Do you Kiss and Tell?

Over on the whiskey blog there's a running dialog concerning the pro's and con's of mentioning just what the value of the bottle being spotlighted in the post is.
There is no doubt that bottle values are a major concern to collectors. Western Whiskey guru John Thomas used to say "If you own a particular bottle it is worth a lot more than if you don't own it". I have found that statement to be all too true.

On the whiskey site one blogger commented " I enjoy this blog greatly and visit quite frequently, but I do think avoiding posts that discuss or mention any dollar value will benefit both diggers and collectors in the long run. The posts on this site should be limited to history, digging reports, and recent finds/acquisitions". I think that's probably a valid and realistic way, if your a digger, to look at what is now a "big pain in the butt"; Too much readily available information to folks that haven't "paid their dues" or "put in the time" in the hobby to learn the values of what we collect.

Case in point:

The western auction after the big dig in S.F. featured a rare cone shaped bitters. The price that bottle brought was broadcast all over the world, featured on the nighly news and written up in antique papers by the auction house that sold the bottle.

I live in a backwater little town up in the Sierra's and during that time period was actively digging the townsite. It wasn't a week after the "Big Dig" auction was over that I started getting turned down on digging permissions. Heck, I knew every person in town and never had a problem getting permission to dig before the auction. I asked a couple of the firm "No's" what was going on and was told by one of the owners "If anyone is going to dig one of those $00,000 bottles in my yard it's going to be me!" The other owners suddenly just "didn't want anymore digging on their property". Now that they knew that "those dirty old bottles" were worth something, they wouldn't be giving them away anymore.

Getting back to the blogger's comment, concerning values, and after spending some time thinking about this whole situation I have come to the conclusion that..... When I was a young man I didn't kiss and tell...... and I'm certainly too old to start now!

A bouncing baby boy

Little Johnnie is healthy as a horse, and weighs about as much. A new addition to the family, this bouncing baby boy measures 9 1/4" long and weighs in at nearly two hefty pounds; proof that folks here in late 1850's J'ville are made of stout stock! Having been sired on iron slag and potash, he emerged from his tight and shallow watery confines squeaky clean and only required a quick toweling off.  His personality is immediately evident, and his daddy is one proud papa~

Western Dug Hostetters...

I thought I would show a recent aquisition. This is a 9 1/2" size Hostetters is a nice dark green. It has paper thin glass and is as light as a feather. What is remarkable to me is it was dug at 20' in depth completely surrounded by bricks which had to have fallen 20' themselves. The un named digger found this example in a Northwestern state, in a town known for 20' and deeper privies. The bottle does not have so much as a scratch on it, and while there are zillions of Hostetters out there, this is a true survivor from the late 1850s or EARLY 1860s.

Rowler's (Roller's) Infallible Rheumatism Medicine and Klink's Counterfeit

It seems like every successful bitters or medicine product that I research has some sort of skeleton in its closet. Take for instance the Rowler’s Rheumatism Medicine Prepared by Dr. J.R. Boyce of Sacramento City. J.R. Boyce, located at the corner of K and Second Street, claimed to have bought the recipe for the rheumatism medicine from Charles Roller sometime in the late 1850’s. Roller claims that “the recipe was given to me by a friend in this country” Charles F. Klink, a druggist also from Sacramento, approached Charles Roller with a proposition to manufacturer Roller’s rheumatism medicine and split the profits from the sale of the product with Roller. Roller declined the proposition and Klink began informing the public that he (Klink) had the original recipe that Roller had bought or brought from New Orleans.

At about the same time as the Klink allegations (during the summer of 1861) Boyce comes out with the embossed Rowler’s bottle and states in a Sacramento Daily Union advertisement “to guard against spurious and counterfeit medicine, you will please observe that the written signature of Jas. R. Boyce, M.D, appears on each label, and that the name of the medicine is blown in the bottle".

