St. Pete Antique Bottle Club - St. Petersburg, Florida












Home | Meet Some of Our Members | Some Basic Club Infomatin | Picnic, December meeting & Other Fun Times | Show Photos Through the Years | Photo Album Page





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This is a picture of 3 flasks
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                  We are usually known as the St. Pete Antique Bottle Club (in St. Petersburg Florida), but our official name is Suncoast Antique Bottle Collector's Inc.  Collecting antique bottles is a long time hobby for my husband & myself.  It started out with what was a 50 cent cone ink bottle, and has evolved as our knowledge has grown.  We read an article in the Bradenton Herald after we first moved to Florida, and found other antique bottle collectors! 

                We ended up joining a club in Apollo Beach, and eventually it evolved into the club we belong to now.  I am the Secretary and Newsletter Editor, and such as it is, the web page creator.  If there's anything else that needs doing, I try to help out.  As with life, there are some people that have more time then others, so I do what I can, when I can, right along side our other members.  My husband was President of the club for about 8 or 9 years and even though the hobby was mine to begin with, he found it very interesting so the hobby has stuck with both of us since 1969.

We meet the 4th Thursday of each month with a few exceptions, June, Nov., & Dec.  Those months are subject to change.  If you wish to inquire as to more about the club, please send us an email with your questions.  OriginalSABCA@aol.com

 
Every January we hold our annual show and for 2010 we had to make a number of changes!  Normally we hold a 3 day event for members, dealers and especially the public.  But For January 2010 there are all sorts of changes!  The Armory where we held it for so many years is not accepting any contracts from October through February, so the first change is the location.  Then we had to hunt for a place large enough to accomodate the number of dealers we have had.  Luckily for us, we found a place that will hold about 40 more tables, but we had to change the show from 3 days to two days. (Two days being Day 1 for dealer set up & Early Buyers and Day 2 for the general public).  We are expecting over 160 tables this year, loaded with all sorts of collectibles but mostly antique bottles.  You might also find insulators, pottery, advertising items, jewelry, fossils, stoneware, paper goods, and more.
 
We will be holding our 41st annual show at the Manatee County Convention & Civic Center.  Friday, January 8th 2010 is the day for Dealer Set ups & also Early Buyers.  January 9th, 2010 will be open to everyone, General Public & Early Buyers. 
 
Finding the Manatee Civic Center is extremely simple, it is on the corner of US 41 & Haben Blvd. in Palmetto, just north of the Manatee River.  US 41 was the main road through Manatee County before I-75 was built.  Don't forget, if you want more information, email me at OriginalSABCA@aol.com. 

Antique bottle collecting is a great hobby that can also be tied into many other hobbies or even your work!  For instance, if you are a pharmacist, there are many drug store bottles to be had, and many catagories of those. 

You can collect bottles specific to a certain city, a certain state, a certain type of drug bottle, size, and/or color.  The same goes if you like education--there is a catagory known as inks which were very important back in their day.  You could have master inks, cone inks, (hereafter add the word ink) umbrella, house, turtles, teakettles, geometrics, and more.  Most come in a variety of colors and sizes, and most types can also be broken into catagories, for instance, if you collect umbrellas, you can collect 6 sided, 8 sided, 12 sided or 16 sided, then you can work on colors and sizes, pontiled or not!

There really is no end to the history and usage of old bottles and depending on where you are, what club you belong to or even where you vacation, if you are lucky enough, you can find them in old dumps! 
 
You can hunt in antique shops, second hand stores, and subscribe to bottle magazines.  The hobby of collecting antique bottles is not unique to the United States, there are many other countries that have clubs with members that do the same.  You will make many friends, and if you happen to go visiting, or on vacation, you might be able to make additions to your collection
 
Books abound on antique bottles, and you can look for them on eBay, on websites of other collectors, but the best thing to do is to start with a club.  Members are only to happy to help you get going, to share their knowledge and try to keep you from getting stuck with a reproduction.
 
 
 















Three unusual torpedo bottles-one in a rare holder
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We have an annual auction where club members bring what they need or want to sell, and a portion of the proceeds go to the club.  We use those proceeds go towards helping to pay for our monthly newsletter and any other activity the club has. 

Usually in June we have our annual picnic which has been held at a members home for quite a few years.  Paul and Barb are gracious enough to volunteer their home for our use and it is the greatest place to meet.  There is a patio which is partially covered, also partially screened and in that screened area is an in ground pool which we are more then welcome to use.  There is also a small lake behind his home and he takes us on rides if we want to go.  Our members bring covered dishes and the club furnishes steaks--what a great day, without bugs but with shade and a place to cool off.
 
This year (2009) we haven't had a picnic and may not, but at the moment we are busy organizing our upcoming show--new place, lots of details to get settled, so maybe no picnic is a plus for this year. 
 
Our auction was this past month and it was super!  We had a board meeting before the regular meeting, then a short regular meeting AND then the auction.  Everyone came away with something, either another bottle for their collection, or some extra $$ in their pocket.
 
We have been lucky enough to find two places for club digs, one in the past few years and one many years ago.  The difficult thing about finding a place for the club members to dig, is the fact that it's a club!  So many places are hesitant to grant permission for single people to go onto their property, never mind large numbers,  but with our insurance, we have had some luck in digging locations.
 
The great thing a about our club is the people!  They are more then willing to help out if you have questions, to share their knowledge. 
  • If you wish to learn more, please email me at:  OriginalSABCA@aol.com.
  • Make sure you click on each title on the top of my page, it will enable you to check out a lot more information about our club and the fun we have.

     One last thing, at the moment I am still struggling with my DSL connection (a year after I got it) and every time we have a storm in our area, it goes down for hours.  Last year (2008) I called and called about this problem but so far we have not found the right technician to fix it.  We've had at least 4 or 5 tech calls to the house and even though they claim it is solved, the next storm arrives in the area (sometimes not even at our house) and the DSL service bites the big one.  Anyhow, I guess what I'm trying to say, if you don't get an immediate answer to any emails you send, it may be due to the problems that Verizon has with providing us with service.  Don't give up, I eventually get back online when all lightening in the area disappears.