A souvenir from a Vicksburg business, the first to bottle Coca-Cola.
A poison bottle etched with ridges to prevent the user from picking it up and consuming it, by accident, in the dark.
A remnant of the Mississippi College dairy bottling plant and a piece of history from H.H. Warner (1842-1923), who made his fortune selling fire- and burglar-proof safes, until he developed Bright”s Disease.
At death”s door, Warner was restored to health by a doctor selling a vegetable potion.
The grateful businessman bought the patent to the medicine and, in 1879, introduced Warner”s Safe Kidney and Liver Cure, in a glass bottle embossed with the form of a large safe, commemorating his appreciation of having the money to buy the doctor”s services and life-saving elixir.
A Columbus native and, since 1983, the facilities manager at the Frank P. Phillips YMCA, Perry Hendrix, 52, collects stories, in the form of antique glass bottles.
To add to his collection of antique bottles — which generally were made before 1900 and include bottles used for medicines and cures, sodas, poisons, liquor, beer, as flasks, for hair and skin care, food, sauces and condiments, bitters, inks, mineral waters and other purposes — Hendrix travels to trade shows, sometimes as far away as Ohio, four to five times a year.
And he has other ways of finding the prized treasures, which he also sells, and now include a collection of 3,000 bottles.
“It”s out of control,” he laughed. “Nowadays, you see very little glass. But it used to be the bottle was the product.”
Why did you begin collecting antique glass bottles?
I”ve always collected unusual things and old stuff. A former preacher of mine started collecting. It just seemed like it was a good niche for me to fall into. It”s fun to do; it”s interesting. It”s a part of history and a lot of it has been forgotten.
Where do you find the bottles?
I go to shows and (find them) online and in bottle magazines. I went to a show last week and a guy had a big table with a lot of bottles, one of which was for sale for $5,000.
You can also find them at (the former sites of) privy”s or outhouses. You can go (get) city records and find homes from that era. Then, you get a probe, push it in the ground and hopefully, find a soft spot (which was the site of an outhouse). And you start digging. You have two or three guys to help, because you”ve got to dig it out and then you”ve got to fill it up the same day.
Another place you can find them is garage sales; people sell stuff and sometimes they”re called attic treasures.
Once you find a bottle, how do you date it?
The seam of a bottle, how far it will go up the neck, will tell a lot. The higher the seam, the newer the bottle. The farther the seam stays down (the neck of the bottle), the older the bottle.
I am still learning and I have friends I can call on that have been doing this for 30 years or more. And there are also price guide books.
What”s the highest price for which you”ve sold a bottle?
Probably $150 or $160 is the most I”ve gotten for a bottle. I”ve probably spent more on bottles than I”ve made. The ones I keep are the ones I”m really drawn to or are unique. It”s just like with any other hobby. People have an interest. It”s like collecting knives or guns. You develop a bond (with other collectors), you get to see these folks a few times a year and it”s fun to do.
You can find out the stories a lot on the Internet and people do research for bottle magazines. There”s also the Antique Bottle Association, Glassworks and eBay is a good source.
What advice do you have for others interested in starting a bottle collection?
Do your research. Don”t get excited when you find (a bottle) and ask for advice from other people. I”ve seen bottles I thought were outstanding and I”d call my friends and they would tell me ”that”s a good buy” or ”that”s way too high.”
Verify your source and do your research, because there”s a lot of information and the library has a lot of good books on bottles, believe it or not.
If someone already has old bottles, how can he or she find out what they might be worth?
I can give them a pretty good idea of what they”re worth and if I don”t know, I can put them in contact with who does.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
