Lacour's Bitters Ad

This is from one of my copies of a California small town newspaper, the Red Bluff Sentinel. These little daily and weekly rags were full of interesting product and services ads. I wonder if Lacour's was sold next door at the Oriole Saloon? More likely it was available at Brooks' Pharmacy or Pharmacy Hall, two of RBs earliest drug stores. Check out the notice at the bottom where they let you know that the packages and boxes have a lighthouse on them.

I have dug many dozens of pits in Red Bluff, but can't recall ever seeing any "Lakkers chards". Plenty whiskies, though. A green Keller's was found there some years back.

Cassin's Grape Brandy Bitters

This advertisement was taken from the July 1, 1868 copy of the San Francisco Examiner. It would be nice to go back in time and drop into your local liquor wholesaler and pick up a couple of cases of Cassin's for display one-hundred and forty years later. I especially like the Important to Country Merchants, now if we could just get a list of which merchants ordered heavily in the smallest of towns we would have something to dig into......literally.

A few "Cundur" colors

I really have no idea how this tangent got started, but my tiny collection of Cundurangos has grown over the past several years. Maybe it was because of the product's Sacramento heritage, or the beautiful array of colors that this "oddball" comes in. Whatever, I'm stuck with 'em. Back "in the day" we would dig these and not be able to give them away. Nobody cared for them in those days, but as time marched forward attitudes changed. They now command a modicum of respect.

Yesterday's dig

This very nice dark green small letter variant of the Dr. Renz's Herb Bitters was liberated yesterday afternoon from it's 140 yr old resting place in the confines of a vintage privy. I had no hand in this find, other than the one in the photo. The bottle, along with numerous other late 1860s and early '70s vessels, was uncovered by "Chalmers", a knowledgeable and very persistent digger. Let's suffice to say that this Bitters was found in an outhouse along a major thoroughfare down the valley a piece. A super "score" to say the least, it will only require a short "muriatic nap" to cleanse itself of the privy residues.

Lacour's Bitters

LACOUR’S BITTERS
SARSAPARIPHERE
Circa: April 1867 – November 1869

This unusual shaped bottle was first produced by Louis Lacour in 1867. It is believed that the bottle was designed to resemble a lighthouse and the word Sarsapariphere is a French conjunction of sarsaparilla and lighthouse.
This bottle comes in three variants and western collectors speculate that the first two variants were made by the same mold maker at the San Francisco Glass Works. These same western collectors lean toward variant three being blown at the Pacific Glass Works during the 1868 to 1870 time period.
(Pictured at right are two examples of the first variant from the Warren Friedrich collection)

Relation to Sierra County
Although I do not have conclusive proof that any examples of the Lacour’s bottles have been discovered in Sierra County, I do have reports of shards of this bottle being recovered. Early Downieville diggers report that two broken examples of the Lacour’s Sarsapariphere were discovered at Chips Flat in the 1960’s. Another report from a Nevada City digger has shards of an amber example being un-earthed in the Alleghany area in the 1990’s.
Even though there are possibly as many as 75 examples of all variants of the Lacour’s bottle, collectors of western glass, bitters and figural bottles consider the Lacour’s an extremely desirable, difficult and expensive bottle to obtain for their collection.

If you have any pictures of western bitters that you would like to share with other collectors or have posted on this site. Mail them to rcs@digitalpath.net

Bryant's Stomach Bitters

BRYANT’S
STOMACH BITTERS
Circa: 1857 – 1859
(Bryant’s Cone)

G.N.W. Bryant created what has become one of the most sought after bitters containers in the bottle collecting community. This bottle was manufactured in the east and it is believed distributed exclusively in the west during the years 1857 – 1859. The firm of William Newell & Co, an early San Francisco wholesale liquor house, were the agents for Bryant’s Stomach Bitters on the Pacific Coast.
In his advertisements Bryant claimed his bitters were an unrivaled stomach corrector and had no equal at restoring the vital energy of the entire system. He recommended a half a glass of his wine bitters before meals to impart a keen relish for food.
Bryant probably only produced this bottle for no more than a couple of years and by 1870 all mention of Bryant ends.

