Friday the 13th...

[sandchip]

...and I ain't superstitious, but as Christine McVie would say, "But I'm beginning to wonder why."

My son and I were in the living room this evening, eating supper and watching TV, the usual, when about 10 feet from us, CRASH! (all caps and exclamation point don't seem to capture it here). 2 of the 6 metal shelf supports simply sheared off dumping the top shelf and contents on the second shelf and contents. After standing in front of the case, superdumbfounded for a couple of minutes, but worried about further collapse, we were able to slip in an old Nazareth Hair of the Dog record and cover (it's what I blindly grabbed out of a dark closet) to keep the bottles on edge from falling off as I opened the door on the right. Already sick from what I could see, it only got worse as I started pulling bottles out, working my way across to the left side. The casualties are pretty bad and I'll post pictures of the KIAs later on. I was really hesitant to post this, because believe me, I really don't want to hear any smartass comments or Monday morning quarterbacking, etc. The shelves were far from overloaded. In that crystal clear hindsight, I guess I should've had the cast metal (probably Chinese pot metal) X-rayed for flaws when I bought the case 15 years ago, right? But seriously, check to see if you have that type and replace with the steel ones. Take as many lessons as you can from my misfortune. It's as freak as I could imagine with the shelf load tight against the uprights, not out there towards the end to give any leverage at all to stress the support where it was inserted. Damned bad, but it could've been so much worse had the shelves pancaked all the way to the bottom. There's no undoing things, so all I can do is look forward, while counting my many, many blessings.

 

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[NJKLAGT]

I did some big cleaning and rearranging of my collection yesterday and half expected this to happen. Ugh, sandchip, this is worse than the kitchen sink!

It appears an earlier Townsend's is the least of your troubles, so that says a lot. Thoughts and prayers until you deliver the full list. So sorry.

 

[Blak bart]

Sorry I can't press the like button on this one....it looks horrifying !! Just got done checking my shelves !! So sorry bud !!

 

[smokeythecat]

Arrggh! Hate seeing this!

 

[3cylbill]

this makes me sick , a nightmare. sorry for your loss...

 

[sandchip]

Thanks, everybody. Here's some damage assessment by the light of day. You wouldn't believe aside from the brokes, shards and slivers, the amount of powdered glass on the shelves.



The Perkins was such a nice little, primitive ink, but not that rare, so hopefully I may be able to replace it one day. My only loss among the inks, which was a miracle in itself.



The sodas and mineral waters survived without a scratch. Amazing.

My pontiled medicines, which were always my favorites took the hardest hit and I feel reasonably that most of these can never be replaced. I was planning on using this picture for my business card one day. Xs L to R: The Collier's Remedy was the only known example of the only known colored pontiled medicine from the state of South Carolina. The Howard's Vegetable Cancer & Canker Syrup was the only known pontiled example in a pure olive green. The Coster & Coxe was the best of about 7 known examples, probably my favorite bottle of all. The Kimball's, not so rare, but only the second labeled example that I have seen since getting mine over 30 years ago.



The Southern Cough Syrup from New Orleans. Two, maybe three known examples in green.



The Strohecker was found in an attic nearly 40 years ago and to this day is the only known example. Edward Linnser Strohecker was a druggist in Macon from 1825 to at least 1860 and served as mayor in the 1850s. Took me 30 years to put Macon's best 3 together.



Had this nice little I. Covert's Balm of Life for over 30 years.



Also lost a deep tobacco amber Phoenix Bitters that I bought from the late Judge Ed MacKenzie way back in 1988. Only bottle that I had out of his great collection.

Lastly, a C. Brinkerhoff's Health Restorative sustained a hole in the shoulder. Not a rare one by any means, but one that I had for 33 years and the best overall example that I had seen.

Tough stuff, but I hope that everyone who sees this can benefit in some way, by at least subjecting your displays to extreme scrutiny on every concievable means of structural failure. I always thought that I was one more picky, anal, critical joker but the origin of the collapse in my case was so well hidden that only in hindsight could it have been averted. As usual, some of life's best lessons are the most costly.

