Watch the Antique show on Studio Statesboro. Click here:
Members of the Bulloch County Historical Society - as well as a guest or two - shared some of their treasured antiques during a recent meeting held at RJ's Steaks and Seafood.
The program was much like an "Antiques Road Show" episode, except there was no appraisers present. That didn't seem to matter to those who appeared to value their antiques for the historical significance instead of monetary value.
Member Virginia Anne Franklin Waters "hosted" the show and was first to exhibit a framed ice bag from the Statesboro Provision and Ice Company. Way before the day of crushed ice in plastic bags, people bought ice blocks that came packed in the bags, which sported three-digit telephone numbers and advertised "Pure Distilled Water Ice."
She also had an ice pick and mallet that were used to knock of chips of the ice for drinks or other uses.
Virginia Anne's husband Bill Waters shared a Victorian stereoscope, era 1870s, along with several cardboard pictures that could be used with the stereoscope to make the pictures appear 3-D.
Libba Smith was delighted to show her Grandma Cook's mortar and pestle, which was from before the 1900s, used in a family pharmacy. She also shared a framed photo of her father with a goat cart, taken by a traveling photographer (who owned the goat and cart.)
Most of the antiques shared were part of Bulloch County's history, such as the heavy lead Roman numeral VI that came from the old Bulloch County Courthouse clock. Smith Banks was one of several in the community who acquired one of the numbers, which was installed on the courthouse in 1897 and remained there until a renovation in the 1970s, he said.
Banks told about how a local jeweler and clock maker, Burton Mitchell, had to climb the towers to wind the clock.
Maggie Collins brought a Civil War era wooden flute. Isaac Bunce passed around a silver ladle which he said had been owned by Gen. Robert Toombs, governor during the Civil War. Betty Rushing showed a metal mesh purse, era 1920s, and her own tatted baby cap, framed.
Chuckles ripped through the room as Billie Bohler, wife of the late Dr. Emory Bohler, displayed an antique urinal made of glass, and a "goofer's glass" bowl that was popular during the same time carnival glass was common.
Statesboro Herald editor Jim Healy, guest of the group, brought along an unusual hand carved wooden box he said his family acquired when he lived in Switzerland. He said he believed the velvet-lined box, covered in carvings of what he said were "possibly saints" was made at an Italian monastery around the 1850s.
Statesboro Herald President Joe McGlamery, also a member of the Bulloch County Historical Society, shared with the group a number of signatures from his collection, including that of Confederate Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb, Georgia poet Sydney Lanier and a letter from famous author Margaret Mitchell, written to Bulloch Herald publisher Leodel Coleman, who was Mitchell's friend.
He also brought a family heirloom - a "dough board" hewn from what appeared to be cypress wood, that had been a gift to his parents from his maternal grandmother. "There's been a lot of biscuits come out of this dough board," he said.
Member Bev Presley brought a pair of wooden shoes from Holland and a Menorah, which she said she had always been curious about. " Who did it belong to?" she wondered.
Rodney Harville brought report cards from 1923 and a pair of glasses his grandfather once lost in a river when she slapped a spider from his face. He made his grandson Keebler locate the glasses in the river bed with his bare toes - and the glasses were recovered. Harville's wife Nadine displayed a beautiful carnival glass piece and Virgil Harville shared a commissary ledger that has belonged to his grandfather (also named Keebler, son of Samuel Harville who built the well-known Harville House on Harville Road).
The 1895 ledger recorded prices of items sold in the commissary: a dime for a half gallon of cream, 40 cents for "a plug of 'bacca'" and a corset for 35 cents.
Sylvia Harville shared a pair of scissors designed with etchings of the Library of Congress, made in Germany and apparently designed as a commemorative piece for an unknown event.
A silver spoon discovered when someone was plowing was likely from when people buried their silver during the Civil War, said Helen Morris. John Krickel showed a pottery beer bottle from Montana in the 1860s. Joyce McKelveen brought a quilt her great grandmother made, Gibson Girl pictures and a beautiful china bowl with a rose pattern.
Member Donald Sparks showed cotton cards used for removing the seeds from cotton - before Eli Whitney's cotton gin days; they came from Leroy Bird's gin in Portal, he said. Lorene Hendrix had another pair of antique glasses, and Thomas Anderson shared family pictures including one of his grandfather and uncles on mules beside a split-rail fence.
Jan Anderson wore her antique - her grandmother's cameo, era 1860s.
