MEMORIAL DAY AND COLLECTING

This past weekend the Washington Metropolitan area played host to the annual and national Memorial Day and weekend activities.  People come to this area from all over the land to honor Veterans, those who have served and to those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom.  They participate in a large variety of activities that are scheduled to honor those Veterans, many of whom are the loved ones of those people visiting the area.

Over the years, the honoring of the veterans has changed becoming the showcase for the whole nation.  Those like myself, who have lived in this region for many years, are happy to see the large participation by so many who come to the Washington region each year to honor a loved one, a friend, someone they served with during a service tour, and honoring their memory during this special weekend.   The entire weekend becomes a unique and unifying experience for all the people.  The activities are very special.   Each day of the weekend has various activities to participate in. During the days preceding the Memorial Day weekend, we see a large increase in the number of Washington DC visitors consisting of thousands of motorcycles, the cyclists and their families, tour buses loaded with people, and thousands of different types of other motor vehicles.  Hotels and restaurants become meeting places for old friends and new friends.  American flags, and MIA flags are visible everywhere.  Not only do we see American Flags but also flags of other countries, a large number from Canada.   As the number of years has passed, the number of participants has increased significantly.  For a local resident and veteran this weekend makes me very happy to see.

On Sunday the day starts off early with motorcyclists meeting at the Pentagon parking lots.  From the Pentagon these vets and their families ride along a special route that passes Arlington Cemetery to the Memorial Bridge.  For those of you who do not know Washington, one end of the Memorial Bridge is at the foot of the Lee-Custis Mansion and the eternal flame plot of JFK and the other end of the bridge is the Lincoln Memorial.  The cyclists ride across the bridge, go around the Lincoln Memorial and arrive at the Vietnam Wall.  This ride has become known as “Rolling Thunder”.  Started 25 years ago by a few Vietnam veterans, who wanted to express their support for their fallen comrades and express their frustrations because the US government had forgotten these men and women.  Over the years Rolling Thunder as grown into a national demonstration of support for the Vietnam veterans. People come from all over this country and Canada to participate in this ride. Over the years the number of participants in Rolling Thunder has increased significantly with a number this year exceeding 40,000 in riders and participants.  This year’s theme was to acknowledge the 50^th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam conflict. Since President Reagan, all presidents past and sitting recognize the importance of Rolling Thunder and acknowledge the contributions these veterans have made to heal the wounds of many of the Vietnam veterans.

On Sunday morning it is traditional for the President to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery and the cemetery is open to all visitors without a pass.

This year, President Obama also visited the Vietnam Wall and left a special wreath at the wall and spoke about the contribution to freedom that was made by all Vietnam veterans.  This was in recognition of the 50^th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam conflict.

On Sunday evening it is traditional that the West grounds of the Capitol house the Memorial Day concert. The Joint Chiefs of Staff host the concert and Gary Snees and Joe Montania are the emcees.  Guest performers from all areas of music, stage and screen participate along with the National Symphony.  The concert is generally attended by 200,000 to 500,000 people each year.  It has become so popular that the concert can be seen across the country on PBS stations. The concert is concluded by an out standing fireworks demonstration.

On Monday, the actual Memorial Day, Washington, D.C. puts on a grand parade.  Bands and floats, dancers, and military groups march down Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.  In the reviewing stands are people of all ages and ethnicities including the President and the first family and many other dignitaries, along with thousands of people who line the parade route.

This blog posting featured the events that occurred in Washington, D.C. during this special Memorial Day weekend because of its importance to our nation and our veterans as well as demonstrating how these events have grown over the past 25 years from a small beginning to an extremely large and important series of events.  Like the changes that have occurred to the Memorial Day events, so too has this blog grown.  It is now an international site with a large and ever-growing audience.  It is an avenue where people can ask questions, make comments, and discuss collecting issues that occur in the US and in other countries.  We encourage those of you who read the blog to write articles for the blog that pertain to issues related to your particular part of the world.

Our advisory board is beginning to fill in from around the world. We call for individuals to write articles for the blog and advise the blog on the bottle hobby in their part of the world.  The idea of sharing thoughts, experiences, and special events occurring in their part of the world with the blog, is moving toward reality.  Several positions are still open for someone from Canada, Australia, and the UK to fill.    The slots should be filled by individuals who have a background in bottle collecting, understand various categories of bottles, be able to attend shows, and write articles on what they see and what others show them.  From there, the person should be able to share the information with the blog audience giving them the positive and negative elements so that the hobbyist is not misled.

This week we received a request for information about Ron Barnes and Mel Demelo.  They wanted to know the backgrounds of these 2 men as it related to Owl Drug and the history of Owl Drug during the timeframe they were active in collecting Owl Drug.  Their participation in collecting Owl Drug has long since passed and they are no longer active.  One person whose name was not mentioned but should be included in Owl Drug collecting is Kent Beach.  Kent resides in the Pacific Northwest.   With the disappearance of Mel and Ron from the Owl Drug scene, Kent became the premier Owl Drug collector in the West.  He put together a substantial collection that he maintained for many years until he sold a large substantial portion of his collection.  Periodically Kent participates with the blog sharing some of his thoughts and insights.   His comments are always welcome. Quite often his comments provide the blog audience with a different perspective that is most valuable and useful.

Now turning to The Owl Drug Handbook, Volumes I and II.  The sales of the first printing of these handbooks have been very successful and are almost gone. Those wishing to purchase this 2-volume set at the original price of $67.95 should order them quickly.  Once they are gone, the publisher has told me that the 2^nd printing will cost more due to higher costs.

For the past year or so, the blog has pointed out the existence of major issues related to bottle shows.  Most of these issues are never addressed.  Those who organize and run the bottle shows wonder why other methods are working better for collectors than their shows.  With the advent of technology coupled with other methods, collecting has become a changing and ever-expanding situation especially for those who understand these changes and how technology can be an effective tool.  It will be interesting to see how the Federation show in July in Reno turns out and if they address the issues raised and the frustrations experienced by so many collectors.  When dealer-to-dealer chooses to exclude the average collector and keeps the “goodies” for themselves, it is no wonder why people would stay away.  To have hundreds of dealers at a show is outstanding.  However, dealer-to-dealer deals exclude the public from participation and create a false success for a show.  In professional business shows, be they national or international, vendors are required to submit the extent and content of what they are exhibiting and/or at a given show.  In that way the participant knows ahead of time what merchandise is going to be present.  At no time does a bottle show require a vendor to present a list of the items he or she is showing or selling at the show.  It frequently is the situation where there is so much repetition among dealers that there is very little variety.  If the participant knew in advance they might not even attend.  In a sense this practice guarantees attendance but more than likely not a positive outcome.

