Need help for tv spot

[mrbottles]

I am very likely going to be doing an antique bottle collecting spot for a new TV show.

I need interesting facts about antique bottle collecting that will have general appeal. If you have some PLEASE share them ASAP!

Thanks,

Steven

 

[cowseatmaize]

To a general audience I have to say money would have to be the biggest grab line. Bring up the amber cathedral pickle that was bought at a flea market for $3 and sold for $44K, I'll look for that link. Also all the goodies seen here that were found in walls, attics, crawlspaces etc and could be in their own house or backyard.
Be a bit general with history. Maybe discuss the amount of wood consumed (not very green) and the conditions of working at 19nth century glass house (child labor politics). That's what makes ME appreciate them even more than beauty. Variety is another big plus for me.
Is this a local news station 3 min spot or a half hour thing?
Here it is http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19990426/ai_n10127298/

 

[GuntherHess]

Fact : The viewing public can bring any old nasty dirty embossed pontil marked bottles they find in thier attics to me and I will give them a whole dollar for each one.

 

[mrbottles]

Yes the money thing is important. I will see if I can round up a similar cathedral pickle that is a less valuable color. The piece will be on a new national treasure hunting show. The focus of the show is the money aspect like the antique road show… sort of but with the twist of the show actually showing and teaching people how to go out and find treasure themselves.

The piece will only be a minute and a half or so. That is a lot of time. I kind of need interesting factoids like how many Americans collect antique bottles and what the all time record sale price of a bottle was. Or other odd ball facts that people outside of collecting might be curious about. My goal is to make it interesting enough that the air it and compelling to the point that new collectors take up the hobby and the general public goes out and finds the ones that seem good and contact people like us. Getting the good ones in collector’s hands is the best way to protect them for posterity.

The piece will be my collection in the background with the host asking some introductory questions and them me explain why people collect antique bottles and what makes some much more valuable than others. So I will quickly explain age through applied lip and pontil. I will also explain the importance of color.

The demonstration will be bottles types graduating in age and value. I was planning on demonstrating the importance of color to value by showing a bottle in different colors where it explodes forward in value because of color. I was thinking making it a Hutchinson. I have a Killer citron green one that is worth $1000 plus and it aqua it is a ten dollar bottle. For pontil I was thinking about showing staggerd value jumps by showing a clean med, then a colored one then a pontiled one. Mine is a exceptional example and it is singularly the only whole pontiled medicine from our state. The clear med is worth five dollars, the great colored one is worth a couple of hundred and the pontiled is worth two thousand.

Hey Matt, your generosity is noted and that IS an interesting factoid … Can I give your cell phone on air? Speaking of pontiled meds, look at my newest find on the front page of mrbottles and let me know what you think.

 

[mr.fred]

Good luck []-----sounds very interesting.---------------Fred.

 

[cowseatmaize]

On second thought, don't do it. That or be real boring. I'll hope no one watches. I hate the thought of full blown retail at yard sales.
Just kidding, sort of. Good luck and fill us in on air date and stuff.

 

[cyberdigger]

I scared now.. shortly after the airing, my apartment is gonna get ransacked!

 

[mrbottles]

here is first draft from producer and my addition. This is too long but it is a start. Suggestions? interesting facts to add?

Filmed in front of his own bottle collection, multi colored, and highly collectible bottles in background and in front of him on a table are a few bottles to illustrate the tips. Table in front of transom windows. White linen table cloth.

ANDY: We've been bottle hunting but we've never talked to an expert about really valuable bottles and why they're collected. Steve, why are people so interested in bottles? Antique bottles are the trash of past generations, can be of tremendous visual appeal and even historic significance. Like any other antique collectable bottles can have significantly appreciating value over time. For a modern day treasure hunter antique bottles are easy to find and if you get lucky you can find an bottle at a flea market for a few dollars or your attic, basement or yard worth tens of thousands. A bottle like this only brown in color was bought just a couple at a tag sale for $3 and sold for $42,000!

STEVE: Hundreds of thousands of people collect antique bottles and millions of Americans have found an antique bottle or two and display them in their home antique bottles can have dramatic artistic appeal. Like me, many people go treasure hunting for bottles under water, whether they're in the sea or in an old settlement, old bottles are everywhere and range in value from a few cents to more than $100,000.

