Sasquatch Update!

News Flash

Witnesses says Sasquatch is hiding in

abandoned Detroit buildings.

 

Check this out!

 

"We see this hairy arm reaching out the window. I say what the hell, he gonna get cut that dude with the broken glass, man. Then a whole body coming out the window, looked like a monkey, only big damn monkey with a stick on the hand. Maybe about 7-ft tall. It had short, reddish hair. But hold on, the face was human looking, as crazy as it sounds. My wife kept telling me to drive away, so we did. I got to see the animal’s eyes and all, big and dark, with a huge head, like a triangle shape, kinda, know what I mean?"

 

Seriously, how could anyone dispute an eye witness account like this? And pictures too~

 

OK, so if Sasquatch is being spotted in Detroit, how come there's no Theo Blauth sneaking around Sacramento?

 

________________________________

 

 

He must exist, right?

I mean folks claim to have seen him, why, there's even photos and movies "proving" that he's real.

The other day, old pal Steve Abbott and I were tossing around the subject of lost western whiskies. You know, the ones where only pieces have been found, and then even the pieces have disappeared; like the Sutro Nevada - Old SIgnet find (don't get me goin' !). And then there's the "only the good die young" bottles like the "Palmtag & Barnhart slug plate Phoenix Bourbon" from Hollister. It made it's appearance in the early 1980's, set the western collecting world on it's ear, only to pull a humpty dumpty and end up in a pile of pieces. None have been seen since~ Back in the late 1960's I dug the first known example of the Hotaling OPS Bourbon (without the "OLD" in between Hotalings and Private Stock) in a mountain of oyster shells (spelled the consistency of concrete) in a saloon dump in the hills above Saratoga, Ca.. My OPS also pulled a humpty dumpty, flying off the bottle shelf in the living room. The score - flagstone hearth 1 - OPS 0... Fortunately, a few have surfaced since then, so it doesn't qualify for Sasquatch status.

All the above were glop tops so the lack of new finds is understandable, given both the age and the lack of numbers actually blown to begin with.

 

Steve chimed in and tossed a name out that I hadn't thought of before. And it's not a glop. In fact it's a somewhat late tool top, and was blown for an outfit that was in business all the way from the early 80's through to prohibition. It's a Sacramento bottle. Nuthin' to look at, but it is truly the Sasquatch of the toolies. It's embossed

 

"THEO.BLAUTH/WHOLESALE WINE/&/LIQUOR DEALERS/SACRAMENTO/CAL." (all in a round slug plate),

 

It's #55 in Western Whiskey Bottles 4th edition. Now we know this isn't just an "old figment" of our imaginations because we've seen a photo of it. It's on page 37 #2 of Bill Wilsons "Spirits Bottles of the Old West". He rated it as common, with a scarcity rating of *10 in amber and *6 in clear.

 

 

Here's what we know abut the firm from archived Sacramento Cal. records;

 T.H. Blauth: 1021 4th (1882-1884), 407 K (1885-1904)

 T.H. Blauth Sons Co.: 407K (1905-1912)

 T.H. Blauth & Son: 407 K (1913-1917)

We know that he sold MELLWOOD WHISKEY based on a small advertisement that exists (the only advertisement...). The actual brand name was owned by Mellwood Distillery of Louisville, KY. As such, Blauth was just a licensed west coast wholesaler of the brand, along with Theo Gier of S.F.

He also owned California Bottling Works, dba T. Blauth or T.Blauth and Sons, which produced lots of embossed beer bottles.

During the course of conversation, Steve added the following;

 

"This piece of info is amazing. My wife and I were on an Alaska cruise. We stopped in Ketchican for a few hours. I went on a long and rapid walk as far through town as time would permit. I saw an "antique"/thrift store. It had a Buffalo Beer opener. I bought it and asked the owner how she got it. She said she bought the shop and inventory from a person from California. We talked about that, then she said she had the business ledger from the other party with all the inventory. She showed it to me. On the inside page in florid script was THEOBALD BLAUTH. She wouldn't sell me the page. She said that apparently the previous owner was a descendant of Blauth and that she had a couple of beer bottles at home. She told me the man's name and that he lived in X----YZ California." When I got home, I started searching and actually found the man based on the info that she'd supplied me with. "He said that I should talk to his mother who was 90+ who lived in XXXXXXXX, and gave me her phone number. I called her and talked to her for a half hour or so. Great memory. Blauth was her grandfather, but died before she was old enough to know him. I kept notes on the conversation and placed them in a loose leaf notebook titled "WHISKEY MISCELLANEOUS." I have never seen a Blauth billhead or anything else, though for a guy who sold as much beer and whiskey as he did, there must be some."

