Western Whiskey Tool Top Gazette

When 2+2 doesn't equal 4

2012-02-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

Got an email the other day from a non-collector. He'dspotted the sign next to one of my display cases pictured on the opening pageof the website. Said he'd picked one up at the estate sale of an old gold pannerdown in Northern California. He went on to say,"I am interested in selling it and was wondering if you could recommend aplace to do so and perhaps a "ball park figure" to ask as I am notvery well versed in vintage whiskies/bourbon memorabilia."

Here's my reply;

First, a bit of history of Fenkhausen. AmandusFenkahausen and Herman Braunschweiger entered into a "co-partnership"in 1878. Their flagship brand of whiskey was "Old Pioneer". Thelabels and the embossed bottles that contained the product, pictured a sideview of a California grizzlybear. It rapidly became exceptionally popular. Later, Braunschweiger left thispartnership to establish one by the name of Braunshweiger and Bumstead (ca.1881 - 1885). When Fenkahausen and Braunschweiger split up, Fenkhausen retainedthe rights to the Old Pioneer brand.

Braunshweiger apparently had a soft spot for thebear and as such, introduced his own "bear" brand ca. 1881 while inpartnership with Bumstead. It was named "Bear Grass". In order toavoid patent infringement he had a mold cut picturing the bust of a grizzlybear (as opposed to a side body view). It too became wildly popular.

The firm of Braunschweiger and Co. came to be in1886 after the partnership dissolution of Braunschweiger and Bumstead. Braunschweigerand Co. retained the Bear Grass brand atthat time. Other brands marketed by the firm included "Bear Valley","California Club", "Extra Pony", "Golden Chief","Golden Cupid", "Golden Rule", "Golden Rule XXX SourMash Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey", "Oak Valley Distilling: BrunswickExtra Pony Pure Bourbon Whiskey", "Silver Wedding" and "TennesseeWhite Rye".

When Fenkhausen died in 1893, Braunschweiger re-attained the rights to the Old Pioneer brand. This is a documented fact and an embossed bottle exists to prove this out. However, we do not have any evidence (with the exception of the reverse glass sign) that Fenkhausen ever had rights to or marketed "Tennessee White Rye". We are left with two possibilities, either the sign was a mistake (it is known that both firms ordered bottles, labels etc. at the same time from suppliers in S.F.), or the sign is a "fantasy piece". At this time, there are believed to be around a half dozen examples in collections. All appear to be old and the expense of producing a sign this size on a limited scale appears to rule out the possibility of a fake. And yet...?

Something just doesn't add up... And so fellow collectors; what's your take?

Photos wanted

2012-01-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

Good morning all~

I am in need of good, crisp, high resolution photos for the following bottles; Barnett #77,78,81,82. All four are clear tool tops. The photos will be part of a feature article that we've been working on for the past several weeks. Please forward them to me via email in .jpeg format. If duplicates are received, I'll pick out the highest quality photo to post. I will make the neccesary corrections in terms of cropping, sizing etc. but will not digitally alter anything else.

We are also in need of photos depicting Braunschweiger & Co. go-withs, shots, paper, letterheads etc. etc. etc.

Let me know whether you'd like credit for your photos in the footnotes of the article or not; and if so, prefer just initials, or would like your name published.

Thanks in advance!
Bruce

Weather permitting - See you there~

2012-01-19T07:59:00.001-08:00

Dues paid as requested

2012-01-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

I got an invoice a couple of days ago. It wasn't much by modern standards. Still, with the economy being what it is, I watch every personal out of pocket expenditure. The invoice was for the renewal fee on this website.

Starting as a firefighter, and ultimately leaving the fire service many, many years later as a chief officer; proactive vs. reactive behavior is ingrained in me. Try as I do, there are times when I just can't find the drive or creative juices to write something that I think will be good enough to interest my fellow collectors.

I refuse to crank out a couple of lines and attach a couple of crappy pictures just to make it seem like I made the effort. Although this site started out gangbusters, with lots of positive comments, and no negatives, and a hit count in the hundreds (and then thousands) per month, it seems to have settled into the doldrums. Frankly, there have been times when I have consider tossing in the towel.

And yet, this site now has amassed over thirty thousand hits since I installed the counter in the spring of 2011. I know, not much compared to Peachridge or some of the other "big dogs". But still; it appears that there is some sort of loyal following.

The proactive part of me says to keep with it. Guess I will. Hell, it's not like I'm the Incident Commander (IC) on a three alarm fire in the historic core... But, as an "IC", I knew when to ask for an extra hand. I'm asking now. I'm not the only one on the west coast with decent whiskies, memories, or writing skills.

And so today, I'm "requesting dispatch" for another alarm. I need backup.

Send me your photos and memoirs via email. Send me a writeup on a dig or a memory. I'll proof read, spell check, have you approve them and post them with your name or your nick name or alias.

Help Mr. Wizard. Let's keep this site fresh and fun!

Bruce

Happy New Year

2012-01-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

Here we are; 2012. A new year. I don't make resolutions though. Heck, I'd just break them so what's the use. I figure it's best just to give things your best shot as the opportunities arise rather than come up with some silly list of stuff that you know you're not going to stick to...

One of the things that I'd like to accomplish is to add to my collection again this year. Nothing big in the way of numbers though. I've got too much in the way of quantity already. No, I'd rather just pick up a few key pieces this year. I'd sure like to reacquire a Dr. Millers Ratafia Damiana. Or better yet, track down the one I used to have. Like that's gonna happen.

Seems though, like the harder I try to make things happen, the more frustrated I get. You know the story, no bottles when you've got a few bucks / no bucks when the bottles are available. Face it, you just can't force good luck. Nope, better just to be ready when opportunity knocks.

A while ago the phone rang. Hmm, odd area code; 802. "Yep, this is he. Yep, I know a "little" about western whiskies. Oh, you dug some? Congratulations! That's no small feat these days. So tell me what you dug". And so the caller related his and his partners dig to me. Turn stuff. The standard menu of tooled Crown Distilleries, Louis Taussig's, Roth's; yawn, zzzz...

Turns out they had dug a bomber of an outer behind what had been a railroad depot. These bottles had obviously made the trip with someone returning to the east coast and been discarded at the end of the line, in Vermont. Vermont from S.F.; now that's really the end of the line. Neat story anyway. But not quite the end of the story~

Oh, and had I ever heard of a Crown Cocktails, he asked? Sir, you have my attention! "Yep, neat bottle, amber fifth, both applied and tool top; also, it says "ready to drink". It's always been a favorite of mine. They're a tough bottle".

What he said next really woke me back up. No, it's clear, and it's got a picture of a crown and some other stuff on it. And, no, it's not a fifth, it's a little bitty thing.

After a short discussion, I was the proud owner of a "new" western picture mini. Talk about good things coming in a small package. C'mon opportunity! I'm ready for ya in 2012.

2011-11-23T20:18:00.001-08:00

Howdy all;

I received an email from Bill Curtis this morning regarding his acquisition of the C. W. Stuarts, and his observation about the similarity of the embossing area coverage on the Stuarts and the embossing pattern on the SHM. In the email, Bill sent a couple of rubbings along with the possibilty of the Stuarts bottle being a reworked SHM mold. An interesting consideration to say the least.

Bill noted,

Hello Bruce I got a Stuart`s lastweek after looking at it I dont beleive it is made from the Cassin`s mold youcan see the slugged out area on the Stuart`s fits the SHM but not the Cassin`salso the Cassin`s has a different bottom and the shoulders are different and ifthe Stuarts was made from the SHM that would explain the circle on the front ofthe Stuart`s let me know what you think maybe you can put this on your site.

First off, congratulations to Bill for having the good fortune to have the opportunity to acquire the bottle and have the funds to do it with (both at the same time). Seems like, at least for me, I have money when there's nothing available or visa versa... The Stuarts is a key piece and Bill should be mighty pleased to add it to his collection!

Rather than offering up an opinion in response to Bills email; I'm going to respond with a number of facts and questions. Maybe we can put our heads together and come up with a reasonable group hypothesis.

As we all know, mold modifications were a common place occurrence and we've seen numerous examples where So and So became So and Co. when the second "So" dissolved the partnership. Same goes for Bottled "For" being peened over, replaced by Bottle "By", etc. etc.

We also know that the glass factories maintained an inventory of blank half plate molds. These blank half plate molds were stocked for two purposes. They were stocked in order to allow the mold cutters ready access to blanks with which to fill an order for an embossed mold. They were also used as the back half (plain label side) of a two piece mold bottle.

We also now know, subsequent to the discovery of the Wilmerding & Co sign that documents both east and west coast distribution, that the firm was actively merchandising C. W. Stuarts, McKenna's, United We Stand, SHM (and a few other brands) concurrently.

John Thomas offered a hypothetical dating of this group as follows; Stuarts - ca. 1875 - 1883 / McKenna's - ca. 1874 - 1878 / United We Stand - 1878 - 1883 / SHM - 1874 - 1878. We discovered that the dating of the Untied We Stand was erroneous and that it was originally produced for the 1876 Centennial celebration. The length of the run, however, is still unknown but the commonality of all four bottles dates to ca. 1876 - 1878.

According to Thomas, the Stuarts was blown excusively by C&I of Philadelphia. The McKenna's and the SHM were blown both by C&I and in San Francisco, the United We Stand only in S.F. since none have been documented with the C&I base mark. Cunningham and Ihmsen remained in business until 1878. The question then begs, if the Stuarts and the SHM were blown at the same time, and by both eastern and west coast glass works, what would be the logic of modifying the mold by slugging out the embossing when both molds were in concurrent use?

We then look at logistics. Assuming that the SHM mold was no longer needed, and that the S.F. glass works decided to created a new half mold for the Stuarts, which makes more sense. Would they 1) Peen out all the embossing and then re-cut the old mold with a new "pattern" or 2) simply take a new fresh half plate mold out of stock and cut in the new "pattern"?

Personally speaking, based on my research, John Thomas assumed a lot without having the facts to back up his statements. As I've stated previously, John did the best with the research tools that he had available and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for giving us the foundation of research upon which we've continued to build. And in his defense, a lot of his assumptions made sense at the time based on the documentation that he had available.

Regardless, when one takes all the facts into consideration regarding the Stuarts, you have to question whether the shield was a reworked mold at all; regardless of whether it was a Cassins or an SHM~

Bruce aka Kentuckygem

SHOWTIME!

2011-10-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost Showtime; another week and change~ And this year promises to be a real treat for collectors and dealers alike! So what's different? Well, we sold out early this year. Dealer spaces and displays alike are full. And the phone continues to ring with inquiries from collectors and the general public inquiring about the show.

The same familiar faces at the Seven Feathers Casino Resort are back again this year to provide us with the luxurious accommodations that we've come to know and love. Dealers can look forward to the annual complimentary $100~ cash drawing and this years raffle drawings promise to be bigger and better than ever! Hourly free drawings for the general public promise to ensure a steady flow of folks off the street too.Thanks to many of the online sites, we've been advertised heavily on the Internet. We've also invested heavily in Pacific NW print to make sure that we've got a good flow of foot traffic off the street.

We've saturated the media from the California border to Portland and have visited every back water town in the surrounding area as well; plastering antique malls, junk shops, Mom & Pop Markets and anywhere else that the local citizenry might stumble across show flyer's and an invitation to have their hidden treasures appraised for free. And, as always, the ever popular live silent auction returns.

Displays this year include a couple of new offerings including what is considered to be the top EC&M collection in existence.

Bill, Dale, Scott, and I are looking forward to sharing another memorable weekend and seeing one and all. Come join us at Seven Feathers Casino Resort on October 15th from 9AM - 3PM ($10~ early admission Friday the 14th - noon to seven PM) for Canyonville 2011 - Antique Bottle, Insulator and Collectibles Show and Sale where, "You Can Expect the Best"!

Show Website: http://www.ecandm.com/canyonville/

Information: jsglass@q.com

Downieville 2011 - What's not to like?

2011-09-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Downieville show, much like the Canyonville Oregon show, has earnedit's own nickname. Friends and "family" these days just call it D'ville .

And the answer to "What's not to like?" is simpleand to the point. Absolutely nothing~ It's all good! Nestled in the highest ofthe High Sierras, Downieville is the ideal location for one of the west'spremier bottle shows and get togethers. The shows slogan should be, "step back intime". That hits the nail on the head.

Deb, my wife, had never made the trek, despite the fact thatI've been a regular from day one. This year, as full retirement fastapproaches, I put my foot down. Make time, reschedule one of the labs that youteach, and lets go forward, into the past. And much to my surprise, she did.

The drive from J'ville to D'ville is wondrous. We head outof our 1851 Oregongold rush town, drive for about a half hour on back country roads and thenblast into the present on Interstate 5. Barreling south at well over a mile aminute, we rocket to Corningin record time. From Corning we head southeast,stopping briefly in Chicoat Trader Joes (priorities...), finally arriving in Oroville for both peopleand truck refueling. And then the regression begins. Lazy one lane roadsmeander through the scrub oaks and Jeffery Pines as we wander eastward throughthe Sierra Foothills. As we cross the dam at Bullard's Bar, a wondroustransformation takes place and we emerge in the High Sierras. Sugar pines,yellow pines and tall cedars replace the lowland vegetation. The air isclearer, cleaner, crisper and bluer. Before we know it, we turn left on Hiway49 and trek north as the North Yuba Riverdances downstream, outside the passengers side window. And then suddenly weround the last bend. Magically, we return to the past in J'villes Californiacounterpart. Downieville aka "D'ville", ca. 1849. We've arrived.Forward into the past.

It's around 4PM and it's 90ish and change; warm, real warm,by D'ville standards. As Tim, Rick and Lou dealt with setup logistics, wedecided to wander around town for a bit. Talk about dejavu. Downieville, like Jacksonville, is akin toturning the pages of a Norman Rockwell book of prints. History is around everycorner. Well preserved and restored historic buildings abound. Friendly folkssmile and say hi~. Local dogs meander, kids play, fisherman try their luck atthe river and the mountain bikers slowly come back in to roost. With an hour tokill before things start getting into gear over at Simiville, we decide tocheck into our home away from home for the weekend.

