Geelong Bottle & Collectables Club Inc Volume 77 November 2010/January 2011
Crowds flock to Drysdale festival
GLASS ACT
From the desk of the editor
T WHO’S WHO President: Dave Smith 0419 434 306
Vice-president: Peter Harding Treasurer: Bob Bauer Secretary: Tracey Elso Assistant secretary: Noel Dawson Librarian: Craig Finegan Editor: Cam Ward 0430 369 146 Public officer: Kim Johnson
his edition marks a changing of the guard for the newsletter; it’s my last in the editor’s chair. Change is inevitable – it’s what life is all about. Sometimes the change is of our own doing; sometimes it is forced upon us. My decision to move on after three years is a little of both. My work commitments in Melbourne, coupled with a daily public transport commute that has swung from adequate to wildly erratic has cut deeply into my spare time. I thought I could juggle that and my regular Army Reserve commitments and for three years I did. But there were times last year when I just did not feel like going out on a Monday night, when I knew I had a 16hour Tuesday the next day and really just wanted to stay home. But as editor of the newsletter, I felt I needed to be at every club meeting, to record the latest finds and make notes on possible newsletter contributions. And in the end, I realised that a hobby should be more about want than need. There will be months when I will want to show off my latest find and marvel at those of other club members, just as there will be times when I will want to finish my travelling on the fourth Monday of the month when I drive home from South Geelong station. I do not believe I underestimated the size of the job. And I am glad to have contributed what I did. I’ve introduced
Committee members: Tony Parsons Craig Finegan Kim Johnson Noel Dawson and executives
Cam Ward newsletter editor
2011 Diary dates
State representative: David Smith Catering officer: Pam Bauer
the newsletter to cyber space by putting some editions online. It’s available in an electronic format that can be emailed quicker than it can be posted – and in colour too – and I’ve changed the layout. All this is what I am passionate about and where I believe my skills lie. But the past three years would not have been nearly as readable without the untiring efforts of other club members, particularly club president Dave Smith and secretary Tracey Elso who, on top of everything else in their own busy lives, found time to help me find new ways to fill the daunting blank pages every issue. Thanks, too, must go to my predecessor as editor, Peter Harding, for helping show me the ropes . Now it’s time for someone else to put their own stamp on the publication. That’s the beauty of the publishing game; there’s no one right way of doing things. Publications are as much a reflection of what the readers want as they of the people putting them together, and what they think the readers want. I tried to make the newsletter more than just a record of the monthly meetings. For me, to do otherwise would have meant giving those many subscribers who attended those meetings, nothing they didn’t already know. Where to now for the newsletter? That’s entirely up to the person who pens the next one of these columns. All I can say is I look forward to reading all about it.
MARCH
5 – CRANBOURNE (Collectors fair; Cranbourne Public Hall) 5 – COOLAMON (Antique bottle & collectables fair; Up-To-Date Store, Coolamon) 26-27 – YEA (Roycroft auction)
APRIL
2-3 – BENDIGO (National show; Bendigo Exhibition Centre, Bendigo Showgrounds) 16-17 – DUBBO (24th Bottle & Collectors Show; DRTCC, Darling Street, Dubbo) 23 – BEECHWORTH (Bottle show/swap & sell day) 22-24 – WARWICK (44th “Rock Swap” and bottle/collectables fair; Warwick Showgrounds) 30/May 1 – CALOUNDRA (Sunshine Coast Antique & Collectables Show; Caloundra Indoor Sports Stadium, North Street, Caloundra)
Time to build on successes of past 12 months
Call goes out to help shape club
L
ast year marked our first one-day show – and event that I will certainly remember for a long, long time. I hope that every member relishes for themselves a great personal feeling of organising, running and achieving our aim of “an intensive one-day show with a set up day and scocial function on the Friday” every two years between State shows. The sheer enjoyment of our hoby shown by club members, sellers and Joe Public buyers is still shown by constant and huge positive feedback. Collectors are still quoting the 2010 Geelong show as a great example of a new and fresh approach, commenting on how damn great it was and the fact that we were daring enough to “try something different”. With the show’s financial succes, coupled with our fundraising barbecues and Market Day, hopefully the Club now has a more secure financial