Post Show Meeting Pizza Party

Great Show!!

    OK, so, this is not an official ruling, but the newsletter writer is entitled to his opinion. . . .

    "The 2017 Kalamazoo Antique Bottle & Glass Show show was one of the best in my recollection!"

     Yes, I do know from a sell-out basis, a few of the tables went unsold, but it didn't look to me like there were very many. I felt the overall atmosphere was very upbeat. The dealers I spoke with all seemed very pleased with their sales results.

    I started getting some positive feelings the evening before the show at the hospitality suite. Everyone pitched in by bringing everything they had signed-up-for and everything was delicious!

    I especially want to thank Kevin for all the planning and organizing that he did! Oh, did I mention Kevin's BBQ? Man, that was a hit! It was great at the hospitality suite, and even better at the show!

    John Winkler put a BBQ sandwich together with some horseradish that he liked so much that I had to try that! My wife picked up the horseradish at Gordon Foods and it was pretty good! My father would say the highest honor for good horseradish is to say "That stuff will put hair on your chest!"

    Mike and I had the metal detector display ready for the show well over an hour early so we could monitor security at the northwest door. We just sat back and enjoyed watching the dealers as they filed through the door one-by-one with their handcarts piled high with precious antique treasure.

    The young man who was near our display, on the other side of the door, started off the show with some real bad luck. He had a huge three-table display loaded with lots of great, very affordable goodies! Right away I noticed a beautiful set of 4 Borden's ice cream sundae dishes.

    Of course, the very second I noticed them, I thought of my granddaughter, Madison! I know what you are thinking, "Every kid likes ice cream". . . right? Let me tell you, my little Madison (((LOVES))) ice cream!!! Just ask the guy who drives the Summer Song ice-cream truck. When she isn't at our house, I have to go out by the road and wave him on! How may times can you listen to "Pop-Goes-the-Weasel?"

    Yes sir! I had my eye on those little ice cream dishes as I watched the dealer haul more and more treasures in to add to his display. Suddenly, I hear (((SMASH))) the crashing and shattering sound of breaking glass, lots of breaking glass! I turned to see what happened, and I see a box turned upside-down on top of a 'mountain' of broken glass! It looked like a full case of fruit jars had flipped off his cart, landing on the sidewalk, with every single jar breaking!

       It was really a heart breaker to learn it was an original large Dazey Butter Churn! They do make reproductions of these churns, but this was the genuine article!

    I asked what he valued his loss. He said that he was hoping to get $150.00 for it. The good news was that the crank, gears and paddles were not hurt. I am fairly certain his churn was a number 40 which is the large 4-quart size. The bad news is the 'original' #40 jars are about $180.00 online.

    I did some research on the Dazey churns, and I learned there are a number of varients, as well as a  number of reproductions! I won't go into identifying the fakes here, but one of the current scams making the rounds is the pint and half-pint size churns being sold as "salesman's samples" and child's churns, Dazey never made anything such-as-this! The full size #10 (1-qt) #20 (2qt), #30 (3qt), #40 (4qt), #60 (Walton's size) can be identified as real or fake by the length of the wooden crank handle and the shape of the holes in the gears.

    All the dealers were in the building and busy arranging their displays, when (((SMASH))) we all heard more glass breaking and it was the same dealer!

    About two hours into the show we heard another (((SMASH))) yep, it was the same dealer! This time it was some dairy bottles!

    Now I thought, if I want to buy the Borden's sundae dishes . . . the time is now! Originally I was having trouble deciding to buy. Now things were different; it was more a matter of rescuing them!

    When I went over to make the deal, I saw that they were marked $69.00 for the set so I asked, "What is the best you can do on these?"

    He leaned forward, looked to the left, then to the right and softly asked, "For you, Al?"

    I nodded yes, . . . he replied, "Fifty dollars."

    I was looking over his amazing stuff when I spotted a rare Auburn rubber truck from the 40's in army green with a crest and the USA-Army symbol. I asked, "How much for the truck?"

    He replied after a glance to the left, then to the right, "For you, Al?"

    I was tickled with my purchases! A short while later, John Winkler and Ron Smith came over to talk with Mike and me when John asked, "Did you see that Michigan Brand Horseradish bottle?"

    I said, "No, where did you see it," as he pointed to the same table!

    I picked it up and asked, "What's MY price on this bottle?"

