Continued finds from old homestead.

Some of the more interesting bottles to have been unearthed during the past week.

(6 broken Voldner's Schnaaps were found, the Vonthofeu's Aromatic Schnaaps has an iron oxide pontil mark)

(the Lyon's Powder, N.Y. is a true puce color, the nicest medicine found was the Merchants Gargaling Oil / Lockport, NY)

Recent finds from old homestead.

Recently 4 bottle collector/diggers got together and dug 4 holes in an old ranch/homestead in Northern California.

(2 of the beers have S. F & PGW embossed on the base)

(4 bitters were found intact, 1 black glass Hostetters found broken)

Here is the BIG one! Just Dug...

Here are two great Western medicines fresh out of the ground from a Western state. The "smaller" of the two is still an impressive 8 1/2" tall with a rich turquoise aqua color. It has a knarly applied top, and is embossed "Dr. Warren's Botanic Cough Balsam, S.F. Cal." These are pretty rare in this size and with the applied top. I would estimate there are about 10-12 in collections. In the same pit was this "tanker" of a sarsaparilla. The diggers originally thought it was just a cool Eastern Bristols or Kennedy's, but the glass is sparkling western aqua and clean as can be...it is embossed "Langley's Compound Sarsaparilla, San Francisco". What a giant bottle, and in perfect condition! It is hard to believe such a large bottle would come out whole, let alone in such pristine condition. I believe there are about 10 of these Langley's in collections, and they are not to be confused with the very scarce narrow medicine version. This example is a whopping 11 1/2" tall.These do come in green, and I have seen one example, though it was not crude. These are late 60s bottles, and are so rarely dug, it is an exciting find! Full of bubbles and character...this is what gets my blood pumping!

American Bottle Auction # 50

A Quick Review

HIBERNIA BITTERS. 1886-90 Tooled top. There are a couple variants of this western bottle. This one being the later of the two. This form is not uncommon to western glass. A light to medium amber, these are fairly scarce. Grade: 9.5. $ 200 Not as exciting or as rare as the two name variant Hibernia but still a decent price for a pretty hard to obtain western square.

DR. RENZ’S HERB BITTERS. Applied mouth. R-37. Looking at this bottle, I couldn’t help but think there was something a little different about it. It finally dawned on me that it is the large letter variant, however, the “R’s” are not curved. I then found in the Ring/Ham book, a variant that matches this bottle. Thank goodness for books! One can only guess why. Was it eastern made? At any rate, the bottle is very dark chocolate amber. It has a huge top and aside from a couple super tiny open bubbles, and I mean inconsequential bubbles, this one is a Grade: 9.7. This is a tough color and the rare variant to boot. It’d look great next to your green one. $ 500
This is the second variant of the Renz bitters and possibly as early as 1870. Yes, it has big letters and straight legged “Rs”. The last variant of the Renz has large letters and curved “Rs” Typical price for this bottle.

CASSIN,S GRAPE BRANDY BITTERS. Applied mouth, C-78. 1866-75. Here is a terrific example of the first variant of the highly acclaimed and very desirable Cassin’s Bitters. The confusion on which variant was made first in our opinion, arises from the fact that the apostrophe in the word “CASSIN,S” is used as a comma on this bottle. If this was the second variant and the improved design, how could they miss a flaw so obvious? There is a dime size bruise at the end of the word “brandy” it’s simply a pressure type ding with no missing glass. When one considers the rarity of not only this bottle. But the color variant and overall crudity, we would have to consider this certainly one of the finest bottles in this sale. Color does not get much better than this; we would call it a brilliant citron. The entire bottle itself is crooked and the top is extremely crude. This was sold by American Bottle Auctions in the Grapentine sale and is now being re-offered. Here is your chance to own what are arguably the most desirable western bitters. No Grade. $ 7,500
I looked at this bottle for quite a while before it went to auction and I believe the “pressure type ding” was an in-making flaw done at the factory. The longer I looked at this bottle the more I liked it. A great piece of glass blown and marketed right here in the west! This bottle sold in the earlier Grapentine auction for, basically, the same price. For someone that wanted a Cassin’s, I believe, it was a fair price.

