Since I had started collecting gins these were of particular interest because I haven’t seen them before. I sent a picture to a gin collector friend of mine in Canada to find out what they were this was his reply.

“I have been querying about your corks since our last e-mail , and I got some information back from Holland’s bottle club “Oude Flesch” and from some collector also. Here is what I got, if your corks are porcelain made they would date from 1925 – 1940, if they are plastic or bakelite material they would be from 1950 to 1970, the company has been bought out after.

Corks earlier than 1925 would have been a leaded foil wrapped over the cork and lip of the bottle after the bottle would have been corked and then a stamping machine would impressed in the lead the name of the distiller or the brand logo on top of the cork.

Therefore once the bottle would be opened the leaded foil would be ripped and destroyed that’s why we do not find them….. this is a general information for most of the brands and distillers of gin in Holland.”

Australian Milk & Cream Bottles, a comprehensive guide for Collectors and the Curious, by Richard Kameny.

Features 224 pages of almost 1500 bottles plus 3 sub databases 16 pages full colour plus over 800 B&W pictures Wads & Foil Caps, Milk Tokens, Billies & Savers, Butter Churns, Molds and Tins, Cheese Jars & Tins, Old Adds, Historical Pix & Articles, Dairy Equipment, Dairy & Household Items and Lots of Good Reading.

$44.95 including postage within Australia.

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Australia

One of my more fun trips while in Europe was a trip in July to the UK and the 2008 SummerNational Bottle Show.

So we have all heard about this event, the biggest and the best. The event itself is run in an old railway shed in a small historic town called Elsecar. How do you get there? As a last minute booking on the Wednesday, I flew out of Amsterdam on Friday and into Leeds, UK. I hired a car at the airport, my first car to drive in 12 months. Luckily there are a few things you don’t forget, like how to drive!

My first good decision was to hire a car with a GPS navigation system. The second one was to get a hotel room and not attempt to camp due to the predictably bad weather.

My hotel was in Barnsley, an old mining town and the closest big town to Elsecar. I pulled the car into a Tesco supermarket on the way for something to eat. The first thing I realised that all the labels were in English and I could understand what I was buying! Trust me, it was a shock after living with Dutch food and labels for almost a year. Native English was really a relief.

Continuing down the road, I found that locating my hotel quite difficult as it was pouring rain and pitch black. The road didn’t have street numbers, as is common in the UK. So after much circling and sweating, a quick phone call to the Ardsley House Hotel put me on my way.

Next morning I got to the show early, it was already in full swing. My decision to not ‘kip’ on the camping field was justified again as the rain BUCKETTED down!! I have rarely seen rain so strong. I felt sorry for those collectors with rivers running through their tents.

Upon walking into the fair, straight away I was hit with a huge range of bottles, stoneware by the bucket load, early glass, pot lids, almost everything pictorial and good condition. There is such a bulk of low priced gear I wished I had room in my backpack to take some home. Unfortunately there was no room as I was travelling super lightly, so I decided to just look and admire, keeping my wallet closed.

I think the photos tell the story best, a table full of pot lids, shelves full of pictorial ginger beers priced from £10 and an impressive collection of creams for sale. The range is just staggering.

I was very pleased to see some familiar Aussies, Kingsley & Rae Durdin, Steve & Lynne Anderson, Graham Lancaster, June Dunn, Horst & Judith Klusmeier and a few others. I believe that this year was the biggest gathering of foreigners at a UK SummerNational.

The format of the show is different to Australian shows. Australian shows focus on a combination of exhibits and trading, however the UK shows have always been mostly trading. Although in saying that, there were some high class displays of quality gear from the local bottle club which were outstanding.

The Sunday of the show features a car boot sale, which I heard is a must see, alas I didn’t have enough time to come back for a second dose.

Is it really that big? Well personally I would say the Australian Caloundra show was bigger or even our 2004 National in Sydney. However the quantity of bottles compared to collectables was higher here in the UK.

Later in the day I visited the Coddswallop Trust Museum which is also part of the Elsecar Heritage Center. This is a museum stacked with bottles, ceramics and heaps of advertising gear. Once again I felt out of my league looking at the quality and range of bottles which are available to UK collectors. It is very difficult for anyone to compare items between our counties. I certainly gained a perspective of how our Australian potters and bottle makers created a colonial style all of their own from early English origins.

