As you can see by my last blog, I’ve been buying an awful
lot of bottles, and digging relatively few.
Well, that can happen when you exhaust all of your good dumps. Luckily, there are always more! My good friend David who I mentioned earlier
was generous enough to invite me to his “secret” dump which was sadly closed to
digging a few months later. The good
part was we were able to dig a few times, and unearth a bunch of gems. Included in my unlisted RI finds were a Kalkman Pharmacy Inc. Newport, RI in an unlisted
style, a H.E. Taber PhG Wakefield, RI
in unlisted size (David commandeered my hole after that one), and an unlisted
size of a Watson’s Pharmacy Opposite
Casino Narragansett Pier, RI. Oh, and there
was also that extremely rare Wakefield
Mineral Water Co. C.A. Flanagan Manager
Wakefield, RI that I found. It is unlisted,
but two were known to exist until that day, and mine was an undocumented small
size! David found his fair share of unlisted
RI bottles and other great finds, though it’s hard to beat unlisted locals!
A few blogs ago I gave you the lowdown on the Caswell Hazard bottles. I hadn’t seen any in the longest time, until ebay delivered again. I found one of the Labor Omnia Vincit bottles from the Hazard Hazard era in an unlisted clear. Honestly it looked ugly in the pictures, but with clear Caswell Mack and Caswell Hazard versions listed, this one was obviously the rarest of the bunch. I was able to get it cheap, and while it needs a tumble, it’s a superb addition that David Andrews doesn’t have yet!
Every now and then, with the proper amount of effort, you
will get very lucky. I was happy to
learn this lesson during a visit to the Scituate Art Festival. Upon arriving I noted at least 20 yard sale
signs, and kicked myself for not getting up at 6AM. I browsed the booths and some yard sales with
a friend, and was heading to my car when I spotted a jug on a table. This yard sale was set up back from the road
and on a hill, so it was probably less visited.
The homeowner wanted $100 for the honestly cool Rice & Starkweather
Providence jug, but being a poor college kid didn’t help. I then noticed a box of what appeared to be
junk bottles. After removing some, I
found myself looking at dirt-covered pontiled bottles! Sure they had lip chips and such, but I
assembled a group and made an offer, which he accepted. He the proceeded to tell me he had more, and
to come back tomorrow.
It was to
my fortune that when I arrived late after work the next day, he had forgotten
to bring the bottles. He made the quick
run to his house, and presented me with a large basket of bottles. Right on top I was amazed to see two emerald
green squat sodas! One was a J. Harvey
Providence, and the other an E. Jenckes
with no town. After finding another
superb bottle, I bought the lot for $40.
While the Harvey
was listed and had a small lip chip, the Jenkes bottle was a mystery and had an
unfortunate chunk out of the lip. After
a lot of research I discovered it was from Providence, RI! I then noticed the faint sand pontil which
made it even better. Unlisted pontiled
sodas are what collectors dream about, and this time the price was right!
Some of you will remember my déjà vu post when I found two
etched beer bottles in rapid succession.
Well, go figure, but I seem to be making this a habit! Jan Boyer invited me to a house call in
Wickford from a couple who found a bunch of bottles in a crawl space. It sounded great, only all the bottles were screw
cap junkers. Except for one, which was
an embossed Charles A. Gladding Providence,
RI druggist bottle. Usually common,
this one had Gladding’s name in cursive, Charles spelled out (most are
abbreviated Chas.), and Oz. and CC measurements on the sides. It also had an unknown trademark F.F. &
Co. on the base. Jan let me have it and he took a nice local
milk. A week later I noticed a neat
medicine bottle on ebay. It was a W.S. Bennett & Co. Prescription
Druggists Warren, RI.
Bennett was the only druggist with an embossed bottle from Warren, so I was excited
to win this unlisted version. Upon
receiving it I noticed it looked a lot like that Gladding bottle I had, and
sure enough, it was exactly the same shape and height! It even had that trademark on the bottom,
which I’ve never seen again. I was later
able to identify the trademark as Fox, Fultz & Co. of Boston
who were listed in the Boston
directory as bottle makers.