DR. WONSER’S U.S.A. INDIAN ROOT BITTERS. Applied top, W-146. 1871-73. Here’s another favorite for collectors of bitters, whether you’re from the east or west. And why not? Who can’t resist a bottle with a name like this and a shape that is not only handsome, but unique in its category. This example is a solid Grade: 9.5 with good overall light crudity and a great strike. If one were to be picky, you could point out a rock the size of a pin, which is stuck in the side of the glass. We are talking the size of a germ. The overall bottle is as nice as they come in this color and if you don’t have a Wonser’s, this might be the one. This came from a longtime collection and is fresh to the market.
$ 10,000 Your basic Wonser’s for a pretty standard price.

MILLS BITTERS A.M. GILMAN SOLE PROPRIETOR. 11 1/2". 1874. We had the wrong estimate in the catalog and apologize for that. These bottles are unusual in that most are found in Arizona of all places and they are always in need of cleaning. We’ve seen none that didn’t have some reaction to the soil; this one is no exception. Recently cleaned by Lou Lambert. The Mills are one of the few western lady’s legs, if not the only one. You can’t really count the Bryant’s. Regardless,an exceptional western bottle. Because of the glass, I suppose there is some question as to where they were made. There is no reason they weren’t simply made in San Francisco, as Gilman is listed as a merchant there in 1876. These are a tough bottle to find, small lip chip. This example was found in the San Francisco Bay Area. Grade: 8.7 $ 800 This bottle did not meet reserve. Strange cause it’s a pretty rare bottle but I guess not as desirable as rare.

BRYANT’S STOMACH BITTERS. B-242. 14". 1857. If you’ve been following our website, you might have seen a story on a group of Bryant’s cones recently unearthed in Sacramento. Although most were simply bases or partial pieces of the bottle, this one in particular had the least amount of damage. We will be showing before and after photographs. Of the three or four whole specimens, none that we’ve seen are in this brilliant emerald green. Marty Hall did the work and without extremely close inspection, it’s very difficult to tell it has been repaired. Considered by many to be the top western bitters, it is no doubt one of the top few. These were made in the east and were primarily distributed in the west. Here is your chance to own a true classic in a unique color. No Grade. $ 36,000 Hmm... a lot of money for a broken bottle with an epoxy base.

LOUIS TAUSIG & CO SAN FRANCISCO CAL. Applied top. This bottle we are including in the bitters section, because we know it was a bitters. Tausig was actually a well-known liquor merchant, but like many wholesalers of his day, he dabbled in whatever made him money. This is a neat bottle with the applied top. There is a bit of a mold leak on the neck seam. Grade: 9.5. $ 230 A nice western square for a fairly reasonable price.

DR. HENLEY’S WILD GRAPE ROOT BITTERS IXL. Applied ring. Here we have another one of the favorite western bitters. Henley was a busy man and produced numerous products during his interesting life. The IXL bitters was by far his most successful product and sold for nearly forty years. This example is a nice medium aqua with lots of bubbles and light crudity. A solid example. Grade: 9.8. $ 220 An entry level Henley’s in a common color.

San Diego Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale

June 12, 2010 - 9:00AM

Al Bahr Shrine Temple, 5440 Kearny Mesa Road, San Diego, CA 92111
San Diego 2010 Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale

Saturday June 12, 2010

At the Al Bahr Shrine Temple, 5440 Kearny Mesa Road, San Diego, CA 92111

Dealer Set-up 7:30 AM

Early Bird 8 AM ($10)

General Admission 9 AM - 3 PM ($2)

INFO: Jim Walker 858-490-9019 / jfw@internetter.com / www.sdbottleclub.org

Support you local bottle show.... The Western Bitters News Does!

The State of the Blogs

The latest post “Two Name Bear” on the whiskey blog got me to thinking not only about the state of this here bitters blog but the general overall condition of our hobby.

