Award Recipients

Vince McGraw Cobalt Inkwell Award

Barbara Bureker (2007)
Award given by John Kochenburger. Without The Stained Finger, where would we be? The Stained Finger is one of the primary benefits over 300 of our members look forward to four times a year. They have watched it grow from the early dreams of Vince McGraw and his daughter, then editor, Michele McGraw, to the larger publication it is today, complete with several pages of color images that allow people to enjoy the vibrant colors of Art Nouveau to the deep, rich colors of Wedgewood, before only dreamt of in black and white. And for the last several years, The Stained Finger has been in the care of Barbara Bureker.

Barbara's title of "Editor" does not do justice to what she does on an almost daily basis throughout each year. She not just edits articles submitted for publication, she helps anyone interested in writing an article, and she researches and write several articles each issue herself (well beyond the Editor job description!). Barbara's quality of work and the huge amount of time she spends working on each issue clearly show her dedication and commitment to not just the Society, but every member of the Society. For these reasons, and more (she is also on the Board of Directors), Barbara Bureker is highly deserving of the Vince McGraw Cobalt Inkwell Award. (Liberally paraphrased by Beth Leitz.)

Beth Leitz (2007)
Award given by Charles "Buck" Van Tine. "Beth has a volunteer’s heart. I first became acquainted with her when she called to say she was not going to renew her membership. In a long conversation she pointed out a lot of shortcomings in our operation, my frequent reply was,"We don’t have anyone to do that." At one point Beth's response was "the SOIC is a volunteer organization, and it only runs with volunteers". And volunteer she did! We decided she would be an ideal candidate to take over the Librarian position. She jumped into that task with enthusiasm and soon had it organized and running efficiently. Recently Beth has published a bibliography, which is probably the world’s finest source of writings concerning inkwells and ink related items. It will exist longer than the Society and be a credit to our efforts and our mission. Imagine my distress when Beth called up and said she no longer wanted to be the Librarian! This was followed by joy when she said she was willing to be our new webmaster. Again with typical enthusiasm and drive, Beth completely redid the format, added a lot of features, such as convention history and most recently a members' only bulletin board. I firmly believe we have the best webpage of any collecting society in existence. Another attribute of Beth’s is her willingness to jump in where needed. You remember her at past conventions making copies, holding up inkwells at the auction, and in general doing anything to make the convention run smoother. It is with a great deal of pleasure that I give the 2007 Vince McGraw award to the icon of volunteerism, Beth Leitz. She is one of the great ones!"

John Kochenburger (2005)
This year's award was presented by Giovanni Cattaneo (2004 recipient), who was extremely pleased to be asked to present this year's Cobalt Award because of his respect for John Kochenburger, a fellow collector who has had such a long and influencial history in the Society. Cattaneo described Kochenburger's service as a Director, a position Kochenburger has held for many years. Cattaneo also thanked Kochenburger for his continued thoughtful and insightful opinions and approach to Society business, as well as for his "informative and always amusing" presentations at the annual Conventions. Topics of interest for Kochenburger include fakes and reproductions, an area he reports on regularly.