Bottles Mohawk - Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Club

Bottles
Along the
Issue No. 265
Mohawk
June 2016
MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY ANTIQUE BOTTLE CLUB
ANNUAL CLUB PICNIC – THIS MONDAY – DETAILS PAGE 9
PLEASE ATTEND - BECAUSE
WITHOUT YOU
IT WOULDN’T BE THE SAME
IT WOULDN’T BE THE SAME
AND WE WOULD MISS YOU!
Presidents Message...
President’s Page …
Now that our 22nd Annual Show and Sale is successfully behind us, the MVABC members can
relax and enjoy each others’ company and lots of good food at the Annual Club Picnic at the
Kirkland Town Park this coming Monday, June 13th. We dealt with some very rainy weather last
year, so let’s hope that Monday will bring a nice day with sunshine. As always, members will be
tailgating—buying and selling those hard to find bottle treasures!
Thanks again to Carol Saporito and Frank Tomaino of the Oneida County Historical Society for
the informative PowerPoint program called “What the Photographer Saw”. The program
illustrated repairing damaged photos as well as colorizing black and white photos.
I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having. Even if you have to do
gardening and lawn work, it still gives you the opportunity to be outside—some of you might even
be taking the opportunity to do some digging!
LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE AT THE PICNIC ON MONDAY!
Monday!
Best Regards,
Kathy Capozzella
.
COMMITTEES: Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Club, P O Box 4483, Utica, NY 13504
FACILITIES: Bernice Szablak, 28 Maple St, New York Mills, NY 13417 (315) 736-9270
HISTORIAN: Kevin Gallagher, 6073 Stokes-Lee Road, Lee Center, NY 13363, (315) 339-2598, Email:
kgallagher4@twcny.rr.com
LIBRARIAN: Jon Landers, 8646 Aitken Ave, Whitesboro, NY 13492, Phone: 768-7091
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Jon Landers, 8646 Aitken Ave, Whitesboro, NY 13492, Phone: 768-7091
PHOTOGRAPHER: Polly Blunk, 2317 Holman City Road, Clayville, NY 13322, Phone (315) 839-5548,
Email: landmarkstudio-2@juno.com
PROGRAMS: Ron Weir, P. O. 509, Oriskany, NY 13424, Phone: (315) 736-8138
MONTHLY RAFFLES: Tom Andriach, 100 E. Sycamore Street, Rome, NY 13440, (315) 339 – 4338,
Email: lostinspace47@live.com
REFRESHMENTS: Dan & Amelia Weeden, 2511 Old State Road, Camden, NY 13316, (315) 245-2207
REFRESHMENTS LIST: Person needed to coordinate list.
SHOW & SALE: Peter Bleiberg, 7 White Pine Road, New Hartford, N.Y. 13413, Phone: (315) 269-5360
Email:PMBleiberg@aol.com
SUNSHINE: Bernice Szablak, 28 Maple St, New York Mills, NY 13417 (315) 736-9270
COLLECTING
ANTIQUE BOTTLES
AMERICA’S GREATEST HOBBY
Visit us on Facebook: mohawk valley bottle club
CLUB NEWS
ON THE FRONT PAGE
A grouping of colorful and interesting bottles from the Mohawk Valley exemplifying the importance of color, yet
showing that even aqua or clear glass is beautiful. The bottles are from the collections of several of our club
members.
2016 BOTTLE SHOW & SALE
We had a great Show & Sale. There were BOTTLES, BOTTLES, EVERYWHERE! Everyone seemed to have
enjoyed our show. The dealers were happy.
BOTTLE SHOW RAFFLE
The winner of our beautiful flask from our bottle show raffle was Daniel Parmon of Little Falls. Daniel decided to
take the flask instead of the $100. Thanks to everyone who bought and sold raffle tickets. Also, thanks to Jim
Bender and Jim Berry who acquired the flask for our club to sell.
REFRESHMENTS
June 13 – Club Picnic, none needed. Details for picnic on page 9 of this newsletter.
July 11 - Tom Andriach and Vinnie Casatelli
.
WHAT BOTTLE???
THIS IS OUR HISTORY
In 1889 Louis Becker of Utica, NY
was manufacturing a patent medicine.
What was the name of this medicine?
