Thursday, January 14, 2010

American Bottle Auctions Lots 294 & 295

DR. HENLEY'S WILD GRAPE ROOT IXL BITTERS

As most all of you know ABA auction # 49 is underway and closes on Monday January 18th at 7:00 pm Western time.

I noticed over on the whiskey site, soleagent is reviewing some of the western fifths up for auction. Not to be left behind, we are throwing in our 4 cents worth on two western bitters bottles.

Lot # 294 is an aqua Henley's with a tool top. This bottle shows the characteristics of an air vented mold with typical sharp embossing and lack of crudity. As a matter of fact I am not certain this is a western made bottle, it has the straight (kinda) legged "R's" and appears to be made of a clear colored glass. Its not what your western collector would call "western aqua". Last year at the Downieville show we raffled off a tool top Henley's that was almost identical to this bottle. Never the less the tool top Henley's are rare and a pretty tough bottle to acquire.
Right now the Henley's is sitting at $200, a bargain in my opinion if you need the tool top example to fill in your run.

Lot # 295 is a heavily whittled, deep western aqua ( boarding on a green coloration ) example of the Wild Grape Root Bitters. Although this bottle is listed as a tool top it sure looks like it has an applied top and is embossed with the characteristic western curved "R's". Loads of seed bubbles and a slightly out of round body make this example a keeper.
Estimated to auction between $400 - $800 it sits right in the middle at $650 at the present time.

Both of these examples of the Dr. Henley's Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters would make a great addition to your collection... Good Luck Bidding!


5 comments:

  1. The tooled newer IXL kinda reminds me of the later Baja Damiana bottles. Same coloration, skinny embossing, etc.... As for the lack of curved "R"s, I dont think "Mr curved R" was around the glassworks anymore in the 1890s. These two bottles look like Holt or PCGW bottles, but they probably are a little too old to be.
    AP

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  2. AP,
    In your opinion when did the curved "R" disappear from the embossing on western bottles?
    rs

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  3. I don't know for sure, but it seems to be right around 1883 or so.........Andy

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  4. I really have a problem with people that insist that if a bottle has curved "Rs" it is western in origin,especially sellers on Flea bay, which can pretty much be a crap shoot, unless you deal with a known seller. There is a Dr mc Brides King of Pain on flea bay right now, and IT is western in origin...S.F. and the bottle has nary a curved R on it looks to be aboyt 18 82-3-4-5 or so, which is why I came up with the aforementioned date in my last post.....Andy

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  5. Rick

    I would guess around 1890.
    Also, most Western bottles in fact, do not have the curved "R". It is my opinion that only one of pattern/mold makers at the foundry dept of the San Francisco Glass Works and later at the SF & PGW formed his "R"s in that manner. I think he started around 1868 (ie: the non-circle IXL) and lasted to about 1890.
    As Andy pointed out the w/ Dr McBride's, many "Western blown" bottles do not have the curved "R". In my opinion, this is because those bottles are from molds that were not originated/cast by the curved R mold maker.
    AP

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