Sports Bottles et The 49er Bottle Show

[CarltonHendricks]

Well, while I'm waiting for the magic bullet on the Noble Catcher...I thought I'd post some photos of sports bottles....I looked around my sports collection yesterday and counted about six I have....I'll start with this one which I no longer have....sold it on eBay a couple years ago...which I regret....plus didn't get much for it, can't recall the number...just that I was disappointed....

I got it at the 49er bottle show in Auburn Calif....Speaking of...that show is one of the most interesting I attend...and not necessarily for the wares...I've been collecting about 25 years....and I regularly attend antiques shows of every kind...paper and book shows, toy shows, poster fairs, gun shows, etc......from the junkiest fleas to the toniest antique shows...you find stuff by turning over every rock....kinda like you guys except you turn over clumps of clay LOL

Anyways...Every antiques show has it's own personality and feel....that show is one is the most low key friendliest...not a sport coat and tie in the place...more like down parkas, wranglers with a tin of Scoll in the back pocket, and ball caps that say ducks unlimited...There seems to be a lot of camaraderie. I go looking for anything antique sports related...advertising signs, tins, etc...you never know....It's about a two hour drive for me....the only thing I don't like about it is it only comes once a year around early December...There's steak dinner at the end of the day by a local service club....I actually didn't make it to last years, had to work..but I always try to make that show....it's just a real fun day...I always come on set up day....

The last one I went to had a very interesting ending....I had bought the L.A.W. bottle below from a dealer from I think it was San Bernadino...or somewhere down southern Calif...I think I gave $50.00...For those unfamiliar L.A.W. stands for League of American Wheelman...which in the late 19th - early 20th century was the leading bicycle club in the United States....It's a syrup bottle that would have been used in a soda fountain....Anyway....I got my steak dinner at the end of the day and happened to sit next to the dealer who sold me my bottle....That was great as it gave me a chance to talk to him about bottle collecting....as I could tell he was a veteran bottle collector...sure enough he was full of great info....I'm asking him how he got into it all....and we're talking....and I'm hanging onto every work listening and learning....and there was this guy that came up to him and was standing there waiting for our conversation to end so he could talk to him....So i motion to him to go ahead and he hands the dealer a little cobalt blue bottle about maybe 2 1/2 inches tall....Here it is he said....and the guy I'd been talking to looks it over for a couple seconds and pulls a wad of $100.00 bill out of his front pocket and peels off five...and says thanks...and that was it the seller guy left...Now he really had my attention...Can I see that I asked...sure he said and handed it over to me....I can't recall exactly what he said it was but I think it was American Hospital....He said he had a collection of them and if I ever saw any let him know.....So now I'm seeing these guys are serious....So we talk and finally I asked...what's the most expensive bottle you have?....he thinks and he goes....I have one I've turned down $10,000.00 for....If I recall correctly....I know it was at least that much....and he told me the story how he got it...and that he felt it could be worth a lot more, like double that....and that that there were collectors in places like New York City that will pay huge money for the right bottle...

Then another guy at the table joined the conversation and I asked him how long and how he started...said he started in the 1960's while working for P.G. & E., the N. Calif power utility giant....Said he worked around Vallejo Calif and found bottles while digging up streets....

Total novice that I am...I liked my L.A.W. way better than that cobalt American Hospital...I should have found that guy in New York and sold him my L.A.W....LOL...but seriously, that was a great dinner...I really enjoyed talking to those guys....So anyways...now that I've talked you all into a slumber....Back to my L.A.W....I've had the worst time posting photos on this site....I'm used to Net54Baseball.com where I have no problem....and so for the time being I can only put up one per post...so see the label shot below and then I'm putting a link to slide show with multiple vantages

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/CarltonHendricks/?action=view&current=dec4c6f3.pbw

 

[CarltonHendricks]

http://www.sportsantiques.com/07natstory4.htm
Below is another sports bottle....very rare, I've only seen I think two...but probably more out there. Good Notre Dame stuff is tough. Picked it up at the 2007 National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland. I was especially happy to get it with the original box with the graphics!...See link above for a story I did on it...scroll down to Kregg Ruffner's booth.