Answer: BECKER’S NEW ERA
WHOOPING COUGH REMEDY
See 1889 advertisement shown on
left. Has anybody seen a bottle from
this medicine?
Copy of an advertisement from the July 20, 1889
issue of the UTICA OBSERVER
Join Now!
You can become a “2016” member of the
Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Club
for just $12.00
Visit us on Facdbook: mohawk valley bottle club
Oswego County Glass
Our Neighbors to the North
By Kiely Jo Malone
On the north shore of Oneida Lake, in the town of Constantia is a small village with a great name and a
great past. The village is Cleveland. It was named not after our twenty-second and twenty-fourth president,
but after James Cleveland, who migrated from Petersboro, Connecticut in 1826. James Cleveland was a
man of great initiative and immediately constructed a hotel and store which served as the nucleus of a
growing community.
In 1840, Anthony Landgraff came to found the glass industry. Born in Germany, where he learned his
trade, he came to America in 1812 and began manufacturing glass at Vernon, in Oneida County, New
York. When wood became scarce in Vernon, he moved to Cleveland with his four sons, and his son-in-law, George
Cowarden. One of his sons, Harmon, is credited with creating some of the "offhand" pieces coming from the plant.
The book," Landmarks of Oswego County" edited by John C. Churchill in 1859, describes Landgraff
as "a man of pronounced ideas, active and influential in all public and private enterprises, and inaugurated
many improvement in his art. He lived in advance of his time, and was more or less ridiculed for the
theories he advocated - but since have been adopted."
Anthony Landgraff chose Cleveland because of the thick strands of virgin hemlock surrounding the
village. This was very important as enormous quantities of wood were needed for the furnaces. It was cut
fine, about three feet in length and dried in ovens. The forest was so near that the choppers were able to
pile logs against the drying house. In these days the accessibility of fuel spelled the difference between
success and failure.
The standard formula for making glass for the past two thousand years is composed of a melted mixture
of sand and two oxides from a group of four; soda, potash, lime and lead. Cleveland used a combination of
sand, limestone, soda ash and carbon. Pieces of glass attributed to the earliest period have a definite green
tint from the iron present in the sand.
For the first year the sand was laboriously boated across the lake from Verona, but in 1841 the finest
grade of silica was found right in their front yard. This was dug by hand and hauled up to the factory in ox
carts. Some of this Cleveland sand was used by Corning Glass in making the giant lens for the world's
largest telescope atop Palomar Mountain.
Landgraff constructed his own furnace. Mr. Fredrick Griesmyer, one time mayor of Cleveland, and selfappointed curator of its past, describes this furnace thus: "The melting furnace was about six by eight feet
on the inside and the melting pots little larger than good sized water buckets. A single blower could and
did carry and place them in the tempering oven."
These first furnaces probably resembled a small pyramid with a great chimney at the top. The base of
the furnace contained an ash pit about five feet deep. The cord wood was placed on grates over the pit.
Approximately five feet above the grate were two shelves on which "the batch" was placed with holes so
located that the blower could reach in for the gather. There were doors above and below the grate to allow
removal of ashes and for stoking. Immediately above the Glory Hole, the furnace would slant up to an
enormous chimney.
The shelves, approximately four feet above the grating carry "the batch", the rough ingredients to be
fused. Through the door at one end the fire is stoked and the job is begun of getting the heat up to 2600
degrees, necessary to melt the "the batch." It might take twelve to twenty hours to create a fire intense
enough to reduce the ingredients to a fluid state. At the proper time messengers were dispatched to the
nearby homes of the blowers who would immediately come and work until the supply was exhausted.
Each blower gathered, blew, flattened, and sometimes cut his own glass. The work of the glass blower
has always been arduous and in these early days exceptionally so. For their work the blowers received
slightly more than a dollar a box which was considered very good pay at the time.
Miss Frances Eggleson of Oswego, speaking before the Oswego County Historical Society in 1941, said,
"The manner of selling the glass was in keeping with the character and primitive ways of small, local,
independent manufacturers. In the middle of the century, Oneida Lake was connected by the Erie Canal by a
side cut, and it was customary during navigation to load a canal boat with glass and peddle it out in the towns
and villages along the canal from Troy and Albany to Lockport and Buffalo, often in the way of barter for
store goods and other supplies."
