Antique Bottles, Anyone?

Lawn Ranger

Playing with new camera. This is my bookshelf in my office. Part of Trinity sits on the site of an old San Antonio dump ground. These are part of what we dug up during a water line went through that part of campus. There are some really cool ones in there. They say never to wash them because collectors want them "pure". So, I probably have some exotic form of brown lung after breathing these things for the past 10 years. Just thought I'd share.

Mike

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

THAT is super bueno. have you ever had anyone that "knows anything" take a look at them? i'm sure you've got some real special stuff in there. even ampules it looks like. and the one with its stopper. amazing.

i collect books, but don't have nearly that many wonderful examples...

Car Wash Mike

Some 1956 Jim Bean Decantars.


How long did it take Ryan to pick those up? :woohoo:

I have a few with the old tops on, use them for toothpick holders.

Mike

RRP

Thanks for sharing that collection, Mike! When you say office you mean at work or at home? If at home then that might well be part of your 401K for retirement! But if it's at work then don't despair you know the drill...I got it one bottle at a time

Lawn Ranger

I'm sure that stopper was probably from a perfume bottle and I just stck it in there. I've had a copuple of guys tell me there is several $'s in that collection. From what I can discern by reading, the dating is based on the mold seams, and how high, or low up they extend up the neck. If I'm reading correctly, there are several that date back into the mid to late 1800's. I've got 3-in-one Oil cork bottles, Listerine cork bottles, cool poison bottles, and a bunch of ampules and pharmaceutical stuff. One man's trash.....

Lawn Ranger

It's at the office, but I really did find nearly every one of them..."one at a time". Don't think I'd get any flack for taking them with me. Maybe I should start now, huh?

Lawn Ranger

Those Decanters are still full, right? :P

Car Wash Mike

LOL. I was -3 when they were bottled. You were? :woohoo:

Mike

RRP

yeah...seriously I'll bet you have a valuable collection there...obviously to the right parties...I can see you now on Antique Road Show with your ka-zillion bottles in cardboard boxes... :woohoo:

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

i looked up the 3-in-one-oil bottles for you. hahaha
couldn't tell much though. just neat to see them pop up on a page with descriptions about every single variation.

here are some of my bindings...

Lawn Ranger

those are beautiful!

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

thx.

i think any collection is fascinating. ever see YB's arrowheads? oh my head... i haven't ever found one. he's swimming in them. amazing stuff

Pilcher Man

Love your old bottles. Used to dig them too in Jefferson, TX. Now collect old crocks and jugs. Got them decorating my cooking area.

Fidel

you nerd

Fidel

Those are great. My father-in-law and I uncovered a couple ink wells and a perfume bottle about 10 years ago that I researched and we figured out they were about 100 years old, possibly even Civil War relics (this was in piedmont South Carolina). I don't have any pics to share, but remember the thrill of finding such an artifact. Can't imagine unearthing a collection like you have there. Very nice.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

i copied them off another website. only a fruit would collect pretty books

RRP

hmmmm, forgot to pay the premium on your special home owner's insurance rider covering those books again I see

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

i don't have a rider on those...

and i didn't post but a small chunk of them.
i'm frankly effed.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

interesting stuff, eh? glass lastss forever, so sometimes it's "no big deal". i weas digging a trench outside the house we lived in at the time, was built 1661 or so. found a bottle neck, hand blown. bot a bottle though. i showed it to a guy who collected bottles and he said it was fairly common (up here) to find that sorta thing, even whole bottles.

but someone found a leather tri-corn hat, watewrlogged in the mud, all flattened and fairly done for. thing sold for 7500 bucks. turns out, most of that stuff is ephemeral. everyone saves the silver sugar bowl. comparitively, no one holds on to grampa's tricorn hat though.

bottles like that, or YB's arrowheads... man. whether they are valuable or not you can't help but consider who the last person to touch it was.

RRP

effed? good night.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

if anything happens to them, i'm toast. i do need the rider. how did you know? hahaha

Spring Chicken

Maybe if you did rub some of them you might hit on one with a genie in it. But then again you might be better off selling one for a dollar and buying a lottery ticket with the dollar.

I agree that you should take steps to make sure those are 'your' bottles and not the property of the campus. Things could get sticky down the road otherwise.

Spring "Rub Me, I'm An Antique" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

WooDoggies

That's a pretty cool collection of glass, Mike.
As a kid, my brother and I did a lot of "digging" for bottles and we came up with a decent array of sizes, shapes and colors.... hundreds and hundreds of bottles over the years.

The collection stays with my bro but I kept a few. My favorite is one I have here in the office. It's a little clear glass bottle that reads in raised lettering, "Hoyt's 10 cent Cologne". Found in the mud on the shore of our town lake. I remember the excitement of discovering something akin to buried treasure.... and that feeling is what kept us looking.






Thanks for sharing!

john

WooDoggies

Most impressive! Book collectors have to be some of the most interesting folks. However, just as obsessive as any collector :~).... what's your main criteria in collecting? First additions... only leather/gilt bindings?

john

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

they say book collecting is the only hobby with a diagnosable mental condition, bibliomania. not sure that's true, but sounds about right.

i collect american (new york) bindings, ca 1890-1920, by an obscure binder whose name i'd prefer not to include here... hahaha

the Walden is cloth, and outside the collection, but i have a bunch of books (rare and not at all rare) outside the collection that just happen to have collected me

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

the chase, or hunt, is always the part that hooks you.

WooDoggies

Spoken like a true collector... and I couldn't agree more. Wish I had more time for the pursuit.

WooDoggies

Now if you just learned how to read, you'd be all set!

Very nice stuff, J. I'm sure your library is really something to see and appreciate...

mad max beyond eggdome

mikey,

that is an amazing collection!!!. ..wow. .. not sure what else to say... hopefully you will catalogue it and work with someone who really knows that stuff so that you know what you really have there. ..

Lawn Ranger

I know the feeling exactly! Cool bottle!