| Planning Ahead
I was almost caught off
guard without a prize detector!
Last month I had one in the
store still in the shipping box
and I set it in the back room and
it is a good thing I did! There is
time yet before the show to
come up with the detector that
we are selling the raffle tickets
for under normal
circumstances, but things are
just not normal right now!
Many in the metal detector
industry really got blind sided!
If you get cable TV and
watch the shows "American
Diggers" or "Diggers," you
already know what is going on.
These shows are so corny that
they actually embarrass me, but
they sure do sell metal
detectors! So if you are
thinking, "I'll bet Al is making
money hand over fist!". . . well,
you would lose that bet!
It is not that I don't have
buyers, and it is not that they
don't have money, it is that Old
Mother Hubbard has a bare
cupboard! That is the problem
in a nut shell. I can't get the
products! Almost every spring
getting metal detectors is touch
and go. And, I always get upset
because living in the frozen
north, I feel like the
manufacturers have all winter
to get ready for spring. I fail to
realize that not everyone has
frozen ground and, when I am
cooling my heels, the dealers in
the south are keeping busy year
around.
On the "Diggers" show, the
two treasure hunters are
running a popular model of
Garrett metal detectors known
as the AT Pro. This detector is a
great detector for hunting on
land for coins, jewelry, and
relics but it can also go
underwater! The A.T. stands for
"All Terrain" and it is a very
deep seeking (ground
penetrating) metal detector.
With the value of gold being so
high, metal detecting in the
shallow water has become a big
deal and it is a blast!
Of my most dedicated
water hunting customers, the
best ring tally for 2012 that I
heard about was 80. That
number is down a little from
years past. One summer, back
around 2005, I had one friend
recover 200 rings, all from one
southwest Michigan lake alone!
Back then you had to pay
around $1,000.00 for a top-of-the-line submersible detector
and even then it wasn't as good
as an AT Pro!
So the list price on the
AT Pro is $699.00 and I
normally sell them for $599.00,
and it is one of my best sellers.
So, I have no idea why, but
Garrett decided to have a spring
sales promotion so they
advertised that if you buy an
AT Pro, you get a bunch of free
accessories! So, forget about it,
at least for now! Even without
the extra goodies, you cannot
get AT Pros from anywhere!
I was fairly lucky I
guess, because I kept a good
supply on hand and I was one
of the last dealers to run out. I
actually received phone calls
from West Coast dealers asking
if I wanted to sell them some . .
. crazy!
Along comes this metal
detector sales bonanza and I
can't get product! I feel like
one of those guys who were
playing poker aboard that
Klondike passenger ship back
in 1901 when the vessel hit an
iceberg. The guys playing high
stakes poker fresh from the big
Klondike gold rush started filling all their pockets with
gold coins before they jumped
overboard going straight down!
Many of the detector
models were running out. One
of my distributors keeps in
hourly contact with me and I
recall when I got the message
that Fisher F-2's are "Out of
Stock!" It gave me chills! I
walked into the back room and
there it is, still safe in its box.
Better sell those raffle tickets
and put a few aside with your
own name!
That gold rush
shipwreck story is one that I
had a blast researching and
writing about around 10 years
ago, and it is a fascinating story.
I'll try to find that and tell it
again for next month's
newsletter..
Last Meeting
At the last meeting we
saw the following smiling faces.
Dee Cole, Vincent Grossi, Mary
Hamilton, Chuck Parker, Kevin
Seigfried, John Pastor, Tim Hayes,
Scott Hendrichsen, Ed Nickerson
and Al Holden.
As usual we had a great
meeting! It was so good to see
John Pastor and we did get to
hear a run down on the
upcoming show. We also
passed around sign up sheets
for the security details and food
items for the Friday night
buffet. Chuck pointed out that
with Connie's ongoing health
issues he may not be able to
carry as much of the load this
year and that has me concerned!
Chuck and Connie do so much
stuff that it will take several
people to fill the ranks!
I'm a little short of time
to do the newsletter this month.
I want to encourage each of you
to make every effort to be at
this meeting please!
