Shupp’s Grove 2015 Bottle Show

One of the rows of sales tables.

Shupp’s Grove 2015 Bottle Show

The 2015 Shupp’s Grove Bottle Show has come and gone. Linda (pictured below) and I have attended the show for many years along with Jim and Val Berry. We always enjoy the outside style show which allows dealers and friends to sell and visit right up to dark. A lot of dealers including us camp right at the show behind our tables. It makes for a lot of fun. That is, until your air mattress fails to stay blown up. This year was one of those years for us. Linda ended up in the front seat of the van and I slept on the floor of the van. I clearly am not as young as I used to be. Neither is my back!

Linda Sheppard (FOHBC Membership Director) picked up three renewals from past FOHBC members.

Jim and Val Berry (Jim is FOHBC Secretary and Val is the FOHBC Merchandise Director).

The weather was a bit overcast with threats of rain all day Saturday. A few sprinkles here and there but nothing to speak of. I did learn the fastest way to get a dealer to pack up is to take flash photos when it looks like rain. I quickly caught on that a flash to an unsuspecting dealer looks like lightning. I put the camera away once I saw what was happening. The Friday night crowd was a bit down, but Saturday was busy.

Jack Pelletier was set up with his normal table of great flasks. He showed me a very rare shard of a smaller size Bininger seal bottle unknown of until a few weeks ago. There is always something new showing up.

Jack Pelletier and his wife enjoying the show.

It seemed funny not having our dear friend Dick Watson with us this year. But it was a surprise to have Steve Watson (one of Dick’s sons) stop by with his wife Donna. Steve reminds me a lot of Dick and surely has made his passing much easier on me. Dick and Elma knew how to raise kids.

We normally stay over until Sunday but we decided to head out Saturday night this year. Sunday was going to rain and we went through that one year and decided once is enough. Other than getting soaked once and having a half-pint pink eagle flask stolen, I still enjoy Shupp’s Grove as one of my favorite shows other than a national show.

Bob Strickhart and myself are the show chairs for the FOHBC 2017 National Antique Bottle Convention which will be held in East Springfield, Mass. I was really happy to have a few dealers ask me if I had contracts with me. Of course, I did not because we won’t have contracts ready until after the 2016 Show. Bob Strickhart and I look forward to having one of the biggest national shows in years. We have a lot of new ideas to get dealers to come and hope to have some very good events for all. We have had many people ask to help us and all are welcome to. We have something for everyone who wants to be part of this event. Keep watch on the web as information become available and plan on coming you won’t be sorry.

Jim Bender
FOHBC Historian