Have you ever dug at a spot, lost interest, and then
returned to it years later? I’ve made it
somewhat of a habit of mine. I recently
revisited a spot in Shannock I mentioned in earlier posts where an old dam was
removed. I thought I had dug the spot
out, but a revisit proved otherwise. There was one corner I missed that produced a few bottles, even underneath large flat rocks! One
of my favorite finds was a sharp looking Palmer
& Madigan Importers Cor. Hay & Friendship Sts. Providence, RI pint
whiskey. There are close to 20
variations from this prolific company, and somehow I found another unlisted
version!
The day's finds, including the Palmer & Magigan (center)
When I first got the Little Rhody Bottle Club’s book
“Antique Bottles of Rhode Island”, I pored over the pages and made a list of my
most wanted bottles. Aside from a bunch
of locals and some pontiled medicines, the obvious winner was the only “Taylor” bottle from RI.
Taylor’s Pharmacy in Newport, RI
was owned by James H. Taylor. For the
longest time I could never find one of these until club member Art Palowski
gave me one in his collection. Then I
found another size! Now they are just
crawling out of the woodwork (much to my excitement). I recently found an unlisted size (5-3/8”) at
a local antique shop for a bargain $10. Now
I’ll just have to dream about a 32oz. one lol.
I’ve recently been acquainted with the exciting world of
city construction sites. One site in
particular yields a few bottles with each visit. It’s not many, but enough to make you keep
going back. I was recently rewarded with
a cute little 2-3/4” Edwin P. Anthony
Pharmacist Providence, RI medicine.
While E.P. Anthony bottles are quite common, the Edwin bottles are less
common, and this small size was unlisted.
A nearby pottery business known as Peter Pots has always
been a favorite place of mine to visit.
Located in a small rustic mill next to a waterfall only minutes from my
house, it is well-known for its pottery, but I know if for the bottles that
show up occasionally. The store doubles
as an antique shop, and I’ve made a few good buys over the years. When the owner showed me two boxes of what I
deem “recyclable bottles”, I almost told him to recycle them until I caught
site of a soda bottle. I was very excited
to see it was a rare small size Gladstone
Spring’s Water Co. Narragansett Pier, RI.
These bottles are fairly common for a local, but there is only one small
size known in aqua, and this one was clear!
The price for the lot was steep, but you don’t walk away from a rare
local…
The Rhode Island Antiques Mall is one of the most
well-picked antique shops in the state, but every now and then you get
lucky. I recently found a rather rare
(and likely unique) Otis Clapp & Sons
Incorporated bottle. While a large
size Otis Clapp bottle can be found with a glass screw cap, this small example
was something entirely new. A bottle
with a glass screw top was very high-end and rather expensive to make, so this
is one of the rarest of the 15-20 known Otis Clapp bottles.
