2013 Queensland State Bottle & Collectables Show (Part 2) - Johnnyfive Collectable's Perspective

Saturday the 21st of September saw The Queensland Historical Bottle & Collectables Cub host the Queensland State Show at the Morayfield Leisure Centre. This was the third year at this venue. The club was very fortunate to receive good local newspaper coverage, both before and after the show. Unfortunately, the numbers through the doors were still down on the previous year which means a change of venue is most likely for next year's show. Apparently, it is not unusual for the numbers to drop off after three years in the one place. I only hope that next year's venue isn't too far away as I have really enjoyed having the show so close to home.

Photo of me taken by "The Caboolture News" photographer to promote the show in our local newspaper.

For me personally, this year's show was as good as, if not better than, last years. Three of my four displays won first places and my swap and sell table did well. Last year almost half of my profits came from two baby feeders whose sale had been prearranged before the show, so I actually sold a lot more this year. I only bought three small items and would have come home with a healthy profit except for a last minute purchase by my wife, Karen. In her defence, Karen did buy a really nice item, an art deco travel clock with its original case. Overall, we just about broke even, managed to move some old stock and also picked up a few more nice pieces for our own collections.

Rob (my son) and Karen looking after my swap and sell table

 The following photos are of the four competitive displays I entered in the show. I seriously thought of only entering two or three displays due to the tight time frame to pack up at the end of the show. So glad I entered four as display numbers were down a little on previous years.

My Baby Feeder Display (1st Place in it's category). It is almost expected that I enter this category as I seem to have become known as one of those strange baby feeder collectors. I decided to put on as many feeders as I could as there was no limit to the number of bottles displayed this year.

I decided to enter the General Australiana category for the first time this year and was rewarded with another 1st Place. The Australian flag and a collection of gumnuts were used to compliment the display.

My Movie Memorabilia Display (1st Place). I have shown this display before (four years ago) at the first show that I ever exhibited at. I did, however change most of the foreground items this time.

My Depression Era Tool Box Display (2nd Place in the Single Collectable with a Written History category).
This tool box will be featured in more depth in a future post.

The following photos are of some of the other displays that interested me. You may have been able to sense a preference towards collectables rather than bottles in most of my posts. I believe this is because of my love of social history and of the everyday items that people used in their everyday lives. I have, however, included a number of bottle displays below as well.

Dairy Collectables display. Love the stool and the Australia rolling pin. Also love the cream separator as well.

Colourful display of Glass Fly Traps. I could easily find room for some of these in my collection. And just look at the huge one on the bottom.

Fantastic display of tinplate Money Boxes. Many unusual and colourful designs.

Some bottles! Display of Lamonts. I particularly liked the way these were displayed in their cute little timber and tin display stand. Very Australian.

Hard to beat a good display of inks. Here are two displays, side by side. The first of Inkwells and the second of Ink Bottles. Very nicely presented displays.

More bottles! Displays of Coloured Glass Bottles always look stunning.

Possibly one of my favourite items on display at the show. The large size "Mecca" Foot Warmer. I have the medium size in my collection of foot warmers but not with the great graphics that this one has. I had to admit to the owner that I was rather jealous of this fine foot warmer.

 And finally my three purchases of the day.

Another buggy spanner for my collection and a very nice twist handle Acme wrench. I bought these two tools from Phillip Hill who had the swap and sell table next to mine. I really enjoyed getting to know him and chatting with him throughout the day.

A diamond frog convict brick for my brick collection. This brick was bought at the end of the day which enabled me to negotiate a reasonable price.

I have often found that I don't spend much at a show if I am exhibiting and selling items myself. Not sure if it's a psychological thing of not wanting to eat into any profits or if I am just too busy. Either way it's probably a good thing. Let's see what happens at next year's show. And where it will be held for that matter.

Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me

Seems that mankind has been bothered by flies ever since time began. On the positive side, this has led to  the invention of a number of different fly traps or fly catchers. Probably of most interest to collectors are the glass fly traps that were popular during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I have two different ones in my own kitchenalia collection.