 

[glass half fool]

That is a punch in the gut on any day Fri the 13 th not with standing ! Bad Luck is bad luck! I would be sick .But all any of us can do is keep on plugging away

 

[NJKLAGT]

View attachment 1752673

Oh, it wasn't even a Townsend's that I was looking at, it was so much worse...

sandchip, I can't imagine how lost you must feel. I will remember this and commit to being more careful about my displays.

"All shards go to heaven."

 

[sandchip]

...punch in the gut...

Yeah, that feeling persists and I suspect that it will for a long time. I'm having a time concentrating on my work, and although I don't like to work on Sundays, I must tomorrow because it's the only time this particular customer is closed. I'll be on a scaffold, so I've got to get my mind in the game, because I've noticed that bad comes in bunches.

...all any of us can do is keep on plugging away

Amen that, brother.

 

[Harry Pristis]

What an awful experience! Sorry for your loss, Sandchip.

I worry about natural disasters - hurricane, tornado, sinkhole collapse - and now I'll add a new worry: shelf materials failure.

 

[RustyRelics]

Man, I am so sorry to hear this. Dang. Makes me wanna cry, seeing those bottles broken.

 

[glass half fool]

Man I even hate to get a like for any comments I have to add .That is me benefiting from your misfortune

 

[GaRebel1861]

Ouch! That hurts just to look at. I’m sorry to hear of your loss of such fine bottles. I’ve lost two good ones over the years. One to a pesky cat that wasn’t mine and the other from the kids having a pillow fight in the living room.

 

[sandchip]

What an awful experience! Sorry for your loss, Sandchip.

I worry about natural disasters - hurricane, tornado, sinkhole collapse - and now I'll add a new worry: shelf materials failure.

Same here. I tried to be so careful as temporary caretaker of these pieces of history. I don't have a basement, so if there was a hurricane or tornado watch, I'd box everything up and haul it out to my parents' basement until the weather got better, only to be completely blindsided by this. I'm mighty grateful for everyone's comments.

 

[epackage]

Not hindsight, I simply don't trust glass shelves, I'm big on fireplace mantel shelving screwed to 2"X4"'s that are screwed into the studs with 4" screws, I can stand on these. I hope it never happens again my friend, I'm sick just looking at what you lost...

 

[jgas]

Omg Sandchip. First thing I thought of was how the heck can I help to replace one of those beauties for you. And trust me I would if I had any. But those were such rarities how do I begin ? I’m sick for you. Damn near brings a tear to my eyes. Is there any possible way that you could guess the amount of loss monetarily? And when or if you do can you possibly claim that loss on the property insurance? I believe you could. But I know how difficult insurance companies are. But worth a call none the less. In any case I’m sorry that this happened. Good luck with everything. Jgas.

 

[sandchip]

Not hindsight, I simply don't trust glass shelves...I hope it never happens again my friend, I'm sick just looking at what you lost...

The glass shelves are all in perfect shape. What held them up is what failed, but at any rate, the end result was the same. Jim, I do appreciate your thoughts and concerns, man.

 

[sandchip]

Omg Sandchip. First thing I thought of was how the heck can I help to replace one of those beauties for you. And trust me I would if I had any. But those were such rarities how do I begin ? I’m sick for you. Damn near brings a tear to my eyes. Is there any possible way that you could guess the amount of loss monetarily? And when or if you do can you possibly claim that loss on the property insurance? I believe you could. But I know how difficult insurance companies are. But worth a call none the less. In any case I’m sorry that this happened. Good luck with everything. Jgas.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I'm gonna try on the insurance, but you know how it is. I do have a number, and it's gut wrenching to think about it, and even more so as you guessed, that the chances of some of those bottles ever being replaceable are very slim to none. Today has been a rough one, because now, on top of the loss, I'm having these feelings of guilt that I somehow failed to protect these rarities, so that one day they could be passed on to the next caretaker, which is all we really are while we have them.

 

[NJKLAGT]

This one's for you man, hang in there.

 

[sandchip]

That's awesome, man. I did the same thing after I first saw a Coster & Coxe many, many years ago. I was still pretty young, had no camera, but was so taken by the bottle that I came home and drew a picture of it, figuring I'd never have the opportunity or means to own one. Thanks so much for your time and consideration.