Capital Region Antique Bottle and Insulator Club Show

Overview of the showroom.

Capital Region Antique Bottle and Insulator Club Show

This Show Goes On Despite The Weather

The Albany Bottle Club (Capital Region Antique Bottle and Insulator Club) held its 20th annual show and sale last November 20th despite the bad weather that hit the area. Once again the show was held at the Polish Community Center on Washington Ave. Extension, a really nice place to have a show.

I got up early that morning ready to get around and spend a day at the show. When I looked out the window I noticed we had three inches of snow on the ground. I thought, “Oh, great,” because I had loaded the van the night before and parked it in the garage so I could just jump in and take off. It is nice to have a heated garage that I keep at 50 degrees, but I had not put my winter tires on the van yet. Once outside I thought about putting everything in the truck and driving that. But being born and raised in the northeast. I knew I could drive there OK with the summer tires.

As I got closer the weather got better for me and it was all rain. I learned once I arrived that the guys coming in from Massachusetts had over 12 inches of snow and that would mean they would not be coming. Once I got there, spirits were high and a few dealers were missing that are always there. Once again this year, the club had nice juices, coffee and donuts for all the dealers.

Jason Privier serviced again this year as show chairman. Jason takes great pride in doing the show and always tries to make everyone happy. I walked around and visited with the dealers for a while and of course the number one question was how many tables are sold for the 2017 Springfield National? The answer is over one third are gone.

The one thing I have to say is I was shocked when the day before I was told all the rooms I blocked for Wednesday were gone. I quickly contacted the hotel and Steve, our contact, was able to raise the rooms. I believe the Wednesday night rooms went quickly because I had gone lighter than the other nights and once we released plans for the Springfield Armory museum open house event for the dealers, displayers and helpers the rooms went fast.

The Albany Bottle Club has a great bunch of guys who work hard to promote the hobby. We are so lucky to have a few of them helping with Springfield in 2017. Fran Huges will be handling the displays and I can’t wait to see the fantasy jug Jim Healy comes up with for Springfield. The one he made for Tennessee in 2015 was a killer.

I have to also tell you that the displays at the Albany show are always great. Today, so many shows don’t even have displays. These guys always have four or five really nice displays and I hope they sign up with Fran to do some at Springfield.

So even with the bad weather the show was a lot of fun and all who came enjoyed themselves. Great job, guys, and we will see you again next year!

Jim Bender
FOHBC Historian
FOHBC 2017 Springfield National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo Co-Chair

Very nice display of loop glass by John Ackner.

Albany beer display by Jason Privier.

Beautiful bird stoneware display by Art Dell

As always I was glad to the FOHBC info was available at the front desk.

Dave Olson and Rick Ciralli talking about a nice pickle bottle Dave was selling. Can’t wait to see Rick call the Bottle Battle in Springfield as he is Master of Ceremonies for the event.