OT: Antique Bottle Club Dr Sportster

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

Did not want to high jack the thread but Your mention of a bottle club caught my interest and would love to see pictures of your collection and anyone Else's. Here are the ones I display. Have a good many more uncleaned but really need a tumbler. Do you have any tricks for cleaning them. The pics are not very clear with camera phone. We dig these up on jobs around Charleston SC.
Ron

bjb in TX from Ne · Nov 17, 2013

Soaking them in vinegar would probably work very well. The acid is strong enough to dissolve any calcium build ups without affecting the glass. Follow up with some dishsoap and water for the final cleaning.

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

I'll try it. Thanks.
Ron

Dr. Walt · Nov 17, 2013

Old battery acid (Sulphuric Acid) will remove the "patina" that forms on glass bottles that have been buried in the ground. Bottles come out looking almost like new.

Doc

SweetFeet · Nov 17, 2013

RBnSC,

Really neat collection. Do you know what the ones with the wide base in pic 2 were used for? Only thing I can think of it maybe old ink-well from school desks.

Like them displayed on a cake plate.

dr sportster · Nov 17, 2013

Most of mine are still packed up from the show as I took everything I had including the ones that were in the windows. The guy in the club won't tell anyone what he tumbles the bottles in but on the web it says to use copper . Like small cuts of copper wire. He charges about 8.00 a botlle to do this so it has to be a good bottle to be worth it. Most of my best bottles are raffle bottles from the club meetings. They are purchased by a commitee at the show. Sales were very slow this year and alot of dealers went to a show in Albany NY. The top pic you have some good ones . The inks are nice people want them to place on old school desk. I have to go out now but I will try to get some out and post some pics later. [ Note I have not figured out how to post a picture on this site in the past] [ The thing with the inks is an upside down stopper probably from a medicine bottle. My best bottle was dug out from the Morris Canal and was given to me by a laborer . It just says Hamilton Glass works and is a stubby beer bottle. Some can be worth big money if they are a rare color for that maker. Ill try to post more later.

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

SweetFeet,
That is what three of them are. The one on far left still has Ink stain. The on the far right is the stopper to a fancy decanter I think. All of this is very common when digging downtown. We just don't work down there that often anymore.
Ron

Anonymous-0 · Nov 17, 2013

Ever find any of the Amber color SC Dispensary Bottles? Some collectors have a tumbler that will polish off that crust that salt causes. Those are some good bottles you have....

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

My favorite is the emerald green bottle next to the cake platter. It has Congress Water on one side and Congress & Empire Spring CO Saratoga NY embossed on the other. I looked up one time but don't remember the value I'm sure not that much. It's beautiful bottle particularly in the window with the sun shining through it.
Ron

John M · Nov 17, 2013

Ron, My step dad is a big collector of almost any type of old glass. He told me very seldom does he clean anything, other than stuff he can wash off in the sink, unless hes keeping it for his personal colletion. Says value can be effected sometimes. But when he does keep them, he uses vinegar and heats it up some, not much, and soaks the item for a couple of hours scraping what he can, then lets it soak overnight up to a couple of days, depending on how bad it is. He knows one guy in Augusta who does tumbling, and takes him a few to do every now and then when he goes down that way. Says its some kind of air driven vibrating type deal, which sounds to me like a de-burring machine or something to me.

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

John I believe if I could see one I could build one. I did some research on them and part of the media is chopped copper wire is one part and don't remember the other. Most of my bottles are not worth the price of cleaning but a couple are.
Ron

Billy NY · Nov 17, 2013

Thats not far from here, there was a Congress Mobil, fuel company in Saratoga. Saratoga Vichy Water and or Saratoga Springs Water was popular around here.

I've collectd bottles since I was a kid, have a few interesting ones, my favorite places was farmers dumps, always old bottles.

There is an island between Green Island and Troy N.Y. that was a bottle dump or factory, can't recall, the place was loaded with old hand blown, blob top or what have you. I remember digging in there, it became a mature forest of mainly one particular kind of tree, some years ago, it was cleared and condos put in, probably one of the best old bottle sites there was around here.

I've always wondered, what are those bottles for that have a round bottom, I have one, no idea what it was for, how old or know anything about these.

BAnNC · Nov 17, 2013

Ron,
You're in a great place to find old bottles. Specially if you can tell when you get to the job if they used a particular area for a dump. Around here, I find something buried every time I dig. Usually just cover it back cause it was trash.

Fergienewbee · Nov 17, 2013

I used to dig old dumps too. Seems catsup bottles and light bulbs always came through unscathed but the good bitters or others were almost always broken or cracked. I had a pair of Duffy's Malt Whiskey but I dropped and broke both. Most are medicine bottles but I used to have a green "poison" bottle that had little knobs all over it as a warning. I haven't dug in several years, but still like to look at flea markets.

Larry

Anonymous-0 · Nov 17, 2013

Billy, the round bottom made it impossible to stand up, so laid on the side, the cork stayed wet, and did not dry out and let the contents spoil.. Pretty sure those were early soft drinks..

greygoat · Nov 17, 2013

To clean the insides, I"ve had success with a
mixture of sand and water, and lots of shakeing.

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

Two things about this bottle is interesting to me. One is that it was carrying water many years ago and second is that it made it all the way to Charleston from New York. But I suppose with a good glass bottle it was repurposed many times.
Ron

RBnSC · Nov 17, 2013

I have seen pieces but I don't ever remember finding one but may have years ago and sold it. You could always sell any dispensary bottles. My brother has a round qt.dispensary bottle that is aqua. It has a crack. The Jojo flask like I have a number of are the most common.
Ron

Anonymous-0 · Nov 17, 2013

Yes, a round amber rum bottle with a Palmetto tree would be a real find. There were also even some crock jugs with dispensay logo..

dr sportster · Nov 17, 2013

I think the ones with the round bottom were made that way to keep the cork wet and not dry out. I think they were sodas and beers. They are often unembossed. I have a Saratoga Spring Water myself. This was one of the ones I got at a club meeting raffle . The price tag says 35 dollars. The club may have paid a little less as some dealers give the club a break for raffle bottles. There are people in the club that know way more than me. Then there are those that if they don't know they make something up. I know who to ask and who not to ask. Prices in price guides are changing constantly. I had alot of 30 dollar bottles marked 5.00 at the show but did not sell many . Economy is a factor and alot of people like to dig their own bottles . The rare stuff sells early and collectors will pay alot for them. More common stuff I had not so much. I saw a guy with two Warners Safe Cure marked 35 . I marked mine 25 and no sale. One of them still had the paper label. But another guy sold a bitters barrel style for 400. I had alot of German steins and did not sell one stein. Somewhere I read bottle collecting is the number two hobby.

37chief · Nov 18, 2013

I dug a few bottles before the houses started springing up around here in my part of calif. I just leave them natural looking. My favorite is, Dr Kilman's The Great Swamp Root kidney, liver and bladder cure. Stan

OT: Antique Bottle Club Dr Sportster

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