In from FOHBC member Greg Dean from Down Under…

Hi Ferdinand,

Hope all  is well with you stateside. Thought I’d share a few images for the Federation Web from one of the bigger bottle shows in Australia staged last weekend. Caloundra is located in south-eastern Queensland which geographically is near  the lower end of “The Great Barrier Reef”. It’s a lot like Florida and folks here do love to come and look at a show. The show content is little different here with a high number of displays. There was 1,200 feet of swap and sell with a large concentration of antiques and  collectables dealers. All up, almost 3,100 people came through the doors and the hosting club were able to donate $5,000 to be resident helicopter rescue charity.

I took over 100 photos of the event and selected a group that may be of interest to those in the US. I’ll let you judge. There are a couple of lid displays that would be good for the pot lid section.

Best regards,

Greg Dean

Forgot to mention that the 2013 Australian National will be hosted by this club and venue. This particular bottle club is pretty innovative. It’s the second time I’ve seen here a club rent an ATM to help support the vast number of folks paying for swap and sell. These aren’t expensive for two days and definitely made a difference! Not sure how many times they filled it up however on day one it dispensed north of 30 K. I use to attend Baltimore quite regularly and wished there was one of these there. Anyway just an obscurity.

This show wears me out and this year took the cake. When we finally returned to Houston we were tired, spent and exhausted. It was a good feeling though, the kind of satisfaction you get from working outside all day, or visiting New York City or spending Christmas with the kids and family.

Read the rest in the May | June 2012 issue of Bottles and Extras which is available to all FOHBC Members. Become a member and get Bottles and Extras.

Adam Koch always giving away free bottle information

Dazzling group of Bitters and Inks displayed on glass shelves

Examples from The Saxe Collection | upcoming Glass International Auction

Large Demijohn proudly sits for all to admire

Lots of great bottles lined up in tiers for sale

Three killer Drakes Plantation Bitters on the Jeff Burkhardt sales table

Gorgeous Flasks with a Suffolk Bitters pig at the Ed & Kathy Gray table

Ed & Kathy Gray - GreatAntiqueBottles.com

One of my favorites at the Ed & Kathy Gray sales table

Bottles tagged for sale

Nice line-up of Cathedral Pickle Bottles

Indian keeping watch over a sales table

Glass Insulators

Jason Heckler and Mark Vuono at the Norman C. Heckler Tables.

Ferdinand Meyer table display (spool cabinet) with inks and Figurals

More glass and stoneware variety

Jim Scharnagel from Gainesville, Georgia - lull before the storm

Post of the President’s Message from the May | June 2012 Issue of Bottles and Extras.

]]> http://www.fohbc.org/2012/05/from-the-fohbc-board-president-gene-bradberry/feed/ 0 http://www.fohbc.org/2012/04/glass-fishing-floats/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=glass-fishing-floats http://www.fohbc.org/2012/04/glass-fishing-floats/#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:53:44 +0000 Webmaster http://www.fohbc.org/?p=4287 I have to say, I feel a little remiss when I have written and referenced vintage Glass Paperweights, Lightning Rod Balls, Target Balls, Marbles, Fire Grenades, Witch Balls, Fly Traps and Christmas Ornaments and have ignored the float subject. The common denominator of course, is the geometric ‘circle’, as all of these collecting objects are primarily round.

[As reprinted from Peachridge Glass | Ferdinand Meyer V]

I am aware of glass fishing floats but I could not tell you much about them, hence this post. I am a glass lover so this is just another dimension to this great hobby. I wonder if there are any Bottle Collectors that collect Glass Floats? Let me know.

A Little History about Glass Fishing Floats

[from Glass Float Junkie] The use of the first glass fishing floats can be traced as far back as 1840. The Norwegians used a small egg-sized float onwhich they tied a fishing line and a hook. As the use of nets increased, Norway went on to produce other sizes of floats since glass was an economical method of supporting the nets and offered plenty of buoyancy. Many European countries soon began using glass floats. Trademarks or embossing began appearing on the floats to identify the users and manufacturers of the floats.

Most floats are shades of green because the glass used was primarily recycled sake bottles

Around 1910, far eastern countries, primarily Japan began manufacturing and using glass floats, hence their most popular name; Japanese Glass Fishing Floats. To accommodate different fishing styles and nets, the Japanese experimented with many different shapes of floats, from as small as 2 inches in diameter to the gigantic size of 20 inches in diameter. Most floats are shades of green because the glass used was primarily recycled sake (wine) bottles, but clear, amber, aquamarine, amethyst, blue and other colors were also produced. The most prized and rare color being a red, or cranberry hue. These were expensive to make because gold was used to produce the color. Other brilliant jewel tones such as emerald green, cobalt blue, purple, yellow and orange were primarily made in the 1920´s-30´s. The majority of the colored floats you will find for sale today are replicas.

