Grandpa wants me to sell his collection!!!

[Young Buck]

My Grandfather has asked me to sell his collection of antique bottles on the internet for him. Prices are based on two books that he ownes: Antique trader: Bottles, and Antique trader: Antiques & Collectables

His collection consists of:
"Warners Safe Kidney Liver Cure" Rodchester,NY -RARE- $300
"Warners Safe Cure 7 1/2" Rodchester,NY , Smooth Base, Amber -$500
"Blakes Whiskey" -$50
"Dr. J. Hosteters Stomach Bitters" 1910-1915 -$75
"Lashs Liver Bitters" -$75
"Old Irish Whiskey" -$75

I can be contacted by email: mateer_135@hotmail.com

I also have pictures, that I can email to you, of all bottles except the "Warners Safe Kidney Liver Cure", the picture I have is to dark and needs to be retaken. So email me with questions or offers and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Hey Young Buck,
Welcome to the forum. I think I have some bad news for you, sorry. Most of the bottles that you are listing are not as valuable as those books seem to be showing. It is possible that your grandfather has rare or unusual examples, then all bets are off. However, it is more likely that the bottles are worth only a fraction of those prices. If you post some pictures here, the forum has at least a few experts who can give you a feel for their fair market value.

 

[Young Buck]

I would post pics but this forum will only let pictures with a file size of 200k be uploaded. If anyone has doubts about the prices listed here email me at mateer_135@hotmail.com, and I would be happy to answer any questions or send you a picture of any of the bottles (except Warners Safe Kidney Liver Cure, for I have not retaken the picture yet). Also all offers are welcome, so if you dont agree with the price shoot me an offer, I run it by grandpa and get back to ya.

 

[deepbluedigger]

Sorry to have to agree with Blobbottlebob on this Young Buck. Your grandpa has some nice collectable bottles there, but the valuations are very high. Unfortunately price guides put together by non-specialists are usually not worth the paper they're written on (BUT guides put together by experienced specialists are often pretty good). I don't think anyone will doubt that you're telling the truth about the prices the bottles are listed. The problem is that the listed prices are not accurate or reliable.

Badly compiled price guides are often misleading, and sometimes very wrong. They can lead to serious disappointment for the owners of bottles who take the books at face value, or to very bad decisions by buyers who rely too much on them for guidance. Usually the prices are hugely inflated, partly because they are often based upon the highest price an item has sold for in the past few years (which is no way to judge the value of a bottle, or any antique), or even the highest price the authors have seen on a sticker, even if the bottle hasn't sold (which is an even worse way to value something). Often these kinds of price guides take no account of the fact that similar-ish bottles can have MASSIVELY different values - something only a specialist would know.

The most extreme example I've seen is a British general antiques guide a few years ago that valued a £5 ($8) bottle at over £1000 ($1,500+). Incompetent and irresponsible work by the authors about sums it up.

There's a great article in the most recent Antique Bottle and Glass Collector magazine about price guides, and how reliable (or unreliable) they are.

 

[GuntherHess]

The problem many people run into using price guides is that bottles can be found in many variations and the users have incomplete information to determine if they are looking at at the correct variant.
For instance a plain amber Warner's Safe Cure might sell for $25 but the same bottle in yellow amber might sell for $75, add a label and it might be $150.
An embossed medicine bottle might sell for 10X as much just because it has a pontil mark. You have to be cautious using any guide to make sure the bottle you have is actually the one they are referencing in the guide.

Just making a general statement , not referring to your particular items
-best of luck

 

[LC]

The Kovel's price guide book lists a Cincinnati Reds Pepsi bottle as being worth fifty bucks . I live in Ohio , and the price for one of those bottles run ten to fifteen bucks in my area , sometimes less than that . But if anyone knows someone who will give fifty bucks a pop for them , let me know , and I will be glad to sell them twenty five or thirty of them .

 

[Young Buck]

I get your Points, here is the thing. If you don't like the prices you see make me an offer. I talked to grandpa about what bottle bob had to say and he said that the warners safe cure bottles are very RARE. They have a word printed on them that isn't very common. I cannot remember what word it was at this moment. Soon as I find some time I will be posting the pics of these bottles so everyone can post some more about how far off the pricing is. Offers are welcome. Email me. Thanks to everyone for there input.

 

[LC]

Hello Young Buck , if you took my post as being sarcastic , I in no way meant for it to be . I was just trying to show you an instance where the book price in the Kovels book for this particular bottle is rediculously over priced .

There are different Warners out there as well , there is a small Warners Nervine on ebay that just sold for $32.52 I did find a WARNERS SAFE RHEUMATIC CURE 1 PINT AMBER with a buy it now price of GBP 300 but it went off without anyone bidding on it . Is this possibly the one you have ? But still , is it worth that I can not say , no one bought this one . Here are some I found doing a finished auction search on eBay below .

Warner Safe Bottle -Rochester- Kidney & Liver Cure sold for $12.50

Light amber WARNERS SAFE KIDNEY & LIVER REMEDY 16 OZ BOTTLE sold for $53.70

WARNERS SAFE CURE LONDON BOTTLE brought $45.31

WARNER's SAFE Kidney & Liver CURE BOTTLE brought $9.90

WARNERS SAFE MEDICINE BOTTLE WITH STOPPER.. PRISTINE brought $71.00

Again not being sarcastic , just stating what I know . There were a few green Warners that brought $233.00 ; $131.00 ; $124.00 ; and $88.00 , but again , they were green in color . Heck , don't go off mad , stick around and post a picture of what you have , maybe we will end up having to eat crow should you have something of a rarity of some kind .

 

[Young Buck]

I didnt take your post as being sarcastic, and I do understand what you all are saying. I appreciate the input and that is why I keep saying make an offer. I also understand that it is hard to make an offer on something you can't look at. Therefore I will be posting pictures within the next week, hopefully, don't quote me on that. If any of you have tips on what should be shown in the pictures please post a reply so when I take the new pictures I can make known what bottles are actually in my grandfather's collection. I really do appreciate the input. Thanks

 

[GuntherHess]

I think one problem with making an offer is no one here really knows exactly what you have without photos.