Andy: So how do you tell which is collectible? For instance, why is this bottle worth $50K and this one worth five dollars?

Steve: There are people who collect medicine bottles from certain states or soda and beer bottles from certain cities or from certain manufacturers or bitters bottles or flasks from certain points in history and those collectors generally speaking place a high value on any bottle they don’t have from their category. It is impossible for a novice to know what individual common type bottles are worth. There are some tell tale clues even a bottle novice can use to determine the age and general desirability of an antique bottle… When all of these clues show up on one bottle it can be worth a lot of money.

I think the best way to demonstrate value and to make it clear what is important value wise is to show a two or three bottle graduation scale of vale for each tip. For three different aspects of bottle. The top of the bottles give easy to see clues as to value, the bottom has tell tale signs and color is hyper critical. Each is easily and quickly demonstrated. I believe I can do it so that future episodes or expositions of your show have great things turn up and at the same time limit the amount of common bottles that shows up. Condition is critical as well, condition is easily demonstrated in the aftermath of Andy dropping the bottle. We don’t need to mention it until then but will take a second to say in most cases bottles with cracks and chips are seriously diminished in value. Premium prices are paid for perfect examples of early and rare and historic and beautiful bottles.

Tip 1 look at the neck of a bottle just under the top. If you see a thin bead of glass at the top it generally indicates a bottle made before 1885. These bottles tend to be more sought after and more valuable. Generally the less symmetrical and less uniform a bottle is the more desirable it will be to a collector. If it looks inanely old it likely is valuable. Showing tooled more common later style of bottle manufacturing then crudely applied early medicine bottle.


Tip 2 look at the bottom of a bottle you found or are thinking about buying at a flea market or rummage sale. If there is a rough red mark or an indentation on the bottom or jagged glass dimple that is called a pontil. A pontil generally indicates an American bottle was made before 1860. Earlier tends to mean more rare. Be careful in Europe and mexico bottles are still made this way and are generally not worth anything more than general decorative art value.

Here is a fruit jar from 1900. It is beautiful and interesting. People love to collect them. The same bottle in a dark blue of green might be worth five hundred dollars. This jar is much older it has a pontiled bottom and is extremely rare. This jar has that applied top and a pontil… That is really good. Because it is from a historic American Glass house, is early and extremely rare is listed in a 2010 antique jar buyers guide as being worth $7500 and up. I found it this year and collectors tell me it might sell for twice that book value. If it was dark green or dark blue it would be worth $25,000 to $50,000. That takes us to clue or tip number three;

Tip 3 Watch for unusual color. Color trumps all other factors in bottles is everything. If a bottle is dark or cobalt blue it tends to have general visual appeal. In the case of a bottle like this hold up a cathedral pickle jar a gentleman out treasure hunting bought one for $3 and sold it for $42,000! A bottle like this (hold up/point to Hutchinson soda) in standard bottle glass green or blue are worth ten dollars but any of them in this color would be worth $500 to thousands. This common style medicine bottle worth twenty dollars would be worth hundreds, even thousands more because of the color.

When you have age color and crude you end up with bottles like this American bitters bottle worth $25,000 or this super rare soda bottle worth $45,000.

Steve: Andy, here's a bottle for you to take home, be gentle with it. Andy thanks him then drops bottle.
Andy: uh, oops, I can't have nice things.
Steve: well, fortunately that bottle was worth only five bucks. That brings to mind the last big clue on glass bottles… Chips and cracks dramatically diminish the value of American glass. Collectors who pay top dollar typically are very picky about damage. Andy I would love to take you out and show you how easy and the thrill it can be to hunt for antique bottles. Invites Andy to go bottle hunting with him.


add top things to know and use bottles in front of you to illustrate.

 

[appliedlips]

I hope it gets the public calling guys like us with good bottles because they won't be letting us in their backyards to dig without an attorney present. Why would it make sense for a collector to talk constently of money on a public show? Not only does it make it harder to access sites you will make us out to be nothing more than money driven pirates to the archealogical community. I hope you find what your looking for out of this because I can't see any benefit for the hobby not matter how I spin it.

 

[cyberdigger]

I dunno bout dis..