A while ago there
was some pretty heated debate about cleaning bottles.
The discussions
took place on Western Bitters News, Peachridge, the WWG (here) as well as on
another website which shall remain un-named. The anonymous website had some extremely harsh
(bordering on fanatical) words to say about the morality or, (according to them), lack thereof, involved
in cleaning bottles.
It seemed that
everyone had their own slant on bottle cleaning; self included. By far and away
though, most supported the procedure, assuming that, if and when the bottle was to
change hands, both parties were aware of said cleaning.
I stated the
following;
"Thanks to what I've
recently learned, I think that it's a travesty to leave a good (but stained)
bottle stuffed away when it can be restored to as new appearance and be proudly
displayed for all to enjoy."
One of the bottles
pictured in the WWG article of 10/28/12 was a badly stained open pontil Dr.
Hooflands German Bitters. It was an Oregon dug gold rush era bottle, but such a dog that it sat in a box here, both
before and after the article. (hint, if you click your mouse on the photos, they'll open in a separate and enlarged window for a real eye opener)
Recently, a good
friend of mine got into the good stuff. The mailman arrived with a gift from him a couple of days after we chatted about the dig. It was a Rosedale OK
"German connection" glop top. Neat bottle, I guessed, beneath an eighth of an
inch of stain and crud. Odd, the stain was pretty much a dead ringer for the
Hoofland's "case of leprosy".
To clean, or not to clean... I bit the bullet
and took a chance. The stain had to go and the Hooflands would be the guinea
pig. I was stunned after the "Ol Bottle Doc." had worked his magic on
it.
With that dilema put to bed, I made the decision to take a chance on the German Rosie. Check out the before and the after.
And so I pose the question; Is the practice of
cleaning deserving of tar and feathering, drawing and quartering or jail time as another author so pointedly espoused?
You be the judge.
Amoral, immoral, or the right thing to do? Which would you rather have in your collection; the before or the after?
1 comment:
I think its silly to oppose bottle tumbling. Expert bottle tumblers can do marvels at returnibg stained grimmy dirt encrusted bottles to their original appearance and beauty. Doing so is not like cleaning the delicate surfaces of a historic coin where original surfaces can be altered and damaged. I have had three back bar bottles tumbled to remove booze staining and the results are amazing. I would choose to do so again and am thrilled with the results.
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