Page 18 - Wayne County

to an Art Glass Club in Brunswick, originally piqued his fascination with the collectibles by giving him several pieces. Jim, however, did not confne his interest to art glass alone, but enjoyed taking his children on weekends to dig for old glass, typically bottles at the “Brown Farm” near Savannah. As a result of these excursions and of his research, Jim now owns a unique collection which includes, among its rarer items, original Jesup Shed’s Dairy bottles, Coca-Cola bottles made in both Jesup and Ludowici, old medicine bottles, and even “Savannah Tiffany”- a naturally-occurring patina that forms when a brown-colored bottle is discarded in the coastal area and covered with mud for years. The acid of the mud combines with the caustic in the glass to form the mixed blue patina known to glass collectors as “Savannah Tiffany.”

Housed near his bottle collection, Jim has a small museum of art glass, non-utilitarian glassware made in the mid-1800s in Europe and later the United States. Jim’s collection includes glass walking sticks, albertine vases, Burmese pitchers, opal glass vases, coralene bowls, plated glass paperweights, and engraved glass bowls. He loves his collection, takes great pride in it, and enjoys teaching others about it. An avid angler and hunter, Jim says he constantly has people ask him about his latest turkey story or his most recent big fsh, but he has yet to have anyone ask him about his art glass.

Jim and Margie are the epitome of small Southern hometown. They have reared three successful children in Jesup, public schooled them here, sent their oldest, Richie, to Jim’s alma mater, and Joy and David to the University of Georgia. All are now married and have