FOHBC News

As you may know, the FOHBC is working backward and archiving and indexing all past issues of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. The first two months of 2022 and the year 2021 are complete. No more running to the closet and rummaging through old magazines to find an article. Of course, all Bottles and Extras past issues are archived and indexed. What this means, 1: You can read all past issues cover to cover. 2: You can access PDFs of feature articles that can be searched by Google. 3: Each article is indexed by genre and category. 4: Only available to FOHBC members via Member Portal.

07 June 2022: Tom Caniff, a great hobbyist, is gone

Sad notes, compiled by Ralph Finch–Tom was an impressive collector, an intense researcher, a fire department chief, a fruit jar expert, and a keeper of pets, including stuffed toys, turtles, snakes and cats—a LOT of cats. There were few animals not found on the Caniffs’ Noah’s Ark. READ MORE

19 April 2022: FOHBC Board of Directors Meeting Notes

Read the meeting minutes from the FOHBC Board of Directors Zoom conference call on 19 April 2022.

30 March 2022: FOHBC Board of Directors Meeting Notes

Read the meeting minutes from the FOHBC Board of Directors Zoom conference call on 30 March 2022. See presentation material from meeting “The New FOHBC.”

16 March 2022: FOHBC Board of Directors Meeting Notes

Read here the meeting minutes from the FOHBC Board of Directors Zoom conference call on 16 March 2022. See presentation material from meeting “The New FOHBC.”

14 February 2022: Eric McGuire Keynote Speaker at Reno 22 Banquet

At the FOHBC banquet dinner in Reno 2022 National Antique Bottle Convention, Eric McGuire will be our featured speaker. Eric has been a long-time fixture in the world of bottle collecting, having been bitten in 1960. READ MORE

14 February 2022: The 49th Annual Milwaukee Antique Bottle & Advertising Show

The Milwaukee Antique Bottle Show was held on February 6, 2022, and was a great success and was exceptionally well attended. The show was moved to a new venue, the Waukesha County Expo Center which allowed for a much more spacious environment than previous shows. This show attracts not only bottle collectors but breweriana and advertising collectors. The turnout showed that the collecting hobby is alive and well. Read More

11 February 2022: Inaugural Issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

We are excited to say that our inaugural issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector was mailed to FOHBC Members on Friday, 11 February 2022—four days ahead of schedule! FOHBC members can also read online in PDF or page-by-page reading in the Members Portal. This is our first issue since the merger of Bottles and Extras and Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC). We have chosen the name Antique Bottle & Glass Collector and developed a hybrid design (taking the best from both magazines) and will follow the Bottles and Extras bi-monthly distribution schedule. READ

01 February 2022: FOHBC Board of Directors Meeting Notes

Read here the meeting minutes from the FOHBC Board of Directors Zoom conference call on 01 February 2022.

23 January 2022: Johnnie Fletcher Rest In Peace

We got our three strikes before 5:00 AM on the morning of our show, January 09, 2022. With Covid fear terrorizing our great country, a few vendors started canceling their tables. That was strike one! Read More

07 January 2022: The FOHBC Email Newsletters

In preparation for the merging subscribers from Antique Bottle & Glass Collector and FOHBC Members, the FOHBC has sent a series of mass emails to current membership that includes announcing the last issue of Bottles and Extras and the merger, Reno 2022 News, FOHBC Competitions, Happy Holidays, and Virtual Museum News

05 January 2022: First FOHBC Board of Directors Meeting of the new year

Read here the meeting minutes from the FOHBC Board of Directors Zoom conference call on 05 January 2022.

28 December 2021: Post-Sale Press Release – American Bottle Auctions (Part 1, Mel Hammer, Dec. 10-19)

Dear Editor or Journalist – Attached is a press release with accompanying images for the online sale of Part 1 of the Mel Hammer bottle collection, held Dec. 10-19 by American Bottle Auctions, based in Sacramento, Calif. The 137 bottles included many of Mr. Hammer’s favorites, including schnapps and gin bottles, bitters bottles, and inkwells. The top lot of the auction was a Dr. Renz’s Herb Bitters bottle (San Francisco, circa 1868-1881), 9 1/2 inches tall, with a uniquely styled applied tapered top (pictured). It sold for $24,150, a new record for that bottle. Online bidding was driven through the American Bottle Auctions website. If you need additional information about this auction, you may call Jeff Wichmann at 800-806-7722; or, you can email him at info@americanbottle.com. Thanks, and best regards, Ken Hall

15 December 2021: January–February 2022 issue of Bottles and Extras

We are excited to say that our first New Year issue of Bottles and Extras was mailed to FOHBC Members this past Wednesday, 15 December. A complimentary issue was mailed to all Antique Bottle & Glass Subscribers with a “Happy Holidays” message from board president John O’Neill.

