A Time for Thanksgiving
 According
to history, TURKEY was
correct.
But it was recorded that all the friendly natives wanted to talk about was one day starting a major league baseball team in Cleveland. Hello Friends! Here I am again . . . all of you antique bottle lovers! I’m here to wish you, and yours, a bountiful harvest season, one overflowing with thankfulness, for all of God’s many and rich blessings! LAST MONTH We had a great turnout! The sign-up sheet showed the names of these smiling faces! Len Sheaffer, Dave Wilkins, Juli Sheaffer, Katie Wages, Mary Gale, Brian Wages, Ashley Carlson, Everett J. Carlson, Kevin Seigfried, Eddie Nickerson, Kelly Bobbitt, Scott Hendrichsen, Vincent Grossi, Lynn Kozik, Tim Hayes, Allan Holden, The Club By-Laws The Kalamazoo Antique Bottle Club, discussed at length, and reviewed, and discussed, and reviewed some more, and at more length, until finally we hammered out a usable plan. . . just as we had planned. A motion was made, to help identify all paid, and up-to- date members, by having each one, and at every meeting, display a wad of chewed gum . . . stuck upon the tip of their nose. Another proposal was having current members wearing their shoes on the wrong feet, with miss-matched socks. We also considered having members prepared to give the super-secret “Pontiled Hutch” handshake. After all the votes were in, not one of those proposals would stick. The group decided to stick with the tried-and-true name tags. Oh yes, the group voted on 100% “Yes” and passed the proposed New Club's By-Laws!!! A further proposal was made to keep them in a safe place . . .and not with Al. Ashley Carlson brought with her, a sparkling new treasure, little, Everett J. Carlson to the meeting! What a treasure! Thanks be to the Provider of all life! I see a beautiful little one, to be so very thankful for! IT'll CURE what AILS YOU! At this meeting we will be welcoming a long time collector of Michigan Cure Bottles, Dan Louis. Long before I joined the Kalamazoo Antique Bottle Club, my friend, Ernie Lawson, was explaining how some members collect by category. Two names I remember was, Dick Kinney, who collected Michigan Prescription bottles. The other was Dan Louis who collected Michigan Cure bottles. I remember how the idea of collecting cures excited Ernie! “This will cure what ails you!” That phrase is one my father was known to use at those times when I would turn my face away from a spoonful of some wretched-terrible- tasting medicine! Dad’s further words of persuasion was, “Maybe you would like to doctor to give it to you with a shot in your butt?” That always worked!  I remember a time, when Mark Churchill, and Sanjit Deswal, were digging a outhouse pit in the historic Stuart neighborhood of Kalamazoo, they came upon a large stash of complete William Radam’s Microbe Killer bottles! Talk about striking gold! Radam’s Germ, Bacteria & Fungus Destroyer! On the bottom of that big amber bottle it says; “Cures All Diseases.” The large bottle is embossed with a shield-designed trade mark, showing a man with a club beating the skeleton-of-death! I had wanted one of these Radam’s bottles for a very long time! These friends found so many in that one pit, “Mark gave me one!” Better yet, mine is a error version, instead of “Fungus Destroyer” mine says, “Lungus Destroyer.” So what goes threw my tiny little mind is; “Little Al Holden sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie, he stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, “what a cool bottle!” All I could think of, is how happy I was to get this beauty. And what amazing luck to find so many of these all in the same pit! My wife is always quick to remind me, “Allan, it is not always about you!” OK, So then we I have to think, there has to be more to this story . . . right? Something so very sad was going on over 100 years ago. I am thinking it was some dear soul who had much so much to live for. But it appears they were placing their hope in a crooks scheme to gain money. In all likelihood this was someone who was loved, someone who was wasting away from some unknown cancer? Perhaps they were losing a little more life as they suffered each painful day??? Unlike many snake oil medicines of that day, the extensive consumption of this drug's usage, wasn’t brought on by an addiction. Today we know the ingredients. There is even today, a Radam’s one gallon stoneware jug with original contents