Most recently I obtained a “RIGO” poison bottle in cobalt.  I had been looking for one of these bottles for some time.  My request for someone in Canada to help me out came to fruition.  This entire process of procuring this bottle was accomplished through the blog, email, and computers.  The cost of such a bottle was reasonable and I did not have to go through the trauma of negotiating with a dealer.  As it turned out  this entire process was through technology.  No one had to travel, spend money on hotels, airfare, gas etc.  I was able to see the item through photos and did not have to go to a show with the hope of perhaps finding one there.  To those of you interested in obtaining items for your collections, consider technology as a partner in your search.  It can be done without stress and very rewarding, as this example illustrates.

Disclaimer:  All information contained within this blog is copyrighted and the sole property of the Owl Drug Collectors Blog.  Reprinting or reproducing any of the information must receive prior permission from the Owl Drug Collectors Blog.

DIGGING AND THOUGHTS

This week on my return to the office, I found E-Mail from a young man from Australia about “digging” for bottles. It turns out in Australia, there are Opal mines and people dig underground to find these Opals, bring them to the surface, and sell them to Opal brokers. He asked the blog was bottle digging similar to this process in the U.S.A.

The reason I bring this example to the blog audience is to let bloggers know that others in different parts of the world read our blog, find it interesting, and are trying to understand the different aspects of the bottle hobby in the U.S.A.

So let me take a few minutes to talk about “digging”. It seems many people in the hobby do not have a clue what it’s all about. Today “digging” is done by only a few and done poorly at best.  Where do you suppose new bottles for the hobby come from for the collector to add to his collection?  In the old days they came from “digging”.  From one dump in Chico, I dug over 5,000 items, mostly bottles, but also milk glass items, pottery items, marbles, spoons, doll/parts, money, dishes, and plates just to name a few.  I leaned how to clean the items, understand their values, and where to sell them.  In fact, they helped me get through college by supplementing the little bit of money I received fro the GI Bill to go to school.

Today, digging, the type done by the president of the Baltimore Bottle Club, is typical of the attitude people have of digging, if anything at all.  It is characterized by illegal search on private or government property and an attitude of arrogance toward the law.  Perhaps what is even more atrocious is the acceptance and disregard by the various club members and even the Federation.  These club members should be appalled by illegal behaviors instead of ignoring the activities.  What should be occurring is for bottle clubs to provide instructions about where to dig and how to dig.  They should sponsor digging outings for their members and their members’ children.  In this way, the children are brought into the hobby of bottle collecting and the joy of the adventure.  This would help to prevent the continuation of “its all in the money” aspect of bottle collecting that so dominates the hobby today.  Many bottle collectors today have no idea or experience with digging and where bottles come from or even care.

Most recently a seller put Jensen’s booklet on Ebay for sale.  His description states “it is a illustrated guide with pricing for Owl Drug bottles and related products”.  It is a 128-page booklet dated 1968 with pictures and brief descriptions of the items and supposedly a complete history of the Owl Drug Company on 65 pages of the booklet.  The rest of the booklet does not pertain to Owl Drug at all.  This booklet is outdated, incomplete, and misrepresents the Owl Drug Company and its so-called “history”.  To those of you who have viewed this item you will realize that the seller has failed to properly represent the Owl Drug company, misled Ebayers, and knows very little about the company, its products, and why this company’s items deserve to be collected and valued, for the sole purpose of selling this booklet.  It is apparent that the seller, as so often is the case with Ebay, could care less and is only interested in people bidding on this booklet.  To the 4 to 6 people who bid on this item, you should have done your homework before bidding on this incomplete, incorrect, and aged piece of information known as the Jensen booklet.  To be so fooled by what this Ebayer is trying to put over on the public can only happen when people do not prepare properly, do their homework or know what is fact from fiction, know what they are bidding on, and several other key skills before bidding on Ebay.  If those who bid on this booklet, had wanted verified and supported information on the Owl Drug Company of San Francisco they should have purchased the 2-volume set of The Owl Drug Handbook by David Levine.  This 2-volume handbook is truly an illustrated and factual guide to the origins, contributions, leadership, and products of the Owl Drug Company of San Francisco.

It behooves bottle clubs and the Federation to promote this 2-volume set of Owl Drug Handbooks to provide the correct and verified information to the bottle hobby.  The author of these handbooks is willing to come to your club meetings and speak and answer questions on the Owl Drug Company of San Francisco.  A great deal of additional information has been obtained about the company since these handbooks were published.  Such information would also be included in his presentations.  Why is this not happening?

To the emailer from Australia, digging in the US is different from the type of Opal digging that you described to me.  Bottle digging can be found in many parts of this country.  Often people experience problems in getting the proper permission to go on the properties to dig and to obtain permits to be able to dig.  Many people, in their rush to dig and make money, have violated people’s properties, and/or state or federal lands.   All of these characteristics gave digging a dirty name or negative activity.  Eliminating the “digging element” from the bottle hobbyist has removed an important source of new bottles and low prices for the beginner collector.  Since that source either no longer is available or rarely available, the bottle hobby has been severely crippled.  It is like a ship without a rudder.  It has no function, leadership, or direction.

Bottle clubs, particularly in areas where digging could be done, have failed to support this activity.  They do not put on annual “digs” for their club or family members.  They do not work with state or local authorities to find areas where digging would be possible and help in getting permits.  This activity could be an important activity to the hobby and the club itself.