By the way...See a few photos I took of the 2008 49er Bottle show in the link below.
http://www.sportsantiques.com/auburnbottle12_5_08.htm

 

[epackage]

Nice to me as a Notre Dame fan, they're out there to be found but not common....Jim

 

[Anthonicia]

That's pretty cool. Not a huge notre dame fan, but I like their history. Who were the four horsemen? There's the four horsemen of the apocalypse, lol, but who were the actual players? May have known when my brain worked better and was into sports heavy.

 

[epackage]

They were the backfield of Notre Dame's 1924 football team. The players that made up this group were Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden.

 

[CarltonHendricks]

http://www.sportsantiques.com/4horsemlin.htm
Anthonicia , Gosh....talk about when brains worked better....I completly forgot I did story on that bottle back in Dec. 2009, link above. The story will give you the whole scoop and it's not too long. Plus there's a ton of photos of the bottle and box from every vantage...be sure to click on them to enlarge...the name "Four Horseman" was given by sports writer Gratland Rice of the New York Hearld Tribune to four outstanding Notre Dame players who played under Knute Rockne....thanks for jarring my memory....Anthonicia..that's greek right?

ORIGINAL: Anthonicia

That's pretty cool. Not a huge notre dame fan, but I like their history. Who were the four horsemen? There's the four horsemen of the apocalypse, lol, but who were the actual players? May have known when my brain worked better and was into sports heavy.

 

[surfaceone]

Then another guy at the table joined the conversation and I asked him how long and how he started...said he started in the 1960's while working for P.G. & E., the N. Calif power utility giant....Said he worked around Vallejo Calif and found bottles while digging up streets....

Hey Carleton,

This sounds like it might be one of our esteemed Sacamenna members.

Hey Mike, was that you talking to Carleton at the 49er Show?

 

[glass man]

THAT IS COOL!Love the four horse men!JAMIE

 

[CarltonHendricks]

Jamie....Like that Van Morrison song brother....

Above some more sports bottles from my collection....this one a three in one shot.....The Tappan's perfume figural baseball bat would probably be the most unique....I got it out of Hunt Auctions four or five so years ago and it was the first example I'd seen then...I can't recall what I paid but maybe around $400.00 I'm thinking...I think I recall one on eBay within the last year with a BIN that was pretty high....high enough that it stuck around for at least a couple of tours as I recall....But then...a buddy of mine....John Gennantonio who I referenced in the Noble Catcher thread....got one in the original box..maybe the box is velvet if I recall...John's Mr. condition...I'm just happy to have one...I sent away for that clear plastic pen stand...I think it's a retail point of purchase display I found online....It doesn't hold it as good as I hoped...actually perilous...but gets the job done....

The little mini Red Sox One Ball is pretty rare...I've only seen a few examples...I have a Jack Dempsey whiskey bottle same size I'll try to post later...

Here's a few more sports bottles I've seen over the years

http://www.sportsantiques.com/07natstory4.htm
This grouping was shot at the 2007 National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland in the booth of the late Tony Bussineau (Boos-ah-know) a mainstay at all the Nationals till his passing ....Tony always had a great booth full of antique sports stuff....see his wares that year in the link above.

http://www.sportsantiques.com/06natpage4.htm
Here's a another unusual rare bottle that may or may not have been put out by the brothers Dizzy and Daffy Dean who were best known as members of the 1934 St Louis Cardinals "Gashouse Gang"...The team was very popular with blue collar southerners for there rough hewn image...unlike the sophisticated New York Yankees...Probably this bottle originating in the south serves as an example of their lore...Dizzy was the more colorful brash of the brothers...I shot this at the 2006 National Sports Collectors Convention,l in the booth of John Ross...another mainstay National dealer...see link above for my full coverage

If anyone has sports bottles please post...would sure like to see them...and drop a line if you have any for sale.

 

[epackage]

Carlton I know of these bottles that sold at auction...

Babe Ruth "Medicines" that I think are just plain slick meds that have labels made on an inkjet printer. This group just sold for $750[8|]