# Coin collector turns to bottles. My story (Also looking for New Brunswick/Maine info



## Harmonica (May 4, 2016)

Hello everyone.

My name is Terry and my online handle is "Harmonica". I came to bottles as a coin collector. I do not collect coins exactly, I am more into exonumia (tokens and the like).

I love anything New Brunswick and Maine (with a soft spot for Nova Scotia and Saint Pierre too boot).

I always picked up bottles from hiking the old railroad tracks and what have you but it became more serious lately. I am collecting cheques and other fiscal documents from the Maritime Bank of the Dominion of Canada. They had a branch in Woodstock, NB. The bank was bought out by the Bank of New Brunswick. It later became Baird's Pharmacy and then Newnhman and Slipps,  NB's oldest drug store! Needless to say I needed to buy a couple drug bottles for my numismatic exhibit on said bank.






I found this post through the magic of Google

https://www.antique-bottles.net/showthread.php?338932-H-PAXTON-BAIRDS-BALSAN-OF-HOREHOUND

I am not sure if passthebottle is still active but a) smart username and b) I hope to hear from a fellow "border rat".

Now that I found one bottle I kind of what more to add to my collection. Anything H. Baird should be easy enough to find local I reckon.

I also want  milk bottles. What would go better with my Atlantic Canadian dairy token collection then matching bottles! 

Ginger Ale, Root Beer and Moxie all also have peaked my interest. Being a former British Colony tea is big in New Brunswick. I collect tea memorabilia. Tins, tea cards, envelopes from said companies, signs etc. So I explained why tea was big here but do you know why Ginger Ale and Root Beer grew in Atlantic Canada/New England? Prohibition. My great grand father was a rum runner, I found his arrest mentioned in an old 1920 paper. I think I found one of his old jugs at my aunt's house! Yes bootleggers, the Klan, Orange-men and the cops all fought it out on the ME/NB border and I want to own the bottles! When you couldn't drink alcohol (or needed something to make the white lightning go down) you turned to soft drinks!

Sorry for the long uninteresting story but I wanted to explain what I am looking for and how I want to use my future bottles to tell the story of Maine/New Brunswick relations and to enhance my coin collection.

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As for references I found the Ginger Beers of New Brunswick by Steven Dickenson, great work. Any other leads on milk bottles of NB/ME or Ginger ale/beer Root Beer of the same area?  

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Thank you all for excepting my registration request, I hope to learn a lot.


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## RCO (May 4, 2016)

I'm from Ontario , I find anything from the east coast of Canada interesting , I have some older postcards from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia , don't really have many bottles from that area other than a few Seaman's bottles from PEI . we don't see a lot of posts about older east coast bottles here so it be interesting to learn more about the area . I'm assuming there is a few bottles form that region we haven't seen before or rarely see .


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## Harmonica (May 4, 2016)

Hello RCO, yes the east cost holds many treasures.

The first thing that pops (pun intended) to my mind is the whole Irn bru thing. Irn bru sold in Canada was always caffeine free do to Canadian laws on caffeine in light coloured soft drinks. 

There was a separate drink in Cape Breton Island called "Iron Brew". It was Dr. Pepper-y. It was sold in glass McKinlay bottles.

My mother moved back and forth from Cape Breton Island/Newfoundland growing up and my summers always took place on the island. I vaguely recall Iron Brew.


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## Harmonica (May 4, 2016)

What all does Ontario have to offer? What all do you collect? Any advice for a new collector?


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## RCO (May 4, 2016)

you can find anything in Ontario , honestly when you start looking around places , there Is a lot out there available for sale , antique markets have a lot , yard sales too is some good find . I found a very old local paper label soda/ginger ale  at one last year although such a good find is very rare 
to start out I'd avoid buying anything too expensive until your more familiar with prices and what things actually sell for, some antique dealers try and sell items for more than there worth or maximum price it possibly be worth 


a couple of postcards from out east I picked up recently at an antique market were only a couple bucks each , one is of Hopewell cape rocks on bay of fundy and other university in Fredericton , I recall visiting those rocks when I was out east in late 90's


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## Harmonica (May 4, 2016)

A lot of my peers went off to that university! I hear you about the price thing. As a coin dealer I hate breaking the bad news to people wanting to retire.

