The Hunt for Bottle Treasure
Photo by Lawrence Tabudlo
At a young age, Mike Leong uncapped a fervent desire to dig for old glass bottles and collect them. It’s a yearning that hasn’t fizzled out during his almost four decades of hunting for highly sought-after memorabilia.
“At 58 years old, I am still as passionate about digging and collecting as the day I started,” says Leong, who has served as a longtime co-president of Hawai‘i Historical Bottle Collectors Club, which brings together enthusiasts to share knowledge, conduct research and promote the history of bottle collecting in Hawai‘i.
“I first got interested in bottles Thanksgiving Day of 1989,” he explains. “I was 22 years old when I went on my first dig. My uncle, David Leong, came over to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner but came straight from a bottle dig. I was amazed and fascinated. I had no clue that people dug old stuff out of the ground.”
Leong begged his uncle to take him along the very next day, and the request was granted. During that first excursion, his uncle allowed Leong to dig and break through about 3 feet of coral until they exposed and unearthed many bottles.
“We were able to find a green Riverside Soda Works with an internal threaded stopper that day,” says Leong with pride.
The information he received back then started Leong on a path to absorb as much as he could. Three important lessons he learned from several longtime bottle hunters were to always dig in the shade, to know when to get out of any hole so as not to break any bottles, and to recognize the difference between “all rubbish” bottles and valuable ones.
“I was fortunate enough to be mentored by some of the best diggers — Sho Fukunaga, Russell and Mitchell Komori, Abe Mahelona, David Leong, Carl Yamasaki and Ling Nakachi,” Leong says. “I learned good habits, such as to always cover up your holes and never to be greedy.”
But maybe the most important lesson he learned was to never lose a friend over a bottle dispute.
“I was taught early by Sho Fukunaga that if ever a bottle came between us that he would break the bottle on a rock so nobody would fight,” recalls Leong. “I also learned that a ‘good deal’ is when both parties are happy, and not just because you got the better end of the deal.”
Over the years, Leong has been on many digs and has found many valuable bottles. However, the one that means the most to him was discovered at his wife’s grandparents’ house in the early 1990s. The in-laws clothesline post was a large beam that happened to be in the center of a trash pit. Because the area was already disturbed due to the ʻōpala, the upright was literally on shaky ground.
“The post eventually fell over exposing some glass and dishes. Although it had a broken top, my favorite takeaway from that dig was a two-line Waialua Soda Works crown top,” says Leong about the turn-of-the-century glass bottle that featured an embossed two-line label and the classic crimped-lip cap.
“I still have it proudly displayed today.”
Leong’s core collection consists of about 285 Hawaiian hand-blown soda bottles from O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i island dating from the 1860s through the early 1910s. The collection includes vintage bottle seals such as Hutchinson stoppers, lightning stoppers, marble stoppers, crown tops and internal threads. The bottles come in various colors and shades; blue, green and aqua remain the most common. But the most interesting ones are in citron, amethyst, smoke and amber.
Leong also collects Hawaiian milk, whiskey and seltzer bottles; Hawaiian painted and embossed machine-made soda bottles; and Hawaiian and Japanese medicine bottles.
“I am always interested in acquiring bottles whether that be a single or an entire collection,” he says. “There is one grail that I am after. It’s a Star Soda Works lightning stopper soda bottle, but there is only one in existence. The owner won’t sell it to me at this time. Hint, hint!”
Leong, who founded Kapili Roofing & Painting in 2007 (but is no longer the owner or involved in day-to-day management) and his wife, Lori, reside in Wahiawā. They have five children — Brennan, Braedan, Brandi, Brexten and Breeann — and each is well aware of how important bottle collecting is to their father.
“My children have grown up around my collecting bottles and they have a good understanding of them,” Leong says. “I can recall one instance where I was chasing a bottle for many years. When I finally got it, as I was putting it on my shelf, I accidentally dropped it and it cracked. My oldest son said, ‘Mom, glad (it) was Dad and not us.’ I think he was probably like 7-8 years old. Even at that age, he knew his dad messed up.”
Turns out the bottle that Leong dropped was the most expensive one he has ever purchased.
“If I remember correctly, it was in the area of $7,000-$7,500. I am still on the hunt to replace it with an undamaged specimen,” he says.
Leong remains an active member of Hawai‘i Historical Bottle Collectors Club, which meets on the second Tuesday of each month at Trash from the Past Collectors Cottage in Wahiawā. Trash from the Past is an antiques and collectibles business that Leong co-owns with the husband-and-wife team of Jason and Joesie Antonio, who are also bottle enthusiasts.
Jason is the club’s current president and Joesie serves as vice president.
“They do an outstanding job holding monthly meetings and keeping everyone in the loop along with planning the annual bottle show at the Blaisdell Center,” Leong says.
The show is a part of the annual Hawai‘i Collectors Expo, which is usually staged during the third weekend in February.
“The Hawai‘i Historical Bottle Collectors Club was started in 1970 and, if I’m not mistaken, had the largest membership in all the West at one point,” Leong explains. “I was co-president along with Paul Kanehiro for over 10 years. I don’t deserve any credit; Paul was the one that held the club together all those years even before I came along.”
According to Leong, one of the great pleasures of bottle digging and collecting is that the activity brings together people from all walks of life. In fact, it’s not unusual to find bankers, counselors, construction workers, housewives and even students among today’s most-avid bottle hunters.
He notes that former state adjutant general Kenneth Hara is one such individual.
“We have been on many digs (together) and have some very interesting stories,” Leong says.
“The bottle community in Hawai‘i is very close-knit. We feel like we know everyone but every once in a while we meet somebody that has been collecting for years but we just had not crossed paths yet,” he adds. “We welcome everyone old and new. We are always willing to teach whatever we know.”
Although he’s spent nearly 40 years of his life hunting for bottles, Leong insists he still wakes up each day excited about the possibility of finding a valuable bottle.
“It’s super cool to dig out a bottle and wonder who consumed the contents. You can kind of tell how people lived by what type of bottles you find,” he says.
“At the end of the day for me, what I enjoy most about digging is hanging out with friends and talking story — making memories that we shall never forget,” he adds.