Located just before the iron bridge as Hwy. 49 crosses overthe Downie River, the Carriage House Inn perches on the west bank on CommercialStreet. It's cute, it's clean, it exudes personality. And Liz, the "soleproprietor", is wonderful. She's perky, attentive, and a greatconversationalist; (not to mention very attractive). We were fortunate to beassigned room #3. It has a private bath, queen bed, microwave / refer, aleather sofa, and a balcony overlooking the river. Wonderful for kicking backand taking in the D'ville late summer afternoon.

Around 5:30 we decide to migrate upslope to prospect for aparty. We stopped to check our pans about a quarter mile up Main Street. We'd heard that a seriouspay streak was rumored to have been discovered on the grounds of the oldD'ville Brewery. Man did we hit the mother load there! There were"prospectors" from all over the west congregated.

Wil and JeanneClark had the 49 Wines tasting booth set up. Standing room only. Wil has been agreat mentor to those of us that enjoy wine, but still need to polish up on thefiner points of appreciation.

Much like the rendezvous of 150 years ago, bottleprospectors came together to enjoy a night of festivities that will not soon beforgotten. As always, the food was simply awesome! Memorable snapshots include the ever present karaoke inside theSimiville Saloon, which started with acouple of the ladies (L & J) bursting forth with a rousing rendition ofLove Shack. Followed by a couple of the ladies (J & L) bursting forth withyet another rousing rendition (or two) of Love Shack. Lane, not to be outdone,proceeded to test the theory of gravity. Yep, Newton was right. And gravity still works just asgood these days. Rick and I visited outside while the gang inside put Simi'sframing abilities to the ultimate test. The '06 S.F. Earthquake could not haverocked the Simiville Saloon any harder. And yet, it stayed on it's foundation.No small tribute to the master builder!

As the evening progressed, we spent time mixing with as manyfriends and fellow collectors as the hours allowed. Slowly, close to midnight, thecrowd began to run out of gas and we all migrated back to our homes away fromhome for the evening. I'm sure my thoughts were mirrored by everyone else. Whata great get together! The hours flew by; the evening over too soon.

Debs cell phone alarm went off early, way early, like 5:30AMearly! Nothing like a technologically advanced four year old grand daughter toget your morning off to an early start. Remind us never again to ask "Alli" how toprogram the alarm before leaving on a trip; at least not until she's ateenager and wants to sleep until noon...

Wide awake (well sort of), we begrudgingly crawled intoaction. Shower, shave, Advil... and a banana washed down with coffee. Frankly,I don't recall a thing about the early morning, although somehow the racks gotset up, the whiskies arranged, and folks started stuffing money in my hand inexchange for bottles. Around nine AM things started to gel again and I thought,heh, this is all good. Especially after Ferd was kind enough to snap a digitalof me with the flash locked in the off position. I owe him big time~

The show saw a steady flow of folks through the doorsstarting early on. I was pleasantly surprised by the interest and sales ofcommon stuff off my table like Sarsaparillas, Dr. Kilmers, cures, remedies, andthe like. Sure, I had them priced cheap but at least there seems to be arenewed interest in entry level bottles by folks (both young and not so young).

And there was also an obvious interest in the top end ofbottles as well. Here's a list, down and dirty, of some of the all stars thatchanged hands; Dr. Bell's Cocktail (?) Bitters shaped like a bell, 3- DingensNapolean Cocktail (?) bitters - shaped like a banjo, Salutarius bitters SF indark green, GO Blakes, J. Moore / Chielovich, Old Woodburn, California Clubhouseand an ST Suits, an Old Cabin Bitters in light amber, a yellowish Wormers pint,a couple of Tea Kettles, a complete and matching set of cobalt Carters Cathedral inks,plus God knows what else... By the time the dustsettled, a healthy six figures in top end antique glass had changed hands inone day. Sounds like a new fangled gold rush to me.

Fast forward to Saturday evening and a renewed chance to relaxat yet another BBQ. And once again, both food and conversation flowed. Beingsomewhat adventurous, I took a chance on a sausage that intrigued me. Rick mentioned that Tim had supplied it and it wasn't just your basic off the shelf Johnsonville Braut. Hmm, what a nice surprise. It lookedlike something I'd enjoy, since I'm well known in J'ville for creating my own brands of "Silva'ssausage". Warren,sitting next to me, tried the same. After a couple of bites, the real surprise setin. This wasn't just any sausage; it was nuclear sausage. Sweat poured out -beer and wine poured in. It wasn't enough. The heat just kept cranking. @#$% ^*!!!! I felt like the star of Man vs. Food,and the food was winning; in a big way! Higgins, we owe you.

Saturday AM greeted us with the sounds of the Downie Rivergently gurgling past our room and continental breakfast on the verandah. A couple of trips to the truck, another brief chat with Liz, room checked out, keys turned in, and we were onthe road again.

I thought that we'd try a different route on the way home. Itwas pretty, and pretty long~ Please remind me next year not to take the"shortcut" home via 49 to 89 to 70 to 36 and down into Red Bluff nextyear. (What the hell was I thinking?) 8+ hours home. Almost makes the Bullard'sBar to Oroville drive look like a cake walk...

Late afternoon finally saw us crawling down the long dustygravel lane up to our place. Full of great memories of the D'ville weekend thatwe dream about every year.

Two simple words describe the show;

Great Job!

Only on ebay...

2011-09-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

**RARE** KELLOGGS NELSON COUNTY EXTRA BOURBONWHISKEY

Don't you just love those photos~

<><>

*Buy It Now!* Price:		US $500.00	Buy It Now
Item number:	270811640239

Item Description

· ROUND AMBER WHISKEY BOTTLE

· MOLD LINE STOPSAT BASE OF COLLAR

· EMBOSSED ON THEFRONT: KELLOGGS NELSON COUNTY KENTUCKY BOURBON WHISKEY W.L. CO SOLE AGENTS

· INSIDE THREADSWITH SCREW CAP ALSO EMBOSSED KELLOGGS BOURBON

· THE W.L.CO LOGOIS EMBOSSED ON THE BACK SHOULDER

· APPROXIMATELY 113/4" TALL

· IT HAS NO CHIPS,CRACKS OR BREAKS A LITTLE DIRT ON THE INSIDE

That's right boys and girls. Step right up, don't delay, bethe first on your block to own this extreme rarity.

Yep; ONLY $500~. (plus $15.90 postage and handling)

Such a deal...

Zero hour approaches!

2011-09-07T07:46:00.000-07:00

Last I checked it was the 4th of July. And now, here we are, just a few days from September 10th and the annual Gold Rush show that everyone looks forward. Yep this weekend is......................Downieville!

SEPTEMBER 10, 2011 (Saturday) - HISTORIC DOWNIEVILLE CALIFORNIA ANTIQUE BOTTLES & COLLECTIBLES SHOW. Saturday, September 10, 2011. Show hours: 10 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (8:00 a.m. for early lookers and admission is free after 10 a.m.) Downieville School Gym. Contact Info: Rick or Cherry at (530)289-3659 or email: ricksimi@att.net.

Here's a quick run down of things to look forward to;

Wine tasting starts about 5pm on Friday, the 9th. Saloon is open. BBQ is served about 7pm on Friday. Rick says that they are expecting quite a few for the Friday night fun.

Word has it that half of the L.A. bottle club will be in attendance. Rumor also has it that two people will be bringing in a box or two of bottles to sell off the street. Not sure who they are or what they're bringing. A Gold Rush square? Belt Buckles? A Bryants cone? How about a green Kentucky Gem for your truly?

Displays this year are rare California beers from the O'Neal collection, Western miniatures from the Higgins & Lindgren collection and bottles from the Pisano collection. Lou L. will be bringing some of the stuff that almost never sees the light of day.

Lodging in Downieville has always been scarce. True to form, all rooms in Downieville are full, but Sierra City still has lodging. Call ahead to make arrangements!

Sounds like there might be a couple of tables left for last minute dealers. Any questions; give Rick Simi a shout.

Looking forward to a great weekend and seeing one and all. Stop by the table and say HI!

Thanks to Dave G. for the high quality .jpeg of Downieville 1850~

You be the judge

2011-08-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

True to his word, Andy V. had his friend shoot photos of his Hassmer. I received them this morning.

The base style of both Andy's, as well as my glop and tool top, are all what Thomas termed style one "1870 - 1890 / Majority of older whiskies". The texture of the base on my glop is fairly smooth,

whereas Andy's has the texture of an orange.

One thing is for sure though; whomever applied the tops on both sure didn't skimp on the amount of glass used. Take a look at that spillover!

Anyway; Pontiled or not?

What say ye?

Hassmer revisited

2011-08-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Andy V. mentioned the possibility of an oddball Hassmer variant with either a sticky ball or graphite pontil scar on the base. His comment got me curious. As I mentioned before, it's obvious that both the tooled and applied top examples in my collection originated in the same mold. The font, spacing, etc. etc. etc. are identical when compared with photo overlays and caliper measurements.

The mold was modified to improve the finished product by the addition of a couple of air vents on the reverse shoulder, but that's the only thing I noticed. Until Andy mentioned the base on his.

Although the bases proper on my two are identical, a mold number was added when the venting was done as the glassworks transitioned from glop to tool tops.

I sure would like to see a photo of Andy's.

The cause or the cure?

2011-08-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

I did a display with that title many years ago. It was kind of a what came first, the chicken or the egg, quandary dealing with western whiskies and bitters.

Most, if not nearly all, west coast liquor wholesalers had both a bitters and a "hard beverage" lineup of products. I used to enjoy thumbing through Bill & Betty Wilsons books on both bitters and whiskies and actually built up a pretty respectable collection of matching bitters and whiskies by company. I've since sold off all but a couple western bitters, and have instead focused on western whiskies, primarily cylinders.

Some time ago, I had the opportunity to add a glop top cylinder to my collection. It is without question, one of the crudest and rudest globbies I've got. It's embossed in grand full face style; "Valentine Hassmer's / Lung & Cough Syrup / Price Per Bottle $1.25 / Five Bottles To A Gallon / P. O. Box 1886". No city or state listed in the embossing, but the crooked right leg on the "R"s left nothing to the imagination. And the style of the glop top, along with the color of the glass cinched it for me. It had to be from San Francisco. And so it sat, flanked on one side by a McKennas and the other by a Hilbert Brothers.

As so often happens, I stumbled across another, only this time tooled, but yet blown in the same mold. Hmm, another "crossover". It's a bit more neatly made, no doubt because of the addition of two funky looking air vents located on the rear shoulder, with nowhere near the character of the glop.

But it has two important features that the globby doesn't; label and contents.

The label, like a picture, is worth a thousand words. First off, the price embossed on the front is the same as on the glop top, but the label states, "Price per bottle $1.00". It also decrees that the company was now incorporated, and shows the physical address as 933 Washington St. It states that the tar black stuff inside was "For all diseases of the Throat, Lung and Catarrh Fevers" and that "It will cure Consumption". It goes on to give dosing as a wineglass three times a day - but the patient may increase the number of doses a day at will (Geez, ya think?).

Armed with the information on the label, I did some snooping around the "musty halls of history" and found out that Valentine Hassmer made his debut in San Francisco in 1873 as a "grocer, provisioner and liquor dealer". He located at the corner of Washington and Powell (which is actually 933 Washington as listed on the label). From what I could surmise, he also made his home here, as was often customary, because no residence is listed separately. In 1876, he is listed as dealing in groceries and liquor. This listing remains the same until 1880, when he is listed as dealing in lung and cough syrup, still at the same address. Everything remained status quo for the next 22 years, until October 21, 1902, when the business and building was offered for sale. Looks like he stretched the truth a bit when he claimed established 1864.That or the almanacs failed to note his presence.

The last advertisement for the business appeared in the November 28, 1902 edition of the San Francisco Call.

Valentine Hassmer disappeared from the radar for good after the publication of the Crocker Langley business directory in 1904.

There's no doubt in my mind that this particular bottle qualifies as the ultimate crossover between glop and tool top whiskey and quack cure. And no, I don't plan on sampling it. It's probably a combination of rot gut high proof whiskey and rotten vegetables~

Good Golly Miss Molly!

2011-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Been a busy day here at "tool top central".

You guys are awesome! Here's another fresh batch, some of which I've never been fortunate enough to even handle.

Please, don't forget me when you make out your will...

Belle of Mason

Chesleys Jockey Club - (Clubs)

Notice the nearly identical engraving on the Half Dollar (or visa versa). Coincidence? I think not.

And yet another "full face" Columbian.

Who said that "13" was unlucky. Wished I was lucky enough to have this 13 base Eagle Glen on my shelf!

Gold Dust Rye

Well now. It really does exist~ Looks like a nominee for the top shelf to me!

Log Cabin WOW!

Pacific Club

Another offering from the Pacific North West.

Phoenix - large bird / right face

"Green Tea"

But wait, there's more!

Not a picture, but tough to beat for downright rarity.

Top 20 Update

2011-07-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the positive and upbeat emails. Looks like we're on to something good here!

I'll continue to post new photos and nominees in the coming days.

Here's a killer tool top and a definite contender for the list~

Nabob

Got a call a little while ago. Guess I've been caught~ I only included California tool tops. Must be because "I left my heart in San Francisco"... OK, so here's a couple more; one from Spokane WT., the others from Portland Ogn.

Red Stork

The Jorgensen "gang"

A Novel Idea

2011-07-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

I've always found it interesting, bordering on ludicrous, that there is no Top Ten (or twenty or whatever) for the much maligned tool top whiskies. I know, I've heard it before, the "Thomas mindset". But really... stop and think about it; many of the rare tool tops survive in vastly smaller numbers than the glop top "hitters". I'll go so far as to limit the list only to tool tops produced in dedicated toolie molds; not the crossovers that were transitioning from glop to tooled, and blown in the same mold.

I'd love to work up a Top #10 or #20 with everyone's help. Your input is needed, so let's hear it.

