Regrets? Bottle collecting versus living your life. ABN member earlyglasscollector

[epackage]

I have been lucky to move from one collecting obsession to another with great results, therefore I have no regrets. I once had the largest collection of Royal Doulton Character Jugs(large size) east of the Mississippi and sold it privately to a collector in the UK for a great profit. I also used to collect Whiskey Water Pitchers which I also sold off as a whole, and then I moved on to Paterson NJ items.

I collected everything BUT bottles, and then one day I was out and saw a few nice blobs in amber and I was hooked. I am now selling off some of my other Paterson items to concentrate on bottles mainly, but I have the advantage of being single. I can imagine how tough it is for those with family to keep up with such collections, and I sympathize with your wives, husbands and kids...If you feel the need to get out of the hobby feel free to give me a call and I'll be happy to make an offer on your collection....[]

 

[myersdiggers1998]

Ive always been a seeker of hidden earthly treasures. If
I had the cash and the time I would much rather be digging up saxon gold , viking treasures , egyption tombs , dinosaure bones ,etc. you get the picture. But my income and location has always led me to bottles, so they are my aquivalent of finding treasures from the earth, a thrill that I will take to the here after with me.Its the thrill of seeking ,finding, touching ,admireing and shareing that counts for my happiness in this hobby, not the money. BOOM BABY![]

 

[JOETHECROW]

No Regrets! I (try) to maintain a good balance, but hey,...work so hard? Why not go dig...? I rarely purchase much for my collection,.... but cannot resist an outing to a previously undiscovered old hollow or deep woods area with ancient stone cellars, creeks with pottery shards and hidden treasures.. Especially after poring over sheet after sheet of antique topos, Then, BOOM BABY! []

 

[Steve/sewell]

ORIGINAL: PrivyCheese

Hi, My name is john. I too am a collector of collections ( hoarder). I started hoa....uummmm collecting at the ripe age of 12. Could I ever stop hoar....darn it! collecting? NO! I believe in balance. I was married , had a child, coached sports for over 20 years. Could I have a better collection if I spent all that time raising a family etc. digging for bottles ? Sure, but could never have had the wonderful memories I have outside of collecting. I also agree with Matt, to be happy in life is everything. If you are happy you will be a better husband, parent etc.

The problem like with any addiction is how much it adversely affects your life. If you dont find quality time with you family, then its a problem. Could I sell my "stuff" ? NO! Besides, the way I feel it isnt mine to begin with. I cant take it with me. But what we can take are the memories we have. Just make sure there are as many happy ones as possible. My crap will go to my only child, If he decides to sell it, fine with me. I will be dead and it wont matter to me. But he has grown up around collecting and is a collector himself.....imagine that?


SO I say to you, continue your collecting, but remember those we impact everyday. Remember balance is the key to life.So join me in my new 12 step program for bottle collectors.

Good stuff John[] and Rick and everyone for that matter well spoken

Privycheeses 12 Steps for good bottling

Step 1 Don't over tumble any bottle[]

Step 2 Forget I even mentioned step 1[]

Step 3 Snipe or be sniped

Step 4 Don't trust the Secret Service with your bottle collection []

Step 5 A flea bite is not a piece of missing glass as large as Rosie O'Donnell's right cheek []

Step 6 Free shipping if you live in the same zip code is not enticing[&:]

Step 7 Don't Microwave bottles to change the color and then say I THINK it might be irritated....when you know it was[]

My wife screaming from two rooms away The DOG JUST []................ You know quality time with the family......Can anbody else think of the next 5 creeds..... my dog just puked,seems he ate something we are not aware of yet that is now missing from my house[]

 

[Plumbata]

Dang, what a bunch of solid-gold, top-quality posts. Thanks for presenting this topic Steve.

Seems as if many of us are hoarders, or at least possess hoarding tendencies. Some people literally hate hoarders (the haters seem to be engineer/accountant types) and others thrive on hoarding/collecting and other collectors. Whatever floats your boat.