Relation to Sierra County
Early day Downieville bottle diggers claim to have found pieces of the Bryant’s cone shaped bitters in the downtown area behind the present day Yuba Theater. I cannot confirm these allegations, even though I have dug extensively in this area of Downieville. A Nevada City digger reports that shards of the Bryant’s cone were discovered in the town of Camptonville in Yuba County. Camptonville sits twenty miles south west of Downieville on the early supply road from Marysville to Downieville. A broken example was dug in San Francisco in the 1990’s along with shards of another example.
It is believed that there are only four intact Bryant’s Stomach Bitters and another three examples that have been repaired or pieced together. It is reported that an intact example was recovered from Sacramento sometime in 1962 and another complete Bryant’s was un-earthed in the gold rush town of North San Juan. The third complete specimen of the Bryant’s was discovered at the “big dig” in San Francisco and a fourth example was found in Portland. At least three of the four intact examples of the Bryant’s are located in California collections, two in northern part of the state and the other in central California.
The Bryant’s Stomach Bitters is an extremely rare and important piece of California gold rush history and a highly desirable addition to an advanced bottle collector. This bottle is so desirable that the only specimen that has come to auction fetched a record setting price and is believed to be the highest price ever paid for a bottle. Bar None!

photo courtesy American Bottle Auctions

Dr. Henley's Tamarack ?

Here's a piece of advertising that Kentucky Gem sent to me by mail. This piece was found in a saloon in Jacksonville Oregon and now resides in a private collection.

Dr. Henley's Tamarack? Anyone know anything about this product?

Tamarack? Tamarack?........ Hmm..... I thought that was a tree that grew up in the high country. Sure would like to own one of these "Gems".

Western Hostetter's Found ?

Here's another mail from a reputed N. Van Bergen. - N. Van Bergen? that name rings a bell

At long last the elusive western made Hostetters Bitters has been found. Dug in Benicia, Cal, by noted local digger N. Van Bergen. It was found 42 feet down in a well at the site of the Benicia Pottery Works. This works was in business 1879- 1910. It is made of some sort of china/ pottery. It is a little smaller than your average size Hoss, as the photos

show. This was no doubt an experimental piece that someone rejected to the well, no other pieces or whole ones were found. Any help on this is welcome. N. Van Bergen, Benicia

N. B. Jacobs Hock Style Wine Bottle

These photos are from a very rare bottle from my collection which is the N. B. Jacobs San Francisco Seal Wine with Star. This bottle probably dates from the late 1860's and this specimen was dug by Dave Hartley when he lived in Sonora. He dug it from the dump which is just South of the town by the Water Treatment Plant. He kept it for all of these years and I can understand why as it is a great specimen with nice crudity and a great laid on lip ring of a top with some nice stretch marks. I think there are probably less than five known. I think Richard Siri has one, and anyone else is free to add in if they have one.

Lediard's Celebrated Stomach Bitters

LEDIARD’S
CELEBRATED
STOMACH BITTERS
Circa: 1860’s

Charles Lediard from New York City was the originator of the stomach bitters which bears his name. These bottles come with an iron pontil and also a smooth base.

Relation to Sierra County:

To my knowledge the only example of the Lediard’s Stomach Bitters discovered in Sierra County I watched being broken. A Goodyears Bar digger and I were putting a test hole in the back of a cabin site when he put his shovel through a beautiful teal blue, iron pontiled example of this bottle. The cabin site, above Indian Valley and on the trail to Indian Hill, is one of several cabin sites that were discovered while walking the area.
Recent extensive logging operations in the area of the trail and townsite of Indian Hill have pretty much destroyed any traces of the trail and cabin sites that were located alongside of it.
Although this is not a western manufactured bottle, collectors believe it was distributed and marketed exclusively on the Pacific Coast. Western, bitters and gold rush collectors rate this bottle as rare and consider it a very desirable addition to their collection.