Here are some of my favorites off the shelves here, in no particular order.

1) Laurel Crown

2) Golden Bourbon

3) OPS

4) Tea Cup

5) Rothenberg Gamecock

6) Royal Stag

7) Non-Pariel
(Pareil - huh?)

8) Atlas

9) Ahrens Bullwinkle

10) Columbian

11) Spears

12) Gold Dust

13) Boulevard - Buneman Merc.

14) Choice Old Cabinet

15) Copper Distilled

16) Pepper (circle)

17) Samuel Bros. - OK

18) Golden Eagle

19) Eagle Glen

20) Tom Parker - E.A. Kolb

As long as we're tossing things against the wall... How about the "13 base" series. Most are tooled, but there's a couple of applied top anomalies that were blown in the mold. I say, let's toss them into this mix as well~

Yep, I know, there's a bunch more that are infinitely rarer. So... send me a picture (pictures) along with your opinions for say, the Top 20, and let's get the ball rolling!

JUST A QUICK REMINDER~

2011-07-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hi All.

Reno is this coming weekend.

Reno Antique Bottle & Collectibles Club
47th Annual Show & Sale

Early Buyers Friday July 22 10am-6pm
Saturday Show and Sale 9am - 3pm
Reno/Sparks Convention Center
4590 South Virginia St., North Entrance, Reno, NV.

Info: WILLY YOUNG, PH: (775) 746-0922.

The Silver Pick Strikes~

2011-06-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, I receive news of a good find. However, it seems that good finds are fewer and further apart these days.

The defeat of Senate Bill 870 will continue to make Oregon finds all but non-existent, since it will remain illegal to dig for bottles on either "public" (spelled government owned) or private (even with written permission) property. Yep, the State lays claim to everything, even on private property. Big Brother has a real stranglehold on us up here.

California diggers are either keeping a low profile and not talking, or the ground has already gotten too hard and digging has slowed to a crawl. Not even the die hard pick and shovel guys are bragging these days.

Back in January of 2010, you will recall an article on this site about the F. W. Bradley amber cylinder from San Diego. http://www.westernwhiskeytooltopgazette.com/2010/01/fm-bradley-san-diego.html

According to those in the know at that time, "This is a very rare San Diego tool top short fifth, dating 1900 (turn of the century). There is this one and it is damaged with stone bruises on the body. There is a mint one in the old Kallis Collection. That makes 2, if there is anymore I haven't heard of them. The flask are tough, as with many of the San Diego bottles, especially the embossed whiskey stuff, but, this flask is one of the more common of what we have. The company that put this out was F.W. Bradley here in Dago on the border." Since then, I was made aware of the existence of a couple more mint examples of the cylinder. Still, this is one tough bottle.

Out of the blue, I got an email yesterday that goes to show that even if picks and shovels aren't digging up good glass, the old silver pick (cash) still works. A California poison and pot-lid collector stumbled across a real gem at an estate sale down in Hemet. Yep, an about mint example of the F. W. Bradley!

He was good enough to share a bunch of photos. Take a peek!

The collector went on to say "The only small "issue" (if indeed it is an issue) is a small elongated surface bubble on the shoulder, which is not burst through, but shows two tiny pin prick rough points, on top of the surface bubble...otherwise I would rate it as v.good condition".

They also said that the bottle is available and that they would consider a fair offer on it. As you all know, I do not discuss values or provide recommendations on this site. However, if you are interested, as a service to the collecting community, I'll be happy to forward your emails on to the owner and let you work out the details.

Congratulations on a great find! Thanks for sharing.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

2011-06-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

According to Hemingway, in his now famous novel of the aforementioned title, it tolled for a guy named Robert Jordan .

But not according to Morris Newman. Seems that for Newman the bell tolled for something more useful than a book. Like Whiskey. And Newman's claim to fame was the Liberty Bell brand of whiskey.

Newman arrived late on the scene; setting up shop in 1902 at 256 3rd St. A look at a map of San Francisco shows the address to be 2 1/2 blocks off of Market and just a few blocks off the waterfront and the Ferry Building; a can't fail location. He must have had a few nickels to rub together because he had a phone installed in his saloon right off the bat (Green 464 was the number). He stayed there until 1904. The phone number changed that year to Black 4632 (although the reason escapes me). I'm guessing that Liberty Bell may have been the name of this saloon and the bottle was blown when he was at this address.

The "Liberty Bell" is one rare picture whiskey. I've had one; and only seen one other one~. It's a bit unconventional in shape, being smaller in diameter, but with a taller cylinder than a "normal" fifth. It may be a fifth, but I'd lean more toward a "short fifth".

In 1905, "M. Newman" pulled up stakes, for reasons unknown, and relocated to new digs. Not sure if it was divine providence that convinced him to move, or just dumb luck, but the new location at 3150 "24th" St., out in the Mission District, survived the Great Earthquake and fire in April of the following year. The new location was on the outer fringes of the "burned area" whereas his old location on 3rd Street was reduced to rubble and ashes on April 18th, the first day of the fire...

The new location apparently fared well. Records indicate that the saloon doors remained open on 24th Street until 1908.

Although no embossed bottles are known to exist attributable to that location, three label only cylinders remain. One, the Bohemian Club, is an exceptional piece of artwork. It is also significant because it has the "Pure Food and Drug Act" declaration on the label, thus positively linking it to the new location based on the date.

Another, "Extract of Ginger" is multi colored debossed litho with gilding.

Just plain fancy!

A third contained Brair (sp?) Ridge. It is a pint cylinder with the Riley Patent inside thread closure commonly used in the mid to late teens. The label pictures a distillery. Inquiring minds want to know and I was curious to see where the distillery was located and whether this was a true old Ky. bourbon or a west coast distillery posing as one of the good ol' boys. Hmm, I found no record of a Brair (possibly mis-spelled) or Briar Ridge distillery anywhere in the country. Still, it looks impressive on the label...

After 1908, there is no mention whatsoever of M. Newman's saloon or liquor endeavors at the 24th Street address. However, he is listed on the 1910 census. It states that he was born in 1865, was a native of Hungary, and married to a Charlotte "Lottie" Newman and resided in the 32nd district in San Francisco. The 1915 directory does still list Morris and Lottie; residing at 2424 Howard Street. There is also a reference to M Newman & Co. but no address for the business was listed. The mystery gets cleared up by the 1917 directory which states that the business was being run out of their residence on Howard St. It also lists a new name; "M & A Newman Wholesale Liquors". In 1918 the business name reverted to M. Newman & Co, and the residence address moves to 2835 Howard St. Why the short move? In 1919 Morris and Lottie remain at the 2835 address, although the listing simply states "liquors".

And then, the trail goes cold. Obviously Prohibition forced a career change and Newman, like everyone else in the wholesale liquor scene, was forced to reinvent the wheel when their livelihood was taken away. Still, he made a pretty respectable showing, having been in the wholesale and retail liquor business for 17 years~

Subsequent to 1919, no further record is found of Moris and or Lottie Newman in San Francisco. After grabbing at straws for a couple of days, I ran a search of Mortuary records as a last ditch effort to locate Newman. At last, a hit. Records show that Morris Newman died at his home in Los Gatos, California on October 22, 1932. At that time he was still married to Lottie. His funeral service was held at Halsted Mortuary, located at 1132 Sutter St., in San Francisco. Morris Newman was 67 years old.

Justin Liquor Co. - Bad Whiskey or Bad Timing?

2011-05-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

No record of the Justin Liquor Company exists prior to 1905. In that year, Justin Taravellier and Louis Cames partnered up and the Justin Liquor Company embarked on it's short career into the wholesale and retail liquor trade. Taravellier had prior experience in the form of retail liquor sales, tending the bar at his hole in the wall saloon located at 23 6th St. in "The City". Cames, on the other hand had been a mail carrier for the post office prior to entering the liquor business. How he and Taravellier came to be partners was at first a mystery. Cames residence was half way across town, too far to become acquainted in the saloon and too far from Taravelliers home to have been neighborly. Regardless, as 1905 dawned, they became co-owners of the upstart Justin Liquor Company and set up shop at 317 O'Farrell at the corner of Mason St.

After what seemed like hours of sleuthing, an obituary in the San Francisco Call dated April 13, 1902 appeared and the mystery was solved; Taravellier and Cames were related; their lineage traced back to France. Other than that nugget, and a delinquency notice filed against Taravellier for $50~ (late payments on shares of stock) by the Kilauea Sugar Plantation Company, both managed for the most part to avoid the press. In fact, the Justin Liquor Company never placed an ad. However, they did have two variants blown of an amber quart cylinder and had one order filled for two different etched shot glasses with the company name emblazoned on the front.

The Justin Liquor cylinders are big gutsy bottles. The turn of the century was an exciting time full of prosperity and more was better. Gone were the days of the cylinder sixth of the 60's and the fifth of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Full Measure / Full Quart was the order of the day. But the bottles were, frankly, ugly and awkward in appearance. And so, petaled and swirled shoulders were added to the lineup of molds offered by the glass works. A definite improvement in my book, although the cost must have been prohibitive since few wholesalers stepped up to the plate for the fancy molds... However, putting their best foot forward, at least one order for two different Justin fancy shoulder bottles were filled at the glassworks; Both are embossed "The / Justin / Liquor / Co. / S.F. Cal."; within a circular slug plate ; one embossed "Full Quart" above "The", the other embossed "Net Contents 32 oz." at the base on the obverse. Me, I like the Full Quart; it sounds like you've getting more...

The bottles are rare. We've had a total of three over the years, two with net contents (one was damaged) and only one of the Full Quarts. I don't recall seeing more than a couple of others. The glasses are also exceptionally rare. There are two different styles in existence; one is simply lettered, the other is a "picture" glass. I've had one of the less ornate of the two, and have seen one other and one of the picture glass.

The Justin Liquor Company disappeared just as fast as it surfaced. There is no record or mention of the company after 1905. So what happened?

It appears that the company managed to hang on by a shoestring into 1906. Oddly enough, there is no mention of the Justin Liquor Company in 1906, only reference to a saloon at the 317 O'Farrell address. On April 4, 1906, the bartender in the saloon at that location reported a burglary whereby someone entered the premises and stole the cash register. No cash was taken since it was empty (obviously business was booming..) and the sum total of the loss was the register itself. It was later recovered in a yard at 357 O'Farrell St.; just a few doors down. A couple of weeks later, the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire sounded their swan song. Both the Taravellier and Cames residence, and the business address for the Justin Liquor Company (actually again just a saloon proper), were smack dab in the middle of the burned district.

San Francisco was dry (no liquor sales permitted) from April 18, 1906 onward into the summer. As normalcy slowly returned to the city, so did the flow of liquor. On August 14, 1906, a saloon license was granted to Taravellier and Cames to be located at 2768 Mission. The post earthquake 1906 Crocker Langley states simply, Taravellier and Cames, liquors, 2778 Mission (I verified both addresses and am guessing that the discrepancy is a typo error). No mention of the Justin Liquor Company at all.

Bad liquor or bad timing? As they say, timing is everything. The Justin Liquor Company's was simply the worst~

Many thanks to Ken S. for the shot photos~

Thomas Taylor~

2011-05-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's ever had a love of antique western bottles, the Comstock Lode, or pre-prohibition San Francisco whiskey is no doubt familiar with the name. We often refer to him and his bottles simply as Tommy Taylor, or Tommy T.

One of the most treasured applied top whiskies is embossed, "Thos. Taylor & Co. / Importers / Virginia, N.". Drive up through the Sacramento Canyon on I5, north of Redding California, and you'll see an off ramp sign in the middle of no-where. It reads simply, Vollmers - no services. But do a little studying, and you'll find that Vollmers was originally a railroad construction camp in the 1880's named because of the abundance of Thos. Taylors / P. Vollmer's Old Bourbon consumed at that "hell on wheels" camp. That bottle is embossed Thos. Taylor & Co. / Sole Agents For / P. Vollmers / Old Bourbon / Louisville, Ky.". The bottles and shards that have been recovered in that vicinity have all been applied top variants. However, that mold was used during the period of transition and tool tops also exist.

The bottles have always been a favorite of mine and I've had a number in my collection over the years. However, the history of the man behind the whiskey has always lurked in the shadows. That was until now. Friend, Fred Holabird, has completed the draft for a new Nevada Bottle book. At 600 pages, replete with 3000 illustrations, it has been five years in the works and will become the definitive "go -to" for lovers of Nevada History, Nevada bottles, and the people behind those bottles. And with that, I offer, the history of Thomas Taylor, by Fred Holabird.
_________________________________________________________________

Thomas Taylor

San Francisco 1858-1869

Taylor 1858-1861

Frisch & Co. (Taylor) 1861-1863

Frisch, Taylor & Reichel 1863-c1865

Taylor & Co. 1865-1866

Taylor & Bendel (liquor) 1866-1869

J. (and N.) Van Bergen 1869-on

Taylor & Bendel (groceries) 1869-1874

Taylor’s Death 1874

Virginia City, Taylor & Co. 1863-1883

Taylor & Co. (Frisch) 1863-1874

San Francisco (Taylor & Co.) c1883-c1912

The "Thomas Taylor, Virginia, N." whiskey bottles remain as some of the most prized western whiskey bottles by collectors. Taylor was a major liquor supplier to the saloons of the Comstock Lode though only a few embossed bottles carry his name. These bottles stand as one of the few permanent remnants to the saloon days of Virginia City during the 19th century bonanza era.

Taylor’s wholesale liquor business became the exclusive or sole agents for many of the main-stream brands of liquor of the day. In addition, Taylor brought in special whiskies that became tremendously popular. The Company withstood the death of the founder at a young age and prospered in the post-Comstock era by using the same business model that Taylor created.

The Taylor Company sold its San Francisco liquor business to John Van Bergen in 1869. Taylor continued to run the Virginia City liquor business from San Francisco. Years after Taylor’s death, the Company re-emerged in San Francisco, regaining their once prominent market share.