Rick, several times now, has said that DIGGING is the real source of excitement, and I couldn't agree more. I've been busy with getting my life and future in order lately, but when possible I'll dig/metal detect as much as possible. It is the thrill of true discovery which fuels my passion, not the excitement derived from spending "good money" on something I don't need, but which completes a size or color run. Not to denigrate those who do focus on such things; it really is truly impressive, but such a goal isn't personally interesting enough to tether my ADHD attention span for very long. It is far more pleasurable to have many hobbies and to get all manner of good deals when one does decide to spend one's quickly devaluing dollars, rather than focusing on one or two singular collecting foci. Were i to discuss all my collections and interests i would look back and call myself an arrogant, narcissistic butthead. I probably am, but whatever.

From my perspective, it seems that most academic niches in the bottle-collecting world have been filled. I have no desire to be an acolyte traveling down the same paths blazed by my forebears in this subset of the collecting world; I'd rather absorb what I care to learn and move on to other things which aren't so overdone. One can read only so many opinions regarding a 19th century glasshouse before the monotony drives one to something far more dynamic; such as ancient artifacts 10 or 50 times as old, or hand-forged implements, all of which are by nature unique; not cast in a mold.

The bottles dug with my father, brother, gal, and other friends i will keep until I pass, as they are the keys to rich and vivid memories more happy and rich and positive than anything else I can bring to mind. They are a part of me in a sense, but the objects I may purchase mean nothing more than a checkbox crossed out in the list of documented items compiled by others. Meaningless; arbitrary, and lacking in personal relevance.

I remember clear as day an evening over a decade ago with my father, while we were scanning a creek for fossils, when I found a glacial float copper nugget; in beautifully brilliant verdigris green, which might be worth 2 bucks in scrap on a good day. I wouldn't sell that key to the wonderful memory of that day for 5,000.

Collecting is about learning, memories, emotions, human bonds, wisdom and growth. A true collector knows that the objects can't be taken to the grave; rather, the objects transcend the grave. The 1964 dime my long-past grandfather gave me still carries his spirit and memory within. The books gifted to me by one of my best friends, an elderly woman who lived up the block and passed 6 years ago, still contain her warm smile, beautiful artistic perspective, and infinite wisdom. The bottles my father found in the attic of his childhood house and later gave me still contain the spirit of the workmen who built it in 1906, and all the people who lived there until recovered in the 80s. The letters from my grandmother to my grandfather while at war are still imbued with a love which spans generations and pierces me right in the heart in the best of ways. These things aren't mere "things". They, to the intuitive, represent merely the tip of the iceberg of reality; past, present, and future. These objects of the past represent a reality so much greater than can be gleaned from facebook, the TV, or a text message. They represent true human life; not life as presented by modern media.

Sure, things are "things", especially if you only focus on one category, but when aggregated and with an open mind, these multifarious things can assume a life far larger than one's own. THAT, my friends, is the true beauty inherent to the old and rare. The beauty lies nowhere but within us and our understandings; not upon our sunlit windowsill or the appraisals offered by insurance adjusters.

To sum it all up, I'd say that I have no regrets about collecting bottles. I was severely depressed, and addicted to unmentionable things before discovering my bottle dump. At the time I had already scraped through the bottom of the barrel and was seriously questioning the point of my existence, but by digging through rubbish not seen by human eyes for a century, something deep, old, and primal in me was reawakened. I kicked my addictions to several stimulants, punched psychedelics in the face, stomped upon the grave of opiates and was essentially reborn.

Hell, bottle collecting reminded me who i was; who I was born to be, and gave me a new lease on life. It provided the scaffold necessary to climb out from the depths of depravity and actually do something worthwhile in life. Coming back to the collections of my youth; the interests of my youth, kept me from going insane.

Bottle collecting was the ladder I needed to climb up and actually live my life. I'm doing it now, and have no regrets whatsoever. Antique bottles healed me.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

ORIGINAL: Steve/sewell

ORIGINAL: PrivyCheese

Hi, My name is john. I too am a collector of collections ( hoarder). I started hoa....uummmm collecting at the ripe age of 12. Could I ever stop hoar....darn it! collecting? NO! I believe in balance. I was married , had a child, coached sports for over 20 years. Could I have a better collection if I spent all that time raising a family etc. digging for bottles ? Sure, but could never have had the wonderful memories I have outside of collecting. I also agree with Matt, to be happy in life is everything. If you are happy you will be a better husband, parent etc.