Goodyears Bar, Sierra County California

Goodyears Bar was one of the two settlements in the North Yuba area that was established in 1849, Downieville being the other. Goodyears Bar received its name from Miles and Andrew Goodyear who settled there in the summer of 1849. Without doubt there were white men in the area before the Goodyear brothers arrived and prospected the banks of the Yuba River but the brothers were the first to definitely make their homes at Goodyears Bar.
Unfortunately Miles Goodyear died at Goodyears Bar on November 12, 1849, the first winter of his life there. According to Andrew Goodyear “his coffin was made from several gold rocker boxes and his body was wrapped in an Indian rubber and a Mackinaw blanket”. Miles was buried at Goodyears Bar but was later disinterred and taken to Benicia for reburial by his brother Andrew.
Goodyears Bar’s first winter of 1849 – 50 was one of hardship for the settlers of the mining camp. Early snowfalls caught the camp by surprise and an insufficient supply of food to last the winter was of great concern. A fellow known as a Mr. Sexton and his partner struck out for Nye’s Crossing (later to become Marysville) to get a mule train of supplies and pack them up the North Yuba to Goodyears Bar. Sexton was successful in securing the supplies and the miners that chose to stay and brave the winter had sufficient food to last until the spring. Goodyears Bar developed rapidly during the years 1850 – 1852 with hundreds of miners staking claims along the Yuba, Goodyears Creek, Woodruff and Rock Creeks. Proof of the intensity of this early growth can be documented by the fact that six hundred votes were cast in the general election of 1852 from this area. When Sierra County was formed from Yuba County in the spring of 1852 Goodyears Bar was accorded serious consideration as the seat of county government.
The first dwellings in the Goodyears area were like those of the other settlements or camps on the North Yuba River. Cloth or canvas tents or a canvas stretched over a wooden frame with a rough plank floor served as shelter for the miners. More enterprising folk built shanties consisting of rough shakes nailed to a framework of logs or cabins made of logs. These primitive shelters had by the middle of the 1850’s been replaced by more substantial and larger buildings made of sawed lumber.
It is believed that D.C. Woodruff opened the first store in Goodyears Bar in the spring of 1850. By the summer of 1851 four other stores were doing business at Goodyears Bar along with a hotel operated by Edward Echstein. The St. Charles Hotel was built by a Mr. Hermseir and opened its doors in 1852.
A huge storm in December of 1852 destroyed the bridge at Goodyears Bar and swept away the flumes and water wheels that were being used to mine the river bed. Another storm in March of 1853 destroyed the remaining mining equipment that had escaped the December 1852 flood. In the spring of 1853 the damage from the previous winter was being repaired and the construction of new wing dams, flumes and water – pumping wheels was underway. Placer mining dominated the methods of mining the area of Goodyears Bar during the early and mid 1850’s. With the decline in the productivity of the stream and bar diggings in the late 1850’s prospectors turned their attention to discovering and mining of the areas quartz and gold bearing ledges. Although it is difficult to designate a particular time when lode mining began to be of major importance in Sierra County, the year 1858 could be selected as the time when several promising quartz properties began to be developed. The worked out placer deposits and the immense investment of capital to develop the quartz deposits into payable mining properties virtually brought an end to the “Gold Rush Miner” in the North Yuba area.
Starting sometime in 1858 and continuing into the early 1860’s miners started leaving the Goodyears Bar area and in early September of 1864 a major fire destroyed most of the business section of the town. It was the only major fire in the history of the town, but had a lasting effect. The majority of the businesses failed to rebuild and the ground that they had stood on was sluiced away leaving piles of boulders over the former business section.
Although the townsite has been disturbed by extensive mining gold rush bottles have been recovered from the area surrounding the commercial section of town. Examples of a Mexican Mustang Liniment, a light green cathedral pickle with an iron pontil and Patent whiskey fifths along with a broken Catawba Wine Bitters have been discovered at this early site. In 1993 I uncovered shards of six different Baker and Cutting pickle bottles near the old schoolhouse.
Goodyears Bar today is a pleasant little community with about fifty or so residents populating the area. Several early structures are still in use including the former schoolhouse and the St. Charles Hotel. The Helm family, with help from the Rollins family, has restored the St. Charles Hotel and at present it is being operated as a Hotel and Bed and Breakfast Inn. On the grounds around the old hotel several pieces of early mining equipment are on display.