Miller’s Extra’s opening comment on his “Two Name Bear” post, and I quote, “It seems like few collectors are in the mood to post anything lately, but myself. Not sure why, maybe folks are "going underground" for some reason” sums up what is happening to the bottle blogs lately.

I might have a clue to the lack of interest and participation in the blog sites. With the nation’s economy pretty much in the toilet and our local economy in shambles my earning power, as a self employed building contractor, has evaporated. It now takes a lot more of my time to try and keep my business on track than it did when times were flush. A few years ago I was turning down work, now I am devoting a lot of the time I spent on my love of the bottle hobby trying to make a living. Things have changed so drastically that I am now changing occupations after 40+ years in a business that provided well for our family. To make a long story short, at the present time, I am focused on my future. My collecting interests, unfortunately, are on the back burner.

Other reason's for the presumed “lack of interest” in the bottle blogs is it’s finally summer. After a “normal’ winter (that lasted until the end of May) folks are outdoors celebrating the beautiful weather rather than sitting in front of a computer reading opinionated comments from disgruntled bottle collectors. Anyone that digs bottles is taking advantage of the wet winter and the extended digging season. An old digging buddy from Dobbins is busy putting a late garden in the ground and already working on next winter’s firewood. Another friend from Auburn has been so busy working to keep the foothills in power this spring he hardly has time for anything else. And so it goes, it’s the time of year that almost everyone is busy with one thing or another.

Another aspect of the bottle blogs that has received mixed reactions are the negative and sometime vulgar comments by anonymous bloggers. Some of the followers of the bottle blogs think that we should censure or prohibit anonymous bloggers from adding comments to the posts. I have always felt a person has the right to speak his mind and express what he or she believes in. These rights are guaranteed to all Americans and I don’t feel that the bitters blog is a place to deny anyone the right to say what he feels. As one of the administrators of the bitters blog I will continue to let anonymous bloggers comment on articles that are posted on this site.

A recent comment by an anonymous blogger “I think the blogs (and hobby) are dying due to a few bad apples who can't keep their mouth or minds shut. It’s sad and I think it is going to hurt the hobby in the long run with less new collectors entering the hobby. Oh well, its fine with me, cheaper bottles will be the result. I predict a gradual crash in the western bottle market, although the eastern/western appeal of bitters will fare better.” deserves a response. In my opinion, the bottle hobby is stronger than ever. Take a look at the realized prices in the last American Bottle Auction # 50 and take into consideration the unstable economics’, the uneasy “feeling” we are experiencing and the beginning of a beautiful summer and you can understand the temporary waning of the interest in the bottle collecting hobby in general and the bottle blogs in particular.

That’s my take on bottle collecting, at this point in time, and this supposed blog debacle and I’m sticking to it. Can't wait to see all of your smiling faces at the Reno Bottle Show in July!
rs

What can I say...

Amber Tooled Lip Bitters California Circa 1875

Item number: 150452393376

bottle is printed federal law forbid sale or reuse

measures 7 inches S.F. 65.59 on bottle

some dirt inside but should clean nicely.

I know, a picture's worth a thousand words.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

So how about two thousand.

Small Hoss Dug

Here is a nasty crude small Hostetters Stomach Bitters which was recovered from the Earth in the past few weeks. These are about as crude a bottle as you can find, and each one is different. They range in color from pure black which one cannot see through, to a forest green. The lip, and panels are often so poorly made (thankfully!) that you wonder about the quality control on these early bitters. Every one I have seen is this way, and like the typical "black" ales and cylinders found throughout the West, each is unique. I cannot help but wonder if they were made by the same glasshouses which made these "blacks". The color, crudity, and high iron content of the glass is so similar.

Need a Cundurango?

Here's One for the Bitters hall of shame:

CUNDURANGO BITTERS EXTREMELY RARE FIND!!