Last week on my return, I was given the name of Marty Hall.  Marty is the chairperson for the Federation show in July and a member of the Reno bottle club.  During a visit with a fellow bottle collector, I was shown some work on bottle repair that had been done by Marty.  I was highly impressed with Marty’s work and wanted him to do some work for me as well as recommending him to others who have asked me about bottle repairs.  I called Marty and was told by him that he is not doing this type of work anymore, but that he has trained others to do this type of work.   I was very disappointed that he no longer does this work.  I asked him to send me the names of individuals that he has trained and currently do the work and that he felt could do a good job.  The blog gets many requests from individuals from around the US and the world to have a contact for such work to be done.  I am hoping to hear from Marty soon with some information, as yet I have not heard from him.  Why?  If anyone does this type of work, look forward to hearing from you.  The blog tries to work with other groups or individuals to support the hobby.  We are always on the lookout for such groups or individuals.

As a final thought digging has been a very special part of my life and have loved the experiences throughout my entire adult life.  Starting with my college years and later when I worked in education, digging has always played a very important role. When I worked with youth groups during my role as an educator I took groups out on digging adventures in such places as Red Bluff, Weaverville and other locales in California.  Time has changed the focus of digging so much that today is it out of control, poorly managed and lost to the hobby except for a special few.   I am happy that I was able to participate in digging, gain the experiences from that activity and work with the youth to introduce them to digging.  I am sure I am not alone in having had great times and adventures while digging.  We have just begun to scratch the surface on the subject of digging and there will be more to come on this subject in future blog.

DISCLAIMER:  All information contained within this blog is copyrighted and the sole property of the Owl Drug Collectors Blog.  Reprinting or reproducing any of the information must receive prior permission from the Owl Drug Collectors Blog

COMPLETING THE FIELD TRIP

Yesterday I returned from the field trip I discussed in last week’s blog posting.  The entire time spent was truly educational, extraordinarily well worth all the time and effort and most importantly filled in many gaps related to Owl Drug and the Owl Drug Company that I have been searching for, for many years.  The people that we met were very friendly and extremely helpful sharing their time and information with me.  I appreciate all the efforts they extended to me.  I was able to meet and spend time with several legends in the bottle collecting hobby as well as speaking with others on the cell phone.  Unfortunately I was unable to meet and spend time with other individuals during this visit due to time constraints and geographical distances.  Hopefully on future trips I will be able to make those connections.

This trip provided me with new insights on the Owl Drug Company of San Francisco that have never been uncovered before. They relate to the company, its leadership and employees , locations of stores and why they were located where they were, and decisions for expansion across the country.  Therefore this company became one of the first regional companies coming out of the West that became a national company.  I was able to acquire approximately 500 documents including pictures, stories, articles, historical records and events, and other materials from this trip.  This information will become the basis for an additional book on the Owl Drug Company of San Francisco.  I estimate this process to complete the book will probably take a year.  Once published it too will be available for sale on the blog.

One of the most important aspect of this trip was the verification by major collectors that documentation not only supplements your collection, it enhances the historical and monetary value of any collection.  These individuals make sure that they look to obtain the documentation to supplement their collections whenever possible.  They see the connection between the item itself and the documentation that supports it and are actively pursuing that connection now.

Prior to my meeting with some of these legends, I was informed that they specialized in one particular type of collection.  This is far from the truth.  These individuals have numerous collections and work continually to improve and upgrade their collections.  It has always been my belief that varied collections are important as opposed to specializing in only one or two types of collecting.  Spending time with a collector is vital.  A great deal of information can be gained by all parties in those discussions.  Although bottle shows are useful and can be enjoyable, there is little time to be able to share enough time with another collector to make it valuable for both parties.  Sharing time and viewing other people’s collections provide you and the other collector with insights and even inspiration for your collecting.  Time after time I was able to see examples in these collections that I had never seen in all the 40 plus years of my collecting.  They pointed out characteristics that I was not aware of and now I have a better understanding when I search for or  look for some of these bottles for my collection.  We all can learn something new and should be striving to do so.

I also attended several collectibles shows where I was able to add some new items for my collections.  Also I visited a very large flea market where items from “soup to nuts” were sold.  My wife was thrilled with the ability to purchase cherries, apricots, and other fruits and vegetables.  Items included clothing, tools, and everything in between.  If you could imagine an item, it was there.  The only hangup would be trying to find it in such a large arena.  Our suitcases were bulging.  The airlines were not pleased with us on our return flight – too much stuff.

All in all this trip was a great experience and very valuable for a lot of reasons, in particular to the collecting process.  The West proved to be a mixture of exciting and new adventures as well as seeing sites and people different from those on the East coast.  Prices higher, more businesses closed, and lots of tattoos — did not make a difference between male or female!!!!

Turning to another subject, one that appears in blog searches and data.  People continually search for the history of the Owl Drug Company, a particular product produced by the Owl Drug company, what a value a product represents and how to collect in general.  Ninety per cent of this information is contained in the 2 Volume set of the Owl Drug Handbook.  The other 10% has been discussed in blog postings on a regular basis over the past 2 years.  For those of you interested in the history, the organization, the leadership, and/or the products, suggest you purchase a copy of the 2 volume set handbooks.  Feel free to contact the blog at owldrug2@gmail.com to purchase these books or any other items sold with the Owl Drug trademark.

NEW PRODUCTS FOR SALE

The blog has added to its Owl Drug store the following new products:  Unisex Owl Drug crew neck shirts.  They are all cotton and come in 2 colors:  black and blue.  Each shirt has the Owl Drug logo on the front and the back of the shirts.  The sizes available are:  Medium, Large, Xlarge and 2Xlarge.  Pictures of the shirts with pricing and shipping information is included on the following picture.  Please feel free to contact the blog at owldrug2@gmail.com to ask questions and/or place orders.  ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

OUT IN THE FIELD

This week I am coming from the “field”, as we say in the military.  For those who have a former military experience you know exactly what I mean.  For those of you without a miliary experience, it means out of the office in the field with the people who make this country work.   Periodically I leave the office to visit areas of this country, see people, go to a flea market, collectable show, auctions, etc.  This is how I relax, meet other collectors, find new materials, and generally learn more new collectables and insights.