The above post was taken from the forthcoming book "Gold Rush Camps and Bottles of Sierra County" available in September of 2009 at the Downieville Bottle Show

A Little Ratafia ?

Dr. Miller's Ratafia Damiana was a bitters product marketed by, sole agents for the Pacific Coast, Siebe Bros. & Plagemann. It is believed that in 1878 the Siebe brothers formed a partnership with Jacob Plagemann and began operating a wholesale liquor house. The Ratafia product was only marketed for a very short time, possibly from 1878 to sometime in 1879. The bottle itself is a whiskey shaped 6th size and is heavily embossed on the face. It has the large size flat lettering and curved "R's" associated with western glasshouses. There is a winged lion or sphinx looking creature holding a big wineglass full of, what I assume is, Dr. Miller's Ratafia Damiana and looking pretty pleased with his choice of beverage. The bitters product was a franchise from Dr. Charles Miller and was compounded from the damiana plant that grows wild in Mexico and Central America. It is claimed that the damiana plant acts as a tonic, laxative, stimulant and to have aphrodisiac properties. The damiana was mixed with a sweetened bitter almond flavored alcohol to produce the finished product.

The firm of Siebe Bros. and Plagemann also marketed the Rosedale O.K. Whiskey and were agents for G.W. Chesley's Jockey Club Whiskey and Cunderango Bitters. The Dr. Miller's Ratafia brand was sold to Buckley & Son in 1882.

At the present time it is believed there are about a dozen (What kind of count do you have AP?) of the Ratafia bottles in undamaged condition. Examples of this bottle have been recovered from Vallejo, Mariposa, Nevada City and Downieville. In Nevada examples have been discovered in Hamilton, Eureka and Belleville. The highly whittled dark amber example that I uncovered at Teels Marsh would have been one of my highlights of digging in Nevada, had it not been broken.

Photo's courtesy American Bottle Auctions

TURNER BROS. Trade Card

Here's a real nice little trade card that was found at the Auburn Street Fair a couple of weeks ago.

There is some mystery attached to this card. Seems like the Turner Bros. sold their San Francisco operation to McMillan & Kester in 1865. The Turner Bros. continued business in New York until sometime in the early 1870's when they retired from their syrups & cordials business. McMillan & Kester, from 1865 on, were the sole agents for the Turner Bros. products on the west coast & possibly manufactured & sold various products using the Turner Bros. name.

I have seen a lot of early advertisments for the Turner Bros. Forest Wine Bitters and their far famed Ginger Wine, but have never run across an ad for the "Regulator" product.

It is believed this card dates from the mid 1880's, long after the Turner Bros. were out of business.

Any thoughts or information on the Turner Bros. - McMillan & Kester relationship sure would be helpful.....

ROSENBAUMS BITTERS
N.B. JACOBS & CO.
SAN FRANCISCO
Circa: 1864 – 1868

The first mention of Rosenbaums Bitters is in an 1858 advertisement listing George Thatcher, a liquor merchant residing in San Francisco, as an agent for the product and Dr. Rosenbaum of Philadelphia as proprietor and manufacturer. In 1859 N.B. Jacobs was listed as the general agent for Rosenbaums Bitters while he was working at the George Thatcher & Co. In November of 1859, N.B. Jacobs removed himself from Thatcher & Co. and started his own liquor concern, still advertising that he had the depot for Rosenbaums Bitters. Meanwhile Thatcher & Co. is still advertising that they are also an agent for Rosenbaums Bitters. In 1860, Jacobs starts to advertise more aggressively, pushing the Rosenbaums Bitters in several large ads, stating that he is the sole agent for the Pacific Coast. In an advertisement for Rosenbaums in 1860, he cautions the public about another firm counterfeiting these bitters, saying that it is put up in similar bottles with the name Rosenchief’s Bitters, and to beware that it is of externally similar style, and to look for the name, N.B. Jacobs & Co., branded on the top of every cork. In 1861 N. B. Jacobs becomes the proprietor of Rosenbaums Bitters, suggesting that he is now the owner of such brand and we do not see anymore advertisements with Dr. Rosenbaum of Philadelphia as manufacturer and proprietor in any of his ads.
The Rosenbaums Bitters comes in various shades of green and also in amber. There are two variants of this bottle; the large variant is believed to be the earliest, and is thought to have been blown in the east. The small variant is believed to be a later western blown bottle. These bottles are considered rare with possibly thirty some specimens known.

