What is your reason for collecting bottles?

[digdug]

My Grandfather got me started digging for bottles when I was 8 years old. My father was away in Vietnam, my mother, sister and I stayed with my Grandparents. My Grandfather worked for a small City in Ohio, so he was always digging for the City. If he found a great spot, he and I would go after he got off work. He instilled in me an appreciation of history and bottles. I've been hooked ever since. I can look at any of my bottles and remember who I was with when I dug it, where I found it, etc. A lot of good memories in those bottles.

 

[Hoosier49er]

I gotta agree with glass man on this one. It excites me to own a bottle that hasn't seen the light of day for 145 years or more. I always wonder about the people that used them. A love of history has a great deal to do with it.

 

[NYCFlasks]

Like so many others, I collect them for the history. Imagine the stories they could tell us if they could only talk.
With hundreds of flasks adding new ones is a bit tricky, but the research is amazing. I will tell you, finding out something about a flask which has stumped me for some time is as good, or better, than adding another flask to the shelf.
I have had the very good fortune to meet several people over the years who are decendants of these shop owners, and they are over joyed to learn about their ancestors bottles, and of course they want one for the family.
Do I sell it to them? Of course.

 

[PrivyCheese]

The history part of collecting is nice, but for me its a part of who I am. Some of us call it "the Bug" For me it's more then that. I couldnt think of not collecting bottles. My family and friends know that on many weekends I am unavailable, because I am digging. My girlfreind understands that its who I am, Thank God I never will have to choose between the two.....LOL I started collecting when I was 12, odds are against her.....lol

 

[JOETHECROW]

Quite alot is historical for me,...but I love the way a misshapen, crude, whittled 'quack' med looks, as well as some of the insane things that were embossed on the bottles....also the incredible range of colors and having a 'portable' stained glass window, so to speak....The rush of digging a good one is (as epgorge said) narcotic....It's kind of ironic that alot of what I'm digging for were actual narcotics....<laughing>,....I've been at it since 12 years of age and I'll be 50 next weekend....Still try to get out every weekend and explore and dig......and I couldn't imagine not doing it. Joe

 

[RedGinger]

I have always loved history and have been interested in finding "treasure". I used to pray at church to find a chest full of treasure. I was always in the woods looking for arrowheads, or reading books about history. I love beachcombing and looking for interesting things. Anyway, it started out as a solitary activity when I started finding bottles and decided to look it up. I kind of stumbled onto this hobby. Now, it's the anticipation and thrill of finding something so old. You feel like you won the lottery. You got lucky and found something you were meant to find. It is definitely a high.

 

[Baydog51]

It was grandmother. No she didn't collect old jars, she used them. When I hold that plain old fruit jar, it is like a time capsule for me. Getting up on a cold morning for a hunt with the old single shot 22, getting the milk cow up, feeding chickens, roaming the woods. I didn't know about taxes, insurance, politics, mortgages, or even girls. I just knew that when I got back from the serious business of living the day, that one or two of those beautiful Mason jars would be missing from the kitchen shelf and the contents perfectly prepared on the table.
I guess I'm just cheap. For $3-$20 I can go back in time 50 years. I can't travel any further any cheaper.-
Gary

 

[bunchesofbottles]

Local history for me. I love my hometown! Don't get me wrong, if it's a neat bottle I'm keeping it regardless of where it's from. I'm a Realtor (don't cringe, it's not as bad as lawyer) and I love being able to go into old houses & businesses and see "what used to be". My first interest was when I learned that my Great g-ma bootlegged liqour for Al Capone. It's a really long story but my grandparents have some glass from her tavern, and I've always loved it, love to think of where it was and who else saw it. If glass could talk.......