Canyonville 2010 - Epilogue

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!

 
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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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?

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?

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.

KG