What's the deal, why all but worthless?!

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new2bottles

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IMG_3114.jpgIMG_3335.jpgWow! At the beginning of 2018, even as of early fall, I was not collecting vintage sodas. Had plans to make a bottle tree and this dragonfly, but collecting was not in mind. But look at me now! They're infatuating.
 

American

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Iron pontiled sodas have been hot for decades and continue to gain popularity. Your deco sodas are pretty, but they are too easy to find by anyone who takes the time to look in a creek. They are right on top.
 

Eric

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Another reason why many of these soda bottles bring so little may be simply time... So much time has passed that those who may remember these brands and bottles are no longer with us.
Many now can no longer relate to these or even know what these brands were. I see it in other areas of collecting. A couple examples are depression glass and vintage rotary telephones...
These are a couple other items my wife and I collect and have seen a major drop in both price and want. Footed tumbler glasses I once paid up to $80+ a piece you can now find on ebay
for as low as $15 a piece. Old wooden crank phones and desk rotary phones have dropped as the generation that used these pass on. Phones I could get $300 for
and could use are now bringing $175 and used as display pieces as landlines disappear and cell phones have replaced them.

Many in this younger generation just have no real memories/connection to this stuff... not their fault...My son, who liked going to the bottle shows when he was little, liked root beer bottles
because he liked drinking root beer... now at 17 he likes his truck, college football teams, has a part time job and a girlfriend... Old soda and root beer bottles, many he never drank or even
heard of is now something he collected and did with his dad, He still likes them... he just has no real experience or connection to these... To him it was just fun memories walking around tables
looking at the bright colored bottles and digging through boxes, getting a few cool bottles and bottle caps then going to McDonald's after the show.

Anyway that's my take on this.... Collect what you enjoy and what brings you happiness... don't collect as to invest as it may not hold the value you have placed in them. Be glad that you can still pick up nice bottles for a few bucks... And enjoy the hunt that, to me, is the best part.
 

willieboy

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It was explained to me years ago by a wise man; "One man's trash is another man's treasure". After digging bottles for nearly 50 years and focusing on strictly to specific types of bottles from Florida, I find more pleasure in learning about the history of the bottler, the community and if possible getting a quality picture of the bottle. I have found that documenting the history related to the glass item provides as much pleasure and shelling out $1,000's for that extra rare soda I don't have.

I have been lucky to have started digging in the 1970's and have the experience of digging wells and privy's old enough to have pontiled bottles, Finding really old bottles on river banks, scuba diving in dark rivers, a 1880's shipwreck and even lucky enough to have dug at the site of a Seminole Indian War Fort circa 1838-1840. During the days I was really active, I have tossed hundreds of art deco bottles back in the river, Now I wish I would have kept them, they are attractive just not my cup of tea.
 

new2bottles

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Thanks to everyone for their contributions. I do enjoy the thrill of the chase. Back in the day, that meant a lot of hard work. The Internet has revolutionized collecting.
 

Little Wing

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If I hadn't spent a crapton of money on Etsy last night I'd buy some of them for more than what a collector will say they are worth. They are lovely and honestly worth what someone is willing to pay. My old mustard jars with the bubbles are deemed worthless but I love them and wouldn't sell them for $30 each. To me they represent toughness. I can dig an area where the rocky ground freezing and shifting on a hillside has shattered everything EXCEPT the mustard jars. Those soda bottles are worth displaying. A lot of people would love to have them.
 

RCO

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Another reason why many of these soda bottles bring so little may be simply time... So much time has passed that those who may remember these brands and bottles are no longer with us.
Many now can no longer relate to these or even know what these brands were. I see it in other areas of collecting. A couple examples are depression glass and vintage rotary telephones...
These are a couple other items my wife and I collect and have seen a major drop in both price and want. Footed tumbler glasses I once paid up to $80+ a piece you can now find on ebay
for as low as $15 a piece. Old wooden crank phones and desk rotary phones have dropped as the generation that used these pass on. Phones I could get $300 for
and could use are now bringing $175 and used as display pieces as landlines disappear and cell phones have replaced them.

Many in this younger generation just have no real memories/connection to this stuff... not their fault...My son, who liked going to the bottle shows when he was little, liked root beer bottles
because he liked drinking root beer... now at 17 he likes his truck, college football teams, has a part time job and a girlfriend... Old soda and root beer bottles, many he never drank or even
heard of is now something he collected and did with his dad, He still likes them... he just has no real experience or connection to these... To him it was just fun memories walking around tables
looking at the bright colored bottles and digging through boxes, getting a few cool bottles and bottle caps then going to McDonald's after the show.

Anyway that's my take on this.... Collect what you enjoy and what brings you happiness... don't collect as to invest as it may not hold the value you have placed in them. Be glad that you can still pick up nice bottles for a few bucks... And enjoy the hunt that, to me, is the best part.

true but most of the bottles I have , there much older than me , I don't remember drinking them

much like the original poster I just sort of became interested in art deco soda's and acl soda's


often I'm actually more interested in bottles I have never seen before , cause there more unusual or perhaps rarer if I've never even seen one yet


but I agree certain antique prices in general are likely headed downwards as the younger generations either have less space or less interest in the items
 

David Fertig

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A quick search on FeeBay completed auctions shows at least 100 or so of this era soda bottle selling for $100-500.

I collected milks before they we cool (and some still turn their nose up at them). But for the most part, the newer bottles did not interest me. But like has been said by others here - collect what YOU like and pay what YOU value the bottle at.

When bidding on any item, I always factor in the shipping, handling, buyer's premium, etc. If I value it at $10 and shipping is $7.25, then I need to by it for $2.75.

And as to collectibles - certain categories come and go. I collect local tall case clocks and furniture. Most are selling for a quarter to a third of what they were bringing 20-30 years ago. I buy them because I like them, but also because I believe they are of good value. Now clocks from 1900-1930's have absolutely no interest to me. And even most clocks from the 1840's-1860's. For something that "should bring more money" you can get a nice running 8 day shelf clock that is 170 years old for a couple hundred bucks. Talk about value! However, there were just too many made and still around for most to sell for more.

And truth be known, I do have one of these "new" soda bottles that I was tickled to finally get and that does get a good display space. I'll see if I can find a pic of it.
 

Mr. Hemingray

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The big killer on bottles is shipping. I sell a LOT on eBay and fortunately, since I am a dealer in insulators, I can ship them somewhat economically. I can send up to 6 in a large F-R box. Bottles on the other hand.... no really economical way to ship them unless they fit an $18.95 LFR box. Then you can ship 3-4 and make it more affordable.
I have sold some sodas and Codd bottles on eBay and they can be a pain.
 

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