Medicines, Beers, Inks, Jars and More

The 2005 Gulf Coast Bottle & Jar Club show was held on Saturday, June 25, 2005 in the Gulf Coast Ballroom at the Marriott Airport Inn in Houston, Texas. Participants were treated to a clear, sunny weekend. After working late, I dropped by the hotel on Friday evening. Barbara Puckett and her family were there, overseeing the setup activities. N.R. Woodward was putting the finishing touches on his sales table. After mingling with the setup crowd and asking if anyone needed a hand setting up, I spent an hour or so chatting with Woody about insulators and hobby happenings. Around 10:00, we covered the insulators for the night. Woody grabbed his packsack and went home, while I headed over to Damon's Restaurant for a late steak and clam chowder dinner.

My alarm clocks woke me at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. I hopped into my pickup and took off for the show. Traffic was light on the freeways, and I took Loop 610 around, passing over the panoramic Sydney Sherman Bridge that spans the Houston Ship Channel. However, there was road construction near the Loop 610/Gulf Freeway interchange. I had to be patient with a Mustang driver that kept getting in my lane, but I got onto the Gulf Freeway safely.

Upon arriving at the Marriott and maneuvering past a crowd that had gathered for a Saturday morning family reunion, I entered the ballroom and was greeted with a cornucopia of collectibles. Many lighters, matchbooks, hurricane lamps, patches, marbles, buttons, calendars, thermometers, oil cans, trading cards, and tokens were available, not to mention bottle openers, bottle baskets, and bottle caps. Beer items included mugs, trays, and cans. Among the items available were a 7-up door pull, a Raybestos brakes sign, a Pepsi chalkboard, as well as clocks from Sun Crest Beverages and Royal Crown Cola. In one display case, a 1964 Dr. Pepper coaster advertised an upcoming Miss Teenage America pageant. A backlit collection of inkwell bottles stood on a table on the south side of the ballroom. Many toys were seen, including Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars, and even a Rubik's Cube! A large number of Elsie Cow collectibles were shown this year, and a few Jim Beam decanters were scattered about the ballroom. A particularly noteworthy item was a working barometer from a Kerrville, Texas Coca-Cola bottler that was dated 1950.

Among the soda bottles seen were Big Shot, Dr. Nut, Red Rock, Sunny South, Western Beverages, Town Hall Beverages, Lazenby's Liquid Sunshine, Checkerboard, Set-up, BeIBoy Ginger Ale, Eight Ball, Royal Flush, Torah, TruAde, Golden Age, 2-Way, Patio, Garland's 12, Royal Palm, and (interestingly enough) Bob's Cola from Atlanta, Georgia. Root Beer bottles included Zetz, Hillbilly, and Yankee Doodle. Other exceptional bottles included a Dixie Beer bottle, a cornflower blue mineral water bottle from Savannah, Georgia, a Coca-Cola bottle from Fort Worth in deep purple, and a ruby red 1950 Schlitz beer bottle. Blot-outs aren't just for insulators; a bottle embossed with the name "KNIGHT" had the embossing error "SEVRE COLD" blotted out!

When not used for announcements, the speaker system piped in GCB&J hits including Tommy James and the Shondells' "Mony Mony", the Human Beinz' "Nobody but Me", the Four Tops' "Reach Out, I'll Be There", Boston's "More than a Feeling", Bob Seger's" Against the Wind", Junior Walker's "Shotgun", The Steve Miller Band's "Rock'n Me", Sam & Dave's "Soul Man", the Four Seasons' "Walk like a Man", and Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Pride and Joy", among others (Nice touch, Barbara!)

There were two insulator entries to this year's show. Woody had his usual position near the front doorway. His table featured a blue CD 145 American, two CD 138 Postals, a CD 201 tramp, a CD 150 Brookfield, a blue CD 134 Pettingell Andrews, a green CD 133 Brookfield #20, a CD 133 B.G.M., an ice green 1871 patent B&O, a blue aqua CD 143 Montreal Telegraph, a green CD 253 Knowles prism cable, a royal purple W.G.M. beehive, a CD 251 N.E.G.M. cable, an ice green CD 132, a purple CD 162 Star, a CD 133.2 P&W, a yellow green CD 121 Brookfield, a CD 160 Lynchburg, and a CD 323 Pyrex. Woody also had McDougald's price guide, Clarice Gordon's Hemingray book, and the Brookfield catalog reprint available. A massive blue CD 269 Jumbo was the centerpiece of Woody's table.

Ross Thompson of Tucson, Arizona also had an insulator table. Ross featured two ruby red CD 102 V.T.S. Industrial insulators, an ice green Westinghouse #3, an off clear Hemingray #8, a royal purple CD 145 G.N.W, a blue CD 133.1 Homer Brooke's, a CD 102 B.G.M., a CD 164 H.G.Co. in jade with olive swirls, a CD 109 Chicago teardrop, an olive blackglass CD 202, two CD 267s, a CD 263 Columbia, an apple green CD 122 Whitall Tatum, a straw castle, two royal purple CD 113 Braille, a CD 250.2 Telefonos Ericsson, a purple CD 106 W.G.M., and an ice green CD 134 K.C.G.W Fairmount. Ross had some nice Californias, including a sage CD 260 helmet, a sage CD 166, and two CD 112 kegs, one lavender, the other near clear. Threadless included a CD 731 Tillotson and a CD 734 McMicking.

Both tables had numerous visitors. Among the LSIC members who came to the show were Chris Renaudo and Bill and Marilyn Albers. Woody met up with many GCB&J friends, including Don Carroll, whom he had not seen in some time.

Around 2:30, some vendors began disappearing. The final door prize (the big quilt) was raffled at 3:00, and the show quickly wrapped up afterwards. One vendor commented that the show's teardown was "like taking down a Christmas tree, it's not fun." Nevertheless, teardown had to be done, and quickly at that. No sooner had GCB&J tables been taken down and folded up than Marriott staff replaced them with round dinner tables and a platform for what appeared to be a Saturday evening dinner and dance set-up. Many thanks to Barbara Puckett for her tireless work in hosting the show. The LSIC's August 20th show is just around the corner. See you there!