Thursday, August 18, 2011

"Two Pioneer Women"

These two great women are pioneers of the bottle collecting world. They are Dr. Pauline Rosen (left) and my grandmother Marilyn Lehr (right). This ad is from the Sac Bee, 1968. They are setting up a bottle display at the El Dorado County Fair. Which was probably the first bottle display ever put on in California. Dr. Pauline Rosen was at the time, one of the largest figural bitters collecters. She also was one of the first members of the ABC, and helped Marilyn Lehr form the Hangtown Bottlenecks Club in Placerville. After her husband past, she disapeared from the hobby. Her collection was bought by Mike Henness some 25+ years ago. Not sure if she is still with us... Marilyn Lehr along with my Grandfather Ed Lehr were some of the first diggers/collecters in California,(Placerville area) about 1958. Marilyn loved collecting western meds and Chinese artifacts. She had the first largest collection of Gold Rush town med's anywhere. She also had one of the first Bottle Shops, located in Diamond Springs,(1967) where lots of collecters came to buy bottles. She was the founder of the Hangtown Bottlenecks, an early member of the ABC and help form the El Dorado County Musem. Marilyn Lehr is alive and well at 82 and lives in Madera, Ca.

4 comments:

  1. While it wasn't the first bottle display in CA, it was significant in that it was at the county fair. I was a member of the Hangtown Bottlenecks at the time and remember all the fun that club had at the meetings at the park and the various digs around the county.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike was the fellow I bought the two citrates from referenced in the previous post. I bet there are still oldtime collections sitting out in sheds or storage rooms long forgotten by folks who collected for a couple of years and then lost interest, back in the 1960s/1970s...

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you are referring to Mike Henness then the answer is yes, but I have no idea who you bought the nice citrates from. On the second question, yes, you can take that to the bank Jason.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, Mike Henness. Visited him up near Ione. He kindly put the two citrates on hold until I gathered the necessary funds for purchase.

    ReplyDelete