Ohio Milk Bottle Question

[Higsmog]

Yooper-have seen a few of the Mt Vernon college and Mt Vernon Academy 1/2 pts. on eBay about six months ago-strated out selling high but after the same person put 4-5 on eBay they really went down in price.

 

[Higsmog]

Rick: From my understanding Tellings was an ice cream company and they went into different markets in the Ohio and Pittsburg area and joined with local milk companies to sell there ice cream. I have a mint amber in my collection from Telling-Belle Vernon Dairy Columbus, Ohio. Is the bottle you have marked in any way Cleveland or have the usual C. C. intials on it?
Parker

 

[capsoda]

Hey, There are an awful lot of Ohio bottle folks on this forum. Why don't you all gather correct and accurate info on the bottles from your areas and get together and print a book on Ohio milk bottles.

You can call it, "The Big Book On Ohio Milk Bottles". Those of you who know me should know that I never joke about information compilations. If you don't beleave me ask JGUS about the info I give him and it comes from sources like big books on stuff. It would probably make you rich.

 

[carling]

Hey Parker (Higsmog),

In answering your question, the Telling-Ott bottle doesn't say Cleveland, just the typical C.C.S.-c. Sorry it took so long to answer back, I haven't checked back on this thread in awhile, and WOW, what a stir has been raised since my original postings!

Going back to the beginning of the postings, I mentioned taking this bottle to someone I was advised was an expert and somehow connected to the Ohio Bottle book, but probably wasn't you. You seem much more of a conscientious speaker than the man I briefly spoke with, so I'm sure it wasn't you I spoke with. But just to clarify why I was questioning the prices in the book:

I am not a milk bottle collector, know basically nothing about milk bottle prices or any other bottle prices, and I'm only a very novice bottle collector. So when I found a milk bottle and was told it wasn't listed in the Ohio Bottle Book, naturally I or anyone would think, Cool! It must be very rare and have a decent value if it isn't in a collector's reference book! So when I took this bottle to a show and was directed to whom I presumed was the book author, or coauthor, or whoever it may have been, and was told "about 10 bucks" value, I think anyone would naturally question how the values were determined, given it was a bottle previously unknown to exist! Now maybe it is just my novice ignorance since I've learned that Cleveland area milk bottles aren't exactly in high demand, so maybe "10 bucks" is all it is worth, even if it is the only one known to exist.

Thanks for your info you gave me regarding Tellings, very interesting. And good luck on getting the collectors to contribute on the future updates. I can imagine that must be tough. Maybe going to a different pricing system would appease everyone, since pricing seems to be their complaint. Maybe leave the dollars out and try multiple categories like "Common, Semi-Common, Rare, Very Rare, Priceless, etc.".

Good luck and thanks!

Rick

P.S. I can't get the book (newest or older edition) here in the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Library System! I've tried ordering it a couple times on line, but they don't have a copy and won't transfer it from another County library. Just some FYI.

 

[zanes_antiques]

Carling,
I have had several unlisted Cleveland Area Milks in the past year and have come to believe that for the most part they are almost worthless. I don't believe it is because of a lack of collectors in the area . There must be quite a few people from around Cleveland who collect milks, given it's size and population. All I can guess is that they just don't want to cut loose with the money and join us in the 21st Century. I have read and re-read the Ohio book many times and have come to several conclusions on how the prices were decided. The best guess I can make given Mr. Higby's own admission, is that he just sat down with very little time, and if he didn't know a particular bottle priced it between$8-$15. Not a very scientific method I must admit but he did get the book out on time! So far I have added atleast 50 bottles to the ones already listed. Just yesterday I saw 3 that were all from the same Perry County Dairy and only one was vaguely listed. That's another story in itself. You can get an idea of how scarce a bottle is just by the way it is listed in the book. For instance; if the book reads" The Snyder Country Dairy, Somerset, Ohio. $10-$12, raise an eyebrow. The bottles in that book are very specifically listed. They will tell every mark and variation on each bottle known to the collector who submitted the entry. I go by the theory, the more vague the listing the rarer the bottle no matter what price is on it. There is also another indicator I use in determining how good a bottle is from the book's listings. If it is a common bottle listed for $8-$10 it should say 1/2pint, pint, and quart also in the listing but if it is more scarce and listed for the same price he sometimes listed only one or two sizes of the bottle. Then there are the old "$14-$22 Bottles".This usually tells me something is up with the bottle also. The reason I say this is because there is not a difference of only $5 dollars between the common and rare bottles. It isn't reasonable to believe that a common bottle is worth $8-$10 dollars and a scarce bottle is only worth $10- $15 or $16-$22 for that matter. Your average common milk from anywhere in Ohio goes for about $10 in an antiques shop or bottle show. The scarce bottles go anywhere from $20-$50. The rare milks bring $50 and up. In my own little book, I have put together for my area, I have more bottles listed for $50 and up than what is in the whole Ohio Book. I may be stretching it just a bit by saying that but the point is that the Ohio book isn't just a hair off but a total failure. The only thing it is good for besides, cheating people, is to figure out what is known of and what is not. If you take it at it's face value, and try to use it to determine what your bottles are worth, then you will be far off on the value of any bottle that is anything but super common. Like I said before it's great to take to "little old lady's" homes and buy with. The only way that there will ever be an accurate guide to the value of milk bottles in the state of Ohio is if different people from different areas put together their own books. The task is too great for any one man to accomplish alone. For the most part I don't believe that there was a concerted effort to mislead people in the values but more of someone trying to do the impossible. On the other hand I know there are bottle prices listed for certain bottles in this book that the author knows are bogus.

 

[JGUIS]

 

[Gretchen Ott]

I just resumed my quest for an Ott Dairy milk bottle and found your post. My grandfather owned Ott Dairy in Cleveland (I have a photo somewhere of my dad and his four brothers delivering milk). My grandfather, Frederick Ott, married Eva Geneva Telling, and my cousin tells me that the Telling Vernon Milk Co. bought Ott Dairy. So that might explain the Telling-Ott bottle.

Sealtest bought them out and for years they maintained the name Telling in one of their ice cream varieties.

 

[Gretchen Ott]

ORIGINAL: Gretchen Ott

I just resumed my quest for an Ott Dairy milk bottle and found your post. My grandfather owned Ott Dairy in Cleveland (I have a photo somewhere of my dad and his four brothers delivering milk). My grandfather, Frederick Ott, married Eva Geneva Telling, and my cousin tells me that the Telling Bell Vernon Milk Co. bought Ott Dairy. So that might explain the Telling-Ott bottle.

Sealtest bought them out and for years they maintained the name Telling in one of their ice cream varieties.

 

[RED Matthews]

Well everyone; I just read this thread and I have to feel sorry for the man that spent his laid-up-time putting together material for publication and cover, only to stirrup such a tread of negativity, when no one else even tried to help.

If for one put very little stock in the Price Guide efforts of many publication. I am more interested in how the bottles were made and with what type of tools or processing methods made them.

For example: Does this Ohio book tell of a spike or birds swing in milk bottles. Does tell what kind of metals were used for the IS-62 P&B plungers? Does it tell of the use of Oil Can Spouts for the cooler form in those plungers? I guess that is enough. I worked on the HMB machines and their equipment back when a producing machine made 36 to 48 bottles per minute. Today, we get our milk in a plastic jug and also with the hazard of melamine poisoning. How times have changed. Today it all seems to be about "How much is it worth?"
RED Matthews