FOHBC Antique Bottle & Glass Collector | January–February 2023

$7.00

January - February 2023

Featuring...

A Line from the Past An unexplained connection.

Also in this issue...

The Mud, The Blood andthe Beers ACL Corner #2 Two Bottles: Two Pioneers Confessions of a Bottle Thief and so much more!

The official publication of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors

Vol. 34

No. 1

Vol. 34 No. 1

January–February 2023

No. 265

TABLE OF CONTENTS

On the Cover: Brandon DeWolfe and his son recently dug this “Von Harten & Nichols Deveraux Cordial Gin, Galveston.”

FOHBC Officers | 2022–2024 ............................................................................. 2

To Advertise, Subscribe or Renew a subscription, see pages 66 and 72 for details.

To Submit a Story, send a Letter to the Editor or have Comments and Concerns, contact:

FOHBC President’s Message ................................................................................... 3 Shards of Wisdom–Heard it Through the Grapevine ............................................. 4 FOHBC News–From & For Our Members ............................................................... 6 FOHBC Regional News ........................................................................................ 9 Virtual Museum News by Richard Siri ..................................................................... 10

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Orphan Jar with a Story by Barry Bernas ............................................................... 12 ACL Corner #2 by Mike Dickman ......................................................................... 16 A Line From the Past by Rick Weiner ................................................................... 22

The Mud, The Blood and the Beers by Tom Bostwick ................................................. 34 Two Bottles: Two Pioneers by Henry Eichman ......................................................... 40

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Ralph Finch Reverts to his Childhood by Ralph Finch ............................................... 46 Prunes with a Pedigree by Curtis S. Morse, Ph.D. ....................................................... 49

Lost & Found ...................................................................................................... 60 Classified Ads .................................................................................................... 66

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FOHBC Sho-Biz–Calendar of Shows ................................................................... 68 Membership Benefits, Ad Rates, Donations to the FOHBC ..................................... 71 Membership Application & Advertising .............................................................. 72 49

Coming next issue or down the road:

January – February 2023

Fair use notice: Some material in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector has been submitted for publication in this magazine and/or was originally published by the authors and is copyrighted. We, as a non-profit organization, offer it here as an educational tool to increase further understanding and discussion of bottle collecting and related history. We believe this constitutes “fair use” of the copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this material for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner(s).

Postmaster: Send address changes to Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC Business Manager, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; 713.504.0628, email: fohbcmembers@ gmail.com Annual subscription rate is: $40 for standard mail or $55 for First Class, $60 to Canada, $80 Other countries, $25 Digital Membership [in U.S. funds.] Life Membership: Level 1: $1,000, Level 2: $500. The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. (FOHBC) assumes no responsibility for products and services advertised in this publication. See page 72 for details.

History’s Corner ................................................................................................. 70

What do you collect? • Reed & Carnrick New York Pharmacal Association • Pike’s Peak or Bust • A Clinton Physician Dr. Carl Gruber • Dr. Guysott’s Extract of Yellow Dock and Sarsaparilla Update • Traveling the Capers Trail • Soda City’s Only Two Earliest Colored Sodas: H. Deming & Co. and C. C. Habenicht • Catawba Wine Bitters • History of the Baraboo Pottery Baraboo, Wisconsin • The Sprinkles of Whiskey: Distilling Their Story • Peter, Art & Mary • On the Witness Protection Program • Probst & Hilbs German Bitters Little Rock, Ark. • Henry Hogan: B.C.’s First Soda King • William Stiegel’s American Flint Glass Manufactory and so much more!

Elizabeth Meyer FOHBC Business Manager P.O. Box 1825 Brookshire, Texas 77423 phone: 713.504.0628 email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector © (ISSN 10505598) is published bi-monthly (6 issues per year) by the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. (a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization) at 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002; phone: 713.504.0628; Website: FOHBC.org, Non-profit periodicals postage paid at Raymore, Missouri 64083 and additional mailing office, Pub. #005062.

Confessions of a Bottle Thief by Jack Klotz ........................................................... 52

Member Photos .................................................................................................. 64

So you don’t miss an issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, please check your labels for expiration information.

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The names Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Inc. (FOHBC), and Antique Bottle & Glass Collector ©, are registered ® names of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Inc., and no use of either other than as references, is permitted without expressed written consent from the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Inc. Certain material contained in this publication is copyrighted by, and remains the sole property of, the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Inc. while others remain property of the submitting authors. Detailed information concerning a particular article may be obtained from the Editor.

Printed by Modern Litho, Jefferson City, Missouri 65101.

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FOHBC Board of Directors

Midwest Region Director: Henry Hecker, W298 S10655 Phantom Woods Road, Mukwonago, Wisconsin 53149, phone: 262.844.5751, email: phantomhah@gmail.com Southern Region Director: Jake Smith, 29 Water Tank Drive, Talladega, Alabama 35160, phone: 256.267.0446, email: syl_bottleguy@yahoo.com Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors

The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors is a non-profit organization for collectors of historical bottles, glass and related collectible items. Our primary goal is educational as it relates to the history and manufacture of historical bottles and related artifacts.

FOHBC Officers 2022–2024 President: Michael Seeliger, N8211 Smith Road, Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521, phone: 608.575.2922, email: mwseeliger@gmail.com First Vice-President: Jeff Wichmann, American Bottle Auctions, 915 28th Street, Sacramento, California 95816, phone: 800.806.7722, email: info@americanbottle.com Second Vice-President: Position Open Secretary: Alice Seeliger, N8211 Smith Road, Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521, phone: 608.575.1128, email: aliceajscreative@gmail.com Treasurer: Position Open Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, phone: 713.504.0628, email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Western Region Director: Eric McGuire, 1732 Inverness Drive, Petaluma, California 94954, phone: 707.481.9145, email: etmcguire@comcast.net Public Relations Director: Richard Kramerich, P.O. Box 241, Pensacola, Florida 32591, phone: 850.435.5425, email: southernshards@gmail.com Conventions Director: Position Open Historian: Craig Cassetta, 12 Marlin Court, Chico, California 95973, phone: 530.680.5226, email: craig.cassetta@gmail.com Membership Director: Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, phone: 713.504.0628, email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com Merchandising Director: Position Open

FOHBC Virtual Museum Alan DeMaison, 1605 Clipper Cove, Painesville, Ohio 44077, phone: 440.358.1223, email: a.demaison@sbcglobal.net Ferdinand Meyer V, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002, phone: 713.222.7979 x115, email: fmeyer@fmgdesign.com Miguel Ruiz, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002, phone: 713.222.7979, email: mruiz@fmgdesign.com

Director-at-Large: Ferdinand Meyer V, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002 phone: 713.222.7979 x115, email: fmeyer@fmgdesign.com

Richard Siri, PO Box 3818, Santa Rosa, California 95402, phone: 707.542.6438, email: rtsiri@sbcglobal.net

Director-at-Large: John O’Neill, 1805 Ralston Avenue, Belmont, California 94002, phone: 650.619.8209, email: Joneill@risk-strategies.com

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Director-at-Large: Richard Siri, PO Box 3818, Santa Rosa, California 95402, phone: 707.542.6438, email: rtsiri@sbcglobal.net Northeast Region Director: Charlie Martin Jr., 24 Follinsbee Lane, West Newbury, Massachusetts 01985, phone: 781.248.8620, email: cemartinjr@comcast.net

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Magazine Editor: Ferdinand Meyer V, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002, phone: 713.222.7979 x115, email: fmeyer@fmgdesign.com Design and Layout: Ferdinand Meyer V Proofreaders: Alice Seeliger and Bill Baab

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

President’s Message Michael Seeliger President Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors

N8211 Smith Road, Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521 608.575.2922 mwseeliger@gmail.com

As we enter a new year I look back on last year and note some real positives. The Reno Convention was a success, the magazine merger was completed, the Virtual Museum was added to almost daily, and the Auction Price Report went live, free to all FOHBC members as part of their membership benefits. Take advantage of all these membership benefits!

This Fall I had some interesting things happen to me. I’m sure you can relate and perhaps had some of the same experiences. My bottle collection is large and occupies a substantial portion of our house, much to Alice’s chagrin at times. Many of our friends visiting our home marvel (shudder!) at the number of things to dust and quickly move on to playing with our dogs and talking about the birds outside our large windows. Seldom are there any questions or comments about the bottles displayed in lighted cases around them. Basically, they show little interest in old bottles beyond the cursory acknowledgment of my interest and the necessity of dusting so many things.

Well, this Fall was different. Alice and I ventured out to Colorado to purchase a Warner collection of a long-time bottle collector who had recently passed away. His heirs had little interest in keeping the collection other than a few items to remember him by. I got to experience the enthusiasm he had for collecting bottles through listening to memories of their father. With a new group of bottles for sale, I welcomed visits from several bottle-collecting friends. Dick Boosted, one of my original bottle-digging buddies, stopped by and we joyfully discussed several bottles in my cases that we had dug together. What a trip down memory lane! And he also enjoyed our lively discussion about several of my bottles he had never seen.

Shortly after, Bill and Kathy Mitchell from Stevens Point and Bill and Kathy Taylor from Wausau joined us at the house. It was a real treat to entertain two of my closest friends who had a keen interest in every bottle on display. Bill Mitchell has been part of my life almost daily for the last 50 years but usually over the phone or in the car traveling together to bottle shows. He was right there with me when I purchased most of these bottles. He remembered them all and carefully took each bottle down and held it while we discussed the story behind each one. We laughed over funny events that happened during the acquisitions...many involving his brother, Jim, who we chided constantly. Once he asked what we had acquired on our drive to Mansfield, and we stated we found an amber Hutch in a garage sale. He begged to see it and we January – February 2023

procrastinated for two days. Finally, he could wait no longer. We showed him an anniversary amber Hutch with gold lettering. His frustration at missing out on this one was palpable.

Bill Taylor has been a friend for just as long but our meetings were interrupted for many years as he moved around for work. About 20 years ago we visited Bill and his wife in Oregon and have since met them at several bottle shows…and Bill is another collector I talk bottles with on the phone almost weekly. Bill and Kathy, with their spectacular bottle collection, recently moved back to Wausau, Wisconsin. This was his first trip to our house and having the two Bills ask questions and discuss my bottles was this bottle collector’s dream come true.

Also, this year, an original South Central Wisconsin Bottle Club member from the 70s showed up to renew our friendship. Henry Hecker and his wife, Diane, visited and, again, I was thrilled to discuss and comment about bottles for several hours. Henry is now the FOHBC Midwest Region Director and is jumping into Federation operations with both feet. Henry’s main interest is Wisconsin pottery but he has a strong knowledge base of pottery from around the nation. His website, madefromclay.org, is fantastic and well worth visiting; there’s a link to it on the FOHBC website.

These recent visits rekindled my desire to collect bottles—not only for their beauty but for the history behind each one. I hope you will take time to visit friends and enjoy seeing and talking about their collections. Every visit is a learning experience and adds to the fun of collecting.

As the weather is turning colder here in the Midwest, I’m spending more time transferring old films to digital format. Seeing myself and bottle friends from 20, 30, 40, and 50 years ago reminds me that we must enjoy every day to the fullest. The digging stories you will read in this issue took me back to my own digging adventures...I was once that young explorer pictured on the front cover!

I hope the holiday season and ringing in the new year brought many good memories to mind. Though we won’t be meeting in 2023 for a national show, we will be setting up a board and membership meeting around August 1st to address numerous changes that are in the works, including bylaw revisions, and also taking a look at the progress with the Houston 2024 FOHBC National Convention.

I plan to visit many members of FOHBC in 2023 to renew friendships and learn more about how they are participating in this fascinating hobby.

May 2023 be a great year for you, me, and FOHBC!

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Shards of Wisdom “Heard it Through the Grapevine”

add a page on the development of the Q-Tip, and who invented it.

And how many billions of Q-tips there are in the world. And, with luck, add a bad joke about Q-tips. (Or include my doctor’s scary story about Q-tips, but I won’t, since it still gives me the willies.)

And, with luck, a bad pun...

First, knowledge: The term Q-tip—invented in 1923—“is often used as a genericized trademark for a cotton swab. The Q-tips brand is owned by Unilever and had over $200 million in U.S. sales in 2014. Johnson’s buds are made by Johnson & Johnson.”

And, dumb? Who is named “Q-Tip”? An American rapper. I don’t want to stick that in my ear, either.

And bad joke? “What did the Q-tip say before he went to work?

‘Just another day at the orifice.’ ”

Who knew that? (I did, with a little help from a friend.)

With thanks, says Ralph Finch I have written maybe a thousand stories, on glass, on toilet paper (literally and figuratively), done interviews with famous people and just “normal” people, serious research and silly nonsense.

Sometimes, people think I’m knowledgeable, but...not really. I do know how to type (sumewhat), and how to ask for help, and Helper No. 1 is...Wikipedia!

I once got an email that said: “It’s Wikipedia’s 20th birthday! Let’s celebrate the millions of people who have come together to make knowledge free for everyone, everywhere!”

I last donated $50 (I donate every year, since I use Wikipedia several times a day; I couldn’t write without my “personal library” at my fingertips).

From Wikipedia: “200,000+ editors contribute to Wikipedia projects every month. 47+ million media files on Wikipedia Commons; 1+ billion unique devices access Wikipedia projects every month.”

Wikipedia comprises more than 55 million articles, attracting 1.7 billion unique visitors per month. I am one of those one billion, and hardly unique.

I like learning, and I like learning...odd stuff. Once, when doing my 80-page journal for target ball collectors, a subscriber wrote: “I learn so much reading your stories...although I don’t know what I’ll ever do with it.” I was honored.

I like learning...stuff. If you asked me to write about...say: Q-tips. I could respond in a paragraph; maybe even a sentence. But I could 4

And old bottles? Whatever you collect, go to Wikipedia and type in the bottle, medicine, whatever, and Wikipedia likely will tell you something you didn’t know. And maybe photos, too.

New Willy Van den Bossche Book: ANTIQUE GLASS BOTTLES–Their History and Evolution (1500-1850) SUPPLEMENT (2002-2022) The 2001 publication of the international reference work Antique Glass Bottles - Their History and Evolution (1500-1850), fills a major knowledge gap in the history and evolution of utility bottles and jars throughout Continental Europe. In honour of the 20th anniversary of this publication, the work has been enlarged with a separate Supplement (2002-2022) of 112 carefully selected, mainly Continental bottles and jars depicted on 147 colour plates with thorough description printed on 123 pages single-sided. This Supplement (2002-2022) has been written for antique dealers, archaeologists, auctioneers, bottle-makers, collectors, historians, institutions, libraries, museums, pharmacists, researchers, wine and beer lovers, writers, and all others curious about the art of collecting antique glass.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Shards of Wisdom “Heard it Through the Grapevine”

It was in 2001 that the authorities first started making an effort to boot out the birds. Ken Livingstone described the pigeons as “flying rats” and said their acidic waste was causing £140,000 worth of damage to Nelson’s Column and promptly withdrew the license of all the bird food sellers.

He even brought in a huge industrial vacuum cleaner to suck up the seed on the street and paid people to blast the birds with loud speakers. (I don’t know which was more annoying, the pigeons or the people shouting through the loudspeakers.)

Trained pigeons advertise Coke!

Another misleading comment by Ralph Finch Anyone who has been to London’s Trafalgar Square many decades ago will remember the, oh...one million pigeons that flocked across that world-popular attraction. Laughing children would run and “launch” the fluttering flocks, and visitors would be photographed, hands out and filled with seeds—and pigeons.

And Trafalgar was also known for its ton of pigeon droppings.

The city finally barred the pigeon seed sellers—there was such an uproar that the government had to buy them out, sort of an early retirement.

But, the attached photo: In the late 1960s, Coca Cola spread out a huge amount of birdseed in St. Mark’s Square in the shape of their logo. It was immediately covered/consumed by thousands of pigeons who clearly spelled out the Coca Cola logo, the aerial publicity photo was taken and it remains a very famous/infamous piece of advertising today. It was not an original idea. Coca Cola had borrowed it from Assicurazioni Generali, a Venetian insurance company, which had its headquarters in the piazza. Assicurazioni Generali would regularly set out birdseed in such a way that the pigeons would form the letters of the company.

A word of advice to anyone who might like to follow suit: since 2008 it has been against the law to feed the pigeons in Piazza San Marco. Ditto Trafalgar.

The earliest mention of the birds was about ten years after the square was first laid out in the 1830s. By Victorian times, market traders had moved in to set up stalls selling bird seed. There’s a famous scene in Mary Poppins where the umbrella-wielding nanny sings a song called Feed the Birds in which an old beggar woman sells bags of breadcrumbs for twopence a go (although this was on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral rather than Trafalgar Square).

January – February 2023

The most famous guy to fall foul of the law (pardon the pun) was a vendor called Bernard Rayner, whose family had been happily selling seeds for nearly half a century. He must have made a fortune over the years judging by his prices, because every tourist seemed to have purchased at least one cup of nuts/seeds from him.

He tried to take them to the High Court but ended up accepting an undisclosed amount of money in an out-of-court settlement.

APR: Signing in from your Smart Phone Most FOHBC members have had no problems signing in to the APR from their laptop or desktop computers. It is more challenging from your smartphone which you might use at a bottle show for instance. We offer the following advice: In case you haven’t already, we recommend bookmarking the following URL on the browser you are using: https://www.auctionpricereport.com/ The next step would be to save the username and password (provided on the following page: https://www.fohbc.org/howto-access-the-fohbc-auction-price-report-website/) somewhere safely on your phone. This could be done as a text note that you can simply copy and paste directly onto the APR website’s login form on your phone’s browser. Or, you can also use a password manager like LastPass or the password manager provided by the browsers themselves to store the credentials for you.

If you go straight to https://auctionpricereport.com/ to log in and use the stored credentials, you won’t have to log in to two different sites in order to access the APR website.

I tested this process and I was able to log in to the APR website on my phone with the credentials provided on the FOHBC.org website without a problem.

Miguel Ruiz, APR website developer 5

FOHBC News From & For Our Members

William Jennings Bryan 1896 Presidential Campaign Flask Hello Elizabeth, I’m hoping the AB&GC readers can help me with information concerning a colorless, 5-9/16” William Jennings Bryan 1896 presidential campaign flask that I dug on July 16th last year. Attached are pictures of the bottle freshly dug and after a professional cleaning from my nephew, Michael Savastio.

flask, as both Bryan and Sewall are pictured (and it’s the only year they ran together).

Both flasks reference the same big issue during that election year: those who wanted to retain the gold standard versus those, like Bryan, who favored a switch to the silver standard to help alleviate the depression.

Some of the questions I’m looking for help with include: Why isn’t my flask listed in McKearin’s book? Is it because it’s scarce and did not show up when McKearin was inventorying the catalog of bottles that made it into the book? Or does it somehow not qualify as meeting the standards for entry into the book? Why are there two 1896 Bryan campaign flasks? Was mine the first, and was it determined inadequate, so a second flask was designed and made in much greater numbers? How scarce is this bottle? Note that I did find a similar one listed online at a USAmericana.com auction. But that one was smaller, at 4-½” and had a cork top.

Being colorless and not as old as the bottles American flasks collectors tend to covet, would this garner much interest at auction?

I’m just curious; no plans to sell it!

Any information at all on this bottle will be appreciated! Please feel free to message me on Facebook, email me at johnsavastio@ yahoo.com, or write a reply to the letters section of AB&GC. And yes, I plan to write a story about this bottle for a future issue of the magazine. Thank you.

John Savastio Latham, New York

The bottle is embossed: PURE / WHITE METAL SPIRITS / portrait of William Jennings Bryan (BRYAN) / FOR / FREE SILVER ONLY/ 16 TO 1 /. On the back is a portrait of his presidential running mate (SEWALL). The base is embossed TRADE MARK RECD / PAT AP FOR. The bottle has a ground screw top with a heavy lead pewter stopper in good condition.

In American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth M. Wilson, an 1896 Bryan campaign flask, GI-126, is listed: Bryan bust and “IN SILVER WE TRUST / BRYAN 1896 SEWALL” - Eagle and “UNITED DEMOCRATIC TICKET / WE SHALL VOTE / 16 TO 1” Portrait Flask, America, circa 1896, in the form of a coin, tooled double-collared mouth - smooth base, height 5-1/8” (picture attached). The bottle is known in both amber and colorless. An amber version of this bottle, from the Timothy and Christine Hill collection, appeared in Heckler Auction 184, November 2019, lot 15, and was estimated to sell for between $1,000 - $2,000.

