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Starting your collection.
Starting your collection
What to collect
Knowledge and information
As with all things knowledge about what you want to collect is very important.
Without the knowledge of bottle and their value and rarity you may discard
a rare specimen or pay too much for a common bottle. Try to get as much
information as you can before you buy or trade bottles. You could start
by joining a local club. There you should find like minded collectors
who are willing to share their experiences, and give vital information
about bottles you might want to collect. If you are interested in bottles
from the South Wales area the local club is run by Simon McDonnell, contact
Simon on 01792 891711 for more information about when and where the club
meets.
There are two excellent magazines available via mail-order subscription.
Firstly ABC (Antique Bottle Collector) which can be contacted on www.abc-ukmag.co.uk
and BBR (British Bottle Review) which can be contacted on www.onlinebbr.com
Both magazines provide up to date prices, show and club listings and various
articles.
You can also get information through the internet, type in your particular
interest in a search engine and see how many results you get.
Once you start to get serious about collecting local bottles, one of the
best sources of information is your local reference library. Many reference
libraries hold local newspaper editions ("The Cambrian" for
the Swansea area) and trade catalogues going back to early Victorian times.
For a small fee you can get information about companies, where they were
based, what years they operated and much, much more.
How to get your bottles
The simplest and cheapest way to get your bottles is to find an old site
and dig for them. Ask around the local club to see if they will tell you
where to dig, but remember to be careful as holes can quickly collapse
around you. A good quality fork and spade are essential, try and get both
with metal as opposed to wooden handles as they last a lot longer, a stout
pair of boots and gloves are another essential as there will be a lot
of broken glass about.
Ask around, mention to friends what you collect you'd be surprised how
many people have old bottles in their sheds or around the house they don't
want.
When buying bottles research the area you want to collect, try to get
values as it's easy to pay too much for something. Sometimes antique shops
or car boot sales have bottles in, and there are a number of specialist
shops dealing in bottles, their addresses can be found on the bottle magazines.
Currently one of the best places to buy bottles is ebay, they have a vast
quantity of bottles for auction, but again do research, because it's easy
to get carried away and pay too much.
Bottle shows are regularly held around the country, see the bottle magazines
for dates and where they are held.
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