The only product of the Cleveland factories was window glass. The canes, pitchers, bowls, chains, etc that
have been found and authenticated are "offhand pieces", meaning that they were produced by the blower after
hours from the left over batch. Miss Eggleson, whom we have just mentioned, was a collector of fine glass
and illustrated her lecture with pitchers and basins that had been crafted by Cleveland craftsmen. These
pitchers and basins were used on wash stands in the bedroom before the days of modern plumbing.
George and Helen McKearin picture these on Plate 65 of their book, "American Glass". They write"Washbowls and pitchers, smaller bowls and pitchers, milk pans, bottles, rolling pins, hats, with balls, and so
on are included among authenticated specimens of Cleveland glass. They are characterized by the sturdiness
of form and breadth of body and neck. The only decorative technique we have encountered is the threading of
the necks of the pitchers."
I recently acquired for my own collection a very crudely constructed chain of light green tint. These chains
were sold to saloons where they were festooned over the bar for purposes of decoration.
The original plant was run by the Landgraff family until 1861, when it was taken over by William
Sanders, for a brief period before passing into the hands of H. J. Caswell and Crawford Getman. Child's
Business Directory of Oswego County for 1866-67 carry the ad, "Cleveland Glass Works, Caswell and
Company, Manufacturers of window, coach, picture, sheet, and double-thick glass, H. J. Caswell, C. Getman,
Wm. Foster, F. Farmer." Crawford Getman had a large interest in this operation and continued in control after
Caswell retired in 1877. A picture of the workers standing before the factory at this time shows a force of
about seventy men. It is evident that Getman supervised the most successful glass manufacturing operation in
the village. In July, 1869, the factory was nearly destroyed by fire and completely demolished on New Year's
Eve of 1881. Mr. Getman rebuilt a new and better factory on the same site.
In 1851, the Union Glass Factory was organized as a stock company by Cleveland citizens, but after a
couple years was re-organized under the control of William Foster, Forest Farmer, and Charles Kaltner, who
ran it with success for more than twenty years, when it was sold to Crawford Getman in 1882, who ran it with
his Cleveland factory until 1889, when he sold both plants to the United Glass Company. Crawford Getman
left an indelible imprint on the village of Cleveland. He started as a bookkeeper for Anthony Landgraff and
reputedly died a millionaire. It was evident that he was highly regarded as a community leader for his name is
connected with a majority of business ventures of his era and was elected town supervisor in 1882. He ran the
Hotel Getman which was advertised in an Oneida paper as one of the finest hotels on Oneida Lake with
large and airy rooms. He also had a general store.
The picture certificates were issued as pay to the workers and could be redeemed at his store. No one
received actual currency for his work. Is it any wonder that Cleveland, New York was the birth place of our
American Trade Unions? Frank Putney, a veteran of the Civil War, was secretary of the Cleveland Glass
Company. He evolved a scheme of secret organization of workers. This was against the law but they held
their meetings in a nearby ravine and exerted considerable influence in the factory. Mr. Samuel Gompers,
who was then a young cigar worker, learned of the scheme and spent some days in Cleveland formulating
ideas which ultimately gave birth to the American Federation of Labor.
In later years, the Cleveland factory was converted into a modern plant, organized and re-organized, until
it finally closed for good in 1912. Like many budding American industry it was unable to successfully adapt
itself to our fast moving industrial tides. While this was an admirable location for a small operation, using
wood as fuel it was not the most advantageous location for the assembly line production. The changing
seasons come and go, and today the halcyon period of 1834-1874 is but a memory. At present there is little
indication that Cleveland was once a thriving glass center. The Webb Lumber Company of Bernards Bay has
started a housing development on Factory Street where the Union Company once stood and neighbors are using
large pieces of "Cullet" or waste slag, as borders for their flower gardens. The ruins of the Sand Street plant, once
owned by Crawford Getman now houses a thriving oil business and people living within a few miles of Cleveland
hardly believe you when you speak of its past greatness.
Anthony Landgraff was my great, great, great, great, great grandfather. My home is atop the site of the old
Cleveland Glass Factory. During excavating - we discovered many walls and hallways that once was the factory.
We obtained many large pieces of "Cullet" that adorn our yard and flower gardens. KielyJo Malone
WHAT BOTTLE?