Dr. Boyce was a larger than life character, well respected and besides pushing the Rowler's product practiced medicine in Sacramento. While walking on the corner of Sixth & K Street one day with John Cassidy a man named William Tierney discharged a revolver at Cassidy. The ball struck Boyce in the back and passed entirely through his body. Cassidy immediately ran down K Street and Tierney followed behind still firing at him. In all, three shots were fired and after the second shot Cassidy cried out, I'm shot! I'm shot!. The ball passed through his clothing, grazing his skin. but did no injury. Boyce, on the other hand, was considered in critical condition by his attending physicians. As it turns out Cassidy was accused of improper intimacy with Tierney's wife and Tierney had been "gunning" for Cassidy. (They don't call it the wild west for no reason)

Dr. Boyce, although seriously injured, steadily improved and finally overcame his injury's.

The Rowler's comes with a pontil and also a smooth base variant. These bottles were manufactured starting in 1861 are are way to early to be made in the West. Because of Dr. Boyce and Sacramento being embossed in the glass and all examples, that I know of, were dug in the west, most collectors consider them western. These bottles are pretty rare and I have a report of one intact example unearthed in the Nevada City area in the early 1990's.

I much as I hate counterfeiters, bogus products and imitations you have to thank the perpetrators of these frauds......... without them we probably wouldn't have any embossed bottles!

Help !

Warren & I are working on a future article on the Fish's Infallible Hair Restorative and need a picture of the "western" flared lip rectangular B.F. Fish bottle. Any of you hombres out there holding one? Can you shoot us a picture? Any contribution will be acknowledged in the upcoming article. email either Rick or Warren ricksimi@att.net or warrenls6@msn.com


This is the so called"eastern" variant with the double collar top
















Thanks to our "southern connection"
Lance W. for this Fish

CONNELL'S MOONPLANT !

Wow, here’s a bottle that has always intrigued me. Just the name alone is strange, CONNELL’S BRAHMINICAL MOONPLANT EAST INDIAN REMEDIES, and a pair of feet with stars surrounding them about takes the cake as far as quirky embossing goes in my book. And how about the lettering font on this bottle.

The R in “BRAHMINICAL” is your basic straight leg R, however, the R in “REMEDIES” and “TRADEMARK” are the curved leg R associated with western glass houses. I believe the mold for this bottle was reworked and the “EAST INDIAN REMEDIES” and “TRADEMARK” added at a later date, however, I do not have any concrete proof that this was the case.


Was this a bitters, well it certainly was supposed to cure the same ailments as a bitters, I don’t think so but it certainly is an interesting bottle. The definition of BRAHMINICAL is; A member of a cultural and social elite, especially of that formed by descendants of old New England families. Trying to find the definition of MOONPLANT led me to moonflower which is defined as: Any of several unrelated vines which bloom at night. Even the name of this product has me baffled; was it an extract of some sort of climbing vine that was intended to be used by wealthy Boston socialites in the moonlight?
Got me.......


I have heard that there are two variants of this bottle, one an eastern made product and the other western manufactured. What’s the difference? Got me......


The earliest and one of the only advertisements that I could find for the Moonplant was listed in the May 1873 Sacramento Daily Union and was repeated for a week or so, that’s it.
Thanks to Jeff Wichmann for the pictures

An "Aqua" Henleys...

I hope everyone is not growing tired of my Henley's posts. They are just so darn pretty, and typify Western glass to me. This example was dug in a secret location, by a very accomplished digger who's privacy shall be respected for various reasons. This is the second version of the IXL, and is in a deeper turquoise,aqua, tealish, bluish green, seafoam, fire aqua coloration. it came out of the ground this way, and is very thin fragile glass. I cannot pass up an IXL in a nice color, but the recent prices for them have sure slowed down the growth of my IXL aquisitions. I wonder how many colors are really known? Since there are several hundred examples out there, there are likely hundreds of different colors. I have never dug an intact IXL of any variant, but someone sure has!

Swan Brewery

The previous post of Rick's showed Swan Brewery exhibiting it's products at the September 1871 State Fair. I found this quite interesting since my research shows the Swan Brewery up for auction on March 31st, 1871. Notice that book accounts are due to Decker & Wilmot. I found an article that showed the trademark registration for Swan Brewery in 1876, unfortunately I sent that information to Tom Jacobs and didn't keep it. This looks like a good research article that maybe John O'Neill could pursue.

