A Dumpdiggers Perusal

This dumpdigger made a house call today, Sat Jun 10th 2009 the author spent a lovely Saturday afternoon with Dale Thurman, deep in the concrete jungle, east of Yonge St just below Bloor, and right in the heart of Toronto's downtown core. The wise man contacted me seeking an appraisal, and so I've created this post to help relate the experience to you.

Dale Thurman is a building contractor and jack of all trades with a long resume and a career of happy customers. He doesn’t advertise his business anymore, but rather works steady all year long on word of mouth referrals and co ventures. Dale is an old school structural engineer, a restoration expert and savvy pack rat.

He's also a studied historian and the self appointed protector of the Thurman family heirlooms and special keepsakes. His apartment is well organized to accommodate the mission. The living room shelters a drafting table, sewing machines and lathes and the walls are lined with filing cabinets and shelves; its part museum part machine shop. Dale’s office could double as a mad scientist's lair.



He asked me for an honest appraisal.
When I stepped in the door I knew immediately what I was seeing – a bottle bug. Dale is obsessed with glass and at age 56 he's still taking home anything and everything he finds because he can't bear to part with the objects after experiencing the thrill of discovering them at work. After forty years of doing home renovations on the oldest houses in this city, Mr Thurman had unearthed lots of bottles. At one site in particular, near the intersection of Jones St and Queen St (in what I consider the ‘golden triangle’ of Toronto) he trenched into a 1920’s residential dump full of old sodas, medicines, and food bottles.

Visitors in Dale's apartment see immediately, above the front windows, a wide shelf with about two hundred pieces of glass stacked in rows. At first glace it appears to be treasure trove of old bottles, but closer inspection reveals that almost every piece is machine made, most are blanks, one fifth are screw tops and some are badly damaged. In the most severe cases, some of Dale's bottles are partially melted (from the dump fires). However, I soon spied on the wall of his apartment two bottles with faded brown paper labels that I knew were going to be significant.

Even from the floor I could read the labels,

E.E. RUTHERFORD (Re-Astilled Glycerin)

J.F. HARTZ Co., PURE OLIVE OIL

Although glycerin and olive oil are both found in the early 1900s kitchen, these bottles appear medicinal and were probably used in a pharmacological enterprise.

Then we focused on the Dairy Bottles. My experience has taught me that there are more collectors of dairies and sodas than there are for medicines and sauce bottles and food jars (cathedral pickles excluded) even though these genres of glass bottles are also richly embossed and usually just as pretty.

In perusing Dale's milks I lifted each specimen to scrutinize the bottom for pontil mark that would reveal it as a blown bottle, but this tell tale scar is not present in any of Dale's bottles. Although he did have some milks with embossing from local dairies that I have never seen before… These two creatures are new to me:

THOS DOWNING / 127 / CARLAW MILK

J. HOLLINGER + CO / MAIN 2055

Gazing further down the collection I spotted a square cobalt blue bottle sticking its neck and shoulders above a grove of sodas on the far end of the crowded shelf. I directed Dale to fetch down this relic at once, and he lifted it from the ranks. A tall blue E.B Shuttleworth chemical bottle that is so gorgeously almost perfect. A tiny chip on the lip is the only flaw, and its dirty. The bottle needs a good brisk tumbling, but its a gem.

I soon counseled to put this jewel in the window. This one vessel is worth more than everything else and should be polished and specially presented in the sunlight.

Dale also has some antique maps, books and ephemera. He has a brochure from the Lusitania, and a 1912 tourist photo book entitled Canada, From Ocean to Ocean that features good crisp black and white photos of popular hot spots in every city all across the nation. He keeps this tome alongside the 1935 Arrow Toronto Street Guide which has a lovely fold out map glued to the last page.



In closing I congratulated Dale on saving, preserving and keeping safe these lovely pieces of Canadian history.

Time Team America Debuts on PBS

The British hit TV series TIME TEAM, which plays on PBS on Monday nights has spawned an American franchise. TIME TEAM AMERICA debuts Wednesday, July 8 at 8 PM, ET on PBS. Yes it must be written all in caps, that's how they are branding the name.

Much like the CSI type of experts who drive so much American prime-time TV drama, this group of specialists works 'cases' to probe mysteries in real time.

According to insiders this series has a much different feel than a typical PBS documentary. TIME TEAM AMERICA lets viewers eavesdrop on archaeologist who are grappling with the uncertainties of different excavation situations and testing different, and often conflicting theories. Here's host Colin Campbell (left) and Chief Investigator Adrien Hannus (right).