    He looked both ways and said, "I can take $15.00 for it."

    As the show moved along, the dealer who was selling on the other side of me was creating quite a stir. He had some choice antique bottles. I enjoyed watching Mark McNee standing at the dealer's table picking up bottle after bottle. I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. I was thinking, "The master at work."

    I really do enjoy watching someone who knows what they are doing. I watched Steve DeBoode walking from table to table, picking up certain gems and giving them that careful exam. I would have loved to read his mind!

    I really do mean that. I was thinking that long before Mark handed me a large envelope saying, "This is for you."

    I want to thank both of these great friends for gifting me some awesome Otsego advertising pieces . . . I sure wasn't expecting that! I am truly blessed!

    Have you ever wished you were expert enough to pick up an antique bottle, knowing exactly what to look for?

    If you carefully study the category of collectables that interest you , you can avoid being cheated. Very often we can be thankful that God made bad people very stupid. Two of the metal detector manufacturers that I represent, have their products being counterfeited and flowing unto the market.

    I had a Minelab GPX 5000 that I posted on e-Bay. I knew the complete history of this detector because I was the original dealer. We are talking about a detector that sold for $5,000.00 new, and I wanted $3,500.00 for this used one. One can hardly blame a potential buyer for wanting me to assure him that it was a real GPX 5000 and not one of the fakes.

    Minelab sent each of their dealers a special tool to view the hologram through. If it is factory-correct, a secret word will appear through the viewer. Of course with my recent move I cannot find anything! The frustrating thing really is knowing that this detector is real, but who on earth is going to take my word for anything. For heaven's sake, man, I voted for Trump! So, I called Minelab for help.

    The tech guy said, "Al, look at the label with the serial number and tell me how 'Minelab' is spelled."

Of course by now I am a little puzzled. "Excuse me?"

    He responded, "If it were fake, you would have known it right off the bat, but the first clue is these dumb***es can't spell!"

    Another one was from the company I have represented longest, "Garrett Electronics" based in Garland, Texas. This time the counterfeiter was also in Texas, even in the same city! Garrett had developed a security walk-through detector for weapons detection at airports. Within one year the D-Tex company had a similar walk- through detector. These manufacturers keep a close eye on each other by obtaining and dissecting each other's product.

    I have actually been the source for some of these detectors-for-autopsies. . . sort of like a double agent! In the case of this walk through detector, the D-Tex circuit board had been removed by Garrett for inspection.

    Circuit boards are easy to reproduce with the right equipment, it is simply a matter of screen printing. You take a photo of whatever you want to copy with a P.M.T. camera and produce a 'film positive.' Then a silk-screen is covered with a special solution and the film-positive is laid over the screen. Next the screen is exposed to bright light. In the military the bright light is sunshine . . . except in Michigan.

    Once the screen is 'burned' or exposed, the screen is rinsed with water leaving the exact pattern of the circuit on the screen. Then, with the screen over the material to be printed on, a special flux agent is screen-printed on the board. Then the board is covered with hot solder. The only place the solder will remain is on the pattern of flux. . . right down to the very smallest detail!

    The circuit board in the D-Tex walk-through security detector had, in one corner, in very tiny letters, some numbers and the words 'GARRETT ELECTRONICS!"

    A federal judge closed D-Tex forever.

    I talked with several dealers who were very pleased with their sales! I do not recall ever seeing such a huge box of raffle tickets in the prize raffle drawing!

    I do know the winner of the Treasure Master metal detector was a guy in the same apartment building where Bill Drake lives. Naturally I figure Bill sold him the ticket? What never ceases to amaze me is almost always someone wins the detector who would rather have money!

Before the drawing I upped the ante buy donating a product Whites calls "Gear-Up" which includes a $100.00 pin-pointer, a stainless digger, treasure apron, Whites ball cap, and headphones. When the winner called Chuck to arrange to pick-up his prize, he inquired about a cash option, which Chuck paid him out of his personal fortune. You made a great deal, Chuck!

        With the bottle meeting still in my shrinking memory, I have to rely on photos to remember the meeting and, of course, I have the sign in sheet. At the April meeting we saw the following dignitaries: Ron Smith, Kelly Bobbitt, Scott Hendrichsen, Mary Hamilton, Bill Drake, Kevin Siegfried, Jeremy Winkworth, Vincent Grossi, John Winkler, Eddie Nickerson and Allan Holden.