I spent quite a bit of time trying to ferret out more information via Sacramento and California State archives. I did find some family history;

__________________________________

Theobald and Caroline (Hack) Blauth, came to California among the sturdy pioneers of 1879

Mr. Blauth engaged in the wholesale liquor business in 1880, and lived to see the 28th of February, 1918, and to acquire considerable property, which he left in his estate. His good wife also died here.

JULIUS BLAUTH.--Julius Blauth was born in Sacramento, on April 6, 1884
associated himself with his father, in business.

__________________________________

 

But in terms of the business, talk about a dead end... This outfit just flat kept a low, low, profile. Nothing in the way of liquor advertising, no shot glasses, no back bar decanters, no back bar signs; just plain nuthin'.

I did find one interesting tidbit relating to the liquor firm, dating to 1905;

_______________________________

The Sacramento Bee
September 19 1905

BLAUTH IS FREE

WOODLAND (Yolo Co.), September 19 - C. BLAUTH, a Sacramento wholesale liquor dealer, who was arrested at the instance of District Attorney HUSTON for selling liquor in Washington without a county license, pleaded guilty to the charge before Justice LAMPTON yesterday. It seems that Blauth has been in the habit of retailing liquors from a wagon sent over into Yolo County. He said that he was ignorant of the fact that he was violating an ordinance, and promised it would not occur again. Upon this understanding sentence was withheld and he was allowed to go.

(Just a quick PS. I couldn't locate a town of Washington in Yolo County at first. Turns out it was later was renamed Broderick. It is now nothing more than West Sacramento. It was located where the current  Sacramento Ave. and Cal. SR 84 intersect.) Progress...

_______________________________

Well folks, that's pretty much the long and short of it. The

"THEO.BLAUTH/WHOLESALE WINE/&/LIQUOR DEALERS/SACRAMENTO/CAL."

cylinder seems to have vanished under the radar, since we can't account for any intact examples that are present in a west coast collection.

C'mon now, there's got to be some out there! They're late, pretty plain, and were rated common back in the late 1960's.

Send me a current photo or two of it, just to prove that it's not a Sasquatch!

Rest in Peace

Globtopwhiskies.com

1/30/2009 - 2/14/2014

-----------------------------------

A friend emailed today, asking if I'd noticed what was up with Sole Agents site today.

 

I hadn't tried to log in since earlier this week.

 

This is what greeted me as the home page.

 

 

Bummer, and a real loss for the west coast fraternity.

 

I touched base with Sole Agent a couple of weeks ago about migrating the archived articles to this website if his folded. At that time, he had intentions of simply renewing the domain. Now that a domain shark has possesion of it, we'll try to figure a way to have his old database added to this one.

If any of you computer experts have an idea about how to implement this, please get ahold of me and we'll give your plan a try.

 

Have a good weekend!

Reasonable or Rip-off?

Every so often, this topic comes around. It's like a bad habit that just won't go away.

Recently, an online glass gallery auction closed. A collector won the high bid on a bottle that measures 8" tall by 2 3/4" wide at the base. It weighs 11 ounces. The hammer price was $70~.

The bidder received their invoice via email. The invoice was in the amount of $100.60. The amount was for the price of the bottle, shipping, plus an 18% buyers fee (reduced to 15% if paid by cash or check - this fee was understood and acknowledged prior to placing a bid).

The Auction conditions of sale read;

"8. Shipping: Shipping, insurance and packaging charges will be added to your bill unless the lots are picked up in person. With the exception of larger items we ship U.S. Mail, registered, 1st Class and insured. Larger items will be shipped via U.P.S. or by freight. When shipping by freight, shipping and packing charges will be billed C.O.D."

