Flagons and ginger beer bottles #0061

The collector: Dave Arrowsmith, Raiway Engineering Consultant, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.

The collection: Ginger beer bottles, mineral water bottles, flagons and any other associated ‘go-withs’ that catch my eye! The main criteria for my collection is that the items must be from a Stoke-on-Trent company (vendor, not manufacturer!)

The story behind the collection...

As a teenager I had been doing some gardening work for my uncle, and upon getting tools from his garage I discovered 7 dusty flagons in an old cupboard. Upon asking him about them he said that I could have them all if I wanted them! Quite a few years passed without much further attention, until one weekend I went to a local antiques fair where I found my first local ginger beer bottle for a bargain £4! From that point on I was hooked, and it spurred me on to start researching the companies who had originally used the containers, and made me keen to see what other local bottles I could find. After some online research I was surprised to find that the majority of old bottles and pots are dug up from Victorian and Edwardian rubbish tips, which led to me digging for bottles myself, which I continue to do regularly. As my knowledge of local bottles grew my collection quickly went beyond stoneware bottles and flagons to include glass bottles and associated items (jugs, chemists pot lids, etc...).

The vast majority of my collection is however purchased rather than dug by myself, as there are very few areas to dig within the area now. Main sources have been eBay and specialist shows and auctions (BBR).

I think that the bottles are a fantastic window into social history, especially when you can research the people whose names appear on them. It intrigues me that facts remain dormant in historical records, awaiting the moment that someone comes along and pieces them together! Putting the bottles into context with information about the people and companies who used and sold them adds a further dimension to objects which already make attractive display items in their own right.

I was given my first flagons around 14 years ago, but didn’t start collecting seriously until around three years ago. Without counting, I would say the collection probably totals around 250 – 300 items.

I think that my collection reveals that I have determination coupled with an obsessive personality which means that I won’t leave something alone until I have satisfied myself that I know as much as I can about it! I am very keen to share the information that I find with others, and feel that my website is a good way of doing this, although time constraints don’t allow me to put as much time into it as I would like to.

My favourite items are presented in display cabinets, and a fair few bottles are displayed around the tops of our kitchen cupboards. Some of the flagons live on the stairs! Due to space constraints some items are not on display, but I intend to make sure that our next house has a room that I can turn into a museum!!!

I find it difficult to say which is my favourite item, there are a few, including a mini emerald green seltzer bottle from Woodhouse of Hanley, a ginger beer bottle from John Podmore of Burslem (the one I got for £4), a water jug advertising Copeland and Wilson mineral waters (Hanley), and a ceramic counter bell advertising Dix’s Brewery (Shelton, S-o-T).

There is no list of what was made, so there is always the possibility of new items appearing. The collection could double or treble in size and still not contain examples of everything, but thats what keeps it interesting!

www.stokebottles.com

Images © Dave Arrowsmith and used with his kind permission.