Bottleguide.com.au

Site Statistics

Total Bottles Listed 8638

Bottles in Key Categories

Aerated Waters/Soda 2452

Brewed Drinks 1684

Spirits/Wine 626

Medicine/Cures 1826

Household 1384

Other 639

This page conforms to the w3c web standards for HTML 4.01 and CSS2

Best viewed in Mozilla or Internet Explorer with a screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater

Site developed and maintained by BigCat Web Design & Photography

Home

News

New Article - Our Diamond Jubilee E Rowlands 1854 to 1914. - 31/10/2008 2:36:22 PM

We were recently shown a copy of a book which was published by E.Rowlands Pty Ltd, to celebrate there Diamond Jubilee from 1854 to 1914. This is one of the best pieces of Aerated Water ephemera we have seen and it has all kinds of interesting information and facts on the Rowlands Company.

Ten Thousand! - 29/10/2008 9:53:56 AM

Sales results now recorded.

October 2008 GDL Auctions Report - 28/10/2008 4:19:14 PM

A quick rundown of the October 2008 GDL auction is now in the articles section or just follow the link from here!

Bottleguide Newsletter Volume 1 Number 1 - 25/10/2008 10:51:08 AM

Our first newsletter. Emailed to subscribers, all newsletters will also remain on file in the articles area for future reference.

Dont miss the Geelong VIC State Show - 24/10/2008 3:42:22 PM

Geelong.
VIC State Show.
Sat 1st & Sun 2nd November 2008(Melbourne Cup Long Weekend)
at Geelong Showgrounds.
Kim Johnson (President): 03 5245 7338, LPO Box 5049 North Geelong VIC 3215.

The BottleGuide Team will be there.
Cheers
BottleGuide Team

Dont miss the Holbrook NSW Bottle Show - 16/10/2008 12:00:21 PM

18/10/2008.
This is always a good show, worth going if you get the chance.

Cheers
BottleGuide Team

9000! - 19/09/2008 12:03:32 PM

Well no, not 9000 bottles yet as you can quickly see by looking at the site statistics on the left. But we have now recorded over 9000 individual sale results for bottles in the database. Some items now have a substantial record of past results for you to consider when making an assessment of a bottles value.

New Article - Waters Patent Circa 1874 - 15/08/2008 9:52:20 PM

Unusual patent bottle from 1870s. Victorian patent application.

New Article - Alfred Ladson, Ink Manufacturer, Beechworth - 9/08/2008 3:23:49 PM

Interesting producer from country Victoria dating to the late 1860s

New Article - Katunga Aerated Water and Cordial Co - 7/08/2008 11:34:18 AM

Brief article on a company that only had a brief existence.

Dont miss the Maryborough Show - 6/08/2008 10:13:54 PM

30-31 August.
Annual Bottle Show.
Maryborough Harness Raceway.

One of the best shows in the Victorian calender.

BottleGuide will be there, come and say hi.

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

Dont miss the Murwillumbah Show - 23/07/2008 11:36:02 AM

02/08/2008
Murwillumbah Civic Centre. Annual Exhibition & Trading Fair.

Always a great show.

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

Dont Miss the WA State Bottle Show - 14/07/2008 2:01:20 AM

19/07/2008.
Perth.
Western Australia State Show.
Hosted by the Colonial Bottle & Collectables Club of WA at the Cannington Exhibition Centre.

Dont forget the Newcastle NSW State Show - 14/06/2008 8:31:48 PM

NSW State Show
28th to 29th June, Newcastle Racecourse, Darling Street, Broadmeadow in Glasshouse.

2008 May Auction Report - 2/06/2008 8:12:48 AM

A few brief general observations from the Roycroft-Lancaster auction on 25th May. Also a short note on the Cowra Show.

Dont forget the Adelaide Show - 1/06/2008 3:48:48 PM

7th & 8th June 2008.

Adelaide Historical Bottle Club
Annual Show
Portside Recreation Centre
50 St. Vincent Street.,
Port Adelaide

Roycroft-Lancaster Auction Results from the 25/05/2008 - 30/05/2008 3:51:31 PM

Auction results for the last Roycroft-Lancaster Auction, held on 25/05/2008, have now been added to bottle listings in the database.