Lofty Company

The following western bitters manufacturers were mentioned during the 18th Annual State Fair in September of 1871 for these products:

Glass bottle industry takes a step backwards.

Here is an interesting article that was published in the Los Angeles Herald newspaper in 1906. Ironically while the eastern glasshouses were reverting back to hand blown bottles by glassblowers. The west was installing semi-automatic glass blowing equipment. In an article in the San Francisco Call newspaper in 1908, the Pacific Coast Glass Works was beginning to use glass blowing machines for making fruit jars. The glassblowers were still being utilized and their pay now was fifty dollars a week! Three glassblowers generally work together with two rolling and blowing and the third trimming the necks of the bottles. Two hundred dozen is a days work, occupying about nine hours. Each blows an hour and handles the machine half an hour.

Inserting the blowpipe into the molten glass, the blower rolls upon it a sufficient amount to blow their bottle. They must guess accurately how much they need. In bottles weighing under 8 ounces, they are allowed a variation of half an ounce; between 8 and 13 ounces, one ounce; between 13 and 24 ounces, two ounces. All bottles which do not conform to the weight test or are not perfectly blown are thrown out on them, so they become very expert!

Now to give you a comparison of the glassblowers work at SFGW in 1867 or 41yrs earlier. I have 4 examples of the Cassin's Grape Brandy Bitters bottle. Two examples weigh 17 ounces, one weighs 21 ounces and the other weighs 27 ounces! Quite a descrepancy among the four examples.

Around 1970 a glassblower who was 90 something was interviewed and said that PCGW was still blowing bottles by hand in 1916.

Bitters produced by this glass works are later variant Lash's Kidney and Liver Bitters, Lash's Liver Bitters, Star Kidney and Liver Bitters, Wait's Kidney and Liver Bitters, Marshall's Bitters, Johnson's Pure Herb Tonic Sure Cure For All Malerial Diseases, Toneco Appetizer and Tonic Bitters, etc.

Bitters on Ebay

Over yonder on the Western Globtop Whiskey blog they have been blowing off about the selection of western fifths available on ebay. Selection - heck, there's 4 bottles available to bid on for the applied top crowd, that's it.

Looking to buy some bottles..... Just type in BITTERS in the search tab under the heading of bottles & insulators (antique pre 1900) on your ebay page and up pops:

13 Hostetter's in various shades of brown

3 Lash's Kidney & Liver Bitters

1 Yerba Buena

1 California Fig Bitters

1 Pond's

2 Walker's Vinegar Bitters

1 Damiana Bitters

and no less than 13 of those western distributed Drakes Plantation Bitters......

Now that's selection !!!!

Renz Christmas Advertisement

John Renz marketed his fathers recipe for a herb bitters very aggressively. Almost daily advertisements in Sacramento and San Francisco newspapers was not uncommon for Renz.

In the 1874 ad to the right he claims that his bitters are sold in every Grocery, Liquor Store and Drug Store within a thousand miles of San Francisco.

Shouldn't we be digging his bottles from Montana in the east, to Mexico in the south and British Columbia in the north. I don't recall hearing of anyone digging a Renz east of Nevada or north of Oregon.

Was old John Renz pulling the public leg about his distribution network or are there piles of Renz's buried throughout the west?

Western Eye Opener's

Speaking of Henley's...........

So you thought Dr. Henley was the first merchant to capitalize on the well used phrase "Eye Opener" did you.... Then take a look at the October 1861 advertisement for "Oldner's Delta Eye Opener". Distilled from fruits in the island of Jamaica---Mmm.. Yummy!

Oldner's? Hmm.. where have I heard that name before? Was it on an 1860's square bottle? Never the less...

Oldner pretty much had the market covered with his Ladies Holland Gin Tonic, Old Miner's Protection Whiskey and the Old Virginia Mint Julep.

The first mentioned of Dr. Henley's Eye Opener, that I have found, is in a report on the 18th California State Fair in September of

1872. "Dr. Henley of San Francisco submits his Eye Opener and Wild Cherry Tonic". Wild Cherry Tonic? Where the heck is that embossed bottle, Henley embossed darn near everything he marketed. Didn't he?

