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RE: Ferdinand Meyer, V

To the Officers of the FOHBC:

It is my pleasure to offer my support for the nomination of Ferdinand Meyer to the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Hall of Fame. Ferd, as most of us call him, has been not only a devout collector with a keen eye for America’s early glass bottles, but has excelled at sharing his insight and love of the hobby.

As I understood from the beginning, Ferd began collecting bottles with his father. As he became more educated and learned, he concentrated on the different companies that ordered bottles and the glass houses that made them. His website, Peachridge Glass, is the go-to site to learn more about antique bottles with an explosive amount of information and beautiful pictures.

In addition to his own website, he also maintains an extensive site for the FOHBC. Both are without a doubt the most useful and extensive antique bottle websites ever created. It isn’t unusual for Ferd to spend a vast amount of time researching just one company. His specialty is bitters and visiting his house and seeing his collection this year in Houston was a privilege that many of us have enjoyed. Ferd’s wife, Elizabeth, has also devoted much of her time to the hobby. Lifetime friends and partners, the two have enjoyed working together studying and promoting the hobby and being an intricate part of the federation’s duties. Ferd’s house displays a vast collection of bottles lining his shelves in different rooms including an amazing collection of aqua bottles in multiple categories. His collection centers on color runs of figural bitters and other rare bitters examples.

But Ferd’s collecting prowess is only a part of what he’s accomplished while enjoying this wonderful hobby. Many years ago, the two of us sat at a FOHBC meeting wanting to offer our help in both design and layout and distribution of their in-house magazine, Bottles and Extras. A natural transition for Ferd, his marketing company, FMG Design, had been providing marketing and design nationally for years. While our offer wasn’t accepted back then, it motivated Ferd to better pursue a position with the Federation. As I look back today, he not only completely re-designed the publication, but also became the FOHBC president for six powerful years and literally changed the hobby into what we see today. His time and effort dedicated to the Federation’s other brainchild called the Virtual Museum, it has become an even greater bonus for the hobby and given collectors a chance to see some of the finest antique bottles ever made in a three-dimensional format.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Without Ferdinand Meyer, this hobby would be a lot different today. His efforts, along with Liz, have brought color, excitement and a new path to the hobby. When you consider that only 15 years ago it was very difficult to see the rarest and the best bottles in the country, today Ferd has opened a whole new window into this wonderful hobby.

Suffice it to say, Ferd has brought the bottle hobby to a whole new level and I wholeheartedly support his nomination to the FOHBC Hall of Fame.

Jeff Wichmann

RE: Ferdinand Meyer, V

To the FOHBC Board of Directors:

With great energy, Ferdinand can be found dashing around at our bottle shows, gathering information, answering questions and attending to the many tasks he has taken on to promote the Federation through our hobby. Using his professional skills, Ferdinand has given the Federation a public face that supports information about collecting antique bottles, joining bottle clubs, promoting antique bottle shows in general and our annual show in particular, developing a virtual museum and publishing a high-quality magazine that encompasses all of the above.

Although some of these Federation activities have always formed the base of our organization’s mission, it is under his leadership that laser focus was applied to each activity. As president, he successfully transferred our energies from solely relying on local bottle clubs to generate collector interest to directly promoting the hobby to individuals.

Along with his participation in FOHBC management, he publishes the website PeachridgeGlass.com hosted by Ferdinand and Elizabeth Meyer stating, “We hope to share our passion for collecting and dealing in Early American Antique Bottles and Glass.” The great photos and graphics inspire us to focus on the beauty and history of one of our country’s earliest industries dating back to Colonial times. His talented use of graphics has made Bottles and Extras into a first-rate publication and was also offered to help Carlyn Ring and Bill Ham produce Bitters Bottles Supplement 2 a monumental reference guide to the original seminal work Bitters Bottles and its 2004 Bitters Bottles Supplement.

Although also a collector of early American glass, it is his collecting of information with tens of thousands of captured images that have made him a great resource for collectors and allowed his in depth participation in the hobby. Ferdinand’s contagious “passion” has left his fingerprints everywhere throughout the antique bottle hobby. Thus, it is with great pleasure that I support his nomination to the Federation’s Hall of Fame.

Jerry McCann 21 December 2020

RE: Ferdinand Meyer, V

FOHBC Board of Directors:

It gives us great pleasure to nominate Ferdinand Meyer V, to the FOHBC Hall of Fame.

Ferdinand served three terms as FOHBC President making sure the Federation was moving on and keeping up with the changes in our hobby. He always supported everyone’s efforts in keeping the hobby alive and well.