I am in my early 20s so a lot of people my age come up to me with their grandfathers collections (an old ratty 1 and 2 dollar bills) and ask how much it is worth. When I say 3 dollars they often argue with me.

I mean I live in a town of 912 people so any bottles that do show up will not have a huge demand but at the same time all the pawn and picker shows inflated the prices of everything.

Some of the Ginger Ale bottles go through the rought and I know people love Coca-Cola but I can still find certain cola bottles in the woods.

I have been using eBay and a bottle auction site to gage prices. Are their any books on the subject? Would they fall under "General Store collectibles".

You are right thought I am not going to sink anything above CAD80 until I have the terminology and market down.


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## RCO (May 4, 2016)

I don't know if there are any books specifically on New Brunswick or Nova Scotia bottles , I did see a book published in 70's on nova scotia bottles a while ago , it had some good info but a little out of date , there might be others I don't know 

have seen people go into coin and stamp stores here expecting the same thing , was a guy with some coins walk into one a few months back and owner politely told him his assortment wasn't worth enough for him to have any interest but I bet he walked in hoping for big bucks , I'm sure it happens a lot , people assume there old stuff is worth more than it is or assume just cause older relatives held onto it for so long it must be extremely valuable even though it might not in reality 

saw a bottle from Woodstock NB in an antique store here once think it was from 50's or 60's an acl bottle but in poor shape can't remember what store wanted for it likely less than $10


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## Harmonica (May 4, 2016)

ACL? Excuse my ignorance.

I imagine shipping is killer for bottles. You could have people in NB looking for BC bottles and vice versa. 

50s or 60s? We had a Coca-Cola bottling plant in town, I have some receipts from the place, would local bottlers put their name on the bottles??


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## RCO (May 4, 2016)

Harmonica said:


> ACL? Excuse my ignorance.
> 
> I imagine shipping is killer for bottles. You could have people in NB looking for BC bottles and vice versa.
> 
> 50s or 60s? We had a Coca-Cola bottling plant in town, I have some receipts from the place, would local bottlers put their name on the bottles??




after I posted that I wondered if you knew what I meant , acl means applied colour label or some refered to as painted label , you know bottles with coloured paint on them like pepsi 

I don't think it be worth shipping as it wasn't in good condition but was definity from Woodstock , NB I remember reading where it was from on back but can't remember name of bottler , you'll likely come across it at some point


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## RCO (May 4, 2016)

in Canada local bottlers would have there names on some bottles , not coca cola bottles ( they never have city names on them ) but if they made there own ginger ale or orange drink as an example they'd often have own name and bottle to put it in , most of these bottlers disappeared by 70's or 80's if not earlier but just about every large town of say 5000 or more people had a bottler back then


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## RCO (May 5, 2016)

did some searching around the internet trying to find anything about New Brunswick bottles as you got me curious about them , wasn't sure if you had seen any of these before or familiar with them 

Sussex Beverages NB , seems to be a more common one have seen it a few times before 

Gorham beverages , Fredericton NB , hadn't heard of them before


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## RCO (May 5, 2016)

couple others I saw 

Morris beverages , Dartmouth NS , hadn't heard of them before 

james ready brewery - saint john NB 

Restigouche beverages Campbellton NB - seems to be a couple different bottles , hadn't heard of them before


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## RCO (May 5, 2016)

also forgot to mention I have one new Brunswick bottle - Tennant Beverages ltd Moncton NB , got it a couple years ago at an antique store , never really able to find out anything about it , likely from 1960's era , the Woodstock bottle I saw was exactly the same bottle but a red and white logo and from a different company , wasn't able to find a pic online yet


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## Harmonica (May 5, 2016)

Sussex is a big Ginger Ale town. I am sure I have seen many a different varieties of their bottle in the woods, in barns etc.
Sussex also holds the largest east cost flea market ever year so I plan to go down on the hunt for coins and bottles.