Dont forget the Coffs Harbour Show - 29/05/2008 8:23:25 AM

31/05/2008
Annual Bottle Show, The Norm Jordon Pavillion.
Coffs Harbour

New Article Added - 25/05/2008 12:40:38 AM

Company Tour of Mr E Rowlands Factory and history by The Australian Aerated Water Gazzette in 1884.
See the Articles link above.

Dont forget the Flowerdale Auction - 23/05/2008 6:17:34 PM

24/05/2008
Public Bottle Auction.
Public Hall, Yea Road, Flowerdale Vic.

Dont forget the Cowra Show - 13/05/2008 11:59:29 PM

17/05/2008
40th Annual Show & Collectors Fair. Cowra Showground Pavillion.

Show Calendar Updated - 16/04/2008 6:28:03 PM

We have updated the show calendar, have added a few more for later this year.

New Articles Added - 11/04/2008 4:39:20 PM

We have added 3 more Articles in the Articles section, use the link above to have a look.

Dont Forget the Sunshine Coast Bottle Show - 5/04/2008 12:55:15 PM

3/05/2008
Sunshine Coast Antique & Collectables Show. North St, Caloundra.

Article Listings Updated - 5/04/2008 12:49:45 PM

The Articles section of the website has recently been updated. It now groups each article type into its own tabbed section and allows you to filter down to a smaller category listing.

Check out the changes by clicking on the Articles tab in the top menu.

Dont forget the Cranbourne Show - 16/03/2008 12:28:50 AM

Cranbourne.
16th March 2008.
Cranbourne Public Hall.
Collectors Fair. 9am - 3pm.
Howard: 03 9750 0076, Julie: 03 5659 6489.

Bendigo and Toowoomba reports - 23/02/2008 1:06:41 PM

A few notes on the February shows

Dont forget the Australian National Bottle Show
Toowoomba Queensland - 30/01/2008 2:45:05 PM

Darling Downs Antique Bottle & Collectables Club Inc
present the
37th National Show
Founders Pavilion
Toowoomba Showgrounds
Glenvale Road
Contact: Dawn: 07 4638 4832

Dont forget the Bendigo Bottle Show - 30/01/2008 12:59:55 AM

The Bendigo boys would love to see you there, it is always a great day.
Sandhurst Antique Bottle & Collectables Club
Annual Swap & Sell Day
McKinnon Hall, Bendigo Prince of Wales Showgrounds Holmes Rd, Bendigo.
Setting up for collectors on Saturday evening/Sunday morning.
David 03 5474 2390. Scott Morrison: 0402 467 601. regionalducting@optusnet.com.au

The BottleGuide Team will be there.

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

About Bottleguide Valuations - 8/01/2008 8:04:48 AM

Long overdue, but finally here is a brief blurb explaining a little about the valuations on Bottleguide.

Merry Christmas - 27/12/2007 12:06:24 PM

We hope you all have a Merry and Safe Christmas Break.

This is the bottle hunting time of year with many collectors having some time to chase that illusive bottle for their collections.

I hope Santa puts a few Codds or Torpedos or Pot Lids in you stocking.

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

Dont Forget the Morwell Show - 25/11/2007 12:30:38 PM

Morwell.
1st to 2nd December. Collectables, Gemstones & Jewellery Expo, Kernot Hall, Morwell, VIC.

Morwell is always a well received Bottle & Gemstone show, always lots of great items on display from around the Gippsland area.
Last Show for 2007 as well so come on down.

BottleGuide Team will be there, come along and say Hi!

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team.

Lancaster Auction report now online - 5/11/2007 8:33:47 AM

A few prices and a couple of observations from the latest bottle auction.

Holbrook Bottle Show - 31/10/2007 8:25:07 AM

Dont forget the Holbrook Bottle Show.
Saturday the 3rd November.
Bottles and Collectables Show.
Holbrook Shire Hall.
Holbrook NSW.
Open to the public 9am to 2pm.
The Lions Club of Holbrooks 10th Annual Collectors Fair.

