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September - October 2017
Remembering Bob Ferraro
Bottles and Extras
Ferdinand Meyer V
From Black & White to Color When my course was set back in 2002 with collecting bitters bottles, I was determined to get as much information as possible, as fast as I could, to fill an out-of-control desire. This was before I knew anyone or belonged to the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. One path, using old magazines and books led me to right to a fellow named Mayor Bob Ferraro. I kept hearing his name and heard stories about his collection. At first I found his black & white portrait picture and a similar old picture of his collection. Both are pictured above. When I saw all those bottles, even without color, I knew that Bob was a man I wanted to meet. It turned out that he was probably the most colorful man in our bottle world, at least in my book. Fast forward a few years and I was on the board of the Federation and started to get to know Bob. We went for dinner at national shows, talked at regional shows and eventually arranged visits where Bob came to our house in Houston and Elizabeth and I went to Bob’s to see his collection. This is where I met Connie, his beautiful artist wife who was painting colorful murals on walls in downtown Boulder City, Nevada. I’ll never forget that trip. I had to take my boots off because Connie did not like guests wearing shoes on their soft off-white carpet. That task made our visit even more special and almost spiritual as I floated on cloud nine around his bottle room and got immersed in figural bottles, Nevada collectibles and his Bininger bottles. The opposite might have been when I wore my
boots in Norm Hecklers old wood framed house in Connecticut. Every step on his wood planked floors seemed to rattle bottles on shelves. I think I was as frightened as I was amazed with that visit. These connections we make are priceless. It is with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Bob this past April. Bob was many things including a great bottle collector, politician, business man, human being and most important, a friend to many and an inspiration. He is someplace better, maybe more peaceful. He can rest eternally knowing that he influenced greatly many bottle collectors in his life. This collector for sure. As a tribute to Bob, I am reprinting an article called Nevada: History of Bottle Collecting that Bill Baab authored back in the July-August 2009 issue of Bottles and Extras. It pretty much says it all. I have added a few pictures to add some color.
Nevada: History of Bottle Collecting My interest in old bottles occurred in 1950 while I was in high school in northern Nevada. My folks were ranchers in Paradise Valley, a rural area about 40 miles east of Winnemucca. My mother had developed a strong interest in sun-colored, or more commonly called “purple” bottles that were quite prevalent in and around the mining camps. At this time in my life, I really had no interest in old bottles, but I would go out of my way to search the mining camps and ghost towns to find purple bottles for her. Over several years, my mother’s collection grew from just a few on the shelf to several shelves filled with purple glass.