While my bottle does not list the 1896 date and does not reference the Democratic Party, it too is clearly an 1896 campaign 6

2022 Club & Membership Contest and Awards Hi Ferd, Jack Klotz here. I recently searched the Nov/Dec. issue of the magazine for any news about the contest winners with no success. I must admit I was disappointed earlier to figure out I hadn’t finished in one of the three categories since I had submitted five stories with at least one in each. Still, I was looking forward to attending the Reno 2022 banquet ceremony and cheering for whoever won. Unfortunately, that pesky little open heart surgery event sidelined my intended adventure. I was doubly disappointed then to come upon the same question asked by Susan Arthur of the IPBA under the FOHBC News section. You answered her question of what happened with a tame, “We tried our best to have club and membership awards, but, to our dismay, only a handful was submitted this year.” I alone submitted a handful with one story for each finger, and I find it hard to believe Susan was the only other contestant.

Be that as it may, even if this was all you got, a courtesy email or notification of cancellation and the reasoning behind it to all who participated would have been appropriate. Unlike Susan, I have never won any award for my writing, mainly because I have entered a grand total of two contests. I was hoping to snag one Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

FOHBC News From & For Our Members

here, but my bigger-picture hope was to see who won and read some cool, if not great, stories! The bottom line is I feel ripped off all the way around. I’m sure others are disappointed, and the general membership missed out. So much for my rant about what has happened.

The next point is (your comment), “We are trying to figure out what to do as the dust has not yet settled from our recent convention.” It looks simple to me, honor the contest! Even if only one person submitted, it should have been honored. This is not only my opinion but several friends much wiser and smarter than myself agree in stronger terms. I will continue to write and submit for publication because I enjoy sharing my 59 years of experience digging for bottles. My connection to the hobby by digging or writing is what fills my day. During my rehab from my surgery, I was unable to do either, and I realized how much more important to me it was to continue with both as best I can. All that said, I realize there are much more important issues and areas of importance to garner the majority of attention where the group is concerned. It just feels like the writers have been dumped on their heads. It’s a small token of appreciation from the Federation, yet for some of us, a huge accomplishment to be proud of, no matter how often one is a “winner.” I truly feel like a winner whenever I see one of my silly stories in print, knowing others may be enjoying them now and well into the future. Thanks for your understanding, as another writer must.

Jack Klotz Hannibal, Missouri [FM5] Hi Jack, nice to hear from you. I’m disappointed, too, as I’m the one that takes your fine articles and gives them life through design and layout. I am now preparing yet another Jack Klotz article for the next issue. Always front burner attention!

2022 was a crazy year for the FOHBC as we merged and redesigned the magazine, giving great respect and exposure to our writers, both old and new to the FOHBC, issued the Auction Price Report, greatly expanded the Virtual Museum, and had our Reno 2022 convention. We were also down to about seven or eight board members out of 19. Now we have a new president, and things are looking up. As it was, we lost the board member who headed up the contest process for the past decade. Of course, we were also coming out of COVID 19, which impacted our operations. I stated before that we had very few submittals from very few people, which would have exposed the sad situation.

The world has changed. We understand your disappointment Jack, but with the past couple of Pandemic years putting a severe strain on our hobby, we focused on some bigger issues and unfortunately could not get everything done, but don’t worry, we will.

The Federation plans to have a contest for 2022 or extend it from January – February 2023

2020 to 2023. The new leadership team is working this out. I cannot head up this component as I am working elsewhere.

Red Top Rye Hello, My name is Edwin George White. Jack Sullivan recommended you as a trusted advisor pertaining to how to have a poster appraised. Our grandfather had Blondies Dew Drop Inn in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, prior to prohibition. There was a group of framed posters stored in the attic of the building. In the 1960s we brought them home and put them in storage and in the 1980s put almost all of them up for auction so the folks could use the money to fix up their house.

One poster in particular was a favorite of my mothers and it was the Red Top Rye poster. After she passed away my sister inherited it. We are now trying to find out how to get it appraised to benefit my sister‘s financial situation. Would you have a recommendation for an appraiser? Thank you for your time and advice.

Edwin George White Orlando, Florida 2024 Houston National Antique Bottle & Glass Convention & Expo Ferd, I see that the next Expo will be in Houston, and I have some suggestions: First, why not try something new, like a panel discussion on the antique bottle and glass hobby? The panel 7

FOHBC News From & For Our Members

would be comprised of members of the auction houses and noted dealers from different areas of the country. The areas of interest would be discussed and agreed on by the FOHBC and provided to the participants, and listed on the FOHBC website. Second, one of the best auction houses in America is Heritage Auctions in Dallas. Why not approach them about providing a banquet speaker about their specialHouston 24 working logo. ty auctions which are interesting and compelling? Third, ask/invite the insulator collectors to participate as dealers, exhibitors and displayers. Fourth, cajole some of the UK dealers to make the trip over and participate. Ok, those are a few ideas, more to follow.

Burak and Tamara, Zürich, Switzerland [FOHBC] Burak and Tamara, sadly, Cecil Munsey passed away, and the keys to his vast website seem to have been lost and not passed on to any family members or anyone else in the hobby.

We tried a few years ago as we set off to see if we could resurrect his website and access information but ran into a brick wall. We will post your letter in the magazine, hoping someone will come forward and answer your questions.

Rare Easton Pennsylvania bottle?

Hi Ferdinand, West Point bottle guy Eric here. I came across this ‘liquid sunshine’ yellow 8” strap flask with a company I can find no info on. Slug plate embossing is crude and not centered. Reads: A. BERCAW WINES & LIQUORS EASTON PA. I was wondering if it’s a scarce one? I found it in a thrift store just north of Philly. Was hoping you could forward this or post to help identify.

Thanks for any help you can offer. Best regards,

Chris Hartz Los Alamos, California [FM5] Chris, these are wonderful ideas and precisely the things we want to do to make our convention more engaging, relevant, and one to remember.

About Anchor Hocking Royal Ruby Red glass bottles Hello, I am an architecture student at the Federal Institute of Technology Zürich. My colleague Tamara and I are researching red glass and its boundaries and possibilities in architecture. While researching the material, we found Cecil Munsey’s article about Schlitz bottles published in 2003.

We became highly interested in the royal ruby red bottles of Anchor Hocking during the 1950s, as it is a very rare Ruby red Schlitz beer bottle. initiation to produce 50 million bottles out of red glass. That is why we would like to learn more about how these bottles were produced on such a large scale. We want to find out what metal oxides are used in the glass mixture to achieve the color of red (maybe it is a foil) and which technique of form was used to produce these bottles (is it pressing or blowing etc.). We already contacted Anchor Hocking, and we tried to contact Cecil Munsey. Still, Anchor Hocking didn’t have any information in their archives, and Cecil Munsey’s email address seems invalid. Hence, we came upon your organization, and we are reaching out. We look forward to your response and thank you in advance for your time.

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A. Bercaw Wines & Liquors flask.

Eric Richter Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa.

Glass from the Tomb of Tutankhamun Hello dear glass friend, Glass from the Tomb of Tutankhamun: In Celebration of the International Year of Glass and the Centennial of the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Howard Carter famously exclaimed “everywhere the glint of gold” when describing the contents of the tomb of Tutankhamun. He could instead have said “the glint of glass,” as the tomb also contained thousands of glass inlays and beads, as well as some of the most outstanding glass objects from Late Bronze Age Egypt.

Check out this outstanding production at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3mzvmuULo4 Willy Van den Bossche Schoten, Belgium

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

FOHBC Regional News

Editor Note: With an abundance of reporting information and photographs this issue, we are placing the entire Regional Directors report on our website FOHBC.org. Please go to the homepage under Editors’ Pick for “The Rest of the Story” as Paul Harvey used to say.

Northeast Region [Charlie Martin Jr., Director] Before I begin my report on club activities for the Northeast Region, I encourage all readers of this report to reach out to me with suggestions and comments on how to improve my reporting. I want this column to be enjoyable to read as well as informative.

With that said, you can write me at cemartinjr@comcast.net with your thoughts, comments, and recommendations. Thank you.

Aaaahhh! Fall in New England: bright sunny days filled with wonderful foliage that delights the eye and warms the spirit of the soul.

Dry, crisp air with bright sunlight and clear deep blue skies followed by chilly nights…it does not get any better! What better conditions could there be to put on a bottle show? Correct, none!

That is why there is so much activity from the bottle clubs in the NE Region between September and November. This past fall season, there were no less than ten bottle shows. By now, you may have read about several in the Northeast Region Report in the November-December issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. In this report, I hope to bring you up to date on the other shows held in late September that ran into late November.

Jim Hammell, Show Chairman, reports the Fall Antique Glass and Bottle Show at the historic Village of Batsto, in Burlington County, New Jersey, hosted by the Batsto Citizens Committee Inc (BCCI), was a wonderful success this past September 25, 2022. “The day started with a very light morning shower, but it quickly turned into a beautiful sunny day. There were eighty vendors, each with 2-3 tables, selling bottles, glassware and all types of antiques.” This was a free public event and ran from 9 AM until 3:30 PM. There was a steady flow of shoppers throughout the entire day. Total attendance was approximately 2,000 to 3,000 individuals. “Very few people were seen leaving empty-handed.” Their Spring Show is tentatively set for Sunday, May 21, 2023.

On October 1, 2022, the Richmond Antique Bottle Club (RABC) held its 50th Annual Antique Bottle and Collectibles Show and Sale in Chesterfield, Virginia. Show Chairman Tony Townsend noted that they sold seventy-nine tables to forty plus dealers. Thirty eager buyers paid $10 for early admission, while one hundred fifty plus customers paid for general admission. Tony reports that dealers were quite active, and business was good for the whole day. The RABC awarded four $25 gift certificates for purchasing a bottle from any of the dealers. Dealers and attendees hailed from a large geographical area. They came from Washington, D.C., South Carolina, Maryland, and West Virginia, to name a few states. It was noted that several high-priced items were sold and that dealer-to-dealer trading was also quite active. All in all, it was a great 50th Show hosted by the RABC. January – February 2023

On October 8, the Southern Connecticut Antique Bottle and Glass Collectors Association (SCABGCA) celebrated its 50th Annual Antique Bottle and Glass Show in Coventry, Connecticut. Congratulations to the SCABGCA on their 50th Show milestone. Show Chairman Bruce Mitchell provided the following report from the day’s activities: “Despite early worries of a rainy outdoor show, we were rewarded with a dazzling autumn day of cool air and bright sun. The field quickly filled with thirty-four dealers from eight states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont) offering beautiful bottles, glass, stoneware and sundry antiques. The show opened at 8 AM for early buyers and 9 AM for regular buyers. Both buyers and dealers exuded joy at the beautiful day and good buying and selling.” Bruce goes on to say that the SCABGCA was founded in 1968 and is an affiliate member of the FOHBC. Some of the “seasoned dealers” that were set up at the show included: Tom (A spry gentleman at the age of 94) and Elaine Duff, Al Adams, Bill Beckett, Rick Ciralli, Eric Correa, Leo Goudreau, Norm Heckler, Matt King, Jim Segura, Jeff and Holly Noordsy, John Pastor, Ron Rainka and Chris Woods.

This long-running show is currently held at the site of the Coventry Glass Company, which operated from 1812 until circa 1850. The Coventry Glass Company produced a wide variety of blown and mold-blown bottles and flasks, mostly in greens and ambers. While the factory buildings no longer stand, the John Turner House, built by the first Manager of the Coventry Glass Factory, still stands.

Bruce noted that the Turner house and the surrounding glass factory are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and that the “site is the nation’s only Glass Factory Historic Site. If you would like further information, go to the Museum of Connecticut Glass (MOCG) website at glassmuseum.org.”

The day following the Coventry Show, October 9, the Yankee Bottle Club hosted its 53rd Annual Keene Bottle Show and Sale. Alan Rummill, Chairman of the show, said that this year the Keene Show would be set up differently than in previous years. The idea was to make more room for customers and dealers and to also create a less congested floor plan for all attendees. I attended the show and was amazed at how much more “airy” the floor area was compared to previous Keene Bottle Shows. “I believe the new design added to the excitement of the return to live in-person activities post-Covid 19,” noted Alan. Columbus Day Weekend has been the club’s date as far back as this collector can remember. The weather was exceptional…bright, sunny, and crisp as a freshly picked apple. Alan Rummill seemed quite pleased with the new arrangements when asked about them. I sense that going forward the Keene show will have this new look.

On October 22, the Forks of the Delaware Bottle Collectors Association held their 48th Annual Show and Sale in Macungle, Penn-

Continued on page 30...

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VIRTUAL MUSEUM NEWS

By Richard T. Siri, Santa Rosa, California

Quick note from Richard: Sorry about getting my report in a little late. I’ve been working eight days a week since the Reno 2022 Convention and just finished my last construction job Friday.

With the amount of bottles placed in the Virtual Museum by Ferdinand (Meyer) and crew... you get a daily fix. Hundreds of collectors visit the museum on a daily basis. There’s a VIP group that’s emailed, almost every day, with newly added bottles and glass so they are the first to see them. Any FOHBC member can be on this distribution list so let us know because, as an FOHBC member, you are a VIP too! Our museum images are stunning and Alan (DeMaison) and Miguel (Ruiz) are always working to improve them trying different software programs to get the best results and at the best cost. Gina (Pellegrini-Ott) is finishing imaging her father’s collection of food bottles and then will move on to a different category. Eric (McGuire) is working out the bugs with his imaging set up. We also had a generous donation that we will recount below.

The FOHBC Virtual Museum has been established to display, inform, educate, and enhance the enjoyment of historical bottle and glass collecting by providing an online virtual museum experience for significant historical bottles and other items related to early glass.

Lou Pellegrini with his grandson Waylan Ott set up and ready to sell the long-forgotten “box of bottles.”

All proceeds from the sale will be donated to the FOHBC Virtual Museum.

49er Historical Show, Auburn, Ca., Nov. 11th, 2022 [From Lou Pellegrini] The 1988 bottle show in Las Vegas was the first time we had a bottle auction in conjunction with a show.

Norman C. Heckler & Co. was in charge of the auction, and Doc and Grace Rittenhouse donated a good part of their collection for the auction.

Norm Heckler came to our house, stayed overnight, and the following day went up to get the collection. He came back to my house, then went on to Las Vegas. One box of bottles was somehow left at my house and I didn’t notice it until after we moved into a new house. So the bottles have simply been in a box in the closet since 1988!

I remembered this box and decided to put them on my table at the 49er Historical Show in Auburn, California on November 11th, 2022. The intent was to sell them and give 100% of the proceeds to the FOHBC Virtual Museum. So this is a perfect situation to get them finally out of my house and give the money to the Federation.

Richard Siri presents Lou Pellegrini with a check for the bottles. Lou then sent the money to FOHBC Virtual Museum treasurer, Alan DeMaison.

Note: Louie was set on selling it as a lot, trying to get the most bang for a buck as a donation for the Virtual Museum. He set the bottles out, and within 20 minutes he had a few interested parties in individual bottles, or pairing a few together, but he wanted to hold out. Richard Siri came to take a look and bought the whole lot! We “cleared the table” in 20 minutes. We left the bottles out for people to view and tell the story. Later in the day Richard packed them up.

Photographs by Gina Pellegrini-Ott. 10

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Phase 3 30k

Tucker Christmas Image

Richard and Kathy Tucker sent us this great picture of a holiday scene where a GVII-1 “North Bend” “Tippecanoe” figural cabin is adorned with Christmas lights set in a wintery snow scene. See this great bottle in the FOHBC Virtual Museum Historical Flask Gallery.

Please help us fill our Original Pocahontas Bitters bottle

Please help us fill our Original Pocahontas Bitters bottle

25k

20k

15k

10k

5k

Phase 1 Flask Filled Dec. 2018

Phase 2 Jar Filled Dec. 2021

Smith’s Pittsburgh & Wheeling Porter

Check out our new Ales & Beers Gallery and you will see and read about this stunning porter bottle. George W. Smith was a pioneer ale brewer in Wheeling, Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Please help us in our Phase 3 fundraising capital campaign to continue development of the FOHBC Virtual Museum.

The FOHBC and the Virtual Museum team thank our many donors who have helped us raise over $86,568 to date. We have $27,462 in available funds to continue development to build our galleries, exhibition hall, research library and gift shop. Donations are tax deductible. All donors are listed on our Virtual Museum Recognition Wall.

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With one salaried website technician averaging $1,000 a month, we need help. Plus, we are now traveling to collections with the Pandemic hopefully behind us, so more costs will be incurred. All other time is donated by the Virtual Museum team out of our love and passion for the hobby and the FOHBC. Thank you!

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F O H B C V i r t ual Mus eum .o r g For gift information contact: Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Treasurer, 1605 Clipper Cove, Painesville, Ohio 44077, a.demaison@sbcglobal.net

January – February 2023

11

Orphan Jar with a Story

By Barry Bernas A fruit jar luminary coined the term Orphan Jar. He defined it as a jar so common that no one notices it or one so rare no one has ever seen it. The latter comment and some of the former apply to the object of this brief article.

[Figure 1]

Although sans a maker’s logo on the base, the sloped shoulder but otherwise cylindrically bodied 28-oz. clear jar in Figure 1 has a lid with a single “wedged shaped recess” on its side. It is top embossed ‘TO OPEN PRY OUT RUBBER AT NOTCH’ (Figure 2). More than likely, both were products of the Capstan Glass Co. made at separate times between late 1924 to late 1928. Capstan, a South Connellsville, Pennsylvania-located packer tumbler, bottle, and jar producing firm, held the exclusive contract to make glassware between December 1, 1924 and April 15, 1927 for the Vacuum Seal Co., Inc., a Delaware corporation with a business office in New York City. Thereafter, the Capstan Glass workforce continued to do some work for Vacuum Seal until late in 1928, when an action by the former caused the customer to go shopping for a new glassmaker to furnish their jars, containers, and accompanying lids and covers.

[Figure 1] North American Glass

The Figure 1 example is 6 5/8 inches tall with a 3 3/4 inch base diameter. Its mouth is large enough (80mm) for a hand to fit easily down into it. The underside is embossed ‘VACUUM SEAL COMPANY INC. NEW YORK’ around the abbreviation ‘PAT’D’ above seven dates between 1911 and 1917, which supposedly identify the patents associated with this jar. See Figure 3.

[Figure 2]

[Figure 3]

New York Supreme Court records indicate that besides this shoulder-type jar, which originally came with a three-notch lid (Figure 4), 8 and 16 oz. versions were also ordered by Vacuum Seal administrators. In addition, an 8 oz. tumbler with a three-notch lid (Figure 5) and 8, 16 and 28 oz. express jars (undefined but possibly straight-sided) with three-notch lids were also desired by Vacuum Seal officials under the initial contract. Capstan sales personnel estimated it would take twenty-five railcars to fill the Vacuum Seal order over the first one-year period.

Upon a Capstan Glass Co. recommendation in the spring of 1926, Vacuum Seal executives decided to change the appearance of their lid from three edge indentations (Figures 4-5) to only one that was more concealed. Capstan pattern and mold workers experimented with a new lid design to meet Vacuum Seal specifications for a recessed notch lid. Between June 1926 and November 1928, Capstan produced a single or underslung notch lid (likely Figure 2) for the Vacuum Seal jars, totally funded by the New York City firm. In addition, after the Capstan contract expired in mid-April 1927, Vacuum Seal officers had their underslung notch lid made by another glassmaker as well. This style of lid was advertised in 1927 and 1928. Figure 6 contains one example from 1928.

Shortly after Capstan lid production began and while further design experimentation continued at a Vacuum Seal facility, a Capstan employee, Louis P. Piazzoli, Jr., filed a patent request on July

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[Figure 4] The Standard Fruit Jar Reference

[Figure 5] Bottle News, June 1974

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

15, 1926, for a Sealed Package and Closure Cap Therefor. Unbeknownst to their Vacuum Seal client, this application was for a single “wedged shaped recess” on the side of a bottom flanged glass lid. This feature was identical or very similar to the single or underslung notch that Capstan employees were currently making for their Vacuum Seal customer.

The text of Piazzoli’s patent request reads in part: “…The means now commonly used is the formation of three notches 120 degrees a part about the periphery of the cap. These notches are cut completely through the flange so that a pin or other instrument may be pressed downwardly along the shoulder of the cap to break the seal thereof. In operation, it is difficult to force the pin back of the gasket because of its tendency to engage the gasket, in which case it is difficult to form a leak sufficient to break the vacuum because immediately upon removal of the pin the rubber expands to close the opening; whereas if the pin follows the shoulder of the cap along the side of the gasket it may be used as a small lever to press the gasket away from the shoulder and form a leak…” Figure 7 contains two drawings of the Piazzoli lid. One of which is on a jar with the same finish as the Figure 1 model made for Vacuum Seal.

Come November 27, 1928, Piazzoli’s request was approved as patent No. 1,693,250. At this point, Vacuum Seal folks were still in the dark as to what had happened; believing the single notch lid in current production was their property. Because Piazzoli’s patent rights were assigned to Capstan Glass, leaders there warned rival glassmakers that they couldn’t make this lid under threat of patent infringement proceedings. Any work done by Vacuum Seal’s new supplier to perfect the concealed one notch lid was for naught.