Delta Eye Opener, Dr. Henley's Wild Cherry Tonic, Old Miner's Protection Whiskey and a Holland Gin Tonic....... If only they were in embossed bottles.

And Speaking of Henley's...

There has really been a jump in the sale prices of IXL bitters in the past few years. The better colors have sold for thousands of dollars with the ice blue example (possibly unique) bring a record price for an IXL. The yellow olive, amber, turquoise, and even brillian aqua examples have all recently sold in the four figure range! These bottles are very early, being first produced in the late 1860s, with the "no circle" being the earliest. The colors for this version seem to be deep and rich when they stray from aqua. To me, there is just nothing that compares to any shade of green in Western glass, from yellow olive to emerald. Here is a deep olive example, and I do not recall one in this color selling at auction. If the going price for a deep fire aqua is $3800, I wonder what this one would bring today?:) I do not believe there are more than 8-10 in this color in collections...maybe fewer. The ambers are very tough, and have sold for $4000-$5000 recently. I think there are maybe 5-8 known in straight amber. These are such a stereotypical Western bottle it is no wonder they are so popular. I have not heard of any nice IXLs being dug lately...some beauties have come from Nevada, Oregon, and California. Any nice finds in other states?

Latest Cundurango to My Meager Collection

Here is a very whittled and crude Cundurango that I was fortunate to pick up recently. I don't know why I like these so much, but I do. I would like to see another Cundurango display similar to the Auburn event several years ago, or how about a "display" here? I know there are some beauties out there!

Dr. Henley's Son Missing !

Dr. Henley's Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters

Here's an interesting advertisement from L. Gross threatening all who are buying up his old Henley's bottles for use in counterfeiting his product. Seems like as soon as a product became popular and sales soared, back in the 19th century, someone tried to copy or counterfeit the successful product.

Kinda makes you wonder if that Henley's that went for four figures in auction 49 held the real Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters or some counterfeit product.

Times haven't changed much, have they.

January Review:

Rain, snow and wind were mostly what January was about up here in the foothills and Sierra high country. Heck, just a month or so ago we were complaining that the ground was so dry we couldn’t probe it, now if you dig a hole deeper than a couple of feet it fills with water. The high country is under snow and it probably will be till April or May sending us high elevation diggers down to the flatlands to try and get something going. The drawback to all this weather for us Sierra residents has been the ongoing power and internet outages. Sierra County has had sporadic electrical service and absolutely no internet service since the 23rd of January. Sure makes it difficult to keep fresh posts on this blog when you can’t get online.

Digging News:
A rare Dr. Furber’s Cordial of Mountain Balm was unearthed in the Bay Area not too long ago – nice extraction fellows, keep em’ coming. Rumors of a freshly dug Catawba Wine Bitters were being circulated throughout the bottle community lately; unfortunately there has not been any confirmation or denial of this rumor by the supposed digger.
I haven’t heard of anything being dug in Nevada lately but the Las Vegas show is coming up and a lot of the collectors – diggers like to combine a bottle show and digging trip to and from southern Nevada. Hopefully we will have some freshly dug items to report on after the Vegas show.

American Bottle Auction #49:
There were eight bottles in auction 49 that would have been of interest to the western bitters collector, here’s my take on where they finished and why:

Lot 106: 3 line Turner Brothers. Of the 7 (yes seven) variants of the Turner Bros. square this is the example that is most often found out here in the west. Described as “applied top with graphite pontil” This variant of the Turner’s, to my knowledge, has never been observed with a graphite pontil, or any other kind of pontil for that matter. Be that as it may this smooth base Turner’s brought $850, just about what they are selling for at shows but below the auction estimate of $1000 - $1500.

Lot 163: Pipifax. Considered a western bitters (even though not embossed as such) by some of the western collectors this bottle had an opening price of $100. After a few days of no opening bids the starting price was dropped to $50. It finished at $60. I have seen several examples of the Pipifax sitting on tables at bottle shows with an asking price of $100. If you were looking for a Pipifax this was a bargain.

