Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Fall Finds #2



As the digging season reaches its prime, so does the time for bottle shows.  This year there are four shows I have the option of going to.  The first in line is the Silver City Treasure Seekers annual show.  While they are a metal detecting club, their “treasure” has grown to include bottles, so there were four bottle dealers that set up.  For a bargain $2, I got a chipped William R. Potter Broad, Opp. Fenner St. Providence, RI medicine.  Out of the few Potter bottles listed, this was a new one!


A newcomer to the LRBC club Barry set up across from Jan and I.  He had recently bought a collection of around 800 bottles, so I had fun poring over his acquisitions.  I purchased two unlisted blob sodas.  One was an A. Hasselbaum Co. Providence, RI with “This bottle to be returned” on the front heel.  The other was a beautiful sun-colored amethyst Francis Gavin Pawtucket, RI.  I had never seen one in a slugplate before, and sure enough it wasn’t listed!


By far the most exciting bottle that Barry had was a L. Delany & Co. Celery Salt Paw’t, R.I.  In the shape of a salt shaker, it had a pewter cap and ground lip.  Lyons, Delany & Co. were prolific dry goods dealers, and this is only the second bottle known from their company.


While not an unlisted bottle, the squat soda made by the Crescent Bottling Co. of East Providence, RI was called a blob top while in fact, it was a Baltimore loop seal.  This is only the second RI soda I have confirmed to have this style lip.  And, who knows, maybe some of them have plain blob tops as well!


My good friend Al Otis has amassed quite a respectable collection of RI bottles and jugs.  He was recently kind enough to gift me with a Turbitt & Orme Wickenden St. Providence, RI soda that he had a few extras of.  My favorite feature is the embossed blurb on the heel: “Two cents will be paid for the return of this bottle”.  This neat embossing is listed, but on a nearly identical bottle marked “Turbitt & Co.”, which dates to right when Mr. Orme left the company around 1912.