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 SITE LAST UPDATED: 4/29/2008 |
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4/27/08 Hey all of you bottle collectors! Welcome to mrbottles. If you have unique insights about antique bottles from Wisconsin (or if you'd just like to say "Hi") stop into our talk forum (click on BOTTLE TALK at left). Feel free to roam the site. Check out the GALLERIES loaded with photos of old and rare sparkling glass and pottery from Wisconsin (click on the picture of the bottle type at the lower left). Enjoy the ARTICLES and the stories in the HUNT section. There's a wealth of knowledge and adventure packed into the site. Feel free to contact us with questions, comments, or input. As always at mrbottles, we love to hear from enthusiasts and there are no fees for participation. Enjoy! --- 04/04/2008 We are deeply sadened to report Granpa Graf is busy in heaven collecting pontiled strawbery puce Graf Hutchinson's or whatever else his soul fancies. We will miss you Timmy... Heidtke, Timothy R. "Dresser" Sun., March 30, 2008, age 49 years. Beloved husband of Mary (nee Harmatys). Loving son of Katherine and the late Richard Heidtke. Nephew of Clarence Harms. Special cousin of Carole Waskow. Proud godfather of Little Mikey Bruch. Fond brother-in-law of Andy Jr., Dick, Lynn (John) Milos, Jim (Judy), Kathy (Kevin) Kornuth, Tom, Frank (Cathy) Harmatys. Also survived by nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, other relatives and many friends. Memorial Service Friday 7PM at the Funeral Home. Visitation at the Funeral Home Friday 4PM until time of Service. Member of HOG, Milwaukee Antique Bottle Club, and states largest collector of Graf's memorabilia. "The best what gives" BEVSEK-VERBICK Funeral Home and Crematory 10210 W. Lincoln Ave. 414-546-4342 | Published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on 4/2/2008. |
03/24/08 Hope everyone had a happy Easter! There is a new story about hunting for anique bottles in Wisconsin from blobbottlebob coming soon. 02/27/2008 Look what turned up in an old school house just outside of Watertown, Wisconsin. These six Schwarz Milwaukee clay beer antique bottles are a very cool discovery and a variety packed sampling. Most of the Schwarz clay varieties are represented. The lady who owns these has a sister who has five more! This year has been an incredible year already just two months in with literally four large groups of very old bottles showing up and a Fess Bitters walking into the Milwaukee Show. Have all of the great discoveries of the year in Wisconsin antique bottles been made for 2008 already? I'll bet I know a few antique bottle divers who think not. The bottle second in from the right is the same variety as the first Clay Wisconsin beer bottle Bob found in the Rock River in Watertown when we first started back in 1997 0r 1998. 02/20/2008 This is a double edition news blurb. I mentioned that Peter came up with an absolute show stopper at the Milwaukee antique bottle club show a few weeks ago. At first I wasn't sure I was free to speak it. Well, the iron pontiled antique Wisconsin bottle on the left that happens  to be the largest whole Fess Jaundice Bitters from Milwaukie walked in the door at the show. Peter was talking to a friend who was handed the bottle by a ‘walk In' and asked if it is any good. The bottle dealer could have bought the  bottle and turned around and sold it to Peter or shopped it for the highest price. I would have bid high. Instead he honored a great collector and friend by deferring to Peter who elatedly bought the antique Wisconsin bitters bottle. This goes to show the people who are bitter and embattled or who take advantage of collectors with less experience that bottle collecting is about beautiful historical objects, bottle collecting is about our history AND BOTTLE COLLECTING IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS. You have more to gain for your personal collection in honoring your word and being decent than you do in manipulating and playing collectors for your personal gain. While I envy the sassy lad I congratulate Peter wholeheartedly on the acquisition of a very early pontiled bottle! The middle bottle is the only open pontiled Fess Bitters Milwaukie known (it's Peter's too). Peters acquisition fired me up to get on the Fess board. I made Big Steve H an offer I hoped he couldn't refuse for the third antique bottle that happens to be the only known Fess Milwaukie Medicine/ druggist bottle that happens to be open pontiled. Stevo and I reached an agreement and I am happily the new caretaker of this piece of Milwaukie Wisconsin History. The medicine has the crudest application of any Wisconsin antique bottle top I have ever seen. If you think you have one more crude please let me know. I LOVE CRUDE. More pictures of the three pontiliers will be coming soon in the Hall of Fame. This picture is the first reunion of these bottles in likely 160 years! 