Wilmerding and who?

The other day a good friend of mine sold me a bottle that I'd always wanted. With only a couple said to exist, I'd never had the opportunity to acquire one. In fact, I don't recall having even seen one before.



From across the room, (especially with my lousy eyesight) it can easily be mistaken for your basic meat and potatoes Kellogg's. Get a little closer though and it's easy to spot the difference.


Cork top instead of inside thread for one. Plus crude and rude is the order of the day. But wait, there's more! Instead of W. L. Co, "W & Co." is prominent on both the obverse embossing near the base, and on the seal on the reverse shoulder. The embossing is the older rounded style found on the McKennas, but the W & Co. Kellogg's is a two piece mold instead of 4 piece.

 
 
 
 
 

How old is this variant really? Mid 1880's transitional tool top, early 1890's toolie, mid 90's? Inquiring minds want to know, so I pulled out the 2002 edition of Whiskey Bottles of the Old West by Thomas. According to John, Wilmerding & Kellogg started up in 1868, becoming Wilmerding & Co. in 1878. Supposedly, the Loewe Brothers took over Wilmerding Kellogg & Co. in 1894, shortly after Wilmerding died. So, at least in theory, the W&Co. Kellogg must date somewhere between 1878 and 1894; right?

 
The "who" in Wilmerding & Co. is as follows: The Daily Alta February 16, 1880 edition classified / public notice section states that the firm of Wilmerding & Co dates from December 29, 1879 and was doing business at 214 - 216 Front St. at the time. The principals were J. Clute Wilmerding and John Tuthill Haviland. The co-partnership documents had been filed and notarized on January 17, 1880. Another reference that I came across for the firm was on April 16, 1888; again re-acknowledging the partnership. A listing of a deck of Wilmerding & Co. playing cards in an abandoned freight manifest appears in the classified ads in 1890. In 1894, on December 10th, Wilmerding & Co. transferred the rights to both their SHM and C. W. Stuart brands to Loewe Brothers, thus proving that the partnership change had not yet taken place.
 

 
 
 
However, it was probably a precursor to the merger, since the emergence of Wilmerding - Loewe Co. occurred in 1895.

 

In a nutshell, W & Co. began life in January of 1880 with only two principals, minus Mr. Kellogg, and terminated with the merger or takeover from the Loewe Bros. in 1895. Still a pretty big window but at least we can positively date this variant within a fifteen year period. So, kudo's to JT for pretty much hitting the nail on the head as far as dating. But the big question is, did this bottle once bear a paper label for SHM Superior Old Bourbon or perhaps C. W. Stuarts Extra Kentucky Whiskey?

And then there were three

A couple of weeks ago, I received a phone call from a fellow collector. He follows the tool top site regularly, and especially enjoys the occasional detective work that appears. In the course of conversation, he casually tossed a "cookie" my way. "#719 in Bob's last book", you know "Daniel Schaeffers Log Cabin Whiskey" he said. How many are floating around these days and has anyone ever figured out where it's from, or who sold it? I had to plead ignorance. Bob noted having seen the first one in 1986, just prior to publishing the second in the western whiskey series, and stated that it was an amber fifth with an inside thread closure. It looked western, and the bottle was in a western collection. Unfortunately, no label and no IT stopper, and so the mystery remained.


I'd seen one example in a large collection in Northern Cal. and one other offered for sale over the years. And that's it. No new ones had been rumored to have surfaced since the 4th edition was published, and no, we'd never figured out anything in regards to provenance. The bottle has remained a black hole since first being reported back in 1987.


I've got a surprise for you, he said. I've found another. One difference though, between this one and the other two, a big difference, he said! Remnants of a badly tattered and decomposed label remained on the reverse and the correct embossed matching Riley Patent ebonite stopper was in place. What faint traces of the label listing the dealer, which were legible, matched the stopper! Mystery solved. Western indeed, but not S.F.; instead, Los Angeles.

I'll meet you at the show in Antioch on Friday, he said. The week before the show drug along for me like a kid waiting for Christmas. Around two in the afternoon my pal waltzed in with a smile on his face and a bottle in a sock in his hand. Take a look~ And out came Log Cabin example #3. Sure enough, boldly embossed on the IT stopper (one which I'd never seen before) was "Goldschmidt Bros / Sole Agents / Los Angeles".

