American Glass Gallery was founded by John R. Pastor in 2008 and is the culmination of a lifelong passion for antique bottles and glass.
John’s interest in old bottles began at a very young age when John and his father began exploring the fields and woods along the Kalamazoo river in Battle Creek, Michigan. Occasionally a few old bottles were found—the first being a Buffalo Lithia Water which remains in John’s collection today. John and his father subsequently spent many weekends together hunting for old bottles, digging in old dumps along the river, attending local auctions, searching antique shops, and eventually traveling to many regional bottle shows. Before long, there were lots of bottles! John continued to pursue his passion for antique bottles and glass throughout grade school and later while attending college at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
In 1996 and 1998 John successfully conducted two specialized absentee bottle auctions offering more than 500 lots of antique nursing bottles. Record prices realized from these two sales contributed to a chapter on nursing bottles in the nationally recognized Bottles Identification and Price Guide by Michael Polak.
John is a Life Member of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC) and has served in varying capacities on the Board of Directors for the Federation since August, 1998, including President from August 2004 to August 2006. In addition to serving on the board, John successfully catalogued and conducted the annual FOHBC National Auctions from 2001 through 2005. Other accomplishments include serving as the Show Chairman and coordinator for the FOHBC 2005 National Bottle Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
John is also a member of several local and regional clubs including the Ohio Bottle Club, the West Michigan Antique Bottle Club, and the Kalamazoo Antique Bottle Club where he has served since 1984 as the Show Chairman for the largest antique bottle show in the state.
Since 2006, John has served as manager and event coordinator for the renowned Columbus Day Weekend Antique Bottle Extravaganza at Norman C. Heckler & Co. in Woodstock Valley, Connecticut. and has been a close friend and associate of Norman C. Heckler himself, a longtime and well-recognized authority in the field of antique bottles and early blown glass.
For more than twenty-five years, John has been a respected dealer in the field of antique bottles and glass. He currently participates in more than twenty bottle or specialty trade shows annually.
John’s appreciation and knowledge of early bottles and glass runs the gamut from figured (historical) flasks, free-blown glass, pattern molded bottles, bitters, medicines, mineral waters and sodas, beers, inks, poison bottles and demijohns. He is also an avid collector of research and reference material on early glass and glass houses, both American and European.