Lot 294: Tool top Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root Bitters. Here’s a rare bottle. A couple of savvy western bitters collectors that I talked to at the Anderson show mentioned that in all their years of collecting they had probably seen maybe 5 examples of a tool top Henley’s. That’s pretty darn rare but it doesn’t seem to make the bottle very desirable or valuable as this example only realized a disappointing $210.

Lot 295: Dr. Henley’s. Here was the surprise of the auction for not only me but most of the western collectors that I have talked to. The catalog describes it as “this may be the finest example in so called “aqua” we have ever seen” “Many people would consider it a medium teal” I am not about to argue color with anyone, color is in the eye of the beholder. Take for example your basic western whiskey collector, the slightest hint of olive tone in a western fifth and they will be calling it green. As a bitters collector I would call this example of the Henley’s rich aqua. Whatever color you want to call it someone was willing to pay $3800 plus a 12% premium to become the new owner.

Lot 316: Clear Peruvian Bitters. Here’s another rare bitters bottle that graced this auction. For every 500 Peruvians that you see maybe one will be clear, that’s rare. But as most collectors know just because a bottle is rare doesn’t make it valuable. Just like the three L’s in real estate dictate value, the three C’s in bottle collecting are what bring the green. Color, condition and crudity set value in most cases, not always rarity. Don’t agree with me? Take a look at the thousands of Drakes Plantation Bitters; do you think rarity has anything to do with some examples busting 4 figures? I would consider $150 a bargain for this bottle.

Lot 317: Lacour’s Bitters. Here’s a bottle that not only appeals to western collectors but figural and colored bitters collectors also. A beautiful green this Lacour’s has a replaced top but it didn’t stop it from reaching $1700. If you believe in a certification and grading process for antique bottles (like stamps and coins) this would be a candidate. You can laser etch on the base REPLACED TOP before this bottle gets lost in the shuffle and re-surfaces in a few years as the “real deal”.

Lot 318: Bryant’s Stomach Bitters (leg) And yet another waterlogged Bryant’s surfaces from off the eastern coast of South America. Sand and water worn but polished to an acceptable appearance this world traveler brought a solid $3600

Lot 319: Chalmer’s Catawba Wine Bitters (Sutters Old Mill) at $17,500 this was the big dog in auction 49 for bitters collectors. Rare, beautiful color, crudity and dang near mint condition, everything an advanced bottle collector is looking for and then some. In the last year or so pricey bottles are being referred to by some “sellers” as “investment grade bottles”. At $17,500 I would imagine that the Chalmer’s would qualify as “investment grade” to these unnamed sellers, it’s pricey enough. The only problem with this “investment grade” baloney is this bottle sold a few years ago for $22,000. A poor investment for the previous owner. If you are not buying glass for the love of it, but as an investment, maybe it’s time to start thinking about throwing some of that disposable income at mutual funds or pork bellies.

Anderson Bottle Show:
This year’s Anderson show, in my opinion, was an interesting and fun event. First off, the ongoing theft problem that plagued the Auburn bottle show in December didn’t seem to be an issue in Anderson, making for a relaxed atmosphere and lots of visiting with other dealers. Part of the appeal of local bottle shows for me is the personal connection with other bottle collectors, being able to examine possible additions to my collection first hand and hang with folks that I have something in common. Your basic online auctions and the infamous ebay certainly can’t deliver any of the previously mentioned reasons for attending a local bottle show, or a not so local show for that matter.

Several nice western bitters were offered for sale at the show. A Chalmer’s Catawba Wine Bitters, aqua Dr. Wonser’s Wild Grape Root Bitters, Three line Turner Bros. square, a nice aqua Henley’s California IXL Bitters and a Gun Wa’s Chinese Remedy that an amigo from Oregon snatched off of a sales table were just some of the bitters available. If you didn’t make the Anderson show you missed a very pleasant western show
.
Upcoming Shows in February:
Don’t forget the upcoming 45th annual Las Vegas Antique Bottle & Collectables Club show and sale February 12th & 13th at the Palace Station Casino.
February 19th & 20th the Oregon Bottle Collectors Association’s winter 2010 show & sale will be held at the American Legion Hall in Aurora Oregon.