02/17/2008 By all accounts the Milwaukee antique bottle show was a great success. It was fun to see everyone from all corners of the state and a number of the out of towners. Congratulations to Mrjimk on his Otto Zwietusch coil spring stopper bottle. It was certainly one of the better bottles to turn up at the show. News from the show; Steve Soike has had it with the toils and turmoil of collecting and is starting to sell off his Wisconsin antique bottle collection, our own Wisconsin bottle gallery administrator Ryan has sold off a big chunk of his Wisconsin crown top collection for the same reason, Steve Hockhalter is getting his own website built for cleaning and repairing antique bottles and glass (we will link to it when it is done), Sid and Henry both got excellent Weber barrel embossed beer bottles from Waukesha and a good time was had by all. Bob posted pictures in the Wisconsin antique bottle talk forum of a lot of the goings on. The Fondulac crew made the trip in the horrible weather and picked up a sweet pontil. It was cold. Tom Fredrick parlayed a one of a kind Eaton and green into a cash deal and a Hustisford antique Hutchinson bottle for Blobbottlebob that is pretty sweet. Bob and I have tried hard to find one with no luck at all. In fact Gary Weimer and I dug there six years ago hoping to find one but came up with nothing. Peter bought a big box of clay beer bottles from a digger and one real nice Milwaukie antique bottle. | This is one heck of a recent discovery for the Wisconsin antique bottle collecting community. These two beauties are debossed "Wm. E. & Co ROOT BEER MILWAUKEE" They are in the hands of a family member of the people who found them while demolishing a Milwaukee Civil War era building back in 1935! There are two more out there somewhere too. All I can say is wow. Click on the image to see our gallery listing of this elusive antique bottle rarity. The bottles reside in the South Western region of the United States. I am doing what I can to bring them back to Milwaukee. (Don't hold your breath) The picture is not so great but this is what the owner sent me. I have the history of these specific examples. I will put it up soon. |  Some things are just meant to be together like peanut butter and jelly. Fess and bitters and Milwaukie would be one example. Blossoms and Badger Ale would be another. See things Wisconsin antique bottle collectors choose to display with their bottles. I found a an odd piece of advertising diving in the Milwaukee river just outside of the Usinger's building. Year later i traded with The Kid for this bottle he found on a dive in Pewaukee with me Blobbottlebob, Mrjimk and biged. Both Milwaukee antiques are nice in their own right but together they are something better like peanut butter and jelly. Please send in pictures of your Wisconsin bottle delights and the pieces that make them even more interesting. Click the PB&J picture to go to the "Gowiths" page. |
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11/23/2007 Wisconsin antique bottle collectors I have started on the arduous process of doing the immediate content changes to this the premier resource for Wisconsin bottle collectors that I have been sitting on for months. For starters I have hit my own collection gallery in the guest collection page. I deleted all of the antique pre Hutchinson soda bottles that I don't intend to keep and have started to replace the images of the bottles that I am keeping. I am including the best of my recollection as to where I got the bottles and where they came from originally. I have added a good number of colored and rare bottles that I never put up. That is a work in progress and will be a little while before my antique colored and pontiled extravaganza bottle collection is completely updated. I have also started to add second images in some of the gallery antique bottle s so that you can see both sides of double side embossed antique Wisconsin bottles. Check out the Cobalt pontiled Racine Bliss and the Waukesha Oakton Springs Pewaukee spring water bottle for examples.11/21/2007 I recently looked at the Wisconsin antique bottle talk forum to see all the pretty shinny antique bottles people were putting up as their find  of the year. I thought hmm I could put up my Milwaukee Belting and supply crown or maybe my ice boat or that whopping sail or even a nice blob Fred Miller beer. All nice just not super special antique Wisconsin bottles. Just as I had resolved