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JAMES CRAWFORD

JIM

9th April, 1942 - 23rd June, 2018

A very special man has passed after a brief illness. A very, very special friend, probably not just to
me. Many, many collectors of miniature bottles throughout the world would include Jim as a Friend.

The passing of a very special person is often likened to the falling of a mighty tree in the Forest. In
New Zealand we would liken it to the falling of the mighty but rare Kauri Tree and without doubt Jim
was a very special and rare man and the comparison is totally valid - a real MAN!

I (Ian Butcher) first met Jim and Nancy some
25 years ago when I was visiting my
Daughter in Kentucky and we took a trip up
to Cincinnati, Ohio. It was here that I was
introduced to an amazing collection of
miniature bottles in a very large room
beneath the home of the Crawfords where
we were made very welcome. It was there I
received the plans for a different method of
displaying my collection that allows far more
bottles to be seen.

It was on this first visit that I was made
aware of his Passion with a capital P - to
collect a miniature bottle from every country
that had ever distilled and bottled a
miniature. I believe there are only a couple of
known gaps. It was also on this visit that I
was able to point out to Jim that the bottle he
had representing New Zealand was not
actually from this country (it was bottled in
Wellington, Canada) and I was subsequently
able to send a New Zealand bottle to correct
the error.
Jim was one of the most unbelievably generous and thoughtful people I have ever met - he never
forgot my birthday or Christmas and I always received a box of bottles at those times. He never
expected anything in return and was well aware that we have few bottles available from New
Zealand that were of interest to him and, although I did send what I could, the traffic was decidedly
one-sided.

Jim and Nancy visited New Zealand in 2001 and stayed with us in Whitby where I lived at the time.
Jim found the New Zealand Maori place names to be more than a tongue twister so he changed
some of the local towns from Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Paekakariki to W-town or P-town
respectively

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