The most prized and rare color being a red, or cranberry hue. These were expensive to make because gold was used to produce the color

Cork and aluminum floats appeared around 1920. These soon began to replace glass floats since they were more durable and could provide holes or eye features that made net attachment easier and more reliable. As manufacturing techniques improved, plastic floats soon followed. Unfortunately for net fisherman, glass floats would often escape their nets. Today, millions of glass floats are probably still floating in the world’s oceans.  When tide and weather conditions are just right, you can find glass floats that wash up on the beaches of Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Sometimes, several may arrive together in the same location. Often, these floats roll safely onto shore or may be tangled in seaweed or other flotsam. Sadly, they also can be shattered if the float should land on a rocky coastline. During stormy periods they can be thrust hundreds of feet onshore and will remain there until some lucky hunter should find it.

Today, millions of glass floats are probably still floating in the world’s oceans

I’ve put together a collage of pictures that I found online…

Vintage Fishing Float Japanese Molded Glass

Japanese Fishing Trawler - Note the glass floats across the top of the boat.

Vintage Glass Fishing Float - 13 Inch Netted with Taiwanese Marks

Floats in an old wire basket - photo For the Love of a House

Vintage Fishing Float Glass, 6 Inch Plus Collectible - BIG Beer Bottle - NW Glass Co

Glass Fishing Floats - Painted Thread

Vintage Glass Fishing Float - Sea Foam Frosted

Rare Antique Vintage Japanese KAWAGUCHI Marked Glass Fishing Float with Netting - eBay

Vintage Glass Fishing Float - Finally Spring, 3 PC

Kamichia used to live in Alaska (she now lives on the Oregon coast) and would take plane trips to remote beaches and find the likes of this....Photo by Glass Float Junkie

Glass Fishing Float Vintage Japanese

Japanese Glass Fishing Floats found on Aleutian Islands

Glass Fishing Floats Vintage Collectible

A Collection of baseball-size floats still in their nets. Vintage Biltmore Hotel Silver tray.

Autumn's Gaze' are a lovely pair of hand blown, vintage Japanese fishing floats

Fishing Floats on a Dining Room Table - photo For the Love of a House

Here's an unusually striking beauty, bringing together a light powder blue net with the stunning deep emerald green seal 'button'

Antique Japanese glass fishing floats/buoys via Froulala.com

hand blown Japanese collectible measures 3-7/16" diameter or 10-7/16" in circumference.

Wire basket holding a collection of colorful Japanese glass fishing floats

[Reprinted from Peachridge Glass]

I have not written or posted about Occupational Shaving Mugs before though I have to admit, each time that Glass Works Auctions comes around with a new auction, I look at the vintage mugs hoping that a Ferdinand Meyer or Ferdinand Meyer II or Ferdinand Meyer III might show up from some Baltimore source. Dana Charlton-Zarro recently asked the question at Bottles Collectors on facebook “Does anyone have a bottle with their name on it?”

This reminded me of my search that probably never will yield the mug I’m looking for, but none-the-less, it is something fun to look at and search for. Looking online, I see the follow decrription:

Occupational Shaving Mugs are at the top of the list when it comes to barbershop collectibles. At the beginning of 1870’s most men owned a shaving mug at home or at his barbershop. The patrons thought it would aid in reducing the rashes caught from the barber but actually it was the unsanitary razors that caused the rashes. Shaving mugs also were a status symbol for barbers and customers as well. The amount of mugs a barber had on display would represent his clientele base.

From 1870 to 1920 millions of shaving mugs were produced making them fairly available today. On any day one can connect to eBay and find hundreds of shaving mugs to bid on. Antique shaving mugs range from tens to thousands of dollars depending on how rare the occupation was the more expensive the shaving mug.
 Hand Painted occupational shaving mugs are excellent examples of American folk art. Blank mugs were shipped from Germany and France to the US to be painted. Of course all mugs are not created equal. There are personalized mugs with mild detail and those with serious artistry including gold leaf trimming and ceramic glazes then a few sessions in a gas kiln. Collectors simply call it “Eye Appeal.”

Distinctions In Collectible Shaving Mugs is between the mugs used at home and those used in barbershops. Shaving mugs used at home had more appeal, style, shape and artistic expression. They were also the least expensive and could be found in almost any home and purchased from a local catalog.
 In 1932 Katherine Morrison Kahle wrote a article on old time shaving mugs which was published in Magazine Antiques and they have been popular collectible ever since. By 1949 writer/collector Porter Ware had collected more than 500 different mugs and wrote a book on shaving mugs.