base to confidently tackle the 2012 state show in 2012 (October 26-28) and future shows. Challenges for the future include rebuilding a strong committee and growing our membership. We have already farewelled longstanding vice-president Peter Harding and he will be sorely missed. My relatively brief aquaintance with him showed me an organised man with a passion for his colllecting areas. That true enjoyment of the hobby was contagious. His guidance to me as a new and hesitant president needs to be mentioned again, as do his organising skills in layouts of the show and printing, whether that was for flyers, schedules or newsletters. Peter, his passion and his many skills all benefitted the club greatly. Immediate past president Kim Johnson is also standing down from the committee. Again, her depth of knowledge and successful guidance of the club through the era of combining collectables members with bottle members will be missed from the committee. Hopefully Kim can enjoy being an Indian and not a chief for a year or two. Cam Ward has done his time as newsletter editor. Again, we have all enjoyed and appreciated your efforts Cam. The articles you have done and photos have made these volumes of newsletters ones to really look back on.
EXPERTISE: Peter Harding (centre) in a familiar pose: happily sharing his vast knowledge of ephemera and the printed word with club members.
VERSATILE: Whether it was running a market day stall or serving on the executive, the contributions of Kim Johnson have been immense. So who will replace them? Will long-serving members step forward? Will newer members come up? The annual general meeting will tell. Irrespective of the outcome, new members are needed to build a membership base to ensure the GBACC continues to thrive. The Drysdale festival of Glass showed that a few enthusiastic club members can generate fantastic interest for a club.
I have never been to such a hectic, busy event. Our display certainly generated huge interest and people were wanting to know if they could retire on the proceeds from their boxes of bottles at home. Hopefully lots of those interested collectors will visit and some of those new visitors convert into members. Our monthly meetings still turn up great items, don’t they?
The format of a brief businesss meeting leading onto our showand-tell talks and chats over a cuppa seem to be the format we all want. Don’t forget we are always looking for guest speakers. See you all next month at the Historical Records Centre. David Smith President
Stunning Festival of Glass
GLASS ACT: Club president Dave Smith (lower right corner) talks with a keen visitor to the Festival of Glass.
A
venture into the unknown has turned into an overwhelming success for the organisers of Drysdale’s inaugural Festival of Glass. The festival was devised to “bring together the artists who work and use glass, the commercial and building industry who design and build with glass, the cultural and heritage of local glass and the innovations of glass for the future”. The public response was overwhelming. Eager visitors flocked in their hundreds to the Potato Shed on Sunday, 20 February to be met by a glittering array of crafts, leadlight displays, arts pieces and demonstrations – almost 30 exhibitors in all. And there, sitting nicely inside the front door to the main show room, was the Geelong Bottle & Collectables Club. The prime site ensured an avalanche of keen festival goers eager to learn more about the region’s bottled history, or reminisce about the types of bottles and companies they remembered from their childhood. The show stopper was David’s ultra rare eight-sided Clifton Springs maugham, but it was no less striking than Tracey’s cabinet of uranium glass or Noel’s bizarrely shaped and gorgeously
coloured glass insulators. Adding to the informative displays were Kim’s display boards from the 2010 show and a computer slideshow. The free copies of the club newsletter were gone before the show finished at 5pm and plenty of fliers about the club were handed out too. It would not be surprising if some
new members joined as a result of the festival; as a public relations exercise for the club, it could not be faulted. And some interesting nuggets of information came to light: One woman told David she thought all Clifton Springs bottles were pointy enders because of the many broken ones she
remembered being exposed in the cliff face by one of the many landslips at The Dell. She knows the site attracted diggers; one wonders how many whole examples found their way into collections and how many more lay waiting to be found. The sight of a full Corio Whisky bottle prompted a memory in
EDUCATIONAL: Tracey Elso explaining some of the finer points of collecting glass.
