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Clinton News-Record, 1980-05-01, Page 21A'4 Bottle collecting big hobby for Fishers of Clinton by Elaine Townshend In the last ten years, bottle collecting has become the third largest hobby in North America, --1 of fruit flavouring and soda water General Foods. His sealers include called soda drink forerunner of soda unfamiliar names, such as Beaver, Pep and today's soft drinks. The Beehive and Atlas, which are more torpedo shape had a, purpose. The collectable than Crown sealers. Glass stamps coins, btt`2e was corked,' and if the cork-- ro lled with ice water we dried out, it would blow. Because of its rounded bottom, the bottle had to lay on its side allowing the liq �id� to keep the cork wet. . One of his most unique bottles is an Old Stinky Fly Trap, that he found when the corner store in Shakespeare was auctioned. New -traps complete with instructions had been stored upstairs, and John bought three or four for $1 each. The container resembles a large quart sealer with an umbrella -like screw top. Holes in the top allow the flies to crawl inside. A cube of stewing beef is . placed in the centre of the bottle at the bottom, and a fluid (Big •Stinky Fly Kilter) is poured around it. Flies are attracted by the meat and poisoned by the liquid. When dead flies accumulate to a certain depth, the trap is emptied, rinsed and reset. Every `find' has an historical lesson. John has a beer bottle made when Kitchener -Waterloo was called Berlin. Of more recent note is a modern-• Coke bottle with 'an Arabic label commemorating the end of the 12=year"Coke drought in Egypt. In horse and buggy days,:pumpkin seed or picnic flasks glass bottles made in the shape of flasks - were filled with liquid, corked and carried in men's pockets or ladies' bags. An American shofly flask, shaped like a horseshoe, can still be found in the U.S. John also has. an .old country doctor's kit - small medicine bottles with silver lids carried in a rec- tangular leather case. Most bottles in John's collection. were blown in a metal or wood mould, but he bought one blue free blown wine bottle. The.. bottle was blown --through a•blowpipe :-in -one large bubble ; then a ring top was fitted on with a special tool. Like Chianti wine of today, the bottle was probably kept in a flat-bottomed wicker container. John displays: early food jars from large companies, such.,as Heinz and surpassed Only by stain d b and in Great Britain, it is quickly overtaking the favourite British pastime of stamp ,collecting. One of the largest Canadian bottle collectors is John Fisher of Clinton. Seven years ago, John sold his. coin collection to begin digging, buying, trading and selling bottles. He has had as many as 6,,000 at one time; currently his private collection numbers 800 with approximately 2,000 extras for sale or trade. He converted an unused rec room. in the basement of his home into a display area. Among his Clinton `treasures' are a crock, several large milk bottles with names of dairies embossed on them and a medicine bottle. He also has 16 pharmaceutical bottles, that were displayed in the drugstore window by Clinton druggist. Mr. Newcombe during the town's centennial. A prized part of John's collection is an. 11 -piece set of crockery from the old Huron Pottery at Egmondville that he recently purchased. He ";believes it the largest Collection of - Egmondville pottery outside of the Ontario Museum. Sizes range from large flour crocks to smaller sugar and butter crocks valued from $90 to $40. A few years ago, he dug a clay soda bottle in the Seaforth area and has. now identified it as part of the Egmondville.,line. He will sell some of the pieces, bdt hopes to retain three or four of the most interesting items. His smallest bottle, approximately 1" long and %" in diameter, was made of clear glass and "contained Flor. ient scented cologne from Colgate & Co., New York. His largest is a three or four magnum (one to two gallon) French champagne--- bottle complete with cork and..label, that he obtained at a wedding reception in France. Madeinto a .lamp, it became his first functional bottle. His oldest bottle is probably an 1870 `torpedo,' which contained a mixture L „AD John Fisher of Clinton, an avid bottle collector, holds up a Polo Flask, a glass bottle shaped like a flask that was used to hold "warm" liquids during horse and buggy days. (photo by Elaine Townshend) used ,to roll pastry, and John's wife, Ina, contends they are better than the wooden: ones because the cold prevents pastry from sticking. For the past year, John has collected crocks. Two of the most , noteworthy are brown with copper pipes and taps •that turn on and off. They seem suited to sterilization of dairy equipment. Telephone and barn insulators are other types of collectables. His barn insulators in various sizes, shapes and colours came from barns across the country. The most collectableis a small white one with the manufac- turer's name embossed on it. John's best `find' thus far was at the excavation site of a Clinton house. He unearthed the top and base of a tooth- paste holder marked by a California perfume company - forerunner- •of Avon. Today Avons are among the fastest -moving collectables because of their emphasis on distinctive shapes. From the 1930s,..John found a tiny five-and-dime_. sdre perfume bottle made- in the shape of an elephant. "Bottle . collecting is not a finan- cially profitable hobby," admits John, "but it has other adv=antages, It gets a person out of doors, teaches him about history and helps. him to meet interesting people ... I have contact : with collectors all across Canada. He intends to share his experiences of thepast seven years by printing a hobby book called "I Dig Bottles," which he will give to