"Wait...It is a Star"

When my financial services career gets in the way of my passion for glass, I either go digging, travel to a bottle show, or hit the junk shops. Today was "junk shop day" and I had visions of blue Wolf Barrel's or green Angeli S.F. flasks. Such was not the case today, but in the back of a dark cabinet, I noticed an amber square with it's neck foil and cork. After digging through the ACL sodas, I was surprised to find a very crude western bitters! This is a Star Kidney and Liver Bitters, with a Wait's label and neck foil. There are about half of the contents remaining, and they look tasty! I have seen the Star Bitters before, and the Wait's brand. I was not aware of a connection.
 I know this is not a super old or rare bitters, but it was a nice surprise for a stressful day of managing funds, and benefits plans.

  Any other antique or junk shop finds lately? Dale M

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Hi Dale;

Back in the 80's when I had a fairly complete collection of western squares, I had two variants of the Star Kidney and Liver B itters. They were quite similar; the difference being that the embossing pattern on one was slightly tilted to the right at the top, whereas the other was straight up and down.

 I did quite a bit of research at the time on the company and found out that Star was actually a competitor to Wait; both originally doing business out of Sacramento . 415 19th St. to be exact. According to Wilso, Star B itters Co. was owned by the Heilrath B ros., along with a Wm. Kliensage, who joined in a couple years after the inception of the company in 1908. Although it was rumored that the company moved to San Francisco in 1912, I found documentation contradicting this in the form of the Treasury Dept. / IRS records of 1917, which clearly states that the Star B itters Company was still located in Sacramento at that time. The National Drug Clerk of the same year reinforces this.

 

 

Getting back to the anomaly of a Waits label on a Star B itters, I'd have to side with Warren . Wait was located at 531 J St . in Sac. B oth bottles were blown by SFPGW and both company's were in business at the same time. Perhaps a shipment got mixed up and being fierce competitors neither wanted to communicate with the other. Wait figured he'd get a credit for the botched deal, keep the bottles and end up with some free glass. (Wow! there's some conjecture! rs) However, most of the pirated labeled bottles that I've encountered over the years had the paper applied over the embossing. There's no doubt in my mind that yours is the real deal; the neck foil is the proof in the pudding.

Verrry interesting~

Bruce

 

Here's a map of their respective locations. A is Star, B is Waits

 

 

Just in from Denny Bray

 

 

Hi Guys,

Seen your comments about the fifths Roger uses for his blog-site cover. I sure miss those babies. Here's 3 of the original pics. My photo skills suck so bad it's pitiful, but that day I guess I lucked out. I sure miss those whiskies! The only one I still have is my F&P J Cassins out of the 5 in the picture. It's about the lighest amber one I've seen, close to the one Ted Siri owns.

 I'll send you another group of 5 others I took on the same day. Tom, you'll recognize one of them.

 Rick, while I got you on the email... Thank you for posting the info about Dolcini on your Western Bitters News. 

 Take care fellas,

Denny Bray

 

 

Here's the other 5 whiskies. Sometimes Roger uses one of these pictures on his blog cover, but I'm not sure which one.

Tom, recognize that Laurel Crown? It was your old one. Man, that example had a great strike!

The only one I still have out of these five is the green Teakettle.

 You may not believe me, but my favorite out of the 10 of them was the Tom Taylor. In fact, I think it was my favorite fifth. It came from VC years past and ol Tom Chapman shook it out of a collection, then I ended up with it. Man, I've got to quick reminiscing about these western fifths. Next thing you know I'll be selling off my EC&M's and sodas to start collecting whiskies again! LOL!!

 If I don't see or talk to you guys before then, I wish all of you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!

Denny

 

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It would not surprise me to hear Denny is back collecting western fifths

rs

 



Can't You Just Feel It?

 Here in the West, we have been absolutely hammered by Biblical proportion rains...This after a very dry Summer for us where a pounder probe had been a must. I cannot just sit around all Summer waiting for the ground to soften, and after digging all of my previously probed pits, one must fight the triple digit heat. Now, the rains have come, the "lookie Lou's" are back indoors, and digging season is ON!.
 I was cleaning out my vehicle last week and stumbled upon an old disposable camera which I used to bring on weekly digs and capture a bit of the action. I love looking at digging photos, and with today's smart phones, one can send a pic to your buddies before the glass is extracted from the ground. These fuzzy old "film" pictures were a delayed enjoyment, but are fun to look at again.