A little "digging" revealed the following: Goldschmidt Bros. entered the western whiskey market in 1897, initially opening the doors at 1813 N Main. For reasons unknown, they moved a few doors down, to 635 N Main that same year. They remained at this address for a couple of years until 1899. A historical gap exists for a couple of years, but then directory records show them moving again in 1902 to 310 N Los Angeles St. where they stayed until 1915. They relocated yet again in either late 1915 or early 1916 to 923 Lyon, where they lived out their existence, closing the doors in 1917. Directories listed them variously as wine growers, liquor wholesalers and wine and liquor retailers. Brand names, included Daniel Schaeffers Log Cabin and Tom Howe Whiskey, Sunset wines and brandies, Pony Bourbon and Rye, and Marigold Rye. A newspaper clipping from 1905 fills in a few more blanks about the company;

Who would have thought that this was actually one of the comparatively few brands from So. Cal.? The bottle has a smooth base with no kickup and is void of any base markings. It is extensively air vented at the shoulders and has quite a bit of character. Based on it's appearance, I'd date it to the era when Goldschmidt was located at 635 N Main. And so, another long standing mystery is cleared up.

Remodeling the Castle

Got a call the other day from a collector out east of the Washoe. He's been a whiskey collector forever and, unlike most of us, was able to start from the top down. The silver camps of Central Nevada were kind to the early diggers and many of these collectors succeeded in building their collections with a shovel instead of a silver pick (translated; a wallet stuffed full of cash). And, why bother with tooled whiskies when the globbies were laying on the surface waiting to be picked up and lugged home.



Sure, it was neat to be able to assemble a run with the likes of one each of say, a Choice Old Cabinet, J. Moore / Chielovich, Gold Dust, Pride of Kentucky, McKenna, SHM, OPS, Millers Extra, Kentucky Gem and Castle (to name a few), with no out of pocket expense. But the easy pickins dried up years ago and the economic reality of building nothing but a top end collection of rare glop tops has long since sunk in. Fortunately, there's an affordable alternative to the big dogs which have been priced out of most of our budgets; the "go with" tool tops. Most of the outfits that peddled their wares in glob top bottles, survived well into the tool top era and as such, it's easy to pair up both a glop and a toolie with the same brand name embossed on the bottle.


After reminiscing about the good old days, we started talking about what a solid value some of the toolies have remained and the conversation eventually wound around to the F. Chevalier picture Castles. I know, a lot of the gang thumb their nose at them because we still see them with regularity and they can still be had reasonably. But seriously, full face embossing, a picture of a castle and with San Francisco prominently embossed front and center. All that for a paltry amount by comparison, how the heck can you go wrong?

In the course of discussion, the gent mentioned hearing of an oddball example of #144 in the 4th edition of Western Whiskey Bottles. It was listed as; "The F. ChevalierS Co. / ornate picture of Castle / Castle Whiskey / San Francisco, Cal. (this is the tough one with the plural mis-spelling)". Now this critter has always been something of a mystery to me. I've always listed is as "144V" because it's a variant with what we've always assumed was a mis-spelling in the plural of Chevalier.

That was until I absentmindedly sat it down next to the earliest of the picture Castles, #142, in my collection while we were talking.

Boinnnng...! It was at that moment that yet another assumption got shot in the seat of the pants.

That's right, the 144v is actually nothing more than a remodeled 142 mold. Rather than commission a new mold, the mold guys simply added additional embossing to the old mold.

 

A close side by side comparison confirmed my suspicion. The body of the bottles are indeed one in the same. Sure, the rocks are a bit weaker on the 144 but, that's to be expected as the mold began to wear.

The earliest 142, with the cork closure, is days away from having an applied top.

Based on the ca. 1890 date that it's attributed to, there's a good chance that a globby exists! The couple of examples that I've seen have been crude as can be; miles away from the neatly made appearance of the 143 and 145 - 147 molds.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The next 142, with the inside thread closure and Riley patent ebonite screw top was a new, and slightly different, mold with modifications  employed to allow for the next in the line of closure evolutions. It too, is crude and rude, and appears to date from the onset of the Riley patent application dating to the early to mid 90's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slightly later, probably in the late 90's to the TOC, the original #142 cork top mold was modified and the words "The", "F", and "Co" were added to allow continued re-use of the still perfectly good mold. At this time the lip tooling process was modified and the inside thread closure began to be employed on this updated variant. Additional air venting is also evident when examined with a loop.

 

 

 

 

I guess Fortune Chevalier figured that there was nothing like a minor remodel to breath new life into the old Castle~

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This just in~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seems like new discoveries are popping up like the toadstools in my pasture. Just touched base with another a well know collector who acquired yet another variant of the #142. He'd dug a broken one years ago and stumbled across a mint example recently at a yard sale tucked in amongst a bunch of junkers. Same embossing but a quart in capacity. Obviously, a totally different mold once again! Keep 'em comin' guys!