Sometimes during a period like this, new thoughts will come to me that I can share with the blog as well.  The creative process comes to me during these moments of insight and quiet. Sometimes I will up with an idea that I  also pass on to the blog that will be helpful or useful to one who collects.  To some, this may sound strange, however, to me I have been doing this process for many years and so it seems normal to me    During my early years in college in California, I dug, went to flea markets, traveled and with people who collected, saw  a great deal, learned many collecting skills, and helped me to develop other skills that have been useful throughout life.  Many of these skills that I have learned I have passed them  on to my children and hopefully they too will pass them on to others.

Another reason I am out in the “field” is to locate and collect more data about the Owl Drug Company stores in the Oakland area.    This data will help complete the picture of the beginning, middle, and ending of this special and unique of the Owl Drug Company structure in Oakland.  There are many pieces of the puzzle about the Owl Drug Company Oakland connection that have been missing.  This “field” trip has provided me with many of the missing  puzzle pieces about history, location, and structure  and finding these pieces  has given me a great feeling.  Leaning about the Kirkland and Trowbridge connection recently was a great discovery.  It opened many new avenues to pursue for any Owl Drug collector and to learn about the Owl Drug Company Oakland connection that had not been   fully known before the blog started digging into its background and history.

Connecting the dots between the history and an example such as a glass bottle is what  the hobby of bottle collecting is all about.  This concept and the actual process is what bottle collectors  today are never taught and in many cases don’t care if they learn how to do research and connect the “so-called” dots.

If one thinks back to the example that I shared with the blog about the Owl Drug prop item at the Baltimore bottle show,  this is a case of a seller of an item who has little or no information about the items he is selling and could care less about researching any information about the item.  Instead he wants others to provide him the information without any consideration for the time and expense required to do the research.  Most recently I met a person in the field who does research.  She is a professional researcher and owns her research company.   She does research for lawyers, probate cases, geneology, etc. and is paid highly for her work.  She has been doing this for 17 years.  If the seller of this  prop or anyone who wishes information on aspects of Owl Drug  they need to do it themselves or pay for it.  Researches are paid just like electricians, plumbers, or any other professional for their services.

FRUSTRATIONS, EXPERIENCES, AND THOUGHTS

The discussion of last week’s blog posting created a loud cry from the blog audience.  The blog shared the comments of a bottle collector named Jason. I was haunted by those comments and experiences that he shared with the blog and his email.  I felt his pain and suffering.  I have been there, I know what it is like.  I know that there are many of you out there who have had similar if not the same experiences as Jason did and feel his pain as well.  It seems that Jason’s comments struck an important nerve in the blog audience as he expressed his frustrations and disappointments he encountered at the Golden Gate Bottle show and in bottle collecting in general.  We saw the readership of the blog double in numbers and geographic locations throughout the world.  Countries such as Denmark, Slovakia, Russia, and Ireland had participants who read the blog for the first time.  Obviously these experiences are not isolated to just the United States.

In the world of collecting, the collector faces a lonely experience.  Apparently there is no body or group of people to go to for the expression of disappointment or frustration.  No one wants to listen or help out.  This problem is not the sole issue of bottle collecting but collecting in general.  Collecting is primarily done in isolation because collectors like diggers do not reveal their sources or where they get their information or items because they fear someone will steal what they have found, will gain some type of monetary advantage or both.  In the past 2 years of doing the blog, this reality has come to fruition and has occurred often. Frequently individuals take information gained from the blog  for monetary gain instead of sharing it with others. The end result, they hope, is some form of monetary gain.  Instead of passing the information along for all to learn, they hoard whatever they find for themselves.  They believe that by hoarding they will gain advantage.  If that person does not realize its importance or how to properly use it, then the information does not become an advantage.  It is like having this great new tool, but do not know what its purpose is or how to use it, then why have the tool.  Today there are many collectors who have in their collections, items that they cannot identify what was it was used for, its relationship to other items in that category, have no documentation, or its history and origins, but still they believe their item is important and valuable.  Instead of learning about the items, the driving emphasis is all about monetary gain.  The bottle clubs and the Federation have no mechanism built within their structures to provide individuals, like Jason and many others, with the background skills to do research, where to go, and how to go about getting the necessary information to support their collections or individual items.  Both bottle clubs and the Federation will tell you that are not their function or their responsibility to provide their members with these types of skills.  They say that they are not set up for this type of activity.  To that the blog responds, why not?  If not you, who then?  How long do people have to cry out for this before some type of response occurs or bottle collecting disappears?

We return to the Baltimore bottle show that occurred in March 2012.  The example of the “so-called” Owl Drug prop item that I saw at the show is the same items that are currently up for sale on EBay for $1900.00.  This item has no paperwork, no documentation, and the seller has no idea where and when or if this item was part of the Owl Drug Company.  The condition of the item is questionable.  It has been repaired and repaired poorly, yet the seller fails to mention this condition in his description and still wants $1900.00.  This is a “JOKE”!  Most collectors would not know how to verify the authenticity of this item, if in fact it is real or valid.  That is the “real Joke”.  If you remember several postings ago the bog put up a picture of an Owl and asked the bog audience if it was real or fake.  Only one person, Kent, was able to properly identify the picture and where it came from, what it was related to, an approximate date and how it fit into the historical framework of The Owl Drug Company of San Francisco.

Turning the page, let us discuss for your consideration the example of Jason’s bottle of the Kirkland and Trowbridge medicine bottle.  If you remember a picture of the bottle was depicted in last week’s blog.  Jason has in his possession this medicine bottle.  I have in my possession the documentation to support the bottle and the existence of the Kirkland and Trowbriege drug store in Oakland, Ca.  In previous blogs we have discussed and shown how the Owl Drug Company of San Francisco bought out the Kirkland and Trowbridge drug store in 1895, converting it to an Owl Drug store. Jason has one piece of the story and I have all the documentation.  Separately these items have one value.  Together they have a different value.

Without the documentation and without the knowledge of its existence, Jason just had an example of a medicine bottle.  When you put to the 2 together in the proper context, the value of these items changes dramatically.  That is not to say that it changes monetarily, but in this case it changes historically.  Its importance in the history of The Owl Drug Company of San Francisco is paramount.  Ideally, having both items together is the ultimate and what you are looking to do.  If there is anyone in the blog audience that has a Kirkland and Trowbridge medicine bottle, would you consider trading it or selling it so that I can make my item complete?  The blog would greatly appreciate it.