One more thing I must
mention. The show is always in
need of display room entries.
The winning display wins
$75.00, $50.00 second place
and $25.00 third place. I am
also sure we will feature a
display of local Kalamazoo and
surrounding area bottles and
go-with items. This is another
reason we need to discuss some
final details at this meeting.
 I'm
sorry but I have to tell you that most of my pictures did not turn out
well at the last meeting. The bottles all show up, but they are
unreadable. I'm really glad that this 1860-70's Cathedral Honey Jar
came out OK. I really love this beauty! This is one of Scott
Henrichsen's amazing finds!
1997 Bottle
Club Article.
I needed some space-filler when I came across
this
little piece from a 1997
newsletter. It just brought back
some good memories for me.
The bottle club is made up
of two types of hobbyist, the
diggers and the buyers. In my
opinion, the diggers are the ones
who have all the fun. They are the
ones who contribute many of the
antique bottles to the hobby. They
do this by finding old dump sites
and outhouse pits to dig, then they
obtain permission to dig them.
That's when the hard work begins.
Unless you have been in a six foot
deep hole, carefully clawing at the
sides, when suddenly a little piece
of the past tumbles out like a
precious gem, you can never
understand the thrill!
Then there are also club
members who are buyers. For the
most part anymore, that is the
category where I best fit. The
buyer wants to collect, but does
not have the time or perhaps the
desire to dig. (I have the desire;
it's the time that I lack). The
digger needs the buyer, the buyer
needs the digger. But in the case
of this club, the diggers, who were
in the majority, are slowly
growing older. When your age
makes it difficult to dig, the thrill
is removed.
The digger is like the
metal detectorist in many ways.
He gets a great thrill in finding
items of value that were lost or
discarded many years ago. When
you remove that thrill, you remove
the interest. The real problem is,
there are very few young diggers
coming up in the ranks- no one to
take the place of the older
members. Senior diggers, for the
most part, have moved into other
interests, like metal detecting.
About two years ago,
Jack Short had already found that
metal detecting was taking the
place of his bottle digging. This
was true for his digging partner
and best friend, Ernie Lawson.
Well, for years they had been
trying to get me interested in
antique bottles. I guess they finally saw a spark of interest. Seizing
on
the opportunity, Jack offered me a
deal on many of the bottles that he
still had packed in boxes and stored in his barn.
At first I stopped at his
house to pick out bottles as payment on a trade we agreed on.
After I got home with my new
treasures, I sorted through them--
admiring them and searching the
bottle books mainly in an attempt
to educate myself. Occasionally, I
would see something in the book
that I thought I had, only to
discover that it was one that I
didn't take. I would call Jack and
tell him that there are some more
that I want! After doing that three
or more times I got disgusted with
myself and called Jack.
"Hello, Jack. This is Al,
How much for all the rest of your
bottles?" Well, he gave me a deal I
could not refuse! Adding the ones
I got from Jack with some I
purchased from Ernie, with a few
that I dug, several acquired as gifts--what a collection! I started
displaying them on my store
walls, each one properly labeled
with brand name and approximate
manufacturing date. It's amazing
the interest that it has created!
Several new collectors have been
launched! It has been neat helping
several people to get started and to
watch them fall in love with a
fascinating hobby that blends
together beautifully with metal
detecting.
This picture is kind of
haunting in a way. I had all the bottles cleaned and all the label
cards made up, and I had mounted the shelf on the wall. This was
on a Tuesday in February 2009. The next day, on Wednesday, I
learned I had cancer and the job was never finished and is still
waiting. Now, 4 years later I feel like I could finish the job.
In the immortal words of Pa Kettle, "I'm going to get at that one of
these days, Ma."
The Kalamazoo
Antique Bottle Club
meets at the main
downtown Kalamazoo
Library, located at 315
South Rose Street. We
meet on the third floor
in the conference room.
This meeting is
Tuesday, March 12th. Meeting starts
at 7:00 pm.
For questions
e-mail
prostock@net-link.net
Or call 269-685-1776
|
RAFFLE PRIZE!