friends and new ' collectors. His first•••,dig_ took—place behind the Piano Factory in Clinton and was exciting enough to make him eager for more, Other.::excellent sites. .; were found at -,Clinton and Goderich dumps and along riverbanks at Auburn and Bayfield. On holidays, he dug for bottles on Manitoulin Island and dove for bottles off Cat Island in the Bahamas. He cautions new collectors to not dig alone; old dump sites canbedangerous, John sells bottles through several outlets including a store in Seaforth, auction sales and bottle shows:, This spring he has 2,000 bottles in the?25e to $5 range ready for auction. They will make room for the 2,000 bottles he expects to dig this summer. Next winter, he will sort and clean the bottles, research them , in his ex- tensive library of bottle books and catalogue them. There's nothing more beautiful than an old bottle cleaned inside and out, especially to someone who digs bottles as much as John Fisher. But he isn't the only hobbyist inhis family, and bottles aren't the only. collectables in the Fisher house. Ina Fisher explains that. after 15 years of living in military housing while John was a cook with Canadian Forces, she was delighted to move into a house of their own in Clinton in 1963. Then she could display her `treasures' - kitchen gadgets,` pictures, dishes, thimbles, button hooks and sewing baskets and sewing cabinets. '6n the kitchen walls hang ald- fashioned utensils, candle snuffers and scissors combined, lemon squeezers, scales, preserving kettle fillers, potato mashers, scrapers, slicers and wartime soap savers. Tle `kids wall' located in the hall is filled- with pictures of interest to children; the'pictures are hung low for their benefit. A print of the Dionne quintuplets • autographed by their parents was one of many sold by the government to raise money for the care of the children. Other pictures 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111i11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111110 To trustees convention Separate board approves trip The Huron -Perth Separate School board has given its approval to Greg Fleming to attend the Congress of Education in Montreal June 1 to 4. He will also attend the Canadian Catholic Trustees Association convention in Hamilton May 28, 29 and 30 along with board chairman Ronald Marcy. Permission was granted for lister Yvonne Parent of St. Mary's School, Goderich, to continue her `master's work in religious education from June 23 to 30. Trustee Arthur Haid. of R,R, 4 Listowel, is in Listowel Hospital and because he has missed three con- secutive meetings he was given clearance by the board, according to ministry of education regulations. Focus on Faith seininar Will be held at Mount, St. Joseph, London, on Sunday, April 27. Trustees only will be eligible to attend, and nottheir wives. The official opening and blessing of the relocatable addition to Joseph's School, Clinton, will be held May 4 at 2 p.m . followed by open house. The board will be opening a sum- mer school for students who are presently in need of special education services. It will be located at St. Patrick's School in Dublin. Huron students will attend July 3 to 25 and Perth students from July 29 to August 21. Funded bby the ministry of education, it is free to the separate school supporters. Bus transportation will be provided from their home schools to St. Patrick's eachschool day. The primary objectives of the summer school are to provide positive learning experience for the children and to attempt to reinforce specific academic and social skills. The principal of the summer school will be Mary O'Malley of Sacred Heart School, Wirigham, for the Huron County students and Mike Dewan of Immaculate School, Stratford, for the Perth students. John McCauley, Superintendent of Education, said five teachers from five different schools in the system have indicated they are interested in accepting the board's offOr of the $500 grant to further their French education through t.!-ni`versity courses that will enable them to teach French •in their schools. include the Gerber Baby and Cam- pbell Soup Baby of early advertising fame. Also on the `kids' wall' are prints'by Ontario. Although he was well-known in Europe in the late 1800s, few people in Canada are familiar with his work. In the living room, Ina has water colours done by a Mrs. Taylor, who painted in the Goderich area in the early 1900s. Ina's passion' is collecting prints and post cards of beautiful women, which she explains was'quite a school of art around 1900. Charles Dana Gibson, creator of the Gibson Girl of the 1890s, was probably the most famous illustrator, but Ina's favourite artist was Harrison Fisher (no relation) who illustrated books and magazines. One of • Ina's largest collections is button hooks. It began innocently. When her children were small, she bought button hooks to help them lace their skates. "Now I think I've cor- nered the market," she laughs. She has hundreds of hooks of various sizes and materials - metal, bone, ivory , plastic -and -wood: -A Tiny tortoise shell hook is unique. Some ,hooks fold compactly into their handles; a few have two hooks - a ' large one for buttoning old-fashioned shoes and_ a small one for fastening shirt collars and ladies' gloves. One has a button hook and a shoe horn in a - -leat4 er--c-&serobviousl•y.