Actor Broderick Crawford and his Shaving Mug Collection

Read More: Collectible Shaving Mugs

Read More: The Shaving Mug

Rad More: Antique Helper

Good Morning:

There are few LRBS (Lightning Rod Balls) on my want list, but high-up on that list is the extremely rare BURGOON. I have the cobalt but the amber and SCA (Sun Colored Amthysist) have eluded me…until yesterday that is.

Having found out (too late) that the recent LRB collection auction last November included an amber Burgoon, I was able to track-down the buyer. Long story, short, I was able to purchase it yesterday from that individual. I am ecstatic, despite the need to part with significant “Bitters bucks”. Whatever; this is like finding a figural Bitters, of which there are only a handful of examples known.

Attached are a few pics of my “two”…awaiting the arrival of their remaining SCA “brother”…hopefully, someday! The BURGOON is a wonderful piece of early architectural glass, having been installed on ornamental iron work, most likely circa. 1880-1890. The ironwork was not grounded, hence the Burgoon is technically not a lightning rod (ball)..but they fit right in. Considering their large 5″ size, glass character, dot & dash pattern, rarity and lightning-rod-ball form, what’s not to like!

Hope you enjoy the pics and sharing my joy in this find.

Regards,

JEFF (FROGGY) BURKHARDT

Read More: Lightning Rod Balls – A Few From Our Collection

Read More: LRB’s! – Sullivan Auctioneers – The Jim & Linda Baier Collection

Read More: More Lightning Rod Ball and Weathervane pictures from the Baier Collection

Warren Friedrich with some of his bitters bottles - Nevada City, California - 2009

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Warren Friedrich will be our guest speaker for the banquet at the FOHBC Reno Expo and will also be one of the two (2) 2012 FOHBC Hall of Fame inductees (see nomination below) at the event. We hope to see you for some good food, great company as well as an informative presentation on a brief history of the early glassworks of California from the first commercial bottle factory in 1859 to the demise of the largest factory in 1899.

Pam Selenak | FOHBC Public Relations Director

THE FEDERATION OF HISTORICAL BOTTLE COLLECTORS (FOHBC)

2012 HALL OF FAME Nomination - Warren Brock Friedrich

The Genesis of a Bottle Collector

It was with an unlikely beginning that Warren Friedrich started down the road toward bottle collecting. He was born in southern California in the autumn of 1954, the son of a World War II barn-stormer and his University of Southern California educated wife, who, together, flew crop-dusters over the salad bowl of California.

Seeking a better environment to raise their only child, they set their sights on Nevada City, a tiny rural community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and put down roots. And, this move would make all the difference in forming Warren into the history enthusiast he is today.

While his father immersed himself in establishing a tax preparation business with a commercial fishing enterprise after the tax season, his mother pressed into local politics, becoming the first woman to be elected to the town’s city council. Left to his own devises, Warren soon found that this quaint little town had much to offer in the way of treasure hunting. This lanky, long-legged boy began spending his days miles from home, often up to his waist in a midden dump, digging up shards of glass, miners’ tools and crucibles, and Indian beads. His boyhood bedroom soon resembled a Gold Rush curio shop.

Looking at this sleepy little tourist town today might fool you into passing right through. But, in the mid-1800s, Nevada City was the third largest city in California. The 7 hills surrounding the mining camp town rang with the clang of pick axes and shovels and cries of miners as they dug and sluiced and panned and blasted the hillsides with hydraulic monitors in search of gold. And a city grew around them, complete with 2 soda bottling works, saloons, brothels, churches, and a large Chinese population brought in to build roads through the steep mountains. And when the boom was over, they left behind their trash.

While his friends were spending hot summer afternoons in the cool darkness of the local movie theater, Warren was picking his way through dark tunnels of long-abandoned mines. Sometimes he managed to enlist friends to join him in his treasure hunts and one of those times was captured in a photograph taken when he was only 10 years old. Progress had come to the foothills and a freeway was being built right through Nevada City. Old buildings were demolished and historical sites fell to Progress as state workers pushed the road through the hills. In the wake of this upheaval, the town’s history began appearing as privies and trash dumps emerged from the wreckage. This 1965 photo shows a scrawny boy, gazing with intense concentration at the lucky find in his hand, while standing in the middle of what is now a 4-lane freeway. After the work crews left for the day, Warren and his friends would scramble through the day’s tractor work, finding bottles and jars and myriad miners’ junk which had been tossed with the trash. It was glorious pickings for a young bottle hound. While still in high school his interest was evident to his teachers and he was asked several times by the history teacher to bring his collection and talk to fellow students about local history. Even as a boy, Warren was garnering new enthusiasts to the collecting world.

