Saturday, October 31, 2015

More Western Than A Bag of Cowboys

How about this great colored western blown medicine. How many are known, less than six ? How many mint examples ? Half green, half shades of puce ?

Advertised from 1864 through March of 1865.

Dr. Parker was a native of New York and moved to San Francisco in 1852 where he operated as an apothecary until 1866.






Friday, October 30, 2015

From Western Director Eric McGuire

Rick,
 
As you may know by now, the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC) is gearing up for what is expected to be the largest bottle show and exposition ever held in the Western Region. Unlike past FOHBC shows, this event will be four days long, with a variety of activities that are still being firmed up.
 
 For your information I have attached an advertising flier for the event and request that it be made available for members of your bottle club. Further information may be found on the Internet at  www.fohbc.org.  As the Western Region of the FOHBC is hosting this show, please keep in mind that it is produced by volunteers who love their hobby and would like to see it thrive. Any help, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated - even just one hour of time during the show.
 
Thank You,
Eric McGuire, Western Region Director
 
 
How about it, anyone want to volunteer a small amount of effort to support this show - rs -

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Early "Western" Squares....

Let’s talk about some early squares. While these may not be Western blown glass, many collectors have always stated that these products were almost exclusively distributed on the West Coast. Based on the dates of the ads below, most seem to be right around 1860, with some going up to 1865 and others back to 1858.

****UPDATE: Turns out Patten & Samson were proprietors of a Schiedam schnapps that was probably put up in their square bottles. They were from New York City.

Anyone have a photo of a Patten & Sampson or the Farquar's ?



Pure Holland Gin / M. Frisius & Co. / San Francisco (1855-1861)






Farquar’s Medicated California Wine & Brandy (1859-1860)







Wistar’s Clubhouse Gin (advertised 1863)




Catawba Wine Bitters 1860?





London Jockey Clubhouse Gin (1859-1867?)








W.S.C Gin ???








J.T. Daly Club House Gin ???









Voldner’s Schnapps 1857-1864???










Barbier Schnapps (1856-1857)









Russ’s Schnapps - 1856-1862 ?









Lediard's - 1860-1865 ?








Patten & Samson -  1860-1864 ? The mystery has been solved, this is not a western product !!! This is from the 1860 NYC directory. Still a great looking bottle.








Tuesday, October 27, 2015

New Almaden

  In the 40 plus years I have collected western glass, I have been most attracted to the early stuff...The glass blown in San Francisco from 1860 until the early 1870s just calls to me with the beautiful colors, crudity and rarity. For many years, I had been trying to acquire a few problem free examples of the "champagne" style New Almaden Vichy water. It took decades, but I have two in my collection. These bottles are almost always seen with some form of damage...why? I understand that  a Cassin's Grape Brandy Bitters would have a tough go at surviving being blown, packed, shipped, consumed, and thrown away. I get it...they are ornate and fragile pieces. Why in the heck are the New Almaden's almost always damaged? I am sure most diggers can relate to finding a killer western bottle in pieces, and the paper thin olive oils, and tons of blacks, champagnes, and slicks are perfect. Why then would a champagne style bottle ( which are always whole if unembossed), like the New Almaden be typically trashed, chipped, cracked or in shards? I can separate the inmaking stones and flashes from post manufacturing damage as being a part of the relatively unsophisticated western skillset of 12 year old boys making bottles, but my goodness these New Almaden's are rare!    While   certainly not figurals, the Vichy Water's are still a beautiful and significant part of California history. It seems like this bottle always creates more questions for me than answers. Why this style? Were they sold at the source or at resort? Were the contents different from the soda style and what about that funky "coke bottle" style of the extremely rare soda type examples? Also, are there any ads picturing the champagne pint, and quart plus size? What were the manufacturing dates of the champagne style? These bottles really remind me of the M.Keller California Wine Bitters in color, and glass character, I would bet they were made about the same time. I sound like a kid in the back seat on vacation.


  I have never claimed to be an expert in all of the history of all western glass, and I would appreciate some answers to the many questions I have on these great bottles. DM.
As always, click on the photo to enlarge.


Daily Alta California , Volume 22, Number 7331, 17 April 1870

More info from Bruce Silva:
 
 
Dale;
 
Attached please find photos of a large litho in my collection. It dates to 1876. The buildings highlighted are the spring and bottling shed, which date to the aqua blob top era of New Almaden Soda Water. It is believed that Thomas and David Williams, in partnership with D.T. Winslow, took over the same springs from New Almaden Vichy Water some time after Francois Pioche's endeavor failed due to his death in 1872. They focused on the carbonation aspect, as opposed to the curative powers of the water and had a better run. However, their demise came about as well, due to a sudden loss of carbonation in the springs.
 
B
 
 
We sure are getting some good information on New Almaden - Thanks all! - rs -


Monday, October 26, 2015

Western Meds on Ebay

Here's just a few of the western meds listed on ebay
Muley Maker ? What's this for
Horse Medicine - Good for Man or Beast!
 
Nice example of the Newell's Pulmonary Syrup with curved R's




 
 

Friday, October 23, 2015

It's baaaaack !

The old whiskey blog lives on !!!

http://www.westernwhiskies.com/


 

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Bay City Sodas

How does this rate on the green scale of Bay City sodas ?


Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Lets Bring it Back!

There has been some talk among collectors to try and recover the lost posts on the Western Glob Top Whiskies site. I, for one am all for this.  Lets lobby Roger to try and transfer some of theses great lost posts to an active bottle site
What say you blog readers?
- rs -


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Upcoming Bottle & Collectible Shows

 


November 6th, 7th 2015 (Friday & Saturday) Tulare, California47th Annual Tulare Collectible Show & Sale at the Tulare Veteran’s Building, 1771 East Tulare Avenue, Tulare, California 93274, Friday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, Saturday 9:00 am – 2:00 pm, Free Admission both days, Dealer Set up Friday at 7:00 am, Golden State Insulator Club, Contact: Dave Brown, Co-Chair, 559.936.7790, 1skychair@msn.com

 December 4th, 2015 (Saturday) Roseville, California49er Historic Bottle Assn. 38th Annual “Best of the West” Historic Bottle/Antique Show, December 4, 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm, December 5th, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Placer County Fair Grounds, 800 All America City Blvd, Roseville, California, $10 Early Bird Friday, Free Saturday, “Featuring” Antique Railroad Show Next Door. Info: Contact Mike 916.367.1829

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Crystal Soda Water

Hi Rick -
 I am hoping to get a little help when it comes to actual examples and rarity of the Crystal Soda Water bottles. I have always liked them due to the different shapes, bases, crudity, colors, and rarity. I have attached
just a random photo of 6 of the 12 I have, but am really looking for some help regarding actual examples out there that may or may not exist. There are six that I am not sure exist because I haven't seen them yet or even heard of one.
 
 Hopefully readers of WBN can give me help. Here are the examples of the Crystal Soda Water bottles I am looking for: 1) Blob variant with "Taylor's" embossed on the reverse in aqua and greens, 2) Collared variant with "Taylor's" embossed on the reverse in greens, and 3) Collared variant without the "Taylor's" in aqua, blues, and
greens. Does anyone out there know if these bottles exist? If so, I am always looking to add to my collection.
 
Mike Southworth   SUVGOLD2@yahoo.com