Tom Taylor’s company created a flavor of whiskey during the Comstock bonanza period which became so popular that it withstood the test of time as it was passed on through his successors. It became a national name brand product known as “Tom Taylor Whiskey” today.

Taylor In San Francisco

Thomas Taylor began his liquor career in San Francisco during the 1850’s amid the California Gold rush. Taylor was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1831. He came to California, first working in Sacramento , then in San Francisco to mine the gold of pocketbooks, which poured open as the whiskey flowed. By 1858 he had started his own wine and liquor business at 109 Clay Street. In 1861 he became a partner with John G. Frisch at 413 and 415 Clay Street in San Francisco, living at 716 Union Street. The business was known as Frisch & Co.

The Comstock Discoveries Cause a Rush To Washoe

Discoveries of massive amounts of silver and gold in the mountains east of the Sierra Nevada made the news in western newspapers in 1859. George Hearst and others built several mighty mining companies that reaped precious metals from the ground. The Gould & Curry and Ophir mines were among the first of the very rich mines that produced millions right away, easily rendering Virginia City the largest and richest ore deposit yet discovered in America.

Taylor and Frisch came under the Washoe spell, and took the tough, rugged trip to Virginia City in the early 1860's, possibly as early as 1862. Frisch and Taylor undoubtedly recognized the need for a wholesale liquor business in burgeoning Virginia City, and the potential success if he could keep the merchants supplied. This was not an easy task for a whiskey merchant, since importing barrels and kegs of whiskey meant long, difficult hauls over the Placerville-Genoa wagon road. By 1863, Virginia City was rivaling San Francisco as the financial center of the west. It was certainly the western mining center, and much of the business transacted in western mining camps went through Virginia City one way or another, including whiskey. Taylor and Frisch were keenly aware of the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, and its planned completion into western Nevada in 1868. The rail line would greatly facilitate the shipping of whiskey, and those that had their business in place when the railroad was completed stood to profit the most. Taylor and Frisch made sure they were ready.

Taylor became one of the first of the San Francisco whiskey merchants to recognize this golden opportunity. Others would follow - E. Martin, Chielovich and others took advantage of the Nevada mining camp booms to put their own saloons in remote mining camps such as Virginia City, Hamilton and Eureka. Elia Chielovich was perhaps the most prolific, acting as a partner in saloons in nearly every major Nevada mining camp of the late 1860’s to 1870’s, insuring the widespread distribution of the whiskey brands his wholesale house controlled.

Frisch buys Virginia City Property

John Frisch bought a lot and building in Virginia City from Adam Gerheuser for $2500 in April, 1863. The lot was centrally located in town between B and C Streets, thirty feet wide and 125 feet deep. A two story brick building was later built on the property to house their liquor business.

Frisch began the setup of the Virginia City business while Taylor and a third partner, William Reichel, ran the San Francisco wholesale liquor business at the same locality, 413 and 415 Clay Street.

Taylor Acquires Virginia City Property in March, 1865

The business was underway by late 1863, possibly known as Taylor & Co. Frisch formally transferred title to the property to Taylor in March, 1865. Meanwhile, in 1864, Taylor had purchased another parcel and leased it for three years to Rice & Livermore for their drug store on the corner of Taylor and C Streets.

Taylor began to take control of the burgeoning liquor business in Virginia City. His firm acquired control of important brand names, and in 1866 Taylor acquired the Virginia City building (64 S. C St.) and stock of a major competitor, Robert Mitchell. Mitchell ran one of the wholesale San Francisco liquor businesses, known as Mitchell & Co. or Mitchell & Adams. The Mitchell & Adams building remained the focus of Taylor’s Virginia City wholesale distribution business. Taylor and Frisch’s other building acted as the pair’s warehouse facility.

Taylor Sells San Francisco Business to Van Bergen

While Taylor and Co. had set up a substantial business in Virginia City, the San Francisco business also flourished. John Frisch retired, and Taylor’s name took the masthead. In 1866, Hermann Bendel became his partner, and remained so in San Francisco until Taylor died in 1874. The partnership was known as Taylor & Co. at first, and later as Taylor & Bendel. Bendel may have purchased Reichel’s share of the Company.

Taylor and Bendel sold their prestigious San Francisco liquor business to John Van Bergen in 1869, and Van Bergen took over Taylor’s warehouse at 413-415 Clay Street. The Van Bergen family also took over the many brand name products that Taylor had acquired, including Dr. Hufeland’s Bitters.

John Van Bergen had started in San Francisco in the late 1850’s on Washington Street. His firm went on to last nearly fifty years.

San Francisco Remained Taylor’s Home

While Taylor kept a busy business in Virginia City, he and his family continued to keep their home in San Francisco at the Union Street house, and stayed there until he died. Taylor hired two managers in Virginia City in late 1867, Ed Finch and George White. The managers operated the wholesale business in Virginia City while Taylor continued to manage the liquor and later grocery business in San Francisco.

Julia Bulette & Taylor’s Whiskey

Taylor’s third year of business in Virginia City in 1866 provided some interesting customers. The Comstock’s most famous prostitute, Julia Bulette, bought her wine and whiskey from Taylor. The day after she was murdered on January 20, 1867, the entire fire department escorted the funeral carriage to the cemetery. The murderer was caught and hanged fifteen months later. Papers filed in the estate included an unpaid bill of Thomas Taylor on one of his custom printed billheads. Wine, brandy and a bottle of bourbon whiskey were part of the $41.50 bill.

Business seemed to do well for Taylor in Virginia City and San Francisco. During the early 1870's, the economy in both places flourished. The Comstock saw the first of the truly big bonanza ore bodies discovered that would make millionaires out of men like John Mackay, James Fair, John Jones, William Stewart, Alvinsa Hayward, and others. Merchants like Tom Taylor were not far behind. Taylor continued to purchase property in Virginia City. He bought three different city lots in 1872 alone. In 1873, he leased one of his properties to Livingston & Co. of San Francisco, liquor wholesalers that may not have represented a threat to Taylor’s business.

Taylor Dies Unexpectedly

Tragedy struck on March 16, 1874, when Taylor suddenly died in San Francisco at the young age of 43. The obituaries were short:

Thomas Taylor, of Taylor and Bendel grocers at 407 and 409 Clay Street died 3:16 am after a brief illness. The deceased was an old and respected resident of this city.

Unfortunately, none of the other obituaries carried any information about this man, and part of his life is lost to history. There was no indication of children, or of family plans.

Taylor’s estate took two years to settle. Hermann Bendel and W. O. Weissich were executors, though no copy of a will was ever filed in Virginia City. First, in March 1876, the Taylor Co. leased a space in the Tahoe House at 72 South C Street, with E. Frick acting on behalf of the Company. This may have been to facilitate retail sales, perhaps a saloon. Then in April, Bendel and Weissich sold half interest in the main Taylor & Co. building to A. Koch for $200. The Taylor Company leased it back two years later.

Mrs. Taylor sold the Virginia City liquor business back to Frisch after Tom died, but Frisch knew a good thing, and kept the Taylor name intact. Taylor's reputation and whiskey recipes were so good that the company lived on more than 40 years after his death, becoming an important west-coast liquor wholesaler, and later one of America's premier distillers. Tom Taylor Whiskey is the grandchild of Thomas Taylor.

Taylor's business in Virginia City would show three or more different addresses over the years. While he clearly had the central part of the business at 64 South C Street, he also had a separate warehouse in the building that he and Frisch bought in 1863. The town changed street addresses several times, creating a lot of confusion, but three of the addresses are so close, that they were clearly part of the renumbering process. The first address was 64 S. C Street during the 1860's. By 1873 the address had changed to 72 S. C Street. After the great fire of 1875, their address was 68 S. C Street, quite possibly the same location. It is a tribute to Taylor's business, that after his death, in conjunction with a fire that burned most of Virginia City, the business was rebuilt quickly and successfully, resulting in many more years of whiskey sales.

Merchants Scramble For A Piece of the Taylor Pie

The Taylor & Co. San Francisco wholesale liquor business closed shortly after Taylor’s death, reopening after the closure of the Virginia City business several years later. It is clear that the Virginia City business remained "business as usual", even though it also changed hands, and the grocery part of the business was sold to Fred Tillman. There were at least four partnership changes over twenty years, including Gustav C. Vocke, who was a partner as early as 1894 and sold out in 1901.

The ownership in Virginia City also changed after Taylor’s death. Ed Finck and George F. Hill became owners and operating partners sometime after Taylor died. Finck lived at the business location, and Hill lived at 202 1/2 S. C Street. Frisch may have been a silent senior partner, remaining in San Francisco.

The Taylor & Co. liquor business remained mainly wholesale with the possible exception of a saloon in the Tahoe House. By 1878, there were about 110 retail liquor dealers in Virginia City, and about 30 more in Gold Hill. Taylor & Co. were one of the few wholesalers. By comparison, there were only 16 liquor dealers in all of Arizona Territory in 1878, and nearly 1600 in San Francisco alone.

Virginia City Operation Closes

The Virginia City business remained in full operation through 1883, when the owners closed the Virginia City location during a severe depression, and moved back to San Francisco, reopening under the leadership of new partners, B. Frisch and Charles Cellarius at 311 Sacramento Street, using the old name of Thomas Taylor & Co. Taylor's family and business interest probably ceased when Mrs. Taylor sold out to Frisch et al in 1874 and moved back to Munich. In the 1890's, Taylor's liquor business expanded to Cincinnati, Ohio for national distribution. The Taylor & Co. San Francisco business lasted until about 1912 when they were merged into the Taylor Distilling Company. Cellarius moved back to Cincinnati to work for the Taylor Distilling Co., of which he may have been an owner.

The Taylor Products

During the many years the Taylor name adorned whiskey products, Taylor & Co. made numerous name-brand products. Taylor was an astute businessman, and realized that his wholesale liquor business might thrive if he became the exclusive or sole agent for popular brands of liquor. It was a method of market control. If Taylor could pick the right products, he could force strong business since he was the only distributor of that product. In this manner, any saloon that wanted a particular brand of whiskey controlled by Taylor had to come to him.

In the 1860's, Taylor & Co. were the sole proprietors of Dr. Huffeland's Celebrated Swiss Stomach Bitters, which was distributed out of San Francisco and Virginia City. There are no known embossed bottles from this bitters made during Taylor’s lifetime. A tall, amber embossed bottle bearing that name was later made by Taylor’s successor, N. Van Bergen. The Company acquired the rights of sole distribution for Mumm's Champagne and other name brand products that certainly must have been a positive factor in income. Taylor acquired the rights to P. Vollmer’s whiskey, Alpine Herb Bitters, Cyrus Noble and others. Good whiskey was rarely produced on the west coast by any company, and these exclusive ties to the Kentucky distilling industry were essential.

Taylor's businesses in both San Francisco and Virginia City were important to the economy of the Comstock. Not only did Taylor's liquor business supply liquor to retailers and saloons, he also supplied liquor, empty barrels, and related hardware to the mines. The Taylor and Bendel wholesale grocery business supplied many of the mines with miners candles and other sundries.

The Taylor Bottles

There are a number of different embossed bottles from Thomas Taylor’s San Francisco and Virginia City operations, as well as successor companies in Cincinnati and elsewhere. These include the Taylor - Virginia N., the Taylor – Vollmer clear flask from Virginia City, several different fifths from San Francisco, and his Alpine Herb Bitters. Many other embossed whiskey bottles bear the Taylor name, such as “Wright & Taylor” and “Old Taylor,” but these are from different Taylor families in Kentucky. Old Taylor is a brand name made for Edmund H. Taylor of Georgetown, Kentucky before 1900. Wright & Taylor were John Wright and Marion Taylor of Louisville (c1893-1915), who trademarked Taylor’s Golden Rye and Kentucky Rye. Neither were apparently related to Thomas Taylor of San Francisco. Old Taylor is now a product of Jim Beam. The Cincinnati Taylor operation produced no known embossed bottles. Brand names shown on an 1897 Tom Taylor letterhead indicated whiskey produced under the Vollmer Old Bourbon and Tom Taylor Old Hand Made Sour Mash Bourbon names. A shot glass is all that remains of the Tom Taylor name about that time. Modern glass signs bearing the Tom Taylor brand name are known and appear to date from the last twenty years. A search through brand name records on the internet failed to disclose the present brand owner and distiller.

Dating the Taylor Bottles

Dating the Taylor bottles is a difficult, but achievable task. John Thomas, in his epic work Whiskey Bottles of the Old West, discussed the manufacture of glass bottles, particularly whiskey bottles, in great detail. His work on the subject is incredibly important, and overlooked or misunderstood by many collectors.

The chapter discusses the evolution of glass blowing and embossing. Thomas studied whiskey bottle mold patent designs. In so doing, he discovered the evolution of the molds themselves, which tells us a lot about dating a bottle. Use of air vents in the mold and molded lettering evolved over time.

Some of the earliest molds made on the west coast were made for the Pacific Glass Works in 1863. Some of these earliest bottles had no air vents in the letters, and little or no air venting in other important areas of the bottles themselves, such as the shoulders. Lack of air venting caused problems. One was an imperfect surface, which in some cases led to a “whittled” appearance. Another feature of the early, non-air vented bottles was imperfect lettering. The letters appear flat, and are not well rounded in three dimensions. This was caused by injection of the glass into the mold and into the letters. Since there were no air vents in the letters, the air pushed or misplaced by the injection of the mouton glass had nowhere to go. It was trapped in the ends or tips of the letters, the part that would have made the letters stick out away from the glass. The air could not escape, and therefore an air pocket was formed at the tip of the letters in the mold, which could not be filled with glass. The resultant appearance was flat lettering, an attribute typical of all early western whiskey bottles.

About the time it was noticed that air vents were necessary in the letters, it became apparent that air venting was necessary in other parts of the molds. Vents were placed in the center of the shoulder on two piece molds and later in the same place with four piece molds. Vents were also placed along the mold seams, thereby not detracting from the original appearance.