Restigouche, a name like that screams Campbellton. I never heard of the though, same goes for Gorham and James Ready.

In the end of May I am going to a Saint John coin show. Coin shows (especial in the Maritimes) are become more general shows. I would not be surprised if a bottle guy was set up. 

That first Sussex bottle has a label painted right on it, an A(pplied)C(olour)L(abel).

That Gorham looks like it has a label glued to it like a beer bottle. I imagine those often peel off. What term is given to glued on labels?

I know the Tennat is an embossed. 

Thank you for the pictures, nice to see what I will be hunting for.


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## RCO (May 5, 2016)

also found 2 more 

another version of the Restigouche beverages a larger 10 oz bottle on ebay 

and saw an Old homestead bottle on ebay from St Stephens NB , never seen it before


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## RCO (May 5, 2016)

forgot the links if you wanted to see the ads , I don't know if either is a good deal or not 


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/RARE-CANADIA...510916?hash=item1a12db4a04:g:gvgAAOSwG-1W0FOY


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/RARE-CANADIA...078657?hash=item1a12b62d01:g:kGwAAOSwoBtW1v2F


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## Harmonica (May 5, 2016)

Teal star with 100 percent positive rating. No returns. He seems like the up and up.

I just do not know. It is the CAD10 shipping that is killer. WHat I wonder is will locals play up local history and want more for these pieces and I am better off buying them in Ontario or would I find an old man that has some stached away that would sell them for 5 bucks a pop.

I want to dig out some old cola and javax bottles and bring them to my flea market table. I will let it be known I am looking for bottles and see what I can get locally. Thank you for the heads up though. I will keep an eye on eBay and other venues to try to form a price guide.

Do you know the name of that book on Nova Scotian bottling?

Here is a link to the PDF on NB Ginger Beers.
http://www.canadianbottlecollectors.com/ginger_beers_of_new_brunswick.pdf


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## RCO (May 5, 2016)

the $10-$14 dollars shipping for a bottle is standard , at Canada post any parcel which is in a box or envelope weighing more than 500 grams , the minimum cost is around $12 to mail it and might cost a bit more to ship from Ontario to out east . I've mailed small books before and even those cost like $4.00 to ship 

the nova scotia book is called " the bottle collector " has a light yellowish cover , not sure who author is , its from around 60's-70's though , was some pics in it of older nova scotia bottles though , some of which are likely fairly hard to find 

the type of bottles I mostly collect if you see my posts in soda are mostly from 1920's-30's , when they were making so called art deco bottles or embossed bottles , I haven't really seen many from out east but more than likely some exist and just hard to find


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## RCO (May 6, 2016)

there is also a couple of other older Canadian bottle books , couple I found a few years ago both are by Doris and peter Unitt and published in 1970's , one is an older price guide , out of date and not really that useful , is some older pictures of bottles in it .
the hardcover bottles in Canada book is a bit better , a lot of information in it and many pictures of older bottles from across Canada , some from the east coast , the books are fairly common so you might run into a copy at a used book store or flea market / yard sale 



I like your idea of asking around the flea market and getting to know the people there who might have bottles . one of the worst ideas I ever had for finding bottles was when I put an add up on kiijjii looking for bottles , I never bought one bottle cause of the add and some of the replies I got were just plain bizarre and people wanting way too much money or simply had junk , I have bought a few neat bottles off kiijji ads though and also had some sales fall thru for bottles I tried to buy


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## Harmonica (May 7, 2016)

I have a book guy in Fredericton. He knows I like the old obscure collectible reference books so if something comes up I will find it.

_I like your idea of asking around the flea market and getting to know the people there who might have bottles . one of the worst ideas I ever had for finding bottles was when I put an add up on kiijjii looking for bottles , I never bought one bottle cause of the add and some of the replies I got were just plain bizarre and people wanting way too much money or simply had junk , I have bought a few neat bottles off kiijji ads though and also had some sales fall thru for bottles I tried to buy

_You mean my 2012 Santa coke bottle won't allow me to retire????!!!???!!


