# Why, oh, why the fascination?



## undercovercajun (Jun 8, 2004)

Bottles and lots of them...I have had them since the '70's.  I have hauled them everywhere I have moved, even to Germany.  Some are from old abandonded houses, and an old family dump by a creek.  What is it about old bottles that catches some of us...and won't let go?


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## Harry Pristis (Jun 8, 2004)

Correct me if I'm wrong, UCC, but bottles are not the only things you collect.

 I suspect that most of us collectors here collect in other categories.

 I believe that this collecting fascination ("the collecting bug") mimics a disease.  Some people around us are sure it IS a disease!  []

 So, I have coined a term for it:
PLIOPRAGMATIC COLLIGEROPATHY​ 
 Literally, the "Collecting more things disease."  I don't need to go into the symptoms; you know what I am talking about!  []

 ---------------Harry Pristis


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## undercovercajun (Jun 8, 2004)

[]I have been found out and correctly tagged!  []I am a hopeless collector and packrat![]


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## Bluebelle (Jun 8, 2004)

For me, a large part of it is the connection with long ago people, and their bottles sometimes tell so much about their lives.........how they tried to eat and drink well, enjoy their sauces and condiments, treat their and their animals' ailments, keep their clothes and houses clean, smell good, tame their cowlick, even what kinds of china they had before the plate or cup broke and they threw it out. 
 A little element of the treasure hunter - finding something in the ground that's free, and might be "worth something" (Have never yet sold a bottle - bought a few......[8|]  )
 And glass itself is kind of magical - so fragile, yet can endure so much, the colors......


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## UltraSuperSugarBear (Jun 9, 2004)

I started collecting glass because of genealogy.  I have ancestral connections to breweries and glass factories.  But now I realize I do it because I'm a packrat and I like shinny things.[]


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## luvtodig (Jun 9, 2004)

Very well said Kaw[]  I think I have the "bug" because I love history...to hold in your hand a bottle, that someone from long ago used for everyday life..to find out what it was used for...it is like a puzzle,it makes my brain work trying  to find out as much as I can about the people that lived in the old homestead..I talk to as many old farmers that will take the time to talk to me...I think that if we would listen more to to old ones..maybe we would be able to hold on to the "simpler" times..just some thoughts from another packrat[]


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## bne74honda (Jun 9, 2004)

Gee,

 and here I thought I was the only romantic nearby! []All these comments and descriptions fit me so well. Curious about history [8|].....a MAJOR packrat (ask my wife!!)...the best for me tho' has to be holding that item..whatever it may be...and imagining what it's origins might have been.[8|]..who held it last and why....what might they have been doing or thinking...what was life like for them?

 I get the same 'far-away-across-time' feeling from holding an old bottle or spoon as I do from seeing 700 year old Indian dwellings. 

 And, just as Bluebelle, there's that dream of 'maybe this is worth something'...but never selling....just buying....what a bunch of nuts! []

 I do collect lots (probably too much) but I can't stop it when I see something that talks to me. [8D] I have old tools, record players dating from the 30's thru the 90's, newspapers (Kennedy shot, Bobby and Jack) the Lunar Landing etc., my latest 'craze' is bottle openers, the stranger the better. Vinyl records...all eras and sizes, ...hell, at one point I owned 5 1974 Honda 350cc motorcycles! Just because.[&:]

 I even have 2 PC's at home with 2 meg hard drives! [>:]What use are they?! OK, so some of the stuff has to go....but which? How do I decide? AGH! []Maybe I'll start with the baby food jar lids I started collecting 14 years ago...[]

 Brian


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## bne74honda (Jun 9, 2004)

Sorry Folks....

 Told you I collect too much...so much I can't remember it all! I also have a pretty large coin collection...started when I was 6 and never stopped.

 Brian


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## Mimiziggy (Jun 9, 2004)

It's nice to see others with the same bug as me.  I've read the responses to this message and you have hit the nail on the head.  To find a bottle that's been long hidden away.  Whether it be in the ground or in an attic or basement.  A small bit of the past.  Holding it in your hand.  I love it.  []  A couple of years ago after cutting a hay field.  I took a walk in the woods nearby.  We have found bottles and old rusty metal over the years, but this day I walked in a different spot.  Low in behold, I found a Warners bottle.  Like you say, I was so delighted to find something that had not seen the light of day for well over 100 years.........I almost ran to the house with my new treasure.......[]


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## drjhostetters (Jun 11, 2004)

I would say the question..."Why do I collect old bottles?"... is actually a two part question...
  The first part of the question is..."Why?"...this is the complicated part of the question because it entails thought processes sometimes unbeknownest to the beknower..why indeed...for what cause?...for what purpose?...for what reason?...because of which?...a puzzling problem...enigma...riddle...alas and alack...on the other hand..the second part of the question is simple...
 ...do I collect old bottles?  yes..I do.[8D]

 The Doc...[X(]


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## Rrey199 (Jun 12, 2004)

I think for me, it's the fascination of all thinks lost, buried or forgotten. I get that same feeling if I'm pulling a bottle out of the dirt, popping a coin or relic out of the ground, or crawling into a foundation I found in the woods.
 The things that I have found that I hold most treasured are things that have struck a chord with me. There's seldom a concrete reason as to why I like it better than other finds, and it may be worth very little. If it's cool, it's cool.
 Years ago, as a teenager, we stumbled upon a cluster of empty houses that were mostly still intact. All were vacant, some still furnished. I remember one had a newspaper on the kitchen table from 1959. Some of the houses had begun to collapse. We went through the houses and used them as "forts". I remember to this day the excitement I felt and the awe and facination of being there, looking at old photos. I tried to go back there a few years ago, and found the area cleared for powerlines.


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## old digger (Jun 15, 2004)

Connection, wonderment,thrill, excitement, just a little crazyness? Whatever it is, it's WOUNDERFUL!!!!!


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## kumtow (Jun 15, 2004)

I am guilty of all of the above.  As to why?..........  I dunno, it's like gold fever.  []


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## Aerated (Jun 17, 2004)

A question I have often wondered about myself!!.
 Ever since I can remember I have collected something or another.I collected Stamps for a bit, but it was no where near the thrill of locating & digging old bottles. And anything else I started to collect gave way to bottles pretty quickly!. When I was younger I used to spend as much time as possible exploring abandoned houses, buildings etc (within the bounds of the law of course!). A big draw for I & the local kids growing up was the location of the town dump about 2km away from my parents ( no recycling back then).
 A good source of building materials,engines,junk etc. & occasionally the odd good bottle thrown out in Grandads garden shed clean-up.I can remember bringing home a labelled & full blue Jacob Hulle Strychnine(spelling?)bottle. Man my Father went nuts when I bought that one home.Also another good thing is you hang on to some of your non bottle bits & pieces theres bound to be someone out there collecting it, & sometimes they might be hanging on to the bottle youve been after and are ready to make a trade.
 Worked pretty well for me in the past.Failing that wack it it on e-bay(must get rid of that boxed 1890's"home enema").[]

 Thanks for reading.
 Aerated


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