As these air vents were developed, the manufacturer had to find a way to incorporate them into the mold process while still allowing uniform cooling. To do so, air chambers were constructed inside the mold itself. These air chambers served as connection points for all the air vents in a specific part of the mold, and allowed air to escape through other vents in the mold’s exterior.

Gradually, through time, air vents changed in size and placement The goal of the glass bottle maker was a bottle with no whittling or visible air vents.

THOMAS TAYLOR & CO. VIRGINIA, N. 1863-1874

Perhaps the most famous of the Thomas Taylor bottles are the two embossed whiskeys from Virginia City. Taylor had both a fifth and a sixth cylinders made bearing the name of his company, and identified the city as "Virginia, N." There is speculation that the sixth is an earlier bottle, based on research that shows sixths were a common form of bottling during the late 1860's and early 1870's , though the majority of the embossed western sixths are distinctly from the 1870’s. The Thomas Taylor sixths are much rarer, with only about 7 known. Four of these are yellow amber, one is a deep chocolate amber, and two are a beautiful deep grass green. The fifths are more common, but still quite rare, with about 15 mint specimens, and another 5 or so that are not quite mint. These bottles range in color from dark amber in shades of chocolate or red, to yellow amber. Estimating the exact ages of the fifth and sixth bottles is not possible without more research. Certainly the date range of Thomas Taylor himself is a guide, rendering a date of 1863-1874.

The Taylor sixth whiskey bottles are made from two piece molds with flattened letters and little evidence of air venting. The yellow and amber fifths are also two piece molds with little evidence of air venting, except along the vertical seams. Some fifths have tiny air vents in the shoulder at top center, but bottles that have been professionally polished may have had the air vents removed. The letters of the fifths are much better pronounced, which may indicate that the sixths pre-date the fifths. The Taylor sixths and fifths compare favorably to other very early western whiskies. The Evans & O’Brien whiskey from Stockton also exhibits flattened letters, and at least one example in the Kille collection contains considerable impurities in the glass, typical of the early bottles made by Pacific Glass Works, such as the Wright soda bottles mentioned in this book. These bottles clearly are a product of the 1860’s by comparative analogy.

Since Taylor took over the property in name in 1865, it can be assumed that the Thomas Taylor, Virginia N. bottles date from the 1865-1874 period, and were probably used during that entire period. The sixth may date from the first half of that period, circa 1865-1869, and the fifth may date from the second half, circa 1870-1874.

The usage of the term “Virginia, N.” was different from other Virginia City merchants who always used the term Virginia or Virginia City. John Hittel even picked up on it when he listed Thomas Taylor, “Virginia, N.” as “one of the leading business houses” in his Commerce and Business Industries of the Pacific Coast in 1882. The usage of Virginia, N. has been seen on other rare occasions by the author. It is not exclusive to Taylor, though it is certainly unique embossed on a bottle.

THOMAS TAYLOR & CO. & P. VOLLMER

The story of the Tom Taylor Company and Phillip Vollmer partnership parallels the story of the wholesale whiskey business in the west. Taylor, as one of the most important and influential of the western wholesale whiskey merchants, was keenly aware of important brand names. These brands were the business – the best selling brands were what brought in the majority of the business. When Taylor and Frisch sold their San Francisco wholesale liquor business to John Van Bergen, so too went with the business the popular, moneymaking name brands that Taylor had acquired through leases, such as Dr. Huffeland’s Bitters and Mumm’s Champagne.

The Taylor Company’s Virginia City wholesale liquor business needed another important name brand whiskey to help sales. By 1880, the most popular brand Kentucky whiskeys on the west coast were J. H. Cutter and Jesse Moore, among a few others. The Cutter brand was under agreement with Hotaling, and Jesse Moore whiskey was under agreement with Elia Chielovich.

In a slick business trick as old as time, the Taylor Company went after a young clerk who worked for the Jesse Moore Company, Phillip Vollmer. Vollmer had relatives in Virginia City, and as a clerk for the Jesse Moore Company in Louisville, he was in a perfect position to bring a similar recipe to the western marketplace.

While in Virginia City, Tom Taylor became associated with Phillip Vollmer, who was interested in marketing his own brand or recipe of whiskey. Vollmer was part of a whiskey distilling family from Louisville, Kentucky. There he created a flavored whiskey for the Jesse Moore Company that Taylor thought so highly of that he became sole agent in Nevada and probably California. His ads bearing the Vollmer name began showing up in 1877 and lasted until at least 1883. Meanwhile, Vollmer had relatives in San Francisco. John and Henry Vollmer ran a liquor business there from at least 1870 to after 1877. Another Vollmer, M. Vollmer, was the senior partner in a saloon at the William Tell House opposite the Bank of California in Virginia City. Taylor was probably friends with the family since he shared the same business at both western locations. P. Vollmer stayed in Louisville, Kentucky and set up a distillery and wholesale whiskey business. Taylor acquired the right to sell Vollmer's whiskey exclusively sometime in the 1870's, possibly 1876.

The Tom Taylor Company sold Vollmer's whiskey from the Virginia City location in a clear whiskey flask embossed with Taylor's and Vollmer's names about 1877-1883.

There are at least four variants of the San Francisco whiskey fifth: three applied top variants, and a tooled top, amber cylinder. Some of the tooled top bottles are crude, others neatly made. Taylor & Co. sold Vollmer's whiskey from their San Francisco facility after 1883 and well into the 1890's. The older, applied top Vollmer whiskey cylinders were probably distributed both in Virginia City and San Francisco. There are three distinct types of older Vollmer whiskey bottles, one a red whittled indented slug plate, made in a four piece mold; an amber indented slug plate, and the other an amber to yellow-amber "ridge slug plate", though the "ridge slug plate" is not known in red amber. The difference between the two is shown in one of the photographs in this section.

The “indented” slug plate is distinct from the “ridge” slug plate because the entire area of the slug plate is recessed from the normal curved surface of the bottle, such that the background inside the slug plate is recessed about one quarter inch from the outside surface. The “ridge” slug plate has the identical embossing, but instead of the slug plate area being recessed, it simply has a ridge outlining the slug plate area, such that the background inside the slug plate area is at the same surface level as the rest of the outside of the bottle. The ridge slug plate variant appears to be slightly later in date of manufacture. The red amber fifths are more recent bottles, generally dating from the mid to late 1880’s.

The recessed panel slug plate design was invented in 1874 and patented in 1875 by Gustavue Storm of Philadelphia. The “ridge” slug plate was a design that followed the recessed panel slug plate. The latter pattern is clearly a knock-off or copy of the true slug plate, and are known by at least one author as “pseudo slug plates.”

The connection of Taylor and Vollmer was distinctly Nevada, and both the Vollmer and Taylor bottles bear tribute to Nevada's whiskey and saloon industry.

THOMAS TAYLOR & CO.'S ALPINE HERB BITTERS c1888-c1896

Sometime in the 1880's, Taylor & Co. created Alpine Herb Bitters. The date of creation is uncertain, though Bill Wilson in his book Western Bitters, claims that Alpine Herb Bitters was only distributed in 1888. We now know that Alpine Herb Bitters was made and distributed at least during the period 1888-1896. A record of a patent for the Alpine Herb Bitters in US Patent records was not found, though it may have been under another man's name, and therefore difficult to locate. Unfortunately, Patent records are not well indexed, adding to the difficulty in research.

There are two distinctly different embossed bottles bearing the Alpine Herb Bitters name. The earliest is a very crude amber, square, applied top bitters, of which at least four specimens are known. One of the applied-top specimens was dug in Virginia City by Vera Bennett, an early bottle digger of the 1960's. This bottle has all the ear-marks of a bottle made well before 1888, but as yet, there is no documentary evidence of Alpine Herb Bitters before that date. One might make the assumption that the applied top Alpine bottle might have been made just after the company re-emerged in San Francisco in late 1883, but more research is needed to study that possibility. The second bottle is a very neatly made tooled top square bitters, with a nearly identical embossed pattern. There may be less than two dozen of the tooled top variety known, though there was no attempt made to inventory these bottles in collections. This bottle could easily date to the late 1880's, but the first bottle certainly seems older based on comparative construction, though applied top bottles are known as late as 1899. Neither bottle carries a town name, indicating the possible distribution of the product in more than one city.

Taylor's letterheads from the 1890's reflect the marketing of Alpine Herb Bitters, and it certainly was distributed from San Francisco as late as 1896. No records were found from Taylor's Virginia City operation that could place distribution of the early applied top Alpine Herb Bitters in Virginia City, though this still remains a possibility. Several other western bitters are also found in both applied and tooled tops, an indication of manufacture throughout the 1880's and 1890's at least. These include: Hibernia, Pipifax, Dr. Thos. Hall's, Jewell, Louis Tausig, Excellsior, Booth, and Dodge & Co.

The Alpine Herb Bitters name and recipe was probably sold or leased to other companies for distribution, particularly after 1901. An amber, round neatly made bottle with an Alpine Herb Bitters label shows the agent as N. Van Bergen, and another neatly made, post-1906 paper labeled bottle shows Wichman-Lutgen as the agents.

Without more information on the recipe, it is difficult to ascertain the contents. Many would like to know which alpine herbs were used, and from what part of the Sierra Nevada they came, the only alpine environment around. More research may solve these mysteries.

There are at least three other embossed bitters bottles bearing similar names. Swiss Alpine Bitters , Swiss Alp Bitters (2 varieties) and Hungerbuehler’s Swiss Alpine Bitters. Any relationship between these and Taylor’s Alpine Herb Bitters is unknown and deserves more research.

Discussion

The significance of the "Thomas Taylor, Virginia, N." whiskey bottle should not be underestimated. John L. Thomas, in his book Whiskey Bottles of the Old West (1977, Maverick Publications and the 2002 edition) lists about 200 important embossed western whiskey bottles, including variants. R. E. Barnett, in Western Liquor Bottles lists nearly 1,000 different western whiskey bottles, including variants. Among these, only one is from the 1850's (Barry & Patten), and only three could be from the 1860's. These are the Evans & O'Brien; Thomas Taylor, and Weil Brothers. A fourth example, the plain, but colorful grass-green Pacific Glass Works whiskey bottle is certainly 1860's, but was omitted from Thomas’ work because no merchant name is embossed in the face of the glass. Another bottle, the G. O. Blake’s Pond, Reynolds bottle has a company date of 1868-1875, but John Thomas felt strongly in a letter to the author that the bottle must have been made after 1870 because of the style of manufacture.

The new list of western whiskey bottles from the 1850's and 1860's is:

1. Barry & Patten (1850-1856)

2. Pacific Glass Works (1863-1868)

3. Thomas Taylor, Virginia, N. (1863-1874)

4. Evans & O'Brien (1868-1875)

5. Weil Bros. (1868-1874)

Of additional significance is that four of these first five western whiskey bottles are from the Stockton-San Francisco area, the major merchant wholesale distribution center for the west coast, and only one is from an interior mining region, Virginia City.

Taylor Bottles – Still Found in Nevada

Most of the Taylor Virginia N. cylinders and clear flasks have been found in the Virginia City and Gold Hill areas. Two sixths were found under a house on B Street about 1980. A sixth was found in Unionville, Nevada; a fifth in Silver Hills (north of Fallon), and another in Oroville by Pete Irlati. It should be noted that at least one Thomas Taylor, Virginia, N. bottle was made in the same style as the Hotaling shoulder crown - made with dark glass, large top, and squatty shoulders (Kille collection).

The Great Comstock Lode

The Comstock discovery was an unexpected strike eleven years after gold was found at Sutter's Mill by James Marshall. News of the discovery spread fast, first to Nevada City, Downieville, and Placerville, then to San Francisco. There was such a rush that thousands made their way over the rugged Sierra through Placerville, often taking a month for the trip on foot. The world didn't get a glimpse of Virginia City until April, 1860, when Hutchings' California Magazine published the first view of Virginia City.

“In Washoe almost everybody lives on beans and bacon, and the common drink is water diluted with arsenic, plumbago and copperas , and corrected with "rot-gut whiskey" warranted to kill at forty paces, generally understood to be composed of strychnine, tarantula juice, oil of tobacco, and other effective poisons, including a dash of corrosive supplement."

Taylor certainly must have watched with great interest the excitement of Washoe in the San Francisco papers, and probably even read Browne's articles in Harper's Weekly, including A Peep at Washoe, and others.

With cries of "Gould & Curry" and "Ophir" heard everywhere in San Francisco, the western papers touted the Comstock Lode as the greatest mining discovery since the mother lode. By 1865, the Comstock was producing $16 million per year, mostly from those two rich mines.

Thomas Taylor – A Common Name

Coincidentally, there were several other men by the name of Thomas Taylor active in the Comstock region during this era. In the early 1860's, Thomas G. Taylor was making a name for himself in the mines of Virginia City. This tall, slender man would become one of the best known mine superintendents on the Comstock. He came to Virginia City from New York City in 1862, working as a miner in Gold Hill. Taylor's leadership qualities soon sent him up through the ranks, and he became superintendent of the Yellow Jacket mine in Gold Hill, and was present at the tragic mine fire in 1869 which killed 68 miners. He supported the Sutro Tunnel, and signed a petition in favor of the project. After his many mining successes, Taylor retired to San Francisco and listed himself in Langley's 1882 San Francisco Directory as a "mining expert."

Tom Taylor, the mining engineer, was a popular man on the Comstock. In one colorful story published at the time, Myron Angel related this true story of Taylor: Sheriff Howard of Virginia City had a habit of summoning odd juries, and Taylor, as a tall man, was on his list. "Lawyers went crazy trying to get the attention of the jurors" and Howard summoned squint-eyed men, fat men, thin men, the ugliest, handsomest, and tallest. Taylor was one of the tallest in town, and Governor Blasdel at 6'5" was the tallest.

A third Thomas (J) Taylor had an opera career, and was performing in McGuire's Opera House in Virginia City in 1864. A fourth Thomas Taylor was a miner at Como who moved to Austin in 1864 and became a prominent man there. And yet another Thomas Taylor was a bookkeeper in Virginia City, coming to the Comstock from Pennsylvania. Curiously, the last four Taylors were all about the same age (50 in 1870, about ten years older than our liquor merchant), in fact, within three years of each other. Another four Thomas Taylors are listed in the 1870 Nevada Census, all working elsewhere in the state, and probably unrelated.

http://www.holabirdamericana.com/

Oregon Digging Update

2011-04-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

2011 session

Senate Bill 870

Relating to archaeological objects.

