Letters to the Editor

to the Editor

Shedding Some Light on Midnight Digging

Hi, John,

I appreciate you getting back to me regarding my bottle story submission. I realize what a busy job you have. I continue to enjoy reading the Antique Bottle and Glass Collector after many years of subscribing.

I can’t help but recollect about the heyday of bottle collecting in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and ’70s. I lived in Menlo Park then, and my buddy, Jeff, and I spent many postmidnight hours digging in various redevelopment projects in San Francisco in the early ’70s. A few of our many finds are shown in the photo (above).

Keep producing that great magazine.

Regards,

Paul Ackerman Reno, Nevada

P.S. Speaking of the holiday season, I remember when I belonged to the San Mateo Antique Bottle Club way back in 1973. Bottle clubs were all around the Bay Area. I brought a bottle cake to our Christmas Party. It consisted of two layers, with the second layer supported by three blob top sodas! What fun.

A Letter to Ralph (really, to Janet)

Over the last decade or two, a kind person will comment, “Thank you, Ralph, for the article on …” Ah, I remember it. While I was writing it, in the middle of the afternoon and still in my bathrobe, Janet Finch was upstairs, vacuuming the house.

And someone will say, “Thank you for …” Yes, that was the day Janet ran all the errands, balanced the budget, paid the bills, and I think that was the day she assembled the two porch gliders. (Challenged, she probably could have done it with a hairpin. TV’s Angus MacGyver pales next to her.)

And “Thank you, Ralph, for the article on …” I remember that one, too. Janet had taken all the photos for the story, proofread the article, and fixed my computer the day it did god-knows-what.

I remember all the days while I sit in my bathrobe and write while she: makes breakfast, lunch or dinner (sometimes when a dozen people are about to drop by), or shovels the snow off the two porches, or goes out every morning, often in her bathrobe‚ to feed the deer, the squirrels, the chipmunks, the birds and every other creature that roams by.

And I remember the days that Janet and John Pastor spent putting the catalog together for the recent sales of my target ball collection.

And Janet, I thank YOU. I couldn’t do it without you. In fact, as I creep up on birthday Number 80, I couldn’t do anything without you.

Sincerely, your not-so-helpful pal,

Ralph Finch Farmington Hills, Michigan

Interesting Round Bottom Soda with Embossed Bottle

Hi, Folks,

Above is a photo of a round bottom bottle from Boston. It has a very small round bottom inside the embossed logo.

Logo reads as follows inside diamond:

Comstock Gove & Co. 30 Canal St. Boston Sparkling Ginger Ale

Bottle is 8” tall with cork and Putnam stopper. How about running an article about Round Bottoms?

Best to all,

Howard Wilcox Brewster, Massachusetts

to the Editor

Ralph Draws the Line!

Dear John,

I collect ketchup bottles, but not necessarily ketchup bottles covered in barnacles. I have to draw the line somewhere!

Is there a new place to re-dump trash? Actually, it’s a centuries-old site. The ocean, then eBay. An eBay seller from Jupiter, Florida, has found a new way to recycle. Uncover old bottles tossed into the ocean, then wait until they are covered with barnacles, then wait for a sucker, I mean a buyer, to come along.

In mid-November, a batch of bottles was listed, all covered with barnacles by an eBay seller who offered this junk. Maybe I could be more polite, but I think “junk” is pretty accurate.

It was described as: “Up for auction is an early 1900s, light purple, ketchup-type bottle completely covered with barnacles all over. The bottle is blown in a mold with a smooth base and has a threadedlike top. It is embossed on the shoulder ‘Curtice Bros. N.Y.’ It is 9 1/2” tall and the bottle was recovered last month. As mentioned, the bottle is covered all over with barnacles and is *free of chips or cracks. There is staining both inside and out and the color is light sun-colored amethyst. It displays great and the last photo shows some of the 24 new arrivals from the past week. Due to the fragile nature of the barnacles I pack these well in larger size boxes. As always 100% satisfaction guaranteed.” Opening bid $30, plus $10 shipping!

“Satisfaction guaranteed”? Anyone who’d buy this would be satisfied, since he obviously would have no standards.

Now, maybe to someone who lived on the moon and had never seen a barnacle, this might be interesting, but for $40?

*FYI: Thank goodness it was free of chips; I’d hate to have one of those precious barnacles chipped.

Edited by mild-mannered Ralph Finch

Let the Re(fun)d Begin(?)

More stupidity, reported by Ralph Finch

Dear Readers,

OK, I’m almost 80, been a collector for 50 years, traveled around the world, you’d think I’d have better things to do with my limited time than to throw barbs at stupid people, stupid eBay sellers, and stupid auction houses.

Here’s my excuse. You know how people complain about drivers who slow down on the highway, impeding other motorists, to look at accidents while a policeman is yelling, “Move on, there’s nothing to see here.” Well, there is nothing to see here, but I’m showing it anyway.

Selling (actually, NOT selling) Oct. 12 at “Baker’s Country Style Auction in Bohemia, N.Y., was “Lot 34L, a “Collection of Vintage Soda Bottles.” (I know, John Pastor, you can’t gather up ALL the great bottles; maybe next time.)

Let’s take a look at the photo. Let’s see, the Coke bottle with a refund value of 10 cents, and the other bottles? Adding them up, this “vintage collection” is worth about 10 cents. I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket or, in this case, a cardboard box.

Please god, I have written maybe 1,000 stories. I hope this isn’t my last one.

Criticisms or comments to rfinch@twmi. rr.com

Peachy? A collection of “vintage” junk? Baker’s required an opening bid of $10! ARE THEY CRAZY?