Coin collector turns to bottles. My story (Also looking for New Brunswick/Maine info

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Harmonica

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Hello everyone.

My name is Terry and my online handle is "Harmonica". I came to bottles as a coin collector. I do not collect coins exactly, I am more into exonumia (tokens and the like).

I love anything New Brunswick and Maine (with a soft spot for Nova Scotia and Saint Pierre too boot).

I always picked up bottles from hiking the old railroad tracks and what have you but it became more serious lately. I am collecting cheques and other fiscal documents from the Maritime Bank of the Dominion of Canada. They had a branch in Woodstock, NB. The bank was bought out by the Bank of New Brunswick. It later became Baird's Pharmacy and then Newnhman and Slipps, NB's oldest drug store! Needless to say I needed to buy a couple drug bottles for my numismatic exhibit on said bank.



I found this post through the magic of Google

https://www.antique-bottles.net/showthread.php?338932-H-PAXTON-BAIRDS-BALSAN-OF-HOREHOUND

I am not sure if passthebottle is still active but a) smart username and b) I hope to hear from a fellow "border rat".

Now that I found one bottle I kind of what more to add to my collection. Anything H. Baird should be easy enough to find local I reckon.

I also want milk bottles. What would go better with my Atlantic Canadian dairy token collection then matching bottles!

Ginger Ale, Root Beer and Moxie all also have peaked my interest. Being a former British Colony tea is big in New Brunswick. I collect tea memorabilia. Tins, tea cards, envelopes from said companies, signs etc. So I explained why tea was big here but do you know why Ginger Ale and Root Beer grew in Atlantic Canada/New England? Prohibition. My great grand father was a rum runner, I found his arrest mentioned in an old 1920 paper. I think I found one of his old jugs at my aunt's house! Yes bootleggers, the Klan, Orange-men and the cops all fought it out on the ME/NB border and I want to own the bottles! When you couldn't drink alcohol (or needed something to make the white lightning go down) you turned to soft drinks!

Sorry for the long uninteresting story but I wanted to explain what I am looking for and how I want to use my future bottles to tell the story of Maine/New Brunswick relations and to enhance my coin collection.

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As for references I found the Ginger Beers of New Brunswick by Steven Dickenson, great work. Any other leads on milk bottles of NB/ME or Ginger ale/beer Root Beer of the same area?

.................................................. .................................................. ...

Thank you all for excepting my registration request, I hope to learn a lot. :)
 

RCO

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I'm from Ontario , I find anything from the east coast of Canada interesting , I have some older postcards from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia , don't really have many bottles from that area other than a few Seaman's bottles from PEI . we don't see a lot of posts about older east coast bottles here so it be interesting to learn more about the area . I'm assuming there is a few bottles form that region we haven't seen before or rarely see .
 

Harmonica

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Hello RCO, yes the east cost holds many treasures.

The first thing that pops (pun intended) to my mind is the whole Irn bru thing. Irn bru sold in Canada was always caffeine free do to Canadian laws on caffeine in light coloured soft drinks.

There was a separate drink in Cape Breton Island called "Iron Brew". It was Dr. Pepper-y. It was sold in glass McKinlay bottles.

My mother moved back and forth from Cape Breton Island/Newfoundland growing up and my summers always took place on the island. I vaguely recall Iron Brew.
 

Harmonica

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What all does Ontario have to offer? What all do you collect? Any advice for a new collector?
 

RCO

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you can find anything in Ontario , honestly when you start looking around places , there Is a lot out there available for sale , antique markets have a lot , yard sales too is some good find . I found a very old local paper label soda/ginger ale at one last year although such a good find is very rare
to start out I'd avoid buying anything too expensive until your more familiar with prices and what things actually sell for, some antique dealers try and sell items for more than there worth or maximum price it possibly be worth


a couple of postcards from out east I picked up recently at an antique market were only a couple bucks each , one is of Hopewell cape rocks on bay of fundy and other university in Fredericton , I recall visiting those rocks when I was out east in late 90's


monctonMB-hopewellcape.jpgfrederictonNB-universitynb.jpg
 

Harmonica

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A lot of my peers went off to that university! I hear you about the price thing. As a coin dealer I hate breaking the bad news to people wanting to retire.

I am in my early 20s so a lot of people my age come up to me with their grandfathers collections (an old ratty 1 and 2 dollar bills) and ask how much it is worth. When I say 3 dollars they often argue with me.

I mean I live in a town of 912 people so any bottles that do show up will not have a huge demand but at the same time all the pawn and picker shows inflated the prices of everything.

Some of the Ginger Ale bottles go through the rought and I know people love Coca-Cola but I can still find certain cola bottles in the woods.

I have been using eBay and a bottle auction site to gage prices. Are their any books on the subject? Would they fall under "General Store collectibles".

You are right thought I am not going to sink anything above CAD80 until I have the terminology and market down.
 

RCO

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I don't know if there are any books specifically on New Brunswick or Nova Scotia bottles , I did see a book published in 70's on nova scotia bottles a while ago , it had some good info but a little out of date , there might be others I don't know

have seen people go into coin and stamp stores here expecting the same thing , was a guy with some coins walk into one a few months back and owner politely told him his assortment wasn't worth enough for him to have any interest but I bet he walked in hoping for big bucks , I'm sure it happens a lot , people assume there old stuff is worth more than it is or assume just cause older relatives held onto it for so long it must be extremely valuable even though it might not in reality

saw a bottle from Woodstock NB in an antique store here once think it was from 50's or 60's an acl bottle but in poor shape can't remember what store wanted for it likely less than $10
 

Harmonica

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ACL? Excuse my ignorance.

I imagine shipping is killer for bottles. You could have people in NB looking for BC bottles and vice versa.

50s or 60s? We had a Coca-Cola bottling plant in town, I have some receipts from the place, would local bottlers put their name on the bottles??
 

RCO

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ACL? Excuse my ignorance.

I imagine shipping is killer for bottles. You could have people in NB looking for BC bottles and vice versa.

50s or 60s? We had a Coca-Cola bottling plant in town, I have some receipts from the place, would local bottlers put their name on the bottles??


after I posted that I wondered if you knew what I meant , acl means applied colour label or some refered to as painted label , you know bottles with coloured paint on them like pepsi

I don't think it be worth shipping as it wasn't in good condition but was definity from Woodstock , NB I remember reading where it was from on back but can't remember name of bottler , you'll likely come across it at some point
 

RCO

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in Canada local bottlers would have there names on some bottles , not coca cola bottles ( they never have city names on them ) but if they made there own ginger ale or orange drink as an example they'd often have own name and bottle to put it in , most of these bottlers disappeared by 70's or 80's if not earlier but just about every large town of say 5000 or more people had a bottler back then
 

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