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The iPunty Rod Internet Newsletter Of The Little Rhody Bottle Club February 2000 This page is updated around the 1st week of every month The next meeting of the LRBC will be held on February 8th at 7:30 p.m. The program will be "Souvenir China" with a presentation by Bob Lanpher. Club News January Meeting About 14 people attended the January meeting which was held only two days after the show. The regular meeting room was being used for Warwick primary elections, so the club met in the main part of the library. Art Whitford and his wife attended and brought several bottles that aren't in Antique Bottles of Rhode Island. Pam wrote all of them down and will pass along the information for inclusion in a future revision. One of the bottles was an early crown top soda embossed FOSTER & GILSON / JOHNSTON, R.I. and another was an ALBERT H. SYDNEY CO. / PROVIDENCE, R.I. They also had several unlisted variants of listed bottles and these will also be added to the book.   The discussion turned to the show which was held only two days before and president Steve Bergquist claimed 2000 was another great year although there weren't as many people (314) as last year (500+). There were a few people who managed to slip past the pit bulls at the door without paying but this can happen anywhere. Pam said she thought that 300 out of the 314 attendees came with money to burn and they couldn't spend it fast enough.   The show opened at 10:00 am and it was elbow to elbow until noon. Every dealer asked said they had the best Little Rhody show ever for sales. Art Pawlowski broke two of his own records, one for the most expensive bottle he had ever sold at a show and the other for the highest intake from sales at any show. Steve said everyone he talked to said the same thing.... sales were great!!! Steve sold off all of his milks (about 20) as soon as the show opened. Dave Andrews sold only 11 bottles but took in almost $500. Another dealer left the show with $700+ and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. Maybe all of the attendees got money for Christmas or maybe they had hoarded some in fear of the dreaded Y2K computer scare which never materialized. Whatever it was, they spent their funds at our show and that's just fine with us! Anyone want to start a rumor about a Y2K+1 problem for next year?   There were no problems with getting the hall opened up as has been in past years. The hall is being managed by a new group of volunteers from the K of C and the person in charge, a Mr. Joubert, assured Steve and Eric that there will be food available next year, that the kitchen will be open for business. This has been an ongoing problem with the hall and K of C so we'll wait and see if anything is really done for the 2001 show. Pam said this is the only show she's ever attended that didn't serve some kind of food and beverages. Food and coffee make people stay around longer and this could be a good thing, or not. Regardless, there has been a total lack of communication in the past years within the K of C ranks but Mr. Joubert assures us that is going to change. We shall see.... Because there was no food available, Pam went around to all of the dealers just before noon and took orders for subs from DeAngelo's. She was a lifesaver as some of us didn't bring our own refreshments. Many thanks to you, Pam.   A couple of guys from Delaware attended the show and brought some great digging stories with them. Pam said that after a couple of these stories she had to ask them to to step away from her table as she was having digging withdrawal symptoms listening to them! They totally understood how she felt and moved on but not before purchasing a neat little bubbly freeblown, pontilled, crooked neck apothecary or utility. It didn't even stand up straight and looked like the Leaning Tower Of Pisa.   A few people made the comment that they thought the show was held earlier than usual this year. Steve said no, that it has been held on the second Sunday of January for the past five years or so and it just happened that the first Sunday was the 2nd and the second Sunday was the 9th. The show was always held on the third Sunday of January but sometime in recent years the date was moved up a week. Next year's show will be held on the 14th and this is somewhat better than this year. Some people feel that the show shouldn't be held too soon after the holidays.   The club sold three of our RI bottle books and three shirts done up by Art and Pam. Stanley Sorrentino took pictures throughout the show and asked Art to write an article on the show for the Bottle Magazine (I believe Antique Bottle & Glass Collector). Pam got the pictures back and said she hopes for a blizzard so she and Art will have to stay home and have some time to write the article.   