Growing Branches: The Bottle Show (part 2)

Well, we went to the Bottle Show and had a really nice day.

There were bottles galore!!!

James read an article about bottle enthusiasts digging antique bottles up out of old privies. Apparently the outhouse also doubled as trash can. These folks use old maps to located homesteads old enough to have privies and then use a bottle probe to poke around behind the location of the home looking for the outhouse. The bottle probe is a sturdy wire with a handle that together form the shape of a T. The probe is long and can reach 6 feet into the soil. When the probe is pulled up from the soil, the material stuck to the tip is evaluated. If the material is clay, then more probing is needed, but if the material is ash, then it might be time to dig. Experienced privy diggers can also distinguish between the sound the probe makes when it hits a rock compared to the sound it makes when it hits glass.

I don't want to start digging in privies, but I can see how the hunt could be an exciting hobby.

There were plenty of soda bottles too!

My favorite bottles each year are the cathedral pickle bottles, or know by their correct name as Willington Cathedral Pickle Jars. They are from the mid 1800's with sides shaped like cathedral windows and they did hold pickles. The aqua ones are the most common, yellow and green are more rare, and amber ones are the rarest of all. The jars in this picture were selling for $250. (I am just a pickle bottle admirer, not owner!)

I didn't realize that the official name of the show was......

Our friend Jimmy Morris was there. He and my husband have been friends a long time. James worked several auctions for Jimmy back in the day. Jimmy likes to say that he got started by making money off of James by buying "little toy cars at garage sales for $1 and then selling them to James for $10". James doesn't mind the telling of this story because he always adds that he would "turn around and sell those little cars for $100".

Anyway, Jimmy has moved on from garage sales and auctions to selling antique advertising signs. He's also moved on from $1 items to the big time. The Mountain Dew sign below is from 1965 and was priced at $2400. Needless to say, it didn't go home with us!

There were other vendors selling antique odds and ends. I was able to get both my mom's and sister's birthday gifts.

After leaving the bottle show, we made our way to the Mayflower Cafe', only to find out that it didn't open until 4:30. It did have an iconic "feel" though and we will try again in the future.