Provides that certain statutes do not apply to person who intentionally discovers archaeological objects on person's own property, or on property of another with other person's permission, and retains objects for personal use.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Measure activity House Senate

Feb 22, 2011: Introduction and first reading. Referred to President's desk.

Feb 28, 2011: Referred to Judiciary.

Votes

No vote to date...

Last Stop - Chico. All Aboard - Next stop - Antioch~

2011-03-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

A quick follow-up and thank you is in order. Randy emailed me shortly before the show and said "I even put in an order for warm weather to melt the snow next week." True to his word, the weather was perfect and the trek down and back north was excellent.

Chico this year was the best in recent memory. Lots of neat stuff on the tables. Many thanks to all that took advantage of the "fire sale prices" at my table, as well as those that helped me bring back more than I arrived with. I know "hoarditis" is an illness. And incurable. But it's an illness in a good way and as such, I'd prefer to remain both infected and contagious.

This coming weekend is Morro Bay. I hear that it's a killer venue. Small but fun and often loaded with sleepers. Sadly for me, it's two days down and two days back; and as such not on the plate. I'd love to hear what slips in the door this year, so please, do tell!

And so, we next set our sights on Antioch.

April 8 & 9 Antioch, Ca.
Contact: Gary & Darla Antone
925-373-6758
packrat49er@netscape.com

It's an old school show, dating back decades. If memory serves, I first attended the Golden Gate Historical Bottle Society show in the very early 70's, back when they were located at the Cow Palace in South San Francisco. Always fun, always packed with good people, and good stuff, this is another can't miss show and as such, I'm as excited about being a part of it in 2011 as I was in 1970!

Again, hope to see all at Antioch. April in the Bay Area is "the" time to visit! So why not tie your mini vacation in with a great bottle show?

March Madness - Relief at last!

2011-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

Winter in Southern Oregon. I hate it. Cold, wet, gloomy; seemingly never ending. It starts around the last week of October, and by the first of March, what little sanity I ever possessed is gone.

The second weekend of March signals a turning point for me, and is something that I look forward to annually. That weekend is prominently circled on my calendar every year without fail. And what happens that weekend? My annual early Spring pilgrimage to central California. Warm weather, usually rain free, bright green pasture grasses and orchards bursting with blossoms. Oh yes, and bottles! Yep; it's time for the Chico show.

MARCH 11th & 12th CHICO CA.

45th Annual show & sale

Friday 10-7 $5 admission

Saturday 9-4 free admission

Silver Dollar Fairgrounds - Chico

Contact Randy Taylor 530 518-7369

rtjarguy@aol.com

Hope to see you there!

PS: Got whiskies to sell? Come see me, I'm always in the market to buy!

Fred and Christian Hilbert

2011-03-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago Dale posted an interesting short on Hilbert Bros. He addressed the rarity of the cylinders, both glop and tooled, and it got me to wondering about the reason. As mentioned, there's around a half dozen of the red whittled German connection glop tops, and a lesser number of the western blown tool tops in collections. But why? Thomas listed a time line for Hilbert Bros. proper of 10 years, and Hilbert Mercantile of another 3...

The "rest of the story" took some time to dig up, but the reason for the rarity of these bottles becomes crystal clear.

Fred H., and Christian H., Hilbert did indeed set up shop in 1890. The first reference that I found was in the Crocker Langley directory for 1890. But, they were located not on Folsom St. (as Thomas stated) but instead at the NW corner of Seventh and Bryant. I could find no evidence supporting Thomas's claim that they ever were located on Folsom St. They remained at Seventh and Bryant for two years, and located to 101 Powell in 1892. By then they were listed in bold type and it appeared things were going well. They obtained telephone service in February 1893 and were assigned #3171 by the Pacific Telephone and telegraph Company in February of that year. Trouble appeared on the horizon as early as the following month. On April 6, 1893, Hilbert Bros. advertised the 101 Powell St. address for sale.

Not only was it for sale, the ad stated "must be sold".

The firm had a "near miss" with disaster on the evening of Oct. 29, 1893, when the fire department responded to an alarm at an address listed as 101 - 103 Powell St. Firefighters extinguished a fire in the area used for wine storage. Cause of the fire; unknown. Hmm, I guess that's one way to deal with cash flow issues. Looks like the torch could have used a little practice though.

The 1893 Directory is missing from the archives but by 1894, they were listing their address as 101 - 103 Powell St. Instead of bold type, they were back to being shoehorned in with the rest of the small time operators and all but disappear in small font size. 1895 saw them reassigned with a new telephone number (South 171) but still at the 101-103 address on Powell. Early 1896 appears status quo but by the fall of 1896 all reference to the 101 Powell St. address vanishes and they are listed exclusively at the 103 site. The S.F. Call of October 1, 1896 lists their "old established liquor store and bar" for sale.

On January 18, 1897, the noose appears to have tightened further and their enterprise (grocery and bar) was offered simply for lease, lock stock and barrel, for the princely sum of $750~ for three years.

The following tidbits are irrelevant to the early bottles and their rarity, but nevertheless provide a little more insight into the workings of the business. Thomas states that the name of the firm was changed to the Hilbert Mercantile Co. in 1903. An ad dated Dec. 7, 1903 supports this and advertises them as Pacific Coast Agents for ABC beer.

The 1905 directory does indeed list Hilbert Mercantile, located at 136 - 142 2nd. St. Things get a little cloudy about this time though. A newspaper article dated October 28, 1905 lists Hilbert Bros. as the creditor in a suit filed against F. Cavagnero (Columbian Bourbon). Not sure what the name discrepancy was all about. Another contradiction appears in the form of an ad from this year showing their Bourbon Whiskey being sold at fire sale prices. Note the name; (Hilbert Bros.). It would appear that the beginning of the end was at hand and they were grasping at straws to hang on.

Oddly enough, the pre-Earthquake 1906 directory fails to list either Hilbert Bros. or Hilbert Mercantile. Although Thomas states that they were destroyed in the disaster, evidence point to the firms demise shortly before.

That being said, it is evident that they were exclusively at the 101 address embossed on the bottle for only two years; 1892 - 1894. Times were apparently tough during that window of opportunity. Best guess is that they jumped in with both feet and had private molds made as soon as they moved into the 101 Powell St. location. Once the initial supply was used up, their product was probably bottled with paper labels only to reduce expenses.

Had the firm prospered, one would expect to see volumes of advertising, and a bottle embossed with both the 101 and the 103 address. Instead, we see one amber full face cylinder design (both tooled S.F. Glass and German connection glop top), another clear (both tooled S.F. Glass and German connection glop top), with 101 embossed and another S.F. Glass full face tool top sans any address in the way of early bottles. There also exists an extremely rare coffin with the 101 address on it.

Newspaper archives are completely and totally void of any advertising and it appears that they were either content with, or forced to, make ends meet on a very small scale. The firm of Hilbert Bros. seems to have endured ongoing financial hardships for it's entire life span. The early years were tough, but they managed to eke out an existence, barely, and we have that to thank for the exceptional rarity of their early glass.

PS: For the record, contrary to Thomas's claim, the tool top from my collection pictured above, is as crude and rude as most of the 80's glop tops sitting on my shelves...

Aloha~

2010-12-17T12:06:00.000-08:00

This time of year, the relentless Oregon winter gloom, accompanied by rain, snow and pogonip (ice fog), turns my thoughts to Hawaii.

I've always had a soft spot for "the islands". My father lived on the big island (Hawaii proper) forever. My daughter and her family resided on Oahu, just outside of Pearl Harbor off and on for several years. I've spent my share of time on these islands, as well as Kauai and Maui. There's just something about the warm sea air, tropical breezes and billowing white clouds that soothes the inner beast.

And of course, there's the history~ Lots and lots of history; much of it intertwined with the pre-prohibition San Francisco wholesale liquor trade. Molokai, Hawaii and Oahu are all well known for the quantity and quality of western tooled and glop top whiskies found there. The towns, cane plantation dumps and mountain ravines have in the past (and continue to) give up treasures. Treasures with names like Spears Pioneer, Cutter, M. Rothenburg (cluck - cluck), Lilienthal, and Spruance Stanley all abound in collections over there. Hilo, Kona, Lahaina, Wailua, Ewa, Kihea, and of course Honolulu, have all produced spectacular S.F. whiskey finds over the years.

And we can't forget to give due credit to the whiskies indigenous to Hawaii proper. A thriving liquor trade existed from the eighties through to prohibition. The oldest, C.L. Richards & Co. - Honolulu S.I. (Sandwich Islands) dates to around 1858, is olive green and should by all rights have a big ol' blowpipe or iron pontil scar on the base. As far as I know, there's only two in existence.

Next in the batting lineup is the slug plate MacFarlane & Co. I've spent countless hours in the archives, located on the Iolani Palace Grounds in downtown Honolulu. There's a wealth of information there, if one is patient and dogged enough to figure out how and where it's stored... MacFarlane (actually G.W. & Co.) dates back to the early eighties. He was first located in the Beaver Block, a two-story structure located at Fort and Queen Streets, which was completed in 1882. Progressive, his building sported the first elevator (albeit manual and not electrified) in the islands, allowing patrons easy access to the second floor, from the Beaver Saloon located on the first. Competition must have been stiff as the front page of the January 1, 1887 (Honolulu) Daily Herald has multiple advertisements for Hackfield, Lilienthal, Spruance Stanley, Martinelli, and of course, MacFarlane. Conjecture has long been tossed about that MacFarlane & Co. actually became part of the Lilienthal corporate umbrella and the slug cylinders bear more than a passing resemblance to the Van Schuyver and Crown Distilleries slug plates. If so, the merger occurred post 1887 as evidenced by this newspaper. The MacFarlane slug plate was made over a wide time span, and as such, the bottles evolved from the crude glop tops of 1882, into the neatly made tool top era, ca. 1910.

Walter Chamberlain Peacock, abbreviated to W.C., was another successful wholesale liquor magnate whose success spanned many years. W. C. was originally an English businessman. Upon his arrival in the islands in 1881, Peacock entered into the Hawaii wholesale liquor arena with George Freeth. Later, Freeth took leave and the firm of W. C. Peacock & Co. was born. In 1890, Peacock had the Royal Saloon Building built in Honolulu’s Chinatown district at Nu‘uanu and Merchant Street. As his liquor fortunes continued to pile up, he branched out and had the 75-room, 4-story Moana Hotel constructed, which opened in Waikiki on March 11, 1901. Each room featured a bathroom and telephone (luxurious amenities at the time).

The hotel also boasted Oahu's first electric elevator. The bottles produced for the Peacock empire range from the red whittled "German Connection" glop tops of the nineties, through the neatly tooled era.

Most of the later bottles look as though they could have been blown yesterday. Sadly, prohibition spelled the end for the wholesale liquor portion of Peacocks financial success story.

Lovejoy & Co. can be positively dated as far back as 1899. The Honolulu Republican announced that one parcel had arrived aboard the S.S. China on Jan. 4, 1899 and another on the S.S. Alameda on Dec. 6, 1899, destined for Lovejoy & Co., but was being held pending receipt of duties to be collected by the U.S. government customs house in Honolulu. Hawaii had been added as a US territory in the summer of 1898 and an ongoing battle between the feds and the local merchants had been simmering for months (sound familiar?). A lengthy search of the archives revealed that David H. Lewis and John D. Holt were the principals doing business under the firm name of Lovejoy & Company. Interesting to note that both Peacock and Lovejoy sued the Republic of Hawaii on March 29, 1899, in an attempt to recover their goods. The disposition of the case is not known although all indications are that they lost the suit since the classified ads announced an upcoming auction of their goods some months later. Regardless, Lovejoy & Co. continued to prosper well into the 20th century. Although not, common, the amber tooled cylinder is a mainstay in most western whiskey collections.

Last, but not least, enter Hoffschlaeger & Co. I found one reference to Ed Hoffschlaeger & Co dating as far back as 1889, although there was no indication of whether he was involved in the sugar business or in retail goods at that time. I was able to trace the firm proper, as liquor dealers, back as far as 1895. The (Honolulu) Independent posted an advertisement on Nov. 7 for Ed Hoffschlaeger & Co, located on King St. opposite Castle & Cook, dealing in Wines, Liquors & Beers of the highest grade. He also boasted a large selection of carpets and rugs, along with sewing machines, baby carriages, pianos, organs and guitars. Sounds like a 19th century version of Wal-Mart if you ask me... A like ad, that appeared in the Daily Bulletin dated October 30, 1893, is virtually identical, but lacks any reference to liquor. Hoffschlaeger too, was a victim of held goods by the Customs House having one package withheld from the shipment that had arrived aboard the S.S. China on Jan. 4, 1899.

The S.S. Kinau was part of the Wilders S.S. (steam ship) Co. fleet of mail ships that made a constant and revolving circuit around the island chain at the turn of the century, delivering goods and mail.

The preceding trade card announced to the inhabitants of the big island, that their orders from Hoffschlaeger & Co. would soon be filled.

Since the firm does indeed date to the tail end of the applied top era, there could quite possibly be a globby floating around somewhere. At this time though, all are neatly made with tooled tops in shades of amber. Most are quite light, although I've seen one that approaches espresso in color. Like Lovejoy and Peacock, the firm prospered until being killed off by prohibition.

Aloha~

Cock o' the Walk

2010-11-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

My wife has chickens; seven to be exact. Filthy, dumb, chickens. I suppose that's why they're called fowl~ But they're laying hens and, as such, they keep us supplied with farm fresh brown eggs in exchange for feed, water and a roof over their heads. A fair trade I suppose...

