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Hutchinson Collector Profile - Josh Guisinger

Posted April 1, 2013:

A January EMail message provided our introduction to Josh Guisinger, an enthusiastic collector from Ohio.  Josh had noted that his collection included Hutchinsons that weren’t yet in the HutchBook database, and he contacted us to provide full data on Hutchinsons that were quickly catalogued as OH0826.5, OH0689.5, and OH0689.8.  Josh also submitted this photo which definitely caught our attention:

You will be seeing images of these Shawnee and New Lexington, Ohio pint Hutchinsons again when we start adding more images to the HutchBook database.  That blob top quart embossed MICHEAL RADIGAN / SHAWNEE, OHIO. is a beauty – note the engraving error spelling Michael as Micheal.  Also note the variety of BIMAL, ABM, and ACL sodas on Josh’s shelves.  Like many of us, Josh collects sodas other than Hutchinsons.  When asked about his collecting specialty, he responded:

I limit my collection to my home county in Ohio, and although I have a decent collection going, most of the holes that need to be filled in are extremely hard to find bottles.  That mixed in with the fact that our rural area has numerous bottles that have never been listed in any of the books makes it difficult to even know what examples are out there.  Searching HutchBook let me know of two Hutchinsons I didn't know existed.  I was really surprised that neither one of them was from our main mining town.

We responded by asking Josh if he would consider being the subject of a Hutchinson Collector Profile and he graciously consented to be interviewed.  Here are his responses to the questions we posed:

I started collecting at 12 with the only permanent resident in my collection that isn't local – an amber, Columbus, Ohio Coca Cola that I found walking through the woods with my dad. 

I have discovered a lot of things since that bottle, but about 15 years ago, the fire was rekindled by a desire to study and learn all I could about my local history here in Perry County Ohio.  That included local advertising and wares, such as pottery, insulators, and bottles.  Trying to find lost information about our community led to grabbing a shovel and unearthing it myself.  I collect the local finds to preserve them for the future, as development doesn't always have our history in its best interest.  Any other finds, I trade or sell for local stuff that I may find along the way.  Finding bottles from my area is a rare occasion in itself, and most of the time when it happens, they are the same handful that everyone has.  The good ones rarely go cheap, and the really good ones, are still in the ground. 

I have in my primary collection milk, medicine, soda, and whiskey bottles, as well as some salt glaze pottery, and porcelain insulators.  All are geographically specific to my county, and will never be for sale.  One day they will go to the local historical group to be put on display, sometime after I'm gone.  I do display them on occasion at local events, for educational purposes. 

A quick story, since it's on topic and recent.  Yesterday, my local digging friend and main competitor on local bottles and I, had a rare opportunity.  A local business had changed hands, and the new owner had plans on moving some dirt to make way for more parking.  My friend and I had kept a close eye on the property since it went up for sale, as we knew this property had a lot of local history that was right up our alley.  Other than some pieces of old foundation in the corner of the parking lot, there aren't many signs showing that back around the turn of the century this old Laundromat was the site of J.G. Stallsmith's soda water and ice cream factory in New Lexington, Ohio.  The new owner was welcome to our effort, and gave us full go on any digging we wanted to do, as well as stopping work to rescue any bottles he saw while working the machine.  So far it has been heartbreaking, as we’ve dug through hundreds of broken Hutchinsons, local and others.  It was actually quite confusing with the amount of bottles from elsewhere, mixed in with what we believe was the broken bottle pile.  We did discover two new Stallsmith variants – a different version of his Gay-Ola bottle, and an aqua crown top.  Both were broken, but now we have new targets for which to search. 

The two different J. G. STALLSMITH / NEW LEXINGTON, O. variants are my favorite Hutchinson bottles, since I found both of them in the wild.  One was dug in a farm dump, a mile from town.  The other was found in the creek running through town.  Other than those two, I only have one other local Hutchinson, a MICHAEL RADIGAN / SHAWNEE that a friend found at a bottle show.  I knew that Shawnee had a couple more, but when HutchBook opened my area for viewing, I realized that I had more searching to do. 

The ROBERT HILL / NEW LEXINGTON, O. Hutchinson (OH0689) is my current must have, but any of the ones listed in the Perry County Ohio search on HutchBook have space reserved for them in my display!  My display is a built-in, acrylic, under-lit display, and was overbuilt for future additions. 

If you happen to have a Hutchinson that will fit into Josh's collection, please contact him via https://www.facebook.com/#!/josh.guisinger.  If that isn’t an option for you, EMail HutchBook@yahoo.com for his phone number.