The BottleGuide Team will be there,
So come along and say Hi.
Cheers

Coolamon Collectables and Antique Fair - 25/10/2007 8:54:59 PM

Do not forget the Coolamon Collectables and Antique Fair.
This weekend the 27th to 28th October.

Coolamon.
27th to 28th October 2007. Coolamon Collectables and Antique Fair, Up-To-Date Store, Cowabbie Street, Coolamon.

Always a great weekend.
Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

2007 Williamstown Swap and Sell Day Report - 23/10/2007 8:10:06 AM

Great little day, the hall was full nearly the whole time and plenty of stuff changed hands. Cannot wait for next year...

Williamstown Swap & Sell Day - 18/10/2007 6:02:04 PM

Dont forget the Williamstown Swap & Sell Day this Sunday 21/10/2007.
Holy Trinity Church Hall, corner Nelson Place and Pasco Street, Williamstown Vic.

The BottleGuide Team will be there so come and say Hi.

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

Search Results Update - 16/10/2007 9:47:52 PM

Some of you may have noticed some errors with the advanced search and it bringing up errors when clicking through to the second page of your search results. This has now been fixed as well as any Favourite Searches that you may have had saved as part of these advanced searches.

Thanks to those involved in pointing this out.

Cheers
The Bottleguide Team

Just cracked 6000 bottles listed - 5/10/2007 8:54:58 PM

We have just added our 6000 bottle listing to the database, this makes BottleGuide the leading Antique Bottle reference site in Australia and possibly the World.

Again if there is something you would like us to list in the database, please email us a good clear picture with relevant info i.e. Height, Width, Colour, Patent etc and we can add it to the list.

Thank you to all you members that have donated photographs and information to help build the site we do really appreciate your help and support.
A Special thanks to Ross & Christine Roycroft who has graciously given permission to use photos and information from there reference books One Thousand Stone Ginger Beers of Australia and the Australian Bottle Price Guides Vol 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This has allowed us to add up to date pricing on all bottles listed in these books, which were the only source of information on bottle values from 1980 until now with the BottleGuide database. These photos are black & white and we will endeavour to replace the pictures with colour photos when they become available, again if you have a colour photo of a bottle listed with a black & white photo please email it to us and we will replace it.
Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

Victorian State Bottle Show Maryborough - 23/08/2007 9:00:19 AM

Dont forget the Vic State Show is on this weekend 25th & 26st August 2007, check the Shows tab above for full details.

Maryborough Antique Bottle Club
Annual Bottle & Collectables Show
Incorporating
The 2007 Victorian State Show
Carisbrook Trotting Track

This is one of the best bottle shows on the Victorian calender and will be even better this year as the state show, dont miss it and I hope you find a new peice for your collection there.

Cheers
The BottleGuide Team

New Feature - value last updated notice - 19/08/2007 1:28:32 PM

Berk has been busy working away on the database making things work even better but one thing users will start to notice is that next to the value on any bottle details page there will be appearing the date when the value was last updated. Currently the database has some bottles that have not been re-valued for up to 5 years and as we know that can make a major difference to the price. We will be working through the database over the next few weeks to update prices so that in future you will be able to see not just the price estimate but when that estimate was submitted.

Email is back - 24/07/2007 4:27:32 PM

Bottleguide emails are working again.

Bottleguide Email - 24/07/2007 9:11:00 AM

You may have noticed the email on the contact us page is presently not working. If you need to get in touch with us please try brucewall-dsl@keypoint.com.au for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

2007 National Report - 21/06/2007 9:20:19 AM

Brief rundown of the 36th National Bottle & Collectables Show at Adelaide

May 2007 Roycroft Lancaster Auction report - 5/06/2007 2:15:17 PM

A brief report now available from the auction, featuring highlights and a few observations. By the way if you would like to comment on any of these reports just let me know at dave@bottleguide.com.au

2007 Cowra Show Report - 31/05/2007 3:35:24 PM

New article posted with a brief report of the Cowra show along with a few photos.