myself solemnly that I will not get a chance at either of the TWO antique Wm. E. & Co Root Beer Milwaukee Wisconsin clay beer bottles for my personal collection, in spite of the fact that when you have none and another collector has two, clearly a sharable sum, It would be possible, the phone rang. The phone rang at 7ish this morning. A construction buddy had referred a new construction buddy to me after he found a bottle. It is the Hutchinson soda blob Mathews Gravitational stopper embossed, "O. ZWIETUSCH MILWAUKEE," bottle in amber. I have found a number of these in aqua have had no less than a dozen inquiries about them at the site, all aqua, have seen dozens of them for sale all in aqua. i met my new construction buddy and I came home with this beautiful antique Milwaukee bottle. Thanks to my main bottle connection and to my new bottle connection. You guys are awesome and I truly appreciate you both helping me improve my collection. For the rest of you Wisconsin antique bottle collecting peeps here it is for you to see. It is nice light amber that a camera at night with a flash can't catch so I may replace the picture tomorrow.. While I am tired of seeing bottles over cleaned I may tumble this one ‘oh so lightly' myself to allow the amber glow to show. No cutting! I am so glad to say I have one more little antique Milwaukee Wisconsin bottle treasure to be Thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!!!11/20/2007 Holy Cow Wisconsin bottle people you will never believe what is turning up. TWO more Wm. E. & Co Root Beer Milwaukee Wisconsin clay beer bottles? No way you say? They exist. I hope to have a picture of the antique bottles sometime soon. Fortunately the two exquisitely rare antique Wisconsin beer bottles are in the hands of someone who appreciates them. His family found the Milwaukee, Wisconsin stoneware bottles nearly eighty years ago. I hope to get the story and to add it to the site WITH pictures. I plan to get to work on the site adding content constantly. So expect some new stuff. Blobbottlebob has sent in a few hunt stories and the antique Wisconsin bottle talk forum is coming up on two years! Every month it seems a collector or two join. New features on the bottle site will soon include a, "Go WithS" page a few more stories and the constant addition of new gallery items. With the addition of all the crown top bottles we are starting to get crown top inquiries like crazy. Nate has volunteered to satisfy the demand of this growing group of collectors for information. I recently met a guy who had been burned by collectors a number of times selling super rarities like a Hopkins Milwaukie for $20 and bunch of other rip off jobs. I don't know about you folks but I couldn't do it. Time to start thinking about the Milwaukee Bottle Club Show. Maybe THIS year we can get that Heck Racine reunion going. Happy Thanksgiving you sassy bottle hording freaks! 09/15/2007 Does anyone know what happened to the Wedigwisconsin site? Have they quit digging? Is it a web site problem? If anyone does please let me know at steve@mrbottles.com. The last time I went there I tried to contact them. The time before a bunch of things were broken and still are and no updates in a long time. If you are a regular here keep in mind we need to support the wedig boys. They are building a resource we all enjoy. I would be glad to give them their own page on http://www.mrbottles.com// if they need. The forum is open to all so they could even start building hunting logs there if wedig is down for the count. No big news today. There will be a new page feature called, "Go Withs" soon. It will be for people to show off their favorite go with for an antique Wisconsin bottle. It could be an antique Wisconsin bottler poster or opener or wooden case or picture or whatever. Feel free to send me a picture of the bottle with the go with and the story of your favorite ‘go with' for the site. Nate and Ryan are consistently adding to the galleries and I am trying hard to update a little content here and there all the time including the galleries. You will see little additions if you look around. Contributors to the site send me your wish list bottles; it is a chance to connect directly to people for the ‘one' you want. Mark Nelson, Dan Gross, Bob Libbey, Nate, Peter, Sid, Ryan and more... 09/09/2007 There is a new hunt story by Blobbottle Bob in the Hunt and a new page detailed below has been created. Look at the left side navigation and you will see WISH LIST!!! Previous contributors send in your Wisconsin antique bottle content to lock up the listing of the one you want. Images will be added and restored to the hunt stories and articles soon. Click this text to go to the Wisconsin antique bottle collector wish list page. |