THIS UNUSUAL LIME SHADE OF GREEN IS IN FAIR CONDITION CONSIDERING PART OF THE TOP AND APPLIED LIP ARE MISSING. THERE IS AN APROX 1" LONG CRACK RIGHT ABOVE THE "C", SHOWN IN ONE OF THE TOP PHOTOS.

THERE IS ALOT OF CRUDITY; BUBBLES THROUGHOUT. A COUPLE OF SCUFF MARKS ON SAME SHOULDER AS CRACK. THERE ARE NO OTHER CRACKS, CHIPS OR DINGS IN THIS BOTTLE. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE TOP IS VERY FIXABLE.

SEAM ENDS AT TOP OF SHOULDERS, POLISHED PONTIL ON BOTTOM. BOTTLE STANDS 9 1/2" TALL.

CUNDURANGO BITTERS WAS A PRODUCT OF THE GEORGE CHESLEY CO OF SAN FRANCISCO CA. THE SAME BOTTLE CAN BE SEEN IN ITS' ENTIRETY , AT THE "AMERICAN BOTTLE AUCTIONS" WEB SITE UNDER CUNDURANGO BITTERS.

Ebay Starting bid: US $500.00

High Country Diggers Beware!

You always know it's spring up here in the high country when these hungry guys start making a nuisance of themselves. By the looks of this yearling he could use a few square meals.

rs

Some Weekend Finds

As most of you know undisturbed Gold Rush camp sites are as about scarce as hen's teeth anymore. Three of us old timers managed to stumble across a remote camp site while doing a little gold prospecting over the weekend. Here's a few pictures of our finds.

The crier's included a 31 ounce black Hostetter's, an early amber Hostetter's and two variant 1 Dr. Henley's Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters.

Washington Bottle & Collectors Association

The Washington Bottle & Collectors Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 for the purpose of stimulating interest in the collecting and research of historical bottles.
We are a member in good standing of the National Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. We encourage each individual member to join this national organization and help promote this great hobby.
Thanks to everyone who joined us at the Spring Show down in Chehalis, especially the guys from our partners, the Evergreen Insulator Club.

For more information on the Washington Bottle & Collectors Association check their site: http://www.wbcaweb.org/home
While you are visiting their site take a look at the photos in the gallery section.
rs

Los Angeles Historical Bottle Club

OUR MEETING LOCATION!
50 West Duarte Road, Arcadia, California, 91007

Our club's purpose and pleasure.

To socially unite the bottle and fruit jar collectors of Los Angeles County and to promote, foster and encourage all legal activities toward the betterment of bottle collecting. We encourage the exchanging of information and the exhibiting, promoting and researching of bottles and related collectibles. The Los Angeles Historical Bottle Club is the Fifth Charter member of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors.

Check out the LAHBC site http://www.lahbc.org/

Western Bottle Clubs

I thought it was about time to become acquainted with some of the western bottle clubs that are at the forefront of the antique bottle collecting hobby. These clubs work tirelessly to organize bottle shows, share information and continue to promote our hobby. Let's start off with the ...

GOLDEN GATE HISTORICAL BOTTLE SOCIETY
The GGHBS was formed in 1965 by a bunch of people who loved to dig and/or collect antique bottles. They realized the hobby needed an educational and social outlet for those of us who have been bitten by the bug. In 1966 we started putting on a bottle show and each year, though times change, we strive to make it better. This year we are going to have our 43rd show so come and celebrate with us. It will be a great show and with you there, it will be even better.
The GGHBS newsletter, "The CORKER", is the handy work of our most valuable player, Darla Antone. She tries to get it out about two weeks before each meeting. If you have any good articles, information, digging stories, ads for wanted or for sale, pass them on to Darla so she can publish them in the newsletter.

OFFICERS
President: Gary Antone
752 Murdell Lane, Livermore, CA 94550
Phone 925-373-6758
Email: packrat49er@netscape.net

Vice President: Rick Lindgren Email: ebayweld@comcast.net

Treasurer: Jackie Lindgren Email: ebayweld@comcast.net

Secretary: Ross Dileo Email: 3ra@email.msn.com

Editor: Darla Antone 925-373-6758

For more information on the Golden Gate Historical Bottle Society take a look at: http://www.silvershadow.net/gghbs.htm

Four Lighthouses

Here are four Lacour's in different colors and versions. Can you identify the mold variants?Also, can you name the "ghost town" in Nevada with a street named after Louis Lacour?