Bottle World Round-up - 8/05/2007 11:32:41 AM

We have hit the busy season for collectors. In the next few weeks there is the Cowra Show closely followed by the huge Roycroft-Lancaster auction at Flowerdale and then Coffs Harbour annual show and just to round out the four weeks, the National in Adelaide. Should be an exciting period for the hobby, I hope you all get a chance to pick up some bargains and enjoy the next month!

Beechworth Show Report 2007 - 10/04/2007 8:23:39 AM

What is going on? Here is a brief report and a couple of pics from the Beechworth show. Includes a very short trading report which we will try to expand a bit in future show reports.

Cranbourne Show Report - 2/04/2007 8:14:47 AM

Very brief (and late!) rundown on the Cranbourne swap and sell day.

Lancaster Auction February 2007 - 27/02/2007 8:41:46 AM

Brief report on the latest auction.

Site Maintenance - 20/02/2007 10:18:34 AM

The Bottleguide database is scheduled for some maintenance today from 1:30pm till about 3:30pm. During this time you will not be able to log in to the site or access any of the features of the site.

We do apologise for this inconvenience but unfortunately these things need to happen.

Cheers
Bottleguide Team

4000 Bottles Listed and climbing - 17/01/2007 9:26:47 AM

Well we have just ticked over 4000 bottles listed on BottleGuide and most of the newer listings have a few Auction results where available.

Help us help you, if any subscribers have bottles they would like an estimated value on that are not listed on BottleGuide email us a good clear photo with all the relevant information on dimensions, colour, closure, embossing/transfer front and back and we can add it to the data base.

This helps you with an estimated value on your collection and helps us build our data base which will in turn benefit all subscribers.

Feel free to send us just one or hundreds, all helps, I must stress that they do need to be good clear photos and the larger the picture the better, I can edit them to fit however the size we use is 195 pixels wide for the main listing this is after I have cropped the pics so there is as little back ground as possible.

Thanks

Cheers
Chris Thornton

Bottleguide Downtime - 4/01/2007 10:58:32 AM

Bottleguide has outgrown its current hosting location and needs to be moved to a bigger and better home. As such this will take place on Thursday 11th January 2007 beginning about 11am and hopefully will not take any more than an hour to do. You may experience some downtime while the database is moved to a new database server.

Christmas 2006 - 25/12/2006 7:26:04 AM

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone from the Bottleguide Team.

What is Bottleguide - 8/10/2006 12:14:35 PM

Want to see a guide as to what Bottleguide is all about? Click on the More... link below (not the read more - just More! this link is only available from the homepage at the moment) to find the lowdown on what there is to see and do once you get inside.

Aussie Bottle Forum - 2/10/2006 8:13:43 PM

If you have not already, go and visit The Australian Antique Bottle Collectors Forum at http://aabc.forumer.com

Go on head on over there and join - you know you want to!

Classifieds now working - 2/10/2006 8:03:32 PM

Berk has slaved away and got the classifieds up and operational. This is available to all subscribers - when you first registered there were 5 tokens attached to your account and these enable you to create classified ads (For Sale, Wanted, Other?). One token is used for each ad (I hope that is right!) Just go to the Member Details section of the site and of course let me know at the first sign of trouble.
Over the last week (other than finishing the re-jig of the rarity levels) I have been concentrating on adding auction results and have put on close to one thousand in that time, and frankly I am getting sick of looking at catalogues. Hopefully this gives the site a bit more depth however and you can get some great historical price information on a lot of bottles now.
See ya,
Dave

Rarity definition changes - 27/09/2006 7:27:52 PM

Regular users will note that we have radically changed the rarity scales. No doubt this will cause some angst to those who have grown up with the narrower definitions previously used - including me. However this new scale gives much more breathing space and in the long term we think will be much more descriptive of the relative frequency with which various bottles are seen. The scale now used is actually a modified version of that used in Betty Zumwalts American book Ketchup, Pickles, Sauces written way back in the 1970s. Note also because the change was made to the actual definitions in the database it will take us a couple of days to update each bottle to more accurately reflect the new ratings. At the time of writing I have quickly checked the first 100 bottles so if you are reading this little note have a look at them and see if you agree or not with the new direction.
Cheers,
Dave
by the way send any feedback to dave@bottleguide.com.au, I would be interested to hear what people think.

