FOHBC Regional News July–August 2023

Editor Note: With an abundance of reporting information and photographs in the July–August issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC), we are placing the entire Regional Directors report on our website with expanded coverage.

Northeast Region [Charlie Martin Jr., Director]

A recent Baltimore Antique Bottle Club (BABC) newsletter had a wonderful review of their 42nd Annual Bottle Show, held this past March 12, 2023. Not only was the show well attended, (with over 1,000 paid admissions….WOW! How great is that?), their list of volunteers is as large as many bottle clubs’ memberships. (Another….WOW!) Here is a snippet from their newsletter article. “All of our club’s admission volunteers did a great job selling tickets, hand stamping, and getting door prize cards filled out. The club’s hospitality table volunteers were all helpful in introducing and representing our club to attendees, answering their questions, assisting attendees with the show’s layout and selling the club’s merchandise. The club’s appraisal table is always a great asset for those who want to get an estimated value of their bottle(s).” We can all learn a great deal from the success of fellow bottle clubs. Hats off to one of the Northeast’s premier bottle shows. If you’ve never attended this show, do yourself a favor and be sure to put it on your “bucket list.” You will not regret it.

Aaron J. Weber, GVBCA Show Chair, sent along the following report of their 51st Club Show and Sale, held on April 16, 2023. “Well, another one is in the books…52 to be exact. The GVBCA Rochester Bottle Show, held at Roberts Wesleyan University, was a success. Now that the dust has settled, we can look back and say, Well, that was fun! Our show featured 200 dealer tables, with 110 dealers from 11 states. Great merchandise, including antique bottles, advertising, ephemera, glass, jewelry, stoneware, and more, was plentiful. Dealers reported strong sales, and we had 533 paid admissions. Our show still includes incredible displays, 10 of them using 14 tables.

“This year’s award-winning displays were Best of Show and People’s Choice, “Dr. Pettit’s American Eye Salve Co, of Fredonia, NY” by Vince Martonis, from Gerry, New York (pictured) and Most Educational, “White Springs Farm & Geneva Milk Co.” by Preston Pierce, from Canandaigua, New York (pictured). Once again, incredible displays by all! A huge thank you goes out to all who helped to make this year’s show a success; we had a very good club effort to pull off another great show and sale!” Mark your calendar, the GVBCA will host its 53rd Annual Show and Sale on April 21, 2024.

William Rose of the Little Rhody Bottle Club provided the following report of their Swap Meet held on May 13, 2023. “At 7:00 am, dealers started setting up their tables at Leonard’s Antiques on Route 40, 600 Taunton Avenue, Seekonk, Massachusetts. Table set up was free to anyone, not just club members, for an event that was open with free admission to the public. The Spring day was sunny and warm as the public stopped in to buy, sell, or trade bottles. Members came from as far away as Vermont and Pennsylvania.” Club members Tish Hewins, John DeSousa and Bob Lanpher took photos for the event. Two additional Swap Meets are scheduled later this season at the same location for June 10, 2023, and September 2, 2023.

Bottle show season is well underway here in the Northeast Region. Listed below are shows that you may be able to attend in July such as the Shupp’s Grove Summer Bottle Festival in Reinsholds, Pennsylvania on July 14-16. The following week, on July 23, the Capital Region Antique Bottle Club will host their Annual Show and Sale, at Mabee Farm Historic Site, in Rotterdam Junction, New York. For a full listing of shows go to FOHBC.org Show Listings.

Lastly, the FOHBC has released an invitation to host and hold the 2025 National Antique Bottle Convention in the Northeast Region. The Invitation “invites any Northeast Region Antique Bottle and Glass Club, Show, Institution, and Chairperson Consortium Team to indicate their willingness to host and hold the FOHBC 2025 National Antique Bottle Convention in a town, city or state” in that region. What a wonderful opportunity for our region! If you or your club would like more information or have any questions regarding the process of application you can reach out to Craig Cassetta, FOHBC Conventions Director at CCassettaFOHBC@gmail.com. You can also find the complete invitation for proposals at FOHBC.org.

Again, I would like to encourage all Bottle Clubs to connect with the FOHBC to ensure that their Club’s show is promoted in the best possible way. If there are any questions you have about submitting a show report or other information you need for your club, please ask. All of our directors are here to help your club prosper! Until next issue, happy bottle hunting!

Incoming pictures below from the 43rd Annual Saratoga Antique Bottle Show And Sale at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds, in Ballston Spa, New York on June 4, 2023. Hosted by the National Bottle Museum. Show chairs: Roy Topka, Adam Stoddard and Phil Bernhard.

Midwest Region [Henry Hecker, Director]

The Kansas Territorial Antique Bottle and Post Card Club held their show on April 2nd at the fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas. According to Mike McJunkin, one of the organizers, the show was a rousing success with 100 sales tables, many great displays of an eclectic assortment of inks, medicines, dairy, uranium glass, and insulators. The show was the club’s 16th annual, free to the public and well attended with brisk sales.

The North Star Historical Bottle Association in Minneapolis, Minn. held its 51st show on April 16th. Steve Ketchum reports that while tables were down somewhat, attendance and buying were very strong.

Of special note, FOHBC President Michael Seeliger attended and “scored” a vivid aqua Warner’s Safe Rheumatic Remedy that may be unique.

