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Joan Cabaniss Train Collector |
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01 January 2006 |
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Tainted Love Local Collector Finds Passion In Poison Bottles By Kate Hofstetter
Joan Cabaniss bought her first poison bottle at a flea market in Hillsville, Virginia, on Labor Day weekend, 1979. Separated from her first husband and with young children to care for and a limited amount of money in her checking account, this typically frugal woman is still amazed at her behavior that day.
“There was a set of eight [poison bottles] in the quilted pattern,” she said, “and they cost $250, which was all the money I had for the rest of the month. But the sun was shining through them and I just couldn’t resist.”
She had to go to her estranged husband for a loan, but she soon learned she did the right thing. Besides being in excellent condition, the bottles were a rare find, especially for a novice. While she won’t put a price on those same bottles today, Joan explained that they have certainly appreciated nicely. Plus, they were responsible for sending her off and running on a collection that has become her passion.
Joan, who along with her husband James has lived on Smith Mountain Lake for 23 years, saves only American poison bottles and has such an impressive collection that National Geographic photographed them for an article that appeared in the May 2005 issue. She also recently appeared for an interview on the TV channel Animal Planet for a show about poisonous animals.
Joan also publishes a newsletter for the Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association, which was started in 1990. Along with fellow club members Tim Adams and Jerry Jones from North Carolina, Joan has organized and compiled The American Poison Bottle Work Book and Price Guide, which is sold through the club.
Joan is so passionate about her collection even her car’s license plate reads “POISON.” Once, while traveling to Montgomery, Alabama, to display her collection, she was stopped at a police roadblock. Curiosity got the best of one of the officers on duty and Joan had to explain the plate’s significance and convince him she was actually quite harmless (unless, of course, she’s after a poison bottle needed to round out her collection).
Humans have known about poisons since the dawn of time. Initially, they were used only for killing other humans. Poison was a standard political tool of the Roman Empire. Eventually, it was discovered poisons can have other benefits. It became customary for ordinary people to use poison as a disinfectant and for exterminating rodents, lice and bedbugs. However, since many people in those times could not read, warning labels were useless. Symbols also were of little help at night in houses without electricity. Accidental poisoning became a significant problem. Pharmacists, inventors and legislators sought to resolve the problem by making poison bottles unique.
The first American patent for such a bottle was granted in 1871. The following year, the Whitall, Tatum KC-1 was introduced. Its color was “deep cobalt blue” and the surface was covered with diamond shaped ridges – the same style that caught Joan’s eye more than 100 years later.
Two of the most unusually shaped bottles Joan owns include a skull, most coveted by collectors, and bottles shaped like coffins which were generally used for antiseptic tablets. Joan has found most of her poison bottles at antique shops, flea markets, on the Internet and at shows. During all her years of collecting she has completed only one series of bottles, the “irregular hexagon.” She stills needs two more bottles to complete her collection of the cobalt blue quilt pattern bottles that got her started as a collector. Those beautiful bottles remain her favorite color and design.
Joan also has a nice collection of old glass whiskey flasks. “That’s a different type of poison,” she said laughing.
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Last Updated ( 07 June 2007 )
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