The Mike Dickman Collection

I stumbled into a “bottle and barbed wire show” in Albuquerque

14 July 2015

Nice to hear from Mike Dickman here from Santa Fe, New Mexico which may be my favorite place to visit in the United States. I met Mike a number of years ago at a FOHBC national show and usually think of him as a “poison bottle” collector. Look at these great pictures of his collection. Thanks for sharing Mike!

Hi Ferd,

I had a friend snap photographs of some of my bottles (I don’t own a camera), and I thought I’d share. Feel free to post the photos on your Peachridge Glass site if you think they might be of interest. It’s certainly not the most spectacular collection in any way, shape or form, but each one of my bottles holds special, unique memories of the person from whom I got it, and where and when. We love our glass bottles, but it’s the people who truly make the hobby what it is. Hope to see you in Chattanooga!

Best regards,
Mike Dickman

[PRG] Mike is a great guy and kindly sent the following when I asked him a little about himself and his collection.

I started collecting bottles in the mid 1990s, after I stumbled into a “bottle and barbed wire show” in Albuquerque. I didn’t think much of the barbed wire but I was immediately fascinated by the multitude of colorful, interesting old bottles, and I ended up purchasing a California mineral water bottle from the late Bill Tanner. Bill invited me to attend the next meeting of the New Mexico Historical Bottle Collectors Club, and I did so and got hooked. Bill and I became good friends, until his sad and untimely passing a few years ago. He was a dedicated digger throughout New Mexico but my bad back never really allowed me to go that route, although I diligently tried several times. The New Mexico soil is alkaline and the bottles (primarily drug stores and hutches) often come out of the ground severely stained and etched.

As a “condition fanatic” I started buying my bottles rather than digging them. I like every type of bottle if it is colorful, and I have accumulated a collection of poisons, blob top sodas, mineral waters, figural bitters, colored pontiled medicines, inks, and more. Every bottle I own engenders its own cherished memory of where I obtained it, when, and from whom. I love the hobby and the people who collect bottles, and there is no better fun, in my view, than being at a bottle show. I’ve attended most of the FOHBC shows since the 1990s, and hope, God willing, to attend many more.

Sincerely,
Mike Dickman