making a living

[bubbas dad]

i have a question for the people here. does anyone here make a living at selling bottles? i get the impression that for just about everyone here it's a hobbie just as it is for me. i would love to be able to just travel the different shows, buying and selling bottles and such and make a decent living at the same time. i am sure that some people are able to do it. i was just wondering what that would be like.

 

[whosyerdaddy]

hey john, thats a good question u posed. i remember back in the 70's i used to do 3 or 4 shows a year. done the old richmond indiana show, indy show, louisville, ky. etc. lot of good bottles being dug back then. u could make some good money doing shows u have to be a bottle digger before u can be a bottle businessman. there in lies the problem, my friend, you will spend more time diggin them than u will selling them today. a large number of the old bottles u see selling on ebay were dug back then. u would definitely need another source of "stock" other than ebay to make any kind of living at the bottle trade. whosyerdaddy

 

[WhiteLighting]

I try to bring a sort of income in,but not enough to keep one above water...lol

but if ya do find a few rarites out there you could be a rich man.......

 

[whiskeyman]

Most of the Dealers I know are retired and have that steady income to supplement their selling . It's also like WHOS said: these guys were digging stuff back in the 60's and have "stock" to take to shows.
I don't dig enough salable bottles to make a living at it.
I did quit my job about 4 years ago, for 2 years, and sold on Ebay and did shows. That's how most of my better bottles got gone [:'(]
Dumb move: quitting my job.[]
I did well on Ebay until 9-11..after that everything went downhill fast. I used to be able to sell everything I listed...was making about $1200-1500 a month...but those days are gone now.[]

 

[whiskeyman]

The better stuff still sells, but you have to have it first...LOL
Once you sell off your better items, you'll find it usually costs you more to replace them than what you sold them for.
SO,,,don't quit your day job.

 

[whosyerdaddy]

GOOD POINT WHISKEY MAN u jes cant find the good stuff any more i member goin to flea markets back in the 70's and comin home with some good early stuff thos days are long gone brother member gettin a cobalt pontiled paneled ink fer 12 bucks didnt think that old lady was ever gonna sit that bottle back down lol but thats a story fer another time! lol

 

[bubbas dad]

thanks for the replies. i was just curious. it would be great if you could earn a living doing that but like ya'll said your would have to have some other source of steady income. thanks

 

[Pettydigger]

It makes me wonder about some of the bottles that have sold on E-bay, I mean spending over $3000 on a single bottle. I love collecting and digging glass but I just do not have the funds to buy the really good stuff[] Do you suppose that most of those people that win the high end bottles turn around and resell them for a profit or keep them for their collection? I often thought if I won that 120 million on the lottery ticket then look out bottle world[][] Josh

 

[BRIAN S.]

Hi , I know a few people , that selling is their main income. But , as Whiskeyman said you have to have the stock. They travel the country almost fulltime looking for Bottles. They try and do purchase whole collections and then break them up and sell by the piece. But , If you can't find the stock or have the bucks saved to buy the collection..... your business will soon dwindle.
Brian

 

[whiskeyman]

BRIAN...I know a few fellows that do that too. I have managed to buy a couple of small local collections over the years...the last one had about 25 Railroad lantern globes., a few good bottles and a lot of junque..I knew next to nothing about the lantern globes, but the price was right,so I took the entire lot. Did amazingly well re-selling the globes.

I checked out your website and saw a bottle from here: the St. Andrews Wine of Life Root...If you're wanting to know the history of that bottle and its other associated bottles, send me your snail mail addy and I'll send same.
It was one of those bottles that hooked me deep on the Hobby and sent me researching local history on all our bottles.