[Figure 6] The Glass Packer, January 1928

With concealed single notch lids in hand from both Capstan and another glass manufacturer, the Capstan threat caused Vacuum Seal decision makers to discontinue use of both the Capstan and second glassmaker’s lids. This action generated a pause in Vacuum Seal’s marketing campaign until they signed on with the Owens-Illinois Glass Co. of Toledo, Ohio, in December 1928 to have that firm manufacture their containers, covers, jars and lids. To get around the Capstan threat, Vacuum Seal personnel used a Gray Staunton 1917 patent (No. 1,212,274) for which they held the rights and a later Randolph H. Barnard one assigned to them in 1934 (No. 1,956,555) for the jar’s lid design.

Naturally, Vacuum Seal leaders took Capstan Glass to court to get Piazzoli’s patent rights reassigned to them, professing they had paid for all of the developmental work so the lid design was rightfully theirs. However, they were unsuccessful, and Capstan Glass got away with what appears to be a blatant act of design piracy.

[Figure 7] Illustration

Despite nearing the century mark in age, the Figure 1 jar still begs for hobby-land attention whenever an example can be found. Even though it was advertised for use by either a commercial packer or home preserver, this all-glass, vacuum-sealed jar still goes unnoticed by the majority of fruit and packer jar advocates. I guess its plain appearance, lack of color, and simplistic closure has relegated it to the backwater bin of inattention. That’s a shame because the jar is uncommon, is crowned with a lid that hasn’t been documented in the current fruit jar reference books, and comes with a story.

January – February 2023

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WANTED! Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Articles!

Our editor, staff and designers eagerly await helping you in any possible way.

We do the layout and design!

Please consider telling us about your collection or someone else’s. Tell us about your latest digging or picking adventure. Write a fictional bottle story. Tell us about an area or component of antique bottle and glass collecting that you find interesting. Every bottle has a story. Tell us about your favorite medicine man, merchant, or proprietor who is related to our bottles or about a glasshouse. Write an auction or show report. Tell us about a club outing, or maybe a visit to a glass museum. Maybe it is something you have learned in the hobby or have concerns with. Really, the sky is the limit.

Don’t be shy. Young or old, new to the hobby or a veteran, please unmask that author that is hiding inside!

Thank You! To submit a story, send a letter to the Editor, or have comments and concerns about Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, please contact the Editor, Elizabeth Meyer at fohbcmembers@gmail.com

January – February 2023

15

ACL CORNER #2 [Mike Dickman]

[Fig. 1] Flash Gordon’s rocket ship from a 1936 Hollywood film based on the comic strip (Photo courtesy of MGM Film Studios)

ON October 4, 1957, America was stunned when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) unexpectedly launched Sputnik 1 into orbit around the Earth. This launch of the first satellite triggered an avalanche of public anxiety about the technological superiority of our rival superpower. The anxiety only increased a few years later when the Russians sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into the first-ever manned orbital flight above the Earth. These seminal events led to the creation of NASA in 1958 and President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 pledge to send Americans to the Moon by the decade’s end. President Kennedy’s promise was fulfilled on July 20, 1969.

The so-called Space Race, which began in the late 1950s and continued through the successful landing of our Apollo 11 on the Moon in 1969, created great interest among Americans in what the 1960s TV series Star Trek called “Space: The Final Frontier.” The keen public interest in all things space was not lost on the bottlers of soda pop, who were always looking for ways to entice consumers to spend a nickel on their products. And what a wonderful array of ACL soda bottles they created!

[Fig. 11 above right] Launched in 1973, NASA’s Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to explore the planet Saturn and continues its journey through outer space to this day. It is expected to reach the nearest star, Lambda Aquilla, in approximately 4 million years.

(Illustration courtesy of NASA) (Figure 3) It’s anybody’s guess why companies located 35 miles apart and owned and managed by different people would have shared a product name as well as the same ACL. Perhaps there was

[Fig. 4] Rocket Beverages from Columbus, Ohio, 1962

Let’s look at some of these bottles.

[Fig. 2] Rocket Beverages from Longmont, Colorado, 1965

The term “rocket” as an interplanetary transport vehicle was popularized in the 1930s by the comic-strip character Flash Gordon, who traveled by rocket to the fictional planet Mongo to do battle against its evil ruler, Ming the Merciless. (Figure 1) The red-and-white soda named “Rocket Beverages” (Figure 2) was made by the Red Rock Bottling Co. of Longmont, Colorado, in 1965. It depicts a rocket soaring through the clouds toward outer space. Another bottle with the same image, but all in white, was produced by the Grapette Bottling Co. in nearby Greeley, Colorado, also in 1965.

[Fig. 3] Rocket Beverages from Greeley, Colorado, 1965

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a family relationship or other personal connection that is not apparent from the corporate records. In any event, both bottles are popular and relatively scarce but available. A nice example of the all-white ACL bottle typically may cost $35-$75, while the red-andwhite version from Longmont typically may cost $100-$150.

A different soda brand, also named “Rocket Beverages,” was bottled in Columbus, Ohio, by the Rocket Beverage Company in 1962. The bottle sported a light-blue-and-white ACL showing a rocket ship traveling above the Earth. It [Fig. 5] Space Ship from “Rocket held 12 ounces of pop and is very City” Huntsville, Alabama, 1958 rare. I was able to obtain a photo Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

[Fig. 14] On July 20, 1969, the American side of the Space Race reached a successful milestone when astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to walk on the Moon. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

[Fig. 15] The maiden launch of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, which was about the same time that the commercial use of ACLs on soda bottles in the U.S.

was coming to the end, replaced by aluminum cans and plastic bottles. During the next thirty years, NASA utilized Columbia and four other Space Shuttles to fly 135 missions into space.

(Photo courtesy of NASA)

[Fig. 6] Jet-Up in green glass, 1959 of the bottle from one of the few collectors who own an example (Figure 4).

Figure 5 shows the “Space Ship” brand of soda pop depicting a rocket ship with the saying, “Taste to New Heights.” It was put up by the Huntsville Seven Up Bottling Company in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1958, the year that the United States government created NASA. As often was the situation with local products, the brand probably didn’t last long, and the bottle today is extremely hard to find. Huntsville is nicknamed “Rocket City” and is the site of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, established in 1960 and currently NASA’s largest facility.

“Jet-Up with Space-Age Beverages” (Figure 6) was a soda pop bottled in Grove City, Pennsylvania, by the Nemo Bottling Works in 1959, just after the Space Race had begun. The back of the bottle has the dumb (in my opinion) slogan, “Get the Taste You’ve Been Missing, Blasting Off and Climbing High.” The manufacturer of the bottle used green glass, which creates a dramatic contrast with the red-and-white ACL. The company also put up the soda in a clear glass bottle with a white ACL, slightly different in design, and made it a few years later in 1962 (Figure 7). The green glass bottle is rarer and more expensive and does not come up for sale often. A nice all-white version of the bottle sold in June 2022 for a modest $45, including postage.

On July 8, 1947, the U.S. Army Air Force in Roswell, New Mexico, announced the “capture” of a crashed “flying disc” on a nearby ranch.

Although the Army quickly retracted the story in favor of a weather balloon, [Fig. 7] Jet-Up in clear glass, 1962 January – February 2023

[Fig. 8] Headline from the Roswell Daily Record, July 9, 1947. Although the Army Air Force press release used the term “flying disk,” the newspaper editors changed the object to a “flying saucer” for dramatic effect, a term that has stuck over the decades. (Photograph courtesy of the Roswell Daily Record, Roswell, NM)

[Fig. 9] Zee Beverages, 1959 flying saucers from outer space entered the popular imagination.

Some Americans speculated that our astronauts might encounter a flying saucer on their way to the Moon.

(Figure 8) “Zee Beverages” from Erie, Pennsylvania (Figure 9) was bottled by the Zee Beverage Co. in 1959. The blue-and-white ACL depicts a little flying saucer zooming off into space.

Although not a common bottle, Zee Beverages do appear for sale from time to time. In May of 2022, a nice example sold on eBay for $50, including postage.

[Fig. 10] Saturn Club Soda, 1961 17

“Saturn Club Soda” was put up in 28-ounce bottles with a red, white, and blue ACL (Figure 10). The soda was bottled in 1961 by the Saturn Beverage Co. of Buffalo, New York, and attempted to capitalize on the public’s interest in the Space Race by billing itself as “The Space Mixer.” The ACL depicts the planet Saturn with one of its rings, surrounded by twelve little stars. The planet Saturn is the sixth from the Sun, is visible with the naked eye, and has been known to humans since prehistoric times.

The Romans named “Saturday” after the planet. NASA’s Pioneer 11, a crewless probe, was the first spacecraft to fly past Saturn in 1979 and was followed by Voyager 1 in 1980 and other later probes.

(Figure 11) Although some collectors avoid large-size bottles (though others collect them enthusiastically), Saturn has a particularly vibrant, three-color ACL and is desirable to most collectors.

[Fig. 12] Universe, The Taste Treat Out of This World, 1963

There is an interesting side story to the Saturn ACL bottle. In the 1990s, the late Tom Marsh, an ACL aficionado and bottle dealer, acquired the inventory of the defunct Saturn Beverage Company, including multiple cases of the bottles (with 24 bottles per case). Tom started selling them at shows for $20 per bottle. Subsequently, however, his storage building burned to the ground and his entire stock of bottles was destroyed. A veteran collector recalls Tom Marsh describing how he stood outside the building watching it burn and how the sound of the glass bottles popping brought tears to his eyes.

Today, the Saturn Club Soda is rarely offered and undoubtedly would cost more than $20.

The year 1963 saw NASA’s first successful planetary flyby mission (Mariner 2, past Venus) and the successful testing of NASA’s first reusable piloted spacecraft (Flight 90 of the X-15 vehicle).

Finally, “Solo” (with the slogan, “High in Quality” depicting a fully suited astronaut outside his spacecraft above a planet), is another soda bottle that is rarely found. (Figure 13) The soda was bottled in San Juan in the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico and likely was made during the height of the Space Race during the 1960s. It has an all-white ACL and contained 330 ml of soda pop (approximately 11 oz.). The space suit shown on the ACL is remarkably accurate. (Figure 14) Today, the USSR is long gone, and Americans dominate what’s left of the Space Race through private, for-profit enterprises such as Space X (Elon Musk), Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos), and Virgin Galactic (Richard Branson). NASA is planning a second trip to the Moon and other exciting space ventures in the years and decades to come. (Figure 15) The ACL soda bottles discussed in this article are folksy, tangible reminders of the earliest days of the Space Race.

CREDIT: Photos of “Rocket” from Columbus, Ohio, and “Space Ship” courtesy of Timothy Brent Miller, who has a wonderful collection of ACL sodas that can be seen on his FaceBook page, Tim A.C.L. Miller; photo of the all-white ACL “Jet-Up” courtesy of Anna Vaporis; all of the other photographs of bottles are by Chris Weide ©2022.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Marsh, Thomas E., “The Official Guide to Collecting ACL Soda Bottles” (Youngstown, Ohio, 1992) Sweeney, Rick, “Collecting Applied Color Label Soda Bottles” (3d ed. 2002, PSBCA) Wikipedia, entries for Flash Gordon, Huntsville, JFK, NASA, Roswell Incident, Saturn, Shuttle, Space Race, and Sputnik.

[Fig. 13] Solo, High in Quality, circa late 1960s

“Universe” was a soda pop made by the North Side Bottling Works of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in 1963 (Figure 12). Its slogan was “The Taste Treat Out of This World” and it contained seven ounces of soda.

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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

$1000 June 2021 Glass Works Auctions Lot 141: June 2021 · Glass Works Auctions “ST / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, (Ring/Ham, D-108), New York, ca. 1862 - 1875, black olive amber color 6-log cabin, 10”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. Perfect condition, extremely bold impression, no wear or scratches. A very rare color and as dark as any we’ve sold! Also four heavy ‘beads’ are embossed on the base, something we have not seen in any other Drake’s! Dan Catherino Collection.

$180 May 2012 American Glass Gallery #8 “ST / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, (Ring/Ham, D-105), New York, ca. 1862 - 1875, medium salmon pinkish puce 6-log cabin, 10”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. A 1/2” in diameter in-making chip extends from beneath the applied collar down into the neck. Pure puce color that looks great in any lightning.

$2,400 November 2020 American Glass Gallery #121 Lot 185: ““S T / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, 1862 - 1880. Medium-to-deep pinkish raspberry, cabin form with 6 logs above the label panel, applied sloping collar - smooth base, ht. 9 7/8”, near mint; (just the slightest trace of minor wear, and the embossing is a little weak in the upper shoulders as is not uncommon with this mold, otherwise perfect). R/H #D106. A gorgeous, rare, eye-appealing color that passes plenty of light, and having plenty of pink!

$15,690 September 2020 Glass Works Auctions #121 251: “General Washington” And Bust – “E Pluribus Unum / T.W.D.” And Eagle Portrait Flask, Kensington Glass Works, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1820-1830. “Firecracker” Medium amber with a strong olive tone, sheared mouth – pontil scar, pint; (light exterior high point wear). GI-14.

Tremont Labeth collection.

$14,000 September 2020 Glass Works Auctions Lot 172: “ST / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, (Ring/Ham, D-105), New York, ca. 1862 - 1875, medium moss green cabin, 9 7/8”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. Recently ‘picked’ at the ‘Elephant Trunk’ flea market in Connecticut (a favored venue of the ‘Flea Market Flip’ reality television show), and possibly only the second known example in this very unusual moss green color. In 1993 we auctioned the collection of Elmer Smith of Shelton, Washington. Lot 20 in that collection was at that time the only moss green Drake’s Plantation Bitters known to exist, it sold for $10,000!

Drakes Plantation Bitters

Available to FOHBC Members Only!

Online Auction Price Report. Search on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer. Includes 10 years of results from American Bottle Auctions, American Glass Gallery, Glass Works Auctions and Heckler in Phase 1. The Auction Price Report will only be available to FOHBC members. Joining the FOHBC will give the new member 24/7/365 access. What a great tool this will be for the collectors, diggers, pickers, researchers and the generally curious! Phase 2 will include images!

Visit the FOHBC.org Members Portal for instructions.

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January – February 2023

21

A Line from the Past

By Rick Weiner

An unexplained connection

I

have been digging up old bottles for most of my life, and I know what it takes to find the good spots that give us a better opportunity to get into the older glass.

If you do not do the research to locate these bottle graveyards, you will not reap the rewards anytime soon. That being said, I have been going through a bit of a slump myself in that particular area. I have hit an all-time low, even with many mediocre to great digs under my belt. We just have not been able to locate many privies lately. I have garnered many permissions, but a cloud of bad luck has been looming overhead.

The last place we attempted to dig was in East Pickleville, Pennsylvania. The town looked very promising. It was a nice little old village, established in the early 1800s, and it looked like the bottles should be flowing from these outhouse holes like nobody’s business. But that was not the case here because we could not locate one single privy! The ground felt like solid rock 22

everywhere. When I tried to stick the probe in, I received an 8.2 aftershock from the vibration on the hollow handle!

I started to wonder if there were any privies in these yards at all. If we were having a hard time probing now, I am sure the people of the past had an even harder time digging these 10-footplus pits through solid clay and rock to make an outhouse for their daily use. When all else failed, they would usually use the “clean-out method”: they would put buckets under the back of the outhouse where the seat holes were located. Then the buckets would be hauled away and dumped in the woods somewhere.

These types of outhouses would not produce any bottles, or other types of artifacts for that matter, and “we despise the clean-out method!” It is a privy digger’s nightmare.

I continued stabbing the ground, hitting nothing but hard slag and stone. Then, suddenly, the probe felt different as it quickly went down to the handle! Could our luck be changing? We were about to find out.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

The phone was tossed aside, and we continued to dig. We worked at it for a while with no signs of glass or remnants of anything old. This would also be the case when we finally hit the bottom of this pit. The only thing that we found in this privy was a yellow telephone! It must have been tossed in when they filled the sinkhole around the 1970s.

A “J. Wise Allentown Pa.” blue soda water in the process of being unearthed

We knew there were other privies in this yard, but since we probed every square inch and hit hard stone everywhere, we were at a loss as to where to try next. Paul was walking the yard searching for a spot when I had an idea to lighten up the depressing situation. I picked up the phone and spoke to the receiver, “Hello, do you know where the privies are in this yard?” Paul looked at me like I was nuts (once again), but he knew how I joked around all the time, so he shrugged it off and went right back to probing. To make the prank look more realistic, I went to the truck to get an old amber whiskey cylinder that had been lying in the bed for a few months. I held the phone, ripped the cord out of the base, and then stuck the cut end in the top of the bottle. I held the receiver in my hand and returned to the yard.

Then I started my routine all over again. “Hello, can you please tell me where the outhouses are located in this yard?” Again Paul had that look.

Just as I was about to defend my sanity, I heard something strange. It sounded like a very low static scratchy sound. Was it a bee or something stuck in this receiver? I heard it again, and it was no bee. I was just about to throw the gag phone in the bushes when I thought I heard a faint voice! I was in shock! I did feel lightheaded from the heat, lack of food and water, and maybe too many Red Bulls.

The work continued like any other privy dig, and the ash and fill began to pile up. Then, I tapped something with the shovel, which didn’t feel like glass. It felt more like some sort of plastic material! We were high up at the beginning of the pit, so we were not jumping to any conclusions. I would be worried if we found plastic deeper in the hole. That would tell us the pit had been dug and filled in by a rival digger. So, we still had hope. The object was starting to take shape…it was odd-looking, and I noticed it was yellow. My digging partner Paul kept asking me what it was, but I didn’t want to say it just yet. I needed to uncover more to make sure I didn’t imagine things. Finally, what I saw matched my thoughts, and it was time to identify. One more time, Paul chimed in, “What is it, man?” I reluctantly replied, “It’s a freaking yellow telephone, that’s what it is!” He looked at me like I was coo-coo for cocoa puffs. Then with one hard tug, I pulled it out of the ground! It was definitely an old rotary-style desktop telephone with the cord intact! This certainly was one of the strangest things to come out of a privy, and we have found some real doozies in the past.

January – February 2023

So I thought that might be the cause of my delusions. I didn’t want to tell Paul because he already thought I was whacky, so I just played it cool. I listened hard to hear this voice again. When I finally made it out, I could not believe what I had heard! It was indeed a voice, but from where and how? I was on the other side of the yard, standing in shock, unable to move. I remember asking, “Hello, do you know where the privies are located in this yard?” or something along those lines. I was seriously joking when I did this. The voice spoke these words in a creepy low, monotone voice, almost like an old scratchy horn phonograph. “Hello, good sir, the outhouses in my yard were situated on the back alleyway by the old weeping tree; good day” then it went back to static. I was numb with fear and excitement at the same time, but I had to act on this. It would not be in my best interest to block this out. I knew I was not going crazy, well, not this time, anyway.

Paul was in the middle of the property probing in the hot sun, and I was making my way back to the alley. It almost felt like I was floating, my legs were moving but my mind was in a fog. When 23

I reached the alleyway, I told Paul to toss over the probe. I stuck it in the ground right where “I was told,” and Bam! Down it went! I jammed the rod under the alley next to the big old dead weeping willow, and the privy was there! Right where the creepy voice told me it was. My body felt like jello. Now Paul had no clue about this weird event. I was not sure I was going to tell him either. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to tell him? I had to keep it quiet for a while to protect my sanity anyway. Just for chits and giggles, I probed six feet away from the first pit and, once again, the probe sank to the handle! We had two privies ready to open up just like that.

Paul didn’t pay too much attention to my outhouse-finding skills because we both have found privies this quick in rough yards. It’s just a matter of “luck” and perseverance with a little bit of probing skill tossed in for good measure. But this time was different! I didn’t know what to do about this whole crazy situation. I figured I would have to shut it out of my mind, if that was at all possible, and concentrate on digging these two privies. After all, that is what we came here to do. I knew this would be the strangest privy dig ever. I resorted to taking half of a Xanax to function normally. My insides felt like liquid sloshing around, and my mind felt like a slinky going slow motion down the Great Wall of China.

I started to think about all of the things involved here. First of all, this was something that only happened in the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits—take your pick. Second, could the voice I heard be someone or something that had used this outhouse before and lived back in the 1800s? I wasn’t sure I wanted to believe all of it, but how else could it be explained? I would have to let Paul in on it real soon because it was too much for my mind to handle alone.

Maybe if I let the cat out of the bag, I would feel better about the whole thing. It was now or never.

I walked up behind him and started the conversation as best I could. “Paul, do you believe in spirits from the past?” I knew I could expect an answer right away since he had told me of a strange event that had happened to him at Gettysburg when he went on a family vacation. It was a long time ago, and I forgot the details, so I made him give me a refresher. It went something like this: Paul and his family took a trip to Gettysburg, Pa., in the summer of 2007. They rented a bungalow very close to the battlefield. While his family was sleeping, Paul went to the window and peered out, soaking in the rich history of Gettysburg. It was a very dark moonless night; the only lights visible were those from other scattered bungalows in the vicinity. He could not make out much, but as he turned to go back to bed, he heard an odd screeching noise and jerked his head back to the window to have a look.