| 08/31/2007 As I have mentioned no less than fifty times on this, THE premier resource for antique Wisconsin bottle collectors, new content is what every Milwaukee or Madison or Wausau or Oconomowoc or really any Wisconsin antique bottle collector wants to see on the site. Some Wisconsin antique bottle collectors have stepped up big time including taking on administration roles and actively gathering images and descriptions of bottles from many collections. In the interest of not having this Wisconsin/antique bottle collecting informational resource pit collectors against each other I do not allow buying or selling of Wisconsin antique bottles or antique bottle related collectables on the site. Pushing the edge of this rule I am allowing mrbottles site contributors to list one antique bottle from their wish list as a reward for new, bottle site enhancing, content. One new listing of an antique bottle will result in a two month Wisconsin antique bottle wish list listing. A new antique bottle Hunt Story or article will result in a six month Wisconsin antique bottle wish list listing. Each Wisconsin antique bottle collector who contributes content will be allowed one and only one Wisconsin antique bottle or old bottle on their wish list at any time. Any individual Wisconsin antique bottle will can only be listed by one site contributor. When an antique bottle listing expires another collector may change their wish list item. Some major Wisconsin antique bottle site contributors will have a perpetual right to the wish list. This site generates a lot of antique bottle traffic from all over the world. This is your chance to contribute and maybe, if you are lucky and the stars all line up just right, the chance to achieve your Wisconsin or really any antique bottle collecting Holy Grail. The expirations I have set on these listings are to perpetually encourage Wisconsin antique bottle collectors to contribute new content. |
08/30/2007 We got.jpg "Tom Fredrick with antique Wisconsin beer and soda bottles") out last Saturday. Blobbottlebob, The kid, Mrjimk and Mrbottles. TheKid carried the day with the best bottle, an early Schlitz. The day was an absolute adventure. We got out early and had some boat trouble. The Pewaukee police graciously towed us in. New content will be added over the next few days. 06/12/2007 Wow. the Milwaukee bottle club meeting was a hit with lots of great stories and some very cool bottles for show and tell. Nate and Ryan are learning the site edit at this very moment. Expect to see lots of new bottles in the galleries soon. Plus. There should be a new hunt story from Blobbottle Bob shortly. 06/01/2007 Wisconsin antique bottle peeps guess what... The Milwaukee antique bottle club June meeting is at the home of non other than mrbottles. I hope to have the principal administrators of the site (Bob and Peter) on display for all the Milwaukee antique bottle club members to see and maybe even a few surprise guests. Anyone who brings a Blossoms badger Ale to the meeting for me gets a boat ride. This meeting is sure to be a historic Wisconsin bottle event; TWO ***NEW*** MRBOTTLES ADMINISTRATORS WILL BE GIVEN PASSWORDS TO LOG IN AND TRAINING TO ADD GALLERY ITEMS AT THE MEETING!!! 04/21/2007 a new Milwaukee antique bottle Hunt story by one of Wisconsin's most legendary Wisconsin antique bottle collectors is in the antique bottle articles section. It will be moved to the Wisconsin antique bottle Hunt section soon. I am dedicating myself to getting up to date with content. I added about 35 bottles Wisconsin antique bottle collectors have sent. Yoo-Hoo, you know what that means right? You folks need to kick it into high gear and send Wisconsin antique bottle collecting content. The site needs stories and pictures and articles and ideas continuously so that every time YOU log in there is more to see and experience in this pontiled Wisconsin bottle haven. I am still waiting patently for one of you to find me an antique Pontiled Blossoms Badger Ale from Milwaukee. Don't be like so many Wisconsin collectors who will take all the information you will give but not give back. PLEASE contribute. Hey Vulture i'm all caught up. What you gonna do bout dat? Thanks to Tim Raimer and again the huge contributions of Mark Nelson! You guys are part of the reason so many people love coming to the site. 03/06/2007 WOW has any one seen the clay gallery? Peter has put up an incredible number of pieces of early and rare Wisconsin stoneware. Peter has added jugs, pitchers, pots, crocks and even some antique Wisconsin pottery bottles. Dan has sent another 40 gallery items with pieces in just about every gallery. Check them out!