Upcoming Bottle Show

JUNE 4 & 5 BUTTE, MONTANA

The Montana Bottle Collectors' Association plans its 9th Antique Bottle, Insulator, Collectable and Advertisng Show and Sale for June 4-5, 2010 at the Butte Civic Center Annex. 1340 Harrison Ave., Butte, Montana.
Friday, June 4 dealers in at 3 PM with early birds 4 to 8 PM.
Saturday, June 5 doors open from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Info: BILL HENNESS, P.O. Box 5301, Helena, MT. 59601. (406) 459-3038, email: bhenness@bresnan.net
RAY THOMPSON (406) 273-7780, cell: (406) 529-2255
email: kcthomp@aol.com

WORMSER BROS. SAN FRANCISCO

The firm of Wormser Bros. was located on the corner of California and Front Streets in San Francisco and listed as importers and jobbers of wines and liquors. Started sometime in 1856 Isaac Wormser, who was living in Germany, was the president of the company and his brother Lewis was the manager. In 1864 Lewis left San Francisco and his brother Simon took over management of the company. In October of 1867, during Simon’s management of the firm, they trademarked the “Golden Sheaf” brand of whiskey. By 1872 the Wormser Bros. business was sold to the firm of Braeg Frank and Dallemand.

It is believed the barrel shaped bottle with an applied tapered top and a smooth base embossed WORMSER BROS. SAN FRANCISCO was produced for a very short period of time, possibly in 1869 only. Although I could not find any advertisements to confirm what these bottles contained, Western collectors believe this container held a whiskey bitters product.

This barrel shaped bottle comes in various shades of amber from light yellow to darker brown amber. Most examples show very little crudity but a couple examples that I have observed have some pretty good whittle to the glass.

It is thought that there are between 25 and 30 of the Wormser Bros. barrel in collections at the present time. Most collectors that I have talked to don’t consider these bottles rare, but in my humble opinion are a very rare and collectible piece of Western glass.

San Diego Antique Bottle Show

San Diego 2010 Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale!

Save The Date: Saturday June 12, 2010

Show Location: Al Bahr Shrine Temple
5440 Kearny Mesa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Old Bottles, Antiques, Coins, Collectibles, Insulators, Paper, Glass, Marbles, and Much, much more....

Two Floors, 9,000 Sq. Ft. 100+ Tables
Come For The Day, Spend The Weekend

Close To Hotels, Beaches, Sea World & The Zoo

Dealer Set-up 7:30 AM
"Early Bird" 8:00 AM $10.00
General Admission 9:00AM - 3:00 PM $2.00
Kids under 12 free with adult



Mike Bryant Chairman
INFO: Jim Walker (858) 490-9019
jfw@internetter.com


http://www.sdbottleclub.org/


DISCOUNTS TO AREA ATTRACTIONS
FREE PARKING
RAFFLES
AWARDS FOR DISPLAYS
NEW LOWER SELLER TABLE PRICES!

Unembossed "Squares" from the Old West

I've been able to assemble the whole color run of these colored squares for less than a day's wages. Not too bad for some great colors with applied tops and great overall crudeness to boot. Chances are that they were all western blown or at the very least, blown for distribution in the Old West. I've been told by an avid western glass collector that the amber example and the yellow example are the Collins Valley Bitters from Red Bluff, CA. The lighter grass-green (far right) was reportedly dug in Wyoming.