What he saw was unexplainable. In the open field, was a fully dressed Civil War soldier with a ripped-up coat floating across the battlefield slightly above ground level, moving at a pretty good clip. The figure was in the form of a mist with a dim grayish light coming from within him. The apparition seemed to be on a mission to get somewhere. He was gone when he reached the tree line, like vapor disappearing into the air.

That kind of story is hard to make up, and, besides, Paul was not the type of guy to tell tall tales. So with that strange story out of the way, I decided to tell him everything that was happening with the phone. “Hey, Paul, I have been getting phone calls from the 24

In the open field, was a fully dressed Civil War soldier with a ripped-up coat floating across the battlefield slightly above ground level, moving at a pretty good clip.

past.” I figured I would get to the point right away instead of beating around the lilac bush. Obviously, he thought I was joking even though he had just recounted the story of the misty soldier.

Because, as I said, that is what I do regularly, joke. Why would this day be any different? As I tried to explain the madness, the phone rang; the timing was perfect! Paul’s jaw hit the dirt, but he still thought I was trying to pull a fast one on him until I handed him the receiver. I didn’t hear what the man was saying, but by the look on Paul’s face, I felt he was telling him the same thing he had told me. Paul took the phone away from his ear, he looked like he was in another world, and he pretty much was. He laid it on the ground.

“What the hell was that?” he mumbled in a low, almost intoxicated-sounding voice. I went through all the details of what I experienced, and we sat there looking at each other for a few minutes wondering what to do. When Paul began to believe 100%, we decided to do some tests. I was unsure if we should call or wait for them to contact us. Besides, I didn’t know how to reach them; there was no dial pad; we just had a receiver, a cord, and a bottle.

I am glad I used a bottle for the prank effect. I was unsure if the bottle was needed to activate the phone from the past. What I did know was we were about to embark on one crazy adventure!

When we finished with the yard and got everything back to the original condition, we decided to test the phone in a place where we could not find the privies. Even with weeks of probing, we could not locate a single hole. There were not too many times when we would abandon a yard without finding the pits, but there were a few instances where we had no choice. These “ghost pits,” as we call them, are depressing to even think about. We took the time to get these hard-earned permissions, but we leave empty-handed. Today we would go back to one of the non-productive Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

yards and wait for the phone to do its thing. It even sounded crazy casually talking about it, like it’s an everyday occurrence.

It was a hot Saturday in August, and we were ready to tackle a “ghost pit” yard. It was exciting knowing what happened at the last place, but the question was, will it work here? We were nervous as we strolled down the busted-up Victorian slate sidewalk that led to an old weather-beaten, half-standing shed. I had the bottle phone sticking out of the top of my backpack. I turned around and gave Paul the nod to do the deed. He picked up the receiver from the backpack like he was calling in an airstrike on a battlefield. It was more like a yard strike of sorts, a tactical strike to locate some privies! It is funny how we called these elusive privies “ghost pits” long before we found this strange phone.

It was almost like it was meant to happen to us that day, as the almighty bottle gods planned. You know how the old saying goes, “things happen for a reason,” but what in the world could be the reason for this unexplained craziness?

Freshly dug “Seitz & Bro. Easton Pa.” soda water in blue glass.

We left the probes in the truck and let the phone do its magic. If it were to work on this yard, I was pretty sure we would be in business for future permissions. Heck, we may never need a probe again! Paul got on the horn and waited. There was no sound or static whatsoever, just dead silence, and I mean dead. As Paul walked around the yard in a grid-like pattern, the phone stayed silent. Was this the end of our creepy little game? But I spoke too soon; suddenly, the scratchy static broke the silence; it sounded like an old ham radio trying to get a far-off signal. But there was no voice to tell us where the pits were. This went on for half an hour. I sat down on the steps to drink some water, then it happened! This time, a woman’s voice rose over the static; she began to speak, “the privy to my yard is located by the big rock, have a pleasant day gentlemen,” and then it went back to scratchy white noise and faded away. A lot of times, the voice was very faint.

OK, we got the directions, but there were no big rocks in this yard? I did a walk around and did not see any rocks whatsoever, small or large. I decided to get a Red Bull and think about this.

Paul was walking by the back of the house, looking for any signs of a huge rock. It shouldn’t be too hard to spot because the area was not that big; it was a typical row house yard. I sat on the high grass and guzzled my cold Red Bull. As I went to put my drink down, I laid my hand on something hard and uneven. I removed some grass and dirt from one side with a hand tool. I believe I found the big rock! The rock was buried from all of the years that the ground had changed. It was most likely filled and refilled with topsoil many times. As I took more dirt from around the rock, its size started to take shape. It was definitely a “big rock” and probably the only one in the yard.

Freshly dug and cleaned “Summer Tree” pictorial flask.

I flagged Paul over and he agreed; it was definitely the spot. Now we just had to start digging around the boulder and verify there was an outhouse hole there. We still did not use the probes as we decided to use the phone exclusively. The homeowner came out and asked how things were going and if it was hard trying to find the outhouse in her yard. We looked at each other with sneaky grins and said, “Oh, it’s going great; it’s almost like a little yellow birdie told us where to dig.” If she only knew. She offered us the use of her large patio table umbrella to put over the dig site since it was going to climb close to 100 degrees that day. I graciously January – February 2023

25

accepted her offer and set it up over the big rock. As the shoveling continued, we were still yet to get the vibe of any privy being there. Since we said we would not use the probes, we had to read the signs as we dug.

There was a three-foot trench around the big rock and no signs of “old life.” We were right on the fringe of calling it quits. Then, suddenly, I hit a crumbly red clay brick with the shovel. Signs of old bricks are always a good indication of humans from the past being there. We concentrated on digging out the brick. It turned out we were digging on the outside of a brick-lined privy!

The huge rock boulder was smack dab in the middle of the privy blocking the center off like a giant cork! While digging around it, we had no idea it was that big!

Now another dilemma had taken center stage. “How the hell were we going to get this mammoth thing out?” My first thought was my truck and a chain. I just hoped the chain I had was long enough to make it from the alley to the rock-stuffed privy. We have done things like this a few times before. You have to get inventive when it comes to digging outhouses; it doesn’t always go as smoothly as you would like, as a wrench is often tossed in the mix to make things interesting, in this case, a mammoth rock!

The operation was in full swing. Everything was working fine, Paul gave me the hand signals, and I crept forward an inch at a time in my little S10 pickup. Before we knew it, the mini-mountain was sitting smack dab in the middle of the lady’s lawn.

At times like this, I start getting nervous about the homeowner coming out and seeing the craziness that is going on in her lovely manicured backyard, and then we heard the words, “Oh my god, that’s enough! Stop what you’re doing” but then reality kicked in.

If she made us leave on the spot, who would remove the massive bolder and clean up the mess in her lovely yard? We had her where we wanted her—on our side! She would just have to trust our skills as privy diggers.

OK, the time had come to check out what was under the rock.

As we walked back to the dig spot, we were expecting to see ash and fill to the top, but what we saw shocked us silly! We were staring down an open five-and-one-half-foot-wide brick liner. It seemed to go down at least 20 feet, maybe more. My first thought was that we need a ladder to test the bottom of this thing if that was the bottom we were seeing. I had a 24-foot extension ladder at home, but that would mean I would have to drive 25 minutes to get it. The neighbor must have overheard our dilemma and was kind enough to offer us his ladder. I love it when people are friendly and understanding, as it makes the world a better place, especially in the privy-digging world. He was also very curious to see what was in this bottomless pit in his neighbor’s yard.

Sometimes curiosity killed the cat and the neighbor. He probably has the same size hole in his yard. When this one is filled in, and the yard looks good, we will lay on the charm and try to get into his brick time capsule.

After a little small talk with the neighbor, we had the ladder in the pit, and I was making my way down into the dark, damp void.

With each step, I was praying for good things to happen. Bottles on the bottom would definitely be on top of the list. As I stepped off the last rung, I felt nothing but air! I was a bit freaked out by 26

this. When the ladder was sent down, we figured it was on the bottom because it stopped dead and felt solid. But that wasn’t the case. With the use of my trusty pocket pen flashlight, I saw what the problem was. The ladder was sitting on a rock ledge.

They seemed to have build the brick around a big rock protruding from the wall. Instead of trying to pull or break it out, the original diggers of the outhouse just left it there to save on the hassle of starting to dig another hole. We have encountered many privies with large rocks protruding from the sides and sometimes even the bottom. As I shined the thin beam of light downward, I could not spot any sign of the “true” bottom. It was turning into a dangerous situation. The ladder was hanging on by one rung, resting on the rock. I had to slowly and carefully climb to the top, extend the ladder, and pray it was a 24-foot hole because that is what the size of this ladder was. Right now, we were at 12 feet.

a quick scan of the ‘With bottom, I saw something

pretty unbelievable: colored sodas everywhere, laying on the top and half sticking out of the fill.

I made my way up and out of that hairy situation, a little shaken but ready to go on. We unhooked the rope and the two hooks and let the ladder drop. “Klank, klank, klank,” it went down and stopped with a thud. “That must be the bottom” if it wasn’t, that would have left us with no other option but to abandon this crazy undertaking. It was time to flip the coin to see who would descend into this death trap. The coin was air-bound...“heads,” I called it, and I lost. I seemed to get the shaft once again, and it was only fitting. Déjà vu.

This time I was going to get to the bottom of this beast. While going down, I kept looking up and saw the hole getting smaller and smaller. As I stepped off the last rung, I was finally on solid footing. I couldn’t see too much because my flashlight was going dead. I yelled up to Paul to drop down a “scratcher.” I made sure I was hugging the wall so I didn’t get knocked on the head; even though I was wearing a hard hat, bad things could happen in deep pits. He let it loose, and I heard a loud “smash!!” I shined the beam in the vicinity of the sound and saw a blue squat soda smashed into three pieces! With a quick scan of the bottom, I saw something pretty unbelievable: colored sodas everywhere, laying on the top and half sticking out of the fill. These things don’t happen daily in the bottle-digging world. Hell, they don’t happen in a lifetime!

We were just scratching the surface, but there was a chance that the blobs we found on top were the only bottles in the pit. But, by the way it felt, my guess was most likely wrong. I reached down and started to pull out soda after soda with my three-prong Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

digger. Paul was getting antsy up top. I could tell he wanted to get down into this bottle gold mine and start pulling stuff out, but I needed one more swipe of the dig tool, and with that swipe, a 12-sided dark green blob just rolled right into view. It was a J. Z. Hockman from Philadelphia, one we had never seen before.

I started to wonder if only sodas and beers were in this privy.

Sometimes people would dump large amounts of bottles they had lying around in their barns, sheds, etc. I often daydream about this phenomenon. The scenario goes something like this: The fellow’s wife is hounding him to death to clean out all of the empty bottles from the barn he had been saving for some time.

Then in a fit of anger because of his wife’s heckling, he grabs the boxes of colored blob-top sodas and dumps them straight down the outhouse hole when they are filling it in for the last time, getting ready for another pit. Chanting, “There ya are, ya happy woman?” Anything could have happened and that just sets these wonderful digs up for us, the future outhouse diggers. There is so much history to think about in this hobby. That is what makes it so alluring to me.

This dig turned into a long night-shift operation. There were so many bottles, and the time was flying by. We had to break out the heavy-duty headlamps and flashlights to pierce the darkness.

I had an idea, so I suggested we use an old whale oil lamp we found in another privy for light. I just happen to have a jug of modern lamp oil and an assortment of old lamp parts in my truck.

I had them with me because I was going to sell some parts to Badger, a buddy of mine who collects antique lamps.

Variety “Easton Pa.” soda water bottles in green glass.

It felt like we were digging in the past with that old lamp burning at the bottom of the outhouse. With all of this excitement going on, we forgot about the “phone” and what we would do about this weird item. I had no intention of telling anyone else about it; they would think it was pure poppycock. Besides, I wanted to keep using it as long as it still worked.

As Paul dug the pit, I decided to walk around the neighborhood and check out a few potential yards. Since there was hardly any dirt to haul up, I figured he would be down there a while running his fingers through the colored beers and sodas. It was 11 pm, and I guessed there would be no one awake to get permission from, so I did a little “yard shopping.” I would check out a house, and if it looked good, then I would knock on doors the next day and try to get permission. I had so much caffeine in me that I could walk and look all night long, but I couldn’t forget Paul back at the open privy in case anything went wrong.

It was almost becoming an obsession. As I wandered the streets and alleys in the cloak of darkness, checking out the old homes on the block, I had a crazy thought. I even started to talk out loud; no one was around, so what the hell? “That’s a perfect house that looks to be 1860-ish. I should check it out.” I acted impulsively and jumped over this low busted-up, split-rail fence. It was now midnight, and the streets were completely dead. I figured no one would see me if I took a quick walk in the yard and asked the “phone” where the privies were. I knew it was trespassing, but I was not going to dig or disturb the property. I had to reassure myself I was not doing anything wrong when I knew damn well I was!

January – February 2023

“F. Seitz Easton Pa.” soda water bottle in blue-green glass.

27 27

Left to right: “Seitz & Bro.,” “Kohl & Beans,” “G.A. Kohl” and “Seitz & Bro.” all “Easton, Pa.” in blue and green glass.

But the allure of that contraption from the past took over my better judgment.

Before I knew it, I was in the yard, pacing up and down with the phone to my ear. If someone were to see me, they would call the asylum rather than the cops. Soon I heard very low static but no voice. I was getting a little nervous, but I kept moving. I planned to locate the privy tonight and then go back and knock on the door in the morning to try and gain permission. Just a few more steps, and if all I heard was silence on the contraption, I was ready to call it quits. But all of a sudden the phone spoke! “The outhouse to this homestead is back by the….” It just cut out; no more static, just dead silence. In a split second, I was bombarded with bright lights! Oh my god, it was the cops! It was almost like the phone knew the police were there. How was I going to explain this one?

The tall officer spoke, “do you live here, sir?” No, I replied.

“Stay where you are, don’t move.” They started to make their way into the yard. All I could do was stand still and shake. I tried to think of something to say, but I had nothing. Soon I was face to face with two cops in someone’s backyard at midnight. I knew it was coming, “Sir, what are you doing with that phone?” I knew I was sunk, so I decided to tell them the truth. I had nothing to lose but my dignity. “I use it to find old outhouses.” They both looked at me like I had four heads. The saying is usually two heads, but this was so bizarre I was pretty sure they saw four heads. The next thing I knew, I was in handcuffs and being led down the back sidewalk around the corner to the front door. I knew I should have listened to my inner gut and stayed on the other side of that fence. One of the officers knocked on the door, 28

and we waited. A few minutes passed, and no one answered; after all, it was 12:30 at night, and most “normal” people were sleeping. Then the door slowly swung open “oh my god, what happened” there stood an old man sporting a Yankees cap. He also was wearing a red night robe. He stood there looking at us while rubbing his eyes. When he turned the porch light on, he shouted out, “Rick? What the hell are you doing here?” I could not believe my eyes! It turned out to be one of Paul’s dad’s old friends Johnny Gud. I had no clue he lived in this town. What are the odds? The cops blurted out, “Do you know this man?”

Thank god he said yes.

After all the talking and ensuring everything was in order, they took off the cuffs and started to leave. As they were walking out, one of them said, “by the way, what did you say the phone was for?” I just looked at them and said, “what phone?” Not another word came out of their mouths, and they slowly drove off. I was sure they would be telling some good stories back at the station.

I had met Johnny a few months ago at a car show. Thank god he remembered me. I went on to tell him that Paul was digging in an outhouse three houses down. The great thing was that Paul’s dad told Johnny all about our crazy hobby a while ago, so he believed every word I told him. Except for the phone, I didn’t tell him about that as enough was going on, and I didn’t want to open up that can of worms. I explained that I was looking for another place to dig for tomorrow, and he just nodded his head, gave me a hand signal, and said goodnight. I caught him just before he got back in the house. “Johnny, would you mind if I checked the yard before I head back to Paul?” He was fine with it. He gave me his blessing and mumbled, “you guys are nuts.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Amazing line-up of dug Pennsylvania soda water bottles.

Lay off the caffeine,” then turned out the porch light.

I returned to my digging partner to see what he had piled up over there. I hoped it was a glass mountain of old colored bottles. The Monster caffeine drink was starting to wear off now, and I was slowing down to a crawl. When I arrived at the pit, Paul was sprawled out on the homeowner’s fold-out lawn chair with a pair of pants from the clothesline over his head. I guess he was losing steam, also. Then I did a double-take; he was actually cutting zzz’s sleeping. I scanned the area around the privy and did not see any bottles, so I figured I would wake Paul up and ask him how he made out in the pit. But just as I was about to shake him, the flashlight caught a blip from under the lawn chair he was on.

With closer inspection, I was looking at at least 70 colored squats and stone beers! I guess he cleaned out the bottom while I was getting arrested.

good people from the past would not let us down. Time will tell.

The bottles and pictures used in this article were all dug in this life, all from hard work and determination.

No “mystery phone” needed!

I didn’t want to wake him since he did all the work getting the bottles up and out of the deep pit himself, so, quietly, I gathered up the tools, spruced up the area, and covered the hole with a sheet of plywood so he could take a long catnap. Thank god there was nothing to fill in; that doesn’t happen to us very often. The homeowner mentioned something before we started about making a bomb shelter of some sort if we found a brick-lined pit. He got his wish, and we got ours.

This dig was history, my watch said 2:30 am, and it was time to get our filthy bodies home and crawl into our beds. We would have to wait to use the “privy phone” again. It would be at least a week and a half before we would hear that wonderful creepy scratchy sound. We had Johnny’s yard to do, and I prayed that the January – February 2023

Fresh from the pit.

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er was selling off “a long-time collection of local bottles, many uncommon offerings.” He went on to say that dealers expressed they were having a great show. There was lots of buying and selling. Dealers that set up came from Finksburg to Baltimore to East Greenville, Maryland.

FOHBC Regional Reports continued from page 9 sylvania. Chairman Bill Hegedus reports that there were approximately 40 early admissions and 200 general admission customers.

Dealers reserved about 70 plus tables for the event. Paid refreshments were available at the show. Free parking was provided. The show display area was set up on two levels, and handicapped access to both floors was available. A great day was had by all.

The following day, on October 23, The Mid-Maine Antique Bottle Club (MMABC) held its 2nd Annual Show and Sale at the Topsham, Maine Fair Grounds. Paul McClure, Show Chairman, reports that there were 40+ dealers and 63 tables sold for the event. Just about all dealers from last year’s show returned, and several additional dealers signed up for this year’s show. The weather was almost balmy at 65 degrees with a light cloud overcast sky. The parking lot was filled all day. Activity seemed quite brisk. Several dealers I spoke with seemed very pleased with how sales were going. For some dealers, this was their first time in attendance. They enjoyed the venue for a number of reasons. They said that it was easy to locate, had lots of parking, good lighting, hot food available on the site, and it was close to other amenities. Two dealers took advantage of outdoor setups for the first time. Paul noted that this show continues to attract well-known and respected New England bottle dealers providing for “lots of camaraderie.” Although attendance was down slightly from last year, it was still quite respectable, with 15 early shoppers and 120 paid admissions. “Raffle tickets were sold, many rare labeled Maine Bitters and advertising was on display (Courtesy of Sam Fuller) and was voted most educational. Another display was oddities from digging dumps. A table of free bottles was available for anyone to pick up, hopefully, to encourage new collectors. A table with handouts from the NBM, the FOHBC, the Poland Spring Museum, and others were available.” Dan Lakatos, a bottle dealer/photographer from Elgin, South Carolina, provided the wonderful photos for the show. Dan is a longtime MMABC friend and dealer, returning each year to the show even after moving to South Carolina. What a great idea to have one of the dealers as the show photographer. Maybe other club show chairpersons can follow this lead for future bottle club shows!

This year’s show was dedicated “to Dr. Curtis Morse, a longtime friend to many of us, a great bottle collector and an MMABC member who’s generously given his knowledge to many people throughout his decades of collecting.”

There were three November shows this past year. The first was in Elton, Maryland, on November 6, sponsored by the Tri-State Bottle Collectors and Diggers Club, where they held the club’s 49th annual event. Dave Brown, Show Chair, reported that 75 sales tables displayed a wide variety of bottles and glass. One deal30

The following week, on November 13, the Pittsburgh Antique Bottle Club (PABC) staged its 52nd Annual Show and Sale in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Show Chairman Bob DeCroo told us that 60 dealers took over 101 tables. Early admission was a huge success, with 38 buyers paying a premium of $25 to shop before general admission at 9 AM. Bob noted that the general admission was greater than expected, with over 300+ paid admissions. Dealers love the new venue with its wonderful space and great lighting.

Dealer-to-dealer buying and selling and dealer-to-buyer business was active all day long. This is the second year at the new location, and by all measures it is a wonderful facility for the club’s annual bottle show. The PABC hosts dealers and club members the evening before the show for a free meal, hospitality and camaraderie.