Just like the hugely popular British series, the American clone follows a team of scholars who are mostly archaeologists, geologists, geophysicists and historians of course. These people will again race against time to unearth some of America's most intriguing archaeological sites.

But its the race against time that I always found most contrived. Anybody who knows anything about digging dumps and fogotten heritage sites trenches knows that the best stuff comes out of the hole at the end of the summer. It takes weeks to find proper goody veins and honey holes in any site, weeks to tell each site's story. So it seems reckless to me to cut apart these old places and not do comprehensive digs.

Check out a sneak peak here: http://pressroom.pbs.org/documents/time_team_sizzle_doc

Preview the full premiere episode, "Fort Raleigh, North Carolina," on the new PBS video portal at: http://pressroom.pbs.org/programs/time_team_america

Beauty Pageant Collectibles

Beauty pageants were once a large part of our culture. In the old days, before and after World War II, there were beauty pageants for just about everything. I found pictures online that show regional beauty queens in every major tourist destination across Canada, and several corporate beauty queens representing our entire nation. In the age of print media and flash photography, this was seen as a great way to promote a retail business, and get people of all ages to focus on your goods. The prospect of finding and promoting a new celebrity attached to a company's name was a terrific incentive to corporate Canada.

For teen girls in the 1960s, the beauty pageant offered a real chance to finally be recognized as a princess, and start living life as a celebrity, if only for a year.

In my other job as a social media consultant and online marketing strategist, I've been doing some work for Miss Teen Canada and I've been studying beauty pageants and the illusion of stardom and celebrity cult that's so important to each event's overall success. For example, the size of the audience, and marital status of the Host, and of course the Judges themselves are key players in the media mix. The judges must be vaunted celebrities in order to bestow their celebrity status upon eager participants, and the excitement in the room builds as the evening draws to a dramatic conclusion.

Look at the SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL in this vintage 1962 era Beauty Pageant Tiara Crown worth approx $65 US on eBay. This was fashioned in California for some event that goes unrecorded today, but perhaps it was a splashy affair that was televised.


And this is my favourite, look at this 1971 DAWN BEAUTY PAGEANT cartoon comic book advertisement for a doll set that comes with a run way and HOST. This old comic book ad ran in 'Golden Age comic books' and other female teen publications as a promotion. The ad measures approximately 6x9 inches and features Dawn, Longlocks, Dale, Glori, Angie and Jessica.

Cocaine in Antique Patent Medicines

In the forty years between 1865 and 1905 a great many patent medicines, pain killers, hair tonics and even some relaxing beverages proudly advertised the use of cocaine as an active ingredient. That’s a forty year window of cocaine-as-medicine related collectibles. After I found this great article in the University of Buffalo archives, I just had to share some of it. Yes I've borrowed some images and text, but I've also added my own research and opinions were pertinent.

Cocaine was first synthesized in pure form by Albert Niemann in 1860 when he extracted pure cocaine powder from the leaves of Erythroxylum coca (more commonly known as the coca plant). Soon after it was isolated, cocaine was used to try to cure illnesses and fight pain because drugs composed of cocaine made people happy. A little too happy…

It wasn't long after the isolation of pure cocaine that people became aware of the addictive potential of the drug, which eventually led to the introduction of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 (in the United States) which required all American drug manufacturers to list all of the ingredients on the product labels. Today, the use of cocaine as medicine had been tempered by past experience. Nevertheless, standard narcotic remedies like paregoric remained readily available into the early 20th century, and Benzedrine inhalers were marketed without prescription until the early 1950s. Codeine wasn't removed from most over-the-counter cough suppressants until the early 1980s.

Coca Wine, anyone? As the name suggests, this was a mixture of strong wine and cocaine. Metcalf Coca Wine was one of a huge variety of wines with cocaine on the market. Everybody used to say that it would make you happy and as a bonus it would also work as a medicinal treatment.

Mariani Wine’s Vin Mariani was a very popular drink in both Italy and France in the late 1860s, and was perhaps the most famous Coca wine of all time. It’s rumoured that Pope Leo XIII used to carry a bottle on his person. Vin Mariani which was developed in 1863 by the Corsican entrepreneur Angelo Mariani who exported the wine all over the world where it won many international awards including a Vatican gold medal for excellence.