anything but half-empty another visitor. Her father worked for the Corio Distillery and at home she has a collection of five different size Corio Whisky bottles – ALL FULL. She left with the club’s contact details and an assurance that even a photo of the group would create tremendous interest in the bottle collecting community. So where to from here? The success of this month’s festival would surely indicate the potential for at least another one in 2012. And given that the variety of Geelong bottles displayed was only a small fraction of those
produced, interest in the club’s ongoing participation would seem to be high. But there are improvements that could be made. The room where the club’s display was, while the biggest in the venue, was a purpose-built theatre room and not conducive to natural light. It did help show off Tracey’s uranium glass but some thought should be given to buying/building a light box for backlighting bottles. It would help make what was already a highly educational display into a real show stopper. – CAM WARD
ON SONG: Noel Dawson talks piano insulators.
EYE-CATCHING: Tracey’s dazzling display of uranium glass was a real crowd-pleaser, judging by the reaction of this festival goer (below right).
LONG OVERDUE: Dave’s prIzed eight-sided maugham made a homecoming of sorts at Drysdale, just up the road from the town it was originally produced for.
minutes October monthly meeting October 25, 2010 Meeting opened: 8 pm Apologies Bruce & Elsie, Peter Harding, Anne & Darryl Phillips, Tracey Elso, Pam Bauer. Moved: Tony P Seconded: Jan Pocock Minutes of previous meeting: Moved: Ron Pocock Seconded: Joe Votava Business arising from minutes: Honour board circulated New old old members now financial Correspondence: Gippsland ABCC newsletter Mornington Peninsula AB&CC newsletter The Mill Daylesford invitation to visit centre Treasurer’s report: Term Deposit $ 2585 Cheque Acct $4247 Cash Tin $108 Tea Tin $0 Swap & Sell Tin $0 Moved: Kim Johnson Seconded: Chris S General business: Xmas breakup – 22 November. Donations for hamper and raffle to start Coin toss night – to be organised BYO supper 2010 Show: Geelong show report read out. Great success expressed Post-show committee 16 November Bid for 2012 State Show in Oct – same time. Meeting closed: 8.50pm Latest finds 1st
Ern Taylor
Drill No50 Patent 1889
2nd
Tony Parsons
Nash Patent Chas Cole & GAW Codds
=3rd : Dave Milk Bottles Kim J Horse Tins Joe & Dot V Rope Sign
latest finds November Jan and Ron
Burroughs Machine (circa 1920s-1930s) Disney rabbit egg cup
SECOND
Dave Rosella chutneys Tony
One Trippa/ginger beers/ceramic labels
Peter Embassy pieces Souvenir of Ryrie Street Solomons Book Do you remember? 1964 Ford Falcon manuals Geelong tourist booklet (circa 1960s) 1938 Geelong Centenary booklet Silver jubilee newspapers Mystery object Amber and Holly
Swap cards
Amber
Signed Megan Jones socks
Ross
Geelong RAC directory
Kim Bushell’s catalogue =THIRD Davis Gelatine horse tin Gramophone needles Craig
Assorted Warrnambool bottles
Noel
Pre-1900 wire strainer
Dot and Joe McPhillamy Brothers =THIRD The Encore whiskey jug Bob 1939 Tilley Searchlight FIRST
SIZE MATTERS: It’s a fair bet there haven’t been too many smaller Geelong-branded bottles made. They are embossed W.E. PARDEY & CO CHEMISTS GEELONG (left) and DICKSON’S PHARMACY GEELONG and were among January’s finds.
