The Unforgettable Big Bottle Expo

The FOHBC put on an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime event at Houston24

An upcoming issue of the FOHBC (Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors) magazine, Antique Bottles & Glass Collector, will do a very comprehensive review of all the great things that happened at their national bottle expo held in Houston, Texas, earlier this month - in the 48-year history of the FOHBC, this was the FIRST national expo held in Texas! I just want to share with you some of my own observations and highlights. Every corner of this event was defined by colors, shapes, varieities, and rarities - from the bottles and events to the people and the purchases - as I will now demonstrate to you:

Bottle Exhibitions at the Museum

No matter whatever type of bottles you collect, there were priceless beauties there that you would love. The American Antique Glass Masterpieces exhibition took over the breathtaking display hall where Faberge treasures had previously been on exhibit and those bottles had all the color, glitter, and glamour of the hall's previous occupants. The David P. Wilber and Anthony Gugliotti Barber Bottle Collections, the second special bottle exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, was a real surprise for me because I knew nothing about barber bottles but quickly learned that the range of shape, color, and subject matter is absolutely amazing. Fabulous large format "coffee table" books of these two exhibits are available through the FOHBC website and they are well worth the investment. (Unfortunately, my many photos of these two exhibitions have disappeared from my computer, but these two books more than make up for those losses!)

The Bottle Shows

Even before the official Houston24 at Hotel ZaZa, a first-ever, outdoor tailgating event, called "Glass in the Grass," happened at the home of Ferd and Elizabeth Meyer. From dealers selling out of their trunks to free breakfast tacos and the unparalleled collections of the Meyers that we were allowed to go see, it was an awesome start to the events that started the next day. I had a great time there and hope they do it again every year!

The Houston24 Bottle Expo was filled with great bottles and glass for sale. Dealers from something like 38 states and four foreign countries were set up and selling! I loved hearing Australian and British accents wafting through the air!

I managed to find a bunch of things to buy that filled my need for that next great find! First, I bought the exhibition books mentioned above as well as the cobalt Drake's Plantation Bitters - mine starts out dark cobalt from the lip and neck down to about the first row of shingles, then it thins out to medium blue, then back to cobalt blue on the bottom third of the bottle, plus it has a swirl or two of cobalt here and there. Even though it's a commemorative bottle, it's one of just 250 made so quite limited - and it's my very first figural bitters, so that makes me happy too. There was also a reproduction label provided with each bottle and I couldn't resist putting it onto my new cobalt Drake's Bitters! Talk about a taste of the past!

I also purchased a bottle of Carboline for the Hair with full label, full contents, complete box, and box booklet included - I will show and discuss this find in a future blog post! I then purchased a bunch of advertising trade cards (I have collected these for years) and found some real beauties very reasonably priced. I love this American Eagle Tobacco card and am happy to show it off as an example from the dozen-plus cards I purchased.

The Displays

I got to work with all of the displayers - 17 in all (that's got to be close to the most displays at a National) - and it was a great experience to work with them; what a great bunch of collectors and subject matter experts, willing to go through significant effort and expense to set up displays of their finest items with no other compensation than to educate and entertain all who wanted to come look and learn. Every display was exciting and beautiful, and each was very different from the others, which made it even better.

I was one of the displayers and was honored to be voted to have the "Most Educational" display and also to be the "Best of Show". Pictures of my two awards are shown on the "About" page that you see at the top of this page. For those who were unable to make it to the show, I'm posting images below of the four major sections. It took us 13 1/2 hours to set it up and I promised my family we'll never do that again(!), so these photos will have to be the lasting memory of the effort.

The Seminars

The Houston24 seminars ranged from 17th century witch bottles and pairings of precious glass and minerals to the "Holy Grail" Cobalt of cobalt bottles (the Fish Bitters / Old Homestead Wild Cherry Bitters / and the Sazerac Aromatic Bitters) and digging for bottles in Galveston. I gave the first seminar and I was so gratified by the many, many questions and compliments that were shared with me over the rest of the show. Given all the interest, I have published a blog entry, 'Weaponized Witch Bottles" (see "My Blog" posted on 10 August).

The Auction

I had one more big surprise coming when my hand went up for what turned out to be the winning bid on the very first lot of the auction! Every day since, I have become happier and happier to have been the winning bidder for this beautiful reverse painting on glass Hostetter's Stomach Bitters sign. It's one of six stunning reproductions of the original that has decayed almost completely over the last several decades. I just looked over my shoulder once again while writing this and I just can't believe it's on my wall. It was a great splurge after months of effort to build my display, prepare my seminar, and help the FOHBC recruit all the other seminar presenters and display exhibitors.

Night at the Museum

The great "Dinosaur Banquet" wasn't the last event but it's a great spot to end my review. Surrounded by enormous dinosaur skeletons leering down at us, with their big teeth readied to make US their dinners, it was an evening for my wife and I to remember.

Once again, to my surprise, I was given the 3rd Place award for Best Website - yup, the one you're reading right now. Please spread the word about my website and keep reading it yourself. Please, please post your comments when you've particularly enjoyed one of my blog posts so I know what kind of stories are resonating with my readers. Also remember to click on my book covers on the Home page so that you can go for free to all four volumes of my book. Read it, research from it; be surprised at what it contains. Just like this website, my seminar, and my displays, everything I do, I'm doing free for your enjoyment. If I know you're out there and enjoying it, I'll keep doing it.

Until next time, this is Promising Cures and I'm you're host --Andy Rapoza