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this & that

I’ve not got a lot for you this time. For an explanation of the cover bottles see the article 2014
St. Louis Show.
Having just got over the World Cup the Sochi
Winter Olympics seems a long time ago.
However, I found this set of six Larsen Ships on a
Russian collector’s site. They are a limited edition
of 50 of each and were made for the Larsen
Collectos Club. Check out other Larsen Club
limited edition bottles on
http://www.minibottlelibrary.com/mbl/alpha/larsen/

The club continues to ‘tick-over’ with poorly
attended but still lively meetings every two
months in Wellington but currently none
elsewhere in New Zealand. We continue to
maintain membership at about the same level of
60+ and our finances are reasonably healthy.
This is due to the switch to delivering miNiZ
electronicly to more and more members.
Remember, we lose money on all paper copies. If
you don’t need the paper switch to electronic and
save yourself some money. The quality is also
better and you can follow links to mentioned web sites directly.

Do you swap/sell/buy bottles overseas? Unfortunately it’s getting b____y expensive. Firstly
NZ Post did away with so called surface mail (several years ago now), then they
progressively made the difference between first class and economy airmail smaller and
smaller. Originally it was 40% but for the last couple of years it has only been 10%. Now they
have done away with economy airmail completely – and put the price up again on first class
airmail. Expensive but not as bad as the UK now. Under 2kg NZ & the UK are comparable,
although the UK still has an economy option which is between 55 & 65% of the standard
airmail cost. Over 2kg all parcels from the UK now have to go by courier. A 3kg parcel UK to
NZ (declared value £50) is NZ$126.30 as opposed to NZ$77.30 in the opposite direction
(even courier delivery is far cheaper from NZ to the UK – NZ$95.12). If you are ordering any
bottles from the UK keep the parcel below 2kg and ask for economy airmail postage. It is
FAR cheaper to send two smaller parcels than one larger one (2 x 2kg = £27.60, 4kg =
£76.85). However, remember that, per kg, larger parcels are more economical from NZ to
the UK. Although only half the distance, a parcel from NZ to the USA is the same price as to
the UK. In the opposite direction it is about 130% of the NZ cost for
larger parcel and VERY much more expensive for smaller ones.
Confused? Of course you are!

Does anyone know what company made this delightful little mermaid
bottle? I came across it (no I did not buy it) three months ago and it is
definitely a bottle. For other ‘mystery’ bottles see Miniature Bottle
Library: http://www.minibottlelibrary.com/mbl/alpha/index-a.html#U

David Smith

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