for sale on the Ruby Lane web site, priced at $300.00. Radam’s has been found in sealed intact bottles, and the contents have been chemically analyzed. It was found to be pure water with a dash of citric acid! Oh how this poor soul must have hoped for a cure! Was it a grandparent, a father, mother or a child? Life can be so hard and so sad. Last week I attended the funeral of a beloved, former pastor's wife. As I entered the Church’s foyer, the first sight was that of an open casket, and inside, and so peaceful, our beloved friend, Nancy Jones. Since a very young boy I have marveled when someone remarks, "They look so good." They are deceased for goodness sake! How can anyone look good in a casket? . . . But honestly, Nancy looked good. There was a long line of people waiting to pass by the casket, so I went to the other side of the room to sign the guest book. Then, I wandered over to get in line. That was when I saw my dear friend, Pastor Jones, in a chair at the head of the casket. Just like his dear wife, they both had been struggling with cancer. When I saw Merlyn, I was struck with so many deep and uncomfortable emotions. It was almost as if it was I who was sitting in that chair . . I wanted to cry! It really struck me hard. This once tall, strong man looked so frail and weak. Those sunken eyes and that gaunt jawline and the skin color . . . oh I know this all too well. It was so hard because I have traveled this road, and now, for this to happen to this dear friend . . . or to anybody! Why? I stood in that line with so many others. Who is it who knows more people by-name than a Pastor? When it was my turn, and to make what must have been a very hard day in his life just a little easier, I started to re-introduce myself. Before I could say anything, he took both his weak hands and reached out to grab mine, and he said in the most loving way, "Al!, I am so glad to see you!” “Al, I witnessed you going through this, now I know what you were going through, God did a wonderful work for you!" My mind rushed back to the dark days of my cancer battle. I would drag myself to work everyday, because it helped to take my mind off the struggle. I was expected to die, and in a matter of weeks. But, being at work, well, at least I was I was pretty easy to find! Pastor Jones would stop and check-in, and pray, and pray, and pray! I have another dear Pastor friend from Mackinaw City, MI, who would drive all the way down . . . to pray! And so many of you prayed! My, how I have been blessed! Someone once said, "Al fought a brave battle with cancer'" which was a well meaning thought. But frankly, Al couldn't have fought his way out of a wet paper bag. It was prayer, and God's Holy Will! And it was so many people who loved me enough to express their wishes to the Great Physician. Oh it is so good to belong to this Shepherd. This all seems like a tragedy but is not, it is all part of the journey. There is a fork in life’s road, friends, take the narrow way which leads to life. It begins at a Christmas’ manger, and ends at Easter’s empty tomb. This is where, for all Eternity, suffering ends. All because of a Victory on a Cross, high upon on a dark hill. Sin is mankind’s greatest ailment, and everyone has tested positive! Jesus is the only CURE! By His stripes we are healed. But, Salvation is a gift and it cannot be earned. Meeting Bottles Mary Gale, brought with her the perfect storm. No wait! . . . I guess that was, Andrea Gail. Our Mary is like a ray of sunshine! And she is the purveyor of wonderful sugar-free treats for the newsletter writer! This time she outdid herself! She set a new club record for the biggest figural bottle at a meeting in the club’s history! (as near as I know) It is a whopper! An antique seven-up green, Chianti Wine Bottle. It’s a big one!  With its size, it may have a place today in prevent drinking-and- driving! You would certainly have to get out of the car to take a swig! It is 31" tall x 7.5" diam. It is the figure of a robed woman with grape basket on her head. Enough glass was used in this one bottle to make 2 cases of Coke! Every listing I could find suggested they were marketed in the 1930's, and they seem to be surprisingly plentiful. The average asking price ranged from $75.00 to $250.00. You have to guess this was marketed as a Christmas gift! Most interesting, Mary!  The next bottle, and I hope I get
this right, my photo didn’t help as much as I hoped.