Returning to Jason, he like many others who read the blog, need to become more skillful in doing “research” or find someone who will assist him in learning or improving these skills.  If I lived on the West Coast, I would assist Jason or others in honing theses skills in support of their bottle collecting.  To the bottle clubs and the Federation I call upon you to have me visit with your representatives or have them visit with me to develop a program where such assistance can be given.  No person can be a successful collector without these skills and the proper tools available to us now.  Collecting has changed, how to collect has changed and skills required for collecting are different and challenging.  This worldwide hobby of collecting requires different approaches and tools to be a successful collector.

Will Jason fall through the cracks?  Since no one from a bottle club or Federation sees the importance of this situation, more than likely he will fall through the cracks, be lost to collecting and another individual will drop out of the collecting process.  No one will show any concern.  It happens everyday in the collecting process.  People come, people go. So why worry about Jason?  I maybe over dramatizing this issue a bit to emphasize this important problem, but I don’t think so.  Many of you readers who read these comments, say OK, and then go on with your business as if nothing ever happened or was said.  “Not my responsibility”.   What a typical response!  The blog apologizes to you, Jason, in advance for using you in this way.  You are one of many who have fallen into this situation.  To your credit you found an avenue in the Owl Drug blog to express your frustrations and concerns.  To you readers in the Bay area, is there anyone who can assist Jason?  If so, communicate with the Blog and we will put you in touch with Jason.

As my last thoughts for this week’s posting, I have been in communication with 2 legends in the world of bottle collecting.  They have collected for many years in 2 of the biggest areas of bottles that one could collect.  Their backgrounds, experiences, awareness of the hobby are at the top of the game.  I hope to meet with them next week, gain new insights from their years of collecting, view their collections, and share our hopes for the further growth of the hobby.  When we return we hope to share some of these insights with the blog.

OWL — NEW DISCOVERIES AND THOUGHTS

Where to start? There are a lot of subjects to discuss this week.  So I will start with discoveries about the Oakland Owl Drug store.  The documents, advertising, an unusual bottle, and other information about the Oakland Owl Drug store are just a small sampling the blog has found so far.  We have only begun to scratch the surface about the information on the Oakland Owl Drug store.  The entire process could take the blog a year or so to completely go through all the information on this subject, judging by its range and scope.  It is like being on a dig and you have discovered a “find” and you keep digging deeper and deeper as items keep being uncovered.  In other words, we will have to wait and see what develops.  The bottle, on the other hand, was a different story.  It was a “find” by chance.  Since the blog is always actively searching out sources for Owl items, finding something can happen anytime.  This bottle was one of those items we obtained as part of a group of Owl items we exchanged, traded, and paid cash for.    As a part of the package, we did not realize its rarity or importance until we started checking it out.

Having shared this thought with the blog, it is important to emphasize that without the Owl Drug Handbooks and other historical sources of information that we have obtained, these discoveries would never have happened.  Today it seems that people collecting bottles have never learned or forgotten how to do research, where to go for information or even when and where to dig for items.  Instead they want to take the easy way out. This is why “doctoring of bottles” has grown significantly and today dominates the hobby itself.  This rush to get it to the table mentality for sale has the effect that quality bottles rarely get into the possession of the collector today at all.  As one of our bloggers, Jason, states, “you constantly see the same bottles recycled from bottle show to bottle show or the same show over and over again”.  This is why when something new is brought to the marketplace, people do not know or realize the importance or the value of the item itself.  An example is the photo of the Owl Drug truck.  No one knew its importance and what to do with it or its true value or rarity.  It told me a great deal about Owl Drug, how people collect it today, and how far they have moved away from what collecting is all about.

Going to the Baltimore bottle show showed me even more about how much more bottle collecting has dramatically shifted over the last 5 to 10 years.  Collectors who interact with our blog and who have attended other bottle shows are now reiterating those types of experiences about bottle shows that I shared in previous blog postings.   In fact the collector is being shut out from the collecting process, long before the collector even arrives at a bottle show today.  I share Jason’s email that I received because he expressed his experiences when he attended the Golden Gate bottle show this past weekend.  Jason states in his email some of the following thoughts:  “I saw few transactions at the recent Golden Gate show other than dealer to dealer.  And after one and a half hours, most all of the same bottles still sat on the sellers’ tables.  I don’t think that the causal or newbie bottle collector is going to drive well off the beaten path to a fairgrounds bottle show and then pay high prices per bottle to add to their new collection.  The learned or experienced collector would also be surprised to see some bottles now double in their asking price from less than 2years ago as well.  The mystery to me is the good local low –to – medium level bottles aren’t put into bottle-specific auctions, nor are there many available on eBay… and no one seems to think regular local bottles are worth bringing to shows anymore.  It may be that San Francisco/Northern California bottles are an anomaly in this regard, which are what I base my comments on.  Not only had the bottle auctions and then eBay driven up prices, but the variety of bottles available at shows had diminished.”

Many other bottle collectors, including myself, share the frustration and disappointment that Jason expresses.  Bottle clubs need to hear what collectors are saying and work to fix these issues.  Failure to do so could cause their shows to suffer losses of attendance by collectors.  The failure to take action could have 2 possible scenarios.  One, the lack of attendance by the collecting public would lead to the inability of the club to have the show at all.  The second scenario would be a show attended by vendors only and any interaction would occur only between those vendors or high-end dealers who only want to attend on an early basis.  In other words the regular collector is shut out.  The Federation show that will occur in July 2012 has an early admission provision is built into the show for non-dealers.  This early admission provision will cost the individual, non-dealer, $70.00 as an entry fee. It serves as a perfect example of the public being shut out of the show and the lack of concern the Federation has for the bottle collecting public. This provision is part of the show information sent to any interested potential attendee. The blog respects Jason for his comments, his observations, his frustrations, and his willing to share them with the blog and blog audience.  This chorus is going to grow and get louder.  New avenues for bottle collectors will become available in the near future.  Continue to watch the blog for announcements about new avenues for the bottle collecting public.

