popularity of bottle collecting waning?

[Carmo]

Hi All
Unfortunately more people are checking out of collecting than checking in. The auctioneers are doing well here in oz with major collectors selling up one after the other.

In one way it is good to see these items come on the market, but then who can afford them? Bottle collecting is becoming a rich mans game. Though they should remember that there is not a market in the world that has not crashed at some stage.
carmo

 

[Guyanaguy]

I wonder also if the 'globalization' of the internet marketplace hasn't impacted some bottle markets and the interest in bottles as well...where particular bottles were once rare in some countries, suddenly these same bottles tucked away in other countries saturate ebays and drop interest and prices.

Also. there are many many little private collections of bottles in Guyana in many household, with rare and unique bottles next to common ones...yet there is not a single bottle club here, not one... all of these bottles, rare and common alike, are beloved family members in each of these households. It's amazing...so there is still bottle-love in tucked away parts of the world (though I also had a Guyanese friend who once trashed her aunts old collection of onions and other early bottles, considered them clutter)..

 

[kumtow]

Hi Guyanaguy,
You make a really good point about globalisation and eBay making bottle that are rare in some countries more common. In Australia one does not find early glass ie, onions and mallets for obvious reasons. My first bottle purchase from eBay was an English mallet from a seller called Guyanabottles. I had also bought two onions from an antique dealer in the USA just prior to discovering bottles on eBay. One of my main interests is now early glass and most have come from Guyana. I have also noticed recently that the going rate on eBay for some of these bottles has come down considerably. Of course the exchange rate from $US to $AU has a lot to do with it as well. An eBay seller that has recently found a so called 1640 dutch fort has pretty much flooded the market with dutch onions. His recent onions for auction seem to have been relisted again (not selling). Even the English onions are slow to move if there is any damage. Personally I think it is great as I am getting some great bottles at good prices. I just wish I had the money to get hold of sealed bottles. In fact I wish I could take a year off work and go live in Guyana for a while.