The shipping charge on the invoice was $18.oo. Yes, Eighteen Dollars. The buyer took exception to this.

 

The shipment, including the bottle, packed in an oversized box (providing a minimum of 6" of space between the walls of the container and the bottle) and enough protective wrapping and padding to insure it's survival if dropped out of an aircraft, weighed  in at a total of 1 lb. 15 oz. Just under two pounds...

A check of the USPS rate calculator showed the actual cost of mailing from the east coast to the west coast as $9.97 via USPS Priority 2 day.

Let's summarize; $9.97 actual cost vs. an invoiced amount of $18.00.

When questioned the auction gallery at first failed to respond. Finally after a week, the bidder received the following email;

"The invoice we sent it the amount we are charging." (sic)

_________________________________________

1) What would your thoughts be if you got this bill?

2) Is this reasonable or A Rip-off?

Super Bowl XLVIII Advertising

I was taught, years ago, that the secret to a successful ad campaign is three fold

1) Does it catch your attention?

2) Does it keep your attention?

3) Does it make you want to by the product?

My 1st place award for advertising yesterday goes to Budweiser for their commercial with the yellow lab puppy! For starters, it reminded me of my pup, McKenna, when he was a baby. And it accomplished all three of the above criteria in spades. A home run (or a touch down) in my opinion.

But, what did folks do to push their wares in the days before Super Bowl XLVIII, or TV, or for that matter radio?

Starting around the turn of the century, the whiskey business on the west coast in general, and San Francisco in particular, became intensely competitive. Gone were the days of friendly coexistence. Sink or swim. Eat or be eaten was the new order of the day.

Everyone likes a freebie. Same then as now. And the liquor wholesalers were not oblivious to this part of human nature. Free one shot sample bottles, handed out at public events helped introduce whiskey drinkers to a new brand. Free wooden sleeve corkscrews emblazoned with the brand name helped keep the product "top of mind". The ever present scantily clad ladies advertising a brand on the back bar sign that hung on the wall certainly didn't hurt either. Fancy acid etched shot glasses began to proliferate. Ash trays, match safes, even clothes brushes with the brand and wholesalers names were handed out to saloon owners and "preferred customers". Brass fobs with patriotic red - white & blue ribbons hanging off of bottles, porcelain cork toppers perched on back bar bottles, and brass door push plates stared back at potential customers. Yesterday, while watching a silent film about a cable car ride down market Street in S.F., just before the earthquake, I was astounded at the number of buildings with whiskey advertising painted on the sides of them. Photos of pre-earthquake and fire S.F. abound and many of them show stained glass transom window advertising and corner reverse glass painted signs advertising everything from Ahrens Bullwinkle, to Gilt Edge to Wolter's Bros.

And let's not forget the tip trays and advertising trays. The artwork on many of these is simply classic. Many, if not most, of these artistic pieces of pressed tin, dating to the post TOC era, were made in Coshocton Ohio by the evolution of two large firms; The Meek and Beech Co. ca. 1901 - 1903, The Meek Co. ca. 1903 - 1909, The H. D. Beach Co. Ca. 1903+, and the American Art Works Co. ca. 1909+. They were mass produced "stock art trays" that were purchased en masse by San Francsico advertising wholesaler "Bachrach & Co". They in turn rubber stamped the proprietors name on the tray after initial production to advertise their goods.

So kick back, have a look at some pre Super Bowl XLVIII advertising and enjoy~

 

(click on the photos and they will open in an enlarged separate window)

Personal collection (PC)

Courtesy Robin Preston

 

(PC)

All signs (PC)

 

(PC)

(Collection of M.J.)

 

 

(anonymous private collection)

(PC)

(PC)

(all PC)

(PC)

(current eBay listing #141180306930)


Even 100 years ago; Puppies in advertising!

This stuff caught and kept my attention. That's for sure.

And I would have bought their products
in a New York (uh I mean, San Francisco) minute.

Some things never change.

Slug.

