2022 - 46th National Antique Bottle and Collectors Fair, Hamilton

 What did you buy?

Danny and I recently joined the Auckland Bottle Club, which meets on the first Monday of the month. I love it! When I was a kid, I used to collect bottles. My father converted the old playhouse into a 'bottle house' with shelves lining the walls. I was under age to buy my own bottles but neighbours and family friends kindly offered me their empties. I had some stunners including an imitation copper Pasha Turkish coffee liqueur bottle, a Chianti bottle with rattan around the base, a giant green glass Cook's Chasseur bottle and a brown glass Ti Toki bottle, but the miniatures were my favourites. I still see the littlies in antique and second-hand shops and have a look to see if I recognise any. My bottles are well gone and so is the play-house after being moved around to different family members. I love seeing the different bottle shapes and finding out about their history.

So, when I found out the 46th National Antique Bottle and Collector's Fair was going to be in Hamilton I jumped on the computer and booked a hotel straight away. There was an added bonus! Kiwi Auctions would be running a live auction at the venue on the Friday evening.

We were both confident they'd be something for us so we purchased early bird tickets. With our orange lanyards we were able to enter the hall at 2pm on the Friday when the displays and sales tables were still being set up. 

I spied a pair of Titian pepper and salt shakers in amongst a seller's expansive collection of shakers, with more being unwrapped as I approached. With some good natured haggling they changed owners. He asked what I was looking for. Telling him I was after Titian Studio pieces and he quickly picked up a Japanese pair telling me he was pretty sure they were Titian and he'd do a special price to move them on to a keen collector. He hadn't realised he'd already sold me a handsome pair.

I met a couple of guys who had a fantastic display of Ti Toki bottles. They were so knowledgable and told me how Orzel became involved. It deserves a separate post so you'll have to hold out till then. But here's a picture of their prize winning stand.

We also got a jolly good look at all the goodies included in the Kiwi Auctions section of the Claudelands Event Centre hall. At 4pm the hall was closed, with the public welcomed to the official auction viewing. The auction was to start at 6.30pm. 

The allocated chairs began to fill up ready for the start of the auction. There was a huge variety of items on offer including, variously aged bottles, Crown Lynn (of course), early brickwork pieces and other collectables. I put my hand up for a yellow Temuka shell vase. I probably paid too much but they're perfect for my clivias. One of our cheeky sons has threatened to paint a red 'SHELL' on it.

Danny stuck it out against a few other determined bidders and won the blue trickle glaze pig to add to his collection of piggies.

We had a great time and the organisers did a wonderful job, so much so we're planning to have our own sales table and a couple of display tables next year. As 10am approached on the Saturday morning a call went out that there was a large queue waiting to get inside, and for safety they may have to open the doors early. The excitement was palatable. When the main doors opened there was a burst of noisy collectors. As the hall was engulfed in a crowd of eager buyers we nipped out a side door and made our way back to Auckland. Was it worth getting the early bird tickets? Absolutely!!

Happy days,

Louise

Special thanks for the NZ Bottle Club for putting on a fantastic show and for Warren Roberts of Kiwi Auctions who ran a very successful auction. We stayed at the Heartland Ambassador Hotel, Hamilton which is very handy to the Claudelands Event Centre. 

For those interested in bottle collecting check out the facebook page - Kiwi Vintage Bottle Collectors New Zealand

Here's the link to see more pictures of the displays at the show.

Here's the link to the Kiwi Auctions September catalogue.

©Louise de Varga 2022 - Content and pictures in the blog