Since the third November show is on November 27, I will report on that show in our next edition of Northeast Region activities.

The New Jersey Antique Bottle and Collectors Association will have hosted its 52nd Annual Antique Bottle and Collectors Show in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey.

Lastly, Roy Topka from the National Bottle Museum sent me an update on the activity at the museum. Roy writes that the museum is planning “an article with photos to send into the magazine outlining the work done to bring the Glass Factory exhibit to life as well as some new history.” An Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust grant provided the money for the “Glass Factory Mountain: Making Bottles and Making History Exhibit.” It is now installed at the Museum in Ballston Spa, New York. As of November 7, “a few tweaks to the exhibit are being undertaken; it will be a popular attraction to those familiar with Saratoga-type bottles, more so to individuals unaware of the history of the Mt. Pleasant Glass Works. Engaging the public about the history of bottles and the glassblowing industry is important to all trustees and volunteers at the museum. We encourage you to join the museum and help us continue our mission. Volunteers at the museum are also needed, as well as trustees, to serve on the board. Trustees can attend meetings via Zoom.” Finally, Roy notes that the dealer contracts for the 43rd Annual Saratoga Bottle Show, June 4, 2023, will go out in the mail in January.

Midwest Region [Henry Hecker, Director] I am continuing to make contacts with more clubs in the region.

In this report, I will summarize some of the trends and challenges facing the bottle-collecting field in the coming months. I have not been able to visit club shows, and I continue to recuperate from back surgery, but I have gathered some highlights in the region.

I am hearing several common themes, further confirming my experience with several volunteer organizations. While the hobby is strong in its core of legacy collectors, the contingent continues to skew older, and club memberships have flatlined or declined. Both in club membership and show attendance, the demographic is predominantly 45 years old and up. Club meeting attendance is on the Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

wane, and recruiting new members, especially those under 30, is difficult. Finally, some clubs find it difficult to get members to volunteer for officer roles. Clubs are trying various means to reverse these trends with varying degrees of success, but none have found a silver bullet. I will share some of the ideas that are being tried.

Mike Brodzik reported a successful Metropolitan Detroit Club Show held in Royal Oak, Michigan, on November 12. There were 39 tables, and 123 counted at the gate, with nine paying early admission. The turnout and sales were strong despite a lot of road work around the venue. Mike is both Club President and Show Chairman.

The Milwaukee Antique Bottle and Advertising Club is already gearing up for their February 2023 show. Sid Hatch is similarly playing both roles as president and show chairman. At our October meeting, elections were held and the same members were elected to their same offices they have held for the last decade, and in most cases unopposed for the voting. Let’s hear it for stability at least! The club tries to have a presenter about every three meetings to keep them interesting, has a show and tell each meeting, and holds a summer picnic. This year we had two descendants of Fred Miller, one of the beer barons of Milwaukee, hold court at the picnic telling us some of the inside stories of this prominent family over the years.

The Antique Bottle Club of Northern Illinois held its show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds on November 20. John Puzzo, show chairman, reports that the club had 26 tables. The show is held at the same time as a popular advertising collecting show on the grounds. So, despite the relatively small number of bottle tables, attendance was robust at around 1,000, and sales were extremely strong, The North Star Historical Bottle Club of Minnesota seems to be bucking the aging trend somewhat. Steve Ketcham reports that their president/show chairman and newsletter editor are both under thirty years of age. (Oh, to be young again!) They have been having “Best Dug” contests to spice up their meetings. They recently hosted a national expert on Coca-Cola to present on that great topic.

Finally, the Ohio Bottle Club is holding alternatively in-person meetings and Zoom meetings to encourage attendance. Ohio is a big state! They have several categories to make the meetings fun, including “best dug and best-acquired bottles” and best dug and best-acquired anything.” Those categories about cover it!

Southern Region [Jake Smith, Director] The southern region has had many shows in October and November. I attended the 9th Annual Alabama Antique Bottle Collectors Show & Sell (Fayette, Alabama) and they sold out of their 50 tables. Traffic was good, with sales of all kinds occurring. Show chair Jeff Pendley is already working on next year. I have seen some photographs from the Tennessee Bottle Collectors Nashville Area Antique Bottle & Advertising Show in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Based on the pictures, it looked like a very big show, and from what I understand, many rare and tough bottles and jugs found new homes. I received a telephone call regarding the Atlanta area’s January – February 2023

51st Annual Southeastern Antique Bottle and Pottery Show. Apparently, it was a good show, with lots of friendly folks and bottles.

They had dealers from at least three states bringing a mix of items.

From what I hear, the Houston Bottle, Advertising & Collectibles Show had its 53rd show, and folks had a great time. The Blacksburg Antiques and Bottle Show in Blacksburg, South Carolina, is a sold-out show, and I expect more information will come since it is a December show. There were many more antique bottle and glass shows in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Mississippi, but I didn’t get any information from them. I hope they were good shows and that folks who attend shows please let me know how they were. With a new year coming in, we have many shows coming up all over the region. I hope to hear from y’all.

Western Region [Eric McGuire, Director] I want to first thank the 49’er Historical Bottle Club for hosting its show and sale on November 12 and 13 in Auburn, California. It was a huge success in bringing together so many collectors in the West and beyond. I hadn’t witnessed such a crowd at a local show since pre-Covid days.

It is good to see that local historical organizations are accepting and retaining bottles as legitimate artifacts. From my particular “home base” both the Sonoma County and Marin County historical groups are embracing this material fabric of the past. I recall, some fifty years ago, spending many hours at the California Historical Society in San Francisco, going through its card files and searching for anything related to bottles. The library staff barely tolerated my whimsical approach to discovering any information possibly buried in its records. It is true that the traditional “keepers of history” seldom have extensive knowledge on the subject.

Now they are beginning to reach out to eager collectors who are giving them a hand. Some ideological differences may exist as many historical organizations are academic and collectors are essentially materialistic. It’s great to witness this cooperation and I am hoping it will continue. Many historical organizations are in survival mode and they recognize the eager fan base that collectors have to offer.

Collecting local bottles is one of the most popular specializations among collectors, and this offers a sort of mutual symbiosis for both groups. I envision the biggest problem is a shortage of valuable artifact storage space for many historical organizations.

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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

50th Annual

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA BOTTLE CLUB SHOW & SALE

Saturday, April 22nd 2023 DONATION AT DOOR REQUESTED

Jamil Shrine Temple 206 Jamil Road Columbia, S.C. 29210

ONE DAY SHOW

172 TABLES LAST YEAR WITH ROOM TO GROW

Saturday: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Dealer Set-up Saturday: 7:00 am to 9:00 am

Contact: Marty Vollmer 803.629.8553 or martyvollmer@aol.com or Art Gose 803.840.1539 or scbottlehunters@gmail.com or visit southcarolinabottleclub.com January – February 2023

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The Mud, The Blood and the Beers

By Tom Bostwick

January 2022 was milder than most winters

here in Oregon. So, when a digging buddy, Paul Jeffries from Vancouver, Washington, called to tell me about a dig he’d lined up in Portland and asked if I’d be interested in “pulling buckets” for him, I said yes without thinking. I have no natural immunity or fortitude regarding a request to participate in a good (or bad) dig, so I cheerfully agreed to submit to whatever physical or emotional torture it required to complete emptying the privy. Isn’t that what friends do?

He’d probed out the privy the previous Saturday

There was quite a variety of bottles coming out of our hole. and began digging. Somewhere around eight feet, and with no bottom in sight, he decided he needed some help. Fortunately, I’d just graduated the previous fall with a BA in bucket pulling, and I was ready to flaunt my degree.

Paul knew the pit was worth the effort since he’d already dug a beautiful “Fleckenstein & Mayer, Portland, Or.” flask in honey amber the previous Saturday in the top eight feet. Plus, a 6” cobalt blue “Powers & Estes, Portland, Oregon” drugstore, and a whittled “Plunders Oregon Blood Purifier” with the stopper and a small assortment of unusual Portland drugstore bottles. The privy looked to be circa the 34

1870s-80s era, which made things more exciting.

Henry Fleckenstein had begun his wholesale liquor business in 1871, and in 1877 joined partnership with S. Julius Mayer in downtown Portland when it was still known as “Stumptown” due to the amount of stumps left in the middle of the streets. So, Fleckenstein flasks are very popular with collectors due to their age and crudeness.

The old house that stood on the lot had been removed and the site was squeezed between a high-rise retirement apartment complex and a single-story dwelling. Potentially, we’d have 312 living room windows overlooking our digging activity. And as exciting as that was, the real thrill was the mud which was wet clay. But in Paul’s defense, he’d warned me this was going to be a “really difficult and muddy dig with hundreds of spectators,”… and he was right!

My digging buddy Paul Jeffries about 12 feet deep in the hole.

Tom Bostwick holds a clear “K. Selig & Co. Portland, Or.” pint flask fresh out of the hole. Karl Seelig was an early Portland wholesale liquor dealer, opening his first shop in 1873.

Another exciting factor was the location…a short, very steep street lined with yellow curbs and No Parking signs. Naturally, I was forced to disregard city ordinances and continue my life of crime as a No Parking Zone offender.

Once parked, we took a brief detour to a recently vacated lot nearby and probed out a shallow trash pit, and popped out a tiny Brainard, Montana drugstore along with some amazingcolored shards, circa 1880s.

Back at the original site, we re-opened the wood liner, which measured 4 x 6 feet, with unknown depth since neither Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

January – February 2023

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of us had anything longer than a six-foot probe. Early slicks began to surface, along with an unembossed amber coffin flask.

Around the four-foot level, Portland drugstores began oozing out of the mud, and a bit deeper, a beautiful aqua pickle appeared along with an aqua umbrella ink and more unembossed coffin flasks. Then a clear “K. Seelig & Co. Portland Ore.” pint popped out.

Karl Seelig was another early Portland wholesale liquor dealer, opening his first shop in 1873. Yahoo! Another very desirable Portland flask! We continued to power down through the sticky clay, which was packed with broken dinnerware, serving dishes, mugs and mixed with some unbroken Florida Water bottles, shoe dressings, unembossed drugs, and a marble.

[A]

Then, suddenly, a clear “Marx & Jorgensen, Portland, OGN.” pint coffin flask bubbled out of the muck. Wow! Daniel Marx formed his partnership with Emil C. Jorgensen in 1877 and opened a wholesale liquor shop at 28 N. Front Street in Portland to serve the thirsty needs of local pioneers. I’d never dug so many nice early flasks in one privy before. So, despite the weight of the buckets, this was turning into an awesome dig!

[A] Freshly dug 1870s chemical bottle.

[B] Florida Water bottle right out of the hole.

[B]

[C] Peruvian Bitters caked in mud.

[D] K. Selig & Co. Portland, Oregon flask.

[C]

A broken Fleckenstein & Mayer from the bottom of our hole which was pieced back together.

[D] 36

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

A continuous flow of “John Childs Pharmacy,” “Plummer & Byerly Druggist,” and “Skidmore Druggist” bottles appeared around eight feet down. And, naturally, we encountered a steady supply of unembossed beer, wine, and ale bottles—so many in fact, I finally had to insist...no more beers Paul! I’ve had way more than enough! But despite my protest, he kept on tossing them up to me! About then, he accidentally sliced his finger open on a shard hiding in the muck. When I tried to offer him a bandaid, he just looked up and smiled, saying, “this is way too good a dig to stop for anything short of a heart attack!” And THAT’S how the blood got mixed with the mud and the beers.

Pulling buckets from the 10 and 12-foot level became nearly impossible for me since the wet clay simply refused to come out.

Likewise, it wouldn’t come off the shovel either. So, I resorted to a surefire trick that always works—I began to whine. It’s never seemed to make the clay any less bothersome, but it has garnered me a tiny bit of sympathy through the years.

Finally, a little over 12 feet down, Paul hit bottom. Surprisingly, there lay a glazed crock jug. No markings but no doubt a local item. Among the broken bottles scattered about was another smashed “Oregon Blood Purifier,” a whittled “Warner’s Kidney Liver Cure,” “Lydia Pinkham’s Blood Purifier,” “Doyle’s Hop Bitters,” another “Fleckenstein & Mayer” flask, along with figural colognes, candy jars, and dishes. Even after we reached the bottom, the bottles continued to ooze out of the east wall of the privy, so Paul followed the vein back another three or four feet until it became unsafe.

72 years old, overweight, and out of shape, I was done for. I was beyond exhausted. Fortunately, Paul is an expert motivational speaker. And after a brief “pep-talk” laced with colorful adjectives, nouns, and a few well-placed verbs, I snapped out of it and was back to my useless self.

As we backfilled, we continued to dig out the sides of the privy, which had gone untouched in our rush to reach the bottom before dark. As a happy surprise, at the 4-foot level, I uncovered a drippy top Peruvian Bitters stuck against the side wall. Additional Portland drugstores embedded in the mud dripped out as we continued to fight the wet clay. And when we were nearly finished, a fantastic hand-painted broach from the 1870s appeared.

It pictured a pretty lady who may have been the original house owner’s wife.

By 8 pm, the privy was finally filled back in, despite the gnashing of teeth and threats of bodily harm towards the bucket puller. In retrospect, it was probably the most difficult dig I’d ever tackled with just two people—one of whom was quite a crybaby. And again, it wasn’t so much the depth as the difficulty of the material we were shoveling. Then a funny thought struck me “ how ‘bout a little whine to go with that clay!”

When I originally wrote this story for our Oregon club newsletter, eight days after the aches and pains were still fresh, I was overwhelmed by how much good stuff we found in that one privy.

Now rewriting it four months later and re-living it again, it just keeps getting better!

We’d began our dig around 11 am and by now it was 5 pm and getting dark—yet there stood our 12-foot hole demanding to be filled. Paul had done the majority of the work shoveling, but at

Pleased with this Peruvian Bitters after cleaning.

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For you East Coast diggers, this would probably be considered a typical dig. But for the elderly West Coast diggers like me, it was a real chore. Our privies here in Hood River tend to bottom out about five or six feet, with sandy soil, not clay. Still, I wouldn’t trade that digging experience for anything. One regret is, in all the excitement of the digging, I forgot to photograph Paul’s Fleckenstein & Mayer flask. He showed it to me Saturday night as we were packing up to leave the site, and under the streetlights, it was an amazing flask. I was, however, able to reconstruct most of the broken Fleckenstein from the bottom of the privy and have pictured it.

At 72, I have to wonder, how many more good digs like this will I be allowed to enjoy? A quality dig with a friend I respect and admire is almost worth more than gold. I’m sure you older diggers can appreciate what I’m saying. None of us wants to reach that point of calling it quits due to age. This dig definitely goes down on my “bucket list” as a successful accomplishment!

List of bottles found: Mint, Fleckenstein & Mayer light amber pint flask.

Broken Fleckenstein & Mayer flask.

Clear Marx & Jorgensen, Wholesale Wine & Liquor Merchants, Portland, OGN. pint flask.

K. Seelig & Co. Fine Wine & Liquor Merchants, Portland, Or. clear pint flask.

6 inch cobalt Powers & Estes, Portland, Oregon drugstore.

4 inch Geo. Strawbridge, Druggist, Portland, Ore. Three Pacific Drug Co. Apothecary, 3rd & Jefferson St., Portland, Oregon drugstores.

Two Plummer & Byerly Pharmacy, Portland, Ore. Eight or nine John Childs Pharmacy, Portland, Ore. drugstores.

Skidmore Druggist, Portland, Ore. drugstore.

Other assorted Portland drugstores.

I forgot to record a yellow-amber coffin flask–unembossed.

Large stoneware jug.

Aqua umbrella ink and other clear inks.

Large square aqua pickle.

15-20 unembossed beers, wines, and ales.

15-20 slick medicines, pharmacy bottles, perfumes, fruit jar lids.

Peruvian Bitters.

Cylinder mustards.

Hand-painted broach.

Small medical vials and so much broken stuff like dinnerware, doll parts, calendar plates, stoneware beers, mugs, cups, and other items I forgot to record it all.

Amber Oregon Blood Purifier with fancy stopper.

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“Susannah G. Haydock 2123 Locust St. Philadelphia”

TWO BOTTLES: TWO PIONEERS

By Henry Eichman

T

he embossed glass pharmacy bottle era dates from the late 19th century to approximately the mid-1920s. Because of Philadelphia, Pa.’s large size and proximity to various glasshouses, there are probably several hundred to several thousand distinct embossed druggist/pharmacy bottles from the City of Philadelphia. These bottles run from the small-time corner druggist to the large wholesale druggist manufacturers who had multiple locations. Partly due to the large volume produced, embossed Philadelphia pharmacy bottles generally do not bring that much attention from diggers or collectors. This is understandable, as there are many out there. That being said, sometimes these bottles have really interesting backstories that can be revealed with a little research.

Out of the many bottles that a digger or collector owns, there will be a couple that stand out not in financial terms but in terms of historical interest. In my case, it is two druggist bottles from Philadelphia that stand out in appeal. I found the first in a circa 1925 dump in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The other, I traded for from a fellow digger who found it outside of Philadelphia in a circa 1900 dump. Although these bottles look like the rest of the hundreds of pharmacy types from Philadelphia, there is one characteristic that makes them unique—they were both made for women pharmacists in the City of Philadelphia. Although not

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unheard of, not many late 19th and early 20th century women were pharmacists in a male-dominated industry. Both bottles seem to be uncommon, but this may be due to the fact that they may have not garnered much attention or research. The following provides a quick overview of two pioneers in their field who left their legacy in glass. They may not be well-known today, but I have no doubt that the work of Susannah Garrigues Haydock and Carrie Emily Howard is as important to know as it was then.

The first bottle was found in a circa 1925 dump and is embossed “Susannah G. Haydock 2123 Locust St. Philadelphia.” It is BIMAL (Blown in Mold, Applied Lip), and the base is marked “W. T. Co K USA” for Whitall Tatum Co. of Millville, New Jersey.

Based on the mark and the fact that the lip is the later cork type found on embossed pharmacy bottles, I would guess that it was blown in the late 1910s to the early 1920s. I was delighted to find a rare female druggist bottle, although I knew that a couple existed from Philadelphia. When I got home, I researched the bottle to learn more about Ms. Haydock. Fortunately, there is a lot of material online contributed by diggers/collectors about late 19th and early 20th-century pharmacy bottles. Research would reveal that Ms. Haydock was one of the women pioneers in the early pharmacy industry.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

“Carrie E. Howard Graduate in Pharmacy Philadelphia” school teaching due to her poor health. Inspired by her doctor’s example, she decided to pursue medicine and, more specifically, pharmacy, graduating from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1893. She opened her pharmacy at 21st and Locust Streets. Not content with just running a successful retail pharmacy, Susannah would go on to become President of the Society of Women Pharmacists and a professor of theory and practice at Temple College (now Temple University) in Philadelphia. In addition to these accomplishments, she published several articles in druggist trade magazines about general business matters and challenging the notions that women would not make good pharmacists. The Spatula, Volume 25 also describes how she helped train many women as pharmacists and helped others discern if that was the right career for them. It seems that she died around 1928, although this has not been confirmed.

Picture of Susannah Garrigues Haydock in The Pharmaceutical Era, Volume 39, 1908, p 63 Some early background on Susannah Garrigues Haydock’s life is provided in the American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, Volume 47, Jul-Dec 1905. Susannah was born to a long-time Philadelphia family and was a schoolteacher for ten years before beginning her study of Pharmacy at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Furthermore, The Spatula, Volume 25-26, October 1918, states she was advised by her doctor, a woman, to give up January – February 2023

The second bottle was found in a circa 1900 dump and is embossed “Carrie E. Howard Graduate in Pharmacy Philadelphia.”

It is BIMAL, and the base is marked “W. T. & Co D USA.” Again, based on the mark and the fact that the lip is the earlier cork type found on embossed pharmacy bottles, I would assume it was blown in the late 1890s to early 1900s. I traded for this bottle from a fellow digger because, as mentioned previously, I had not seen many female druggist bottles from Philadelphia. Research would reveal that, although facing adversity, Ms. Howard would become the first registered female pharmacist in the City of Philadelphia.

A quick note on sources before I continue. Sometimes in research, one finds conflicting contemporary sources. For example, 41

two different trade publications list either Susannah Haydock or Carrie Howard as the first registered female druggist in Philadelphia. As a lot of these sources were written years after the events by people not directly involved, it is possible for mistakes to happen. A publisher back then could not just “Google” to find primary sources of events that happened decades before. Additionally, in the case of both proprietresses, these sources were probably written by men who used their preconceived notions to fill in any knowledge gaps in their summaries. For example, one trade journal states that Catherine E. Howard continued the pharmacy business of her husband upon his death, while another says that after her husband’s death, she went into the pharmacy business with a partner as her status in life changed.

