Letters to the Editor

to the Editor

This recently dug super-rare aqua London Warner’s bottle featured our February issue was sold to an Australian collector but “ended up in a U.S.A. collection.” Will that fortunate collector be willing to share his or her story? We can only hope.

News and Updates on a Rare Aqua Warner’s

Dear John,

Thank you for printing the “Rare Aqua London Warner’s Rocks Collecting World” article in the February 2020 issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. As always, the graphics and layouts were top notch. After sharing the article with my British friends on the Facebook public forum, “Warner’s Safe Cure - H. H. Warner,” I was notified that the bloke holding the freshly dug Warner’s in the Figure 1 picture on page 33 is in fact Les’ digging mate Stuart Lilley, and not Les himself, as I had erroneously reported in the article. Furthermore, it was Stuart who actually dug the bottle, in a hole that Les had started. I would like to thank Horst Klusmeier for his letter to the editor in the March 2020 issue where he corrects the quote from the article that indicated Rob Goodacre was no longer of this world. To the relief of many, Horst reported that Rob is in fact still alive and kicking! I reached out to the source of this erroneous detail, and he apologized and said he had based his presumption on the dearth of news from Rob in quite some time. He asked Horst if he would be kind enough to provide Rob’s contact information.

I’d also like to comment on Boyd Beccue’s letter in the same issue. Boyd has a whittled pint amber WARNER”S SAFE CURE FRANKFURT A/M in his collection, which I believe is cataloged as 2WFGVar1 in Michael Seeliger’s H. H. Warner - His Company and his Bottles. Boyd’s observations of the German Warner’s, based on viewing many examples during his time there in the early 1970s, corroborates the conclusions of Mike Sheridan and Michael Seeliger that, contrary to many people’s assumptions, the amber English and other European bottles are in fact older than the more exotic green examples. Per Boyd’s inquiry, he can get a hold of Michael on Facebook, and PM him there. Anyone can order Michael’s book on Amazon.

There is one last bit of news to add to this story. Per a recent update on the same Facebook site, the recently dug super rare aqua London Warner’s bottle featured in the article was sold to an Australian collector but “ended up in a U.S.A. collection.” If that fortunate American collector would be willing to share his or her story, it would be fascinating to hear their comments on the bottle and how it fits into their Warner’s collection.

John Savastio Latham, New York

The Long Island Milk Bottle display won the People's Choice Award at the recent Long Island show.

Long Island Show is Long on Success

Dear John,

Well, I finally recovered enough from our show to contact you. Let me just say this about the show: WOW.

The local newspaper, Newsday, for the first time in our club’s 45 years, picked us up and I was featured in an article which ran just a few days before the show. Three pages, color shots, online video, the works. They were at our home for fourplus hours shooting everything. There was also a featured picture in the events listing. And it showed in the attendance figure: 462 paid at the door. We’d never had attendance like that before, not even in the heyday in the ’80s. Steady line to get in from opening at 10 to around 12:30, sporadic line to get in until 1:30 when it started to taper off to just a steady stream.

to the Editor

The show was a dealer sell-out, the second year in a row we sold out, but we did squeeze in one more dealer who showed up at 9 a.m. asking for a table, and he did very well along with all others, with several vendors having empty tables by 2 p.m. There were all kinds of items walking in the door – blobs, case bottles, pottery. It was amazing, really.

I was able to get a few shots of the show. We had several great exhibits, including Long Island Dairy and Long Island Blob-tops. I missed the Long Island Deco Sodas as it was already broken down by the time I managed to get the camera. The Long Island Dairy won People’s Choice award.

We are already working on our 2021 show and sale.

Show co-chair Mark Smith Sayville, New York

FYI: Smith, now 58, started collecting bottles at age 12 while growing up in Sayville and has since amassed hundreds of bottles and pieces of stoneware from back in the day.

A New Dr. Richardson’s Find

Hello, John,

I picked up something interesting the other day. In my article about the bottles and patent medicines of South Reading, Massachusetts, which ran in the June 2018 issue of AB&GC, I mentioned that the Richardson’s had also sold packets of dried herbs, labeled as “Jaundice Bitters.” This new (to me) item seems to be the front of a different packet, for “Dr. Richardson’s Concentrated [meaning, I believe, dried] Sherry Wine Bitters”. It measures 2” x 4.” It was re-purposed in an unusual way: it is used as the cover (a replacement cover?) of a small 16-page chapbook published by Atwood & Brown of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1847. Of course, the Richardson’s cover could have been applied at any date after the booklet had been issued.

Richard Sheaff Bethel, Vermont

The new Dr. Richardson’s Concentrated Sherry Wine Bitters cover.

Letter to AB&GC Medicine Chest columnist Joe Widman

Hi, Joe,

I read and enjoyed your article in the January bottle magazine titled “Should this be an Article.” I am a Rockford, Illinois, bottle collector and noticed the Humane Medicine bottle.

Humane Medicine Co. was a short-lived company in Rockford from May 1883 to March 1884. ‘Mother’s Croup Cure’ was the product manufactured and sold by this company. The organizers were Fred W. Lee, Joshua O. Lee and H.A. Lee (I haven’t found the full name yet, perhaps they were brothers?). That about sums up the history of this company. They did have some great advertisements (above) in the newspaper. A couple are kind of comical, so they must have had good writers. There was also a clear bottle, about 4 1/2” tall, similar to a standard druggist bottle. If you would like to have the ads, and a clear bottle, please contact me and I will gladly send them.

ATTENTION READERS:

Due to COVID-19 precautions, a number of upcoming bottle shows have been postponed or cancelled. Please check with show chairmen to see if your favorite shows are affected. We will have further updates in future issues.

Thank you and regards,

Jeff Dahlberg Rockford, Illinois