The problem like with any addiction is how much it adversely affects your life. If you dont find quality time with you family, then its a problem. Could I sell my "stuff" ? NO! Besides, the way I feel it isnt mine to begin with. I cant take it with me. But what we can take are the memories we have. Just make sure there are as many happy ones as possible. My crap will go to my only child, If he decides to sell it, fine with me. I will be dead and it wont matter to me. But he has grown up around collecting and is a collector himself.....imagine that?


SO I say to you, continue your collecting, but remember those we impact everyday. Remember balance is the key to life.So join me in my new 12 step program for bottle collectors.

Good stuff John[] and Rick and everyone for that matter well spoken

Privycheeses 12 Steps for good bottling

Step 1 Don't over tumble any bottle[] <----------- It should be---

===========NEVER TUMBLE A BOTTLE ! PERIOD ! because you might get a tumbler that is a freakin BUM,and will never compensate you for something HE DID! NO I NEEEVER GOT A THING. How long has it been? BUM BABY!!! see what you did Steve I just woke up and now im a grumpy mood [8D]

Step 2 Forget I even mentioned step 1[]

Step 3 Snipe or be sniped

Step 4 Don't trust the Secret Service with your bottle collection []

Step 5 A flea bite is not a piece of missing glass as large as Rosie O'Donnell's right cheek []

Step 6 Free shipping if you live in the same zip code is not enticing[&:]

Step 7 Don't Microwave bottles to change the color and then say I THINK it might be irritated....when you know it was[]

My wife screaming from two rooms away The DOG JUST []................ You know quality time with the family......Can anbody else think of the next 5 creeds..... my dog just puked,seems he ate something we are not aware of yet that is now missing from my house[]

 

[glass man]

As a collector that has had and sold-selling three collections...I told Nina when we got together I used to collect bottles..also told her they were pretty..but you can't eat them...thang is..it is a heck of a lot better investment then throwing the money away at Wal-mart...and thanks to when we had money and weren't disabled..we bought bottles as well as other collectables..now the money is we get selling them has been very helpful!!There is I am sure much better ways to invest money...but none as much fun or interesting.

We never own these "things" any way...most were here long before us and seems our job is to try to make sure they keep on going down the line...JAMIE

 

[beendiggin]

When I started digging and collecting over 30 years ago, I thought I would start buying bottles and the category I wanted to get into was blown three mold. I wanted to own as many as I could afford. My first purchase, however, was a lowly labeled amber abm Rawleighs for $8.00 at a show. I felt a little sick parting with that much money for a bottle.

I realized that buying that bottle for my collection didn't feel quite right, and every bottle I bought after that I somehow felt unattached to. I thought buying more expensive bottles would feel better. I bought flasks, bitters, geometrics and pontiled pickles but still wasn't feeling the way I thought I would feel by owning such nice bottles. I decided to start selling my bottles, even some of the nice ones I dug.

Out of all the bottles I've sold, the only bottles I miss are the bottles I dug. I don't sell my dug bottles anymore. I now know I probably won't ever dig them again. There is nothing like digging a rare or valuable bottle, or even just a common bottle in a nice color, shape, or whatever appeals to you. Local bottles are always a welcome surprise to dig. I waited over 25 years to dig a local amber SS Coke from Rockland and I finally did it. It was well worth the wait. I still can't believe I did it and I can remember every detail of that moment.

Every bottle I have in my collection has a personal story attached to it and memories of me and my brothers, sisters, daughters and many different friends. My collection is just bottles I've dug with them or by myself. Nothing else goes on those shelves. If I buy a bottle at a yard sale, or a flea market, it's because it's going to be sold. I make a little pin money selling because I can spot a good deal. But, I'd do that with any item.

I'm grateful that there are people with the resources to amass large and important collections, or smaller collections for that matter. That's important work for our hobby. I love to see those killer bottles at auction, too. I don't know why buying bottles or collecting a color run or a complete category isn't for me, it just isn't. I've tried.

So, I only own about 50 bottles. All are dug by me. Only 10 are pontiled. Some are common, some are rare, some valuable, some worthless. That's after digging literally thousands of bottles over a 30 year span. I dig when I have time or opportunity. That's who I am as a collector. No regrets.