==to-be-carried--- by a gentleman. Button hooks were often used for promotional purposes and carried the names of companies or stores. A puzzle is the one engraved `Chap - man's Quality Shoes, H. S. Chapman, Clinton, Ontario. Ina has been unable to find a record of the store. History is her main interest. "To collect anything, you have to be a bit of a history nut," she contends. Her favourite collectables are things used for advertising because they give a name, date and location and "had a reason for being." She has „hundreds of thimbles that were given to customers as premiums. Some bear names of garages or insurance companies; one is from Coca Cola; another advertises Mother's Bread while a third promotes McCutcheon's Better Bread. One thimble was used in a political campaign, proclaiming "Vote for Judge T. Murphy, Detroit -Traffic Court. Ina, a seamstress, is interested in anything pertaining to sewing. Every room, in the house contains at least one sewing basket and sewing cabinet. She believes • the most valuable collectables are functional ones and uses each basket and cabinet ---•forstorage— In the living room, a Corticelli sewing cabinet serves as an end table. Corticelli was an international thread company, and the cabinet came from Irwin's store in Clinton. On the back, messages are scrawled in pencil: "Moving picture show opened Friday night April 4, 1912; it was crowded." "April 5 1913: snowed today." December 30, 1941: cold." Ina and John's passion for collec- ting influenced their five children in varying degrees; each grew up with a specific interest making gift giving. easy. Their youngest daughter, Nancy, collects dice from tiny ones to regular board -game dice to large red Vegas dice. She also has Chinese dice; that won't come out of a tum- bler, and fortune-telling dice that answers questions when it is rolled. A walk through the Fisher home backs up John's statement: "It's a collectors' house!" Collectables from bottles to thimbles and button hooks supports the contention of John and Ina -Fisher that collecting -is a - fascinating hobby - one that makes history come alive and ehrenicles change as years go by. All bottled up Bottles, bottles and more bottles decorate the home of John and Ina Fisher of Clinton, including this one shelf that features many old-fashioned beer, medicine and pickle jars. (photo by Elaine Townshend) IIIIIIillllllllli1111'llllllllllltllllllllisissisillllllllm lliililpisilllllllllllllississiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIssisissillsis IuisiI1issi1111ismAlitississiIIIIIIIIiIIIIIIII(IIIliilllllllllllllsisiiiIllillllllllliliilllllllllillllllllilli{IIIlimu English program to be offered A summer school program of English instruction may be made available to Indo-Chinese refugees with the aid of the provincial governm ent. • The Huron County Board of. Education agreed toproceed with the proposal, accomodating the classes during the normal summer school schedule at Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton. ,The program, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Recreation, would offer two hours of classroom , time per day for six weeks. The class time would be divided into an hour of English instruction and an hour of recreational activity. The Ministry program would have each refugee "student a.t.'nding be accompanied by a local volunteer student or buddy. The buddy would work with the refugee on a volunteer basis and assist thes student in the language -learning process. To make the program viable, superintendent Don Kenwell said that 10 students and 10 buddies are needed. The cost for instruction would be at least $900, although that is negotiable. Director of Education, j oh`n Cocrahne said there were 18 refugee students in the county school ssystem. Fourteen attend elementary school and four are at Goderich and District Collegiate Instifute. Trustee Bert Morin said the English instruction should he offered to an entire refugee family and not be limited to the students. "It's just the tip of the iceberg. The students will learn English but will speak their native tongue at home," he said. "The program should include their parents as well." Cochrane claimed there were night school courses offered that catered to the refugee's language needs. Shirley Hazlitt reiterated Morin's sentiments claiming that often the mothers of these families rarely get outside the home and have less of an opportunity to learn the new language. Dashwood gets new church DASHWOOD - The first sod was turned on April 20 to begin construction of a new church building for the Zion Lutheran congregation in Dash- wood. The new church will replace a 71 -year-old structure that was destroyed by fire on April 5, 1979. Since the blaze, the Lutheran congregation has been holding services at Calvary United Church in Dashwood. Already $240,000 has been raised by the congregation and sup- porters, for the new church which will cost about $250,000. A fund raising drive continues to try to obtain another $85,000 to furnish the interior. Construction on the new building was scheduled to begin on April 24 and the com- continue after that and pletion date has been set the church's building for October 9. Interior committee is hoping to work and furnishing will hold a dedication service Expensive crash EXETER - One of the highest property damage collision ever recorded in the area was investigated by the Exeter OPP on April 23. - Damage has reached the $41,000 mark ing the collision that sent two people to hospital. Kenneth Malony of WINGHAM • About 70 Seaforth received major people will be hired 'for injuries after tike tractor part-time work at a new u tiller he was 'driving on Zehrs store in Wingham. Highway 4 went out of Over 450 people applied control and struck the for work at the new store, front end of another which will open on June 3. vehicle which was The Zehrs store will be stopped to make a turn. located in the new He then contined into the Wingharn plaza on the ditch and struck a fence southerly outskirts of and hydro pole. town ott itighwtty 4. The driver of the other Vehicle was Merlin Bender of RR 2, Hensall and his son John suffered minor injuries. Zehrs to open Wi_nghan store '