Curled Up With A Bottle

Chris here: Although running this shop hasn't driven me to drink quite yet, I am getting to know my bottles. A couple of months ago we picked up an old soda bottle embossed with "C.W. Ramsburg, Bottler, Winchester, VA." On the base is "O.B. CO." I know just enough about glass to tell it was made on an Owens bottle machine, (WRONG- upon further review it was mouth-blown in a mold) and figured "O.B. CO." was for Owens Bottle Company. WRONG. As usual, the answer came in a roundabout fashion, though.

About a week and a half ago Jen and I picked up a mess of inventory from some friends of ours, including a 5-gallon boxed brandy demijohn ("Newman's Improved Boxed Demijohn" from the Pacific Coast Glass Works to be precise) and while researching the P.C.G.W. I happened across a list of bottle manufacturers ( Soda and Beer Bottles of North America) and decided to check the Ramsburg bottle against it.

Lo and behold, the Ramsburg bottle is the product of the Ohio Bottle Company that was the result of a merger of several other glass firms and operated as the Ohio Bottle Co. from 1904 to 1905 when it reorganized as the American Bottle Company. The kicker- the Ohio Bottle Company was the first and apparently at that time the exclusive licensee to use the Owens Automatic Bottle Machine.

In glass circles it seems you mention the Owens machine and collectors' eyes glaze over. Once the Owens machine went into use gazillions of nearly-identical bottles were cranked out at light speed without any of the artistry and individuality of the old mouth-blown bottles. Frankly, when we acquired the Ramsburg bottle and I saw it was made in an Owens machine (it was not made in an Owens Machine!) I figured it had no interest other than its appearance (admittedly pretty with aqua glass that has taken on iridescence from being in the ground). Now, though, I am not so sure. The Soda and Beer Bottle folks list three examples on their site of Ohio Bottle Co. bottles (as opposed to 21 examples of P.C.G.W. bottles, for example).

Anyhow, I have updated the listing for it on our website.

Well, Jen just walked in and shot me with a Nerf gun, so it is back to cataloging inventory for me.

The pass-keys of knowledge

Since I have been ever so gently goaded into responding to Chris's post with his hints relating to my decided opinions about the pass key knowledge I feel it my duty to entertain his musings. He is correct in his statement regarding my understanding of the pass keys. Permit me to explain my dear reader. I have been addicted no less to research and all the principles there of for far to long. It is a decided sickness which I have grown to understand as no less than terminal. I find no greater pleasure than becoming lost in a sea or papers, books, and textiles, all the while drowning in acid free archival material. Those, dear reader are the elements that combine to form the sought after pass keys of knowledge. For as many items of historical importance I have been allowed to look at, evidently blessed if you will, with some fleeting bit of sainthood or the like, I have been denied access to just as many and indeed certainly more than I can now account for. Who is it then that hold the pass keys to knowledge? Why should the effects of a bygone era be locked away accessible to only those so blessed by some nameless authority. Please don't read into my verbage, I'm not anti-establishment or even very liberal in my opinions, but I do see the attempt to limit access to historical collections as intrinsically wrong. We claim so frequently that our children have no appreciation of history, no understanding of its value, or no desire to seek out a path of learning. Well, I don't see what there is to misunderstand. When the effects of our past are so locked away that only the sanctified can gaze upon them an appreciation can't be fostered. Now I'll be one of the first to tell you to put gloves on before you dare to put your fingers on antique garments or other textiles, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be studied, looked at, and or handled depending on their condition. A history text is merely that a dry compilation of writings and edits from textbook authors and publishers, and it will always pail in comparison to seeing the original item in question, or at the very least a similar item. If I were to play devil's advocate for a moment I might yet say that it is impossible for everyone to ever see the originals or that the originals are to delicate to ever be seen by the average researcher. Well, I can tell you this, our antique store has been likened to a museum as I mentioned earlier and I'm proud of that, but what it also means is that it must be a museum where you can touch the items in question (gloves will be provided for use with garments and textiles) because I don't think there is any better way to learn about a subject than by being able to come as close as you can to it. For it is only thanks to study that we have questions and only thanks to questions that we have answers and only thanks to those answers that we have more questions. I invite you to come to our shoppe, bring your questions and hopefully leave with more of them than you walked in with. The pass keys of knowledge aren't the property of PhD's, or archivists, or curators, or education directors, or teachers, they can be found in just as easily in your hands as in mine. So next time your denied entry into a special collections room or are told that you can't see an image held in the hands of some historical society, don't be discouraged in your research, just seek another avenue, you'll find it eventually. As for now, I can't offer you the pass key, but I can offer you a series of study images from our textile collection at http://oldtruckantiques.dotphoto.com/

Jen

"a haven for the disaffected"

My wife Jen, perhaps the better half of the management of Old Truck Antiques (I being the lesser), wrote in the preceding post that she once thought of blogs as "only as a haven for the disaffected. I was misinformed and I see now the errors in my judgement and in my haste to disavow its virtues."

Don't believe her. a) Jen is disaffected with alleged antique stores that are chock-full of collectibles and 20th century junk as well as the "keeper of the pass-key of knowledge" attitude often espoused by museums and higher institutes of learning, and b) I have it on good authority that she intends to use this blog as a soapbox from which to rail against these and other evils plaguing the study and reenacting of the past.

Consider yourselves warned.

- Chris

Introduction

If you have already read our description then my telling you that we at Old Truck Antiques are more than just enamoured with the 19th century is probably redundant at best and repetitive at worst. Well, that's the way it will have to be, for now at least. Tales from the Tailgate is an attempt to share with you all a few of the quirky stories that we have accumulated while starting our new endeavour, Old Truck Antiques. We have a passion for antiques and have finally found the time and place to open our shoppe, (yes, I did spell that correctly). We've been avid antiquers for years and have come to recognize both our likes and dislikes when it come to the business so we've embarked on an adventure. A shoppe that is far from the norm, at least, far from anything we've ever seen. Most antique stores seem to be cluttered with collectibles and clouded with dust, well..., not ours. Our primary focus is 19th Century American furniture, militaria, and textiles, though we do have a few other items as well. Our shoppe has been likened more to a museum than an antique store, something we'll not only tend to agree with, but take pride in as well. As we rush headlong into 2010 we'll be holding classes on Material Culture, Eastlake furniture, or what we know as such and 19th century images to name but a few. We have jumped headlong into the 21st century to promote the 19th by posting to Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and dotphoto as we use modern images of 19th century garments, swords, and daguerreotypes to further our mission of understanding. And now this, a Blog, something that I once thought of only as a haven for the disaffected. I was misinformed and I see now the errors in my judgement and in my haste to disavow its virtues. So without further interruptions, please enjoy our Tales just as they are..., presented from the Tailgate