Spring Finds #3 2016

With the weather warming up, I have been able to return to my beloved salt marsh dump. It was definitely worth it when I dug a Gorman & Connole East Greenwich, RI blob! There is one listed, but it has East Greenwich abbreviated as Ea. Greenwich.

I was quite happy to get my second example of the rare Frank Watson Peace Dale & Narragansett Pier, RI medicine, even though it was heavily damaged. You could imagine my surprise when I found out it was a different size than my other example!

A visit to a gnarly (aka tough) dump to dig in northern RI produced a nice Rousseau & Brown Woonsocket, RI medicine. This is my second Rousseau & Brown in this shape (round with a flat panel), which is unlisted.

Ebay gave me a good surprise when a John E. Groff Newport medicine got listed. Newport meds are of the more elusive nature, and when a completely unlisted one from the early 1880s showed up, I had to have it!

Within walking distance from my house is a nice TOC city dump I visit fairly often. My latest find was a J. Fred Gibson Co. Providence, RI in an unlisted 3-1/2” size.

Spring Finds #2 2016

While former RI bottle collector extraordinaire Al Otis no longer collects bottles, he still has his game! He spotted a construction site in Cumberland with bottles lying all over the place. Needless to say it was a field day! A mega crier Paterson Bros. & Co. Valley Falls, RI medicine was still fun to find. This 8” behemoth has different embossing than the listed Paterson bottles.

Another exciting find was my first P.J. Gaskin Valley Falls, RI medicine. Well, make that two! I found the listed 3-1/2” size, as well as an unlisted 6” size.

Perhapst the biggest surprise in the dump was a completely unlisted Redman & Sands Pawtucket, RI medicine. Shaped like a common Fletcher's Castoria, it gave me quite the surprise when I read the embossing!

The last bottle from the mega blob collection is one of the best! It's a McManus & Meade Nasonville, RI amber blob! Now McManus & Meade amber crown tops are pretty common, but blobs? This is the first one I've seen! There is a McManus blob listed, but it says Western Hotel on it, which this one does not.

One of the most common RI medicine bottles around is the famous Dr. Hayne's Arabian Balsam Providence. If it wasn't for their appealing 12-sided shape I would have grown sick of them a long time ago. All of the handmade examples (except for a large size) are aqua, so when I saw a clear one it was certainly a surprise!

Spring Finds #1 2016

At long last, spring has arrived!  Well, after two more snow storms, I can't say I was completely convinced, but the ground isn't going to freeze, so it's open season!

The Enfield, CT show is a small yet fun show that heralds the end of Winter. I was ablet to meet a collector who was kind enough to sell me his unlisted Westminster Hotel Chas. Leonhardt Providence, RI whiskey. Not only is it unlisted, but it is the only flask from RI embossed with a hotel name!

Another bottle from the “mega blob” collection was a Providence Brewing Co. Providence, Rhode Island crown top. I pretty much figured I had it, but when I cross-examined it, surprise! It was an oval slugplate, while my versions have round slugplates.

One of my favorite additions from the giant blob collection was a completely unlisted Frank Cardullo & Michael Corigliano Admiral St. Providence, RI. It's the only RI blob that has two bottlers with their names spelled out completely, and the address is local to me!

Ah yes, another minor McKenna & Conaty Providence variant! This one has a monogram variation.

My size run from the most successful drugstore in Pawtucket just got bigger! I added my 5^th size of the rectangular Fisk & Co. Druggists Pawtucket, RI medicine. Measuring 5-1/4", it is unlisted.

Winter Finds #10 2016

I'm back!  I'm sorry to keep you waiting on one of my inexplicable hiatuses, but rest assured, I'm ok, the bottles are fine, so let's get back to it! 

One of my favorite mystery dealers at a local antique shop delivered yet again! I spotted an embossed aqua blob, and to my delight it was embossed M.S. Horgan Newport, RI. I have two M.S. Horgan bottles, one crown top and one blob, but they are both clear. This is an unlisted earlier example. Since aqua blobs from Newport are pretty hard to score, I gladly picked this one up despite the high sticker price.

In a recent trade with another collector, I was finally able to obtain a G.E.B. Fairbanks 394 Wickenden St. Providence, RI medicine. I had allowed two of these to slip past my fingers over the years, and as an added bonus the address was unlisted! G.E.B. Fairbanks was succeeded by his son, G.W. Fairbanks.

While not exactly a new unlisted bottle, I don't think I have covered it before in my blog. On occasion in dumps from the late 1930s-early 1940s I have dug a base embossed Warwick Club Ginger Ale Co. soda bottles. I have always suspected they were Drink Speedball, the orange soda, but haven't been able to confirm it until now!

Recently a fellow collector and I purchased a massive collection of bottles, mostly consisting of amber blobs. There were about two boxes of RI bottles, and that included a Prophet Spring Co. Providence, RI seltzer. While nothing fancy, it's uncommon and unlisted!

The same collector above has been thinning out his own collection, and he sold me my second version of the Warwick Club Ginger Ale Co. seltzer. Similar to my other example, they are both different.