“Preserving The History of Our Nation’s First Major Industry”

National Bottle Museum® 76 Milton Avenue, Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Phone: 518-885 -7589 email: nbm@nycap.rr.com

Letter from the President:

Dear Members,

In our last newsletter we made an appeal

for a significant bottle to be donated for a raffle to benefit the National Bottle Museum. A generous, anonymous bottle collector responded. You know who you are and we sincerely thank you. The bottle raffle was a hit at our bottle show this past weekend a t t he S a r a t oga Coun t y Fairgrounds. (See articles below)

This quarter we have been included in a PBS special, AHA,( A House for the Arts), listed in the top ten strangest museums in NYS, and interviewed for newspaper features, most recently by the

Saratogian. The added publicity has resulted in more visitors from around the United States and beyond. It certainly has been rewarding.

Please put a visit to our unusual Museum on your calendar for 2017 and see all we have to offer!

Sincerely,

Ellie Dillon

President, Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees Ellie Dillon, President

Meg Stevens, Treasurer

Sara Stiles, Secretary

Ted Filli

Mark Juda

Patti Southworth

Phil Bernnard

Roy Topka

Stephanie DelSignore

Museum Director: Gary Moeller

Volunteer Director of Glassworks Studio: Heather Longacker

Volunteer Director of The Artists’ Space: Fred Neudoerffer

THE BOTTLE MUSE Spring 2017

Fundraiser for the National Bottle Museum

Rare Greeley Bourbon Whiskey Bitters Ring/Ham G102

The drawing of this Greeley bottle will be held on Sunday, August 6th at the Springfield MA Bottle Show sponsored by the FOHBC. It will be on display at this event all weekend. Tickets are $20.00 each. If you would like to purchase a ticket in advance, contact the National B o t t l e M u s e u m a t NBM@nycap.rr.com

This rare bourbon bitters will be at the National Bottle museum till the Springfield Show.

This is a great opportunity to add a valuable, rare bottle to your collection. You do not need to be present to win!

Successful Annual Bottle Show

Once again Roy Topka and Phil Bernnard organized a successful bottle show at the Saratoga Fairgrounds. On the day of the event board members and volunteers were available to set up, welcome and assist vendors.

Heather Longacker of Glassworks Studio f i r e d u p h e r t o r c h f o r a d a y o f demonstrations. Those who bought a raffle ticket received a marble from Glassworks Studio made by Heather.

Vendors brought unique bottles of all shapes and sizes for purchase, trading and discussion. It was a wonderful day so thank you all for making this a special event. Be sure to mark your calendar for first Sunday of June 2018!

1

An added feature to the Bottle Show this year was a corner set aside to educate the next generation of bottle collectors! The National Bottle Museum sponsored a free grab bag with information about their chosen bottle provided to these future collectors!

Rare Display at the Saratoga Bottle Show!

Artifacts from the site of Mt. Vernon Glass Co. archeological dig were on display at the Saratoga Bottle Show 2017. Unique iron originally mounted on glassblower chair to hold blowpipe to chair, ornate piece of furnace door, kiln brick and of course… glass were on display.

Meanwhile at the National Bottle Museum....

While visitors were busy at The Saratoga Show, the Museum's doors were also open with our Director Gary Moeller and special guest Gerard Dauphinais on hand to answer questions about his display and the molds carved by Malcolm Jones, master mold carver. Thank you to Gerard for being there, and thank you again for your generous donation.

2

Director’s Report

“When people visit NBM, I often take the time to tell them about the collection wall where the bulk of the museum’s permanent collection is in what’s referred to as Open Storage.

I explain that most of the collection, over 2,700 pieces total, can be seen there and the newest bottle in the collection is probably a commemorative pyroglazed milk bottle, made for the National Association of Milk Bottle Collectors c.1995. The oldest bottles are the black glass onion bottles, which are European in origin. One of them has a label, applied by the donor, reading “DUTCH SQUAT 1710-1725 / WINE / FREE BLOWN”. That is likely

the oldest bottle in the collection.

I then usually ask if any of them have ever seen such a bottle before, and usually get a quick “No.”

I will then ask if they’ve seen any of “The Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and mostly get a quick “Yes,” after which I’ll ask “Did you see the first one?” and usually get another quick “Yes,” at which point I look at the visitors and say “You weren’t paying attention.”

There is a scene in the first “Pirates” movie, subtitled “The Curse of the Black Pearl,” in which the main character, Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, is left stranded on an island. He’s sitting on the beach, leaning against a chest and drinking, with a bottle in each hand. One was a ring flask, the other a Dutch squat.

I believe the “Pirates” movies are set in the 1770’s, in one of them one of the British naval officers makes a reference to “those pesky colonists.” I do not consider myself an expert, but from what I know, Disney got the bottles right!”