  This was a solid petrified parking lot pit a few years ago, with a nice black saratoga seeing the light of day. Fun Stuff! If anyone wishes to post a dig pic or two, that would be great. DM
 

I am very sad to report Mike Dolcini passed away today December 4th at 3:00 pm. Mike will be greatly missed by all of his friends and the bottle collecting community. What a great loss to all of us that knew Mike and to the bottle collecting hobby.

 

Mike was an avid digger, collector and researcher of western related bottles, advertising, antiques and Winchester rifles.  No details as of yet but I will post the details about the services when I receive the information.

Services for Mike Dolcini

For those who would like to attend Mike's funeral, services will be held on Wednesday 12/12/12 at 11:00 am at Holy Spirit Church 3159 Land Park Dr. Sac. 95818 and reception/lunch to follow at Park Terrace Swim Club 5500 Parkfield Ct. Sac. 95822

 

MISSING IN ACTION

Crown Distilleries miniature, amber 5" tall, rare slug plate variant w/correct
Embossed Riley inside thread stopper.

 

This bottle was liberated (as in stolen) from Oregon collector Bruce Silva's table during the Auburn Bottle Show. If you have any information please contact Bruce at:  jsglass@q.com

 

 

All of us in the bottle community are getting pretty fed up with all of the items that go missing off of our tables at the local bottle shows. Getting fed up, to those of you that have never experienced it, means if you get caught stealing at a bottle show we can not guarantee in what condition you will be leaving the show........You have been warned!

 

 

49er HBA - Soda Display

A big thanks to 49er HBA member Mike Henness for this incredable display of western soda's at this years Auburn bottle show

 



Mike  had over 50 western soda bottles on display

 

 

Lynde & Putnam, Italian and Golden Gate soda's

 

 

Rare colored Billing's and Champagne Mead

 

 

 

Extremely rare M.R. & D and M.R. soda's..... WOWSER!

 

 

Gold Rush era Merriam's, San Francisco Glass Works and Pacific Congress Water 

 

Also a big "THANKS" to the 49er HBA show chairman Mike McKillop and 49er club members that did a fantastic job of putting on the annual show under wet and wild weather conditions over the weekend.

Great Job!

 

 

 

 

 

 



49er HBA Show & Sale

Thought you might enjoy some pictures of the annual 49er HBA show and sale:

 

Dan and Max Bell

 

$1000 in cash raffle prizes donated by American Bottle Auctions

 

 

Some of the bottles offered by the Westfall family

 

 

The Westfall's

 

 

Cundurango and Rosebaum's bitters display

 

 

 

 

Rick and Jackie Lindgren

 

 

 

Cundurango bitters in green

 

 

Another Cundurango

 

 

Aqua Cundurango

 

 

Western blown Rosenbaum's bitters

 

 

Four Rosenbaum's



ATTENTION BOTTLE COMMUNITY!

Two bottles stolen from the 49er Show on 12-1-12.

1- Dr. Browder's Compound Syrup of Indian Turnip,
Aqua rectangular open pontil, beveled edges. Scuff mark on edge above Dr.

If you see this bottle, please call Mark Weaver (775)267-5375

2- Crown Distilleries miniture, amber 4 1/2" tall, rare slug plate variant w/content.
Embossed Riley inside thread stopper.

If you see this bottle,please call Bruce Silva (541)821-8949

I encourage all shows to post stolen bottles on the internet. This will help track down the bottles and the thieves.
                                         49er HBA

Hey Rick, I just saw your post on the stolen bottles and wanted to add a dealer named Tom, (i dont know his last name), in the lower building also had a green ink stolen from him. I'm not sure how to contact him but possibly Mike M. would know.

This Friday & Saturday

If You Only Go To a Few Bottle Shows a Year...Don't Miss This One...

49er Historical Association 35th Annual "Best of the West" Show

Saturday December 1st at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn.

Friday Early Bird from noon to 7:00 $10.00.

