It's the first of the month, Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers around the world. This month's theme is "glass," so I'm trotting out my collection of vintage bottles.I know. Just be glad the theme isn't Hot Wheels, or beer mugs.
I find bottles in vintage shops in the small towns of California. I suppose their suppliers find them in various places, like old mining camps that aren't yet old enough to be archaeological sites. That means the bottles have no provenance. They're early 20th century litter. I know bits about a few of them: the two small ink bottles in front are from 1890's northern California. One, that my sister found for me in Texas, has a note inside describing it as a handmade soda bottle made in Decatur, Illinois, also in the 1890's.
I have quite a variety, from medicine bottles to perfume bottles to liquor bottles. I even have one for some kind of magic "elixir." My favorites still have stuff in them - dirt, sand, whatever. It makes me feel linked to whoever used them last.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in today's theme.
40 comments:
Phew! From the portal I thought you had lots of skin cremes ...
I like the way you have arranged and photographed them, Petrea.
A beautiful assemblage and each bottle different from its neighbor.
Magic elixir, wow!
I love the way, and the reason why, you leave some of them as found.
I was going to say the same things as Julie and Dina! The sunlight really picks up their weathered surfaces and makes them glow. Lovely.
Beer mugs? Really?
Wooooww!
What a collection, P.
How many have you thrown & broken? (Just for theatrical practice, of course)
I AM very, very happy you are finally getting out of the house! It should do you very good.
Very beautiful range of bottles and the soft light brings out all characteristics. Brava!
Lovely collection!
Well, snap! I used to collect vintage bottles too. I stopped and now only have a few (mostly medicine I think) but I do love them. Adore your collection. Great choice for today. My friend in Ohio has a bottle tree so some of mine are on that! essl
That's a very pretty collection, Petrea ~ lovely that you were able to find out some of the stories behind them. The colours are quite exquisite.
Lots of nice bottles. I like bottles too. And during World War II we use to buy and everyone else did too, Carter's Little Liver Pills in a tiny glass bottle with a cork on top. I would give most anything to find one of them in my Christmas stocking.
". . .hot wheels and beer mugs. . ." LOL!
This is so fun to see, and to see in that wonderful window light. Intriguing stories/histories behind them. I once found an empty, cracked porcelain perfume jar that smelled of its former contents for years.
BTW, it might interest you to know your blog is #16 in community faves right now. Kudos!
What a great collection! Love the light!
You have a wonderful, fascinating collection, Petrea! I love glass bottles and your reason for keeping them as found. Beautiful choice for theme day!
I like this collection!
So much balance in your assemblage of bottles! They look like proud school children posing for a photo!
What a great collection you have! And to think we have this in common too! Ive been collecting glass bottles since I was a teenager, but I dont have nearly as many as you. Some of my finds come from a variety of places. I have some really interesting ones from hikes in the woods. Also before my brother expanded his house a few years ago, I was digging up his back yard and about 6 feet deep came across what looked like a trash pit? Old OLD ceramic plates, medicine bottles, tobacco tins, etc. It all started when I was a teen and used to "explore" abandoned homes. There was nothing more exciting than to go underground into the basement to find a man with an axe, just kidding, a pile of turn of the century National Geographics and old elixir bottles. My oldest bottle comes from the 1700s when I used to date a girl from the Virgin Islands. She actually got it from a voodoo lady :) Its from a british bottling company that probably was used for beer. I had it appraised a couple years ago at about $1200. It seriously is the type of bottle you would find washed up on a deserted island. Very thick glass, unevenness, bubbles in the glass, and a very slight green hue. Its awesome.
No, not really beer mugs.
Thank you all! So many comments already and the day's just begun. I love theme day.
Let's all look for a vintage bottle of Carter's Little Liver Pills for Abe.
Kim, I never would have known! Thank you. Knowing this makes my day--no, it makes my year!
1916, a bottle from the 1700s - oh, I love the old ones. Handmade, uneven, with bubbles in the glass. It must be beautiful.
Great selection of vintage glass bottles for theme day. It's great you can show off your own collection.
Just a beautiful still life and the colors are so soft nad luminous. Need any Jack Daniels bourbon bottles for your collection???
V
I like vintage bottles. Very nice capture for theme day
What a cool thing to collect. I always pick up and look at old bottles in antique stores. There really is something comforting and quietly beautiful about them. I love this image!
I have a collection of Hard Rock Cafe glasses. Yes, I have a collection of beer and Hurricane glasses from all over the world.
There---I said it.
Those are some fine looking bottles. Glass bottles and jars are so seductive. I'm not collecting old ones, but can rarely leave IKEA without a new one. I put all sorts of things in them, spices, nuts, old wisdom teeth...
I love old bottles like these. I especially like drinking from an old Coke bottle that looks like it's just washed up to shore.
I was wondering what al the glass was about!!
I kept seeing glass on posts, and so, now I know.. Nice collection..btw..
What a great collection. I have a few old bottles that have turned up in the garden and which I have kept but have not gone into full scale collecting. A lovely and interesting post for theme day.
Very nice! I have some bottles you would love. I haven't thrown them away; just don't know what to do with them.
Great collection of bottles. Perfect for theme day.
When I was a kid we lived in a house that had a big garden. Lots of it hadn't been dug for years. As my dad got to grips with the gardening he would find bottles just like these, especially the blue one. We would wash them out and line them up on the window ledge in the shed. Happy days. Thanks for the memory jog :)
I just think it's amazing that out of 900 gabillion city-daily-photo-things, you're 16th-most-popular! And you've been doing this how long—maybe a year? Were you popular in school? Do you have a sister? (Hello?)
Modern, mass produced bottles seem so boring compared to these. Beautiful bottles!
Very cool bottles, I love the cobalt blue one.
Oh, if only it were Hot Wheels, Petrea, I would be totally ready!! (My son only has about 300 of them, and called me EARLY this morning to tell me he got three more from Grandma. Woohoo.)
Always something new to learn about you, and I will keep my eyes opened for an addition.
Interesting collection -- and the "feel" of history that they have.
What fun. So many stories all stopped up inside.
Virginia, I'll take those bottles as long as they have the original contents. You know, so I can feel connected to the past.
Bibi, the first photo I ever saw on your blog was a picture of bottles on a windowsill. I still remember.
Joan Elizabeth and Marley, both digging vintage bottles in the garden - you don't have to click on their profiles to know they're not in the States, do you?
J+P you are so obviously related to me.
I'm already off the top 16 CDPB favorites page! But it was fun while it lasted. And I got laughs from WCGB and Christie to boot. What an enjoyable blog day, thank you all so much.
What a great photo of a fun collection and so full of history - the bottle's and yours. I think that's the best part of collecting - learning where things are from and then having your own story on how you came to own them.
I have an old small bottle that I picked up at Mammoth Lakes right by the ranger's station. There is a wash from an old saloon and there must of been a laundy too because I found bits of glass with Purex on it.
a collectors photo - there's lots of gorgeous shapes in there.
I really love the composition of the photo and I find it well focused on theme day ;-)
Tash, it's more fun to find the bottle in situ than in a store.
Thanks, Sally!
Welcome, Fabrizio, and thank you.
Love this one :)
Hello Di, thanks so much for visiting! Love your photos.
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