Yes we all know there was once cocaine in Coca Cola, and that’s another reason why early Coke bottles are such spectacular collectibles.

Inspired by the European success of coca wines, the alcoholic beverages that combined wine and cocaine, an Atlanta Georgia pharmacist named John Pemberton developed his own cocktail based on Vin Mariani and called it Pemberton's French Wine Coca. It proved popular among American consumers. But in 1886, when the State of Georgia introduced Prohibition, Pemberton replaced the wine in his recipe with non-alcoholic corn syrup. The new recipe was similar to, but not exactly the same as Coca-Cola.

At the end of the 19th century, the fear of drug abuse made coca-based drinks less popular. This eventually led to the prohibition of cocaine in the United States, and the removal of cocaine from coca wine as well as Coca-Cola, although the coca leaf remained in use in that example.

Maltine was very popular in North America. Produced by the Maltine Manufacturing Company of New York. Period advertising suggested that consumers should take a full glass with or after every meal, but children should only take half a glass.

Here’s a paperweight promoting C.F. Boehringer & Soehne ( Mannheim , Germany ). The object evidences the pride this German company had being the biggest producers in the world of products containing Quinine Sulphate and Cocaine Hydrochlorate. Additionally their 1906 ad states, "Prices no higher than for any other brand"

Cocaine tablets - the article in the University of Buffalo archives has a poor condition and poorly photographed 1900 era newspaper advertisement that reads ‘All stage actors, singers teachers and preachers must have them for a maximum performance. Great to "smooth" the voice.

I found this picture of a product called Forced March on the Cocaine.org information site. The testimonials promises the product, "Allays hunger and prolongs the power of endurance"

Cocaine flavoured toothache drops would make a majestic collectible today. I’m sure this product was very popular with children in 1885.

The 2009 Toronto Bottle Show

At 6pm on Saturday April 18th the Four Seasons Bottle Collectors Club was busy setting up their annual show and sale. The Toronto Bottle Show is the largest antique glass bottle and pottery exposition (and tins, stoneware, insulators, ephemera and so much more) in Canada, with approx 75 antiques dealers and impressive attendance. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the empty gymnasium as I looked at all the empty tables... In just a few hours the dealers waiting outside would enter and display thousands of historic antiquities for show, sale and trade.

Saturday Night Set-Up
I laboured right alongside the other members of the Four Seasons Bottle Collectors Club on Saturday April 18th to help set up the show. The entire episode is the subject of this article, Dealers Night at The Bottle Show which also chronicles the excitement of watching Malcom and Newf unpack and sell three years of dug treasure to ready buyers and collectors that were the other dealers.

Sunday's Bottle Show

On April 19th 2009 the morning sun warmed the faces of several hundred people outside the gymnasium at Humber College in Rexdale, Ontario as they waited to enter the building and marvel at all the beautiful glass inside.

Dealers included,
Michael Anders,
Dean Axelson and Judy Axelson,
John Barclay and Marie Renault,
Brett Bloxam and Jackie Bloxam,
Robert Brak and Linda Brak,
Mark Clayton and Candice Clayton,
Bill Cook and Bill Ash,
Abel DaSilva and June Ng,
Ron Demoor and John Dunbar,
Mike Emre and Barbara Emre,
Bob Falle,
Ray Ruddy,
John Finlay, Dave Marrotte,
Dwight Fryer and Earl Fryer,
John Goodyer and Mark Wilson,
Frederic Hartl and Jean-Marc Helie,
Bob Hayward and Tyler Hayward,
Grahame Hudson and George Jones,
Ron Hunsperger and Russ Hunsperger,
Barbara Jackson and Randall Mathieu,
Adam Jarzabek, Steve Vasda,
Marcus Johnson,
Scott Jordan and Paul Marchand,
John Knight, John Knight sr,
Robert Lloyd, Blake Woods,
Ed Locke, Sheryl MacKenzie,
Tim and Jim Maitland,
Michael Malanowski and Caitlin Malanowski,
Terry Matz and Evelyn Matz,
Malcom Mcleod and Newf,
Jamie McDougall,
Glen and Cynthia Moorhouse,
Morris Marlowe and Wendy Marlowe,
Steve Mouck,
Robin Newton-Smith, Richard Clark,
Jason Pfeffer and Barb Pfeffer,
Norm Playtor and Jackie Playtor,
Collin Potter and Jennifer Potter,
Michael Rossman and Jan Rossman,
Fred Spoelstra and Bill Comer,
Cliff Stunden and Donna Stunden,
Scott Wallace and John Wells,
Roger Warren and Carol Warren,
Jack Welton and Judy Welton, and Kert Wrigley.



