Heard it through the Grapevine

Building Renovations Uncover Early Dr. Kilmer Advertising

Renovation work being done on an old building in downtown Battle Creek, Michigan, uncovered some unexpected history. When the plaster was removed from one of the walls, a large advertisement for Dr. Kilmer came to light. The ad, painted on the old brick walls reads, “SAMPLE BOTTLE MAILED FREE / DR. KILMER CO. BINGHAMTON, NY.” The building is located at 97 W. Michigan Ave. Image 1 is what the building looked like in 1940. Image 2 is what it looks like now. The other ad that can be seen in the photo is for Phil Hook’s Tavern and Budweiser. The building is believed to have been constructed in the early 20th century.

Submitted by AB&GC reader Jim Lockmiller of Battle Creek, Michigan.

Image 2 Image 1

Got Corn? Get This

Ralph Finch’s rebuttal

For reasons I don’t fathom, my normally sweet wife, Janet, saw this item and commented that with the amount of corn I harvest, I should consider owning this sign. (It turned out, she was being sarcastic. Wives do that once in a while.)

This colorful item was offered by Chupp Auctions of Shipshewana, Indiana. I was surely tempted.

Lot 751 was described as “18 by13 inches, a flanged Dickelman Metal Corn Cribs sign, RARE!” (And note that it is a double-sided sign.)

And I could save my jokes here, kept “Rat Proof” in this corn crib (This is no Mickey Mouse outfit.) However, one day before it closed on Jan. 15, the colorful item garnered 26 bids, pushing the price to $1,700. WOW! My corn isn’t worth that. (It’s worth nothing, someone whispered.) OK, the auction is over, and I didn’t get it. Well, that’s corn over the dam. Darn. The final price? $8,000, plus a 20 percent buyer’s premium (plus tax?)! Still, it’s a nice, two-sided sign.

Heard it through the Grapevine

Update on the New Bedford Museum of Glass

In the May issue of AB&GC, on page 5 we made mention of the New Bedford Museum of Glass opening (Sunday, April 18, 2021). Since then, the museum has been very busy expanding their collections, welcoming visitors, and adding an online educational series.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the museum, Wikipedia provides this description and background: “Located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, it is home to a wide collection of glass, ranging from ancient Mediterranean unguent bottles to designs by contemporary artists such as Dale Chihuly. It was first established in 1993 as the Glass Art Center at the former Bradford College in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

After the college closed, the Museum relocated to New Bedford in part due to the city’s rich heritage of glassmaking. As a result, Mount Washington glass and Pairpoint glass compose a large part of the Museum’s collection. The Museum’s collections now number more than 7,000 items.”

New Bedford, Massachusetts, became an important glassmaking center during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and first quarter of the twentieth century. The Mount Washington Glass Company relocated from Boston to New Bedford in 1870. In 1880, the Pairpoint Manufacturing Company opened, absorbing Mount Washington in 1894. Pairpoint remained in operation as a glass manufacturer until 1938 when it went out of business.

To learn more about the museum, including their collections, hours of operation, and online educational series, visit their website: www.nbmog.org

TOP: This little kitty serves as The New Bedford Museum of Glass unofficial greeter. He is seen here taking a well-deserved nap after a day of greeting museum visitors. RIGHT: A display case in one of the many galleries housed in the James Arnold Mansion, home of the New Bedford Museum of Glass.

Dust to Dust

Ralph Finch again is a pain in the side of sellers of crap

On February 2, a questionable auction house called Apple Tree Auction in Newark, Ohio, sold a lemon. “Lot 1552: Wooden crate of antique bottles including many with metal and rubber corks.” Oooooh, with corks?

If you missed this, well, maybe it’s your lucky day. What is the point of spending the time and effort to photograph, catalog and sell what, to most people, is stuff that should be disposed of at the nearest recycling center.

On the plus side (if there is any) the auction’s home town, Newark, brings back memories of a yearly bottle show held near Newark, at the Ehove Center, a mere 45(?) years ago. Older collectors, can you “update” my memories of those shows? Please e-mail rfinch@twmi.rr.com.

Also (edited): In Newark, “the mission of the National Heisey Glass Museum is to preserve, collect, and interpret Heisey glass, related materials, and information. Heisey Collectors of America, Inc. established the National Heisey Glass Museum (NHGM) in Newark in 1972 to display and promote the study of the products of the A.H. Heisey & Co. (1896-1957). HCA has maintained the museum and has enabled the organization to continue to build its collection, maintain archives, add a 6,000 square foot addition to the original King House. For photos and its history, visit their website at https://heiseymuseum.org.

How much would you pay to NOT give you this … (fill in your own word). As bad as it is, Janet says this is how our glass looks since she hasn’t had the desire to dust, since the virus began and no one visits.