Own a piece of history...
AND HELP SUPPORT THE CARE OF OUR COLLECTIONS!
A generous local collector, Richard Monroe, donated 25 of these Collins Brothers bottles to be sold to further the preservation and use of Historic Saranac Lake’s collections.
Each bottle will be sold for $100, with options for a clear or blue bottle (shipping available). Please note: these bottles are old, and were discovered after spending many years in local lakes and rivers, and therefore may contain small imperfections.
The sale will be open to the public on Tuesday, October 19 at 12:00PM (EST). We will send out an email reminder at that time; join our email list so you don't miss it. The sale will be first-come, first serve, so mark your calendars! A link will be added to this page at that time.
Read below to find an excerpt from Richard's article in the Adirondack Almanack about his bottle-diving hobby. Many, many thanks to Richard for his generosity, curiosity, and sense of adventure!
Please note: these bottles are identical to ones contained in our permanent collection. If you would like to see these bottles in the future, please get in touch! Questions? Send us an email!
Each bottle will be sold for $100, with options for a clear or blue bottle (shipping available). Please note: these bottles are old, and were discovered after spending many years in local lakes and rivers, and therefore may contain small imperfections.
The sale will be open to the public on Tuesday, October 19 at 12:00PM (EST). We will send out an email reminder at that time; join our email list so you don't miss it. The sale will be first-come, first serve, so mark your calendars! A link will be added to this page at that time.
Read below to find an excerpt from Richard's article in the Adirondack Almanack about his bottle-diving hobby. Many, many thanks to Richard for his generosity, curiosity, and sense of adventure!
Please note: these bottles are identical to ones contained in our permanent collection. If you would like to see these bottles in the future, please get in touch! Questions? Send us an email!
Excerpt of "Message in a Bottle" by Richard Monroe in The Adirondack Almanack...
When I was a boy growing up in our house on 1 Stevenson Lane, my mom had an antique bottle collection that she kept on a shelf. One of those bottles had a rustically intricate attached metal stopper. The engraved circular glass on the front read “ISAAC MERKEL & SON, BOSS LAGER, SARANAC LAKE.” That bottle always held a special fascination for me. I still have it.
It all began innocently enough, quite by accident really, about three summers ago as I quietly rowed my Zen boat canoe from South Creek into camp. As I crossed some shallows near the shore of an island as I entered the lake, something glistened blue, reflecting morning sunlight from the lake’s bottom.
It reminded me of a story my Saranac Lake High School best friend once told me, about swinging off a rope swing hanging from a tree on an island on that lake. He told me that when he dove down after hitting the water, he discovered a trove of old bottles, all shaped like torpedoes. So, I knew, in that moment, just what that blue glisten was. I knew it was a bottle. I knew I had to have it.
I slid my canoe ashore and slid into the water. I dove down. Sure enough, it was a beautiful blue glass bottle, with a conjoined “AB” engraved on the bottom. I later did online research and learned it was an early Anheuser Busch beer bottle, circa 1900.
Read the rest of Richard's article on the Adirondack Almanack...
When I was a boy growing up in our house on 1 Stevenson Lane, my mom had an antique bottle collection that she kept on a shelf. One of those bottles had a rustically intricate attached metal stopper. The engraved circular glass on the front read “ISAAC MERKEL & SON, BOSS LAGER, SARANAC LAKE.” That bottle always held a special fascination for me. I still have it.
It all began innocently enough, quite by accident really, about three summers ago as I quietly rowed my Zen boat canoe from South Creek into camp. As I crossed some shallows near the shore of an island as I entered the lake, something glistened blue, reflecting morning sunlight from the lake’s bottom.
It reminded me of a story my Saranac Lake High School best friend once told me, about swinging off a rope swing hanging from a tree on an island on that lake. He told me that when he dove down after hitting the water, he discovered a trove of old bottles, all shaped like torpedoes. So, I knew, in that moment, just what that blue glisten was. I knew it was a bottle. I knew I had to have it.
I slid my canoe ashore and slid into the water. I dove down. Sure enough, it was a beautiful blue glass bottle, with a conjoined “AB” engraved on the bottom. I later did online research and learned it was an early Anheuser Busch beer bottle, circa 1900.
Read the rest of Richard's article on the Adirondack Almanack...