Support the hobby... Attend a local bottle show......
It’s good to be back online...........rs

Anderson Show Report- First Impression

The Anderson show has always been a small show, but surprisingly, some amazing glass shows up there most years. This was one of those years. Western bitters were quite well represented with a Chalmer's Catawba Wine Bitters in a pretty bluish aqua, an aqua cylinder Wonser's, a nice Renz's, some pretty Henley's (maybe the huge price recently paid at auction will shake more of these loose), a couple colored Walkers,a Dr. Motts, and some black Hostetters. While not a bitters collection, the annual gathering at Ken Schwartz' home to view his spectacular whiskey "museum" was a treat. I was unable to acquire a good bitters at the show, however was able to bring home a pretty citron colored Gun Wa square. The Western whiskeys were plentiful, and some top 25 examples were available, but that will be for the whiskey blog. If you missed this show, you missed some nice glass! See you all at Chico! M.E.

Pratt's New Life & Abolition Oil

Although the Pratt's New Life and Pratt's Abolition Oil are not bitters, they sure are early and interesting western bottles, and in my opinion, a very nice addition to a western collection.

American Bottle Auctions, in their latest auction # 49, had both of these Pratt's product bottles up for grabs, and grabbed they were. The New Life brought a respectable $475 with the Abolition Oil finishing at $425.

Both of the Pratt's products were manufactured and marketed by San Francisco druggists and chemists A. McBoyle & Co. McBoyle & Co. believed in the power of advertising and patronized local newspapers heavily and frequently.

The earliest mention of the Abolition Oil, that I have found, is in an April 1867 advertisement. Advertisements for the New Life start sometime in the early months of 1868.

Pratt's Abolition Oil for Abolishing Pain was advertised as a general pain reliever for all aches and pains, while the Pratt's New Life was a blood purifier and Liver Invigorator ( just like the bitters products claimed). Both products were very popular and some of the west's "best sellers" during the time period that they were marketed.

Even though the two Pratt's bottles are not big, square and have the word bitters embossed in the glass, they sure pack a lot of western history and are a "bargain" when it comes to purchasing western made glass.

Congratulations to the winning bidders.

Got Pratt's?

Catawba Wine Bitters

"A Western Distributed Product"
The Catawba Wine Bitters was manufactured by the Longworth and Grew Company of Cincinnati, Ohio and marketed on the west coast by sole agent George Grimes of San Francisco.
I believe, but can't be positive, that the Catawba product was bottled in Cincinnati and shipped to the west coast as case goods. Early western newspapers reported the ships that put into the port of San Francisco and listed the cargo they off loaded. I just haven't found a listing for the Catawba Wine Bitters yet.

The Catawba Wine Bitters comes in various shades of green and amber colors and the earliest examples have an iron pontil. These bottles are considered rare with possibly only twenty to thirty examples known in any color.

The Catawba was marketed up here in the northern mines area of the gold country and I, personally have dug several broken examples of this bottle. I found a beautiful iron pontiled medium green Catawba broken in place at the old settlement of Chaparral Hill. Another dark green iron pontiled example was crushed by a large champagne bottle at a cabin site above Indian Valley. Other broken examples of pontiled and smooth base Catawba's have been discovered at Morristown, Downieville and Monte Cristo..

To date I haven't scored an intact Catawba..... but there's always tomorrow!

AFRICAN STOMACH BITTERS

I'll be the first to admit that I really don't know much about the African Stomach Bitters product. That's not saying that I am not willing to learn more about this product and its container. I have thought about collecting some examples of the African ever since I started collecting western bitters, but my lack of knowledge about the bottle and never even finding any pieces of them put them out of my reach. Pictured above is the advertisement for the claim to trademark for the African Stomach Bitters. This ad was taken from the March 1881 Sacramento Daily Union.

The very next month Wilcox, Powers & Co. of Sacramento are advertising that they are not only special agents for African Stomach Bitters but also "sole" agents.

