October 12, 2021 4.30 pm This story is over 34 months old

Lincolnshire antique bottles found in ancient rubbish tip going up for auction

A huge collection that started in the 1970s
A collection of historic Lincolnshire bottles and flagons are going to auction, and could fetch tens of thousands of pounds. | Photo: Eddisons CJM
By Local Democracy Reporter

A collection of over 800 rare bottles from historic Lincolnshire breweries are due to make tens of thousands of pounds at auction this week, decades after being found at an ancient rubbish tip.

The collection began in the 1970s, when brothers Mark and Simon Fletcher discovered a stoneware ginger beer bottle that was sticking out of the ground in their garden on the outskirts of Grimsby.

They later stumbled upon an ancient rubbish tip that yielded over 200 antique bottles, and the collection bug continued with their father Ron Fletcher for the next forty years.

Now, over 800 rare bottles and flagons that were found over the years will be going under the hammer at Scunthorpe-based auctioneers Eddisons CJM.

Just a few of the 800 plus bottles going under the hammer. | Photo: Eddisons CJM

The auction will take place on Wednesday, October 13 and is scheduled to close online at 1pm.

The full lot catalogue can be viewed on the Eddisons CJM website, where you can register to bid for some of these historic bottles and stoneware flagons.

The star attraction, a Grimsby & London Economic Supply Co stoneware ginger beer bottle, is expected to make over £1,000 at auction due to its great rarity.

Adam Martin of Eddisons CJM with the star of the show, a ginger beer bottle valued at over £1,000. | Photo: Eddisons CJM

Paul Cooper of Eddisons CJM said: “We’re not expecting any of the Lincolnshire flagons to make quite that much but there are some wonderful things produced for breweries, soft drink manufacturers, herbal drink makers, wine merchants, chemists, ale houses and the like, most of which are now long gone.”

“That is the charm of this remarkable collection. These hundred-odd year old glass and stoneware antiquities take us back to a disappeared world where countless local businesses brewed ale, manufactured their ginger beer or ‘lemon champagne’, concocted remedies and sold their stuff in the little shops and pubs that were to be found not only in town centres but on streets and in villages everywhere.”