There are going to be prizes, cash giveaways, it's the last show in Auburn before moving to the new location next year. Don't miss this historic event!!! Check our website for a map of the location. Seriously, this is the one to go to.
(Thanks American Bottle Auctions)

This year's theme for the bottle display is the ROSENBAUMS BITTERS and the CUNDURANGO bitters bottles. All collectors/dealers/diggers are invited to participate in displaying their examples of these bottles. Please bring them to be part of a wonderful display at this years show!

The annual Auburn Festival of Lights has been cancelled  due to weather conditions (weather conditions?)

Another try...

Apparently not smart enough to add the picture either :)  Here is a small grouping of western blown wines, ammonia's and cylinders. I have dug and picked these up, as well as a few boxes more over the years. DM

Western "Star"

Here is a nice colored example of the large size Pacific Glass Works pickle jar. Has anyone determined exactly why the star is embossed on the shoulder? I have been told it is somehow related to the Civil War victory by the Union Army, but have never seen any advertising to explain the star. The Star in Shield Cutter whiskey line, and the "TM" Bitters square, and the Trout Oil Liniment medicine share an embossed star as either a trade mark, or simply a design used to attract customers. In the past, several of you have been generous enough to provide me actual advertising, or patent information on bottles which have been a bit of a mystery to me. I would appreciate any info on this one and perhaps it could be posted for others to view.

 DM

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and fellow collectors.

A few pictures for your Thanksgiving enjoyment

Rare western A.Barbier's Schnapps

 

 

Two beautiful Henley's

 

 

The Three Renz Variants

 

 

Van Brunt's Aromatic Schnapps

(When was the last time you saw one of these)

 

 

 

Extremely rare E. Holden Stockton pepper sauce

 

 

Lou in blue with a blue soda

 

 

Through the concrete and starting the dig

 

 

A handful of Dickey's

 

Happy Thanksgiving - See you at Auburn

Western Round-Up Display at 49er Historical Bottle Show

The ‘Best of the West’ show this year on December 1st will feature a round-up display of the ROSENBAUMS BITTERS and the CUNDURANGO bitters bottles. All collectors are invited and encouraged to bring their examples to display in a large wonderful back lit cabinet with locking glass doors.This is not a judged event. Please contact Warren Friedrich (530) 271-5757 or Mike McKillop (916) 367-1829 for display information
(pirated from PRG!)

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49er HBA Show and Sale Update

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Just in from 49er HBA club member Warren Friedrich.

Early setup for dealers, and admission for early lookers, at this years show and sale on Friday November 30th will begin at noon. Saturday's show opens at 9:00 am and closes at 3:00pm. Admission is free.

Warren reports: "The 49er show is sold out and we already have people who have never purchased a table before lined up for next year's event at the new location, so far everyone is excited about the move.
 (except for a grumpy un-named collector from Benecia - rs) 

 

The Western Bitters News and all of us here in the California Gold Country are looking forward to another awesome Auburn Show! See you at the Fairgrounds!

 

 

Last year's surprise attendees

 

   



A Gallery of Western Soda's

 

 

L & V embossed on the face of this bottle stands for Lippincott & Vaughan of Stockton California. Early directories list Lippincott and Vaughan as manufacturers of syrups, mineral water, soda water, essences and bitters. This scarce soda was used by the Lippincott and Vaughn company for their popular mineral waters. According to an early advertisement, they also manufactured syrups, bitters and essenses. This early Stockton based company produced a couple of different embossed bottles at the same address. Circa: 1852 - 1857 

     

 

                                                                       BOLEY & Co SAC CITY CAL

 Addison and Lafayette are believed to have established the first soda water factory in Sacramento in late 1849 or early 1850.  The Boley brothers continued in the bottling of soda water until 1862.  During 1862 the Boley's dissapear from Sacramento business directories and what became of the Boley brothers remains a mystery. Circa: 1850 - 1862

 

OWEN CASEY EAGLE SODA WORKS  SAC CITY Circa: 1867 - 1871 

The Owen Casey bottles have a smooth base and come in colors from blue to green and also in aqua coloration. The green and blue colored examples are considered fairly common but the aqua colored Casey's are considered scarce. I couldn't find any advertisements for Owen Casey products for the period of time they were in business                                              

 

 

