Back in business again after the summer break. Our last meeting was in June, when we had our successful fish and chips supper evening with glazed fruit tart to follow.  This evening Mick said that he had a phone call from a guy whose grandfather Ernest Allen was a survivor on the Titanic. All his details are on the internet. Apparently he had grabbed a bottle of beer before getting in the lifeboat. He still has the bottle and was wondering what value it would be if he sold it. Unfortunately it does not have any provenance to connect it with the Titanic which therefore makes it of low value. The bottle was embossed M Coleman & Son, Queenstown. I have looked on the internet for this name but came up with nothing. There must have been other beer bottles from this company found in Ireland so if anyone knows any of its history please let me know.

On the finds table we have this early impressed SCHWEPPES ginger beer. The address is Margaret Street in London. He left those premises in 1831 and so this bottle must predate that. Potters mark - Bourne, Codnor Park. Steve brought along his gingers, MARRIOTT, FOLESHILL, COVENTRY and GEORGE CHILES TENBY, both picked up at a car boot for a reasonable price The stoneware DAWTREY & SON, VETERINARY SURGEONS CHICHESTER was Bryans. Not often seen but this one does have his other addresses at printed at bottom - Bognor, Midhurst & Petworth. The 3 Codds belong to Neil. They are all from J LONG, WHITCHURCH, which is a village near Basingstoke. Interesting that they all have different variations of the embossing. Steve also brought along this box of eyebaths. He didn't bring them all along but there were 140 in total. He got them from a local auction, where there were no bids and so he got them for the reserve price.

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Dave brought along three blue poisons. They are of Canadian manufacture. They have the normal Not To Be Taken along front edge, but on one sloping side it reads Use With Caution and on the other sloping side in French Usage Externe. The small third bottle came from the same sourcs but has no writing, just the cross hatchings and a plain space for label on other side. The mini Guinness bottles are pretty common but this one of Georges has the Mike Todd 1st Anniversary 1957 of Around The World in 80 Days etched on the back. Quite unusual. Interestingly Mike Todd popularized cinemascope in the 1950's. He developed a cinema widescreen format called Todd-AO. Below is an interesting cork screw that Steve picked up at a car boot. He also bought the stoppered clear glass pontilled bottle. Eric dug the large HARVEYS RED LOTION, RAPID HEALING WASH FOR HORSES. Graham brought the CAMBERLEY STAR mineral.

The A MUNFORD ALRESFORD flagon is a real beauty. The pictured write up gives all the details about it. It was acquired by Bryan in a deal. By coincidence Steve brought along a fantastic MUNFORD jug which he got on Ebay. These are both Hampshire items that we have never come across before. Both exciting finds. Finally Dave brought along the BUSH BLEND flagon CHARLES HART, FARNHAM. This would have come from the Bush Hotel in Farnham. Unfortunately it is missing the handle and has a crack at the rear, but still a rare piece.

The evenings competition was for a bottle with the word CURE on (Not Warners). 1st John. 2nd Mick. 3rd Steve.

Next Meeting Weds October 9th. Competition One Boots Chemist item ALTON BOTTLE SHOW SUN 17th NOVEMBER 2019

Link to Youtube March 2019 Alton Bottle show pictures - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnH-0oIUYCg