Dr. E.C. Balm

Dr. E Cooper ‘s Universal Magnetic Balm was first advertised, here in the west, sometime in the mid 1860’s.
Advertisements from the Sacramento Daily Union during the 1867 time frame list W.R. Strong as the Proprietor of the product doing business at Nos. 5 and 9 J Street in Sacramento California. Later advertisements from 1868-69’ period list Redington & Co. from San Francisco as sole agents for the product.
The two examples of the E.C. Balm in my collection are embossed only on the front panel “Dr. E.C. BALM” do not have curved “R’s” or embossing on the side panels. Each example is from a different mold and the tops on the bottles are completely different. Both of these bottles are fairly crude, have that deep aqua colored glass and quite possibly were blown here in a western glass house.

Tim Higgins, in his book, “Early Medicine and Apothecary Bottles of the Old West” lists an E.C. Balm with W.R. Strong embossed on one side panel and Sacramento embossed on the other side panel and considers this bottle extremely rare. Tim also relates this bottle comes with the signature western curved “R”.

 

 The western blown example, pictured to the left, is marked Dr. E.C. Balm on the face of the bottle, Sacramento on one side panel and W.R. Strong on the opposite panel. The tooled top is crudely formed and has similar characteristics to one of the examples in the upper left picture.

As with most of the medicines that were marketed early, the Dr. E.C. Balm claims to cure everything from Dysentery, burns and bruises to fever and Ague. And, of course, it was recommended for the entire family.

The E.C. Balm, in my opinion, is an interesting, fairly scarce western distributed medicine bottle that is still an affordable piece of western history.

The Eureka & Old Zach Clasps

W.T. & Co.



      The first time I saw this California Gold Rush rococo revival masterpiece I was completely overtaken by its beauty.  This clasp draws more attention than most and is recognized by collectors as the top California Gold Rush clasp. The foliate edges & 31 stars surrounding the EUREKA seal are unique to this clasps design. Many of these have casting variations on the front as well as on the back & none are exactly the same. Some of these are W.T. & Co. back marked while others are not. The W.T. & Co. tongues have a T. cast in the back. This may have represented the correct location of the top when this was created.

 

Typically speaking a back mark such as this would be from the manufacturer. It would be odd to have a belt manufacturer request to have his abbreviated company name cast on the back. Other clasps that are recovered in the same context as the EUREKA are marked very clearly for the consumer.  Bondy Brothers belt manufacturers, W. Taussig , Pollack Brothers , (Pollock)  have listings in directories and newspapers describing their occupation.  None of the known 1850s clasps recovered in California are from companies who stamped or cast their own brass clasps to date.

To my knowledge the W.T. & Co. back mark was first mentioned to be the abbreviation for William Taussig & Co. in the 1996 book titled American Military Belt Plates.  I have been skeptical of it being the mark of William Taussig & Co. for quite some time.   In the last few months I worked for many hours to come up with something solid in my research & at one point thought the mark may be attributed to the pioneer brass foundry of William Thompson Garratt & Co. of San Francisco. I waded through everything I could find and I had a change of thought.  If I can’t pin down W.T. & Co. maybe I could unlock the mystery of the other known W.T. & Co. clasp.

Notice the six pointed stars as seen on the EUREKA clasp and many others.

California's Admission Day event on September 9, of 1850 was a very important event and since the seal created by Major Garnett had already been adopted on September 29, 1849 at the Constitutional Convention in Monterey California. This time frame would fit in perfectly with what is to come knowing these two clasps were produced during the early part of the California Gold Rush. The EUREKA seal depicted on a clasp would have been known to most in California by late 1850 and I felt this other clasp may have been created for another well known event in United States history.

Image courtesy Michael O’Donnell

I started by carefully studying each object depicted on the clasp and making a note of them. I decided to start with the center or tongue portion first since that is where the main subject is typically placed. The following information I gathered is as follows.  There is a mounted military officer with a cocked hat or wheel hat and sheathed sword. His right hand extended leading rank of infantry into battle. I believe what is behind his right hand is actually a gun or piece of artillery on a hill top. The horse is quite beautiful with a flowing tail and perfect gate. Next we see a rank of soldiers advancing toward slanted masonry fortifications to our left. The inner belt loops are spread wing federal eagles. There isn’t much room left for any more American Patriotic motifs. At first glance I noticed these fortifications resembled those present in famous battles of the Mexican American war, 1846-1848

 

The wreath portion of this clasp is truly amazing. Many of the elements on this clasps wreath are depicted in the poster above of Rough & Ready and battles of the Mexican American War. A star at the top and bottom , Unfurled United States flags on the left and right flank  , drums, Trumpet or bugle, crossed cannons , saber for cavalry and musket for infantry  would be recognizable to anyone and would suggest a special victory or event for a V.I.P. such as Major General Zachary Taylor running for presidency .

