Page 48 - Issues131-133

Articles were published in the most important newspapers in
the country (Fig. 3 & 4). Since 1957 the group has organized
exhibitions, some of whose flyers are shown in the figure 5.
In 1966 they established the club “Agrupación La Botellita
Argentina” (ALBA), and by the early 1970’s they had their
headquarters established at 2790 Juncal St. in the Palermo
neighborhood in CABA. This was in use until its final closure
in 1984.

In 1972, a break-away
group from the
organization, with new
vigor, founded a similar
association called “Círculo
Argentino de Coleccionistas
de Botellitas”. This new
group continued with the
promotion and expansion of
the hobby. Like the first
association, they organized
auctions, promoted the sale
and exchange of miniature
bottles from many different
parts of the world, and
encouraged their
manufacture by local industries. In this way, the availability
of pieces for our interest was overwhelming.

It is worth mentioning that during
the existence of both
organizations, several individuals
formed significant collections,
some of them reach about 17,000
pieces. Mostly through A. Spinelli,
“El Círculo” was worldwide
connected with most clubs,
greatest collectors, and miniature
bottle distributors (Fig. 6).

It is worth remembering that both
clubs had publications dedicated to
the subject. Also, they
actively produced a large
number of memorabilia;
some of its examples are illustrated in figures 7
and 8. According to Luis Pérez Accomo, one of the
still-active collectors from that time, along with
other colleagues (Jorge Turró, Gabriel Accarini,
Rodolfo Martínez, among others), kept the
association alive until its last moments, and “El
Círculo” finished its activity in the early 1990’s.
As personally told me by Pérez Accomo, they were
still participating in events related with diverse
hobbies such as those performed at the Unicenter
shopping mall in 1991.

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