one was not disappointed. In fact, I was amongst a select group of people that were in for a real treat. Something that supersedes anything available at the show we all attended. It's a story that was not presented as a story, but rather as an event, preceded by a series of events that would span over the next sixty-six years, undetected, until Dec. 6, the last day of the Show. I can only hope to capture the magic that a few close friends caught a glimpse of that day.

This story begins with a young man about fifteen years old, who was introduced to the world of stamp collecting by his high school teacher about sixty-six years ago, Shortly after that he would participate in the first special airmail flight from Chico to Sacramento, California for mailing a letter cover, aka envelope, addressed to himself to document this historical occasion. At his age, and at that time, this young man's life was about to jump on the fast track of life, leaving behind many childhood devices that would always have a place in his heart. He would eventually marry is high school sweetheart and remain married for fifty-eight years and counting while having two children. He would also serve his country for the next thirty-seven years, doing three tours of duty in Vietnam, and survive! After retiring he and his wife would resume a life long passion of collecting and would wind up hosting antique bottle and insulator shows in California that would span more than a quarter century.

Now I know a few of you might be surprised to hear me say I was taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the Auburn show when I sat down with Fred Padgett to take in his version of the good old days of insulator collecting. It wasn't long into our conversation that we would hear a voice just above the noise level in the upper building as, "Do you want to see a piece of history?" As we both turned our attention to see who was asking, there standing before both of us was our show host, Pat Patocka. "Would you like to see a piece of history?" he would ask again, but this time with a little more excitement in his voice. By this time Fred and I are both focused on what Pat was holding on to and apparently talking about.

By now it's obvious Pat was really excited about something, what as the show host for the last twenty-five years, one would think he's seen just about everything. So now he has our undivided attention. So what was Pat so jazzed about? He was holding on to a wax paper envelope that we were both intently focused on. Curiously, but politely, Fred responded and asked what it was he was so proud of. Anxiously, Pat leaned forward and carefully lifted the flap of a wax paper envelope he was holding, and gently slid out a letter cover, this time proudly proclaiming, "This is a piece of history!"

He then proceed to tell us the story of how he happened upon it. Pat told us that Don Ayers, one of the show vendors and a long time stamp collecting friend of Pat's, approached him during the show asking if he knew of, or was related to, the person the envelope was addressed to, namely a "Clyde Patocka". It was an envelope that Don had pulled out of a large stamp collection another dealer bought a while back with a name he thought look familiar.

As you might have imagined, it must have stunned Pat to say the least, seeing that very flight cover envelope he mailed to himself, in what seems to to be lifetime ago, that he'd nearly forgotten about, in the hands of a dealer at a show he has hosted for the last 25 years. Pat also added that "Clyde" was his given name, and that everyone who knows him today, knows him as "Pat". He also told us that years ago when his Dad had sold the house they used to live in, his Dad must have given or thrown out some of his childhood prize possession, that envelope being one of them. By now Pat had revealed to us that he was once indeed, again, in possession of his envelope commemorating the first special air mail delivery addressed to Clyde Patocka and postmarked May 19, 1938. It was a letter he addressed to himself sixty-five years ago. Pat stood before us looking astonished, yet pleased, with his find. He was still wondering now only how he lost it, but even more so, how amazing it was the rogue envelope ended up back in his possession two-thirds of a century later.

Fred commented, "This sounds like 'Best of Show'." "Ripley's Believe It or Not" was what went through my mind. In any event, Pas disappeared into the crowd as quickly as he appeared, obviously one of the happiest people at the show and rightly so. One can only wonder what forces are in play when a series of unplanned events seem to come full circle. Maybe some day that same force will bring eight citrine insulators back my way. (November 2003 Crown Jewels, page 37). I'll keep you posted. Until then, "May the force be with you!"