Relation to Sierra County:
One whole medium green example of the large size Rosenbaums was dug by the author at Indian Hill in Western Sierra County. This bottle had a small base chip and was sold to a collector from Redding California. A broken green small variant Rosenbaums was also uncovered at Indian Hill by a Nevada City digger in the 1990’s. A base of a dark green large size Rosenbaums was discovered above the Ruby Mine by the author in 2008. To my knowledge these are the only examples of the Rosenbaums discovered in Sierra County.

The above post was taken from the forthcoming book "Gold Rush Camps & Bottles of Sierra County" by Rick Simi. This book will be available in September of 2009 at the Downieville Bottle Show

PONTILED HOSTETTER'S

There is an example of the rare, iron pontiled Hostetter's currently available for bid in Auction #87 - Norm C. Heckler & Co. Lot number 68. Auction closes on June 10, 2009



Heckler does his auctions old school, by telephone, fax or mail. He has been doing them for years and is highly respected. His website is:

http://www.hecklerauction.com/

Dr. J. Hostetter's Stomach Bitters

Dr. J. Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters was first marketed in an embossed bottle, on the Pacific Coast, as early as 1858 by the firm of Park & White of San Francisco. David Hostetter, with his father’s recipe for bitters, and George Smith with the capital to produce and market the product, in 1853, formed the firm of Hostetter & Smith. The first containers produced for the western market were the large 31 ounce size black glass or amber bottles that were manufactured for the Pacific Coast. A 27 ounce bottle was also produced for the western market. These large blacks are rarely unearthed east of the Rocky Mountains and almost all examples have been discovered on the west coast. The large size Hostetter’s were distributed until sometime around February 1865 when in an advertisement run by Hostetter, Smith & Dean they claim to be discontinuing “the old size large bottle used exclusively in the west” and replacing it with the small size 20 ounce bottle. This information leads me to believe that if you are digging the large size Hostetter’s here in the west you are digging a bottle made before 1865 and possibly as early as 1858.
Although several western collectors believe some variants of the Hostetter’s were blown out west I cannot find any evidence that Hostetter had any of his bitters bottles manufactured on the west coast.
Hostetter’s Bitters was one of the best selling bottled products of the 19th century and the amount of these bottles available to collectors is staggering. It is believed that after 1865 Hostetter was selling over six thousand bottles of bitters a day, an unbelievable amount of bottled goods for that time period. The Hostetter’s come in dozens of variants and a myriad of colors ranging from the lightest of yellows to a dark black-amber. Although the majority of the Hostetter’s are considered common, unusual colors and different mold variants are highly desirable and sought after by collectors.

Tuesday May 19th Update

First off I would like to welcome followers Disco Francisco, castle and dr. henley. Thanks for taking the time to follow our Western Bitters site. We are trying to have a couple of new posts each week for you to enjoy. If you are interested in posting an article, pictures, digging reports or anything having to do with Western Bitters drop me a mail at: rcs@digitalpath.net and I will list you as a contributor so you can get started posting.

Digging News:

Digging season has been underway for quite awhile and I still haven't heard of any really killer western bitters being un-earthed. I did hear that those young whipper-snappers from S.F. dug a nice Peruvian Bitters from the Morro Bay area. Other western bottles that have been recovered by the S.F. boys lately include a Kane & O'Leary flask and some nice western soda's. If I missed anything guys let me know.

I also heard that a light yellow amber two name bear was recently dug here in Northern California - details, I hope, will be forthcoming?

More to come......

The unknown diggers

The Turner Brothers

Which product did James, Malcolm, Archibald, Thomas and Robert Turner fill their "Turner Brothers" square quart size bottle with ?