The fly trap on the left is an "AGEE FLY TRAP". This trap was designed to be hung by a wire handle so the flies could enter by the large hole in its base. The flies, being attracted by some sweet liquid or other bait in the bottom of the trap, were then unable to find their way out. Apparently flies aren't too bright and tend to try to escape through the glass rather than flying down through the open hole. My Agee fly trap unfortunately no longer has either its wire handle or metal screw cap. This Agee fly trap dates from the early to mid 20th century and were machine moulded. A wire stand was available for this trap to enable it to be used standing on a flat surface such as a table.

"AGEE FLY TRAP"

My second glass fly trap is a lot older, probably dating from the late 19th to the early 20th century. It works in much the same way as the Agee trap but is specifically designed to stand on its glass feet. These feet elevate it sufficiently to allow easy access for the flies. The sweet bait is usually put into the base of the trap however I have heard of it being used by placing the bait directly on the table under the trap. Either way, the flies still get trapped as they fly upwards and can't escape. The loose fitting glass stopper (not the original) can easily be removed to facilitate emptying out the dead flies and cleaning the trap. This trap has been free blown and displays many irregularities in the glass.  These irregularities certainly give it a lot of  character.

Free blown glass fly trap

If I could add just one other fly trap to my collection, it would be the one pictured below that I saw last year while holidaying with my wife in Tasmania.

Blue Glass Fly Catcher at Narryna

This amazing blue glass fly catcher is part of the collection of the "Narryna Heritage Museum" in Hobart. This historic house and museum would have to be one of the best I have ever seen. It is noted for its costume collection which is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. The costumes are simply stunning and I can't recommend a visit to Narryna highly enough.

If all else fails in the eradication of those pesky flies you can always resort to good old poison administered by that faithful old kitchen stand by, the pump action fly sprayer.  Along with my glass fly traps I also have a "CAMEL" and a "MINIT" fly sprayer in my kitchenalia collection.

Pump action fly sprayers

CAMEL fly sprayer

The "CAMEL CONTINUOUS SPRAYER" was MADE IN HONG KONG by WANG ON MANUFACTURER and is noted as being SUPERIOR QUALITY.  It has a British Patent No 914275 printed on it. This sprayer would have been made in Hong Kong when it was still under British rule. It has a wooden handle and great graphics of a camel in front of two pyramids and some palm trees. It also has a CAUTION note to say DO NOT SPRAY INTO OR NEAR AN OPEN FLAME. Probably very sound advice.

Minit fly sprayer

The "Minit" sprayer is a bit faded but still has a nice wooden handle. This sprayer doesn't have a lot of information printed on it apart from the brand "Minit, MADE IN AUSTRALIA and a note to tell you to OIL OCCASIONALLY with an arrow pointing to the oil hole.


While researching fly traps for this post I came across a couple of items of interest. The first was that you can still get glass fly (or wasp traps) today. Take a look at this pretty coloured glass wasp trap available from "earth easy ".

Non-Toxic Glass Wasp Trap

Most glass fly traps seem to be called wasp traps now. Wasps seem to be a bigger problem these days than flies and I would probably agree with this as I remember my own experience in Victoria with some very annoying wasps. What started out as a pleasant picnic with my family at Sylvan Dam tuned into "the attack of the killer wasps" thanks to my eldest son. He accidentally (or at least he said it was an accident) knocked over the bottle of Coke on our picnic table and all over me as well. Wasps love sugar so I was a prime target for them. Needless to say I wasn't very happy with my son or my new found wasp friends (and these were European Wasps as well). I ended up spending the rest of the picnic locked safely away in our car.

I also came across this amazing collection of hanging fly traps that had been for sale on eBay some time ago.

Hanging glass fly trap collection

And finally I found out some interesting facts about the song "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me". It is believed to have been first published in 1869 by White, Smith & Perry. It was commonly sung by soldiers during the Spanish American War of 1898 because of all the flies and yellow fever mosquitoes. Also, the lyrics of the original song have been changed as it included the term "nigger" which is considered offensive today.