Message in a Bottle

Combing low-tide riverbanks and exploring historic backyards, Tim Touchberry digs his way to a museum-quality collection of antique bottles.

Buried Treasure: Touchberry in front of a small part of his collection.

Unique shapes are among Touchberry's favorite finds.

The treasure hunter catalogues each piece.

The bottles lining the transom windows of Debby Touchberry’s Summers Corner kitchen cast shards of amber and cobalt blue light across the room. A beautiful design element, the bottles represent far more than a discerning eye for decorating. Each has a story that begins with her husband’s passion for finding and collecting antique bottles. “I can tell you that I found that blue one there,” she says pointing to a square blue vessel on the countertop, “But Tim can tell you exactly where each and every one came from.” Considering the displays of bottles and artifacts artfully displayed in glass-fronted cabinets, that’s no small feat.

The Tim she references is Tim Touchberry, a man whose name is well-known from his long and storied career as a Lowcountry athlete and coach. After playing multiple sports for Baptist College (Charleston Southern), he began his career in 1972 at North Charleston High School. Over a span of 35 years, he coached 4 years at Stall High School, and 15 years at Summerville High School as a JV football, varsity basketball, and track coach, before rising to the top of his game in his 14 years as the first Athletic Director and head track coach at Fort Dorchester High School.

Inducted into both Fort Dorchester High School Athletic Hall of Fame and the SC Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame, following Touchberry’s 2006 retirement due to symptoms of Parkinson’s disease diagnosed in 2003, the Fort Dorchester’s Track and Field Complex was named in his honor. Also honoring him, the Putting for Parkinson's golf tournament was founded by friends and family to help fund research for the disease.

While his athletic achievements are the stuff of legend, his interest and passion for collecting antique bottles may be lesser known. However, one look at his impressive collection quickly establishes his expertise at a hobby that became a passion and lights up the face of the retired coach.

Touchberry’s interest in finding bottles began in the early 1990s. “About 30 years ago, I was fishing with a couple of fellas back behind Charles Towne Landing, when one of them spotted something shiny on the bank. It turned out to be a Bitters Medicine Bottle. It wasn’t in the best shape, but out of curiosity, we asked a neighbor who was a collector about it. The collector offered $300 right off the bat. “That was a pretty good fishing trip,” he chuckles at the memory. “And right then it occurred to me how many other bottles might be out there!”

When the shrimp weren’t running, and the fish weren’t biting, he began walking riverbanks looking for bottles. He found his first one on the banks of the Wando River. Bitten by the bottle bug, he soon started taking the entire family trudging through the pluff mud. Many of their finds line the shelves of a hallway china cabinet, and Touchberry is as knowledgeable about the bones, teeth, and artifacts as he is about the bottles.

“That’s the fun part about it. The kids and now the grandkids love finding all kinds of things that are collectible—shark’s teeth, bones, arrowheads, and what-have-you. We bring whatever we find back home and try to figure out what we’ve got,” he says, holding a petrified whale bone.

Bottles often have interesting coloring.

A rainbow of bottles serve as decor in Touchberry's home.

In a small case in the living room, a half-dozen bottles rest under glass. “That middle one is pretty rare,” he says of a large SC Dispensary bottle, pearlescent with age but perfectly preserved. He explains that from 1893 to 1900, liquor bottled by state dispensaries was the only spirit legally sold in South Carolina. Dispensary bottles from that time feature an embossed palmetto tree with crossed logs under the base of the tree. “I knew this one was a good one when I found it, but I had no idea that it was one of the rarest in the book. Only three of them are known to exist.” He has been offered five figures for the rare find, but although he trades bottles from time to time, he seldom sells them.

His son, Russ Touchberry, says of the valuable bottles in his dad’s collection, “We don’t want him to ever sell any of them. They’re his. He found them, and he needs to enjoy having them.”

Touchberry’s Parkinson's symptoms can make reaching for and handling the fragile glass difficult, so his son, affectionately called ‘Brother,’ is on hand to help out. His gentle guidance allows the senior Touchberry to navigate, and he is quick to locate any item his father references. The easy rapport between father and son is a lovely tribute to their close relationship.

The varied sizes, shapes, and compositions in Touchberry’s anthology of bottles and crockery are worthy of a museum exhibit, and he is a patient and tireless guide to the provenance and attributes of each. Many pre-date South Carolina’s recognition as a state. While most have been recovered from riverbanks, a perfect, rounded crockery jug is an example of sixteen dug from Charleston’s Queen Street area, and is cataloged as dating to the late 1680s, shortly after Charleston was founded.

The collector claims his knowledge to be mostly learned from those better versed, but his familiarity suggests expertise learned through hands-on experience.

The collector claims his knowledge to be mostly learned from those better versed, but his familiarity suggests expertise learned through hands-on experience. He is a familiar figure around Summerville, and can often be found digging in the yards of historic homes. “People are usually pretty happy to let us explore. You just never know what’s going to turn up.”

The retired coach says he doesn’t get around as easily as he used to, but that hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for his hobby. “I still go every chance I get. I’ll keep getting out there and digging as long as I can. When I can’t, I’ll just sit on the side and point.”

If history is any indication, whether he’s playing the game or leading from the sidelines, there is no doubt that Tim Touchberry will point those around him in the right direction.

by Susan Frampton

photos by Dottie Rizzo