There was a lot of interest from people wanting to join the club. Unfortunately, some were interested until they found out we meet in Warwick. Most of these people were from SE Massachusetts and felt the drive down to the library might be a little too far. Pam suggests a Little Rhody Bottle Club North and South?   New Members The club signed up three new members at the show. One is Fred Swiechowitz from Randolph, MA. Fred is a former club member who decided to rejoin us. Welcome back, Fred. Another new member is Mike Hewins who hails from East Bridgewater, MA. Mike can regularly be found at several shows in the NE and is a veteran at our show. And last but not least is Angelo Aiello from Johnston, RI. Not too far from Warwick, Angelo. See you at a few meetings we hope? Welcome to all of you.   Membership Dues Dues were due in January. If you haven't paid yours yet, please send it to Steve Bergquist, 83 Forest Ave., Cranston, RI 02910 or come to the February meeting and pay up there. If you don't renew your membership by March, you will be dropped from our roster so PLEASE do it now! We need you!   2000 LRBC Show Report by Dave Andrews We can blame it on the flu or the Hartford paper show, but no matter what excuse we can come up with the attendance at this years show no where near matched last year's. Steve did an excellent job of promotion with ads running in AB&GC magazine and on Cox Cable's public access channel 18. Even the Providence Journal did a piece on the show the day before but the crowd of last year still didn't materialize.   Not that the attendance was poor by any means, we still had what has become the normal gate for our show. The final count in paid attendance was 314. Not too shabby for a little show. It should be kept in mind, however, that attendance was below what was expected and there appears to be good reason. The night before the show Eric received 10 dealer cancellations due to illness. I can attest to the severity of the illness which we'll call "the flu". I had had it the week before the show and it kept me in bed with high fevers for three days and I still wasn't feeling great the day of the show. If you figure 9 out of the 43 dealers canceled, that's about 20% we lost. Now apply that same logic to the attendance figure and you can see that if all was well with the world we probably would have had another 75 or more people through the door. I really think we did pretty well considering.   The dealers I spoke with were very pleased with the day. The people who did show up came to buy and it was evident in the dealers' wallets. I won't mention names but the dealer set up next to me did phenomenally selling lower priced bottles. He made me a little jealous. Not that I have anything to complain about. I think I did very well, selling only 11 bottles and jars but most of those I sold were in the mid-priced range and for once I went home with a fat billfold. This may sound great but I was a little disappointed in that I didn't buy much.   There just weren't many good RI bottles. There were some nice Dr. Flint's Quaker Bitters bottles which were priced right but I already had these. Several Rumford bottles showed up but they were common ones. There weren't even many blown blob or crown sodas this year. All in all a disappointment in the buying end. But the wife was happy with the size of my billfold so I guess that's a good thing.   I did manage to acquire three RI bottles, one which I hadn't seen before. The first is a label only RI whiskey flask, blown in mold, smooth lip with a screw cap, and it's tiny. (I'll be putting this on the "New Finds" page shortly.) The label covers the front and says DODGE & CAMFIELD / OLD RYE WHISKEY / 56-59 / EXCHANGE PLACE / PROVIDENCE, R.I. The bottle stands 3 5/8" high, is oval, and has a footed base. The label is 95% intact and very readable.   Another bottle which I have been seeking, and finally have added to my collection, is a P. FAERBER / picture of a stone mill / NEWPORT, R.I. This clear, blown crown top is pretty scarce. The regular P. Faerber bottles are easily found but the mill example is tough. And to make matters worse (or better depending on how you look at it) the example I got is not the one listed in the RI bottle book. While the bottle is a clear, blown crown top, this new find is 9" tall compared to the listed 8" example. And the placement of the embossing is different with the picture of the mill between P. Faerber and Newport, RI. This new example also has Registered on the shoulder. The previously reported example didn't. I did better than I thought. Cool.   An elderly couple came to my table carrying a RI bottle they had picked out of the dirt in the lot next to their home. It's a large size, 8 1/4" tall, JOHN F. OATES / APOTHECARY / bundle of wheat / 320 BROAD ST. / PROVIDENCE, R.I. Having come from the ground it isn't in great shape but it is in an unlisted rectangular shape and looks to be cleanable - some stain but no chips, nicks, or cracks. The couple walked away with a couple of bucks and I got a new addition.   