Lancaster Auction September 2006 - 18/09/2006 8:09:24 PM

See right on time - Monday. Sure I promised last Monday but, well... the dog ate my homework.
It will surprise no-one to hear that some extraordinary prices were achieved at the latest Toowoomba auction. Records were broken right from Lot 1 when the Neilson, Mackay Lamont went for a hammer price of $8500 (Total including bidders premium $9435), an extremely rare bottle no doubt but would be a record, by a long way, for an aqua pictorial Lamont. With a couple of exceptions the rest of the Lamonts went fairly cheaply so the Neilson did not seem to herald a resurgence in Lamont collecting, but is it just a one off price anomaly? Time will tell. The Pot lid collection in the middle of the auction was clearly the highlight and these did not disappoint. The Longmores White Crow and the Charles Bruce Flint both reaching $11,500 ($12765). Millard Johnson and Simmons & Dwyer both went for $6500 ($7215), the Fords went for $6250 ($6938) and the Lighthouse from Warrnambool made $5000 ($5550). Otherwise lid prices were strong without being spectacular. Although there were only four convict ginger beers they all went well. The pick of them was a Leak with magnificent swirls of different coloured clay, absolutely a classic piece of pottery that finally got to $3900 ($4329). Of course these convicts were merely a teaser for the big collection of this style of bottle coming up for sale in November. Marble bottles and Ginger Beers seemed to be up and down, some strong prices achieved and quite a few going cheap. One thing that clearly shone through for mid and low range items was that people were prepared to pay a premium for pieces in mint or near mint condition while damaged or poor-fair condition pieces were marked down, often quite harshly. This will be a trend worth watching as in recent times I had felt that buyers were paying less regard to condition. Even polished items, which have had a good run lately, were clearly given less regard than original shiny glass. As I say something to watch and see how it shakes out. Well, that is about it for this week so bye for now.

Greetings collectors - 7/09/2006 5:27:01 PM

I am sure others have noticed that these updates seem to be happening every 8 days. I must be working on some sort of skewed week. Anyhow, firstly from the rumour file, it seems that not one but two amber Rowlands dump sodas have turned up after many years of hiding, nice additions to those lucky enough to be on the spot.
Apart from that the only real happening in the general bottle world is the upcoming Lancaster auction this weekend. There are some positively sensational pieces in Grahams latest offering and I would expect to see a few more records tumble.
On the Bottleguide front we have been adding some more bottles, (lots) more auction results and dealing with some technical issues that are hopefully making the site easier to use.
Well that is it for now. I am heading off to Toowoomba for the weekend and will report back (hopefully on Monday) with my take on the goings on up North.
Cheers,
Dave Bruce

Contact Details - 3/09/2006 12:44:34 PM

Sorry folks, we have had a few issues getting our email addresses up and running so we keep putting this back but for the time being if you need any help get in touch with me (Dave) on brucewall-dsl@keypoint.com.au
or via old fashioned post at Central Park PO Box 4000, East Malvern, VIC, 3145.
Cheers,
Dave

The week that was - 30/08/2006 8:15:11 PM

This week the only real news was the Maryborough show. As usual a lot of activity occurred on Friday night / Saturday morning with plenty of good bottles changing hands. Most noticeably some nice goldfields oils found new homes. The show itself was good, the number of displays was well up on last year apparently and Swap & Sell space about the same. The feature display (with $100 up for grabs) was glass internal threads and the winner was Trevor Pilgrim from Gippsland, a very good winner in a tight field.
Three recent eBay results that I noted were a Rudge, Latrobe, Zeehan & Wynyard Codd bottle from Tassie – went for its starting price of $280. A J.Martin, North Fitzroy lamont with bird embossed went for only $52, what a bargain! (Ok some disclosure – I sold this one but I still think it was dirt cheap for a rare Melbourne bottle). Finally an E.G.Smallhorn Hay GB (all tan with rampant lion trade mark) went for a heavily contested $353. Crown Seal GBs show no sign of dying down and this one had plenty of support well past $200, which only a handful of years ago would have been considered a very high price.
Next event must be Graham Lancasters auction at Toowoomba on the 10th of September.
Cheers until next week,
Dave

