The Capital Region Bottle & Insulator Clubs 19th Annual Show and Sale

This past Sunday which was November 15th, 2015, the Capital Region Bottle & Insulator Club held its 19th Annual Show and Sale. Up here it is more commonly known as the Albany Club to most Northeast collectors. Once again, they held their show at the Polish Community Center located on Washington Avenue Extension in Albany, New York. This has become the new home for the show and makes a nice location for the dealers and attendees. There is easy access and plenty of parking.

The morning started with dealer set up. There was a bit of confusion over times to set up on Saturday night. Right at the last minute the Community Center said they could not get the room ready for the scheduled 7:00 pm set-up time. The time had to be moved to be moved to 9:00 PM. Jason Privler, the Show Chairman, was able to contact the dealers and it did not seem to cause any issues.

Lighting in the Community Center is good and there is plenty of room for the 70-plus dealer tables and displays. There is always good food for breakfast and lunch as well.

I spoke to Rick Ciralli about helping with the FOHBC 2017 Springfield National Antique Bottle Convention and he was all in. Rick will be handling our bottle competition shootout event as well as being our emcee that night. I look forward to seeing Rick keeping the crowd involved during the event. Thanks Rick, I know you will be great!

One of the highlights of the show for me was when an announcement was made to buy raffle tickets for a beautiful amber Middletown Spring Water bottle. The raffle was put together by Dana Charlton-Zarro to raise money for medical expenses for Brian Wolff, her friend and fellow bottle collector. Within a minute the table was flooded with collectors and dealers lining up to buy tickets. I saw a man lay down his money and walk away saying I don’t need any tickets it is for a great cause. This is what our hobby is all about. We take care of each other when we are down. I stood there, off to the side, taking photos and all of a sudden the whole day seemed better. Watching fellow collectors and friends lined up to help. I never even heard who won the bottle. I asked a few people and they did not know ether. We didn’t know because it was not about winning a bottle. We did not care about the bottle. We cared about Brian.

[Editor Note: The January | February 2016 issue of BOTTLES and EXTRAS will give a report regarding Brian and Sherri Wolff]

Once again, I ask everyone to attend an antique bottle show and join a club. Our hobby is as strong as we, as a group, make it. I have included some photographs from the show so you all can see how great it was. To join the Albany Club contact Fran Hughes at fhughes3@nycap.rr.com or call 518.377.7134. It costs just $15 to join.

Jim Bender
FOHBC Historian

Rick Ciralli talking with Mike O’Brian and his wife. Rick will be heading up the bottler competition shootout at the 2017 Springfield National Convention.