As we turn the switch, I invite you to go to the Owl Drug Handbook, Volume I, pages 28 and 29, if you have a copy.  On those pages you will see an example of an Owl Drug entitled the “Blue Chemical”.  It is chemical jar that was used by the Owl Drug pharmacists in their stores.  I believe it was used in only a few of the stores, probably those in the Bay area and East Bay area only.  There were not a lot of them made. I know of two such jars, one in my possession and another owned by Ron Barnes.  If any of you out there have such a jar, please let us know and send us a picture of yours for posting and identification.  A photo of my jar follows.

I have included a picture of my “Blue Chemical” jar so that anyone visiting the blog will have the opportunity to see what one looks like.  Considering the collecting world today I believe that getting an example of one would be extremely difficult, if possible at all.

The blog returns to the subject of the Oakland drug store.  In a previous blog (March 5, 2012) we shared a picture of the check written by RE Miller to purchase the Kirkland and Throwbridge drug store in Oakland.  With that purchase the store changed hands from private ownership to corporate ownership as a new concept in doing business in the US, in the medical area and in the West for the first time ever.  It became the Owl Drug flagship drug store in the East Bay.  This change of ownership took place in 1896.  An example of a Kirkland and Trowbridge medicine bottle from the Kirkland and Throwbridge drug store follows.

We extend our thanks and appreciation to Jason for sharing a picture of this medicine bottle.  The bottle supports the research on the evolution of the Kirkland and Throwbridge drug store, located at 10^th and Broadway, and its conversion to the first Owl Drug Company drug store in the Oakland area.

The blog shares all these ideas, thoughts, experiences and issues with the blog audience. We do not receive any monetary rewards for the information we share with the blog audience.  The blog feels that the blog audience is not sharing with the blog information that will be beneficial to the blog and the blog audience either from the US and other parts of the world.  We see on a daily basis that there are people reading the blog from all over the world – Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, South America, and Asia.  However, the blog cannot be a one-way source of information.  We ask that you share your thoughts, experiences, and issues of interest to the blog. We ask all of you to share some of your pictures of items in your collections.  We will post them on the blog for all to see.  Without your input we cannot provide the service that will be beneficial to all who read the blog.  We have discussed that the process of bottle collecting and its procurement in the US is broken, flawed, ineffective, and does not meet the collectors’ needs.  Is the same situation present in your part of the world?   Are you experiencing the same type of issues as we are in the US?  If so, share your experience and thoughts.  Remember this is an interactive blog, not a one-way communications channel.  I have asked you bloggers if any of you have examples of a “Rigo Poison” or a Warner’s from Melbourne.  I would be interested in discussing buying trading or combination for one of these bottles or other examples you may have that the blog is interested in. This applies to now and in the future.  By communicating your thoughts and ideas and sharing your pictures we make this blog not only interactive but also meaningful and helpful to all the members of this blog who read it and will use it in the future.  We are trying to forge a new type of collecting process, but we need your participation and input.  We look forward to hearing from you.  Remember we are on Facebook and Twitter.

OWL DRUG, OAKLAND, NEW DISCOVERIES, AND THOUGHTS

From time to time I try to add subjects of interest other than Owl Drug that you the reader might find interesting and different.  This past weekend my daughter and son-in-law visited with an old friend in Dallas, Texas.  Prior to their trip I mentioned a few suggestions for them to visit if they had the opportunity to do so.  One such suggestion was to visit the Stockyards located in Fort Worth that is approximately 1 hour from Dallas.  They took my advice and spent time eating, shopping, and picture taking of this unique site.  The Stockyards rank up there with The Alamo as a must to visit when in Texas.  If I were to list areas in the West that truly depict the West past and current, the following places would be included:  the Stockyards and the Alamo in Texas; the Comstock in Nevada; Jackson Hole in Wyoming; Livingston in Montana; Deadwood in South Dakota; Route 66; and Jerome in Arizona, to name just a few.  Those of you who live nearby have a great opportunity to visit these places on a regular basis and get a true flavor of what the West was really like.    As I stated the Stockyards is a unique place to visit because within the area it has restaurants, western stores and other shopping venues as well as stockyards for cattle slaughtering, an indoor rodeo and several other attractions that would show visitors a real picture of western life 100 years ago and today as well.

To those who read the blog on a regular basis and follow what we are doing, understand that we are currently involved in researching and identifying aspects of the Owl Drug store in Oakland, Ca, first located at 10^th and Broadway In last week’s blog I introduced a picture of an “Owl” and asked the bloggers to identify if it was a real part of the Owl Drug Company or was it a fake. If it was truly an Owl Drug item then where was it associated with and on what date. Kent nailed it.   This Owl was used from 1895 with the beginning of the Oakland store to 1903 and used in their documents, advertising and other promotional literature.  An example of how the Owl was used follows.

Over this past year we have been researching, collecting, and putting together documents, advertising, and other paper items associated with the Oakland store, its locations, its history, and its importance to the Owl Drug Company of SF.  For those of you who have pictures of the interior of the store and other memorabilia and want to share them with the blog for this project, please get in touch with the blog at our email address owldrug2 @gmail.com.  This project, like the Handbooks, will be thorough, professional, and available to Owl bloggers to buy and/or use to collect Owl items.  Any items purchased will be stamped with an official Owl Drug Collectors blog stamp.  The Owl document shown above is but a sample of the types of items that will be found in this booklet that is being compiled on the Oakland store.

The blog recently obtained a clear Owl Drug bottle with a twist top, one-wing head; two-wing body, different TODCO lettering, the word TRADEMARK on the front base of the bottle; the words The Owl Drug Co in script on the back of the bottle; and on the base of the bottle a diamond with the letter I inside the diamond.  The I inside the diamond refers to the Illinois Glass Co that was in existence from 1873 to 1929.  The bottle can be identified as a “production error” bottle and is akin to errors one often finds in stamp and coin collecting. If you compare two clear twist top Owl Drug bottles you will see that one has writing on the back while the other does not (Pacific Glass manufacturer); different head; different TODCO lettering; and the mark on the bottle of the bottle is different.  The bottle with the I located in the diamond is a product of the Illinois Glass company while the letters PC on the bottom of the bottle are the mark of the Pacific Glass company.  The Owl Drug Company used both glass manufacturers during the company’s existence to produce their twist top bottles.  They used the Illinois Glass company for a short period of time, primarily during the later years of the Owl Drug Company when the company moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Chicago.  This “production error” bottle, due to its productions errors will command a very high price should it ever become available for sale.  In all my years of collecting I have never seen such an example with all these different “mistake” elements in one.   Due to the current market value this bottle should command a value in the thousands of dollars.  A photo of the Owl bottle follows:

The blog also obtained a unique and rare advertising item associated with the Oakland store.  It is currently being professionally mounted and framed and will eventually hang in the blog’s office.  Once the framer has finished we will take a picture of the item and post a photo of it on the blog.  One can truly say this has been a great week of discoveries for the blog.

