Long-time Walkerville resident and Kahuku Intermediate history teacher Jim Leonardi recently shared his passion and showed samples of the many historic Hawaiian bottles — some originally used more than a century ago — he has literally dug up in Kahuku.

Speaking to a small but interested crowd in the Kahuku Public Library on April 29, Leonardi explained he and his brother, retired Honolulu Fire Department Chief Attilio Leonardi, started collecting hand-made bottles when they were kids — and continue to do so to this day. He added that they're particularly interested in those made from the 1850s to about 1920, when machines began to take over work previously accomplished by glass blowing.

"Prior to the 1920s, we had no glass companies in Hawaii. It was too expensive to set up a glass-blowing outfit," he said, pointing out all the glass and ceramic containers from that era were imported from the U.S., Europe and Asia. For example, many of the old bottles he's found discarded in Kahuku came from the long-defunct Waialua Soda Works and Spring Soda in Haleiwa.

In fact, Leonardi said prior to the 1920s there were 32 soda companies alone on Oahu as well as breweries and other firms which imported "bimal" bottles — "blown in mold, applied lip" containers; and that because batches of the molten glass usually contained different combinations of chemicals and minerals, the colors of the bottles vary among amethyst, amber, clear, greenish and bluish aqua, selenium, lime green, honey and straw.

"They were trying to make clear glass," he said, adding that the blue and green aqua ones are the most common, "so collectors like other colors." For example, Leonardi showed a dark amber bottle [pictured at right, below] he said was worth about $2,000 to other collectors.

While some of the old bottles have dates stamped into the glass, others have been dated according to historic markers: "S.I." or the Sandwich Islands prior to 1850; "H.I." or Hawaiian Islands up to about 1900; "H.T.," the Hawaiian Territory from about 1900-1911; and "T.H." or the Territory of Hawaii after about 1900. Leonardi cautioned, however, that those dates were approximations, since shipping schedules and inventory supplies were not strictly tied to Hawaii's political history.

Leonardi also explained several dozen historic bottle stoppers underwent interesting technology changes. For example, some used a combination of a wire loop and rubber, corks, glass screws, marbles, corks and wire — some of them discontinued because the Board of Health determined they allowed contamination to occur — until the now-familiar crimped "crown" cap [that is, it looks like a crown when turned over] started being used in the early 1900s. Others, he said, used siphon heads, which are seldom found.

Asked how he found the bottles, Leonardi replied he uses four basic methods: research, word of mouth, construction sites and luck. For example, he recalled he and his brother had been "walking down the same path everyday" until he finally noticed the dark amber gem [pictured above at right] he had showed earlier.

He also explained when first found the old bottles are often covered with dirt or buried in mud. To locate those underground, he uses a spring-steel probe with an attached handle he made many years ago. For some bottles, he's found the household product Lime Away™ is good for cleaning them, while some need to go through a burnishing process to remove the years of exposure.

Leonardi also showed a number of ceramic and pottery containers he's found over the years, some from Asia, as well as Hawaiian artifacts, such as adzes, chisels and a poi pounder. "But we don't go into caves," he stressed.

"This is my hobby. This is what I like doing, and my wife [Norma Leonardi] is very sympathetic," Leonardi said. "But not washing the clothes," she quickly added.

"It's a hobby that anybody today can get into, because a lot of this stuff I found recently," he said. "There are still a lot of places out here."

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