The Turner Brothers were listed as soda water manufacturers as early as 1850 in Buffalo New York. By 1853 they had opened a branch depot in San Francisco and were listed as syrup and cordial manufacturers. By 1858 they are pushing their Ginger Wine, Forest Wine Bitters and a Vegetable Bitters in newspaper advertising. Even though the Turner's manufactured many products, most Western collectors believe that the Turners bottle contained the Forest Wine Bitters product. It would be my guess that the bottle was used for all of the products that they marketed. Just slap a different paper label on the old square for whatever the contents and you were good to go!

Western Squares

Above are five desirable Western Bitters,
from left to right:
Dr. Renz Herb Bitters - straight legged R variant
Excelsior Bitters - variant with the correct spelling of Excelsior
Hibernia Bitters - arched letter variant with an applied top
Dr. Renz Herb Bitters - curved legged R variant
Bennett's Celebrated Stomach Bitters

Grand Prize Bitters

The Grand Prize Bitters is a square shaped sixth with a applied square collar top. This product ( Dr. Cooper's Celebrated Grand Prize Bitters) was manufactured from 1880 to 1884 by Louis Taussig & Co. of San Francisco California. The bottle is similar to the Peruvian Bitters but has three indented panels as opposed to the one indented panel on the Peruvian bottle. The Grand Prize is considered rare and western collectors believe that there are about 16 known examples of this bottle.

Recently American Bottle Auctions of Sacramento sold an example of the Grand Prize Bitters for $1000 documenting just how rare and desirable this bottle is. In forty years of collecting I have seen two examples of the Grand Prize, the example that just sold at auction and one other example several years ago.

photo courtesy American Bottle Auctions

Color & Shape

The appeal of Western Bitters is not only the rich history but the various colors and shapes that they can be found in.

From left to right:

Wormser Bros. / San Francisco - believed to have contained a whiskey bitters

Rosenbaums Bitters / N.B. Jacobs & Co / San Francisco - small variant

AT& Co - believed to have contained Asher S.Taylor's Champagne Wine Bitters

Lash's Kidney & Liver Bitters - red amber indented panel variant

Lacour's Bitters / Sarsapariphere - variant three in light yellow amber

Celebrated Crown Bitters / F. Chevalier & Co. / Sole Agents

The "Drakes Clone"

Pictured above between the Cassin's Grape Brandy Bitters and the Lacour's Bitters is an example of an un-embossed Drakes style cabin bitters. I realize that this "Drakes Clone" is not a western manufactured bottle but the fact that this example was recovered from the Sierra County ghost town of Chaparral Hill back in the late 1990's, I believe, makes it worth mentioning.

Chaparral Hill was located on the west side of Goodyears Creek, north of the town of Goodyears Bar, and was settled as early as the early 1850's. This small gold rush era camp, consisting of some roughly constructed cabins, mine buildings and a blacksmith shop, was entirely dependent on the drift and hydraulic mines of the area. The area was mined from the early 1850’s to sometime around the early 1870’s when the ancient river channel they were mining played out. This area was again mined during the depression years by the Thompson family without too much success. It is generally believed that Chaparral Hill was mined exclusively by the drift tunnel method of mining, but on one of several field trips to the area I found evidence to the contrary. The discovery of pieces of a hydraulic monitor, large cast iron diversion valves, remains of hand riveted iron pipe and a water ditch running from Goodyears Creek to the area indicate that hydraulic mining played a major role in the recovery of gold at Chaparral Hill.
The heavy winter snow, seasonal availability of water and rugged remote location, I believe, forced this camp or settlement into being a seasonal mining community.

The example above, discovered at Chaparral Hill, is a six log variant with a smooth base and came out of the ground without any stain in near mint condition. This bottle shows the same characteristics as the 1862 patent drawing for the Drakes Plantation Bitters that is shown in the Ring - Ham Bitters Book.

There are conflicting theories on the origin of this bottle and even a report of an example of this un-embossed cabin style bottle with an open pontil on the base. Some collectors believe that this bottle was an attempt to counterfeit the Drakes Plantation Bitters. Other collectors believe that this cabin bottle was the prototype of the embossed Drakes Plantation Bitters and was first sold in bottles with paper labels. There have been other examples of this "Drakes Clone" un-earthed in Northern California, but to my knowledge, the Chaparral Hill example is the only one recovered from Sierra County.