       Vince brought in a nice amber chemist bottle labeled COUMARIN, Bruen Richey Co. New York.

      As Vince told us, it has a sweet odor, readily recognized as the scent of newly-mown hay, and has been used in perfumes since 1882. Coumarin is used in certain perfumes and fabric conditioners. Coumarin has been used as an aroma enhancer in pipe tobaccos and certain alcoholic drinks. In general, it is banned as a flavorant food additive, due to concerns regarding its hepatotoxicity in test animals.

Jeremy Winkworth brought in some neat Upjohn bottles. One was a 1-pound jar of Upjohn Massaging Cream. One has to wonder if this was from Madam Hobb's Beautifying Parlor?

Another labeled bottle was Upjohn Cheraco Syrup which was a limited edition reproduction issued during Upjohn's 100 year centennial in 1986.

Another interesting Upjohn- labeled bottle with contents was a pill bottle Rhubarb & Blue Mass. Blue Mass was a common drug used in the 1800's made up of elemental mercury. Blue Mass was used to treat syphilis, worms, stroke, Tuberculosis, toothaches, and constipation.

The rumor is that President Lincoln took blue mass for certain ailments and it could be blamed for depression and fits of rage. Of course being President during the deadliest war in American history may have played a key role.

Kevin showed us some awesome stuff as always! Two related items were a small pine box made with dovetail joints from Kalamazoo Optical and a nice Kalamazoo Optical screwdriver for glasses frames.

Kevin also displayed an early bronze inkwell with a stand, featuring a feather quill pen.

A real stunner was a beautiful book by R.L. Dodge, Thirty Three Years Among Our Wild Indians. I did a little checking on line and this book can bring some big numbers! Book collectors are a fussy bunch and I only know enough to be dangerous.

I am very familiar with the author R.L. Dodge. I have personally sold hundreds of copies of his books Michigan Ghost Town of the Upper Peninsula and also Michigan Ghost Towns of the Lower Peninsula. They are excellent books for research written around 1910.

The metal detector users love these books for research. Most people are surprised to learn that we have many more ghost towns in Michigan than all of the old west combined! Sadly the treasure hunters learn many of these locations have been redeveloped and are now on private property. To me, research is the fun part of treasure hunting.

Kevin also brought in a very cool Bible Commentary from the 1800's, which I was happy to buy! To think; a book of over 150 years old, written about a book 6000 years old!

Scott has a bottle that is about a cool as any can get (my opinion) SCHENCK'S PULMONIC SYRUP.

Just read this little excerpt for one of their ads;

"This Syrup will search through every blood vessel, equalizing the circulation, preventing hemorrhage, separating the bile from the blood, making it healthy and the circulation natural. With the aid of the Seaweed Tonic and Mandrake Pills, the system resumes its healthy condition, the purulent matter, abscesses, and all ulcerations of the lungs must yield to their power!"

Dude, that's what I'm talking about! I think the FDA has taken away all the good stuff!

Scott also shared with the club a very cool Chicago bottle RED DRAGON FLAVORING EXTRACT. It has a dragon embossed on the bottle, which adds to the fan base!

I have to move along because of time. I had a chance to talk with my very dear friend Ernie Lawson this week. Ernie had a little down spell and has been relocated to a medical assisted living wing of Friendship Village. He has been doing somewhat better and he sounded good.

Also, we missed Chuck at the last meeting, and this month he will not be at the club meeting as he is scheduled for knee replacement surgery. Hey, he has a new metal detector . . . after all!

We will be meeting at the library as usual. Then, after a brief meeting, we will be going down to Bimbos for a Pizza Party!

Sadly Chuck won't be there, but having his knee fixed is something he is looking forward to. This will be a tough time at the Parker home, as both Chuck and Connie will be recovering! Please keep our friends in your prayers.

This is the last meeting before we go on summer break. We will not be getting together again after this month until our September meeting, Lord willing. I hope each one of you have a healthy, happy summer!

See you at the meeting!

The Kalamazoo Antique Bottle Club
Meets At The Downtown Kalamazoo Public Library Located At 315 South Rose Street

We meet on the third floor in the conference room. This meeting is Tuesday, May 9th

Meeting starts 7:00 pm.

For questions e-mail: prostock@net-link.net

Or call

269-685-1776