Switching gears, let us return to bottle clubs and activities associated with them.   This past week I had a very good conversation with a professional bottle doctor who is working on 2 Baltimore bottles I sent them.   This, of course, is the second bottle cleaner that my bottles have been sent to.  For those of you who are new to the blog, I suggest you read previous blogs to understand how some bottle clubs and their members operate.  Obviously some are good and others seriously fail to make the mark.  Using my experiences I have had over the past year or two I will in the near future develop a series of ideas and suggestions to make the bottle hobby more interesting, get a larger and better audience to participate, and yes, provide benefits for one and all.

The blog encourages you all to take part in the blog.  As an interactive blog, it requires the readers to participate not just read.  Although information is passed along in the blog, it would be greatly appreciated if those bloggers from other parts of the world shared some of their experiences in bottle collecting, digging, and what is going on in their bottle clubs.  I am sure that there are differences that exist in each of your countries that are not the same as those in the US.  Perhaps they are the same, but we would never know unless you share your thoughts and experiences.  Our data shows that blog readers come from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Ireland, Germany, and yes even from various countries in Africa.  Imagine how much you guys could share with your US bottle hobbyists.  Remember I am interested in an example of a real Rigo bottle and also a Warner’s bottle from Melbourne.  Please keep us in mind.

OWL DRUG, POISONS, WORLDWIDE AND THOUGHTS

This week’s blog discusses a variety of subjects. First, let me share an experience I had starting at the Baltimore bottle show.  I had contacted a gentleman, who is a professional bottle cleaner, prior to attending the show to make arrangements with him to bring a couple of my bottles to him to have them  professionally serviced.  Therefore, when I arrived at the show I met with him and gave him 2 bottles of mine to service.  The gentleman was Rick Lease.  Not only is he a professional bottle doctor but he was also the chairman of Baltimore bottle show.  If you remember, the show occurred on 4 March 2012.   Four weeks passed and I had not heard from him regarding the status of my bottles.  I placed several calls and left messages for him to contact me.  Since I still had not heard from him, I contacted another member of the Baltimore bottle club to see if he knew how to contact him.  Finally I received a call from Rick himself.    He informed me that he had not even started work on my bottles and could not even give me a timeframe as to when the work on these bottles would be completed.  He informed me that he had recently received 62 bottles to clean and was therefore busy working on some of these 62 bottles when I called.  In as much as he had not started on my bottles and could not give me a timeframe when he would start on them, I asked him to return the bottles to me.  He told me that he would do so and that I owed him the cost of the return postage.

I am not questioning his ability to professionally clean bottles or the quality of the work he performs.  I share this experience with the blog because I consider his inability to communicate in an appropriate and timely manner unacceptable and unprofessional.  I realize that it can take 4 to 6 weeks to properly complete a cleaning of a bottle, however, not to tell the customer that a month later your bottles have not even been started and you don’t know when you will get to them is wrong and unprofessional.   A businessman stays in business because he values his customers and communicates with them on a regular basis.  This was not the case here. I am not sure if this situation was the result of this man worrying about what I would say since he knew I was the executive director of the Owl Drug Collectors blog which he so stated on the phone or his lack of professional service to any customer.    In either case, the result was unacceptable, as far as I am concerned.

I share this experience to understand the changing umbrella of bottle clubs and bottle shows.  No longer do shows simply have vendors that sell their bottles, they now serve as a mechanism to sell services such as bottle cleaning advertising; selling of cleaning machines; selling magazines or subscriptions; and/or advertising for bottle auctions.  This particular individual uses the bottle show as his advertising avenue to gain customers.  As a blog reader, what is your opinion?  Should a bottle show allow such services to be included at bottle shows?

Now I have to send these bottles off to another professional bottle doctor to start this process all over again.  This individual has already given me a timeline and an approximate cost, as well as the assurance to communicate during the process, if necessary.

The blog received several comments about last week’s blog posting. I encourage you to read Andy, Kent, and Fred’s comments on digging and bottle cleaning.  I agree that sometimes bottles do come out of the ground in near mint or mint condition.  I was incorrect to state that NO bottles ever come out of the ground in mint condition.  However, knowing this individual very well who sold his bottle on EBAy, his background in bottles and the fact that he cleans his bottles, the way he describes or fails to completely and accurately describe those bottles he sells on EBay, and fails to answer any questions on the bottles he puts up for sale, I question his statement that any of his dug bottles have come out of the ground in mint condition without him altering the bottle itself.

This blog does not prohibit or have a policy against bottles being cleaned.  We do understand there are situations where this process is necessary.  One such example is the “HOMER” bottle from Yuma, Az.  This bottle never comes out the ground without it being badly stained or in a cloudy condition or a combination of both.  I have collected Arizona bottles for 30+ years and it is rare to find a dug example without it being in this condition.  Those who live in Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern Nevada and are collectors run into this situation all the time.  Cleaning, tumbling and polishing them are necessary.  However, the failure of the seller to acknowledge that the bottle has been cleaned is totally unacceptable and misleading.  This situation has become so prevalent that a buyer never knows if in fact the bottle has been altered, unless he now checks it with a blacklight.  In the past 5 to 15 years this process has become the norm. What has happened is that the seller is more interested in making the most money out of his sale than being honest about the condition of the bottles or the changes that have been done to the bottle.  Bottle clubs and the Federation often look away from the problem because of the individuals in their organizations who are involved in the practice on a regular basis.

Turning our attention to another subject of Owl Drug collecting. I posed several questions to you the readers about the following picture.