Thanks Dennis!

The New Math: Egg + Mole = Oroville?

+

= 

I know, you're thinking that ol' KG has finally lost what few marbles he had... After all, what could a thunder egg (geode for those in the know) and a mole (subterranean rodent for those in the know) possibly have in common? And, for that matter, what the heck is a map of Oroville doing in the mix on top of that?

Well, it all started a few weeks ago when I got an email from "Bill the Eggman", down in the old southwest. You see, Bill was, for many, many years, one of the legends when it came to western whiskies. He's since strayed a bit and now focuses on thunder eggs (with equal success and stature), but "back in the day" was considered to be one of the most successful western whiskey diggers on the face of the earth. Bill emailed me with photos of a bottle that I'd never heard of. Embossed "The Chapparal / Wholesale / Liquor - Store / J. Greenberg / Oroville, Cal.", it's a fifth with a tooled long tapered collar over single ring in amber with the embossing contained within a circular slug plate.

Bill went on to say;


"Hi, saw your western toolie blog wanting info on unlisted western tool tops.

This one is as rare as they get. I dug this pictured specimen about 10 years ago in Oroville Calif. It was the first known whole example. Before that, shards of two were documented by the Butte County Historical Society booklet. The shards dated back to the 1960's I think.

Several of us dug Oroville for about 25 years, without ever seeing another shard of the Chaparral. Maybe 300 holes. Then I was digging a basement pit in Oroville's "X" and this rolled out amongst a dozen and a half Manhattans also from Oroville. Thankfully, a second Chaparral came out of the same lot maybe 15 feet from the first one. The property owner, my friend "X", kept the second one, I have this first one. That is all there are. No shards from anywhere else in the following 10 years either"


Wow! Another fresh find for the fifth edition; and a matching pair no less!

Shortly before we headed to paradise, another old pal of mine, "Rick the Botlmole" emailed me with the following;


"Hi Bruce, know anything about this Fifth? I can't find anything on it.


Recent street fair find, you can put it on your site if you want."

And then there were three!



It would be fun to look up the location of the proprietor in Oroville on the Sanborn Fire maps in an attempt to see if Bills finds were in close proximity to the location of "The Chapparal". Unfortunately, Sanborn / UMI has scrambled their website and has effectively blocked all access to the California / Oregon maps unless you pay a prohibitively high subscription rate. So much for research...


Still, I'm sure that some of you enterprising folks out there can figure a way to re-access the database. Feel free to forward whatever you come up with in the way of research pay dirt and I'll post it in a follow-up.


'Till then; Many Thanks to Bill the Eggman and Rick the Botlmole for sharing the new find with all of us!
___________________________________________________

A quick PS. Just received the following email from another avid (and very successful) digger in Butte County. He said;

hi, here is a picture of the only complete mint set of oroville whiskeys. the senate is as rare as the chaparral with only two known complete examples.the chaparral is the second one bill speaks of,and the manhattan was one of six to also come off the property.the chaparral was located right next to the u.s. hotel on montgomery st roughly two blocks from the property they were unearthed from which happened to be a chinese restaurant.my father "x" ownes the property in orovilles china town that produced truck loads of bottles of all types.any way thought you might like the picture for your site...happy easter chris.

ps. me and my digging partner can account for four more broken chaparrals"

Many thanks Chris!

A dose of reality~

Contrary to popular belief, we weren't abducted by aliens, locked up in a Mexican jail, and didn't fall of the face of the earth. And yes, the WWTT Gazette is alive and well.

Actually, we did sort of fall off the face of the earth, only to reappear in the Caribbean for a nice break from "reality". White coral sand beaches, great company, great food, and plenty of beer.

What more could one ask for?

But now it's back to the real world, and snow on the ground. Let's see now; 84* with gentle trade winds blowing across the white sand beaches, a cold Corona in one hand and a sun burned face versus 33*, cold, wet, and windy with the white sand replaced by slushy snow. Bundled up in long sleeves and flannel, the Corona has been replaced with a steaming cup of coffee and I'm freezing my butt off...

The obvious question first. Did I score any bottles? Nope. I even employed a local in my futile attempts but none were to be had.

 

Not that it came as any great surprise. After all, what would any self respecting tooled top western whiskey be doing on a beach half a world away? I did find a few empties though...
 