Ferdinand is a major force in producing the convention program in the last several years, reaching out to gain support and advertising revenue for the programs. He has also been involved with organizing the conventions themselves and was a great help in the 2016 convention we chaired in Sacramento, California.

Ferdinand has done an amazing job getting the Virtual Museum up and running. He works on it daily and it will be the best thing to happen for our hobby since it started. His research and attention to detail cannot be matched. The Virtual Museum will ensure that Ferdinand’s work will be long remembered.

The website, Peachridge Glass, maintained by Ferdinand and his wife, Elizabeth, has also added much to the hobby.

Ferdinand is at the top of our list as someone who has earned the right to be placed in the FOHBC Hall of fame . Sincerely

Richard and Beverley Siri FOHBC Past President – Life Member Past Convention Chairs

RE: Ferdinand Meyer, V

I am writing to recommend Ferdinand Meyer to the FOHBC Hall of Fame. I have watched as his work in development of the FOHBC Virtual Museum and funding practices for the FOHBC Show program have transformed and impacted the FOHBC.

It was March of 2011 at the semi-annual FOHBC Board Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland that I became aware of a concept involving a virtual museum for historical bottles. The idea had been introduced by Richard Siri two years prior at the FOHBC National Bottle Show in Pomona, California in 2009. Frankly, I don’t even remember the mention. Ferdinand skillfully described an online historical bottle museum, a substitute for a real brick and mortar building.

His design had floors with rooms that would contain bottles in categories. Not just common bottles, but rare, historically significant examples. Being able to visit a museum from the comfort of your home 24/7 had an immediate appeal. His insistence of including historically significant bottles and a 3-dimensional spin of those bottles elevated the FOHBC Virtual Museum above all other sources. At that time, there was nothing on the web even remotely similar and that statement remains true to this day. It was then that I became involved as Treasurer for the FOHBC Virtual Museum. Ferdinand was able to gather a small group together that tackled all the challenges that are inevitable when traveling a new road. Reducing imaging costs and website designing were early challenges that Ferdinand provided leadership to overcome. His vision led to the development of a museum where historically significant bottle images were displayed in a three dimensional format with ability to control the spin and magnify images. His experience and ability to research brought together the known history of that particular specimen to an update-able and expandable resource.

In 2015, Ferdinand developed a promotional video that was used online and at the National Shows to encourage and educate the bottle collectors to the vision and development of the museum. Ferdinand opened doors to some of the most significant collections to gain images for the museum. Word of mouth about the professionalism displayed by the imaging team soon opened many more doors. As of my letter, some 420+ spins reside in the FOHBC Virtual museum along with historical information on each. The design of the online, expandable museum is also immediately update-able as new information is discovered. Hundreds of volunteer hours from Ferdinand in creating and designing each page along with donated time through his company have brought us to where we are today. The following is a recent email quote from Jeff Wichmann; “I remember having to travel half a day to see a great bottle and now they are in my iPad. It’s a useful tool with beautiful results.” Ferdinand’s unwavering dedication to the original vision is paying dividends with collector compliments and donations to continue the work. The trust that early donors displayed is being rewarded with a museum that will educate and attract collectors to the hobby.

I found myself as Treasurer and later Business Manager of the FOHBC having the responsibility of auditing the FOHBC National Shows. The FOHBC National Souvenir Program was designed as informational with advertising intended to cover only catalog costs. When Ferdinand became involved in designing the program, he saw it as an opportunity. Ferdinand’s pro-active approach to soliciting ads produced an increasing stream of advertisers and revenue for the National Show. Each year Ferdinand added new advertisers while encouraging existing advertisers to continue. In 2018, the Cleveland National Show benefited from Ferdinand’s influence and contacts. A record $17,515 in advertising was attained while spending only $6,234.50 in production costs. The Pomona National program in 2009 had 80 pages while the 2018 Cleveland program needed to expand to 140 pages with the increased advertisers and content.

Ferdinand’s constant and continuous commitment to the hobby and the FOHBC and its Virtual Museum has earned him my recommendation for the FOHBC Hall of Fame. He is building bridges to the future for new and upcoming collectors, as well as, all existing collectors. His time, efforts and dedication have definitely earned him the honor of induction to the FOHBC Hall of Fame.

FOHBC Virtual Museum Alan DeMaison, Treasurer 1605 Clipper Cove Painesville, OH44077 440-358-1223 a.demaison@sbcglobal.net

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