Just a thought.

[American]

I was thinking the other day about all the bottles we as diggers find. Always bringing more to the surface. Value is determined by more than supply and demand I realize, but everytime another rare bottle surfaces does it decrease the value of the ones in collections already? Are we in a sense, shooting ourselves in the foot with every bottle we uncover? Especially one of a kind. Just a thought. What do you think?
ROBBYBOBBY64.

I think the thrill and adventure of digging up buried treasure is at least half of the importance of the hobby. Ebay has had a part in watering down prices a bit more than digging in my opinion.

 

[Willington Glass]

There's a great book written by one of the hunters that discovered the Arabia. It's called Treasure In A Cornfield and is by Greg Hawley.
Mike

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

I think the thrill and adventure of digging up buried treasure is at least half of the importance of the hobby. Ebay has had a part in watering down prices a bit more than digging in my opinion.

Do you keep a bottle diggers journal? People who find themselves digging the same privy they dug years ago could avoid all this.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

There's a great book written by one of the hunters that discovered the Arabia. It's called Treasure In A Cornfield and is by Greg Hawley.
Mike

Have you ever read this one? Good book for beginners. Good tips inside.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

The Field Guide to American Trash: The Hunt for Historical Treasures Underground and Underwater: Hepburn, Bram: 9781691301997: Amazon.com: Books

The Field Guide to American Trash: The Hunt for Historical Treasures Underground and Underwater [Hepburn, Bram] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Field Guide to American Trash: The Hunt for Historical Treasures Underground and Underwater

www.amazon.com

 

[willong]

Did you ever read that story on the paddle steamboat they dug up in the Mississippi flood plain that was stoked with still corked and full of contents bottles, some rare scroll flasks, that probably killed some prices.

EDIT: Sorry all, had I paged through the thread rather than replying right away to "Bottle 2 Rocks" I would have seen that you all know by now that he was indeed referring to the Arabia.

Are you referring to recovery of the Steamboat Arabia? (It was actually sunk on the Missouri River in 1856 and excavated from under 45 feet of silt, by then a farm field, 132 years later.)

The salvers did something very smart in my opinion: they housed the collection in a commercial museum--one bucket list attraction that I fully intend to visit--that has now operated for decades in Kansas City. Despite the quantity of artifacts recovered, as long as the collection is not broken up and sold piecemeal, such a find would only increase the value of existing similar artifacts. It would do so by increasing interest among the general public.

Bottle collecting, as I understand the history of the hobby, was a fairly obscure pursuit, mainly focusing on examples from antiquity, until excavations for an urban renewal project in Sacramento, CA in 1959 cut through old dump. Residents were actually allowed to dig the site, and the popularity of antique bottles skyrocketed. In the 1970's, bottle collecting was the third most popular collecting hobby in America.

Here's a tease from the Arabia collection:

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

EDIT: Sorry all, had I paged through the thread rather than replying right away to "Bottle 2 Rocks" I would have seen that you all know by now that he was indeed referring to the Arabia.

Are you referring to recovery of the Steamboat Arabia? (It was actually sunk on the Missouri River in 1856 and excavated from under 45 feet of silt, by then a farm field, 132 years later.)

The salvers did something very smart in my opinion: they housed the collection in a commercial museum--one bucket list attraction that I fully intend to visit--that has now operated for decades in Kansas City. Despite the quantity of artifacts recovered, as long as the collection is not broken up and sold piecemeal, such a find would only increase the value of existing similar artifacts. It would do so by increasing interest among the general public.

Bottle collecting, as I understand the history of the hobby, was a fairly obscure pursuit, mainly focusing on examples from antiquity, until excavations for an urban renewal project in Sacramento, CA in 1959 cut through old dump. Residents were actually allowed to dig the site, and the popularity of antique bottles skyrocketed. In the 1970's, bottle collecting was the third most popular collecting hobby in America.

Here's a tease from the Arabia collection: View attachment 222011

I had this exact dream!
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[yacorie]

If you brought a $5000.00 bottle to the surface, would you take $3000.00 for it? No, you would want the 5 grand. But if you took the 3 grand, then, I'd say you shot everyone in the foot. Prices follow market sales and if you sell below market value then you're hurting the market price
Kind of hard to say "no thanks to a potential sale even though you literally have nothing in it". I believe this is what's wrong with the economy. People that have nothing in what they are selling are living off the backs of people who do. Sometimes it's their entire saving lost to a card shuffle and put on the market for little to nothing. And why should we care? Because we could be next. I'm just saying... .

Sent from my E6910 using Tapatalk

i would take 3 grand cash in a heartbeat. Id rather make a quick sale and give a good deal than hold out for more money to keep dealers happy

 

[Bohdan]

I was thinking the other day about all the bottles we as diggers find. Always bringing more to the surface. Value is determined by more than supply and demand I realize, but everytime another rare bottle surfaces does it decrease the value of the ones in collections already? Are we in a sense, shooting ourselves in the foot with every bottle we uncover? Especially one of a kind. Just a thought. What do you think?
ROBBYBOBBY64.

I didn't realize that we were all doing this for the money!

 

[UncleBruce]

i would take 3 grand cash in a heartbeat. Id rather make a quick sale and give a good deal than hold out for more money to keep dealers happy

Let's see what you've got so I can make some offers.

 

[UncleBruce]

I didn't realize that we were all doing this for the money!

The perfect answer.