 

One case gin was noted, stuffed away in the dungeon of a 17th century coral fortress in Nassau though~

 

 

 

 
 


Paddle molded and free blown, it was an amazing piece of early glass.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thanks for all of the emails during our absence. I'm doing my best to catch up on one and all in short order and should be able to whittle the 134 down to zero in the next couple of days.


Thanks too, for the constant flow of photos and information about previously unlisted bottles. It's great to learn of flea market finds, successful digs and swaps that continue to add to the seemingly endless array of western whiskies. You fellow collectors are what make this hobby what it is; a true brotherhood of dedicated historians. And I personally want to thank one and all!

OK, back to reality; whatever that is. In the coming weeks, we'll see articles regarding new finds, runs of picture whiskies, "new" molds for previously documented bottles, mold evolutions and what have you. Don't be bashful either! Feel free to let me know what you'd like to see in the way of articles. After all, this is our site!

With that, please enjoy the sunset on our final evening in paradise~

Bruce

William Holt; The man behind the myth

In as much as we've put the nails on the Holt Glass Works coffin, I thought that it would be fun to learn about William Holt. My mother volunteers at a library in the Bay Area. She asked a personal favor of the research librarian on my behalf who, after much effort, provided us with the following information.

In this pamphlet, published in 1905, we find the following;

The 1900 Berkley census states;

Translated; this means that his residence was located in Ward 6, on Anthony Street in Berkeley.

The 1910 Census reveals the following;

She went on to state;

How William Holt went from mild mannered glass cutter to the owner of the imaginary Holt Glass Works will remain forever clouded in the mists of time.

But, the next time you see a building in San Francisco that survived the great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, with beveled glass in the front door, or look up at panes of original wavy window glass, remember that you may well be looking at some of William Holt's handiwork (even if it didn't contain whiskey)~

A special thank you to Charlene Silva and the Campbell public library for their assistance in tracking down the information provided herein.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury; have you reached a decision?

Yes, your honor~



On the charge of falsely impersonating a Glass Works, we find the defendant, Holt Glass... GUILTY!


Based on weeks of both my and Andrew K's research, aided by libraries, historical societies, and online archives, the irrefutable truth is that the existence of Holt Glass Works has been disproved.


Dr. Julian Toulouse first mentioned the existence of Holt Glass Works in his 1971 work, entitled Bottle makers and Their Marks. One website " Glass Factory Marks on Bottles" quotes Toulouse as saying " H. Holt Glass Works, West Berkeley, CA (1893-1906) is the source of various bottles with an "H", found primarily in the Western states. Holt-made bottles will have a number (with one, two, or three digits) accompanying the "H". In most cases, the number is reportedly found ABOVE the "H", although in some cases is may appear either below, or positioned to the right of the letter. (fonts occasionally differ slightly but are similar based on my observations)


And that is what we have accepted as fact for the past four decades. A few weeks ago, in an effort to date a different variant of the Gold Dust tool top that surfaced (it has a 684 "H" base mark), I decided to dig deeper into the Holt Glass story. Turns out that Andrew was doing what amounted to identical research; neither of us being aware of what the other was doing. This amounted to a double blind test when the cards finally hit the table.


And so, using different tools, we attempted to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. Problem was, the harder we researched, and the deeper we dug, the more Holt's mere existence seemed to slip from our grasp. To heck with tightening up the time frame and narrowing down the "* H" to "*** H" base mark. We couldn't even find written documentation of a Holt factory.


Andrew uncovered the following chronology;


March 23 1885 - Campbell Glass Works of Berkeley about to begin producing glass by May 1st.


May 22 1885 - J. Campbell & Co. (proprietors of Campbell Glass Works) dissolved and J.H. Campbell to continue business in his own name.


January 15 1887 - O'Neil Flint Glass Works of West Berkeley burned and planned to be rebuilt.


November 7 1895 - Vacant glass works in Berkeley.
March 26 1896 - Glass works in West Berkeley to be re-opened or re-built.


1902 - Vacant glass works in West Berkeley on 2nd and Addison Street.

Later, we found a link to a Wm. Holt in conjunction with glass making in Berkeley. The reference was gleaned from a book written in 1952 entitled The Glass Industry; Volume 33‎ - Page 256 (Technology & Engineering - 1952).

In the meantime, weeks worth of corresponding finally started to pay off and I began to receive information from research librarians and historical societies in the East Bay. I also spent the better part of a day digitally screening all copies of the S.F. Call, and other Bay Area newspapers for news articles and or advertisements. I ran Holt Glass, Berkley glass factories, Berkley glass works, etc. etc. from 1890 - 1906. The search was absolutely void, nada, nuthin'~.