Recent happenings

At a recent event of bottle diggers/collectors, a selection of some terrific bitters were on display. A comparison of the large variant Rosenbaums Bitters were assembled, with examples being contributed by 6 collectors displaying 10 bottles. Other collector/diggers brought 2 small Rosenbaums Bitters for display. Another collector brought a N. B. JACOBS / SAN FRANCISO square [just full of bubbles] for display. A small variant Rosenbaums bitters in grass green was found broken while digging, a portion of the shards were pieced together. A yellowish olive-green variant 3 Renz's bitters was also brought for showing.

Other incredible examples dug but broken were brought for show and tell. A deeper grass green variant 1 LACOUR'S BITTERS and a lighter green DR. BOERHAAVE'S STOMACH BITTERS; both just incredible examples!

A beautiful whittled example of the small lettered DR. RENZ'S HERB BITTERS was displayed by another digger, it was yellow-olive amber, along with some incredible pieces of a Old Valley Flask and Dr. Henley's Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters [a variant 1].

Probably the highlight for me was the incredible display of 2 E.G. LYONS squares in a medium amber and a darker green, both examples exhibiting a million seed bubbles.

Other very rare western square bitters were an example of the DR. HAUSEMAN'S GERMAN BITTERS and an OLD MAN'S STOMACH BITTERS / MARCUS SASS. Several collector/diggers have never before even laid eyes on these examples!

Other incredible glass brought for show/display were 2 Dr. Townsend's Sarsaparilla Albany, NY squares, 1 in a Prussian blue coloration with an extremely crude bare-iron pontil mark, the other in a beautiful medium emeral green with crude pontil mark! This was followed by a light yellow London Jockey Club Gin and an incredible Neptune Glass Works / Old Dominion / Mint Julip square.

Recenly dug by a western glass collector was a large size aqua open pontiled OLD SACHEM BITTERS/ AND / WIGWAM TONIC barrel.

Don't y'all be digging in my yard!!!

Pioneer pit-one bottle

Not all privies are created equal. Today's mid-afternoon dig proved that, again. The pit we had permissionized never happened, perhaps due to our "crack of noon" start. Saturday mornings are for "honey-dos", so neither of us were in any sort of a hurry. Well, we snoozed so we losed. LOL
The resident had boogeyed by the time we rolled up, so off we went to find something, anything, to dig. Both of us were tired of endless driving around town, staring at properties, so we decided to probe under a thick slab that runs along an alley. Poke, poke, poke, "tink", the sound of something out of place. Further probing told us that a very small pit lay just under the slab. It had crunch and some larger items could be felt, maybe glasseous vessels. Chuck opened 'er up and sure enough, it was a privy, and early, too. Too bad that the "crunchies" were pieces of window glass, and the solid hits turned out to be the bottles digger's nemesis, ironstone and busted yellow ware. BAH!! The bottom was "seedy" and all, but devoid of the bottles that we had hoped for. The ONLY salvageable items in that pit were a funky fat lipped food and a powder/shot flask, which is actually in better shape than most we find. Nicely embossed copper, it should clean up well. That hole was TINY. Maybe 2'X3'X2' deep, it had only small(quail?) bird bones and a few larger, "non-bovine" ones. There was a draw file, the bottom of an OP French mustard, and the usual fragmented pottery. As usual, I took nothing home, but had an hour's fun playing in the dirt. Our hopes are always up, so something has to break open one of these days. Time to "get out of Dodge", though, and visit some new territory, if there is such a thing.

All Aboard!

An old time digging buddy (we’ll call him Joe) called me yesterday afternoon to touch base and fill me in on recent happening’s with his life. In the course of our conversation he casually asked “Are you digging with us tomorrow” I don’t think so, I replied, I wasn’t invited. “Well I’m inviting you now” he muttered in a kind of offhand matter.

Truth is, I didn’t know anything about the proposed dig that Joe was talking about and was interested in the what, where, who and why of the permission he had obtained. Earlier this year I had written a permission letter for Joe to send off to the owner of a prospective digging site and was wondering if Joe’s “proposed dig” was the fruit of the permission letter that I composed.

