COLLECTOR FINDS HISTORY IN A BOTTLE.

Byline: Douglas Clark Daily News Staff Writer

A construction accident coupled with the encouragement of a friend transformed carpenter John Szabados into a collector of rare western frontier bottles.

Three years later, Szabados now owns about 230 bottles, valued at $10,000. Portions of the collection are on display through June at the Simi Valley Public Library.

Despite the growing value of his collection, money wasn't what hooked Szabados, 34, on bottles.

Initially, the digging for old bottles - some more than 100 years old - was good physical therapy for a separated collarbone the carpenter suffered on a construction site.

Once the collarbone healed, it was the historical aspect of his new hobby that kept Szabados searching for pumpkin seed, log cabin and shoe fly flasks.

``It's just a hobby. But the research and history behind it is really interesting and keyed me into American history,'' he said.

For instance, Szabados learned that the more valuable bottles were made before 1904 when a bottle-making machine was invented. And the glass-making companies that thrived before the invention put them out of business needed 24 to 48 hours to heat a batch of glass. These companies were sited near forests so a fuel supply was readily available.

``All that effort for something people threw out,'' Szabados said.

Though most of the antique bottles are found in the East, where settlements were more numerous in the 1800s, Szabados has had luck finding treasures near early settlements in Ventura County, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara.

His best find on a dig was a miniature perfume bottle.

``The small ones survive better. They have less chance of breaking when they're dumped or hauled or bulldozed,'' he said.

Only 30 percent of Szabados' collection is the result of excavation digs. That's because 90 percent of the bottles still buried are believed to be broken. So Szabados trades with friends or searches thrift stores, where he said he has found some valuable bottles.

One rare find is included in his library exhibit. The sapphire blue bottle shaped like a pumpkin seed was found in a Bakersfield thrift shop and purchased for $350. Though the shopkeeper contacted someone on the Internet to determine the value, Szabados said the bottle is actually worth about $3,000.

The value of bottles is determined by their shape and color. The pumpkin seed flasks fetch a nice price - especially if their color is unique, like blue, red or amber. Aqua and clear glass are common, and therefore less valuable.

Many of the bottles Szabados collects once contained bitters, an addictive, medicinal cure-all hawked by con men throughout the western frontier. These bottles are decorative, and come in all shapes and sizes. One popular shape was the log cabin bottle. The body of the bottle is square with indentations suggesting logs. The body tapers into a smooth round neck that looks like a smoke stack.

Szabados' display also includes a back bar whiskey bottle, made exclusively to decorate barroom shelves.

But some of the most beautiful pieces in the collection are commemorative bottles issued, for instance, by the Central and Northern Pacific railroads. These bottles usually contained whiskey, and include embossed slogans like, ``Success to the Railroad.''

For those interested in searching for bottles, Szabados suggests getting permission from ranch owners who own land that was settled in the 1800s. Also, a metal detector is useful because it can find areas where a variety of objects were dumped. Often glass is included with metals and other throwaways.

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Photo: (color in SIMI and CONEJO editions only) John Szabados shows some of his bottle collection which is on display at the Simi Valley Public Library.

Phil McCarten/Daily News