Shattered

I love my old medicine bottles.

You know I do.

And it's true that these ones are lovely indeed.

But you can't tell everything from a picture.

You can't tell, for example, that there should have been twice as many.

You can't tell that half the box was a sea of glass. 

You can't tell that the fellow I bought them from wrapped each bottle in a single layer of newspaper and then tossed them into a box with acres of room to spare.

You can't tell that the ones with the best labels arrived shattered.

It's always the ones with the best labels.

And you know what bothers me the most?

Not the money, no.

The needless waste bothers me.

For something that has survived the odds for 100 years to be so carelessly thrown away.

 

 

Comments

[alex wijnen]

Oh, no! I'm so sorry...

I've received several boxes like that (typically sent from France – I don't think they really know how to wrap things over there!) but thankfully they were always enamelware and didn't do much damage other than a few added chips.

Hopefully karma will take full effect very soon!

[Gail]

Oh my! Sadness indeed! It's a terrible sound when you receive a box in the mail and hear that "tinkling" sound......:(.
So very sorry, the bottles pictured are stunning!

[Colette]

Oh I know the feeling....one actually realise that something is wrong by the sound of the contents ...and what should have been a anxious exciting unwrap...becomes a slow sad opening..
Colette x