"Bit of a story about this very, very rare 1st black snake spill.

"When I first got on the Internet, eBay was just starting up, and never had more than a dozen or two pieces of Belleek at any given time—gosh that seems like a long time ago.  Anyway, I used to love to check the AOL collectors' bulletin board Belleek collectors' file.  It put me in contact with some very nice people and occasionally I would help some beginner collector.  Anyway, one day someone made a post about a Belleek vase with a snake on it.  After making sure it was real Belleek, rather than American Belleek, I offered him what I am sure was a darn high price.  He agreed to sell it to me, as it turned out it was considerably more than the other couple of offers he received.

"I was pretty worried about sending of a check to some fellow in Carmel-by-the-Sea in California where he lived, just hoping he was honest and would send me the vase.  It was a lot of money for me at the time. I even thought about flying out there to do the transaction, but in the end decided to take a leap of faith.

"It worked out fine. The vase arrived in perfect shape. One of my collecting mottos since then is 'Sometimes you have to take a chance.' This time it worked.

"How much did I pay for it?  One thousand U.S. dollars.  It was probably too much for such a small vase, but I have never seen one for sale since then, and believe me, I have seen a lot of rare Belleek for sale.

"I figure by the time I do see another one, its price will have risen from inflation enough for it to have been a bargain.  Hope so at least."

—Susan Lane