Don’t MissPROGRAMS
THIS IS OUR HISTORY
Editor’s Note: Kiely Jo Malone is from Cleveland, NY, lives on the factory site and wrote this interesting
thefactories
Annual
June
13 Although all the glass
article.
in Oswego County were window glass manufacturers, we should
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items of everyday use. Below are some examples of free blown “end of the day” pieces made by glass workers. to
pass, table setting and beverage. The club will provide hamburgers, chicken paddies, hot dogs, rolls and a
charcoal fire for grilling. Honor us with your attendance! Bring some bottles to sell or trade (tailgating is
encouraged). Family members are invited or a friend! A thank you to Vince Romanelli for making the
arrangements for the picnic and Yvonne Wall for getting the food.
CLUB PICNIC
This Monday
July 11
MILK BOTTLE PROGRAM
JUNE 13
AT THE KIRKLAND
TOWN PARK
BOTTLE SHOWS
RAIN OR SHINE
July 16 & 17
ADAMSTOWN PENNSYLVANIA
(Saturday
& Sunday)
FOR DETAILS
& DIRECTIONS
16th Annual Shupps Grove Bottle Festival,
Saturday
SEE PAGE
9 & Sunday, 6:00 am to dusk, early buyers Friday 3:00 pm. At
the famous “Shupp’s Grove”, 1686 Dry Tavern Road, Denver, Pennsylvania 17517, Contact: Steve Guion,
717.626.5557, affinityinsurance1@windstream.net
September 18 (Sunday)
DEPEW,Above
NEW left:
YORK
(BUFFALO
SHOW)
A glass
chain, marble
and other small items attributed to the Cleveland Glass Works.
18th Greater Buffalo Bottle
Collectors
Association
Annual Show
and
at thevessel.
Polish Falcons Hall, 445
Above Right: A teal green aquamarine
saucer
andSale
drinking
Columbia Avenue, Depew, New York 14043, Sunday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, Set-up: 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Cost of

admission: $2, Children under 12 free, Greater
Buffalo Bottle Collectors Association, gbbca.org, Contact: Joe
Guerra,
Secretary,
Nina free
Terrace,
West
Seneca, New York 14224,
716.674.5750,
jguerra3@roadrunner.com
Below:
An aqua29footed
blown
pitcher.
Below:
An aqua free
blown deep bowl.
October 16 (Sunday)
EAST SCRIBA, NEW YORK
The Empire State Bottle Collectors Association presents the 18th Annual Fall Antiques, Bottles & More
Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm; Setup: 7:00 am, Scriba Fire Hall, U.S. Route 104, East Scriba, New York, 2
miles East of City of Oswego. Admission $3 donation, Contact: Barry L. Haynes, P.O. Box 900, Mexico, New
York 13114, 315.963.0922 or 315.963.3749
2016 FOHBC NATIONAL CONVENTION AND EXPO
SET UP TEAM
ALPHA
2016
SHOW
IT WAS A
GREAT
SHOW
Tom Andriach Photo
DON’T MISS
Bottle
Nuts
AT THE
45th MADISON
BOUCKVILLE
Antique Show
With two tents full
of antique bottles for sale
August 15 - 21
(Monday – Sunday)
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT:
Jim Burns, 315.527.3269
Jim Bartholomew, 585.705.8106
WHAT BOTTLE???
THIS IS OUR HISTORY
What master ink bottle with a label from
Clinton, NY is listed with a photo in
William Covill’s book, Ink Bottles and
Ink Wells?
The answer will appear in the next
newsletter.
PROGRAMS
June 13
ANNUAL CLUB PICNIC – RAIN OR SHINE UNDER PAVILION
For the June meeting, we will meet at the Kirkland Town Park to enjoy our Annual Club Picnic. Start arriving at 5
PM, eat at 6 PM and continue until dark. We will have a large pavilion with electricity to use. Bring a dish to
pass, table setting and beverage. The club will provide hamburgers, chicken patties, hot dogs, rolls and a
charcoal fire for grilling. Honor us with your attendance! Bring some bottles to sell or trade (tailgating is
encouraged). Family members and friends are invited! A thank you to Vince Romanelli for making the
arrangements for the picnic and Yvonne Wall for getting the food.