 W.H. BURT SAN FRANCISCO

William H. Burt purchased the San Francisco soda water business of Cammet and Buffum sometime in the later part of 1851. Burt bottled and sold his soda water until the end of 1852 when it is believed he left San Francisco. After 1852 William H. Burt is not mentioned in San Francisco or Bay Area directories. Circa: 1852

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A.W. CUDWORTH & CO SAN FRANCISCO

Able W. Cudworth was the proprietor of the Excelsior Soda Works located at the corner of Hinckley, Pinckney and Vallejo Street in San Francisco California. Cudworth operated this soda factory from 1858 to sometime in 1861 when the business was listed as being operated by Brader & Co. Cudworth shows up in San Francisco records until about 1875 and no mention of him can be found after that time. The Cudworth soda’s come in three variants; the aqua examples (pictured at left) are considered common, a variant embossed A.W. Cudworth & Co San Francisco Cal is considered scarce in green and the Cudworth soda without San Francisco embossed on the bottle is considered rare. Circa: 1858 - 1861

 

 

 

 

 



A Couple of Souvenir Flasks

Hi Rick, 

 I wondering if you could help with a few California flasks I have. I've not been able to find anything else like them, and wonder if you have possibly seen anything close? Both have label under glass and are covered with a sort of paper mache made to look like wood, with cuts of wood to make the cut ends. Both are plain blown bottles underneath. Any ideas?

thanks,
Matt

 

 

 

 

 

Any information you have on these flasks would be appreciated ..... .....

Thanks - rs

 

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Western or Eastern Revisited

Browsing ebay yesterday, while it was snowing here, I came across a couple of square bitters shaped bottles that were advertised as "Western" by the folks offering the bottles for sale.
Seems like if you have an un-embossed bottle that you want to sell (or for that matter any bottle that's origin is in question embossed or not)  the tag "Western" or "Western Blown" stands us western collectors at attention and ready to pull the trigger on the auction bottle.
I'm not an expert on western glass but for the last 40 years I have been digging and collecting bottles here in the west. Over those 40 years I have learned one thing - not everything is what it appears to be.

 

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The ongoing research on western manufactured bottles, by a number of western collectors, have not only uncovered new and exciting information on "what's western" but have set some loose guidelines on how to possibility identify a western blown bottle.

 

First off and most commonly sited by western collectors (on the origin of a bottle) are a few things that seem to be of paramount importance to left coast bottle collectors. The location of where the bottle was discovered, the color of the bottle and the condition of the glass.

 

I don't think any of us western collectors are naive enough to believe that just because a bottle was un-earthed in say California it was manufactured here. Sure, it was obviously distributed or transported to California but that's possibility about as much information, about where it was manufactured, as you can garner from the discovery site.

 

Color is a whole different ballgame for western collectors. A vast number of western collectors believe you can call a bottle western just by the color of the glass. Colors that are attributed to western glass houses exclusively by western collectors such as fire aqua, western aqua, Squarza blue, deep emerald and a host of other color descriptions are also present in eastern manufactured glass. I think a lot of these color descriptions can be attributed to a small circle of western collectors and have been generally adopted by a majority of western bottle collectors. Regardless of whether or not you believe these colors are exclusive to western glass I believe the majority of western collectors use these color descriptions as a guideline for their western glass acquisitions.

Color - Western or Eastern?

"Fire Aqua" Scovill's Blood and Liver Syrup

 

Condition is another area of concern to western collectors. I don't know how many times I have heard "It came out of the ground in mint condition, its western!" or its definitely western "it shines like a diamond in the wind" 
I have done a bit of digging and soil condition along with what minerals are in the soil plays a major role in the condition of the bottle.

One overlooked area of western glass criteria is the actual shape of the bottle in question. Early western glasshouse authority Warren Friedrich has brought to light a interesting observation on the shape of western manufactured bitters bottles. "Eastern manufactured square bitters shaped bottles exhibit a typical roundness where the beveled corners meet the shoulder of the bottle. This character trait is very common among squares of eastern manufacture. Most other large squares of western origin do not have this characteristic".

Whether a bottle was manufactured in the west or east does not rate high in my collecting criteria. What is of importance to me is if it was distributed ino the west to be purchased by a western consumer.

Shape -Western or Eastern?