The above post was taken from the forthcoming book "Gold Rush Camps & Bottles of Sierra County" by Rick Simi. This book will be available starting in September of 2009 at the Downieville Bottle Show.

Cundurango

A Survivor....

During the 1992-93 digging season, a couple of prolific digger/collectors had dug many privies from the Nevada City area, and had accumulated around a 1000 bottles to split up at the end of the season. An incredible array of early glob whiskies were found as well as some interesting bitters. Among the bitters were a blue green Lediard's Stomach Bitters, an amethsyst Old Sachem's Bitters and Wigwam Tonic and this beautiful grass green Cundurango [Dr. Place's Cundurango Bitters] example.

To celebrate the incredible finds from this digging season, the two diggers decided to write an article for the AB & GC magazine along with photographs of the bottles. I happen to be present when the photo shoot took place. An outdoor patio table was moved to a grassy lawn area and I began to place all the choice bottles on this table for the photographs to be taken. After the photo session was completed, one of the diggers accidentally tipped the table and all of the bottles began falling and rolling off the table and hitting each other as they fell to the ground. I was closest to the table at the time and was able to grab and stop a few from falling onto other bottles and breaking as they hit the ground. Unfortunately several choice pieces were either broken or damaged from the incident. The example shown here was one of the lucky ones.

Dr. Renz's Herb Bitters

Above are all three variants of this bottle. The center example is considered the earliest embossed bottle. This example is most likely made around 1868,'69 and is R36 in the Bitters Bottles book. This particular mold shares some interesting characteristics with another early western square, the ALEX VON HUMBOLDTs STOMACH BITTERS also marketed briefly in 1868.

The variant on the right is R37, this example comes in several shades of amber, and also in a pure green color occassionaly. The example on the left is R38 and this variant is found in amber shades ranging from light yellow to orangish red and occassionally in a yellow olive. R37 & R38 use a lettering style for the embossing that is seen on 1870 and later bottles.

Dr. Renz's Herb Bitters was a success for John Renz who began marketing this bitters product in August of 1867. This bitters won a silver medal at the 1869 State Agricultural Fair and won the First Premium Award at the 1870 Fair. Renz became so busy trying to fill the orders for this product that he put up his Paints, Oil, Glass business that he had operated for many years for sale. Two ads appeared in October 1870, essentially stating that he is so busy filling orders for Renz's Herb Bitters that he is willing to sell all stock in trade, along with a lease of the premises for a discounted price. He was determined to sell his going concern and relocate to San Francisco.

Dr. Henley's Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters

DR. HENLEY’S
WILD GRAPE ROOT
IXL
BITTERS
Circa: 1868 – 1871

One of the more popular bitters products of the western states, Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters, was introduced to the public in 1868. L. Gross & Co. of San Francisco was the manufacturers and proprietors of Henley’s concoction of alcohol, wild grapes from Oregon and flavorings.
The first and oldest embossed bottle that contained Henley’s Bitters does not have a circle embossed around the IXL. These early examples come in various colors with amber being the rarest and one of the most sought after, although any colored Henley’s is extremely desirable and collectable.

The variant pictured above was a product of the Pacific Glass Works. In a stereoscopic view photo taken at the 1869 San Francisco Mechanics Institute Fair of their glassware exhibit, an example of the above was identified by magnification, and was able to read a portion of the embossing on the bottle. Dr. Henley's Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters was entered in the 1868 State Agricultural Fair where it won a silver medal over a rival competitor, Dr. Renz's Herb Bitters. This bitters became such a success market wise that F. & P.J. Cassin began marketing a second bitters called Cassin's XXX Wild Grape Root Bitters in a similar shaped bottle and began a marketing blitz near the end of 1868, pushing this brand and apparently having success with it. Louis Gross so objected to this that he sued the Cassin brothers over infringement rights and lost the lawsuit, which the Cassin's played up in their newspaper ads for their bitters product.