EASY DIRECTIONS TO THE CLUB PICNIC, MONDAY NIGHT – ARRIVE 5 PM – EAT 6 PM
Coming from the Utica area on Route 12B, go into Clinton and take a left at the second traffic light (the
Homestead Saving and Loan building is on the left corner, Don’s Rok is on the right). Proceed 1 mile toward
Deansboro; you will pass a McDonald’s restaurant and Hannaford’s Supermarket on the left. At one mile, turn left
onto Post Street. There will be a sign with an arrow on the left where you turn that reads: “KIRKLAND TOWN
PARK”, proceed 8/10 of a mile to the park. The park is on the left.
July 11
PROGRAM ON MILK BOTTLE COLLECTING
DO YOU LIKE MILK BOTTLES? If the answer is yes – DON’T MISS THIS PROGRAM! In addition to our
program on milk bottles our club will be giving away 5 free memberships to the National Association of Milk
Bottle Collectors (NAMBC) to support milk bottle collecting. With each membership comes 12 monthly issues
of the Milk Route which is the monthly newsletter of the NAMBC. Our own Peter Bleiberg is the editor of this
newsletter which is printed in color. We also will have some special guests at this meeting.
BOTTLE SHOWS
July 16 - 17 (Saturday & Sunday)
ADAMSTOWN PENNSYLVANIA - 16th Annual Shupps Grove Bottle Festival, 6:00 am to dusk, early
buyers Friday 3:00 pm. At the famous “Shupp’s Grove”, 1686 Dry Tavern Road, Denver, Pennsylvania
17517, Contact: Steve Guion, 717.626.5557,affinityinsurance1@windstream.net
August 4-7 (Thursday – Sunday)
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
FOHBC 2016 National Antique Bottle Convention & Expo – Western Region at the McClellan Conference Center,
Host Hotel: Lions Gate Hotel. Room Reservations – Show Information: Richard & Beverley Siri, Show Chairman
& Co-Chair, 707.542.6438,rtsiri@sbcglobal.net or or Eric McGuire, Western Region Director,
etmcguire@comcast.net Contracts: Warren Friedrich, 530.271.5757, warrenls6@sbcglobal.net. More
info at FOHBC.org, FOHBC National Convention – Western Region
August 15 – 21 (Monday – Sunday)
BOUCKVILLE, NEW YORK – BOTTLE NUTS AT BOUCKVILLE
45th Annual Madison-Bouckville Antique Show, Outdoor antiques and collectibles including two huge bottle
tents! Over 2,000 dealers and vendors located on scenic Route 20, Bouckville, New York, Contact: Jim Burns,
315.527.3269, Jim Bartholomew, 585.705.8106
September 18 (Sunday)
DEPEW, NEW YORK (BUFFALO SHOW)
18th Greater Buffalo Bottle Collectors Association Annual Show and Sale at the Polish Falcons Hall, 445
Columbia Avenue, Depew, New York 14043, Sunday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, Set-up: 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Cost of
admission: $2, Children under 12 free, Greater Buffalo Bottle Collectors Association, gbbca.org, Contact: Joe
Guerra, Secretary, 29 Nina Terrace, West Seneca, New York 14224,
716.674.5750, jguerra3@roadrunner.com, FOHBC Member Club
Visit us on Facebook: mohawk valley bottle club
Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Club
Newsletter Editor
Jon Landers
8646 Aitken Avenue
Whitesboro, NY 13492
Phone (315) 768-7091
Email: sj57831810@roadrunner.com
Address Service Requested
DON’T MISS THE June 13th PICNIC
Monday Night – 6:00 PM
At the Kirkland Town Park
See Page 9 for details & directions
New York Mills
*************************************
*****************
FIRST CLASS MAIL
*****************
Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Club … History in a Bottle
Visit our website: mohawkvalleybottleclub.com
PRESIDENT
Kathy Capozzella
1108 Rutger Street
Utica, NY 13501
(315) 724-1026
Email: fcapozzella@hotmail.com
VICE PRESIDENT
Dave Mount
592 Albany Road
West Winfield, NY 13491
(315) 822-9991
SECRETARY
REHM, Debra
5182 Westmoreland Road
Whitesboro, N. Y. 13492
(315) 736-4705
TREASURER
Peter Bleiberg
7 White Pine Road
New Hartford, NY 13413
(315) 735-5430
Email: PMBleiberg@aol.com