I have some old bottles. I am colour blind but they look like either a red or a brown, I can't quite tell. Javax, Clorox etc. Different embozzed fonts, kind of neat. I am going to clean the gunk out of them and stick a fake flower in them for Mother's Day. I also have an old Sprite bottle. It is bilingual so Canadian.

Two old Pepsi Co bottles. Only difference is one says 13 B and one says 6 B, most be plant numbers. All the soft drinks are pry offs, not a twist.

I also have a Squibb bottle. It says Made in Canada which I like. It looks like  flask or two coffins stuck together. It has a different tactile feel. I imagine that would mean it was a poison.

I wouldn't imagine these are rare or worth anything. CLeaned up with a fake flow would asking CAD5 be unreasonable? I will do some digging tonight now that I am back at my computer.


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## CanadianBottles (May 8, 2016)

Five dollars is reasonable for the soda bottles if they're in good condition, but a bit unreasonable for the bleach bottles.  I mean people do it quite a lot, but I wouldn't expect them to sell.  I sell bottles at a flea market sometimes and I have a hard time selling that kind of stuff for 25 cents.  Bottles like that are everywhere in the woods.  The Squibb bottle wasn't a poison, it was a generic medicine bottle used for various products produced by the Squibb company.

In terms of collecting local bottles my advice would be to be patient.  You'll probably find them for quite cheap one of these days.  Buying up all the ones you see right at the start will cost you a lot of money unnecessarily.  Generally in my experience sellers don't play up the local aspect for ACL sodas and local sodas will often cost more in other parts of the country where they aren't as common.  Pharmacy bottles on the other hand are generally best to buy in other parts of the country, if you can find them.  Which generally you can't.  I collect B.C. bottles and live in Ontario, and I've only ever found one B.C. pharmacy bottle here.  It was a good one though, and I got it for quite cheap compared to how much they sell for in B.C.  If you're lucky, your area won't have a lot of bottle collectors and the bottles will be fairly cheap because there isn't much demand.  

You're pretty likely to one day come across someone who will sell you local ACL sodas for five bucks a piece, especially if you befriend any local collectors.  Or come across someone like this guy http://www.kijiji.ca/v-art-collecti...-7/1088596297?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true  Really wish I was at that sale today.

I was looking at Woodstock bottles online and found a few Baird bottles, two of which are for sale for ridiculous prices.  
This one might be a somewhat reasonable price I guess http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Amb...06718e7&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=281990195441

This one is definitely not a reasonable price but look at that baby on the box, that face would almost make me want to pay that much for it.  I have to wonder whether the illustrator had ever seen a baby before.  It looks like a picture of Mike Duffy with hair.  http://www.kijiji.ca/v-art-collecti...ox/1161449666?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

And then there's this one which isn't for sale anymore.  I don't know how much they were charging for it but generally bottles like this are worth about five dollars barring any exceptional extenuating circumstances. https://www.google.ca/search?q=wood...hUFLB4KHVOtBIUQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=LDoul5nk7Ud3DM:

You said you had a couple Baird bottles, which ones do you have?


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## RCO (May 8, 2016)

saw one of those Sussex NB ginger ale bottles at the yard sale , 30 oz acl bottle , guy wanted $10 for it , although it might be worth more out east I don't know 

 found another interesting bottle book at a yard sale as well , also from Unitt's but from 1986 and larger than other price guide , at first I almost discarded it as other unit's price guide I have it rather pointless but this one has a lot of good info in it , a lot of pictures of east coast ginger beers and some nova scotia bottles .
lots of pictures of older Ontario bottles too like hutches and ginger beers, some that aren't even listed in other books ,although prices a little undated , some too high and others too low , some of the bottles they have pics of are so rare i don't think you'd even find any for sale to begin with


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## Harmonica (May 14, 2016)

Hey RCO, I own that Friar's Balsam. I think I paid 12 for it.

