HELP!

[fuampa]

Ill be brief. Dad dug/collected bottles in the 70's in Memphis, TN. We have several thousand bottles in the attic. Im in Knoxville, TN now. How can I find out what I may have? I think alot of the stuff is pretty cool. Is there anyone in East Tennessee that anyone knows of that can help? Can anyone suggest a book maybe that I can read to start learning about bottle collecting. Im trying to decide if I should persue the hobby or try to sell everything. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[woody]

I go to ebay completed listings and do a search of any particular bottle you have. That may give you an idea as to its value.

 

[AntiqueMeds]

trying to decide if I should persue the hobby or try to sell everything. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

if you are not in an immediate need for cash, dont do anything with them... for now. Assuming your floor joists are strong the 1000 bottles should be happy where they are.
Take some photos of ones you think are interesting (colors, writing on them, crude glass, etc) and post them here. People will let you know if they are trash or treasure.
Stick around for awhile and read forum posts. If you dont find them interesting then bottle collecting probably isnt for you. Most people do get hooked it seems, old glass is attractive and addictive.
If you have any questions about old medicine bottles send me an email and I will try to help.

 

[fuampa]

Thank you so much for the advice! I will post some photos tonite. Bottle collecting is very interesting, just a little overwhelming to a noob.

 

[botlguy]

ORIGINAL: AntiqueMeds

trying to decide if I should persue the hobby or try to sell everything. ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

if you are not in an immediate need for cash, dont do anything with them... for now. Assuming your floor joists are strong the 1000 bottles should be happy where they are.
Take some photos of ones you think are interesting (colors, writing on them, crude glass, etc) and post them here. People will let you know if they are trash or treasure.
Stick around for awhile and read forum posts. If you dont find them interesting then bottle collecting probably isnt for you. Most people do get hooked it seems, old glass is attractive and addictive.
If you have any questions about old medicine bottles send me an email and I will try to help.

I agree with Matt, A.K.A. AntiqueMeds, take your time and figure out what you have. Quantity doesn't necessarily mean Quality but one never knows until they do some research. If you want / need a hobby bottle collecting is great. Hobbies help keep one healthy and happy even though perhaps broke if one gets carried away. You can be in at whatever level appeals to you. You already have a terrific start even if the ones you now have are not particularly valuable. Researching them will give you some serious knowledge.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask noob questions. We all enjoy showing off.

 

[RED Matthews]

Hello fuampa; From the tone of your post I decided to send you the same information about bottle collecting that I end to newbie's that want to learn. It is just a starter and you can go from there in your examination of what you have to sort through.
This is a collection of material information for newbee's in the hobby of Historic Bottle Collecting. There are several approaches to bottle collecting, and every one has a different interest, that keeps them going after bottles that represent their interest. My interest in putting this together; is to look at the development of bottle making and the methods that were used when the bottles were Hand-Made and Mouth-Blown. This is intended to mainly cover the bottles that were made in the development of the American Glass Making Industry, the first industry in our country.. New diggers and collectors, need to realize how to identify bottles that were made by Hand and Mouth-Blown vs the bottles that were made on an AUTOMATIC BOTTLE MACHINE (ABM). These glass items can be left for future collecting objectives; or recycled into the batch additive to today's glass production. If there are two vertical seams on the finish of the bottle, leave it or recycle it. The logic is the value isn't going to be worth taking it home; unless it is an unusual figural or fancy bottle.
The number one thing to learn is how to identify and know Mouth Blown Bottles. One of the best things to learn is how to identify the pontil marks.
#1 When a bottle has a round ring of glass on the bottom, it is telling us that the ring was made by having an emp ontiling done with the previous blow pipe with neck glass left on the end of that blow pipe. The diameters (inside and outside) will be about the same as the neck of the bottle under the finish. So this is a Blow pipe or Open Tube Pontil, on the bottom of your bottle. That previous blowpipe was laid on a rack by the glory hole to keep that glass tube end hot enough to stick to the next bottle. These are often referred to as: an open pontil but that is up to the collectors use of words.
#2 When the bottle has a contact mark on the bottom that illustrates that what was used to empontil it, that mark will be a round form with different textures in the mark. The mark is made by an iron punty rod and the diameter and style is different for: small to huge heavy glass bottles. These heated punty rods were often soft coated with a sticking agent like: graphite, red lead or white lead . The coated punty is then placed in; an open boxes with: powdered iron, glass chips, glass dust, sand, to mention the main ones. It is then stuck on the bottom of the new bottle to become a handle for the bottle-maker to apply glass to the neck of the empontilled bottle.
Some punties are even just coated with some hot glass from the melting crucible. Identifying the exact method of empontiling is not as important as just realizing it has been on a punty rod. #3 Now the last thing to look at is the finish on top of the bottle you are thinking of keeping. If the finish was applied hot glass it will be just a ring of glass or it might have lines going around it and down on the neck of the bottle indicating that a pinch action tool had been inserted in the neck and the hot glass rotated to shape the hot glass, that was put on the neck. In this looking at your bottle or jar – if you see two vertical mold lines on that finish – then it was made on an ABM (Automatic Bottle Machine) and left for a future collector. The only exception is if the bottle is a unique figural or has some other indications of being a collectors item. This will come after you have more experience. This is no doubt enough to get you on a good road. RED Matthews <bottlemysteries@yahoo.com>