DECEMBER, 1971 50c - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

ALL OF the categories of old bottles
. have been found, or dug, in the remote
camps of the early-day miners of
the west. Precious and of great interest to
today's collectors are the fragile objects
in a great range of colors from the sunamethyst
through the variations of greens,
ambers and aquamarine to the royal color
known as cobalt.
Choice of a category to collect is a
personal thing. To some, the old whiskies
bring the most interest. To others, the
bitters beckon with all their elegance in
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form and variety, and so on through an
endless list
A bottle category that is creating much
interest of recent years are the bottles
bearing an applied seal. Many of these
have an Old World origin and are a delight
to collectors as they show the early,
crude workmanship. The seals denote
ownership and bear various embossing.
A name, or crest or just initials, and
some have a very early date or a heraldic
device.
These so-called blob seal bottles are
sometimes rated by enthusiastic collectors
as the Kings and Queens of the bottle
world. Recently a princely addition has
joined the family and, of all places, it
was found near an old ghost camp in
Nevada.
The owners, the Wellmans of Santa
Maria, California, relate the following:
"We decided to spend last Easter Week
in Nevada looking for bottles and it was
our first extensive trip following our
new and exciting hobby. After several
stops at various camps, where we found