No such luck, come to find out another friend of mine (we’ll call him Evan) had obtained the permission that Joe was inviting me too. The permission was in a gold rush town down the road a piece from where I live. I asked Joe if it would be Evan, Joe and I digging the site. In my book, two’s company, three’s a crowd and a having a third digger is a pain in the butt for splitting the goodies. “Well, no, I invited Dick and he invited the detector dude and Mr. Detector dude invited a couple of kids from the bay to help us if we get into anything good”.

Wow what a dilemma! I really had to think pretty hard about whether or not I wanted to spend my Saturday on a postage stamp size lot (I spent a year digging in the town of the proposed dig site back in the 1990’s) that had probably already been dug, with 6 other diggers, 2 of whom I had never dug with before.

Now if the homeowner didn’t flat ass freak out and give us all the boot, (7 guys with probes, shovel’s, tarps and more than likely a cooler full of beer) and we did manage to find a hole that hadn’t been dug, and we did find some keepers, then we would have to split the finds 7 ways. Was this sounding more appealing the more I thought about it or what?

There's a reason I live up here in this little town of 200 people, and it isn't because I'm lonely, so.......Against my better judgment I decided to do a little spring cleaning around the house, maybe listen to a ball game while I cleaned the tool shed and let those other 6 disturbed individuals dig holes in some stranger’s yard.

Bottle Auction Slated for May 24th

American Bottle Auctions has another terrific auction coming your way on May 24th, 2010. We’ve been assembling some fine pieces with a solid variety including lots of different categories and price ranges that is sure to have something for everyone. Bitters, sodas, whiskeys, inks, pickles and a few surprises are in store. We’ll keep you updated through the website and continue to show pictures of upcoming bottles. So, keep your fires burning and your house toasty warm as spring approaches we’ll be ready for the melting snow and sound of bottles being sold (whatever that sound is). At any rate, we’ll keep you updated and if you haven’t emailed your email address to us, simply type it in and we’ll keep you updated on all our new stories, auctions, blogs and more. This is going to be our best year yet!

by Jeff Wichman

If you want more information on the upcoming auction take a look at the American Bottle Auction site: www.americanbottle.com

rs

The Buckshutem Bitters

Late last week a friend of mine called about a bottle he had acquired from his son-in-laws grandmother. Got that? He was pretty excited about the bottle and described it to me in vivid detail over the phone. “Rick, it is a green color and has fluted shoulders with a bunch of writing around the bottle that says it’s a bitters with a pontil on the bottom” Whew... slow down and catch your breath buddy! After a few more minutes describing the bottle we agreed to meet the next morning to look at the bottle and start researching it.

As it turned out we both got busy and several days elapsed before we could meet to check this rare and desirable piece of glass out. When we did meet one look at the bottle pretty much told me it was a repo, but my buddy wanted me to contact the authority on bitters bottles and get a second opinion.

I took a few pictures of the bottle and emailed them to our bitters expert over in Lake County. The reply to my mail directed me to page 289 of the Bitters Bottle Supplement by Carlyn Ring and Bill Ham.

Doctor / Travis’s / Herb Biters / Water of Life / Guaranteed / To Cure Gout / Consumption / Dysentery / Ankylosis. And on the bottom Buckshutem, N.J. with a pontil mark.

"Supposedly this bottle was first made in the late 1960’s to early 1970’s in South Jersey as a joke for the Clevenger Brothers Glass Works owner Jim Travis, who was from Buckshutem, N.J, which was located just below Millville. Evidently the joke was on bitters bottle collectors, for when a few of these bottles showed up at bottle shows in the 1970’s, dealers bought and sold the olive green examples as antique bottles, with hefty price tags. Clevenger Brothers obtained the mold and later produced a small number of bottles in an aqua/Jersey green color, examples of which may be rarer than the initial olive green offering."

The mystery of the Buckshutem Bitters solved. Now my friend is claiming he owns the rarer variant of the bottle and wants to know what it’s worth. A rarer variant of a reproduction bottle? Come on now,
some people just won’t give it up!

Thanks to Bill Ham for the help in unraveling the history of this bottle

rs