So, I think this was displayed by Brian Wages? It is a very neat Soda Bottle from Angola Bottling Works, Angola Indiana. It is a clear colored soda. From what I could learn, it was a bottle produced in 1923, just before, Angloa IN. Bottling Works was sold to Pokagon Soda Bottling Works. The Pokagon Beverage Company was started by Charles Rodebaugh. He purchased the Angola Bottling Works in 1925. Originally when Charlie, a World War I veteran, asked for a loan to go into the soda-water business. He was turned down, so he started out on a small scale. My father often said the businesses that start at the top, are most likely to fail, because they didn’t put down good roots first.  Charlie started small,
producing pop in a small barn on South Kinney Street
in Angola, delivering his product in horse-pulled
wagons. His daughter, Carol, remembered the first
bottles; “They were round-bottomed, so that they
could stand only when placed in their wooden
delivery box. In those days she said, Charlie
bottled and capped the pop all by hand.”The business grew. In 1929, they moved from the barn to a building on Gilmore Street. Soon motorized trucks overtook the horses and Angola Bottling Works route expanded and became the Pokagon Beverage Company. Chief Pokagon, was a Potawatomi Indian who befriended early area settlers in Angola. He became the logo for the bottles, delivery truck doors, and insignias on workers shirts. The soda flavors were; orange, root beer, cola, grape, strawberry, cherry, grapefruit, creme soda and lemon-lime which was called Life. Life was nationally distributed in a green bottle with red lettering.  
Lynn Kozik one of our
friendly local dairy collectors, showed off a couple
real beauties! One was a applied color label 1-quart
dairy bottle, Meadowbrook
Dairy, Constantine, MI. “Meadowbrook Guernsey,
Milk.”Having internet access makes it easy to find interesting tidbits to add to the newsletter. But for some reason the ideal feature for any dairy farmer was having a brook wandering through the pasture. If you Google Meadowbrook Dairy, they were everywhere!  When I was a kid I
remember this odd stone building on my
great-grandfather Anderson’s farm. It was a
small building, smaller than a one car garage.
They always had stuff stored in it. For some reason I knew it wasn’t originally intended for a storage shed . . . seemed kind of strange to me. Someone had suggested it may have been a smokehouse? One day I questioned my grandmother who told me it was built near an artesian well. Water was piped into, then flowed around both in-and-out of a stone trough where the milk cans were stored, which, I was told kept them cold year around. Another Pyro-glaze dairy bottle was actually a cottage cheese jar from Henckel’s Dairy, Plainwell, MI, and with the correct paper cap! My grandfather located his  Cottage Business in this part of
Michigan because of the large number of dairy farms!
I think  at one time, Plainwell had at least
4 when I was a kid. And the owners all had kids my
age! There was Schuiteboers, Henckels, Plainwell
Dairy and Riverside. How old did your kid have to be to spell Schuiteboer? I still carry the card my mom gave me in 11th grade with word Holden spelled on it! Over the years I have wore several out!   Tim
Hayes, our resident flask collector, always
has a treasure to share! At the meeting he displayed
a 1-pint, teal-green, flask with a cool droopy,
applied, tapered-top. His flask is beautifully
embossed with a wandering grape vine with grape
leaves and as well as a grape cluster. I suspect it
was intended for something with a little more kick
than grape juice! Mary Gale must have a Flea Market connection! She always brings in an amazing bunch of goodies and it is all for sale! She had a big wide-mouth one gallon  pickle jar
filled with enough sling-shot ammo to last for
years! Yes, I am picking on the marble collectors. I told a friend that we had a marble collector speak with the club. This friend is interested in antique marbles, but he remarked that he didn’t understand anything about them in terms of what is valuable and what is common. I told him the presentation was interesting but I am convinced the bottom line is you collect what you like. That, with the warning that the real antique clay marbles are worth more as slingshot ammo than for money. What was interesting about this jar, was the folks were shining their black UV lights to see which marbles glowed.  Mary also had a
long plywood signboard with different Ball Jars
screen printed on it. I would say it was about
4-foot wide and 1-foot tall. It was really cool! Vince tells me, besides the 5$ raffle table, there will also be a $1.00 table non-raffle table for anyone looking to sell $1.00 bottles. It can be a $1,000.00 bottle if you wish to sell it for a buck. The meeting theme this month is CURE bottles and recent finds. The Kalamazoo
Antique Bottle Club
Meets At the Otsego Historic Society Museum  at 7:00 pm The Museum is located at 218 N. Farmer St. Otsego, MI Meeting starts at 7:00 Information   |