DECORATING WITH OLD BOTTLES

Make a chandelier from hanging electrified fruit jars or wine bottles--or display all the old bottles you find--and look like the "with-it" rooms in the Pottery Barn catalog. Oversized wine bottles sell in the catalog for up to $279 each. The wine bottle chandelier is $399. You can buy the same type of bottles for much less at a bottle show or flea market.

 

PEPSI BOTTLE

Q: I have a Pepsi bottle that I've tried researching. I can't find anything like it. What can you tell me about it?

A: Pepsi-Cola was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1898. At first it was called "Brad's Drink." The name "Pepsi-Cola" was trademarked in 1903. Several different logos have been used. Until 1951, the words "Pepsi" and "Cola" in the logo were separated by 2 dashes. These bottles are called "double dash." The name of the bottler is listed at the bottom of the label under the word "healthful." Value of your bottle, $25-$50.

SOME THINGS OLD ARE NEW AGAIN

• We saw milk at the grocery store this week advertised as "like mother used to make"--as if mother made milk for the whole family. I looked at the pyro ads on the glass milk bottle. The milk is not homogenized, so the cream separates and rises to the top. It's a good bottle for a milk bottle collector to save.
• Beads are back as bracelets. New bead bracelets are like charm bracelets--each bead represents an event. We suggest collecting old beads, including early Chinese porcelain beads that held the cords on inros (boxy Chinese pocketbooks).
• Holt Howard novelty giftwares made in the 1950s are selling well again. They lost favor and were considered "kitsch" in the 1970s, were collected by a small group in the late '80s, dropped in popularity again, and now are moving up in price. The comic heads, sly kittens, smiling mice, realistic roosters, and Christmas figures make an amusing display. A pixieware liquor decanter sells for about $600; an instant-coffee holder with a smiling dark-skinned girl is $250.
• Blue decorated white stoneware is selling for record prices, much higher than in past decades. The newest record is $103,500 for a Boynton Pottery water cooler from Albany, New York, dated 1817 and decorated with birds and fish.
  

FIREWORKS

Don't store old fireworks, and watch out for antiques that have been stored a long time but could explode. Guns, shells, powder cans, nitrate movie film, and some chemicals left in old bottles or cans are dangerous. It you aren't sure what you're dealing with, contact your local police or fire department for help. Some explosives, like dynamite sticks or even World War II hand grenades, are unstable and could explode if moved.

TOP 10 STORIES IN KOVELS KOMMENTS IN 2008

These were the Top 10 stories in Kovels Komments in 2008, based on interest from our readers:

1. In Memoriam: Ralph Kovel
We were touched by the many notes from fans of our books, newsletters, and TV shows telling us how much Ralph would be missed. This week USA Today listed "those who died in 2008 [and] left an indelible mark." The list included Ralph as coauthor of "the popular Kovels' antiques and collectibles price guides that became a bible for antique shop and flea market treasure hunters." He would be pleased to know he is remembered and that his passion--collecting--is finally on a par with art.

2. Record-setting price for a Monopoly game
The very early $47,600 set was stored for 30 years, proving you should be careful not to throw away unusual old games.

3. Gibson Girl plate
The Charles Dana Gibson drawings of the Gibson Girls are still popular, but few know the history of the set of blue and white plates. The plates sell for about $85 each.

4. Eisenberg fur clip
To think shoplifting was the start of Eisenberg rhinestone jewelry! Eisenberg fur clips and other jewelry are now popular collectibles. And few collectors today realize the clips were originally worn on fur coat collars.

5. Georges Hoentschel vase
A plain tan vase with a GH cipher on the base turned out to be by a French potter--and worth as much as $3,000. It pays to do the research.

6. eBay tricks
Anytime we mention problems with eBay, our readers are interested.

7. Knitting for bottles, chairs and trees
What a novel idea--knitting covers for chairs or trees.

8. Nasty Valentines
Comic valentines, very popular in the 1840s, are more subtle now. And a 1930s "penny dreadful" is a popular collectible.

9. Modernist jewelry
2008 was the year for modernist jewelry exhibits at museums. Prices are rising because the maker's names and talents are becoming known.

10. eBay fees
It got more expensive to sell on eBay this year when fees went up.

WARNING FOR BEER COLLECTORS

Warnings for Beer Collectors

Beer can collectors be warned. Original-formula Schlitz beer is back--but only in bottles. Schlitz sold in cans after the mid 1950s is a generally unpopular beer made from a revised formula that shortened the fermenting process and added a seaweed extract to make more foam. The original Schlitz brewery in Milwaukee closed by 1981, and the brand was sold. It now belongs to Pabst, and researchers there decided to go back to the original formula. You can drink the old-but-new beer from bottles in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago and western Florida. Schlitz in cans is not the revised formula.

DR. SWAYNE'S MEDICINE BOTTLE

Dr. Swayne's Medicine Bottle

Q: I found this bottle when I was digging and I can't find any information about it. It is square, 6 inches high, and the embossing on the sides reads "Dr. H Swayne's Compound Syrup of Wild Cherry." It is an unusual color. Can you tell me anything?

A: Dr. H. Swayne's Compound Syrup of Wild Cherry was made by Huston Swayne, M.D., of Philadelphia. It was a "patent medicine" advertised as early as 1840 as a "sovereign remedy" for consumption, coughs, colds, asthma, difficulty breathing, pain in the side and breast, palpitation of the heart, influenza, croup, sore throat, nervous debility, and diseases of the throat and lungs. It claimed to purify the blood and restore the liver and kidneys to healthy action by invigorating the nervous system. Dr. Swayne's son, William Phillips Swayne, ran the business for 40 years after his father died. William died in 1906 at 81 years old.

The iridescence on your bottle is caused by deterioration. Buried glass is subject to slow corrosion by moisture. The colors are a reflection as light rays are broken passing through the corroded layers. This generally lowers the price of a bottle for serious collectors, though common bottles that have iridescence are bought for their decorative value. Near-mint bottles marked Dr. H. Swayne sell for $75 to $150.