Although successful, it was not easy. Ms. Howard is quoted in The Spatula, Volume 1, October 1894 as “I cannot say that I regret taking up pharmacy as a business, although the hours are long and tedious.” Moreover, she recollected in a student essay recorded in Drugstore Memories: American Pharmacists Recall Life Behind the Counter, that “When I first entered the business there was a great distrust of me, and neighbors gave me only six months to remain in it, but it is a gratifying fact that each day lessens the prejudice against me as a Pharmacist.” In addition to her business life, Carrie was also noted for her numerous philanthropic activities. She retired four years before dying at 69 in 1911.

These are brief summaries of the work of two pioneers in the pharmacy field. Although they lived and worked over a century ago, the lessons they learned are still relevant today. It would be hard in today’s world to take up a completely new career and line of schooling mid-life that one has no experience in, as both Susannah and Carrie did. Moreover, they succeeded in a time when there was not much precedent for women in pharmacy or even an expectation of success for that matter. Doubtless, there are probably hundreds of other interesting stories from common-type bottles from across the United States. Their stories just have to be discovered.

Select Sources The Dating Game: Whitall Tatum & Co. by Bill Lockhart, Summer 2006, Bottles and Extras American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, Volume 47, July-December 1905, p 54 Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association at Its Thirty-Eighth Annual Meeting, Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association, 1915, p 306-308

Picture of Carrie Emily Howard in The Spatula, Volume 1, October 1894, p 367-368 Moreover, as both Haydock and Howard were in a field uncommon for females at the time, it would also have been in their best interest to have themselves placed in the most favorable light. As such, I will report the most probable summary for Mrs. Howard’s life and career.

Carrie Emily Howard was born in Beverly, New Jersey, and was a saleswoman in a Philadelphia department store. After the death of her husband, she partnered with another woman in buying out an older druggist’s business at 16th and Christian Streets in 1886.

According to The Spatula, Volume 1, October 1894, they initially sold everything that did not require a pharmacy license but later hired a pharmacist and physician to help with prescriptions.

Although having great business acumen, Catherine desired to learn more about pharmacy and was admitted into the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at age 45 in 1888. She graduated with honors in 1890 to become the first registered woman pharmacist in Philadelphia.

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The Pharmaceutical Era, Volume 39, January 2 - June 25 1908, p 63 The Bulletin of Pharmacy, Volume 17, Jan-Dec 1903, p 491 The Spatula, Volumes 25-26, October 1918, p 380 The First Century of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 1821-1921, 1922 p 163-164 The Spatula, Volume 1, October 1894, p 367-368 American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, Volume 60, JanDec 1912 p 74 Bulletin of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Alumni Report, Volumes 4-6, Febuary 1911 p 12 Drugstore Memories: American Pharmacists Recall Life Behind the Counter 1824-1933, 2002, Carrie Emily Howard Student Essay at Philadelphia College of Physicians, excerpt p. 100-102

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visit

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When Lucy first hung up her shingle, she charged five cents. The last time I saw Lucy at work, the cartoon noted that she had raised her advice to a quarter...yet her wisdom was still worth a million!

Ralph Finch reverts to his childhood

By Ralph Finch

(And Janet Finch whispers: “He never left.”)

Oh, baby—there is so much infantile stuff to collect that garners adult interest. How about antique baby bottles, old dishes, bowls, Victorian cups imprinted with nursery rhymes or scenes of animals, or old quack cures for youngsters that caused more harm than health? (How about the 1885 “Cocaine Toothache Drops Instant Cure” showing images of children?)

It was described as a “Rare child’s bib illustrated with circus scenes and text: ‘A VISIT TO THE CIRCUS.’ Printed red and black decorations on light-colored cotton fabric, which is about 11 by 14 1/2 inches. A nice frameable size for display. Machine hemmed edges, light soiling, minor stain, edge wear/loose hem stitches at corners. Reserve: $185.”

The item didn’t sell, so Janet contacted the auction house and made an offer (and got our offer counter-offered). The apron is now ours for a mere $199 (including all fees, shipping, etc.). $199? It’s a strange world; $199 could feed a lot of babies.

But the 25-cent question, as Lucy might ask, is: “Why does an 82-year-old man want a child’s apron?” (At this point, Janet would inject: “You need one when you eat,” and I would reply: “I’m vision impaired!” Jeeeez.)

COCAINE TRADE CARD. Cocaine for hurting kids? It’s the tooth, says this 1880s Albany, N.Y., firm’s ad.

But have you considered something more…wholesome? Something more…adult? How about antique bibs and aprons?

OK, *anyone who has ever visited the Finch Funhouse knows that we collect stuff. LOTS of stuff. Serious stuff, and…stuff beyond even our understanding.

The following admission almost makes sense. (If Charlie Brown’s friend, Lucy, were here and I had a quarter, maybe she could help me explain it.)

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In early March, I came across an auction offering of a circa 1870s child’s bib. I went to bid, but…once again, I messed up, and the auction closed.

And this child’s apron is now next to my other child’s apron.

I’ve had it for years, don’t remember when or where I acquired it, but— when I look at it— I still remember the nice feeling I got when I saw it, and its sewn-on advice: “Eat Nicely.” I can imagine, a hundred-plus years ago, a loving mother putting it on her child and…hoping for the best.

I don’t remember wearing a bib as an infant but maybe subconsciously, I do. Maybe I liked mushed peas. (I don’t like mushy peas, but that’s an English thing.)

I do still have my teddy bear from that period…and I have more hair on my body than the bear does, but maybe we can put the bear on the psychiatrist’s couch and ask it why I like aprons.

(The apron could go next to my 1940s toilet paper holder that, when used, plays Whistle While You Work.)

My new bib has a circus scene and could be better if it showed target ball shooting! The one at right is designed to attract every Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

little boy’s dream. (Ask me to tell you about the time I ran away and joined the circus—it was for an article for the Detroit News).

Come on, confess what’s in your childhood memories; share the history of what is under your chinny-chin-chin…or in your drawers that is…a bit odd. Tell me, and I’ll spill the beans—or peas.

Email me at rfinch@twmi.rr.com.

Editor’s note: We enjoy collecting and sharing these stories hoping that you will enjoy them, too. And, found on the Internet: “The word “bib,” reported in English since 1580, probably stems from the verb bibben “to drink” (c. 1380), from the Latin bibere, either because it was worn while drinking or because it “soaked up” spills. Also: “In 17th-century Europe, when men and women were invited to dinner at a nobleman’s house, it was expected that they would take their own bibs to protect their clothing (dry cleaning was some years away).” *And everyone is invited to visit the Finch Funhouse. (But bring your own bib; you can’t use ours.)

PROHIBITION TRADE CARD No. 2 Better than mother’s milk? Cheers to a happy mom, a contented child.

[Above] The two new additions to the Finch trough of collections. The bib on the left probably stitches every young mother’s wish. The bib on the right is designed to attract every little boy’s dream.

The baby bottle is embossed RALPH’S NURSERS, and the sticker says it’s from a Garth’s (Ohio) auction and states: “Alberta Rodgers Patterson Collection.” And in May 2002, the papers reported that Alberta Patterson of Slippery Rock, Pa., had died at the age of 90. She was a member of the Pittsburgh Early American Glass Club, the Opera Guild, and the D.A.R., among other groups, including the “State Polled Hereford Assn.” (Huh? For you city folks, it’s a fancy cow.)

Trade cards courtesy of Joe Gourd.

January – February 2023

PROHIBITION TRADE CARD No. 3 “Against” drinking, or is it OK for toddlers to drink?

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,

CAL L F O R H I ST ORICA L IM A GES The FOHBC, led by board member Michael Seeliger, has started a major new initiative to preserve our history.

We would like your assistance in locating potentially long-lost images before it is too late as they could potentially be forgotten forever.

We are looking for photographs, either in black and white or color, of the great collections, collectors, bottle shows and displays of yesteryear.

Our goal is to gather, enhance and index this material digitally and make it available to our members and collectors for generations to come.

Send photos to: Michael Seeliger We prefer images in digital format, jpg or pdf format, or original photos that we will scan and archive, or return. Please specify. The highest resolution possible. Please caption each image. If you know of anyone who may have some of these images, like club historians, or old collectors, please let them know or provide contact info for them. We are also looking for older bottles books to scan and archive on our web sites. Thank you.

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N8211 Smith Road Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521 mwseeliger@gmail.com 608.575.2922

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

PRUNES WITH A PEDIGREE

By Curtis S. Morse, Ph.D.

J. Fau Bordeaux

Acknowledgments: I thank my long-time friend, Sam Fuller, for his assistance with the photographs.

PHOTO 1: J. Fau Bordeaux Prune Jar. This melon-shaped jar dates circa 1850, is about 8 inches tall with a base diameter of 3 5/8 inches, and has a disc pontil scar. The “frog eye” knobs are for opening and closing the lid, which is of the inside screw type. The jar probably had a cork gasket to seal the cover tight and is embossed J FAU BORDEAUX within an oval cartouche. The author has seen a plain cylindrical jar with an identical lid embossed with the name of the inventor, N. Malineau. Author’s collection.

The Prune Jars The shapely jars with interesting closures in Photos 1-3 did not contain ordinary prunes like those made in a domestic American home kitchen setting or a factory. Instead, they contained a very special and world-famous type of prune known as prunes d’ente1 and were made from a variety of plums cultivated in the Agen, a commune in the Aquitaine, an historic region in southwestern France, whose capitol is Bordeaux. See Photo A. Prunes d’Ente has been a celebrated product of the Agen at least as far back as the 1500s, has been protected by the European Union since 2002, and is a sweet, tasty delicacy.

PHOTO JF2: PRUNES D’ENTE J. Fau de Bordeaux Trade Mark advertising trade card.

Notice the boxes in the window and the little girl’s hand with the prune jar printed on the box.

PHOTO A: Agen, a commune in the Aquitaine, an historic region in southwestern France, whose capitol is Bordeaux.

January – February 2023

PHOTO JF3: Sick child in Bed. Prunes d’Ente J. FAU BORDEAUX

PHOTO JF1: J. Fau ad with Plum Vines. PRUNES D’ENTE J. Fau Bordeaux. [left] PHOTO JF4: Cupids. PRUNES D’ENTE J. Fau de Bordeaux Trade Mark advertising trade card. [far left]

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A. Dufour & cie Bordeaux Bordeaux FRANCE PHOTO 2: Sapphire Blue Prune Jar. This most unusual jar with tapered and faceted sides has a ground top, is 5 ¾ tall with a 4 ½ inch wide base in the shape of a dodecagon, dates circa 1890, and has an embossed perfect label in the shape of a crown. The lid is iron, and the label reads A. DUFOUR & CIE BORDEAUX FRANCE PRUNES SANS RIVALES. A trade card for this product is shown in Photos 5a, b.

Author’s collection.

PHOTO 5a: Trade Card of A. Dufour.

PHOTO 5b: Back of Trade Card.

The front reads A. Dufour & CIE No 3 Declarations passionnees horizontally and SPECIALITES PRUNES D’ENTE & FRUITS Conserves Alimentaires vertically.

The back is shown in Photo 5b.

This card was found on Amazon!

Author’s Collection.

[5a]

[5b]

PHOTO 5c: Billhead for A. Dufour & Co., 1940 50

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

A. Dufour & c Bordeaux PHOTO 3: Barrel-Shaped Prune Jar. This jar has three rings above and below the lettering. A. DUFOUR & C BORDEAUX, is 8 ½ inches tall with a base diameter of 3 ½ inches, dates circa 1850, has a glass-tipped pontil, and has several good-sized white pot stones. The pewter lid has a cork underside and an inside screw thread that mates with an applied pewter threaded ring band around the top of the jar. Around the perimeter of the top of the lid is embossed BOUCHAGE DE LABAT JEUNE BREVETE S. C. D, C. and A. DUFOUR & CIE SEULS CESSIONNAIRES POUR LA PRUNE, which translates to “capped with a newly patented and labeled lid” and “A. Dufour & Company soul assigners for the plum.” This is the only complete jar of its type the author has seen. Some are plain cylinders and others have vertical flutes. Author’s collection.

PHOTO 5d: Ets A. Dufour & Cie (Conserveries de Bordeaux) Share of 100F - Bordeaux 1929 References: 1. Pikovsky, Scott, These Are Not Your Grandmother’s Prunes, Fruits & Fruit Purees Newsletter, April 25, 2011 2. Van den Bossche, Willy, Antique Glass Bottles, Antique Collectors Club, UK & NY, 2001 3. Ets A. Dufour & Cie Share of 100F - Bordeaux 1929, Numistoria

January – February 2023

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CONFESSIONS OF A BOTTLE THIEF

By Jack Klotz

C O N F E S have a confession to make—I am a bottle thief. That’s right! Now, I realize those who are in prison, have been in prison, or have been anywhere near a prison might shrug and say, “So What?” or “What’s the big deal?” Certainly, a response is required because it does demand some explanation of sorts.

I

I will also simultaneously answer a most common question, “What got you started in bottle hunting?”

Note I did not say “collecting.” There is a difference.

Collecting includes bottles gifted, hoarded, purchased, or any number of methods of acquisition. Hunting certainly could be included in this category; however, 52

I prefer to give it a separate definition. More specific in scope, whereas the individual researches and follows clues, hunches, rumors, and tall tales in the hopes of ferreting out a few old collectible bottles. A specific physical objective is in mind, requiring the hunter to behave as any hunter would for any worthwhile game.

Excluding scraping up roadkill or fishing in a trout farm, open construction sites, and flooding aftermath, finds may resemble the former but are fair game in the business of bottle hunting. “Whatever it takes to rescue a good bottle from the bulldozer’s blade,” I am fond of saying.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

I found one other bottle of medium size, an unembossed paneled medicine or extract type. This one I managed to find room for in my baggy scout pants to squirrel away when nobody was watching, hence “the bottle thief” reference.

S S I O N S It all started when I was quite young. My earliest memory of my fascination with old things was when I was about the age of six or seven. I can recall going for rides with my parents to the countryside.

On our way past the outskirts of town were these ramble-down shacks that had seen better days due to neglect and vacancy. On the sides of them were remnants of time-worn circus posters, some still with visible colors, others not so much. Many were tattered and waving at us just from the breeze of our passing car. I would imagine what might have been left behind inside those shanties based on the western television series I watched religiously every Saturday morning.

Shooting irons, a pot belly stove with a coffee pot still January – February 2023

on top, and robber’s loot in the saddle bags!

My parents enjoyed exploring the great outdoors, and so did I. They became “Rockhounds,” and so we often found ourselves out and about in abandoned ghost towns and mines, hunting through the tailings in search of minerals discarded by miners looking for something else more valuable.

At one of these sites, I recall noticing a shack located precariously on the side of a steep embankment and about 100 yards downhill. I hiked through thick sage and stickers to get to the front door to investigate, and even though it was empty, I was hooked! The smell 53

[top left] San Luis Creek, Sept 1994. On the right of the creek is where the dump was located circa 1890-1910. [left] Steel engraving of the adobe, inherited by John F. Dana, the second eldest son, circa 1883. The adobe was, for years, a center of hospitality to travelers of all kinds and entertained the likes of Colonel John C Fremont. The ranchero was an original Spanish land grant consisting of over 37,000 acres of fertile valley farmland. [above] Patriarch of the Dana family, Wm G. Dana 1797-1858.

Wm. Dana and his wife conceived 21 children, of which 13 survived into adulthood. Richard Henry Dana was his 4th cousin and best known for his written account of sailing to California in the mid-1830s titled Two Years Before the Mast. (1840)

of decaying wood and the sound of boards beating against one another in the wind was enough to call back the spirits of the long-gone inhabitants. I suspect I was a successful rockhound due to my keen eye. I trained myself to look for specific details in the rock formations as well as other details simultaneously. This would come in handy in a few short years when I was accidentally introduced to the world of bottle hunting.

My family moved to the central coast of California in late 1963. I had been involved in scouting before the move and found myself immediately involved with the local scouting troop in San Luis Obispo. We would hold our meetings at the Elks lodge on the outskirts of town, where we would become involved in the usual

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I would often crawl over the embankment and hide in the shallow creek in order to sneak up on the opponent’s flag. activities such as camping, hiking, and the old scout standard “Capture the Flag.” The game was played on site where there was a large open field bordered by the lodge on one side and the local creek on the opposite side, flanked by the cemetery. I would often crawl over the embankment and hide in the shallow creek in order to sneak up on the opponent’s flag.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

I must have covered every square foot of that property on hands and knees at one time or another. Along with these “fun” activities, we also “volunteered” for a variety of community service tasks. One such service came in the spring of 1964 when our troop was sent to the Dana adobe in Nipomo to clear the property of accumulated trash and weeds. The Danas were an early pioneer family who settled in the area and built the adobe in 1839.

It seems during my sleep, one of the guys saw a bat flap by in the semi-darkness, grabbed a broom and gave chase. Egged on by the excited group, they all headed off down into the hallway aided only by dimly lit flashlights.

We arrived early on a sunny Saturday morning with sleeping bags to take us into Sunday to complete the project. My first impression was that it looked spooky but interesting. There were no windows, no doors, and not much to call a roof. After Saturday’s work was done, we staked out our sleeping areas and all huddled in a circle around a small campfire and shared our best ghost or spooky stories. I was dog-tired and so I retreated early into the shadows to my unrolled bag, crawled in, and remembered nothing else until I awoke in the morning.

As I got dressed for the remaining chore ahead of me and packed up my sleeping bag, I noticed an assortment of odd looks and grins from my fellow scouts. It seems during my sleep, one of the guys saw a bat flap by in the semi-darkness, grabbed a broom and gave chase. Egged on by the excited group, they all headed off down into the hallway aided only by dimly lit flashlights.

Starting with the broom-wielding leader, they each, one by one, tripped over my outstretched body and collapsed into a human dogpile. It appears I had chosen the wrong place to sleep for the misled mighty bat hunters, and as tired as I was, I never stirred or awoke! None could believe I had chosen such a spot to sleep in, and even fewer believed I slept through the charge of the night brigade! I was convinced they had made the entire story up to tell around the next campfire until the scoutmaster confirmed!

Sunday began with more drudgery, but it would end with a lifelong gift I would not truly appreciate for years to come. My small group of three was assigned to pull weeds in the backyard, which we took to somewhat slowly. We eventually made our way to a small mound that looked odd and out of place. I grabbed onto a weed that was as big around as my skinny 12-year-old legs and began a serious battle of tug-of-war. It appeared to any onlookers I was on the losing end of things until it finally and unexpectedly released its grip on mother earth and I fell back on my heavier end. As I sat looking at my defeated foe, I discovered I had been rewarded with a tiny bottle held prisoner by a slightly larger root for who knows how long. As small as it was, it could have easily been missed but for my keen rockhound eyes. I was stunned by the rainbow colors that gave it the look of something from ancient Egypt! I was to learn much later it was called iridescence, a January – February 2023

reaction to chemicals in the ground. One of my fellow scouts had tugged on a weed nearby, and it too had another bottle caught in the roots, but his was bigger! This started a minor digging frenzy, with the two of us now poking at the dirt with our weed pullers and unearthing several more bottles. The third scout scurried off to fetch the scoutmaster, who returned to oversee the continuance of our archeological excavation. It was rather short-lived, ending almost as quickly as it had started.

We discovered we had unearthed a portion of a large Victorian-era garden fountain. The bowl had fallen off the pedestal and was eventually used to fill in with trash! There was one fairly large hair tonic bottle with embossing on the sides, “Burnett’s Cocoaine Boston,” though everyone, adults included, misread it as “Cocaine.”

I found one other bottle of medium size, an unembossed paneled medicine or extract type. This one I managed to find room for in my baggy scout pants to squirrel away when nobody was watching, hence “the bottle thief” reference. Yes, from my first dig experience, I was a bottle thief. I was allowed to keep the tiny bottle I rescued from the roots of fate as the scoutmaster dismissed it as likely a child’s toy and unimportant. Sadly, the tiny one was broken some years later, however, the other bottle remains as an anonymous enigma in my collection among a shelf of high-end bottles. Like the commercial says, “On a good day, worth 50 cents, to me…priceless!”

What made those early finds priceless to me was the knowledge that I was the first person to touch them in 100+ years! In my young mind, it was akin to finding a pirate’s treasure. I call it “The Magic.” There is no feeling quite like it and it is highly addictive.

This one I managed to find room for in my baggy scout pants to squirrel away when nobody was watching, hence “the bottle thief” reference. Yes, from my first dig experience, I was a bottle thief.

A couple of years later I discovered where the old 1890s town dump was located—right along the creekbank and field where I once played Capture the Flag! I had literally crawled over hundreds, perhaps thousands of old bottles, some only inches from the surface and many more as much as eight feet deep! I spent most of my youthful summer vacations riding my bicycle with my shovel and backpack to the Elks’ Dump as we called it. The TV westerns only helped to fan the flames of my imagination.

After finding a few bottles, I would line them up next to my bed and fall asleep imagining who might have drunk from them—Jessie James or Billy the Kid? I became friends with the Richardsons, a father, and his two sons.

