Winter Finds #9 2016

A while back fellow collector David Curenton spotted a Life Saver Beverage Co. Centredale, RI soda bottle in the window of a deli in Warwick. I honestly doubted him at first, it sounded too good to be true! Well, I stopped by one day, and behold! There it was. The owner was out, so I vowed to return the next time she was in. Well, that “next time” was more than a year later. Upon arriving I was alarmed to see no bottles in the front window. Thankfully the bottle was just where I left it. To my surprise, owner was happy to part with the bottle along with a few others, stating how much work it was to keep them dust-free. So there you have it, one of the coolest RI soda bottles out there!

A digger from Maine was kind enough to contact me when he dug a Fisk & Co. Druggists Pawtucket, RI medicine. At 6-1/2", it was an unlisted size!

There are few bottles that seem to come with endless variations. Palmer & Madigan Importers Providence, RI is one of them. Almost every single Palmer & Madigan bottle I've come across has been different! There are so many variations that it's just too tedious to say how it's unlisted, so I'll just say it's a new variant.

For the past four years I have been eyeballing a Red Fox Co. Providence, RI ABM crown top soda at a RI antique shop. Two things have kept me from buying it, the exorbitant price tag ($18, which is robbery for a shoulder embossed soda), and the extensive damage (lots of cracks). It's a bottle most collectors would toss over their shoulders, but to me it was the earliest Red Fox bottle known, and thus worthy of acquiring. I finally managed to negotiate a trade (two nice colored bottles for the Red Fox), and while they clearly got the better deal, I now have the bottle, and it no longer taunts me when I visit the shop.

After winning a nice ACL soda on ebay, the seller told me he had a few more bottles I could look at. One of them was a nice Colaluca Bottling Co. Providence, RI ABM crown top quart. The listed small size version is very hard to find, and this quart also has a backwards 9 in the 79 Coggeshall St. address. Nice!

Winter Finds #8 2016

When I feel motivated enough, I will make the short trek over to Putnam, CT. Home to three bustling antique shops, they can be hit or miss when it comes to bottles. After striking out in the first two shops (not a good start!), I decided to hit the junk shop as well. While I noticed a few new bottles, nothing really stuck out. I then focused on what appeared to be a Hood's Sarsaparilla high up on a shelf. I could tell the embossing was different. When I got it down I could barely believe what I was reading! It was embossed Vital Tonic a Life Preserver Whitney Medicine Co. Providence, RI. Unlisted RI patent medicines are incredibly rare, and this one was simply outstanding. The awesome name, super cool shape, and nifty slogan on the back made it a real winner. I quickly negotiated a price and never stopped smiling the entire drive home.

One of my favorite little antique shops is located pretty much in the Middle of Nowhere, RI, but there is always something good to be found there. My latest visit greeted me with three large boxes of dust-covered bottles pulled from someone's basement. I assembled a pile and drove home quite satisfied. Among the lot was a Barbour's Westerly, RI medicine bottle. Measuring 3-3/4", it was an unlisted size.

Yes, I'm a little behind, so I am just now covering the Little Rhody Bottle Show in January! I was a little apprehensive with the new location (and slightly bothered that it was now a good half hour into Massachusetts), but it was a good show! One of my best buys was a small A.L. Barbour & Co. Druggists Westerly, RI. This was a rare early and unlisted version of the poplar Barbours bottles.

Another exciting find was an O. Vadeboncoeur Social St. Woonsocket, RI crown top. The two known examples has slug plates on the shoulder, but this one had a normal slugplate front and center! While badly damaged, it was still a welcome addition.

I was able to build my Potter collection during the January club meeting by adding a Wm. R. Potter Broad St. Opp. Fenner Providence, RI. While very similar to a listed example, the listed one is also embossed Est. 1875.

Winter Finds #7 2016

A visit to the city dump in December proved that it was far from being dug out! After hitting a bottle slightly harder than I preferred to (it was in a layer that was supposed to be mostly void of bottles), I extracted an Alfred Barth Maleria Cure Providence, RI!!! I had to refrain from yelling, but my excitement was barely containable. Not only was this an incredible rare cure, it was an unlisted error version with Malaria misspelled!!! It was my second dug RI cure, and it's definitely a keeper!

