TREASURE HUNT

Even in the best of times, the antiques business can be tough.

For the merchants along lower Monroe Street, things are about to get a little better. The Monroe Street Bridge, which has been closed for two-years for repair and restoration, is reopening Saturday morning.

That means traffic, which was re-routed, reducing the number of cars driving past the lower Monroe antiques district, should pick up again.

I spoke to Elizabeth Garras owner of the Monroe Street Bridge Antique Market, the antique mall closest to the bridge, and she said the shop would be joining other merchants on Monroe in celebrating the reopening by offering discounts and special sale prices on merchandise. The store will be open until 8 p.m.

“They are having fireworks Saturday night,” she said. “We’ll be open so people can shop while they wait.”

Message in a bottle

In the August 25 edition of “Home,” Mary Ann Ebeltoft shared the story of her “Los Angeles Wine Company” bottle.

Manufactured by a Spokane Based company, the bottle had been discovered under Ebeltoft’s Fruitland, Wash., home more than 50 years ago.

Apparently Ebeltoft isn’t the only one with such a prize:

Gladys Eagle, of Sprague, wrote to say that she has a bottle which is very similar to Ebeltoft’s. Eagle found her bottle, which is marked “Durkin Wholesale and Retail Wines and Liquors, Spokane, Washington,” in an old house more almost 60 years ago.

Eagle, who is 96 (“And still going,”) wrote a nice note and included a rubbing of the embossed writing on the bottle.

“The morning I opened the “Home” magazine I was elated to see the amber bottle like mine,” she wrote. “Yes, I treasure it, thinking it a real antique, which I collect.”

Eagle then went on to describe her recent work canning 33 quarts of peaches. She also has an abundant raspberry patch, and puts up jam each year.

Cooper is a real treasure!

Donna Cooper, of Spokane, also has a bottle like Ebeltoft’s. “I happen to have one like it that has been handed down by my family,” she wrote.

In 1969, Cooper wrote to “The Answer Man” at The Spokesman-Review for information about her bottle. The answer man, who may have been the library staff at the paper, replied with essentially the same information that had been provided to Ebeltoft by the Washington State Librarians.

“He also said the shape of the bottle is called ‘Raglan’ and when the bottle lay on its side the cork was always covered by liquid which was of great importance to prevent the wine from spoiling,” Cooper wrote.

Well, there you have it. Straight from the “answer man.”

Thanks, Donna, for sharing.