The Veggie worm one is now down to $70 so I think he relies his price is a wee bit high. I loved the ad though.

Some guy who is new to bottle collecting offered me $10 for the six javex bottles. He had some generic no labeled glass bottles. I recently found out a dairy up province didn't have special bottles, just generic ones. I talked to an older women about it and apparently the only thing different about the bottles were those cardboard caps.

I picked up a complete set of General Dairy tokens from Woodstock and one from Grand Falls dairy. Now to find the bottles.

I am going to Saint John for a coin/stamp show so I will keep my eyes open.

A cast iron collector came to the flea market and we have been talking. He has some old kettles so I may have a lead there.

22nd, a new flea market. I can not wait to get back. I have some more generic bottles and a few mason jars I want to research. I am having a blast.


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## RCO (May 14, 2016)

Harmonica said:


> Hey RCO, I own that Friar's Balsam. I think I paid 12 for it.
> 
> The Veggie worm one is now down to $70 so I think he relies his price is a wee bit high. I loved the ad though.
> 
> ...



there is still buyers for javex bottles out there , a couple years ago I sold some older ones I had found from the 40's to a guy off kiijii , he really wanted them for some reason 

those generic milk jugs aren't that hard to find , I've found a few of them over the years , often see them for sale at yard sales and such , there is a few different ones made by major glass manufacturers . 

I've been to some flea markets before , they can be interested and is some good items to be found if you know what to look for .
you have to watch out for con arrests though , once I had this vendor tell me the bottle was so much a price only for him to talk to partner and suddenly it was a different higher price , at that point I told them I wasn't interested in it anymore


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## ScottBSA (May 17, 2016)

Terry,
Thanks for the entry story. We all have one.  I live in Kansas City, Missouri.  Stranger things than bottles from New Brunswick and  Nova Scotia have turned up here.  I'll keep my eye out for more Canadian bottles.

Scott


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## RCO (May 18, 2016)

noticed a couple more east coast bottles on ebay , a seller in saint john NB has 2 

a felix Quinn soda water from Halifax NS and a blue ribbon beverage saint john NB , haven't really seen either before so not familiar with them , price didn't seem crazy at $20 each for a really old soda water bottle in good shape 


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Felix-J-Quin...940190?hash=item3f61cfae5e:g:CWMAAOSw4hdXHrC1

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Blue-Ribbon-...950154?hash=item3f61cfd54a:g:9Y4AAOSwiYFXHrOz


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## RCO (May 18, 2016)

just noticed the felix Quinn is listed in that bottle price guide from 80's said it was worth $25 , haven't seen the blue ribbon before so need to try and find out more about it somehow


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## RCO (May 18, 2016)

came across another east coast bottle an acl from Halifax , hi cap ? don't really know much about that bottler 



http://www.ebay.ca/itm/HI-CAP-MARIT...9330728?hash=item281879da28:g:2tAAAOSwiYFXInj~


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## Harmonica (May 19, 2016)

Thank you Scott and thank you RCO.

A neighbor of mine, when she moved into her house, found a crate of Baird's vanilla extract. 6 full bottles. She since used them all and tossed them.

No bottles in the Saint John Show but the flea market is coming up and I have some old mason jars to sell/trade. Just doing my research now.


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## RCO (May 25, 2016)

noticed an Ontario bottle on ebay and saw the seller was from nova scotia so though they might have some east coast bottles and sure enough they did , a bluenose acl from Halifax , new Glasgow ns bottle , yarmouth ns bottle , hutch from Halifax



http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Early-Emboss...514326?hash=item4afff03d56:g:7mEAAOSwNsdXRcxZ

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Antique-Bott...989284?hash=item4af16c57a4:g:ykoAAOSwQPlV~xMd

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Rare-BLUENOS...505009?hash=item4afff018f1:g:jEYAAOSwUfNXRclU

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Early-Whelan...516740?hash=item4afff046c4:g:JEcAAOSwdG9XRc1M


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