So after a heavy day of walking, talking and drooling, I headed back to the hotel in Barnsley then went out for a nice hot English curry in Barnsley. Now that is a town with a good night life!

All the best, Martin.

There was something about the crudeness of the pottery and the scarcity of all jars which made it my main collecting area. I have been able to capture about 50 different transferred demijohns for my collection in that time.

Seeing that there has not been a great deal written about collecting these jars, I thought that an article on Australian Demijohns would be of interest to readers.

My grandfather, Mr John Owen, was the Works Manager at Fowler potteries during the 1950′s. If only he was around now, the knowledge he could help me with! Due to my Fowler history I have tried to concentrate on early ceramic handled demijohns from this potter. This style of demijohn is generally dated pre 1920. It would seem that they were discontinued when wire handles were introduced around this date. Mint condition demijohns in the ceramic handle style are very scarce, as the handles are generally broken or damaged.

Finding demijohns in the wild is very difficult. As they are large and fragile so many have been lost. They are rarely dug in tips, however I have found a few broken ones while mud treading and diving. The reason you can find them in the water is because they were used to hold drinking water on rowing boats. The only reliable source left to find these jars is from households. Over time they now turn up at auctions, estate sales and garage sales. You may even be able to pick up some jars in your local antique shop. With the specialist collecting knowledge that we have, we have a definite advantage over the antique dealer and we can pick up some rare pieces.

The general rules or rarity, condition and pictorial designs apply with demijohns and you should always aim to purchase the best condition item you can.

Price is always a factor with whatever you collect and with demijohns it is very apparent. Demijohns have already gone through a phase of large price increases just as ginger beers are doing right now. You can look at the prices quoted in the 1000 Ginger Beer book and see that prices for most demijohns have increased. Common plain demijohns have not had the same increases that a rare or pictorial demijohn has had.

From the collections I have seen, you can create a collection of the 40 most commonly found demijohns within a year or two. It’s the next few dozen that will have you draining your bank balance.

Ok so now you know a little bit about the background of collecting demijohns. We’ll now look at what styles are available and some other interesting facts.

Demijohn Styles & Varieties:

Standard demijohns come in a varity of sizes from quarter-gallon to a huge three-gallon size. Taps and handles may vary, for example ceramic handle or wire handle. Many large size demijohns are not fully glazed and were wickered up to the shoulder or sometimes to the lip. Taps are also available either a fancy spigot or just a hole for a tap.

This photo shows the three varieties of WY – WY Coy Demijohns available. WY – WY was a company based in Arncliffe – Sydney. A rare half-gallon demijohn was also used.

The “REG” registration mark different for each jar. Dated 1915-1919.

Pictured are the three different transfers available for the Freeman Bros Company, which was based in Croydon, Sydney. Dated 1920 – 1922.

The two sets of jars above I would rate as being common priced from $100-$200. Below are pictured a set of scarce Sydney company demijohns.

Martin Ruckert – Australian Demijohn Collector
0416 169 961

These included Aerated Water Companies, Beer / Wine / Spirit Companies and Chemical Companies

In each category you will find jars with a variety of rarity, size and appeal. I have seen some impressive collections of chemical & wine demijohns. These jars may be plain but many are super rare and often overlooked. You may also approach demijohn collecting from a potter / pottery point of view.

No pottery collection is complete without examples potter branded demijohns. Potters include R Fowler, Bakewell, Mauri Bros & Thomson, Pearson & Co – Chesterfield, Bendigo Pottery, Mashman Pottery, Hoffman to name a few.

Ink transfers and designs are not as important if you collect in this approach, so you can grab some bargains other collectors have passed over because they missed the potter stamp.

R Fowler and Bendigo Pottery are the most common Australian potteries you will encounter and Pearson & Co – Chesterfield is the most common English pottery company. The majority of branded spigot demijohns are made by Pearson & Co.

This month I am featuring some of my demijohns which have ceramic handles from the R Fowler pottery. I would almost regard these jars as being almost artistic as the potter has individually sculptured a handle and attached it firmly to each jar. As I mentioned before, these jars are rare in mint condition as the handles invariably break with use. The jars shown below are simply a selection of items available.

The great feature of these jars is the date stamp.

I am of course missing quite a few so if you have some for sale please call me to fill these spots in my collection!

Martin Ruckert – Australian Demijohn Collector
0416 169 961