Heard it through the Grapevine

What Else Doesn’t Snag Our Interest These Days?

By Ralph Finch

I occasionally think about barbed wire. That doesn’t mean much, I often think about a lot of strange stuff that snags my interest. Last night I was thinking how I would deal being deserted on an island with only Rudy Giuliani for company.

We all know what we collect today, but what’s on the “forget it” list?

I even think of the old days, let’s say 40 or more years ago, when you would, on occasion, see a piece of barbed wire offered at a bottle show. In the far west, like in Vegas, you’d see lots of barbed wire and hundreds of sets of dice. But what else do we no longer see at shows?

How about those 1960s whisky bottles in a hundred different shapes (like Jim Beam bottles in the shape of Elvis), or those cheap-smelling Avon bottles in the shape of everything. How about 1980s Pez dispensers?

FYI: Wikipedia says that “one of the rarest of all Pez Disney dispensers is the 1973 Mary Poppins, which has no feet. The non-painted version is worth around $750.” Oh, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! I just tossed mine last week into the trash. And does everyone remember the No. 1 Pez dealer, Ralph Riovo, who died in 2012. I’ve seen the delightful Ralph (and his sweetie) on trips to England where he’d go into a store and buy every Pez dispenser in the shop, since the UK had examples not available in the U.S.

And remember those Beanie Babies, that went from really hot to a really stupid scam? The “Large Wallace and his Squad” was said to have been offered for $600,000! Most Beanies ultimately ended up in orphanages, or garage sales. And those (now) ho hum annual Christmas dishes or Mother’s Day dishes? See if you can get more than $3 for them, even if you paid $15 for them 40 years ago.

But for old old bottle collectors, we remember when so many glass and nonglass items turned up at shows that you rarely see today.

This eBay item was offered by “Signed by Artist,” who added: “I have collected antique barbed wire and built displays since 1994. I take great pride in every display I build. You can own a true piece of the Old West. All cuts of barbed wire used are authentic pieces from history. All of the barbed wire that I use is taken off of old fences that have fenced the Old West for 100 years.” The item was offered with a buy-it-now price of $80, plus $22 for shipping.

How about glass baby bottles? England had great varieties of interesting examples, there are books on them, and even a club (does it still exist?). Also FYI, I have a clear baby bottle embossed “Ralph’s Nursers,” purchased at a Garth (Ohio) auction for the “Alberta Rodgers **Patterson Collection.”

And milk bottles in general. Once there would be tables of them at shows. You’d even see a Thatcher. (Dr. Thatcher, a Potsdam druggist who is said to have invented the milk bottle.) And glass fire extinguishers? There once were great examples and it’s been years since I last saw one at a bottle show. (In early January, a massive collection of fire-fighting material, including at least 40 glass examples, was offered for $24,000 on eBay, but the usual examples seen on eBay are the common Red Comets.)

There is another “common” glass item I rarely see: glass so-called Christmas lights. They were always uncommon in the States, but when I visited the Mother Country, in the 1980s, every glass show and every antiques shop had dozens and dozens of them. And on my last visit? Christmas lights were … extinguished. Old-line U.S. collectors liked them, but now it’s tough to find one, and even writing to Santa won’t help, except for Robert Strickhart of New Jersey. Last December he became the king of Christmas lights (he must have really been a good boy). He

Heard it through the Grapevine

now has LOTS of them, and we will interview him about them in an upcoming issue of dAB&GC.

And what about *goofus bottles? (Would you be goofy to collect one?) Or carnival glass? Milk glass? (Don’t cry over them.)

And metal beer cans, before glass bottles. When was the last time you saw a conetop beer can? (I’ll drink to that.)

Another “old” collector added: Glass tank floats and doll parts.

And I would have said, Does anyone collect toasters? But I know the answer is YES! Years ago I interviewed a collector for the Detroit News, and now I know of at least four others. And I’m one of them.

And how about pie funnels? Pie? Like the value of pi is approximately 3.14? Nope, you zero. (If you still go “Huh?,” go to Wikipedia.) I would occasionally see a pie funnel in the U.S., but many in England, and know several collectors there who have dozens of different examples.

And thimbles? Yep, I used to know collectors of them, but I can’t put my finger on who they are.

Oh, and matched salt and pepper shakers. Does anyone still collect them? A hundred years ago, when Skinners (in Bolton, Mass.) was THE bottle auction house, Bob Skinner also offered a collection of — if I remember correctly — about 500 sets of salt and pepper shakers. Some were very impressive, and I even tried to get a few that were in the shape of delicate eggs. I should have spiced up my bidding, since I won zip. And that left a bad taste in my mouth.

(OK, I’m wrong again. I just went on eBay, and found 222,221 results for salt and pepper shakers. I didn’t look to see how many were antique.) But bitters cards king Joe Gourd lamented something else we rarely see these days: “No bitters trade cards.”

And John Pastor added something sad (and very important). “Well, this answer may not exactly be what you are looking for, but what about displays? We (unfortunately), rarely see displays at shows anymore. And good displays are even fewer and farther between. The Rochester (N.Y.) show and the annual Federation shows are the two that come to mind that still feature good — oftentimes great — displays). Some western shows still include displays. Good displays tend to educate and excite collectors.”

A pie funnel? Collectors used to get steamed up looking for a good one.

My sweet Janet added: “Big antique oak furniture; in fact, any old wood furniture.” Indeed, poorly made new furniture seems to rule. And, recently, the Finches were at an auction where high-grade and classy examples of old furniture went for a fraction of what we would have paid for them 30 or 40 years ago.

What have we missed? Or why? Add to the list by sending barbs to me at rfinch@ twmi.rr.com. FYI 1: Wikipedia says “goofus glass is pressed glass which was decorated with unfired enamel paint in the early 20th century in America by several prominent glass factories. Because it was mass produced and relatively cheap, it was given as premiums with purchases and awarded as prizes at fairs.”

FYI 2: Barb Wire is a 1996 superhero film that starred Pamela Anderson in the (if you pardon the expression) the titular role.

FYI 3: The Corning Museum notes that it possesses the “important blown glass and bottles, the collection of Alberta Rodgers Patterson, Slippery Rock, Penn.”

FYI 4: Wikipedia says: “A pie bird, pie vent, pie whistle, pie funnel or pie chimney is a hollow ceramic device, originating in Europe, shaped like a funnel, chimney, or up-stretched bird with open beak used for supporting or venting a pie. Pies with top crusts need to be vented, to allow steam to escape. Funnel-style steam vents have been placed in the center of fruit and meat pies during cooking since Victorian times; bird shapes came later.

FYI 5: Wikipedia added: “Barbed wire is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property.”

The first U.S. patent “was issued in 1867 to Lucien Smith of Kent, Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph Glidden of DeKalb, Ill., received a patent for the modern invention in 1874 after he made modifications to previous versions.”

“The costs of fencing with lumber immediately prior to the invention of barbed wire can be found with the first farmers in the Fresno, Calif., area, who spent nearly $4,000 (equivalent to $85,000 in 2019) to have wood for fencing delivered in 1872.”