My Pet Peeves with the Bottle Hobby

[Wheelah23]

A couple other things. Like mtdfire says, some old timers can be extremely stubborn in their belief in erroneous knowledge. For example, an otherwise very knowledgeable member of my club was selling me a medicine bottle, and was insisting that it dates to before 1900. It was a BIM medicine bottle with a reinforced lip, and clearly dated from 1910 to 1920. But the dude dogmatically believed that if a bottle is BIM, it is from before 1900. I don't know whether he wouldn't listen to me because I'm young or because that's how he is, but he would not budge from that date. It's a minor thing but I thought it amusing that a guy collecting bottles for 30-40 years was completely wrong about a bottle like that.

And about mint bottles. I do think a dug bottle can be mint, as I've dug bottles which I think the term "attic mint" could be applied to if someone didn't know I dug them. But they ABSOLUTELY cannot be stained if that term is to be used. Mint means it's as shiny and clean as the day it was made, and with no damage from use or from being buried. So a mint bottle usually hasn't been buried, but it can as long as there's ABSOLUTELY no evidence of it having been buried. Of course the definition of "mint" can change from person to person, leading to discrepancies. I've been pretty p'ed off a couple times when I've expected a mint bottle and then end up getting something that's clearly not mint.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Minty Fresh []

 

[RICKJJ59W]

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

It's not about what you know about bottles, it's about what you don't know about people.. you'll figure it out eventually.. []

That's what the man said.[]

 

[AntiqueMeds]

Mint Mint dug Seitz

I detect a flaw on your so called minty mint bottle
I suspect it was gouged by one of your incisors while your were drinking out of it[]

 

[cowseatmaize]

Attic mint is subjective also without a proper description. It does at least shows that it changed hands at least 4 or 5 times before it ended up in the attic.
Minty fresh, sure why not. [][] I'll go with that.

 

[cyberdigger]

ORIGINAL: RICKJJ59W

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

It's not about what you know about bottles, it's about what you don't know about people.. you'll figure it out eventually.. []

That's what the man said.[]

And it's true.. aside from all the weird personality traits we all have, a bottle in the hand of one person might easily be gotten as a gift, while the same bottle in different hands might be an ultra-prized, precious belonging.. antique bottles are basically historical artifacts, no MSRP sticker.. prices of bottles can't be standardized.
Collecting NYC bottles is probably among the most challenging of all bottle endeavors.. I can't possibly imagine getting to the point ..in this lifetime.. of having what 25-30,000 bottles and still hunting for those last few elusive one-knowns.. my gig is Long Branch NJ, where around a hundred bottlers had operations, maybe more.. I still need specimens from about 30 known LB companies, and it's getting to the point where $100 for an aqua blob I don't have is not unreasonable to me. Then again, one might fall in my lap tomorrow, you never know..

 

[mtfdfire22]

a hundred bucks for a blob beer! sign me up. Thats cheap around here. Decent blobs from my area go for $150-$500 bucks. the last 3 blobs i sold were $100.00, $400.00, and $750.00. The last ones i bought were between $100-$300 each.

 

[cyberdigger]

You are hereby officially signed up as a Long Branch collector! [] I will hook you up..!

 

[bostaurus]

ORIGINAL: AntiqueMeds

this is a very male dominated hobby

That's not true... be quiet and put your burka back on woman before we stone you for your insolance[]

so is it the dirty bottles in the house thing that turns off women?
I know several women bottle collectors but the hard core collectors seem to be mostly men.

Sorry,,, my burka was in the wash today []
I don't know...maybe it could be the clutter. I wouldn't think so though. I have been in some very cluttered homes and cluttered because of the wife's collecting.
Of course it is a generalization but women collectors tend to collect things that they can rationalize as "things for the house"...or clothes. I am thinking of collectors statues (Precious Moments, etc), collectors plates for the walls, etc. I admit to sometimes justifying buying a bottle becuase it will look nice in a certian place or I could use it to store things.
Personally what fascinates me is the history and how they were made along with the beauty of the glass. Usually when a female friend or relative picks up one of my bottles and comments on how nice it is, I begin to tell them about it and their eyes glaze over.....many of the guys have the same reaction.
Maybe we bottle collectors are just a weird bunch[8|]

 

[cyberdigger]

Great point there Mel.. how just by being bottle collectors we are all considered weird in this day & age.. !