Finally documentation arrived in the form of an email from a senior research librarian in West Berkley. Unfortunately, instead of proving Holt Glass Works presence it seemed to reinforce the looming doubt that it never existed. It stated;


I found many references to industrial and manufacturing businesses in West Berkeley during the era you mention, including multiple references to a glassworks called O'Neill Glass Company located at the foot of University Avenue. However, there was no mention of a Holt Glass Works or Factory.


There were also references to two substantial fires in the area. The first, in 1893, is described in The History of West Berkeley as "BIG FIRE at Sixth and Delaware destroyed four buildings including a shoe store, a saloon, a butcher shop and adjoining dwellings." The second, in 1901 is described as "A disastrous fire destroyed the Niehaus Brothers & Company Planning Mill." Neither mentions a glassworks.


I found entries for a Wm. Holt in the Berkeley City Directories from that era. The first entry I was able to find is from the 1899 Directory and the last from 1904. They read as folows:


1899 - Holt, Wm, lab, r 4th cor Holyoke


1900 - Holt, Wm, glass S F, r Anthony nr 5th


1902 - Holt, Wm, glass dlr S F, r Anthony nr 5th


1903 - Holt, Wm, glasswkr S F, r 829 Anthony


1904 - Holt, Wm, glass dlr S F, r Murray bet 7th and 8th\


Finally this morning the final pieces of the puzzle arrived from the California Historical Society;


Oakland-Alameda-Berkeley city directories produced these results:


1892, 1897 – no listing in Berkeley for Holt; no listing in the classified directory under glass for Holt


1899 (Berkeley) – Holt, Wm lab. R. 4th cor Holyoke [translation: William Holt, occupation: laborer, residing on 4th Street at the corner of Holyoke]


1900, 1902 (Berkeley) – Holt, Wm glass dlr SF r. Anthony nr. 5th [translation: William Holt, San Francisco-based glass dealer, residing on Anthony near 5th]


1905 (Berkeley) – Holt, Wm glass dlr r 629 Murray


1908 (Berkeley) – Holt, Wm glass r. 905 Murray


San Francisco city directory produced these results:


1905 – Holt, William. Prism Glass, plate and window glass, 280 Stevenson nr. 4th, tel John 4171, r. Berkeley – he is also listed in the classified ads in this directory under Glass-Plate


1906 Business Directory [post-fire-quake] – under Glass-Plate, is Holt & Habenicht, 269 Fell [St.]


1907 – Holt, William (Holt, Habenicht & Howlett) r. Berkeley [translation: he is with HH&H] – under Glass-Plate in the classified ads is Holt, Habenicht & Howlett at 269 Fell


The California State Archives failed to produce any dates of incorporation for a Holt Glass Factory located anywhere within the confines of the State of California.

And to further muddy the water, I was compiling the Late Winter mailing list this AM, looking over bottles with a fine tooth comb, when I happened upon a disturbing discovery. In one hand I had an E.A. Fargo and in the other, a Taussig / 26 & 28 Main; both toolies and both with nearly identical 29 basemarks. The difference? One had the "H" beneath the 29, but the other a C...

In conclusion, it appears that the base mark theory has been debunked. Yes, there are number over letter combinations but they can not be definitively linked to the non-existent Holt Glass works, or any other glass works for that matter. It also appears that Wm. Holt simply resided in Berkeley. He was indeed involved in glassmaking to a certain degree. However, his involvement was strictly limited to flat glasswares, as opposed to mold blown bottles, which were produced in San Francisco and not Berkeley. Had he either owned, or been involved in managing a glass factory that produced mold blown bottles, something would have shown up somewhere in the way of advertising or trade related news. The fact is, nothing exists.

Much as I hate to admit it, I think that we can agree with all certainty, that both the numbering system that we've attributed to the Holt Glass Works, as well as Holt Glass Works itself, have always been nothing but a myth.

Holt Glass; the jury sentences you to anonymity for life!

PS: One on hand Dr. Toulouse (and Bill Wilson for that matter), made more than their fair share of mistakes. And yet, they made do with what little they had to work with "way back" in 1971. Research into bottles and the companies that made them was all but non-existent. Archives were often located hundreds or even thousands of miles away from where these authors sat at their desks, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. The internet was decades off and what research being done at that time was often accomplished via phone or US mail and often relied on librarians who may or may not have transcribed the available facts to the letter.



That being said, both authors did the best they could with what tools that they had available at the time, and yes mistakes were made. But without their efforts, odds are, we wouldn't be sitting here today, having a cup of coffee some forty years later, reassembling the pieces of the puzzle that they left for us.