Notice the likeness of Major General Zachary Taylor and his celebrity war horse “Old Whitey” & the patriotic United States motifs which appear on the brass clasp.

 

Siege of Vera Cruz March 9, - March 29, 1847

 

The battle of Chapultepec September 12 - 13 1847

 

 

 

 



Old Zach marked Bowie knife

 

 

 

California Gold Rush Rough & Ready artifacts I have dug on private property with owner’s permission.

 

Researched and written by:

Nicholas Kane
All clasp images Nicholas Kane

Kane1853@gmail.com

From Charles Festersen

Acorn Bitters

 

 

Fellow collectors, I'm looking for information on the Acorn Bitters. I am unaware of any knowledge as to the manufacturer or place of origin. What research I have done has proved futile so I would like to ask the bottle community, as a whole, if anyone has any information on the anomalous Acorn. 

There is no doubt in my mind as to it's western origin as it was produced in the same mold, but with different slug plates, as the Luis Taussig / San Francisco / Cal and the Dr. Mott's / Wild Cherry Tonic / A.H. Powers & Co, squares. This can be determined not only by shape but also the the 2 diagnostic rivet marks on the lower right hand unmbossed panel.   

What else I know is very limited. Dick Watson in his book "Bitters Bottles", of 1965, states that one example was dug in Bodie. Dennis Rogers, in his post on this site of Aug. 2, 2013, recalls that many years ago he dug shards from a privy in Pamona.  And, A.B.A claims to have sold one with an applied top though all other examples I know of are tooled tops. Beyond this I can only state that I can personally account for 4 examples changing hands while auction results I have reviewed represent 6 sales.

 

  

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

 

and HAPPY NEW YEAR

Geo. S. Dickey Jr. Pioneer Chemist

 

San Francisco Gold Rush Merchant

George  Dickey first appears in the 1850 San Francisco directory listed as a clerk. In the 1852 SF directory Dickey is listed with Charles Hodge as Hodge & Dickey doing business at 177 1/2 Samsome Street.

1850 clipping listing Dickey as a clerk.

 

1852 clipping Hodge & Dickey

 

The last listing for Hodge & Dickey in the 1856 S.F. directory



According to what information I could gather the first bottle produced by Dickey was the example pictured above.

 This medium blue colored bottle is embossed with a mortar and pestle and the words "PIONEER 1850". The base on this early bottle is flat, the top is tooled and western collectors have named it The Stovepipe. It is also reported that the stovepipe style Dickey bottles come in aqua coloration.

 Flat base of the first embossed Dickey bottle.

 

"I dug two blue stove pipes and an aqua one in a hole in Santa Rosa. In the hole were several broken pontiled pickles including an amber Baker and Cutting. Multi sided pontiled meds and three large Hostetter's in amber were also in the same hole"..... R.T. Siri

 

The first listing for George Dickey as a druggist

 

 

 The above pictured bottles are believed to be the second variant of the Dickey bottle. They come in shades of blue, have a tooled top and a square indented base. I have no idea about the timeline of when this bottle was blown but shared knowledge points to this variant as being the second of the Dickey bottles. This variant has larger and (kind of) flat embossing and the S.F. is higher on the base of the bottle then the last variant.

The above picture shows the square intended bases of the second variant of the Dickey bottle

"I believe the oldest of the blue Dickey's (not including the mold with only the Pioneer 1850....we call these the Dickey without the Dickey) to be the mold that has the deep recessed rectangle on the base. the tops on these are a flared tool-top, similar to early Eastern meds. The examples I've dug, have come from late 60's - early 70's holes" A.P. Hotaling

  

Aqua examples of the Dickey bottle. The bottle on the left has an applied top and the example on the right a tooled top. I have not been able to date the manufacture of this variant of the Dickey

 

Flat bases on the aqua variants of the Dickey bottle

 

 

Amber Dickey bottles with applied tops. Pestle is on the right side of mortar

 

The bases of the amber Dickey bottle with applied tops. Note the circle base with the dot in the center. This is the same variant as the blue applied top bottle with the circle and dot on base. This amber variant is much rarer than the blue examples shown below.

.

 

Blue colored Dickeys with applied tops. These are the most common of the Dickey bottle and have a base with a circle with a dot in the center. The embossing is larger then the latter examples. (Fourth bottle from left has a full label)

 

The bases of the blue Dickey with a applied top. Circle and dot on base.

 

Two examples of the last variant of the Dickey bottle in a chocolate coloration. This variant has the "thin" embossing and the S.F. is embossed lower on the bottle then the earlier variant. These bottles can be very crude and easily mistaken for the earlier blown Dickey variant

 

The flat bases of the last variant of the Dickey bottle

 

That's about all I have on the different variants of the Dickey bottle. - rs -

 

Ops! almost forgot about the variant of the Dickey with the pestle on the left side of the mortar. The variant with the pestle on the left has only been observed on the last variant of the Dickey to my knowledge

Four examples of the last variant of the Dickey bottle with the pestle on the left.