Bottleguide News - 22/08/2006 1:05:21 PM

Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying the site and all it has to offer. We are making improvements all the time of which many can not be seen but make things work better. A huge number of past auction results were added over the last few days. These results were from the early 80s and make an interesting addition showing some of the changes (both up and down) in bottle prices over the last 25 years. Another group from later auctions will be posted over the next few days.

Some notable recent eBay results – J.A.S.Jones Lithgow C/S Beer - $1575, Squat Black Horse Ale - $480, and I thought interesting were four separate Broome Codds – all pretty plain with just writing or initials embossed yet all went for between $103 and $133, obviously pretty hard to find.

Do not forget Maryborough (VIC) Bottle Show this weekend 26th and 27th of August – one of the longest established and biggest bottle shows in the country. Some details can be found here – http://www.vbaca.org.au/vbacacalendar.html

Until next time,

Dave

Friday Night at Australian National - 7/07/2006 11:33:20 PM

Well the National bottle show has started for 2006.
It is at the Frankston Arts Centre in Frankston, the quality of the displays so far have been outstanding with collectors from all over Australia trying to win top honours.
The swap and sell stalls as always have been very busy on Friday night with many quality bottles changing hands.
One interesting bottle that was shown to us was a 26oz green glass torpedo bottle, found in Sydney, will try to get some photos so you can all see this bottle.
Bottleguide has set up and will have our official launch of the website at the National so wish us luck.
We will keep you informed of the Nationals progress.

35th National Bottle Show - Frankston - 24/06/2006 8:45:35 AM

Do not forget the National folks! On the 8th & 9th July at the Frankston Arts Centre. Displays, Swap & Sell, Appraisals and maybe Bottleguides first public appearance? Check out www.vbaca.org.au for more detail on the show.

Just Ticked Over 3000 Listings... - 17/06/2006 8:05:45 PM

Over 100 Fruit Jars added, lots with Auction results.

Auction Results Available - 28/04/2006 11:25:56 AM

Auction results are available for viewing again - see the link at the bottom of any bottle details page. Note that not every bottle has auction results.

2500 and climbing... - 29/03/2006 10:06:33 AM

We have hit the 2500 mark for bottles listed. It has taken 3 years to get here but we are moving faster now! At a minimum of 50 listings per week our target is 3000 by or before the 7th of June.

Getting there!! - 24/03/2006 1:46:09 PM

Thirty nice shiny ginger beers added last night and this morning and tidying up of some old data, now lets see if this news thingy still works.
There will be a heap of auction results added soon...

November update - 11/03/2006 2:50:01 PM

Well, we have a busy time coming up in Bottle collecting circles here on the East coast. Next week we have Lancasters Auctions having a big two day sale up at Toowoomba. Features a nice selection of Convict/early australian stoneware ginger beers. Plenty of other nice items but we will keep the focus on bottles here. Following that we have three consecutive shows down here in the South-east, Whittlesea, Morwell and then Holbrook. I can honestly recommend all of them so if you have the chance get along to at least one of these events. By the way for the time being check out the calendar at www.vbaca.org.au to see details of these events.

Bottleguide Website Update - 11/09/2005 2:59:13 PM

Welcome to the new look for Bottleguide.com.au. This change has been a long time in development but we hope it makes it easier for everyone to use. There are still some sections which need to be finished/updated but these should be done in the upcoming month or so.

Happy Collecting and browsing!

More Auction Results - 8/07/2005 10:35:59 AM

Another 100 or so auction results added - auctions from 1995 and 2002 included

Auction Results - 7/07/2005 8:17:18 AM

Approximately 50 auction results added to various bottles on the 7th July 2005

Victorian Club Contacts - 5/07/2005 2:51:31 PM

Victorian club details updated 5th July 2005