The folks down the road a ways have both hens and roosters. I drew the line with the roosters. Not only are the filthy and dumb, but they're ornery and noisy to boot; and they don't lay eggs. We had one once for a while. A very short while. After a week or so of tearing up the hens and making a ruckus in general, Wiley, the local coyote, had chicken dinner. And that was that.

So why on earth would not one, but three, San Francisco whiskey dealers feature a rooster on their bottles. Beats me~ I guess because some think that they're purty. I suppose you could argue that on a bottle they are, but given the choice of a chicken or an eagle, the decision is obvious. Still, sometime around 1900, M. Rothenburg and Co. introduced it's Game Cock brand. Two virtually identical variants of an amber picture cylinder, an ornate shot glass, a clear flask, and a recently discovered clear picture square fifth exist. The amber toolie pictured has a PCGW base mark.

Information on M. Rothenburg is sorely lacking in both Thomas and Wilson's books so off to the digital archive vault I marched. Mendle Rothenburg was residing at 2714 Pine St.
and was maintaining a retail liquor outlet at 423 Kearny St. in 1900. Things remained status quo until April 18, 1906. He resurfaced in 1907 at 2714 Pine St. as a wholesale liquor dealer. Oddly, there is no mention of Mendle's Game Cock brand in either the newspapers or in the Crocker Langley directory's of that era. The 1911 directory is the last one that either Mendle or M. Rothernburg & Co. appear. The 1912 directory simply states, Rothernburg, Fanny, widow, 2714 Pine St. So, once again, it would appear that Bob Barnett was spot on with the dating.

Enter rooster number two. This time the bird is sporting his feathers on a crude, early tooled Crown Distilleries cylinder and advertises Kentucky Lily brand whiskey that was bottled expressly for family and medicinal use.

It appears to date to roughly the same era as the Rothernburg, although it lacks the Pure Food and Drug act info, so pre-dates 1906. Thinking that there must have been some famous chicken of the era named Kentucky Lily, I went searching. Nope, chickens weren't like race horses named "Gold Dust", and I came up blank.

The last example is, in my opinion, the fanciest of the bunch. Multi colored litho at it's finest, M. Newman had a mind blowing label printed for his Bohemian Club Whiskey Cocktail (a cordial).

Turns out that there was a Bohemian Club in "The City". Established in 1872, it initially attracted journalists, artists and musicians. In fact, Bret Harte described San Francisco as a sort of Bohemia of the West. The Bohemian Club was first located on Sacramento St., a block below Kearny. It was still going strong after the turn of the century, when this brand appeared on the market. Coincidentally, or not, this location was just around the corner from M. Rothenburgs retail store address...

M. Newman shows up in the same directories as Rothenburg and Crown Distilleries, and can be positively dated to the same era as the previous two brands.

Roosters on the label; coincidence? And then the light went on. These weren't your garden variety fowl; they were the kind of rooster that the sporting man bet on. Cock fighting, like horse racing, was almost a mania back then and a Game Cock on the label was a great way to make sure that your brand of whiskey had a fighting chance.

And the mists of time cleared

2010-10-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Warren Watson seemed to be a mysterious individual who left little record of his life.

Subsequent searching by one of our readers came up with a couple of interesting snippets, courtesy of the Crocker Langley directories;

Hooyah! Shortly thereafter, in came a picture of the seed that was rumored to exist!

It was a start, a darned good start~ Still, there had to be more to the story and I was left scratching my head.

This changed abruptly when I received an email from one of his descendants. The information provided sheds considerable light on the man and his life.

"Warren Mortimer Watson"

Warren Mortimer Watson was born August 24, 1845, in Rochester, Monroe Co., NY, and died May 6, 1913, in Alameda Co., CA, at age 67. He is the son of William Watson of Ireland and Abigail Harrington of New York. Buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, Alameda County, CA. The following names are on the same cemetery marker: Warren M. Watson: 1845 - 1913; Emma Pearl Watson: 1851 - 1880; John W. Watson: 12/3/1825 - 3/16/1896; Emily M. Watson: 1845 - 1974.

Warren M. Watson and Emma Pearl Howe were married January 5, 1869, in California. They had no children. Emma died February 29, 1880, in Brooklyn Twp., City of Oakland, Alameda Co., CA, at age 29.

After Emma died, Warren M. Watson married Margaret Elizabeth "Maggie" Watson in 1881 in Oakland, Alameda Co., CA.. "Maggie" was born November 17, 1862, on Bear River near Marysville, Yuba Co., CA. They too, had no children.

The 1880 U. S. Census taken on June 11, 1880, shows Warren Watson (age 33) born in New York to English and New York-born parents is a Cigar Maker and is living at 716 9th Street, City of Oakland, Alameda Co., CA. Living with him but with a line through the name is his wife, Emma Watson (age 30) born in Massachusetts to Massachusetts-born parents, who is Keeping House, with a note saying died Feb. Also living there: his widowed mother-in-law: Orvilla How (age 59) born in Massachusetts to Massachusetts-born parents; and Maggie Watson (age 17) born in California to Missouri and Kentucky-born parents, an unmarried Servant.

________________________________________________________________

The San Francisco Call of April 22, 1900 stated;

WARREN M. WATSON HAS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS

OAKLAND. April 21. - W. M. Watson, who has been the head of the W. M. Watson Company, one of the largest wholesale liquor firms in Oakland, has turned his company into a stock concern, and left this week for the Paris Exposition and a trip around the world, accompanied by his wife. Mr. Watson has disposed of his business to a number of his employes and his nephew. Those who now control the company are: C. T. Lemmon, Mr. Watson's nephew; J. J. Carroll of the Louvre. T. W. Sigourney, who has been the head of the store for many years; L. S. Farr, who has been the head bookkeeper, and P. O'Kane, the chief outside man of the company. Mr. Watson retains only a small Interest. W. M. Watson has 'always been one of the leaders in Oakland business circles and has been at the head and front of all moves for the benefit of the city. He will be gone abroad for more than a year.

___________________________________________________________

The Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, Friday Evening, September 22, 1905 stated;

WARREN WATSON AGAIN GOES AROUND WORLD

Warren Watson, the well-known wine man of this city, is to make another tour of the world. This will be the fourth time that he will have circled the globe. He will be accompanied by his wife. The passports, signed by Elihu Root, arrived today. Mr. and Mrs. Watson shall sail from San Francisco on the 27th of this month on the steamer Manchuria. They will visit points of interest which have heretofore not received their attention while abroad, and expect to have, as fellow passengers, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Bryan and family.

_________________________________________________________________

The Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, Saturday Evening, September 23, 1905 noted;

WARREN WATSON IS HONORED

APPOINTED ONE OF YOSEMITE COMMISSIONERS BY GOVERNOR PARDEE.

Warren W. Watson, who was, for so many years, in the wine trade in this city but who has retired from business, and who now spends his winters in San Francisco and his summers at his country home near Pleasanton, in this county, received his commission today from Governor Pardee as a member of the Board of Commissioners to manage the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove. The appointment has been made to fill the vacancy occasioned on the Board by the death of the late Hon. W. W. Foote, of this city. It is a coincidence that John H. O'Brien, formerly Mr. Watson's partner in business, held the position to which the latter has been appointed, for fourteen years. Mr. Watson is pleased with his official position, more especially because his preferment takes place on the eve of his departure with his wife on his fourth trip around the world.

________________________________________

Warren Mortimer Watson in 1906 is listed as a Royal Arch Mason in the Alcatraz Chapter No. 8a, Oakland, Alameda Co., CA.

Warren Mortimer Watson on July 1, 1910, is listed as a member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite List of Members in California.The 1910 U. S. Census taken on April 15, 1910, shows Warren M. Watson (age 64) born in New York to Irish and New York-born parents and in his first marriage is a Retired Capitalist who owns his own home free of a mortgage and is living at 1314 8th Avenue, 7th Ward, Brooklyn Twp., City of Oakland, Alameda Co., CA. Living with him is his childless wife of 29 years, Margaret E. Watson (age 48) born in California to Kentucky and Missouri-born parents and in her first marriage.
______________________________________________________

And lastly; Warren Mortimer Watson died May 6, 1913, in Alameda Co., CA, at age 67.

A special thanks to Jason P. and Leigh L. for their help in bringing Mr. Watson out of the mist~

Warren Watson

2010-10-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

The name rolls off the tongue easily. Actually, his full name was Warren M. Watson. He was a resident of Oakland California and was in the wholesale liquor business supposedly from 1880 - 1915; quite a span of time compared to many. We have him to thank for five different western tooled top whiskies (and one glop top). His brands included "Kentucky Club", "Belle of Lancaster", "Black Crest", "Warren", and "Warren's OK". Based on the number of years he was in business, and the sheer volume of whiskey sold, researching and documenting his history should have been a no brainer. Not...

According to Wilson in Spirits Bottles of the Old West, W. M. Watson was primarily a dealer in brandy and fine wines, started his business in 1880 and continued until 1915, presumably closing the doors due to the looming prospect of prohibition. Wilson documented one bottle embossed Kentucky Club Old Bourbon from 1896 - 1905 in clear (not stating whether tooled or applied), plus a square squat with swirled shoulders in amber ca. 1907 - 1915, an amber round fifth with swirled shoulders ca. 1898 - 1905 (never seen one and doubt it exists) plus an amber round fifth also ca. 1898 - 1905. Where Bill came up with some of this stuff escapes me...

Bob Barnett listed #816 " Kentucky Club Old Bourbon" in clear with both tooled and applied tops, cork closure, ca. 1892 - 1905; #817 "W. M. Watson Co. / logo / Oakland, Ca." amber square tooled cork closure / squat with swirled shoulders ca. 1906 - 1914; #818 "W. M. Watson Co. Inc. / logo / Oakland, Ca." amber tooled bulge neck qt. cylinder / brandy top cork closure/ ca. 1900 - 1905; #819 "W. M. Watson Co. / logo / Oakland, Ca." amber square tooled bulge neck qt. cylinder / brandy top / ca. 1900 - 1908; and #820 "W. M. Watson Co. / logo / Oakland, Ca." amber tooled fifth cylinder / whiskey top cork & IT closure/ ca. 1900 - 1908.

OK, let's sort a couple of things out. The Kentucky Club is probably dated correctly and falls into the German Connection glop top time line nicely. Common sense says that the three variants that are embossed minus the "Inc." would be earlier so I'd plug them in ca. 1900 - 1905 +/-. The last in the lineup would logically be the variant embossed "Inc.".

The Kentucky Club Old Bourbon bottles are extremely scarce, with the glop tops being encountered in a ratio of probably 15 - 1 compared to the toolies (not that there's many of either). Let's face it, The tool tops are just plain rare with fewer than a half dozen known to exist!

And they will turn amethyst, which for us old time purists who still like honest sun colored glass, is a big plus.

Next in scarcity and desirability is the square swirled shoulder.

The shape is distinctive and attractive.

The cylinder fifth is also scarce, and ones with the correct Riley inside thread picture stopper for Black Crest Whiskey are an especially tough score.

The bulge necks are seen slightly more often but are still no slouch in the tool top world.

He also had three etched pre-pro shot glasses produced; one each for Warrens / Whiskies, Warren's Rye and Bourbon, and one for Warren's O.K. / Bourbon W. M. Watson Co. / Oakland Cal. All are scarce.

A note in the 1899 Oakland Social Register reads, "WATSON, Mr. and Mrs. W. M.; 658 Ninth. (Tel. Red 2351.). Thursday." Located in plot 13 of the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland is a simple head stone engraved Warren M. Watson 1845 - 1913. And here's where our plot thickens and the trail goes cold. These two references are the only hard documentation I could find that Warren M. Watson ever existed; no date of birth or death, no birthplace, no business address, no occupation; no nothing! Nothing more in Oakland, nothing in Brooklyn, nothing in Alameda, nothing in Emeryville, nothing across the Bay in San Francisco; simply nothing! Accessing archives of business directories, phone books, and newspaper classified ads invariably pays off with "the rest of the story". Not in this case though.

The bottles remain as mute testimony to Warren M. Watson, but everything else remains shrouded in the mists of time. Talk about disappearing without a trace.

A special thianks to Ken S. for the shot glass photos!

Canyonville 2010 - Epilogue

2010-10-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

This was our 8th year at the Seven Feathers facility. Nervous; (maybe, as the economy appeared to be a formidable hurdle). October 15th and 16th; The Jefferson State Antique Bottle & Insulator Show in Canyonville, Oregon.

Approaching, slowly in the distance. Gathering speed as it neared. Closer. Faster. Blasting, billowing, bursting forth, with the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes (Ok; I stole that line from the Moody Blues).

And then..... it's here. Spare the details, savor the moment. That's the attitude I opted for. No hill for a climber~

The show opens to one and all at twelve noon sharp. But, the dealers rolled in early; nine am and change. Can't blame 'em. Fortunately, to everyone's delight, the tables are arranged, linens are in place, and table drapes installed. A fancy setup! But what gives? Is this a wedding reception or a just good ol' fashioned Antique Bottle & Insulator Show?

Now that you asked, it's a little of both. 'Cause Antique Glass is just that, regardless of the form! And, as such, this annual get together is simply a marriage of two hobbies.

And so, dealers stuffed their wares under the tables, and "early birds" swapped stories (and lies) with the rest of the gang while waiting for the magic hour.

The long and short of the show? We had to turn away last minute dealers. A sellout.

Early admission was up; way up, over prior years. Rather than elaborate on first day sales I'll suffice to quote one dealer and say "way better than I hoped for". Most all reflected the same.

True, a lot of first day sales are dealer to dealer; but early admission also accounted for a lot of out of state collectors and a pretty hefty chunk of purchases as well.

Saturday is normally a different story; with an excitement level akin to watching paint dry.Not this year, as the advertising blitz that Scott had undertaken obviously paid off in spades! Locals, locals, and more locals continually streamed in the door from surrounding towns and burgs. And they brought in stuff, lots of stuff, to have appraised and to auction off. Dale and Jeff were kept a hoppin' appraising and bundling offerings for silent auction. Collectors and dealers alike were treated to an endless array of bottles insulators and go withs to bid on and the auction table was jammed until we just plain ran out of time.

