As the winter wears on, the only relief from the frozen ground lies in online auctions, antique shops, and bottle shows. Fortunately for me they have been fairly eventful!
A P. Farrell
Pawtucket, RI blob soda surfaced on ebay recently. It is one of the more elusive blob sodas from
Pawtucket, so I
naturally chased it. To my surprise it
turned out to be an unlisted variant!
There is a period after Farrell, and 180 is erased under No, which
appears to be a mold alteration. Perhaps
they couldn’t fit the address on one line?
I finally sealed the deal on a hard to find Fraser Bros. Co. Providence, RI extract
bottle. While listed under medicines,
they dealt in coffee and spices. The
punctuation on the front (periods after Fraser and Providence) was unlisted.
The Enfield,
Ct. bottle show was at the end of
February. This was only my second time
going, and certainly won’ be my last!
Among a healthy flock of RI bottles was a Geo. L. Claflin & Co. Wholesale Druggists Providence, RI. While listed in aqua, this clear example is a
new color.
I have put off buying a plain Rumford (shoulder embossed)
jar for eternity simply because of their lack of appeal. A labeled one that read Rumford Yeast Powder finally put an end to my procrastination
streak. This machine made example is
unlisted in aqua.
It’s not every day that one of the harder to find RI mineral
waters comes to auction. I initially let
a Prophet Spring Water Prov., RI
half gallon end without a bid. The lip
damage and exorbitant shipping had scared me away. When it got relisted at a lower price, I
finally put in a bid. It turns out it
was unlisted in clear, and also lacked the monogram which appears on the base
of the listed example!