A recently opened antique shop in northern RI had eluded my detection for over a year, but I finally noticed it and stopped to investigate. Upon opening the front door I was greeted with a display of bottles. Ah yes, this was promising! After not finding any RI bottles, I asked the owner, who said he had an entire table of RI bottles!!! Well I was off to drool at this spectacle. As expected, most were pretty common, but there were two that caught my eye. A Geo. A. Peckham Wholesale Druggist Providence, RI was the first highlight. Yes, usually when I mention Peckham, it's followed by “not another!”, but this one was special. Instead of Grocers Supplies, it said wholesale druggist! It was definitely an early bottle, and perhaps one of the best Peckham bottles out there.

Sitting next to it was a beautiful Albert P. Carpenter Central Falls, RI. Central Falls medicines are quite elusive, so this unlisted 4” size with Registered Pharmacist on two lines was a delightful addition to the collection.

Surprise! I was getting some of my duplicate RI sodas ready to sell when I noticed that two Caproni Bros. Providence, RI ABM quarts were different. The one I has listed had 28oz. on the heel, while this one does not. (picture is not the unlisted version)

A recent antiquing trip produced a nice T.F. Donahue Co. Providence, RI blob. While I thought it was likely a duplicate, it was not! It was the first example with the Cor. Pine & Dyer Sts. address with the round slugplate that I've seen.

Winter Finds #6 2016

Ok, this is my last entry for the Bergquist blob collection!  It's been surreal.
I was finally able to add one of the ABM Colaluca Bros. Providence, RI shoulder embossed bottles. While not a showy bottle, it was clear, and has 12oz embossed on the base, making it unlisted.

I was quite happy to come across this hard to find version of the Property of John F. Perry Narragansett Pier, RI crown top. While listed, it states the height as an impressive 10”. I think this is an error, but I'll list it here just in case.

One of the most interesting bottling companies in RI was the Rhode Island Bottling Co. Olneyville, RI. While the company never moved, it was listed in three different towns. This aqua example is unlisted.

Possibly a poorly described RI-827, this A.F. Cappelli Providence, RI blob has AtwellsAve running together.

I thought I had all the Zucker bottles, but apparently not! This S.H. Zucker & Co. Pawtucket, RI. This one has a period after Pawtucket.

Winter Finds #5 2016

Ah yes, the nearly omnipotent Property of Providence Bottling Co. Providence, RI is back again! This is the script blob example that has periods after Good and Registered.

While the Providence versions are very common, the Louis H. Meyer Olneyville, RI blobs can be quite tricky to come by. This one is listed as RI-1305, but at 9-1/2” is an unlisted size. The listed example is 9”.

A McKenna Bros. Providence, RI blob turned out to be an unlisted version of an unlisted version. Pardon my redundancy. This blob has an oval slugplate, which is unlisted. I have an example with an oval slugplate, but the monogram design is different, and there is no period after Bros.

A familiar looking Thos. Grimes & Bro. Inc. Providence, RI blob was not quite what it seemed. Almost identical to RI-1071, it has a comma after Providence which 1071 lacks.

Significantly harder to find than the Thos. Grimes, a W.H. Grimes Co. Pawtcket, RI crown top. This is the only Grimes blob/crown to have Co. on it. Additionally North and Street are spelled out too.

 

Winter Finds #4 2016

Out of all the bottles I got in the blob collection (listed and unlisted) one of the most exciting was a Moritz H. Meyer Providence, RI. A rare bottle in aqua, this one was amber! Amber blobs from RI are of the extremely scarce nature, only 4 bottlers used them (now 5). With the addition of this bottle, I just need one more to complete my amber RI blob run.

An etched Caproni Bros. & Co. Prov. RI aqua blob was eerily similar to its clear counterpart, but is had Prov. RI etched all on the same line.

A James Lavell Fountain St. Providence, RI had street spelled out on it, something with none of the listed bottles have. That makes it my 6^th version!

One of my most wanted Providence blobs was the elusive R.H. Harvey Providence, RI. Ransford Harvey was the successor to George P. Harvey, and had no relation to Ira Harvey of the pontiled teepee soda fame. There are two versions listed, but one has Prov. Abbreviated and the other does not have the “this bottle not to be sold” blurb.

There's always room for another American Bottling Corp. Providence, RI. A machine made crown top, this is one of the newest bottles they put out. Interestingly, it has the date (1918) on the base. I have another with a date of 1917. Both are unlisted!