13 December 2021: Christmas is coming from Bob Jochums

Fellow FOHBC members, Christmas is coming! I’m making use of the FOHBC.org member list and new member info from Bottles and Extras to send you a couple of lists of bottles and go-withs that I have for sale. The lists are labeled “500+ Cures For Sale” and “Non-Cures For Sale” as I’m primarily a cure collector but have acquired numerous “non-cures” over the years. In addition to what’s on the “500+ Cures For Sale” list, I’ve got 400+ more cures (and cures only … not medicines, poisons, milks, pharmacy bottles, etc.) in my collection that I’m not currently proactively offering for sale. But if you’d like to know if I have a particular cure bottle that you’ve long desired, ask me about it. I’ll then let you know if I’ve got one and, if I’m willing to sell it, let you know my asking price (which does not automatically include shipping and insurance, but that’s something we can discuss). Additionally, I’m an avid tumbler and I’m willing to improve the look for you of just about any bottle that you want from my lists that’s not yet near mint or mint.  I’d typically charge $15 for the tumbling which would generally take 3 to 4 weeks once I have space on my machines (two Jar Doctor 6-position tumblers). And of course, I’ll send you pictures when you request them. Just let me know. You can trust my description of the condition of a bottle in my listings. The majority of the bottles I’ve acquired over the years from other collectors are not quite as nice as the seller said they would be … so that when I say that a bottle has a slight stain or 1+ haze, other sellers would probably have stated that the bottles were near mint, mint, “minty mint”, “perfect”, or “sparkly.” When I take pictures for you, I’ll re-examine the bottle(s) to confirm the condition and I’ll let you know if it varies from the listing. If you know of other collectors and friends (perhaps they’re not FOHBC members) that might find my lists to be of interest, please send them this letter and the links so they know the above-mentioned info as well as my email address. Thanks. I’m looking forward to hearing from you. I hope I can help you acquire a new treasure. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Bob Jochums, 2bjochums@gmail.com

08 December 2021: FOHBC Magazine Design Presentation to Board

The FOHBC board had a Zoom call so Ferdinand Meyer V could present designs for the inaugural issue of the March–April 2022 issue of FOHBC Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. The Designs were approved by the board. Read meeting notes here.

03 December 2021: FOHBC Magazine Merger News

The FOHBC is formally announcing the merger of our two hobby magazines Bottles and Extras and Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC). The first issue of the new magazine called Antique Bottle & Glass Collector will be a hybrid design and will follow the Bottles and Extras bi-monthly distribution schedule. This will be the March–April 2022 issue. The magazine will remain all color, 72-pages plus covers. A great group of “extras” will be provided to all persons receiving the magazine and who become members of the FOHBC. Read about it here.

03 December 2021: FOHBC Virtual Museum

To the Antique Bottle and Glass World: We had some growing pains and our hosted server holding four websites, unfortunately, went down for the FOHBC Virtual Museum, FOHBC.org, Peachridge Glass, and FMG Design. Although we had already implemented several things to improve website performance, including a robust new tool that serves optimized and cached content via a global network to our website visitors, the server is still prone to downtime. This is partially because not all of the files can be optimized and served this way until we move the location of a large number of files to another part of our hosting server. Some of this work is still in progress and we aim to complete it by the end of the year. During Thanksgiving week, our hosting server experienced one of the longest periods of downtime thus far. Because it happened during the holiday, our hosting support failed to respond sooner with a solution. We are now in the process of upgrading to a more powerful server to reduce the chances of dealing with this again. FOHBC.org, PeachridgeGlass.com, and FMG Design came back up this past Monday. The Virtual Museum is a different story when you consider all the mechanics. We have 25,000 plus images so far and 550 specimens or so that spin.

02 December 2021: FOHBC Board Conference Call

A general FOHBC board Zoom call occurred last night. Meeting notes can be read here.

13 November 2021: Rare soda bottle stolen from Georgia collector

COLUMBUS, Georgia – What is the absolute worst experience collectors of antique bottles could ever suffer? Just ask Allen Woodall of Columbus. He’ll tell you. When fellow collector Jack Hewitt recently visited Woodall to check out the latter’s museum, Woodall decided to show off one of his glass prizes, a cobalt blue John Ryan from the latter’s Columbus branch with an embossed capital R on the back. So Woodall went to its hiding place in his office and was stunned when the ultra-rare bottle could not be found. Some sticky-fingered gent had preceded him. Woodall reported the theft to the Columbus Police Department and is taking his own steps in hopes of getting the bottle returned. One of those steps is this story about my friend’s great loss. So if one of you readers is offered the bottle, Woodall asks that you contact him at 1 (706) 332-6378. Another of his steps is that he is offering a $1,000 cash reward and will ask no questions if the bottle is returned. By Bill Baab

Update: This story has a very interesting update that is planned for the March April 2022 issue of FOHBC | Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (formerly Bottles and Extras).

