A friend of mine sent me a photo of a brick building on Greenwood Ave. in Brooklyn, NY which
reminded me a of an old garbage dump that a friend of mine and I dug back when we were teenagers – it must have contained dozens of these bottles. We wrapped them all up in boxes and toted them home on our bikes only to discover that they were not worth much of anything. Such was bottle collecting for us in the 1970s! One thing for sure: these California Fig Syrup bottles are darn common and must have been produced in abundance.
I always remember the house however. It was a very early 18th century small gambrel roof building of perhaps 1200 sf which, unlike most places where we lived in Connecticut, had avoided the wrath of home renovation (read: McMansionification) until very recently. Thankfully, the original house was spared but a huge trophy mansion of 10,000 sf was “added on” to the original. So much for that little time capsule from a day of greater wisdom and sensibility.
Here are a collection of photos of California Fig Syrup bottles and related advertising. Stop by ebay to see the current offerings of these bottles and ephemera – you will find a number of items at very affordable prices, ie most under $10.00.
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i found a bottle like the one on this page it says
california fig syrup co
sanfrancisco cal
on the side syrup of figs
Yes, these are really, really common. As a teenager, I remember digging dozens if not hundreds in a dump!
I found a California Fig Syrup Co.. bottle in 2015 in Gull Lake , Richland MI right off shore on perfect condition
I have dug up two of these bottles almost the same but the top where the label was is different could u tell me anything I live in the UK and found them in county Durham.