I would watch in amazement as the three would stand shoulder to shoulder and dig like steam shovels! My skinny 70-pound body could only tunnel in from the use layer and I quickly learned how to watch and predict cave-ins! Not the safest or most productive 55

method but it worked for me. The big issue was that the dump had been buried under a layer of gravel anywhere from six to eight feet thick. For every foot of use layer dug, there was X amount of fill to deal with. Digging became less and less worthwhile, yet occasionally I would visit after a good flood or just to test myself to see if I could find anything.

My last dig came in the early 1980s after a nearly 20-year run.

So, when asked what started my collecting, I always say, “The Boy Scouts corrupted me!” From the first dig at the adobe to the years of digging in the Elks’ dump, the Scouts held a special place for my journey that continues to this day. At 70 years of age, I’m still going strong, just a little slower!

This year I am now entering my 58th year of hunting for the elusive “rare ones,” and with the grace and generosity of the bottle goddess, mixed with a dose of good luck, I will have continued success!

I found one other bottle of medium size, an unembossed paneled medicine or extract type.

This bottle remains an anonymous enigma in my collection among a shelf of high-end bottles. Like the commercial says, “On a good day, worth 50 cents, to me…priceless!”

More from Jack Klotz! Just visit the FOHBC website Members Portal and search for these and other great digging articles from Jack.

What made those early finds priceless to me was the knowledge that I was the first person to touch them in 100+ years! In my young mind, it was akin to finding a pirate’s treasure. I call it “The Magic.” There is no feeling quite like it and it is highly addictive.

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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

January – February 2023

57

The 50th Annual

Milwaukee Antique Bottle and Advertising Show

Bottles •

Breweriana

•

Advertising

Largest show of its kind in Wisconsin: 140 Sales Tables & Door Prizes

Sunday February 5, 2023

9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. $6.00 admission Early Admission at 8:00 a.m - $20.00

Waukesha County Expo Center 1000 Northview Road Waukesha, Wisconsin

Directions: I94 exit 294 (Hwy J), then south to Northview Road

Antique Bottles Breweriana Crocks Soda Collectibles Stoneware Tobacco Related Paper Advertising Petroliana Postcards Country Store

Coffee Cans Tin Signs Labels Porcelain Signs Food Advertising

Gumball Machines Dairy Related Lighted Signs Lithographs

For more information contact: mabacshow@yahoo.com

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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

St. Louis 53rd Annual Antique Bottle & Jar Show Orlando Gardens 4300 Hoffmeister Ave. St. Louis, MO NO EARLY ADMISSONS March 19, 2023 9:00am - 2:00pm Adult Admission: $3.00 Child Admission: FREE $1 OFF With Flyer Refreshments Will Be Available

TO BUY

Dr. Mitchell Sarsaparilla from Perry, NY in Wyoming County. Will pay $4K

Bours Cordial Tonic from Geneva, NY Will pay $4K

Old Bottles Fruit Jars Pottery Breweriana Insulators & Advertising

Hosted By The St. Louis Antique Bottle Collectors Association Pat Jett (Showchair) 71 Outlook Drive Hillsboro, Mo (314)-570-6917 patsy_jett@yahoo.com

Looking to buy large

Milk Bottle Collections

from all over the United States.

Contact Jim (315) 527-3269

There Will Be Over 115 Tables

See Allen in “The Holy Grail of Chero-Colas” in the Sept–Oct 2022 issue of AB&GC.

January – February 2023

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Read and see more in the FOHBC Virtual Museum.

[left] My son and I dug this past weekend in Galveston. I’ll get you some photos once cleaned but as I am sure you can imagine I’m over the moon. Von Harten & Nichols Deveraux Cordial Gin, Galveston. Advertised in 1870 only so far as I can find. - Brandon DeWolfe, P.E. *Go to FOHBC.org for more pictures.

[left] 10 to 12 years ago, I saw a tiny sign and stopped at a garage sale in a trailer park here in Oceanside, Ca. on a Saturday.

I don’t know why as it’s not something I normally do. It was all typical old folks stuff not worth much. For some reason I opened the little kitchen cabinet above the wall oven and there were three bottles.

[left] Dr. Warren’s Universal Tonic Bitters Fond Du Lac Wisconsin. Extremely rare, attic mint, smallish, colorful. One of many unicorns that changed hands at the recent Wisconsin Antique & Advertising Club’s fall show - Steven Libbey

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At the time I didn’t collect bottles and knew nothing about them, but I do re-enacting and the Clasped Hands flask looked like I could use it as a whiskey bottle. I took it up front. It was marked “300” on the bottom so she charged me $3. I went home, did some research and realized it was real. The next morning (Sunday), I went back and grabbed the scroll flask. It had “600” on the bottom and being Sunday and half off, I paid $3 for it as well. Sadly, I passed on the third bottle, a Fisch Bitters that was there, thinking it was an Avon bottle. Brian Bingham

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Lost & Found

[left] Sheboygan Mineral Water Codd bottle - Slightly lip chipped, example is the only Sheboygan Mineral Water Wisconsin Codd. Patent confirmed to exist over 35 years. Amazing upgrade found by a picker at a Michigan estate sale. - Steven Libbey

[above] 1897 Red Revenue small figure surcharge selling for more than $12,000 recently in Dallas.

[above] Coins worth up to $290,000 found under kitchen floorboards. September 2022: A house refurbishment in northern England has uncovered a trove of gold coins, which could be worth up to £250,000 (US$290,000). The discovery is one of the biggest hoards of 18th century English gold coins ever uncovered in Britain, according to auction house Spink & Son. While renovating their kitchen in July 2019, residents unearthed a salt-glazed earthenware cup burrowed underneath the concrete and floorboards of their home in Ellerby, North Yorkshire.

[below] Nov. 2022. A British man found a near-perfect gold ring from the 14th century in a field using his metal detector. Historians think it was given to a wealthy bride by her husband in 1388.

- Noonans

[below] A beautiful grouping of early Cornucopia-Urn Flasks. All three were found locally at estate–farm sales in north-central Ohio. - American Glass Gallery, Auction #33

[above] A priceless fossil destroyed in WWII has resurfaced in an unusual way. A little over 200 years ago, this ichthyosaur was found in Lyme Regis, almost certainly by Mary Anning. It was described in 1819 and named ‘Proteosaurus’. Sadly, it was destroyed in London in 1941, during WWII. This illustration (top) was the only evidence until recently when two plaster casts of the specimen were discovered. The casts are at the Peabody Museum, Yale University, and the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany.

Significantly, these verify the accuracy of the published drawing of the specimen, and clarify morphologies of some of the bones.

Discrepancies between the drawing and the casts are mainly in the details of the forefins and hindfins. The specimen can be assigned to Ichthyosaurus, but the species cannot be determined. This case illustrates the importance of old casts in museum collections.

Additional, yet unrecognized, casts of this specimen might exist in the UK or elsewhere. - The Royal Society Publishing

January – February 2023

61

6th Annual

Mount Morris, PA

MORGANTOWN, WV

APRIL 30, 2023 9:00AM TO 2:00PM

Professional Bottle Cleaning & Restoration

AT MYLAN PARK

MON CENTER 270 MYLAN PARK LANE, MORGANTOWN, WV 26501 GENERAL ADMISSION $3.00 16 AND UNDER FREE ADMISSION EARLY BUY IN SAT 3:00PM & SUN 8:00AM $25.00 SHOWROOM & PAVILION VENDING SPACE AVAILABLE

Cleaning bottles that have haze, cloudiness or hard water spots is possible using the Jar Doctor Copper Tumbling System. Bottles of most sizes, shapes or colors can be made to look like new.

ANTIQUE GLASS BOTTLES / HISTORICAL FLASK SODA, MILK, MEDICINE, BEER, WHISKEY, STONEWARE, FRUIT JARS MARBLES, INSULATORS, COINS, POSTCARDS, JEWELRY, BREW MANIA MILITARIA, TOYS, SIGNAGE AND VARIOUS TABLE TOP ANTIQUES DON KELLEY | BONZEYEKELLEY@GMAIL.COM

724-998-2734

The bottle barn is owned and operated by Don and Mary Kelley from Mount Morris, PA. They have antique bottles of all types on display or for sale and trade.

Open Monday - Friday 9:00 - 2:00 | Later hours by appointment

Call Don & Mary Kelley at 724.998.2734 Located in Southwestern PA Off I-79 233 School Bus Road, Mount Morris, PA 15349

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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

January – February 2023

63

Member Photos A collection of spectacular and inspiring photographs from around the world and around the web. Please feel free to submit your images for consideration.

Read and see more in the FOHBC Virtual Museum.

[right] Old ink bottles are true works of art! - Mike Shanker

A few Colonial-era vessels. - Michael George Jeff Noordsy

[below] The smaller side of Hemingray! - Ryan Karg

Alabama Bottle Collectors Society - Steve Holland

Cabins mainly - Mark Kallberg

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Antique Bottle Bottle & & Glass Glass Collector Collector Antique

Member Photos

London Bottles (Facebook) - Stuart Lieberman

Harold Hagadone

Cobalt Blue Bottles & Glass - Shelby Klein

January –– February February 2023 2023 January

Needs cleaning but a new one to the collection Alexander Taylor

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Classified Ads

ADVERTISE FOR FREE: Free “FOR SALE” advertising in each issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC). One free “WANTED” ad in AB&GC per year each renewal. DEALERS: Sell your bottles in the Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. Change the bottles and your ad is free month after month. Include your website in your ad to increase traffic to your site. Send all advertisement info to FOHBC Business Manager, Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423 or best, email to: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

FOR SALE FOR SALE: Jar Doctor is for sale - includes equipment, inventory, supplies (shipping boxes, containers, etc.), molds, jigs, power tools, customer information, supplier information, and training. Please contact R. Wayne Lowry, JarDoctor@aol.com, 816.318.0161 for information and/or to discuss options. 01/01/23 FOR SALE: Book: A History of the Des Moines Potteries, with additional information on Boonesboro, Carlisle, Hartford, and Palmyra. 214 pages, 65 color. Cost $23 plus shipping, media mail add $4.50, priority add $6. Mail to Mark C. Wiseman, 3505 Sheridan Ave., Des Moines, Iowa 50310, 515.344.8333 01/23 FOR SALE: Mint: 1) Warner’s Safe Nervine half pt. slugplate. Light amber, $300 2) Warners’s Safe Cure London, half pint, green, $300 3) Warner’s Safe Kidney & Liver Cure.

Pint, slugplate, A & D.H.C. on bottom, $250 4) Warner’s Diabetes Cure, pint. Melbourne, $150 5) Dr. Von Hopfs Curacoa Bitters, Chamberlain & Co., Des Moines, Iowa, yellow, $175. I have a lot more Warner’s for sale. Will trade for mini whiskey jugs. Stencil or scratch with maker and town and city on them. Jack Brower, 479.434.6306 01/23 FOR SALE: Brand new book, just finishing up before printing, Florida Advertising Jugs, 175+ pages, all color. By David Kyle Rakes, author of the recently released book, Early Georgia Sodas, The Bottles & Proprietors. Stay tuned for more information. email: barakes123@ gmail.com 01/23

Hawk bottles might be of interest if not already owned. Contact: David D. Spellman at spellmand@centurylink.net 01/23 WANTED: North Florida bottles, Southern Stoneware or unusual black glass forms. Contact Alan McCarthy 850.832.1882 (1/23) WANTED: To buy Dr. Mitchell Sarsaparilla from Perry, NY in Wyoming County. Will pay $4k. Bours Cordial Tonic from Geneva, NY. Will pay $4k. Looking to buy large Milk Bottle Collections from all over the United States.

Contact Jim 315.527.3269 (1/23) WANTED: 1-Spencer Bros (Brothers) Oaklandvale Farm Saugus Massachusetts Milk Bottle. 2-PJ Spencer, Malden, MA Milk Bottle (Cardboard top says “The Old Spencer Farm”) 3-Frank P Bennett, Oaklandvale Farm Milk, Saugus MA Milk Bottle. Interested in tops or any other items or information related to these three farms. Any size bottle is fine. Please email lyork1@cfl.rr.com or leave a message at 407.416.2677. Call will be returned ASAP. Thank you. (1/23) WANTED: Rare pontiled meds particularly Southern meds, Michael D. Morgan, mmorgandive@gmail.com (1/2/23) WANTED: Dr. A. C. Daniels advertising signs–St. Johnsbury, Vermont Old Items, Dennis Daniels, 448 Pleasant St., St. Johnsbury, VT, 05819, 802.748.2274. (1/23) WANTED: Colored Figural Bitters. Also other bitters that are unusually shaped or unusually colored, for their grouping! Mint specimens only please! Randolph Haumann, 10410 Gold Arrow Drive, Reno, Nevada 89521-5190 or cell 415.518.4124 (leave message) or email: hawkeye751@outlook.com, Call Now! So you are not sorry...Later! 11/24

WANTED

WANTED: Dr. Ball’s Vegetable Stomach Bitters, O.P., Mint. Contact: Michael Willbanks, WANTED: Hobble skirt embossed Coca-Cola bottles: 1915s, 1923s, D-Patent’s 6 oz and 6 1/2 oz. Collector will buy or trade. Jim Georges, georges77@twcny.rr.com or 315.662.7729. 07/24

WANTED: BLACK HAWK, COLORADO Th. Crook Sky Light whiskey flask. I will pay $10,000 for a half-pint coffin or a pint coffin or a pint shoofly. Flask must be in mint condition and delivered to Colorado. Other Black

WANTED: U.S.A. Hospital Dept. and any pre1866 embossed food bottles, mustards, early Baltimore, Wheeling, D.C., Alexandria sodas, beers, (stoneware or glass) damage free. Bruce, cwaddic@yahoo.com, 703.307.7792. 12/22

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WANTED: Colored Illinois and Missouri Sodas. Also Colored Fruit Jars. Top $$$ Paid.

Call, text or email. Steve Kehrer, email: kehrer00@gmail.com, 618.410.4142. 03/23 WANTED: Hobble skirt embossed Coca-Cola bottles: 1915s, 1923s, D-Patent’s 6 oz and 6 ½ oz. Collector will buy or trade. Jim Georges, georges77@twcny.rr.com or 315.662.7729. 07/24 WANTED: CABINS such as: GV11 2 Harrison Tippecanoe Cabin, P132 Prairie Plantation Bitters, W160 Woodgates Bitters, M42 Martins Bermuda Bitters, C698 Pottery Ink, C675 Cabin Ink, L62 Lediard 1863 OK Plantation (no lettering), Wiggs Bros. Cabin, Roehlling & Schultz Cabin, George Ohr Pottery Cabin, Bennington Pottery Cabin, “The Log Cabin” Portland, OR, Bob Terry, 303.569.2502, email: llterryualusa@yahoo.com 12/22 WANTED: Harley bottles of West Chester, Pa. and Philadelphia, Pa. The West Chester bottles (3) display either J. Harley, James Harley or E.M. Harley. The Phila. Bottles (4) display Edwd. Harley, Schul (Schuylkill) 4th & Market St., Philada or E. Harley, 802 Market St. or E. Harley, West Market St. or Edw. Harley, 1838 Market St., Phila. Bob Harley, email: rwh220@yahoo.com, Phone: 215.721.1107 12/22 PERMANENT WANT: OWL DRUG bottles, tins, boxes, paper, anything from the Owl Drug Company. Marc Lutsko, letsgo@montanasky. net, 406.293.6771, Box 97, Libby, MT 59923 TOP DOLLAR paid 01/23 WANTED: Philadelphia Strap-sided or Seamed Whiskey Flasks. I collect and catalog these and also have an interest in Thomas H. Dillon (TD) Philadelphia mineral water bottles.

Please contact me if you have any in your collection or wish to sell. Art Miron, email: jestar484@verizon.net, 215.248.4612. 06/22 WANTED: Volunteers to help the FOHBC. Help our organization stay strong by writing an article, be a magazine proofreader or a Virtual Museum researcher. Post on our social media sites and share our posts. There are many ways you can help. Donations to our non-profit organization are always accepted. Thank you. 01/23 WANTED: Damaged: early, whittled, colored “squares” or damaged, scarcer Pikes Peak flasks. Tom, 707.397.1815 or pontil1903@ yahoo.com. 09/22

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Classified Ads

WANTED: Embossed Ford City, PA bottles.

Also, Mechling & Kramer, Kittanning Hutch and Remember the Maine Hutch. Keystone Bottling Works, Sagamore, PA Hutch. Bill Oleksak, billoleksak1947@gmail.com.

724.859.0113 01/23 WANTED: Always looking for medicinal tonics, prefer embossed. Please call 260.367.2400.

Leave a message or email roadrunner@centurylink.net, Thank you. 01/23 WANTED: Hello Levi Strauss and Western collectors! Years ago, a well-known California dealer discovered a major California gold rush archive from the Hardy-Kennedy store in Forest Hill, California. In it were a number of Levi Strauss billheads from the 1850s. We are looking for collectors who may have bought one or more and are soliciting copies of these billheads for an important paper I am working on. The information contained on these may be integral to the substance of my proposed paper and may enhance the value of your billhead!

I am looking forward to some discoveries.

Thanks in advance. Fred Holabird, fredholabird@gmail.com, 775.851.1859 01/23 WANTED: Dandelion Bitters, Beggs Dandelion Bitters (B 51, Flask), (B 52, square, Chicago, Ill.) and (B 53, square, Sioux City, Iowa) plus D 11, D 12, D 14, D 14.5, D 14.7 & D 15.

Start calling & stop stalling! 415.518.4124 or email me at hawkeye751@outlook.com. All colors–Perfect only. 01/23 WANTED: New members to join the St Louis Antique Bottle Collectors Association. We meet at the Family Life Center at First Baptist, 2012 Missouri State Road, Basement, Arnold, Missouri, 1st Tuesdays (except July when we don’t meet) at 6:30 pm. Always a lively discussion. Patsy Jett, Show Chair, 314.570.6917 01/23 WANTED: Rare Dr. Kilmer examples (such as sample bottles of Cough Cure or Female Remedy) or any examples with contents/boxes/ circulars. Also, rare cobalt “Extract of Witch Hazel, 8” (see Adams’ Bottle Collecting in New England, page 30). Also, if anyone has the prices realized list from the 1976 Charles Vuono auction, I would greatly appreciate it if they would scan it and email it to me. Mike, maleect@aol.com (preferred) or 623.440.1929.

01/23

WANTED: North Jersey Sodas, Hunterdon

January – February 2023

and Somerset County bottles, picture beers, sodas and Hutches. Contact: Ray Buch, 908.735.5014. 01/23 WANTED: Dr. Ball’s Vegetable Stomach Bitters, O.P., Mint. Contact: Michael Willbanks, 179 Cottage Street, New Bedford, MA 02740; Phone: 508.542.2750 01/23 WANTED: Authentic bottle or jug with name Morton on it. This was my father’s name. No preference as to size of any item. Contact Darlene Furda: Email: dfurda@roadrunner.com or landline: 818 889.5451. 01/23 WANTED: Pontiled Vermont bottles. Contact: David Mosher, Email: dachamo@comcast. net 05/01/22 WANTED: “Dr. Leroy’s Antidote to Malaria Morris Illinois” Russ Sineni, 815.501.6820 or bottlenut@aol.com 05/01/22 WANTED: Blob sodas from Central Illinois.

Also, beer bottles from Peoria, Illinois.

Contact: Jim Searle 309.346.7804 or Email: skyjames962@gmail.com 05/01/22

SHOWS, STOPS & SERVICES NEEDING: Historical pictures for the online FOHBC Research Library. 03/01/23 REMEMBER: Please keep up with your membership to avoid interrupted service.

AUCTION PRICE REPORT: Remember, all FOHBC members get access to the Auction Price Report website. Visit the FOHBC.org Members Portal.

CELEBRATING ONE YEAR! With this January–February 2023 issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC) we are completing six bi-montly issues since Bottles and Extras merged with AB&GC. Remember, you can read all past issues of Bottles and Extras and the merger copies of AB&GC online at FOHBC.org/Members Portal. We are also currently digitally archiving all past issues of AB&GC prior to the merger. You will also find online at FOHBC.org/Members Portal.

WANTED: Williamsport, PA—all rare bottles from Williamsport, PA including labeled, colored hutches/squats from Muncy, Watsontown, Lock Haven, Lewisburg, Milton, Jersey Shore, Renovo, Bloomsburg, Berwick, Danville. Dr Porter bottles from Towanda, PA. Minnequa Springs bottles from Canton, PA/Bradford County. Also, blue decorated crocks from Williamsport PA such as Slpe, Moore, Nichols, Hobart, or Rexford & Gordon. Contact: Bob Kane 570.220.5982. 01/23 WANTED: I seek to offer in trade following Antique Early 19th Century PA Coal Region stone bottles, one from a Pottsville brewery and the other Shamokin. Large early large lip bottles. Also, seek in trade certain Weissport PA bottle. I do not have certain early bitters, Amber Wishart’s Pine Tree bottle and others.