minutes November monthly meeting November 22, 2010 Meeting opened: 8pm Apologies: Alan Snowdon Moved: Craig Finegan Seconded: Peter Harding Minutes of Previous Meeting: Moved: Kim Johnson Seconded: Joe Votava Business Arising from Minutes: Honour Board – Finished and on display to be put up tonight Correspondence: Card – thank you card from Barry & Jennifer Sydenham GABCC Newsletter Treasurers’ Report: Term Deposit $2585 Cash Tin $ Tea Tin $120 Swap & Sell Tin $ Moved: Kim J Seconded: Peter H
General Business: Show cost: $5400 Return: $7600 Profit: $2200 Peter – Geelong photo in frame for sale People’s Choice – Winner wants newsletter & details to join the club – they won a years’ membership when won the lucky draw. Geelong Business News: Article on Geelong Centenary Camperdown/Timboon Rail Trail: Dave went to rail trail day with trains – was very interesting and they have a lot of history down there. Next years’ calendar: Feb 20 – Festival of Glass Feb 28 – AGM – brought forward to accommodate another function Mar 28 – Gen Meeting – Geelong Heritage Centre with guest speaker April 2 – Club bus trip to Bendigo National Show April 17 – World Heritage Day April 25 – Easter Monday – general meeting Bendigo bus trip: Club bus trip to National Bottle Show, inc antique shops, etc. Driver please. Yellow Pages/Geelong Info: Club listing to be organized Belmont Library display: Offer of free club display to promote club Bendigo car boot sale – Water logged – few good bargains to be found amongst the rain drops. Lancaster auction: Record prices for the bottles and collectables at Graham Lancaster’s latest auction. Meeting closed: 8.30 pm
latest finds January
David
US cigar jar
Alan
1949 Vickers Gin calendar (featuring Carbine)
FIRST
Noel Wire strainer Tony
W. Morrison chemist bottle 12 small ceramic labels
Barry Blowtorch and raisin seeder SECOND Colin Axes and military items THIRD Assorted bottles Magnifier Jan and Ron Corio Whisky jugs Laurel kerosene bottle Minnie Mouse tin Lady and the Tramp plates ABC Cafe (Geelong) platter
HORSE POWER: This 1949 calendar featuring 1890 Melbourne Cup winner Carbine came home a winner for Alan Snowdon in January’s latest finds.
CLASSIFIEDS
WANTED TO BUY
WANTED TO BUY
Anything to do with Jim Beam, Coca Cola, ceramic Garfields and Ned Kelly. Collectables collector. Phone Len Ellmer on 5224 1469.
Pre-1956 telephone directories. Geelong & District or Melbourne Phone Cam on 0430 369 146.
Royal Doulton whisky flasks Kingsware/Old electric jugs Blowtorches, clean or dirty and any spares. Phone JIM HUNTER on 5127 6420. Member of the Gippsland club. SINGER SEWING MACHINES Anything to do with Singer. Phone Bruce or Elsie on 5275 5450. Matchboxes, labels, vesta boxes, match grips and Meakin china. Phone 5276 1267. Geelong street guides and business directories. Phone 5266 1126. Any Scouting memorabilia. Phone Shane on 5229 6469. Milk glass Vegemite/Marmite jars. Also screw top metal lids, any size. Phone Bruce on 0408 527 741.
Victa logo plate For original model Phone Alan on 5255 4773 or 0403 160 336. Aussie fruit/preserving/jam jars Geelong bottles Ceramic label milks and soft drinks David 0419 434 306/5243 4306
FOR SALE National Geographic magazines 1920s-2000s. Classic stories, great ads. $1 per issue Phone Cam on 0430 369 146. Auction catalogues – Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Leonard Joel. Decorative arts, collectables, furniture, jewellery, etc. Glossy, full colour, great for reference. Were $2, now $1 each. Discounts for bulk purchases Phone Cam on 0430 369 146.
Geelong Bottle and Collectables Club Inc. The club meets on the fourth Monday of each month (excluding December) at the Belmont Park Pavilion, Barrabool Road, under the James Harrison Bridge. Club postal address: Geelong Bottle and Collectables Club Inc. Box 5049 North Geelong LPO 3215