Glenn Poch's Bottle Collecting Newsletter 3

V1 #3April, 1995

Greeting fellow glass enthusists,

don't forget to post messages on alt.ccds on the usenet, a great way to
get current quick information!

Two Magazines you might want to subscribe to if you enjoy bottle collecting:
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Top Magazine for American Bottles:
Antique Bottle and Glass Collector
Box 180                           (published by James Hagenbaugh
East Greencille, PA 18041           auctioner - Glassworks Auctions)
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International Magazine (I have not reviewed)

Canadian Bottle & Stoneware Collector
by Phil Culhane.
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Damage to Bottles (what can be done?, what are they worth?)

Sometimes a person will have a once in a lifetime find at a flea market
or garage sale, there sitting on the table is a early 1800's cobalt flask
with the price tag under $15-, after your blood pressure calms down you
pick it up knowing this thing has got to be worth $5,000+, unfortunatly
you find a 3" crack on the bottom extending around the corner upward!
Now what is your great find worth, technically its the same bottle and
still a great piece from the early 19th C. but you become disheartend
because now instead of cashing a check at the bank for $5000 you will be
lucky to get $300 and most likely $100 from some novice collector. 
Suppose you pick up the bottle and find that it has a 1/2" lip chip and
some base knicking, I would be upset but still take it in a instant, the
value has gone down from $5000 to about $2000-$2700.  This illustrates
the difference between cracks and chips.  Cracks can't be repaired and
they may continue because of temp,handling, and because they want to, I
have heard of and seen examples of bottles with cracks being "repaired"
this process requires that crack to be opened with a thin razor or needle
and injecting a resin-based material into the crack and baking it at a
low temp.  Now I wonder how many bottles break during this process? and
even after the bottle is fixed, its possible to tell the damage and who
can say that the crack won't continue.  Chips can be filled and made to
look pretty good, I myself do this work for people I know and my own
collection, most of the time you can still tell where the damage is but
it wont continue chipping.  Stoneware is particularly easy and good to
fix the repair is almost invisible and if you buy these pieces at good
prices for your own collection you can't go wrong.  By the way still buy
the cobalt flask, at that price you won't see another! Last summer I
purchased a flask with rigatee (added glass decoration) and a handle
attached right to the broadside of the swirled flask, the handle and
rigatee caused 3 cracks 1-1 1/2" where the added hot glass wasn't cooled
enough.  I purchased the bottle for $75 at a antique shop (the lady
picked the flask up by the handle when packing it) it sold in auction for
$400-, so even in cracks there can be some value, these cracks were in
the making so its worth a fraction more, if its going to be cracked the
in the making kind is the best, bumped or droped items arn't too good.

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Had a warning about Diamond ink labels showing up on bottles that are not
the orginal ink bottles, take caution when buying labeled only bottles -
look at the label does it look to new?, is there glue around the label
that looks fairly new?, does the bottle have any other markings on it
that would attribute it to another company (i.e. Carter's on base).  The
ethics of putting old or new labels on old bottles is very questionable
at best! be on the look out.

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FRUIT JAR COLLECTORS -------------------- Know a person who is about ready
to release a new fruit jar book (hardback), he is an expert on this field
(American and International), the book promises to be high quality, and is
much more accurite then Red Book with rarity and prices, Akuce Creswick
who put together the Red Book based many of her prices on items she never
saw but only heard about or had seen pictures of.  The publisher of this
new book is Jerry McCann, I only found out about this last week when
taking a bottle club bus trip to Louisville, KY!  anyone interstead in
more info let me know, and I'll try to find his address & telephone # for
you.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Cleaning Bottles
----------------
I'm sure many of you have bottles that need to be cleaned.  If there is
only dirt and debris in the bottle just wash it out with warm water and
if you need to get abraision use rice, copper bb shot, or sand (swish the
water around inside).  If there is very light hazing in the bottle that
won't clean-up try Muriatic Acid, let the bottle sit in a full strength
solution for several days - this won't hurt the bottle.  A stronger
solution is Wink (rust remover) I would dillute this a little and don't
leave on over 20 min.  Lime Away is good for removing white calcium
deposits and other minerals.  For a hazed bottle the only solution is to
have it proffesionaly cleaned or if you have a cleaner yourself.  The
cleaner consists of a tumbling device that holds the bottle in the center
(horizontally) copper shot (cut copper wire) is poured into the cylinder
along with the bottle half full, a soultion of water and aluminum oxide
or tin-oxide extremely fine (used for glass polish) is used, the bottle
is run 3-5 days and the cylinder is turned once halfway.  Machines like
this can be ordered through the first magazine I mentioned and found a
many bottle shows (cost $300-500), its a messy time consuming event to
clean yourself but sometimes you get superb results, I figure the
breakage percentage to be around 5% (including minor damage) - so you
take a risk but it can really improve your bottle.  Proffesional cleaners
charge $15-20 a bottle (let me know if you need names of cleaners).

ADS
___

Looking for ink bottles and advertising - Ed at CLOVERHILL@Gems.VCU.EDU

As always I'm looking for quality bottles --pochg@phk.nslsilus.org
Send me your want lists - maybe I have some or can get them for you!

Happy Collecting