11 November 2021: FOHBC Bi-Annual Board Meeting (Zoom Mtg #4)

The fourth FOHBC Zoom call occurred last night. Meeting notes can be found here. (posted 02 December 2021)

27 October 2021: FOHBC Bi-Annual Board Meeting (Zoom Mtg #3)

Since the 2021 Syracuse National was canceled, the FOHBC bi-annual board meeting did not occur. After three or so attempts to have it in August and September, President O’Neill was finally able to schedule the first 1-Hour Overview Call on 29 September. (See Zoom conference notes) The second call occurred on 13 October 2021 and dealt with the proposed Antique Bottle & Glass Collector + Bottles and Extras magazine merger. (See Zoom conference notes) Zoom #3 call occurred on 27 October 2021. See Zoom conference notes

22 October 2021: Bid on an Outstanding Drake’s Plantation Bitters to Benefit the FOHBC Virtual Museum

Bid on an incredible Drake’s Plantation Bitters figural cabin. 100% of proceeds to benefit the FOHBC Virtual Museum of Historical Bottles and Glass. American Glass Gallery, Auction 30 Opens November 8, 2021. See Auction

13 October 2021: FOHBC Bi-Annual Board Meeting (Zoom Mtg #2)

Since the 2021 Syracuse National was canceled, the FOHBC bi-annual board meeting did not occur. After three or so attempts to have it in August and September, President O’Neill was finally able to schedule the first 1-Hour Overview Call on 29 September. The second call occurred on 13 October 2021 and dealt with the proposed Antique Bottle & Glass Collector + Bottles and Extras magazine merger. (See Zoom conference notes)

10 October 2021: FOHBC Club Contests are Back!

30 September 2021: Two articles from FOHBC member Ben Swanson

Renowned medicine ephemera collector Ben Swanson up in Baltimore submits two articles by Michael J. Morrissey for our perusal from The American Revenuer put out by The American Revenue Association. The first is Charles H. & Mary W. Marshall, Patent Medicine Manufacturers of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Read Page 1, Read Page 2. The second is Finds in the Marketplace: Stonebraker Revisited. Read Page 1, Read Page 2.

29 September 2021: FOHBC Bi-Annual Board Meeting (Zoom Mtg #1)

Since the 2021 Syracuse National was canceled, the FOHBC bi-annual board meeting did not occur. After three or so attempts to have it in August and September, President O’Neill was finally able to schedule a 1-Hour Overview Call on 29 September. The second call will occur on 14 October 2021. Look for notes when Secretary Val Berry provides. (See Zoom conference notes)

15 September 2021: FOHBC Virtual Museum Quarterly Call

The FOHBC Virtual Museum Team had a Zoom Conference Call on 15 September 2021 to discuss finances, operations, design, and imaging trips among other things. Read Notes Here.

11 September 2021: Early FOHBC Bottles

Free to a Good Home. I am starting to downsize my collections and I’d like to know if any FOHBC members might be interested in my FOHBC commemorative bottles? I will donate the bottles, but the recipient(s) must pay shipping charges. Some are made by Clevenger, while others by different glassworks. Bottles are from the Iowa Antique Bottleers (among the first clubs to join the FOHBC), the Denver club, the Phoenix, Ariz., club, the First Chicago Club, and others marking celebrations and anniversaries of various individuals (Charles Gardner, Grand Old Man of Bottle Collecting) and historical events with appropriate embossing. Bill Baab riverswamper@comcast.net

31 August 2021: Digging in Galveston

Thought you might find these shards interesting…dug in a trash pit in Galveston this past Sunday. One from an Argyle Bitters out of New Orleans (thanks Courtney Frioux for the ID!) and the other I believe is part of a Senour’s Calisaya Bitters. I noted your comment in your writeup on the Senour’s back in 2016 “I suspect, someone will eventually dig a bottle in our port cities here in Texas”. I’ll keep trying to find a whole one! Best Regards, Brandon DeWolfe

30 August 2021: Charleston, S.C. collector Vic Svendsen, 69, dead

CHARLESTON, S.C. – James Victor “Vic” Svendsen, 69, of James Island, S.C., died Monday, August 23, 2021, after an extended illness. A native of Charleston, he had a successful career in the food sales industry. He enjoyed digging early Charleston privies for antique bottles. First-time visitors to his home would be given a tour of his vast bottle collection and perhaps an old bottle to keep as a souvenir. Survivors include two daughters, Andrea Hoelscher (Sean) of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Lindsey Bonham (Dave) of James Island, and a brother, Virgil Svendsen (Barbara) of James Island. Donations may be made in his memory to Ronald McDonald House Charities, 81 Gadsden St., Charleston, SC 29401. See Obituary

20 August 2021: Virtual Museum New England Imaging Trip

The first group of images from Alan and Terry’s New England trip have been formatted by Miguel for the Internet and are in the VM processing and research rooms on the Lower Level. Our first piece placed in a gallery late yesterday is Holman’s Nature’s Grand Restorative. Visit it today in the FOHBC Virtual Museum Medicines Gallery.

17 August 2021: Hot off the Press!