Readers can find more pictures and stories documenting the 2009 Toronto Bottle Show in the Dumpdiggers Library.

New Sherman Jewellery Book

Sandra Caldwell and Evelyn Yallen have created, or should I say compiled, the most comprehensive book of Sherman Jewellery photographs in existence. If you're like me, and you hunt unsigned Sherman at yard sales, rummage sales and estate auctions, make The Masterpiece Collection your new reference manual.

Sherman Jewellery, The Masterpiece Collection is a 216 page 8-1/2 x 11 hardcover in full colour that features the best of the best of Sherman, including figurals, men's jewellery, unusual colour combinations, beads, art glass, and an illustrated chapter on the signed vs. unsigned debate.

More importantly, Sandra Caldwell and Evelyn Yallen are expert collectors and therefore skilled at summarizing the subtleties of Sherman; every sentence makes readers more aware of the jewelry design business and the realities of the post war Canadian fashion marketplace. The Masterpiece Collection offers a look at some of the rarest Sherman pieces, and focuses on the many colours of Swarovski stones he used to create his designs. Buying and reading this book will make you an expert in Sherman jewelry. More details about Hunting Unsigned Sherman in the Dumpdiggers Library.

Table of Contents

Why We Collect
Sherman: A Brief History
Prices and pricing Sherman
Signed vs Unsigned: The Great Debate
Clear Jewelry
Aurora Borealis and Topaz Jewelry
Black, grey and hematite jewelry
Blue Jewelry
Green Jewelry
Red and pink jewelry
Purple and alexandrite jewelry
Unusual colours
Beads
Art glass, gold tone and men’s jewellery
Figurals and centennials
Multiples
Last but not least

The book details market trends and Canadian competitors like Artistic, Continental and Keyes. It also references American firms like Boucher, Coro, and Trifari. Wisdom is shared in short sentences like, ’Much as Boucher is known for his use of baguette stones, Sherman loved marquise stones and used them liberally. It is one of the features that makes a piece of Sherman jewellery so identifiable.’

Regarding the Great Debate: How much Sherman jewellery is unsigned? On page 12 and 13 there are no pictures. That anomaly alone should immediately signal readers that something important is written here. On these two pages Sandra and Evelyn have laid out their position on the great debate – they get down to business stating why they believe “there is a significant amount of unsigned Sherman” waiting to be found; because,

1. Sherman is hard to fake, and there would be very little profit in replications.
2. Original owners attest to buying both signed and unsigned pieces in same box.
3. Identical designs exist that are both signed and unsigned.
4. Sherman was often sold with cards and tags in gift boxes that served as a signature.

And let’s remember after all, it was just costume jewellery. Designers probably didnt feel obligated to sign their work as often in this fashion genre - because costume jewelery was considered disposable.

Aurora Borealis and Topaz Jewelry
Aurora, which is a technique for coating stones in 1955 by Swarovski, was a novel treatment that gave interesting depth to designs by allowing the same stone to take on a different appearance and colour. the authors state that they believe, based on years of experience collecting Sherman, that there is more Aurora Borealis and Topaz jewelry in existence than any other make

Regarding Green Jewelry
According to Sandra and Evelyn, green jewelry is the least popular colour of all costume jewelry and so accordingly there are fewer green Sherman designs – does this make green jewelry more expensive today? Not necessarily, it depends on the beauty and modern functionality and modern desirability more . But of particular interest is the wide rigid cuff bracelet in an uncommon pale, celadon green with the usual cabochon glass stones

The book shows rare pieces and uncommon designs using unfoiled, reverse set stones. Whenever possible it shows sets where everything matches, and time and time again the necklace is signed but the earrings are not signed or the bracelet is shown in the box with cardboard tag signature etc. This book is like having The Masterpiece Collection.

Sandra Caldwell and Evelyn Yallen have a website http://intotemptation.com, on which there are far more details and ecommerce links to buy the book for $60 dollars.

If you have any questions about Sherman Jewellery or the Masterpiece Collection, they can be reached by email at theshermanbook AT gmail DOT com.

Neal Kuellmer's Exceptional Art Glass

Here's some of Neal Kuellmer's art glass. He was working on more borosilicate glass (Pyrex) pieces like the ones below when last we met. Click the pictures - they expand.