Contact: David and Joann of Limerick, PA area, Email: cestia777@gmail.com 01/23 WANTED: For research project: Vermont drugstore bottles: JERICHO DRUG STORE / JERICHO, VT and also, DR. W.S. NAY / UNDERHILL, VT. Also want genuine Colorado Territory map. Thanks. Don Fritschel, donfritschel@gmail.com 01/23

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Sho-Biz Calendar of Shows FOHBC Sho - Biz is published in the interest of the hobby. Federation-affiliated clubs are indicated in red. Information on upcoming collecting events is welcome, but space is limited. Please send at least three months in advance, including telephone number to: FOHBC Sho-Biz, c/o Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; phone: 713.504.0628; email: fohbcmembers@ gmail.com Show schedules are subject to change. Please call before traveling long distances. All listings published here will also be published on the FOHBC.org website.

08 January 2023 – Taunton, Massachusetts Little Rhody Bottle Club Show, Clarion Hotel, Taunton, Massachusetts, Early Admission, $15, 8:00 am, General Admission $3, 9:00 am, Contact Bill or Linda Rose, sierramadre@ comcast.net, 508.880.4929, FOHBC Member Club 19 - 21 January 2023 – Muncie, Indiana Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club presents The 2023 Muncie Convention! Located at Courtyard by Marriott & Horizons Convention Center (401 S. High St., Muncie, Indiana) 51st Annual Rendezvous Non-Stop 3-Day Event, Dealers & Collectors Get Together at Hotel. Swapping Jars. Swapping Stories. Culminating at the Show with over 80 Tables, Thursday, Jan 19. Room-to-Room Sales, Hospitality Suite, Seminars/Tours, Friday, Jan 20, Club Meetings, Show & Tell, Auction, Saturday, Jan 21 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, Free Appraisals, $2 Admission, Details at fruitjar.org. Special Hotel Rate $94 night. Book by 12/17/2022. 765.287.8550, $40/First Table & $30 for Additional Table, montyfoust@comcast.net, 765.635.4626, FOHBC Member Club 21 January 2023 – Jackson, Mississippi 37th Annual Mississippi Antique Bottle, Advertising & Collectible Show, Free admission. Saturday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm; Friday early admission 12:00 noon to 7:00 pm, $25, Mississippi Fairgrounds Trade Mart Building, 1207 Mississippi St., Jackson, Mississippi, Contact Cheryl Comans, 601.218.3505, cherylcomans@gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club 05 February 2023 – Waukesha, Wisconsin 50th Annual Milwaukee Antique Bottle and Advertising Show, Sunday, February 6, 2022, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, $6 admission. Early admission at 8:00 am is $20. 140 sales tables of bottles, breweriana, and advertising. Waukesha County Expo Center, 1000 Northview Road, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Directions: I-94 exit 294 (Hwy J), then south to Northview Road. For further information: mabacshow@yahoo.com, FOHBC Member Club 05 February 2023 – Manville, New Jersey New Jersey Antique Bottle Club (NJABC) 27th Annual Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Admission is $3, with no early buyers. Dealer set-up 7:00 am. V.F.W. of Manville, New Jersey, 600 Washington Ave, Manville, New Jersey 08835.

Contact Kevin Kyle, 230 Cedarville Road, East Windsor, New Jersey 08520, 609.209.4034, bottlediggerkev@aol.com, FOHBC Member Club 12 February 2023 – Columbus, Ohio The Central Ohio Antique Bottle Club’s 52nd Annual Show & Sale, Sunday, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm; early buyers 7:00 to 9:00 am, $20. Admission $5, Doubletree Inn, 175 Hutchinson Avenue, Columbus, Ohio (I-270 & Rt. 23), Contact Rojer Moody, 740.703.4913, rtmoody@juno.com or Brad Funk, 614.264.7846, bradfunk@yahoo.com 17 & 18 February 2023 – Aurora, Oregon Oregon Bottle Collectors Assoc. Bottle, Antique &

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Collectibles Show & Sale, Friday 12 to 5:00 pm dealer set-up and early bird admission $5, Saturday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm regular public admission by donation, Show Address, American Legion Hall, 21510 Main St. N.E., Aurora, Oregon, Contact Info: Wayne Herring, Show Chairman, 503.864.2009, Bill Bogynska, 503.657.1726, billbogy7@gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club

St. Louis 53rd Annual Antique Bottle & Jar Show; Orlando Gardens, 4300 Hoffmeister Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63125. General Admission is $3 from 9 am to 2 pm; Set-up 7 am to 9 am. Children free. Contact: St Louis Antique Bottle Collectors Assn., Pat Jett (show chair), 71 Outlook Drive, Hillsboro, Missouri 63050, 314.570.6917, patsy_jett@yahoo. com, FOHBC Member Club

25 February 2023 – Grand Rapids, Michigan The West Michigan Antique Bottle Club presents its 32nd Annual Show & Sale, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, Fonger American Legion Post, 2327 Wilson, S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan, set up Saturday 8:00 to 10:00 am. Cost of admission $3, Contact: Steve DeBoode, 1166 Corvette Dr., Jenison, Michigan, 49428, 616.667.0214, thebottleguy@comcast.net

19 March 2023 – Somers, Connecticut 52nd Annual Somers Antique Bottle Club’s Antique Bottle Show and Sale, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm., Admission $5, Early buyers: 8:00 am- $15. Joanna’s Restaurant, 145 Main St., Rte 190, Somers, Connecticut. Contact: Don Desjardins, 22 Anderson Road, Ware, Massachusetts 01082, 413.967.4431 or 413.687,4808, dondes@comcast.net, FOHBC Member Club

25 February 2023 – DeFuniak Springs, Florida The Emerald Coast Bottle Collectors Inc., 21st Annual Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale, will be held on Saturday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm at the DeFuniak Springs Community Center, 361 N. 10th Street, DeFuniak Springs, Florida 32433. Free Admission. Tables are $35 each, eight feet long, and there are 40 available for the show. All tables must be paid for in advance. For more information and table contracts: Richard Kramerich, PO Box 241, Pensacola, Florida 32591. Email: shards@bellsouth.net Call or text: 850.435.5425

25 March 2023 – Daphne, Alabama The Mobile Bottle Collectors Club’s 50th Annual Show & Sale will be held on Saturday, March 25, 2023, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Daphne Civic Center, 2603 US Hwy 98, Daphne, Alabama 36525. Free Admission and Bottle Appraisals. Dealer Setup is Friday, March 24, 2023, from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm and Saturday from 7:00 am to 9:00 am. For more information, contact Rod Vining at 251.957.6725, Email: vinewood@mchsi.com or Facebook: “Mobile Bottle Collector’s Club Show & Sale.” FOHBC Member Club

11 March 2023 – Platte City, Missouri NW Missouri Insulator and Bottle Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Dealer set up on Friday afternoon, Platte County Fairgrounds, 15730 Fairgrounds Rd., Platte City, Missouri, 85+ tables of Insulators, bottles, jars, telephones, lightning rod balls & arrows, advertising and other misc. antiques. Established show with a lot of advertising. Easy access from interstate. Great foot traffic from Kansas City, St. Joseph & surrounding rural areas.

Display space is available and displays are welcome. For dealer and/or show information, contact Darryl Wagner, insulators@ dwagnerkc.com or 816.719.0801. FREE Insulator & bottle appraisal available at each show.

01 April 2023 – Wheaton, Illinois DuPage Collectors Expo featuring insulators, lightning rod items, weather vanes, telephone & telegraph items, bottles, jars, and related items. 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton, Illinois 60187, Admission $2, Contact: Bob Stahr, 360 S. Kenilworth Ave., Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137, 630.793.5345, bob@hemingray.com, Hemingray Historian & Collector

12 March 2023 – Baltimore, Maryland The Baltimore Antique Bottle Club Show & Sale, New Location, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, baltimorebottleclub.org, Howard County Fairgrounds, Main Exhibition Hall, 2210 Fairgrounds Road, West Friendship, Maryland 21794, Contact Info: Rick Lease, 410.458.9405, finksburg21@comcast.net, Micah Dolina (contracts), mdolina@hotmail.com, FOHBC Member Club 18 March 2023 – Dalton, Georgia Chattanooga North Georgia Antique Bottles & Advertising Show, Dalton Convention Center, 2211 Tony Ingle Pkwy, Dalton, Georgia 30720 (Exit 333 off I-75). There will be concessions at the show. Free Appraisals are Available. Set up: 6:00 am to 8:00 am, Early Buyers: 8:00 am to 9:00 am ($20 for early buyers). Admission Free: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Parking is free. Show Chairmen: Jason Herron 205.913.9748 and Buddy Lasator 423.718.3521. Email: chattbottleshowinfo@gmail.com FOHBC Member Club 19 March 2023 – St. Louis, Missouri

02 April 2023 – Hutchinson, Kansas 16th Annual Kansas Territory Bottle & Post Card Show & Sale, General Admission: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Kansas State Fairgrounds, Sunflower Building, 2000 N. Poplar Street, Hutchinson, Kansas, Info: Mike McJunkin, 620.728.8304, scarleits@cox.net or Mark Law, 785.224.4836, kansasbottles@ gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club 16 April 2023 – Bloomington, Minnesota North Star Historical Bottle Association Presents its 51st Annual Antique Bottle, Advertising, and Stoneware Show and Sale, 9:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Knights of Columbus Event Center, 1114 American Blvd. West, Bloomington, Minnesota 55420. Info: 651.271-3423, AKonitzer1@gmail. com, FOHBC Member Club 16 April 2023 – Rochester, New York 52nd Annual GVBCA Rochester Bottle & Antique Show, Roberts Wesleyan College, Voller Athletic Center, 2301 Westside Drive, Rochester, New York 14624, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, Admission $5. 17 and Under FREE, Show and Dealer Inquires: Aaron and Pamela Weber gvbca@frontiernet.net 585.749.8874, FOHBC Member Club

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Sho-Biz Calendar of Shows

22 April 2023 — Columbia, South Carolina The South Carolina Bottle Club’s 50th Annual Show & Sale, 206 Jamil Road, Columbia, South Carolina 29210, 172 Tables last year with room to grow! Saturday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Donation at the door suggested, Dealer Only Set-Up 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Jamil Shrine Temple, Contact: Marty Vollmer 803.629.8553, martyvollmer@aol.com or Art Gose 803.840.1539, scbottlehunters@gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club 30 April 2023 – Morgantown, West Virginia 6th Annual Dunkard Valley Antique Bottle Stoneware Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm; Early buyers 7:30 am, $25. Both inside and outside vendor spaces are available!

Monongalia County Extension Services & 4H Center, 270 Mylan Park Lane, Morgantown, WV 26501, Contact: Don Kelley, 724.998.2734, bonzeyekelley@gmail.com 07 May 2023 – Gray, Tennessee State of Franklin Antique Bottles & Collectible Assoc. 25th Annual Show & Sale, Saturday, May 6th, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, Appalachian Fairground, 100 Lakeview Street, Gray, Tennessee 37615, Exit 13 on I-216, No Early Admission. sfabca.com, FOHBC Member Club 19–21 May 2023 – Adamstown, Pennsylvania Shupp’s Grove Bottle Festival, Sat & Sun, 6:00 am to dusk, early buyers Friday, 3:00 pm, The famous ‘Shupp’s Grove,’ 607 Willow Street, Reinholds, Pennsylvania 17569, Contact Info: Steve Guion, 717.371.1259. william03301956@gmail. com 20 May 2023 – Gardendale, Alabama 3rd Annual Alabama Bottle & Antique Show, Saturday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm; free admission and appraisals.

Gardendale Civic Center, 857 Main Street, Gardendale, Alabama 35071 (10 minutes north of Birmingham). Info: Keith Quinn: 205.365.1983, klq1812@gmail.com or Steve Holland, 205.492.6864. Visit our Facebook page Alabama Bottle Collectors’ Society. FOHBC Member Club

Elizabeth, Pennsylvania 15037, bottlewizard@comcasat.net, FOHBC Member Club 27 & 28 May 2023 – Boulder City, Nevada 57th Annual 2023 Antiques, Vintage, & Collectibles Show/Sale. Proudly presented by the Las Vegas Antique Bottles & Collectibles Club. 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday. 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Sunday. Boulder City Parks & Recreational Bldg., 900 Arizona St. Boulder City, Nevada 89005. Partnered with The 19th Annual Best Dam BBQ Days. An appraiser is available. For tables contact Rob at 702.830.3898, FOHBC Member Club 04 June 2023 – Ballston Spa, New York The National Bottle Museum presents the 43rd Annual Saratoga Antique Bottle Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 2:30 pm; early admission 8:00 am, $20, Admission $5, Children 12 and under free. Saratoga County Fairgrounds, 4H Building, 162 Prospect St, Ballston Spa, New York, National Bottle Museum, 76 Milton Avenue, Ballston Spa, New York 12020, 518.885.7589, Contact: Roy Topka, Co-chairman, info@nationalbottlemuseum. org FOHBC Member Club 01 August to 04 August 2024 – Houston, Texas 2024 Houston National Antique Bottle & Glass Convention & Expo hosted by the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. Brought to you by Peachridge Collections, LLC. Host Hotel: Hotel Zaza Museum District. Featuring a major, 8,000 square foot museum exhibition that will include the Sandor P. Fuss collection and selected highlights from the David P. Wilber and Anthony Gugliotti collections. Simultaneous FOHBC Virtual Museum Exhibition of same. Contact Ferdinand Meyer V, fmeyer@fmgdesign.com for information, FOHBC Event

HOUSTON 2024 NATIONAL ANTIQUE BOTTLE & GLASS EXPO

21 May 2023 – Washington, Pennsylvania Washington County Antique Bottle Club 49th Annual Show and Sale, Alpine Star Lodge, 735 Jefferson Avenue, Washington, Pennsylvania 15301, Admission $3, 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, Info: Ed Kuskie, 412.405.9061, 352 Pineview Drive,

USPS and Magazine Delivery The FOHBC is working hard to ensure that your magazine is mailed from our printer by mid-month preceeding the issue date. We are currently experiencing delays with our printing due to staffing and paper delivery. The USPS, as most of you probably know, is experiencing longer than normal delivery times. Compounded with Covid-19 and the holidays, we hope to have this issue to you by Christmas or the New Year.

January – February 2023

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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Membership Benefits

The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC) is a non-profit organization supporting antique bottles and glass collecting. The goal of the FOHBC is to promote the collection, study, preservation and display of historical bottles and related artifacts and to share this information with other collectors and individuals.

Federation membership is open to any individual or club interested in the enjoyment and study of antique bottles. The FOHBC publication, Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, is well-known throughout the hobby world as the leading publication for those interested in antique bottle and glass collecting and all associated ephemera. The FOHBC Virtual Museum is the most comprehensive antique bottle and glass experience on the Internet. Your FOHBC Individual Membership benefits include: A full year subscription to the all-color, bi-monthly (6 issues a year) 72-page plus covers publication, Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. Various membership options are available including Digital Membership.

Free advertising of “For Sale” items in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (restrictions apply­—ads may be up to 100 words, items must be of $25 or greater value, and free advertisements are limited to the first received. One free ad of 60 words each year for use for items such as For Sale and Wanted, trade offers, etc.

Access to FOHBC.org, a comprehensive website dedicated to the organization and hobby. Access through the Members Portal to the Membership Directory, archived FOHBC past issues, indexed articles and a vast assortment of research material.

Access to the FOHBC Virtual Museum of Historical Bottles & Glass. FOHBC members are museum members.

Access to the online FOHBC Auction Price Report. Look for the cost and description of anything auctioned by the top antique bottle and glass auction houses in the past decade. Easy to use and navigate. Updated annually.

The opportunity to obtain discounts to be used on “Early Admission” or table rental at the annual FOHBC National Shows and Conventions.

FOHBC digital newsletter and so much more.

We encourage Affiliated Bottle Club memberships by offering these additional benefits to your group: Club Display advertising in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector at discount of 50%.

Insertion of your bottle club show ad on the Federation website to increase your show’s exposure. Links to your club website free of charge. Social Media (Facebook) exposure.

Free Federation ribbon for Most Educational display at your show.

Participation in the Federation-sponsored insurance program for your club show and any other club-sponsored activities.

We need your support! Our continued existence is dependent upon your participation as well as expanding our membership. If you haven’t yet joined our organization, please do so and begin reaping the benefits. If you are already a member, please encourage your friends and fellow collectors to JOIN US!!

For more information, questions, or to join the FOHBC, please contact: Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC Business Manager, FMG Design, Inc., P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, phone: 713.504.0628 or email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com or visit our home page at FOHBC.org January – February 2023

Where there’s a will there’s a way to leave Donations to the FOHBC Did you know the FOHBC is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization?

How does that affect you? It allows tax deductions for any and all donations to the FOHBC. You might also consider a bequest in your will to the FOHBC. This could be a certain amount of money or part or all of your bottle collection. The appraised value of your collection would be able to be deducted from your taxes. (This is not legal advice, please consult an attorney.) The same-type wording could be used for bequeathing your collection or part of it; however, before donating your collection (or part of it), you would need the collection appraised by a professional appraiser with knowledge of bottles and their market values. This is the amount that would be tax deductible. Thank you for considering the FOHBC in your donation plans.

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Membership Application & Advertising FOHBC Individual Membership Application For Membership, complete the following application or sign up at FOHBC.org (Please Print)

Name_________________________________ Address________________________________ City __________ State___________________ Zip ___________ Country _________________ Telephone______________________________ Email Address____________________________ Collecting Interests ________________________ ____________________________________

Do you wish to be listed in the online membership directory?(name, address, phone number, email address and what you collect) { } Yes { } No Would you be interested in serving as an officer? { } Yes { } No

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Free Ads Category: “WANTED” Maximum - 60 words Limit - One free ad per current membership year.

Category: “FOR SALE” Maximum - 100 words Limit - 1 ad per issue.

(Use extra paper if necessary.)

Would you be interested in contributing your bottle knowledge by writing articles for our magazine? { } Yes { } No Would you be interested in volunteering to

Additional Comments _______________________ help on any FOHBC projects? { } Yes { } No ____________________________________ Membership/Subscription rates for one year (6 issues) (Circle One)

(All First Class sent in a protected mailer)

United States

- Standard Mail - Standard Mail w/Associate* - Standard Mail 3 years - Standard Mail 3 years w/Associate* Digital Membership (electronic files only)

$40 $45 $110 $125 $25

1st Class $55 1st Class w/Associate $60 1st Class 3 years $125 1st Class 3 yrs w/Assoc. $140

Canada – First Class $60 Other countries – First Class $80

- Life Membership: Level 1: $1,000, includes all benefits of a Standard 1st

Class membership. No promise of a printed magazine for life.

- Level 2: $500, includes all benefits of a regular membership but you will not receive a printed magazine, but rather a digital subscription.

Add an Associate Membership* to any of the above at $5 for each Associate for each year.

Associate Member Name(s) __________________________________

*Associate Membership is available to members of the immediate family of any adult holding an Individual Membership. Children age 21 or older must have their own individual membership.

Associate Members enjoy all of the rights and privileges of an Individual Membership.

Signature ______________________________ Date _______________

Send to: FOHBC Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; phone: 713.504.0628; or better yet, email Elizabeth at: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Magazine Submission Requirements: We welcome the submission of articles and related pictures pertaining to antique bottle and early glass collecting, our hobby, digging, diving, and finding, as well as other interesting stories.

SUBMISSION POLICY—Articles: All Antique Bottle & Glass Collector articles or material needs to be submitted via an FTP site, email or hard copy.

Electronic text files should be in Microsoft Word.

Electronic photo files should be in JPEG, TIFF or EPS format.

Resolution of 300 dpi at actual publication size is preferred but as low as 150 dpi (at double publication size) is acceptable.

Please make checks or money orders payable to FOHBC and mail to:

SUBMISSION POLICY—Classified ads:

FOHBC Membership, Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, Phone: 713.504.0628

All ad copy should be typewritten, clearly & legibly printed, or sent via e-mail.

Email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Affiliated Club Membership for only $75 with liability insurance for all club-sponsored events, 50% discount on advertising in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, plus so much more, Contact: FOHBC Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, PO Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, 713.504.0628, fohbcmembers@ gmail.com 72

Clearly Print or Type Your Ad

The FOHBC will not be responsible for errors in an ad due to poor quality, illegible copy.

The FOHBC reserves the right to refuse any advertising.

Please send articles/images to fmeyer@fmgdesign.com or mail to business manager noted on bottom of previous column.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

FOHBC c/o Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC Business Manager P.O. Box 1825 Brookshire, Texas 77423

FOHBC Member. Please check your mailing address information and notify us of any corrections. FOHBC.org

THE BEST EARLY GLASS & BOTTLES We welcome your conversation to discuss consignment options for your singular item, group or entire collection.

hecklerauction.com 860.974.1634