Now I know I just said there wasn't anything in the way of good RI bottles to show up but there were three other items worth mentioning. The first was a finger jointed wooden box for Flint's Quaker Bitters which was in great condition. I had looked at this before the show opened and was going to buy it but got called away and forgot about it. About an hour after the show opened, here comes Charlie Blanchette and his wife Lynn is carrying the box. Of course I couldn't let it go and I proceeded to harass them saying they had stolen my box, I was going to buy it, some friends they were. All kidding aside, I didn't know where I would have put the box if I did buy it and Lynn said the same thing. She told Charlie he could buy it if he had a place to put it and I guess he did. I'm glad one of the club's RI bottle collectors got this one. It's a great go-with.   Another item I will mention was an amber half gallon Mason's Improved fruit jar with a label for Little Rhody Cut Plug Chewing Tobacco. I believe it was put out by a Geo. Young, Providence but I could be wrong as I didn't write anything down. I got excited about this until I saw the $350.00 price tag. Now, the jar alone is worth $150-200 in the Red Book of Fruit Jars #8 but I don't feel the label adds another $150 to the price. Besides, the label was very dark and difficult to read. It was still an interesting piece, though. I told the dealer who had it that I wished it were a plain old clear jar, that way the price would have been more attractive to me as I was interested in it because of the label, not the amber jar.   The final item I will mention is one a fellow dealer came over and showed me in the afternoon. It was a machine made, cork lip, wine or whiskey type bottle with more embossing on it than any other RI bottle I've ever seen. This was a specially made bottle for the retirement of one of the employees of the Star City Glass Company which was located on Rte. 117 in Coventry. The plant has been closed for years after a fire in the furnace room damaged much of the building. The company moved to NJ shortly after the fire and I don't know if it's still in operation there. This particular bottle had all of the employees' names on it as well as their positions of employment at the plant. It was a great novelty but a little pricey. The dealer wanted $100 cash or a trade for a "good" medicine. To me the bottle was worth around $25-35 just because of where it was from and another RI collector I talked to agrees.   Overall I think everyone had a good time. Steve has booked us for next year already and made the K of C put it in the contract that they will open the kitchen and supply us with some food. Charlie has been supplying sandwiches for the past few years but this year he didn't set up and we were without nourishment. Pam went around to all of the dealers about noon time and took orders for DeAngelo's. Thank you Pam. You're a lifesaver!   Mark your calendar! The date for next year is JANUARY 14, 2001. See you there!! Upcoming Events February 27 - Enfield, CT Somers ABC 30th Annual Bottle Show & Sale 9 am - 3 PM (Early buyers 8 am) St. Bernard School West, Pearl St., Enfield, CT. Exit 47W from I-91 Info: Rose Sokol, 860-745-7688   March 26 - Holyoke, MA Yankee Pole Cat Insulator Club's Annual Antique Insulator, Bottle, & Tabletop Collectible Show & Sale 9 am - 3 PM Holiday Inn, I-91 Exit 15, Holyoke, MA. Info: Kevin Lawless, 518-355-5688 or email: kflbostons@aol.com Classified Ads Wanted: RI Bottles of all types. I am looking for ALL bottles from RI, common and rare, clear and aqua, colored, medicines, sodas, anything. Special interest in Rumford bottles and go-withs. Contact Dave at 401-942-6634 or on the web at: oaklawn@earthlink.net Do you have RI bottles which are not listed in Antique Bottles Of Rhode Island? Or maybe you have a bottle in a color or size that is not listed in the book? If so, please send the information to me for inclusion in a future revision of the LRBC's bottle book. Proper credit will be given and all information is greatly appreciated. Send by email to: oaklawn@earthlink.net Toy Marbles. Will pay cash. Please call Jerry Biern at 401-826-3933 Bitters, Pepper Sauce, and Demi Johns always wanted. Call Jan Boyer at 401-539-2051 1/2 gallon spring water bottles with arched slugplates. I have 5, would like more! Call Art at 508-399-6427 The following people are not bottle collectors but are looking for milk bottles from their family's dairy. Sam Terzian / Pleasant View Dairy / Whitman, MA. Cal Alice Tavitian at 781-447-5141 Lodi Dairy / Plymouth, MA. Cal Winthrop Pachard at 617-447-3966 Homestead Dairy / Erbeck / W. Bridgewater, MA. Call Dick Cogswell at 508-586-6272 Morton Dairy / Foxboro, MA. Call Laurie Morris at 508-697-0392 Ritchie Dairy / Virginia. Call Sue Worden at 413-697-5492 Please direct comments or corrections to: dandrews@littlerhodybottleclub.com Back To Top