As Warren grew up, his childhood hobby had to compete with a growing interest in cars and girls, and the inevitable reality of life, work. And, his boyhood collection sat dusty for a while as he moved to Sacramento to attend college. However, while pondering a major, his love of history lured him back and he chose Recreation and Park Administration as a course of study. This allowed him to study early California architecture and its restoration and gave him an excuse to ramble the hills again. It also trained him to do the kind of research he would need later in life when he embraced collecting in a more serious way. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation and Park Administration from the California State University, Sacramento, in 1976, with hopes of working in this field.

It wasn’t to be. He worked a number of jobs in various cities but city life was not satisfying so when his parents asked him to return to Nevada City to help with their growing business, he packed his bags and came home. For 17 years he helped his father both in the tax office in Nevada City and on their commercial fishing boat, the Carol B, named after Warren’s mother and based in Bodega Bay, California. After his father’s repose, Warren shouldered the business alone with the help of his wife, Linda, and together they worked hard to be able to retire with time to ramble through the hills together.

Collecting

During these years of hard work, Warren began collecting bottles in a more serious fashion. He amassed a modest collection of western bitters, focusing on condition and sheer numbers. It was during this time that he began traveling to shows and getting to know other collectors. In 1971, Warren joined the local bottle club, the Mother Lode Antique Bottle Club, and then the national club, then known as the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. In 1993 he co-founded the Downieville Antique Bottle Show, which remains today one of the best-attended shows by advanced collectors. He has been a contributing author as well as a co-author of bottle articles published in both Antique Bottles and Glass Collector magazine and the Federation-published Bottles and Extrasmagazine.

He has helped put on local shows and has had a keen interest in encouraging a younger generation to get active in the hobby. This continues to be a passion for him and he welcomes young diggers and collectors into his home and never begrudges a dinnertime phone call from them, sharing their enthusiasm as they excitedly ask questions about the history of some new find.

In terms of his own collecting, Warren found his interest being piqued by the fascinating shapes and tantalizing colors of bitters bottles. Enough so, that in 1994 he sold his entire bitters collection and began studying a specific group of early western bitters. It was the early California bitters which caught his eye. He was quite taken by the fanciful shapes and sometimes even more fanciful histories. It was a match made in heaven. His childhood treasure hunting in Gold Rush-era Nevada City, coupled with his educational degree involving early California history fueled the fire. He had found his niche.

Early Glassworks of California

Although the price tag on the first Lacour’s Bitters bottle he brought home made his wife’s knees buckle, she recovered and Warren pressed forward to learn more and bring more home. A passion to know the truth about the bottles is a consummate character of Warren’s. He is driven to know everything he can about a bottle and its manufacture. And, he is tireless in researching until he’s satisfied that there is no more to be learned. It was this keen desire to know about the bottles in his growing collection that led to the writing of his book, Early Glassworks of California, published in 2010, with revisions in 2011.

It’s important to understand his choice of focus for the book. While seeking information about his own bottles, Warren found that some bottle books, in an effort to help as many diverse collectors as possible, covered such a broad field that sometimes conjecture was offered as fact. Warren realized that you can’t be all things to all people and that he would have to narrow his focus to those bottles about which he could find primary source information. He strove to write only supportable information and include not only footnotes but scans of actual ads and articles. This allows the reader to see what he saw as he did his research from the comfort of their home. He doggedly edited the book, scouring out anything he felt was not supported by documents. Surprisingly, this doesn’t make for a boring read; actually, as one follows the men who came West and made their living building factories, hauling sand, concocting recipes, blowing bottles, going broke… and all on the wild Barberry Coast, you find yourself back in time.

So, Warren began his hunt in 2007 with the books on his own bookshelves, books written by pioneers in the hobby. He discovered that technology has enabled access to resources only dreamed of by these writers. While earlier writers often had to travel long distances to view library archives which might or might not hold information they were seeking, computer archives have made this research much more accessible. This is not to say that doing research today is a walk in the park!  Warren drove from his home in Nevada City to numerous historical institutions day after day over the course of 3 years, pouring over microfiche, coming home with red eyes and exhausted from scouring page after page of tiny ads in 19^th century newspapers caught on film. His goal was to produce the most definitive, comprehensive compilation of historical information on the glassworks and their products possible and to make it available to other collectors who were just as hungry for information as he had been.