03/01/2007 Hey Wisconsin bottle peeps. The administrators of this site BOB, PETER and ME have been adding photos like gangbusters in the galleries. With the help of Ryan Dan Gross, Nate and the bottle Vulture (Mark) I have added a couple hundred myself! Check out the colored seltzers from Mark or the crowns from the North woods from Nate or the extremely rare Hutchinson soda and super rare crowns from Ryan or the medicines from Dan. THAT IS JUST THE ANTIQUE WISCONSIN BOTTLES PEOPLE HAVE SENT ME! The galleries are like a Wisconsin Glass fireworks show for you to enjoy every day! Thanks fro sending the images in guys. You are four people who understand this is a site for all Wisconsin collectors BY ALL Wisconsin antique bottle collectors. Please send more when you can. EVERY ONE ELSE PLEASE SEND ANY CONTENT YOU CAN. Content is the only way the mrbottles site can continue to grow. Check out the forum. There have been some dandy HECK bottles found in the last couple of months and there is always interesting things going on teh forum. The FonDuLac crew continues to add great content on the forum. Did anyone find me a Blossoms Badger Ale yet?
What is going on? An extremely rare 1860's clay with no glaze on the inside? High speed grinder mark case wear? (& OTHER MAJOR PROBLEMS) The 30 year old WHO DONE IT of Wisconsin collecting is upon us. Was it greed? Was it need? What is the significance of 10,000 rpms of speed? Is it as one owner speculates a prototype bottles not meant for actual use? Did they do that in the 1860's? If so, where did they get the high speed grinder to make the case wear? Only you can solve the mystery of the Racine clay? If you know or even if you don't know send me what you think might have happened. I am working on pinning down the true story and as many ‘theories' as possible. Please contact me directly with facts or speculation? While I will gladly make fun of this pathetic situation I intend to document these bottles so that no unsuspecting collector spends their hard earned money on a fake represented as an antique. The key players so far are; MABOYEEE Frankie from Racine... If memory serves me right Frank had one. FRANKIE you have always done good by me... please help. Where/who you got the bottle would be HUGE. A second player is DOUG an angry man who calls other collectors idiots for questioning this 30 year hoax and Jerry a Racine historian with what I call a ‘$1000 investment' in a fraud. I have founded the HWPP or Heck Witness Protection Program to protect the identity of key informants. If you let one of the key players use your kiln in 1976 or if you saw them digging clay in the middle of the night on the shores of some river in 1975 let me know. Keep in mind at least one has a BAD attitude! I will keep you anonymous if you choose with your speculation. Please, if you are a Scientologist just skip it as we have already ruled out aliens as the manufactures of these bottles. If you KNOW the truth coming forward is your duty as a Wisconsin antique bottle collector who loves the hobby, the history and the bottles. On a lark I'll say they could be real, sure they could, if so lets all get together and have the best collectors examine every known example at the Milwaukee Bottle show. Can we see your bottle DOUG? Frank already showed me his although at the time I would never have guessed any one would make a fake antique bottle. Jerry how about you? Anyone else? Contact me to arrange a HECK REUNION! These bottle may not have been together since they were fired at an art clay studio in the 1970's or was that 1860's?
Help decide what future content is researched and published on the Mrbottles site. This site is for every Wisconsin antique bottle collector. If you're a Wisconsin antique bottle collector and you don't see what you collect on the site contribute! One way to be sure you have an impact is to SEND INFORMATION. We are actively looking for pictures of Wisconsin collectors in action. Good images of Wisconsin collectors on the HUNT will be added to the site front rotation ongoing! I have a request...Somebody send me a Blossoms Badger Ale! For those of you in the deep south remember 1 Blossoms badger Ale ='s 6 Floribami Pepsi's This website is to unite Wisconsin antique bottle collectors from every corner of the Web. Your input is critical... Please write out the story of your greatest Wisconsin bottle success or send a few photos of your favorite bottle with a description. Mrbottles is constantly changing. It will be THE greatest resource for Wisconsin antique bottle collectors EVER!!!
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