Then there were the displays! Lots of displays. Categories ranged from the open entry Pacific Coast Jewels (top west coast bottles), to "Is It Teal" (insulator open category comparing colors), to veterinary pharmaceuticals of the 19th century. Also appearing were EC&M / Cal Electric insulators, threadless "battered beauty" insulators, a regional Jackson County display, and, not to be left out, west coast picture whiskies. We jokingly commented that the value of glass in this years displays no doubt approached what the Seven Feathers facility had in their vault. Talk about high end glass!

Ah, the age old question; "What sold"? Simply, everything. It didn't seem to matter where your table was located, or what you had on it, "stuff" just flat sold. Unlike a lot of shows, this years theme was "no crystal ball required" when it came to exchanging glass for cash~ My kinda show!

And there was the weather... We couldn't have asked for a better fall weekend. Cool and overcast early on, breaking to bright sun and crisp blue skies around noon. And the fall colors were at their peak!

The weather reflected the attitude of the dealers, bright and cheerful. Everyone in attendance seemed to have a great time. The facilities, including the convention center, hotel and grounds are all top notch. The show was very well attended, with the selection, variety and quality of glass superb. A personal thanks to all the dealers and collectors that made the trip. And especially to all who pitched in and helped make this the popular venue what it's grown to be. Great facilities, great people, strong sales and a steady stream of folks in the doors for two days straight. Yep; the Canyonville Show at Seven Feathers Resort, where you can expect the best~

See you all next year.

GOING TO PRESS!

2010-10-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Good friend, Warren Friedrich, has completed his manuscript for the definitive work to date on California’s early glass houses.

Entitled, Early Glassworks of California, it is a hard cover book on high quality heavy gloss paper with sewn binding.

233 pages with 287 illustrations, it features original 19th C. ads and articles.

There will be only one printing!

Destined to become a "go to" book for all collectors of western glass, it is available by advance reservation only.

Warren will be at the Canyonville Show on Friday afternoon and evening, October 15th, to accept pre-printing reservations.

*You Must Pre-Order by October 18*

Price: $100~

(530) 265-5204 [home]

Lions and Tigers and Bears - OH MY!

2010-10-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Back in the 19th century, a pretty good percentage of the miners, loggers, railroad men and other components of the working class couldn't read well, if at all. Brand recognition then, as now, was ever so important if one was going to get his slice of the pie. Let's face it, everyone in the West Coast liquor business needed an edge to survive in business.

Around 1870 two competing companies decided to have bottle molds made that would allow pictures to appear on the glass, instead of just on the label.

Shea, Bocqueraz and McKee were slugging it out with John Van Bergen for their share of the market. Shea, Bocqueraz and McKee was marketing the Tea Kettle brand, which was distilled at a distillery in Trimble County Kentucky, casked in wooden "hogsheads" (oak barrels), shipped west on the transcontinental railroad and then bottled in San Francisco.

Tea Kettle was a nationally recognized brand of good affordable whiskey and sales were phenomenal in California and Nevada.

Van Bergen's "Gold Dust" brand was named after a famous race horse that was known and loved from coast to coast and they figured, rightfully so, that they too could grab a big chunk of the market share by selling good affordable whiskey with a recognized name and picture embossed on the bottle.

Next in the line of picture whiskies was the Pioneer brand sold by Fenkhausen & Braunschweiger. This is called the "two name bear" and first came on the market around 1878. In 1881 Braunscheiger left the business to go it alone and the mold was reworked to reflect Fenkhausen's sole ownership.

But Braunschweiger, not to be left in the dust, came back in 1883 with his Bear Grass brand, again depicting a bear on the bottle.

The mold was carefully designed to look entirely different from the bear on the Pioneer, but it was a bear nonetheless, and I'm sure this created more than a little friction between the two companies. Regardless, both prospered for a number of years with Fenkhausen remaining a presence through 1893 and Braunschweiger making a go of it through 1913.

Again a number of different molds were employed over the years with the bear remaining a constant fixture despite the passage of time.

This is the tip of the proverbial picture iceberg. Come see the "rest of the story" at the Jefferson State Antique Bottle, Insulator and Collectibles Show & Sale located at the Seven Feathers Casino Resort (I5 exit 99) in Canyonville Oregon, Saturday October 16th. There will be well over two dozen of some the West's most prized tooled and glop top picture whiskies on display!

See you there!

It's Show Time!

2010-10-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost Showtime; another week and change~ And this year promises to be a real treat for collectors and dealers alike! So what's different? Well, not one, but three of those closet collections promise to make their appearance at this years show; one insulator, and two bottle stashes that were carefully tucked away for a few decades will be up for grabs. And, rumor of yet another mixed collection to be set out came in over the past few weeks.

Displays this year include a couple of new offerings including "What is Teal" for those insulator folks with the Cal Electrics, EC&M's and other killer "teal blues" while bottle aficionados will be treated to Pacific Coast Jewels. This is an open category much like the Best of the West. We invite everyone to bring along a bragging bottle to display; from Seattle to Southern Cal. let's show 'em what good WESTERN glass is all about! Space is limited so reserve now!

We've saturated the media from the California border to Portland and have visited every back water town in the surrounding area as well; plastering antique malls, junk shops, Mom & Pop Markets and anywhere else that the local citizenry might stumble across show flyers and an invitation to have their hidden treasures appraised for free. And, as always, the ever popular live silent auction returns.

This year is very near to a sellout, (even with the additional tables that we've added), with less than a half dozen tables still available. If you've been procrastinating, it's time to act!

Looking forward to sharing a memorable weekend and seeing one and all. Come join us at Seven Feathers Casino Resort on October 16th from 9AM - 3PM ($10~ early admission Friday noon to seven PM) for the Canyonville 2010 Antique Bottle, Insulator and Collectibles Show and Sale where, "You Can Expect the Best"!

Show Website: http://www.ecandm.com/canyonville/

Information: jsglass@q.com

Downieville - T Minus 2 Days and Counting!

2010-09-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend, September 10th, & 11th, is the annual Downieville Bottle Show.

This years show features: "THE GREAT WESTERN ROUND-UP" display.

An assortment of some of the choicest Western bottles known will be on display. This is Un-like any other show on the West Coast.

What happened in 1860?

2010-08-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

That very question came to mind when I recently bought a collection that had a few back bars in it. One of them, is decorated with "1860 Bourbon". It is executed in a copper wheel cut design, on a high quality decanter that appears to have a very faint amethystine cast to it. It was blown in a two piece mold with a sunburst design on the base and an intricate pseudo cut glass pattern embossed into the neck that does a 90* counterclockwise twist.

First, the "why" behind the name... Well, two things come to mind as being the prompting behind the brand. First would be April 1860. Note the following; Tuesday 03: The first successful Pony Express run from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California begins, and is completed on April 13. Hmm. Sounds good to me and certainly a reason to quaff a good bourbon!

And then... November 1860; Tuesday 06: U.S. presidential election, 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected as the 16th President of the United States, the first Republican to hold that office. I'll certainly drink to that as well!

I'd lean toward this one but who knows for sure. The nagging question remained; who, Who, WHO? This was a tough one. This particular example is delicate in form, obviously of presentation grade, but not one that could be readily linked to either the east or the west coast. And so the "digging" began. And dig, and dig, and dig. Talk about a stone wall! Nothing in any book, nothing in archives nothing online; nothing...

The break came while tracking down some info for a fellow collector on our pal, ol' J. Clute Wilmerding. Although he first partnered with Calvin Kellogg in 1868, he'd been involved in the west coast liquor business for quite a few years before then. In fact, Clute first showed up in "The City" in 1859; as "(Fargo & Co) 52 Front." This according to the Crocker Directory. Fargo & Co. is listed as a liquor Wholesaler, but not as a retailer. Wilmerding is listed as neither. And, he also is not listed as having any residence or address, other than that of 52 Front St. Things must have changed for the better because in 1860, he is listed with both Fargo as an employer, and a residential address of "rooms 622 Sacramento".

The jewel in the crown came when the search for registered whiskey brand names came back with one result, and one result only for 1860 Bourbon; "Wilmerding - Loewe Co. of San Francisco, CA." Their brands included; "1860 Bourbon", "Days of 49", "Kellogg", "Kellogg's", and "Kellogg's AA.".

The company link, in and of itself, helps to further narrow down the timeline since they were listed from 1896 - 1918. I'd date this critter to ca. turn of the century based on the manufacturing techniques employed and the obvious manganese dioxide base of the cullet.

The why behind the name remains a mystery. Maybe a letter head or an invoice will surface someday with more info. For now, I'd guess that Clute was influenced by his good luck back in 1860 combined with either nostalgia for the pony express or patriotic exuberance over Lincolns ascendence to the presidency back in the day.

Either way, he left one heckuva rare go with for us to enjoy. Now, if there were only an embossed one out there~

Identity Crisis?

2010-08-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

I received an email from a gentleman back east who was curious about the origin of a bottle that he'd dug in Illinois. He wondered if it could possibly be western. I have to admit, the photos caught my interest. I also have to admit that it was one that I'd never seen. The shape of the bottle looked very familiar, but unlike any western whiskey I'd encountered.

In fact, it looked like an eastern bitters that I recalled seeing quite some time ago, but who's name I couldn't recall. Still; Elk's Pride Whiskey sure was a catchy handle. A little research into the whiskey brand data base revealed two strong contenders for the origin of said "Pride". One was J.S. Low of Carlisle Pa., the other, Adolph Harris of S.F. Cal.

Some online sleuthing revealed a very similar bottle, identical in appearance but embossed Elk's Pride Rye. It appeared to be a 5 3/4" mini with externally blown threads and with the same stag embossed on the obverse as on the "Whiskey". It was also a rectangle with the same decorative treatment and logic says that it had to come from the same outfit. Interesting too, was that it was also dug in Illinois.

I then compared the amber Adolph Harris in my collection with the Elk's Pride bottles.

It was evident that the antlers on the A.H. were very typically western in form; nearly erect, whereas the Elk' prides were more horizontal in style and more in keeping with the eastern renditions of stags that I've seen.

Still later, I came across a photo of a pottery jug from the aforementioned J.S. Low of Carlisle Pa. It clearly depicts a stag along with the words Elks Pride Whiskey.

I promised the owner of the bottle to solicit coments from the general western whiskey arena. So; is it eastern or western? Feel free to weigh in with your ideas.

I shoulda had a JF

2010-07-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Actually, the commercial says "V8" but in this case, I think a shot of J. F. Cutter makes more sense. After all, more Doctors recommended J. F. than any other leading brand. At least that's what the advertisement suggests.

And with that, we'll segway into the Reno show, followed up by a tie in with the J. F. Cutter tool tops. I know; here he goes again...

The Reno Show has always been a favorite of ours. We did our first show as a married couple in 1975 and, with few exceptions, have attended every year. This year held great promise. I'd just been to the doc., had lots of blood work done, addressed a number of concerns, and had been prescribed not one, but two meds. that were "guaranteed" to make my world a better place. All was rosy as we headed out just before sun up on Friday; a bright cheerful morning. By eleven AM, we were unloading at the show and looking forward to a great weekend. All was good, until I noticed the rash beginning to spread, at first on my legs, and then from head to toe. Several folks commented on my "sunburn". Jokingly, I said that I'd be brown as a bear the next day. Trouble was, I hadn't been in the sun...

The rest of the day was a kick; spending time with lots of old friends, picking up the whiskey collection that we'd bought the week before, boxing up a few fresh pieces, delivering stuff that had been purchased over the past month, and enjoying ourselves in general. But the redness and itching were getting the best of me. That evening after setup, we checked in at the Silver Legacy ; another perennial favorite. Uh Oh... we'd left the satchel with our change of clothes on the counter at home. Crap... Oh well, a good excuse for my wife to go shopping (as if she's ever needed one)~ But wait, there's more, another surprise; my green glop Cutter for the shootout was in the box next to the satchel, on the kitchen counter. Oh well, it's safe there.

Saturday AM came early. It was then that I noticed the swelling. It was a chore to put my tennis shoes on and lacing them up tight wasn't an option. And then there was the itching; head to toe, inside and out. But heh, this is the Reno Show and I was determined to enjoy myself, hives, swelling and all.

The displays were amazing. Lou and Marty are both to be congratulated on the Star Shield globby display. Photos were in order! Oh Crap; my camera was still on the counter, next to my green Star Shield, which was next to the clothes. A Silva trifecta! Next to the Cutter display, was a killer arrangement of "dirty clothes"; at least that was my wife's assessment. Personally, I found the display of miners clothing and personal effects to be fascinating as well. A display of amazing inks and Marty's to die for "swirly" display of drop dead bottles with barber pole color swirls rounded out the west wall attractions. Check out the glop top site for photos!

Back at the hotel that evening, truck loaded with bottles and ready to head back north, the hives, the itching, the swelling were all beginning to take a toll on my fun ticket. We'd planned on a few side trips before the drive home on Sunday. Problem was, I couldn't get my shoes on. My feet looked like they belonged to Fred Flintstone. So much for exploring. Five hours later, we rolled down the gravel drive at home.

The next morning, with eyes swelled shut, difficulty in swallowing, hives, blisters & itching, the retired firefighter / EMT in me sprang back to life. Denial only works for so long. I had a problem, a big problem! A mad dash to Providence Hospital / Medical Center was in order. Diagnosis; acute allergic reaction. Thanks Doc.! So much for modern medicine! Out of pocket about a grand (I've got lousy insurance with a massive deductable), I'm sitting here gobbling prescription steroids and antihistamines by the handful to help cure the effects of the previous two prescriptions. Something's wrong, very wrong, with this picture.

And so, I ponder, is it true that more Doctors agree that the best remedy for over taxed nerves is a gentle stimulant by the name of J. F. Cutter Whiskey?

Sure beats the heck out of a near lethal combination of Amoxy/Clavil and Allopurinol! And, if the Doc screwed up on the J. F. prescription, you'd only be out a buck or so for the whiskey and the worst you'd end up with is a hangover!