Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Wister's Clubhouse

Rick,
this is from my friend Nick Kane   This find and the 2 Wisters that came out of a barn this month  make 3 more mint examples of a rare bottle sought by many California collectors    MAX

  A few months back I dug a beautiful green WISTER'S CLUB HOUSE in the Sierra foothills  .  As a result of this find I wanted to find out all I could about these beautiful bottles.  I started  my search seeking out when the words  Club House hit the papers . I bracketed the search between 1850 - 1864 & the first mention I found for the Club House name appeared in the west on January 8th. 1857. After this date the Club House name appears to have become very popular with cases & BBLs flowing readily into California for the thirsty miners. The earliest date through my extensive research for the Wister's brand is from the November 11 ,1860 Marysville Daily Appeal .
If anybody has found the " Club House " name used earlier than 1857 or any info on the Wister's please contact me.
PS
There is strong belief by me & a few fellow diggers that many of these Wister's resemble the colors of the Baltimore torpedoes.

Nicholas Kane
 
 
 
Thanks to Nicholas ( great find!) and Max for the picture and information.
There's Wister's in them thar hills - rs -

5 comments:

  1. J.R. STEWART & CO auction and commission merchants, salesroom at 116 California street, San Franciso held auctions on Wednesdays and Saturday, and on May 23, 1863 listed 100 cases of Wister's Club House Gin, quarts. On June 10, 1863 listed 100 cases of Wister's Club House Gin. On July 1, 1863 listed 75 cases Wister's Club House Gin. On July 11, 1863 listed 25 cases of Wister's Club House Gin, and on August 8, 1863 listed 35 cases of Wister's Club House Gin.These were published in the Daily Alta California newspaper.

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  2. Great bottle Nick,seems like you have always had a knack for finding the zingers.It's good too see that you are still out there digging.TB from Ukiah.

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  3. Congratulations Nick, super find! Love those gold rush gins.

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  4. great dig! Sure would love to find one. I've talked with guy who found the two Wister's at a sale recently and it turns out I was at the same sale after he was. The Wister's were sitting in a box outside of a shed he had gone into and he almost left them but his wife convinced him to take them. They were bought quite cheaply. Also in the box besides the two Wister's gins were 4 Udolpho Wolfe quarts, only one was pontil marked, a metallic pontil ladies leg and a handful of blacks. To think I was at the same estate sale but just a little late, in my backyard too!

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  5. Killer dig ! Congrats. Have any Wisters been found in the Bay Area or Nevada ? Seems like they are heavily concentrated in the Grass Valley-Marysville area.

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