As a member of four history involved organizations, all requiring dedicated volunteers, several challenges strike me as paramount in maintaining the long-term viability of these bodies:
a) Continuous recruitment of new members.
b) Engagement with the public: other like organizations, schools, museums et al.
c) Marketing our contributions using every media possible with special emphasis on youth.
d) An executable strategic plan that includes formal fundraising and member cultivation at its core.
In my opinion, FOHBC is doing things right thanks to those dedicated volunteers!

Michael Seeliger (Wisconsin) and Michael Craig (Idaho) travelled together to Mansfield, Ohio for the 44th Mansfield Antique Bottle Show, Hosted by the Ohio Bottle Club, on 12 & 13 May 2023. Show chairs were Matt Lacy and Louis Fifer. Mike forwarded the following pictures.

Western Region [Eric McGuire, Director]

As we enter the active bottle show season here in the West I have heard nothing but good reports from shows. More to come and you can find the most complete upcoming shows right here in this magazine.

I would like to take a little of your time and reminisce. After eight decades of existence, I have a lot to reminisce about. We all have fleeting flashbacks about our past and, admittedly, much of mine can relate to bottles and some of the interesting people I have met on my journey through life. Naming a few would do injustice to those I didn’t name. At this moment I am thinking of one who is a little different from most.

I believe there would be general agreement that most bottle collectors are men, and in the digger–collector category, even more would be men. One woman stands out in my mind that fits the latter group and she was good at it too. I don’t believe I ever asked her how she got hooked on the digging and collecting hobby, but I saw her in action many times. Her name is Judy Miyasaki, and long retired from active digging, she definitely left her mark in the area of Central California. Many younger collectors only know her by name, but the older crowd still knows Judy as a legend as well. She held her own and was as dedicated as anyone I know.

Judy grew up in Modesto, California, but soon gravitated to the San Francisco Bay area where she honed her passion. It didn’t matter if it was a dump, privy, construction project, or other potential site, she would go 100 percent. In the 1960s Judy was ever present at the mud flats off Benicia, California, one of the toughest digging sites imaginable. The bottles were often ‘gold rush’ era but located three to six feet deep in the bay mud. Wooden boxes, or cribbing, had to be constructed in order to dig that deep in mud. The treasures were often bottles with nearly unmatched iridescence, and are still considered highly desirable today, even though that site is no longer available.

The photograph above is Judy, holding one of her favorite Benicia bottles. Collectors still refer to a ‘Benicia’ bottle as being an example having exceptional iridescence. Anyway, Judy was there—and many other places too. Her generally mellow demeanor belied her passion for the hunt—a truly exceptional person.

She no longer digs and quietly enjoys her memories, just as I am doing now. Regardless of denial, which only goes so far, the physical body can only take a limited amount of abuse, and I only hope most of you can push the digging part of collecting to its full limit. So much for that flashback.

Craig Cassetta submitted the following pictures from the the Golden Gate Historical Bottle Society’s 55th Annual Bottles, Antiques & Collectibles Show on 21 & 22 April 2023 in Antioch, California.

Southern Region [Tom Lines, Director]

As a newbie in this position, I managed to pull together a few Southern show reports with input from Brian Commerton and Keith Quinn. I look forward to getting more show reports from across the Southern Region once the Federation disseminates my contact information to member clubs and individual members. My email is Bluecrab1949@Hotmail.com. Please feel free to share your show experiences, digging adventures and flea market finds.

The Chattanooga North Georgia Antique Bottles & Advertising Show [See Website Report] occurred on March 18 at the humongous Dalton Convention Center. The final table count was somewhere around 175 to 185. Plenty of bottles for all tastes, from black glass to jars, flasks to ACLs. Stoneware and advertising were also plentiful. The crowd was fantastic for just being the show’s second year. Federation president Michael Seeliger was also present. The show featured hourly drawings for a variety of attractive prizes.

The Mobile Bottle Collectors Club’s 50th Annual Show & Sale in Daphne, Alabama, on March 25, had well over 100 sales tables and a large crowd. The Mobile Club continues its tradition of having a great show! I don’t know how many years in a row I’ve been there, and I can’t count them up on my fingers and toes anymore! There’s always a great selection of bottles and glass to be had. I managed to snag my first black glass mallet plus a screaming yellow open pontil utility.

Brian Commerton reports that The Greater New Orleans First Annual Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale was hugely successful on Saturday, May 20, in Mandeville, Louisiana. Thirty-three vendors had nearly 60 tables filled with a nice selection of bottles and collectibles. Public attendance was outstanding, with 350 to 400 people visiting to browse and buy. Next year’s show will increase to 70 tables. The 2024 show date is yet to be determined. A big thank you to show coordinators Peter and Sam Taggard for making the show happen. I’m looking forward to next year’s show.

Steve Holland and Keith Quinn, show chairs, report that the 3rd Annual Alabama Bottle & Antique Show (see Facebook Page) in Gardendale, Alabama, on May 20 was, without a doubt, their breakout show. “We had 85 tables, with early buyers lined up at 8:00 am (approx 25 total). The crowd and parking lot were full from 8:00 am until after lunch. We will be able to take Saturday this year and really build off it. We had new dealers and the positive word of mouth will lead to more new dealers and attendees next year. Every dealer and collector-buyer I spoke with said they had an outstanding show. We had one dealer from Michigan. Gardendale and the surrounding areas have really rallied around this event, and just for the record, next year’s show will be a 2-day event with dealer set-up on Friday.”

SEE MORE PICS!

On the near horizon is the 2023 Tallahassee Antique & Bottle Show coming up on June 17. That should be a good one. Please let me know your local show dates and news. Thanks!