DAPHNE, Ala. — The Mobile Bottle Collectors Club’s 35th Annual Antique Bottles and Collectibles Show and Sale drew nearly a hundred people Saturday morning, just as doors opened, when they had the chance to admire countless glass pieces from a kaleidoscope of colors.

From long-time collectors to new guests, many attendees left with items in tow.

Jolinn Johnson, of Daphne, said it was her first time at the show. “I use them (bottles) for vases and I have a bottle bush,” she said. She hangs the bottles with differing shapes, sizes and colors on a bush; she enjoys how light catches the treasures.

Many vendors came from Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee to set up shop and buy items from neighboring sellers.

“I’ve been collecting for 40 years,” Tony Augustyn of Ocala, Fla., said. “I go to four or five shows a year. I collect soda bottles … I come to buy off of other dealers.”

Arlene Caruso, another vendor, agreed that buying from others is a plus.

“I collect black glasses; I’m buying for resale,” she said.

One unique item at the show was a collection of amethyst bottles. James Smith, of Birmingham, Ala., had many lavender-colored pieces.

The bottles were “irradiated in a food sterilizer” to produce the purple hue, according to Smith.

That’s how the color forms today, he said. Before WWI, glass manufacturers used manganese, a naturally occurring metal in rocks, according to atsdr.cdc.gov, the Internet portal to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Manganese makes glass clear. Then, “the sun would turn the glass pink or amethyst after a long exposure,” Smith said.

Besides bottles, vendors also sold books, antique advertisement signs and jewelry.

Pat Smith, of Fairhope, sold dowry pieces from an estate while her husband sold bottles. She pointed out the custom pieces in her collection: diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires filled the case.

She said her items likely would raise interest with the women who attend the show with their husbands.

“They (the show, previously) had nothing for the ladies if they don’t like bottles,” she said.