 

Pestle on the left side of the mortar

 

George Dickey goes into the fly paper business in 1870

George Dickey advertised often and donated prizes to horse races, pistol shoots and other competitions. I would never have imagined him going into the flypaper business - rs -

 

In this 1870 ad Dickey's flypaper is available at several well known SF druggists and he is still manufacturing "flypaper".

Remember, in the old days, those sticky pieces of paper hanging over counters etc. with flies stuck to them........You can thank George Dickey!

This 1871 passenger list has Dickey and his wife sailing for San Diego.

 I believe this is the date Dickey moves to Southern California and starts selling his products from Los Angeles as there are several examples of the Dickey bottles with labels from a Los Angeles address. - rs -

 

 

Happy Dickey collecting! - rs -

 

References:

San Francisco Directory's

Daily Alta California - various issues

Western Bottle News

 

Email - oral interviews

Richard Siri

A.P. Hotaling

 

From Eric McGuire:

 

Great piece of research. The Creme de Lis story is somewhat complicated, especially when attempting to fit the evolution of the bottle variants into the picture. Just a little clarity on the early years. Actually it was W. T. Wenzell who held ownership of the brand for most of the early years. Dickey supposedly created the product in 1865 even though the earliest ads were in 1867. Dickey's father died in 1869 which began a protracted process of the settlement of his estate in Baltimore, MD. With the final dispersion of the assets, Dickey left San Francisco for his home town of Baltimore, presumably to take possession of some of the property. He left in 1871, and in the process of finalizing his affairs in San Francisco, Dickey transferred his Creme de Lis to Wenzell, who became the proprietor. Dickey died in Baltimore on 29 August 1877. When in Baltimore he became owner of the Excelsior Steam Forge.
Wenzell continued with the use of Dickey's name on the Creme de Lis, which was probably a stipulation of the transfer of the product. Wenzell trade marked the name of Dickey's Creme de Lis with the California Secretary of State on 24 June 1873, two years after he took ownership. He maintained ownership into the 1880's.

 

Thanks Eric - rs -

 

Sunday Gold Country Dig

 

The gold country's youngest lady digger

 

 

 

Some of the spoils: 5 Peoria jugs, broken Hostetter's, & donuts (of course) 

 

 

Soda, Peoria jug, ladies leg & snuff

 

 

Nice swirls

 

 

The leg washed up

 

 

green snuff

( The future of our hobby is the next generation..take your kids or grandkids digging or to a bottle show. - rs - )



Henry Winkle.... Soda Man

A Brief History

 Johann Heinrich Winkel arrived in the United States in 1840. He spent 3 years in New York City before moving to Florida and engaged in the baking business.

Winkle ran a bakery and hotel in Florida prior to leaving for California in 1849. Arriving in California in 1850 he went into a partnership with a fellow named Skinner starting the California Bakery on 2nd street in Sacramento

 

 1850 Sacramento Daily Union advertisement

 

The partnership only lasted until November of 1850 and sometime after the November date Winkle went into business at the Auction Saloon. In the following clipping from the Sacramento Daily Union Winkle removes himself from any connection with the Auction Saloon.

 

 

 

September 3, 1852 Sacramento Daily Union newspaper 

Henry Winkle Sac City soda bottle

Image courtesy Mike Rouse

 

After divesting himself from the Auction Saloon Winkle starts a soda water business in Sacramento and places an order for soda bottles with his name embossed in the glass.

In November of the same year the great fire of Sacramento destroys 55 blocks of Sacramento including 1,776 buildings and displaces over 7000 people. Henry Winkle’s soda water business was one of the casualties.

As soon as the ashes were cold, from the great fire, Winkle starts construction on two brick buildings on K street in Sacramento while running his soda business near the Sacramento levy on J street. On December 31, 1852 a rain storm hit the Sacramento area that lasted several days and flooded the city and Winkle’s business. At this point Winkle might have continued his soda business but must have been low on cash and his failure to pay off a loan for $1200 resulted in the Sheriff seizing his property to settle the unpaid loan.

 

Clipping from Sacramento Daily Union September 1853 
( 1000 dozen soda bottles for sale...where are they? - rs - ) 

 On October 14, 1853 the Sheriff sold the Winkle soda water business and machinery consisting of:

One table with bottle machinery attached

Three soda fountains with pipes attached

One rotary pump and pipe

Three large tin cans

5,000 soda bottles, more or less

 In January of 1854 Henry Winkle left Sacramento and traveled to San Francisco to open a bakery business.

 

The reverse of the Henry Winkle soda bottle with the XX embossed in the glass

Image courtesy Mike Rouse

The Winkle soda bottles were manufactured prior to any glass houses in San Francisco and could have been manufactured by the Lancaster Glass Works.

 

References:

Eric McGuire- Bottles & Extra’s September 2010

Sacramento Daily Union -various

Mike Rouse - Western Bottle collectors postings