The head librarian of the San Francisco Mechanics Institute, an esteemed continuously running archive of San Francisco history, took an especial interest in the research Warren was doing and did much to further it. Today, a copy of his book resides there, per her request.

Further research led him to the Society of California Pioneers in San Francisco, a prestigious society whose members include men and women who shaped and formed the fastest growing city on the west coast during the 19^th century. During one visit the curator took Warren and his wife on a private tour, during which he was able to identify demijohns, still packed in their wicker and tule wrappings and stowed in wooden packing crates, to the delight of the curator. Early Glassworks was added to the Society’s collection, as well. Further requests for a copy of the book came from the California Historical Society in San Francisco as well as the California State Archives and the California State Library both in Sacramento. Additionally, Warren was contacted by a San Francisco book shop owner who deals with rare books and 6 copies were purchased for his clientele who are history scholars, not bottle collectors; the books were sold for 3 times the rate bottle collectors have paid and clearly show the broader appeal of the work.

As we all know, bottle and ephemera collectors are a generous lot and Warren is grateful for their sharing of time and information. In addition to historical libraries and societies, many collectors, authors themselves, including Eric McGuire, Tom Jacobs, Rick Simi, Bill Ham, Jeff Wichman, and Tim Higgins, to name a few, took time to share sources and leads. Richard Watson of New York graciously gave permission to publish pictures of rare glassmaking tools. Professional photographer, Kirk Amyx of Amyx Photography in San Francisco photographed some of the author’s collection for the book and the pictures in this book are stunning, offering a good look at bottles many people will never see in real life.

Once satisfied that he had found as much information as he could, more than 900 pages of historical material, he pared it down, editing many times, and, surprisingly finding new tidbits of information to include. The family joke became the newest pronouncement that the book was finally done.

The end result is a very tight book, narrowly focused to be as accurate as possible. It is a wealth of information about a brief era in history and the bottles produced as a result of it. Maybe not surprisingly, as the bottles from this era are a result of their geography so also the author is of his geography. And, the 2 are a good match for each other. One hopes that this book might just be the beginning of continuing research…

Beyond the Book

Like his pioneering predecessors, Warren knows that as more information is scanned and released, his work, like theirs, may be modified. He welcomes this because the truth is what matters. The more accurate information available to the collector, the better. And, perhaps beyond the contribution of the book itself, what Warren Friedrich brings to bottle collecting is the generous spirit in which it is offered, his tireless quest for facts, and the encouragement extended to a younger generation to take the plunge.

Nevada City, California, 1965, during the building of the Golden Center Freeway. Warren Friedrich is at the bottom left with the white tee shirt and jaunty hat standing next to the police chief. He is 11 years old at the time of this picture.

For Immediate Release

2012 Reno Expo Update: As of March 13, 207 sales tables and 72 banquet tickets have been sold. Now is a great time to get your contracts in and plan your trip if you haven’t signed up. May 4 is the deadline to get your advertisement in the souvenir program. Don’t miss the bottle event of the year!

2013 National Show Selection: The 2013 FOHBC National Show location has been selected! Using a competitive bid process with the FOHBC member clubs in the Northeast region, the Merrimack Valley Bottle Club was chosen to host the National Show in Manchester, New Hampshire. They will be assisted by the Little Rhody Bottle Club, New England Bottle Club, and Yankee Bottle Club. FOHBC meetings and the banquet will be held Friday, July 19, 2013. Seminars, show set-up, and auction (if applicable) will be Saturday, July 20, 2013. The show will be open to the public on Sunday, July 21, 2013. Mike George and Maureen Crawford will be the show co-chairpersons. Contracts will be available on the FOHBC website July 20, 2012.

Tom Phillips, FOHBC Conventions Director

RENO, The Biggest Little City in the World will host the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors EXPO 2012 Antique Bottle and Collectible Show on 27 – 29 July 2012 at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. This is going to be the big one folks!

Incoming info from Richard Siri (Show Chairman with Marty Hall)…

Here is a picture of the gazebo that the Northwestern Bottle Club is going to take to Reno and set up for people that want to display a few bottles in a non-competitive setting. It will hold all sizes of bottles from inks to tall bitters. The bottles will be signed in with the person’s name on the bottom and that person is the only one able to remove them. There will be hired security along with others watching this display. The bottles do not have to be there on Friday and also do not have to stay in the display for the entire show. Maybe it could match the famed Weaverville Window. Could you put this on your site as well as the FOHBC site. Thanks, Richard