Can anyone identify this picture?  Is it an official Owl Drug product by the Owl Drug Company of SF?  Is it a fake Owl Drug item?  If it is authentic, during what period of time did it appear, where did it appear, and what value did it have?  Let us know what you think!  The blog puts such items up for comment and questions to educate and inform bloggers around the world if they see or have seen this Owl on any piece of glass, picture, go-with, any other product or advertising.  As many of you collectors already know, there are copycats and fakes out here in the market for sale.  Being able to separate fact from fiction is imperative to all collectors.

The following picture of this blue Australian poison bottle is posted to let you fellow collectors and bloggers from “down under” that you are a most welcome participant in our blog.  I am intrigued by this bottle in that it is the first one that I have ever seen in all the years I have been associated with bottles and bottle collecting.  My interests in “poisons” have been primarily in the US.  Over the past several years I have broadened my interests to include poisons from other parts of the world.  I would greatly appreciate any information that any of you could share with our bloggers who collect Australian poisons and could share any information about this bottle, its history, its importance, and rarity, etc.

To those of you out here on the blog or have a friend who collects poisons from countries other than the US, I am interested in obtaining poisons from Australia, Canada, and other countries.  In a previous blog I wrote about a “Rigo” poison.  As it turned out it was not a “Valid” “Rigo” poison.  It would be nice to obtain a real “Rigo” poison for my collection.  Anyone who can be of assistance, please get in touch with the blog.  I invite all my Canadian blog followers who are poison collectors, be it “Rigo” or otherwise to comment and share your thoughts with the blog.

NEW ITEMS AND THOUGHTS

In last week’s blog posting I said, “the blog is changing and evolving so that it keeps up with the times we live in, understand the past, and prepared for the future.  With the tools available today, the hobby of collecting, in particular bottles, etc., has changed a great deal in the last 5 to 10 years.  The fast pace of changes occurring in technology such as computer, cell phones, ipads, and yes-even Ebay, has made collecting different and will continue to do so as the technology itself changes.  All these changes will present collectors with new problems and challenges as well as unusual situations that have never been experienced before”.

Since the blog is designed as an interactive blog, we anticipated numerous comments about this quote, what it means to the collector, and how it would or should affect you and collecting in general.  We recognize that there are individuals and some groups who do not want anyone to either read or interact with this blog.  That is unfortunate for all who are interested in collecting, be it Owl Drug, or otherwise.  The blog shares information with the blog audience that educates and helps to make the collector a wiser and more astute collector.  Other individuals do not want to see that happen because they have vested interests and they do not want those vested interests revealed to the collecting audience.

In our effort to make the blog even more interactive and available for comments for and from our worldwide audience we are on FACEBOOK and have this week added TWITTER.   Follow us on FACEBOOK via owldrugcolltectors and on TWITTER via owldrugcolllect.  We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.  Entries to either of these Internet addresses must be appropriate in language and content.  Lewd and obscene language is not and will not be allowed.

This week on Ebay there were several items up for sale that the sellers failed to provide complete descriptions on their own drug items.  In particular, one such seller (privywitch) mentioned that this bottle was a dug in a dump, the dump dated from 1915 to 1922 (item #330709119421). Are we to believe that a bottle that came out of a dump being in the ground about 100+ years to come out in mint condition?  In all the years that I dug bottles and the thousands of bottles that I dug up, very rarely did any bottle come out in mint condition.  No bottle comes out of the ground, having been in the dirt with all the minerals and chemicals, without either being stained, damaged or both.  Besides being a professional digger, this seller is also a professional cleaner.  That being the case why did the seller not mention that the bottle had been cleaned, tumbled, and/or polished?  He never admits altering any bottle that he sells and yet he does it all the time.  You wonder if buyers or potential buyers even ask the seller questions about altering the bottles they sell.  If, in fact, the seller receives such questions, does he even bother to answer them?  Was the buyer an Owl Drug collector, a bottle speculator, or otherwise?  In this case the bottle now enters into a contaminated Owl Drug pool and a contaminated bottle pool as well where it will stay forever.  Would love to hear from the buyer and let us know what motivated him or her to buy this bottle.

Another seller (thebottlevault) has an Owl Drug bottle for sale (item #310387090393).  Personally knowing this bottle and its history, there is no way the bottle could be this clean and shiny without it being professionally cleaned, tumbled, and/or polished.  Nowhere in his description does this seller clearly describe the condition of this bottle.  Any buyer should ask about the condition of the bottle as to whether it has been professionally cleaned, tumbled, or polished.

Sellers need to be more clear and complete when they describe the items they are selling.  To the buyers, this blog strongly suggests that you question sellers before you bid on any item, particularly on Owl Drug.  If you ask the questions and the seller refuses to answer them, then STAY AWAY.  If the seller answers your question and you are satisfied with his or her answer, then you make the decision whether you want to bid and/or buy.  In future blog postings we will discuss the contamination of the bottle pool in more detail.

In a previous blog posting I shared the comments by Eric who wrote to the blog about the Baltimore bottle show and our comments about the show.  Eric was one of the vendors at the show.  He obviously did not see or understand the setup of the show, how it functions, its purpose, and its outcome.  He got upset with the blog for pointing out major realities that were going on during the show or missing from the show.  Those were items we saw. We expressed our thoughts about them on the blog that is part of our function to inform and educate.  Throughout this timeframe the leadership of the Baltimore bottle club has not even had the courtesy to respond to any correspondence from the blog.  One wonders what is really going on with the club.  Eric, you and other members of the club, should consider questioning your leadership about how your club is being run.  Make sure you get some answers.  Don’t get angry because someone outside points out certain realities that were seen at your bottle show.  Eric, you along with others, need to get more involved.  You should participate in more club activities besides setting up at the show once a year to buy and sell. Let the leadership know how you feel about what the club is doing and where it is headed for the future and what you like or dislike.

When asked these same questions to the members of bottle clubs throughout the country, the blog generally gets the same response – SILENCE.  THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO.   I AM POWERLESS.  The blog then questions if that is the case then why have clubs and bottle shows?  Club member and members of the Federation, your comments are encouraged!  We would love to hear from you and will happily post them for all to see!

We reiterate, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOOK AND TWITTER.