After the program, several members commented on how much they enjoyed sharing the treasures and learning more about Bulloch County's history. "We may do it again," McGlamery said after the meeting.
The program was much like an "Antiques Road Show" episode, except there was no appraisers present. That didn't seem to matter to those who appeared to value their antiques for the historical significance instead of monetary value.
Member Virginia Anne Franklin Waters "hosted" the show and was first to exhibit a framed ice bag from the Statesboro Provision and Ice Company. Way before the day of crushed ice in plastic bags, people bought ice blocks that came packed in the bags, which sported three-digit telephone numbers and advertised "Pure Distilled Water Ice."
She also had an ice pick and mallet that were used to knock of chips of the ice for drinks or other uses.
Virginia Anne's husband Bill Waters shared a Victorian stereoscope, era 1870s, along with several cardboard pictures that could be used with the stereoscope to make the pictures appear 3-D.
Libba Smith was delighted to show her Grandma Cook's mortar and pestle, which was from before the 1900s, used in a family pharmacy. She also shared a framed photo of her father with a goat cart, taken by a traveling photographer (who owned the goat and cart.)
Most of the antiques shared were part of Bulloch County's history, such as the heavy lead Roman numeral VI that came from the old Bulloch County Courthouse clock. Smith Banks was one of several in the community who acquired one of the numbers, which was installed on the courthouse in 1897 and remained there until a renovation in the 1970s, he said.
Banks told about how a local jeweler and clock maker, Burton Mitchell, had to climb the towers to wind the clock.
Maggie Collins brought a Civil War era wooden flute. Isaac Bunce passed around a silver ladle which he said had been owned by Gen. Robert Toombs, governor during the Civil War. Betty Rushing showed a metal mesh purse, era 1920s, and her own tatted baby cap, framed.
Chuckles ripped through the room as Billie Bohler, wife of the late Dr. Emory Bohler, displayed an antique urinal made of glass, and a "goofer's glass" bowl that was popular during the same time carnival glass was common.
Statesboro Herald editor Jim Healy, guest of the group, brought along an unusual hand carved wooden box he said his family acquired when he lived in Switzerland. He said he believed the velvet-lined box, covered in carvings of what he said were "possibly saints" was made at an Italian monastery around the 1850s.
Statesboro Herald President Joe McGlamery, also a member of the Bulloch County Historical Society, shared with the group a number of signatures from his collection, including that of Confederate Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb, Georgia poet Sydney Lanier and a letter from famous author Margaret Mitchell, written to Bulloch Herald publisher Leodel Coleman, who was Mitchell's friend.
He also brought a family heirloom - a "dough board" hewn from what appeared to be cypress wood, that had been a gift to his parents from his maternal grandmother. "There's been a lot of biscuits come out of this dough board," he said.
Member Bev Presley brought a pair of wooden shoes from Holland and a Menorah, which she said she had always been curious about. " Who did it belong to?" she wondered.
Rodney Harville brought report cards from 1923 and a pair of glasses his grandfather once lost in a river when she slapped a spider from his face. He made his grandson Keebler locate the glasses in the river bed with his bare toes - and the glasses were recovered. Harville's wife Nadine displayed a beautiful carnival glass piece and Virgil Harville shared a commissary ledger that has belonged to his grandfather (also named Keebler, son of Samuel Harville who built the well-known Harville House on Harville Road).
The 1895 ledger recorded prices of items sold in the commissary: a dime for a half gallon of cream, 40 cents for "a plug of 'bacca'" and a corset for 35 cents.
Sylvia Harville shared a pair of scissors designed with etchings of the Library of Congress, made in Germany and apparently designed as a commemorative piece for an unknown event.
A silver spoon discovered when someone was plowing was likely from when people buried their silver during the Civil War, said Helen Morris. John Krickel showed a pottery beer bottle from Montana in the 1860s. Joyce McKelveen brought a quilt her great grandmother made, Gibson Girl pictures and a beautiful china bowl with a rose pattern.
Member Donald Sparks showed cotton cards used for removing the seeds from cotton - before Eli Whitney's cotton gin days; they came from Leroy Bird's gin in Portal, he said. Lorene Hendrix had another pair of antique glasses, and Thomas Anderson shared family pictures including one of his grandfather and uncles on mules beside a split-rail fence.
Jan Anderson wore her antique - her grandmother's cameo, era 1860s.
After the program, several members commented on how much they enjoyed sharing the treasures and learning more about Bulloch County's history. "We may do it again," McGlamery said after the meeting.