 

The word brings to mind visions of a slimy and very unattractive "shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusk". We had property in the Santa Cruz mountains when I was a kid and still vividly remember the overabundance of these nasty things that slithered about; seemingly present beneath every slimy step I took.

But slug can also be a good thing,"slug plate". As in western whiskey. The first really good bottle that I ever had was a Standard Old Bourbon slug plate. I recall staring at that thing for hours; marveling at the crude top, the heavy embossing and the character. As my focus became clearer over the years, and I concentrated my interests on rare pictures and the "big dogs", I let the Standard slip away. Not sure what became of it. Nothing in my records, and I don't recall selling or trading it. But just the same it was gone.

I recently purchased a nice grouping of better western fifths. In the bunch was another Standard. This is a slug plate that just doesn't become available very often. In fact, I can count on one hand the number that I've seen over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

I've got a few other slug plates on the shelf.

 

 

 Kane O'Leary,

 

 

 

                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

N. Grange 

 

 

MacFarlane,

                                  

 

Van Schuyver,
 

 

Our Choice,

                                                            and the Tommy T.

All of the above, including the Standard, were blown in S.F.

 

Another favorite, that once graced my shelves was a Renz's Blackberry Brandy.

 

With the exception of the Renz, all are surprisingly well made considering their age. The tops are pretty sloppy but, for the most part, they are pretty much void of crudity in the body. On the flip side, the range of color makes up for the lack of character, and keeps them from looking like a line of soldiers standing at attention.

 

The red whittled "German Connection" Wolters Bros. slug is the eye popper of the lineup; loaded with both color and crudity.

I've heard it said that the slug plates can be broken up into a "true (or indented) slug plate" that is recessed, and a "raised (ridge) slug plate". All the examples that I've got have a raised ridge border. I truthfully don't recall seeing any that have the plate area simply sunken into a dedicated front "half mold". I went so far as to pull out the newer Thomas book and Wilsons Spirits Bottles of the Old West, hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive "true (or indented) slug plate". All for naught. I wonder if it really exists?

 

In fact, the only major difference that I've noted is that some have a large blob type air vent on the front and back shoulder. The Our Choice and N. Grange have this style of venting. The others do not.

 

 

Slug plates, although scarce compared to many of the more elaborately embossed western glop tops, don't seem to have as much appeal to collectors; primarily because of the lack of embossing coverage. One has to wonder why some liquor wholesalers chose them to begin with. Sadly, the glass house records dating to the slug plate era went up in smoke in 1906. As such, one can only guess that price was the driving factor. Best guess is that it would be quicker, and hence cheaper, to emboss a couple of lines in a removable slug plate than to create an elaborate half mold with full faced embossing.

 

Something else to consider is that the pretty embossing, which we now consider the front of the bottle, was in reality the rear (or reverse). The label side was actually the front of the bottle.  

With few exceptions, given equal color and crudity, most collectors are drawn to more heavily embossed cylinders. That despite the extreme rarity of many of the slugs. The combined total of the top five slug plates; Palmtag & Bernhardt, Hotaling P.S., R.T. Carroll, Wolf - Janes and Wheeland & Collins number less than 10. Yes, less than Ten Total combined examples known. And yet, given the choice, I'd wager to say that most collectors would choose a Millers Extra, a Chevalier Whiskey Merchant or a Cassin's Golden Plantation (more than 30 known of just these three) over the top five slugs.

 

Although not quite the Rodney Dangerfield of western whiskies, the slug plates certainly don't bask in the limelight or get the respect that they deserve.

A Metamorphosis of Sorts~

From Whiskey Seat, to Beer Seat, to Hot Seat.

 

Many of us have kept an eye on the tale of two seats playing out this week.
 

One on ABA, the other on eBay.
 

eBay's listing has had an offer. It was apparently rejected as the listing is still active.
 

ABA's listing is through the roof. Bidding stands at $3200~ tonight. Simply astonishing.
 

 Something caught my eye when comparing the photos of the two this evening. They are slightly different (besides the missing foot on the eBay offering).

 

 

eBay offering
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ABA listing

Is he flipping the...................