The International Brick Collectors Association
Comes To California
If you're a brick collector, you may be interested in this organization: The International
Brick Collectors Association (IBCA). The IBCA website is at
www.ibcabrick.com/brick_map.htm.
This is a non-profit organization of collectors and others with a common
interest in bricks and/or paving blocks as collectible items or as objects of historical interest
or both. Their annual membership fee is only $15. Members receive a wonderful journal three times
a year covering brick collecting, brick histories, and brickmaking. They hold
brick swap meets across the country every year, where members bring and swap bricks for free. They have over
500 members knowledgeable about those antique and not-so-antique bricks.
Bill McDowell, #486, of Fair Oaks, California, passed away on September 30, 2005. Bill was a retired colonel and pilot in the Air Force with 32 years of service. He was a long-time member of the IBCA and served as vice president and board member. Bill and his wife Mattie hosted the first IBCA swap meet in California in 2003, as mentioned above. Bill first contacted me by email in 2001 after he saw my California Bricks website. He told me that he had over 3,000 bricks in his collection and over 200 of them were from California. We then corresponded about several California-made bricks. In 2003, Bill generously surprised me by signing me up as a new member of the IBCA. When I received their wonderful Brick Journal, I was hooked and have since remained an IBCA member. I will be forever grateful to Bill for his help and generosity. I wished that I had met him decades earlier to converse about California bricks.
On May 9 and 10, 2008, the second IBCA brick swap was hosted by Blacky and Gerry Blackwell and Ron and Patty Rose
at the Blackwell's residence in Agua Dulce, California. This swap meet was dedicated to the late Bill McDowell, who hosted
the IBCA swap meet in California five years before. About 50 members attended the swap meet to watch a demonstration
on cleaning bricks, hear about researching brick history, and finally to swap bricks. There were many interesting marked
bricks from across the country as well as a good selection of bricks from the old brickyards of Southern California. I gave away
60 California red pavers made in Niles, California! After the swap, an auction was held to raise money for the organization.
Everybody went home with new bricks for their collection and had a great time.
Comments or questions are welcomed.
Please send email to Dan Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.