If I am reading this advertisement correctly doesn't that mean that Wilcox, Powers & Co. are the only merchants to offer this product for sale? This product would have been sold in the round bottle without Spruance Stanley embossed in the glass and is the first embossed African product?.

What say you western collectors?

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!

Mason's Improved with a Western R

Andrew sent this picture of a Mason's Improved fruit jar sporting one of those very distinctive western "R's". Andrew reports that the jar was dug from a mid 1880's pit in central California and came out of the ground without any staining (i.e. sparklematic). He was wondering if anyone has seen another Mason's Improved with the western R embossed on it.

I can't recall ever seeing a Mason with a curved R but the R on Andrew's Mason sure looks familiar.... doesn't it?

CURVED "R's" & A WESTERN STAR ???

I love a mystery.. well, let me qualify that statement. I love to solve a mystery. At any one time I have several mystery's running around inside this old noggin.

Some of these mystery's are major, some minor. Take for instance the "Western R". Now here's a major mystery. When did the Western curved "R" first appear on western bottles? Is this "R"unique to one particular glass house or did both the SFGW and PGW use the curved "R"? Is this "R" from just one mold maker or was it used by several different craftsmen over a span of years? And just when did they quit using this "Western R"? This, for sure, is a mystery that I have tried to solve for a long time. Every time I think I am getting close to a conclusion another piece of information sends me off in another direction and brings more questions than answers. Ever have that happen?

One of the minor mystery's that seems to be spinning around in perpetual motion is the N. Mills/ Fish's Infallible Hair Restorative. Here's a bottle that has collectors, and myself, debating if this bottle was blown in the west or is just another eastern made piece of glass used to market a western product. Take a look at that unique apostrophe shaped like a 7 and the funky R that seems to be curved in instead of out like the western "R". The only bottles that I can recall that share these qualities are all, I believe, eastern. The Fish's N. Mills, Fish's B.F. Fish, Risley's Buchu, and the Ghirardelli's Branch soda. Having said that, and now have scores of western collectors on the war path, lets move on to the reason for this post: THE WESTERN STAR.

Just when I was happy concentrating on one major, and the minor...small potato's Fish's mystery, Oregon collector Dale Mlasko throws down the gauntlet on "THE WESTERN STAR" Rat's !!!, another darn mystery. If I had any gumption I could let it go, but no, the seed has been planted and its already started to grow into a low rent, although interesting, mystery.

Dale claims that the square bottle with a star and TM embossed on it could quite possibly be a western blown bottle. ( see earlier post titled "Western Bitters Square Star of the Union" ) Dale's contention is that several western merchants have a star prominently displayed or embossed in the glass of their product.

Hmm... TM with star, J.F. Cutter Extra has a star in a shield, good ol' Jesse Moore has two stars in its logo and one is canted like the advertisement for the Star of the Union Bitters. The Bay City soda has a star, but its not pudgy like the J.F. or Jesse Moore star. If we are talking stars we had better look at the shape for clues as to whether its an eastern, military, shining, Carl's Jr. or western star, shouldn't we? Having dealt with a few mystery's over the years standard operating procedure dictates that, first off, you get as close to a subject as you can. If that doesn't help, then you get as far away as possible to get a different view of the whole situation. so.......




After a quick trip to Marysville (Hi Lou, finding anything?) for a Carls Jr. burger I noticed the star on the burger wrapper didn't look anything like our (so-called) western star, its points were rounded and it had a smiley face on it. We can eliminate Carl's Jr.'s star as being modeled after the Star of the Union Bitters star.





Military stars mean business, not bitters!

The Jesse Moore stars are a little more rounded in the web than the Star of the Union Star. The lower star in the Jesse logo is canted like the star in the advertisement for the (so-called western) bitters, but the similarity ends there. The J.F. Cutter star is way fatter and the web is a lot more rounded than the star embossed on the TM bottle.

What does all this information add up to? Basically, with the small amount of detective work that I have done, there doesn't seem to be any connection between the Star of the Union star and any of the stars embossed on known western bottles. Now if any of you have any theories or other evidence to link the TM star to a western product..........