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Selling bottles

amc rulz

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Joined
Jan 23, 2011
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5,498
Location
southern mich
I have a lot of snake oil glass and wondering the value.
 

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The top row are modern repos and can’t be worth much. Most of the rest from what I can see and read off them are common patent medicines from 1890-1910. They look to be in good condition. When I used to dig and sell stuff at bottle shows this type of bottle would sell for a few bucks. Now as a collector of bottles none of them interest me much but to someone who wants a few cool window bottles maybe $5-10 bucks . Don’t quit your day job😀.
 
It's a real shame that they do not hold nearly as much value as you might think:no:
I have found about 100 "good" ones over the years, and they are probably only a buck or two apiece...
That's why I'm keeping them, sentimental value I guess.
 
Yep the top pic are Wheatons, the large size.
Was thinking of asking $10 per lot.
No cracks ever, good start for a collection.
 
Yep the top pic are Wheatons, the large size.
Was thinking of asking $10 per lot.
No cracks ever, good start for a collection.

That would be a very reasonable price for those as you have some really clean bottles there, and yes, a great start for some new bottle collector. Especially pics 2, 3 and 4.

BTW, I had one of those Glover's Imperial Mange Meds with some contents still inside, and I'm here to tell you all that it smells JUST LIKE McDonald's McRib. :yes:
 
I've sold a few on ebay, mostly Udolfo Wolfes schnapps with a Z mark on the bottom. For some reason that was popular here back in the day...
 
The top row are modern repos and can’t be worth much. Most of the rest from what I can see and read off them are common patent medicines from 1890-1910. They look to be in good condition. When I used to dig and sell stuff at bottle shows this type of bottle would sell for a few bucks. Now as a collector of bottles none of them interest me much but to someone who wants a few cool window bottles maybe $5-10 bucks . Don’t quit your day job😀.
You know I tried to sell a few common bitters and patent meds at a neighborhood garage sale ten years back, price $1 and less. Of 50 bottles I don’t believe I sold even one. Oh yeah, I did quit my day job this summer, hopefully for good!:lol:
 
I put mine on consignment at the local apple orchards and antique shops. Haven't dug bottles in quite awhile, but still have quite the collection in the garage. That reminds me, I havent been to the shops to see if anything sold in a few years...
 
It's a real shame that they do not hold nearly as much value as you might think:no:
I have found about 100 "good" ones over the years, and they are probably only a buck or two apiece...
That's why I'm keeping them, sentimental value I guess.
Yep. At 58, as I get older I’m finding it easier to let things go. I inherited the ‘pack rat’ mentality from my father who is 85, and for the last 30 years he’s been bringing his ‘junk’ out to my place as he’s been downsizing. I have a 2-car garage and 30x40 pole barn. Every 3-5 years I have to rid of things that are piling up.
 
You know I tried to sell a few common bitters and patent meds at a neighborhood garage sale ten years back, price $1 and less. Of 50 bottles I don’t believe I sold even one. Oh yeah, I did quit my day job this summer, hopefully for good!:lol:

Bottles anymore are a niche thing. Gotta find the right person. Like a lot of other hobbies today, younger people (for the most part) just aren't into history or collecting like we were, and it's unfortunate. I also am into antique radios and phonographs and those hobbies are in the same boat, as is ham radio. I think much of it is because of the lack of history being taught today. My love for history sparked much of my interests in antiques. Bottles still are bigger in the south and southeast to eastern U.S.
 
You know I tried to sell a few common bitters and patent meds at a neighborhood garage sale ten years back, price $1 and less. Of 50 bottles I don’t believe I sold even one. Oh yeah, I did quit my day job this summer, hopefully for good!:lol:

Yeah I know what you mean. When I did bottle shows all the patent medicines were scooped up for a few bucks usually by antique shop owners who put them in their shops and over the course of a year they would double their money. Then they would restock the following year at my table. At a tag sale you’ve got one day to find a buyer; odds aren’t good.
 
To move bottles I pretty much take anything worth less than 20 bucks - put them in huge groups and sell them to Etsy dealers for 4-500 at a time. They come pick them up.

I’ve found that unless a bottle sells on eBay for 20 bucks it’s not worth selling and unless you have a local outlet it’s not worth the effort
 
Probably $30 or so for the entire lot, but they’d prob have to be picked up locally as I’m not really interested in shipping fragile glass. Thanks for asking.

well if that changes let me know, ill pay for shipping and packing materials and your time as well.
 
I knew a bottle dealer at this huge weekly flea market I used to sell at. At the end of the day he'd go over to the trash barrel and break every bottle that didn't sell that day with a hammer. He said it wasn't worth lugging them home.
 
I knew a bottle dealer at this huge weekly flea market I used to sell at. At the end of the day he'd go over to the trash barrel and break every bottle that didn't sell that day with a hammer. He said it wasn't worth lugging them home.
Sounds like he was a little bit cuckoo for coco puffs. Why not just offer the bottles up for free :?:
 
Sounds like he was a little bit cuckoo for coco puffs. Why not just offer the bottles up for free :?:
Some of us would give other dealers something we couldn't push. Some would drop stuff at the the trash barrels for scavenging. This guy would break a hundred bottles in one day! He said he doesn't give anything for nothing! I figured he was a very lonely man with that attitude.

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Been collecting local dairy, soda, medicine, etc. bottles for a mere 25 years, and as already stated, bottle collecting is a dying hobby. Nobody under 35 years old would be interested unless the bottle could be used to take selfies.
The only bottles with any real value are the rare ones. I'll keep (and eventually try to sell) a handful of them. Because nobody that I know of would be interested in having the common bottles, they will be boxed up and left in the garage loft when i sell off the house and retire to another state. Maybe discovering them will spark someone's interest in bottle collecting.?.?.
 
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