pricing guides

[radboy]

Hello all,

Looking for suggestions from the panel for pricing guides. I prefer a couple of catchall guides and a few that specifically list old meds, waters, beers and sodas. I currently own Michael Polaks pricing guides 4th edition and find it to be quite limiting regarding mid-ranged priced bottles.

Many Thanks

Steve

 

[BRIAN S.]

Hi Steve,
I use " The Auction Price Report " for Antique Bottles , I use it quite a bit for a general idea of value of a bottle. It covers what the actual bottles brought dollar wise through the Public Auction Houses ever since 1988.
It covers Bitters , Historical Flasks , Medicines , Whiskeys , Sodas , Mineral Waters , and Poisons. It is available for I believe 79.95 from William E. Brown 8251 N.W. 49th Ct. Coral Springs , FL. 33607
Mr. Brown also sells them on ebay if you do a searchfor Antique Bottle Auction Report.
It covers alot of mid range bottles and it is very important to have as a Collector , Buyer , and/or Seller of Antique Bottles. Hope this helps , Brian

 

[radboy]

Thanks Brian. I will certainly check it out. Are there any used copies available that you know of.

Anyone else have suggestions?

Thanks

Steve

 

[Pontiled]

Hi, if you have any interest in the Civil War period, I have some copies of The Collector's Guide to Civil War Period Bottles and Jars -- Third Edition available. This is the last edition, as health problems put my writing/publishing work to rest. The 112-page, soft bound edition covers the bottles and jars that were available and used from 1861-1865 with chapters on the manufacturing of them, digging tips, their recovery rate, and much more. Then there are the photos and illustrations too. If you are interested in a copy, I sell copies at $16.00 each, plus either media mail at $2.00 or Priority Mail at $4.00. The cover price is $20.00 and some are asking as much as $24.00 plus postage, so you get a substantial discount as a member of the Forum.

Mike Russell, author of the above publication

 

[Pontiled]

Radboy, I just noticed that you are a geologist. Have you ever used the Advanced Materials Society, Minerals Today, the Minerals Yearbook, or other publications from the former U.S. Bureau of Mines? Those were just a few of the publications that I edited when I was with the U.S.B.M.

Mike Russell

 

[woody]

I find eBay to be a good current guide to the pricing of bottles and their worth.
You can find most bottles and their selling price by checking the completed auction listing to get a good idea of what the bottles are selling for.
I use this feature all the time to check for current values.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here's a link to a site with several useful pages:

http://www.mattsoldhouse.com/mc/bottles/bottles.htm

Among those pages is a list of PONTIL MEDICINES AUCTION PRICES. Although the list hasn't been updated in more than two years, it is a surprisingly extensive list with details on individual bottles that have been sold.

There is also a page called OLD BOTTLE IDENTIFICATION AND DATING GUIDE. I can recommend this page with one reservation: this page perpetuates the bogus notion that graphite was used as a release agent on the end of a pontil rod (hence the mis-leading term "graphite pontil)."

It seems worthwhile to post this extract from an earlier post dealing with "graphite pontil."

The iron pontil is just that. It is a bare iron rod with a mushroomed tip which is heated, then applied directly to the bottom of the still-molten bottle. Neither graphite nor crushed glass was used as a "boundary material." Because nothing but the bare iron rod was needed, it was dubbed an "improved pontil."

The tip of the iron pontil rod, when broken free, left a thin layer of iron adhering to the bottle base. This iron residue is dark gray, but may oxidize to a rust-color (because it is rust!).

There is no such thing as a "graphite pontil" scar. Graphite was not used as a "boundary material" or separating agent on the end of a pontil rod. The grey iron residue left by an iron pontil rod may resemble it, but it is not graphite.

"Graphite pontil" is a misconception which persists because people keep using the term. The mistake is found in collector books and on amateur web-sites. The error is thus perpetuated.

The term "graphite pontil [scar]" will not go away soon because it has infiltrated the jargon of collectors. New collectors may wish to opt for accuracy by developing the habit of using the term "iron pontil scar" or "improved pontil scar" when they are speaking carefully, that is, for publication.

------------------Harry Pristis

 

[radboy]

Thanks for all the info. That's what I love about this site.

Mike, my expertise in geology deals more with the surficial end of the subject such as geomorphological landforms associated with glaciation and how they influence soil formation. I have had a few classes in Petrology and mineralogy and find this aspect of the field fascinating as well

Steve