WHOOPS!!

[Kim]

Hi All
I haven't quite worked out how to tell you what happened at 4 am this morning but here goes[sm=rolleyes.gif].
A real loud Bang! Crash! and the sound of glass breaking, my patner and I both sit upright in bed, "what the heck was that". My partner goes to look and treads right on the broken glass (the Gulgong Cod Bottle). Yes, it happened, 3 boxes of the bottles I have been photographing fell and crashed. To make things worst, my partner bleed severly over the carpet and had 6 stitches and a xray[X(]. Fortunately a % of the bottles are okay[]. My partner now has three days keeping his leg up and I got to pick up the peices. It was enough to make you cry [&o]. Just goes to show that I should be more careful in future. Scared the heck out of me though[:-].
Has anybody got any advise how to get over the disappointment?LOL [sm=lol.gif]
Regards
Kim

 

[Harry Pristis]

Drugs and alcohol work for most. [8|]

 

[drjhostetters]

Kim..

Could have been worse...might have been you or partner that fell and crashed...be thankful they weren't picking pieces of you up off floor...and what did you learn from this experience?

 

[Maine Digger]

Kim & Partner - I can only say "OUCH" - for both the breakage and the cuts! Sorry to hear about this. I had a similar occurance last year with a stack of boxes of bottles in my basement I hadn't yet cleaned. Aside from the cod, did you lose any other of those great bottles you've been showing on the forum? I also lost a great early embossed whiskey I left on my back porch - it had water in it, and this being Maine, well you know the rest, water EXPANDS, glass doesn't. Hope your partner mends quickly, you got that prospecting trip upcoming!

 

[Gunsmoke47]

Hey Kim, this won't make you feel any better but misery loves company. Not 2 hours after I read your sad story I walked in to my bottle room to check on a couple I've got turning and I went over to my closet where I keep some of the ones I haven't cleaned yet, just to look (as I often do). As I was there I picked up a glass lid insert that goes with a $600.00 + Gem Butter Jar. I didn't drop it, I didn't bump it, I didn't even breathe on it, and a 2" sliver about 1/2" wide fell right off in my hand![] [] I don't know what that lid insert is worth by itself (maybe Woody can tell me if he reads this) but I know that jar was worth more with it than without it! Guess it could be worse.... could of been the jar itself. Well I'm sorry to hear of your losses and I hope your partner will heal up right fast. Kelley

Harry, I laughed at your reply to Kim.... I also found myself searching my liquor cabinet shortly after my ordeal. It only helps for a short while[&o]

 

[Harry Pristis]

RE: WHOOPS!! Guilt and Worry

Hey, Kelley . . .

Kim's post stirs up both guilt and worry in me. And, I'll bet I'm not the only one.

Guilt because I know that I am just the temporary custodian of my bottles. These bottles of mine have endured nicely for 100 or 200 or more years before they came into my collection. Each has its own story.

If I break one through carelessness or inattention, I am guilty. I have failed to preserve the creative effort of the glass-blower. I have negated the effort of someone else who recovered or curated the bottle before me. The bottle, and the story, is lost to posterity through my fault.

Fortunately, I haven't had too much bad experience with losses to this point. I have learned to anticipate the worst-case when it comes to my bottles.

Anticipation of the worst is the "worry" part. Fire, vandalism, theft, earth-movement, animal-depredation, and storm-damage are notions that make a lot of collectors cringe, I'd bet.

Insurance is not a total comfort because the bottles themselves are my responsibility as well as my asset.

So, I have a burglar-alarm, I have removed all the big trees from around my house (two oak trees fell on my roof two years ago during a tropical storm), and I have parrot-proofed the collection (my parrot has broken two good bottles in the past 18 years -- more than I have broken!).

In case of a fire, I have a hazy plan for saving some bottles (parrot first, of course), but I have not yet held a drill. What a scary thought that is!

What are the thoughts and experiences of you on this forum? What do collectors in California do to anticipate the worst? (I once looked at some bottles in an underground bomb-shelter!)

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

 

[kendolbottles1black]

hey harry, i used to keep my bottles on open shelves but after a bird flew into the house i now keep them behind glass doors. ihave two walls full of bottles 8m.by2.4m high and i still dont have enough room anyway by for now ken[]

 

[IRISH]

Most of my bottles are on good solid shelves with a copper wire in front of them, they are too close together to fall side ways and the wire stops them falling off (I also have a lot on my bedroom floor waiting for me to build new shelves [] ). I have some good small bottles and a display of clay smoking pipe's, brass "things" and chemist stuff in a old peinola (sp) display cabinet with glass in the doors.
I also take a great amount of care at all times holding or moving any old breakables.

 

[BOTTLEMINER]

I think that we alll have had at least one bad experience breaking a bottle.My luck is'nt to great, and any time I seem to break one it is usualy the best one in the box or hole. You cant dwell on the past,whats done is done,and it could of been worse. I just lick my wounds and move on. Besides I feel for everything bad, somthing good comes about. As for bottles there is always a new hole around the corner! Good luck and sorry about your losses[]

 

[Kim]

Hi All
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and disasters. I feel much better knowing that I am not alone. I have actually packed the bottles up and put them back in the shed. The only thing is I now need to go and find some little nitro nebules that are in a tin box and get rid of them (these are somewhere amongst hauds of boxes in the shed). Can anyone tell me what I should do with them?
Thanks heaps
Kim