On another note, 95 people signed the guestbook in May, 4 were children. Visitors came from 13 different states, as well as one from Great Britain and three from Spain.

Warm regards,

Gary Moeller

3

Thank you for your ongoing support of the National Bottle Museum!

Current Members of the National Bottle Museum

Chris and Maria Alex

Carl and Christine Alimonti

Michael Anderson

Janice Marie Badkin

Junne Barnett

James Becker

Mrs. James Benton

Phil Bernnard

James Berry

Arden Blunt

Minnie Bolster

Warner W. Bouck

G. Benjamin Bouck

Duane Braidwood

Jimmy Breen

Charles Bukin

Susan Burns

Joan Cabaniss

Laura Cerino

Dana Charlton-Zarro

Tom Clark

Andrew Constan

Eric Correia

John Cromie

Earl Dahl

Lisa Daigle

Gerard Dauphinais

John DeGrafft

Joseph DeLengyel

Arthur Dell

Stephanie Delsignore

Gerald A. Dexter

Robert Dicker

Eleanor Dillon

Thomas Dudarchik, Jr.

Jane Elkin

Mr.& Mrs. Stuart Elman

Mr. & Mrs. Neal Ferguson

Ted Filli

Ralph Finch

Ralph Fletcher

Johnnie W. Fletcher

Darlene J. Furda

Herman Galberd

Donald Garrison

Karen Giamis

Deborah Glagov

Leo G. Gourdreau Jr.

Art Gueguen

Gary Gugino

Tony Gugliotti

James & Janice Hagenbuch

Rick Hasenauer

Donald & Audrey Hauprich

Randy & Jan Haviland

Norman Heckler

Mrs. John Heller

Vance Heroth

Patricia Hoyt

Fran Hughes

James L. Jacobs

Mrs. Gary Johnson

Donald J. Jones

Pearl Joubert

Mark Juda

Christ & Carolyn Karras

Mr. & Mrs. E.T. Kelsey

Charles Kennedy

Steven Jon Ketcham

Gloria Kim

Sally Kolesar

Evelyn Kramer

Dacid H. Kuntz

James Kurtz

Brian Kutner

Jon Landers

Robert Latham

MarthaStuart Lazarus

William Leckie

Keith & Ellen Leeders

Dorothy Licini

Heather Longacker

Keith Lunt

David MacDougall

Al & Linda Macica

Hilda Mann

Fran Martone

Joan Weber Matson

Rick & Kathy Mattrazzo

Mrs. Thomas McCandless

Terry McMurray

Gary Moeller

Alice Moulton

Cecil Munsey Jr.

Ruth Ann Parent

Thomas M. Paskiewicz

John Pastor

Marilyn Pastore

Louie Pellegrini

Peter E. petrillose

Darrell Pinkney

Michael F. Polak

Rosemary C. Poskus

Robert G. Prentiss

Judy Prevratil

Carl Puckhaber

Irene Purificato

Ronald Rainka

Barbara & David Robertus

Joyce Rogers

Christopher Rogers

John Rudzinski Jr.

Larry Rutland

Virginia Sawicki

Robert Saxe

Eileen M. Schoch

Tim Schuck

Robert & Rosa Schweitzer

Mim Sciangelepore

Delores Scotti

Robert & Katherine Sheffield

Leigh A Simpson DDS

Robert & Rose Sokol

Dr. Burton Spiller

Fred D. Stein

Marilyn Cassidy Stephenson

Gary Stephenson

Barbara S. Stephenson MD

Meg Stevens

Sara Stiles

Sue Ellen Stine

Adam Stoddard

Ron Tetrault

Roy Topka

Phillip Toussaint

Donald Tucker

Carol Turney

David Tuxill

Jeffrey Ullman

Harold Upton

Linda Varelas

Nancy Voehringer

George Waddy

Harriet Wagner

Stewart Wagner

Larry Westfall

Frances Whetzel

Watt and Janet White

Dorothy Whited

Jeff Wichmann

David Wright

Somers Antique Bottle Club

Little Rhody Bottle Club

Capital District Bottle Club

National Association of Milk Bottle Collectors

Finger Lakes Bottle Collectors Association Somers Antique Bottle Club

4

5

The Jan Rutland Memorial Artist Space:

The spring ‘Pop Up’ Exhibit was followed up by The Galway High School Art Portfolio Class exhibit. Both shows had artists on hand for their opening nights and were well attended.

Glassworks Studio:

Glassworks Studio hosts ongoing classes for teens and adults in hot glass and art forms of all kinds. Special events and demonstrations are regularly held on the First Friday evening of each month.

On First Friday, May 5th, we were honored to host selected art work by J o n a t h a n C o l e m a n ' s s tudent s f rom Ma l ta

Avenue E l ementa r y School. The children, the i r fami l ie s , and visitors were treated to hot glass demonstrations as our resident artists interpreted their works in hot glass!

6