Expo 2012 - Rrrreno!

Rrrreno!

I've been attending the Reno show since 1970. It's one of those time / date stamps that I look forward to every year. Back in the day, the convention center (such as it was) was located waaaay south of Reno proper. The MGM Grand sprouted out of the desert, part way and a little south, between Reno and Sparks, in 1978. We used to marvel at it's size as we lumbered through the center of old Reno, down South Virginia, and out into the dessert south of town toward the convention center. It was in the middle of nowhere, had a gravel parking lot, and tumbleweeds blowing alongside the building. Funny thing, it's still in the same spot, but bears no resemblance to it's former self. And what was the middle of nowhere is now the middle of south Reno. Times change, places change. Progress? (I don't think so...)

Fast forward to 2012. This year the Reno Show hosted Expo 2012 at what was the MGM Grand; now the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. I come from meager beginnings and places like the Grand Sierra can be a bit intimidating to an old country boy who's not used to grid lock, anything over a couple of stories high, and glitz and glimmer every where you look. And so, we arrived Thursday to get a lay of the land and figure out what lay on the horizon for us. And that's where the good stuff started.

Here's my story; and I'm stickin' to it!

1) Setup; Talk about a walk in the park! A freight elevator that you could drive a Greyhound bus into! And rolling carts, courtesy of the Grand Sierra, that could hold the contents of not one, but two, loaded pickups. I was already smilin' from ear to ear.

2) The Grand Ballroom (heart and soul of the show); Easy access from the ground floor via escalator or elevator, just a hop skip and a jump from the entrance, carpet, twenty foot high ceilings, padded chairs, a bullizion square foot room, draped sales tables (that were in good repair and didn't collapse once the sales racks were up), displays up the whazoo, and room to spread out galore. Who could ask for more? OK, maybe color corrected lighting around the 5500 kelvin scale, but beggars can't be choosers~

3) Showtime; Exceptionally well organized. Everything went off like clockwork. Sure the neck veins throbbing visibly in Marty and Rich Siri's necks were visible proof that they were dedicated to making things flow smoothly in terms of both dealer and displayer setup. But the planning paid off in spades. Great job guys!

4) Crunch time (opening the floodgates); Again, advance planning paid off. Twelve noon - everyone out of the sales / display area in the Grand Ballroom. 1 PM, it looked like a cattle chute outside the entrance to the Grand Ballroom. The presence of uniformed security guards sent a message and no "gate crashers" made their way in uninvited.

5) Show Time (the nitty gritty); more awesome glass was present than I can ever recall seeing in one place in my 45+ years in the hobby. And the beauty was that both displays and sales tables were adorned with great "stuff". Both west and east were equally represented. Killer western whiskies, bitters, cures, sodas, plus any and everything else that came in glass was present. And from the east; historical flasks, foods, figural bitters, poisons and on and on. Totally breathtaking!

6) Attendance; Both Friday and Saturday were absolutely jamb packed with folks. Sunday started off strong but, as is typical with any show on the last day, things slowed as the clock ticked on.

7) Tear down and load out; Ditto Item #1.

8) High Points; a massive array of quality glass was present. Both east and west were equally represented. The displays were out of this world. If you were in a buying mode, both quality, quantity and fair prices were around every corner. The Shootout was a blast; great Drakes, Circle Cutters and inks - something for everyone. Seminars - again, something for everyone.

And yet, there was the one burr under the saddle that continues to plague every show these days, no matter how much security is present or no matter how vigilant the dealers are; THEFT. I've got my own feelings on the matter and personally think that the "code of the west" outta still be enforced. The heck with "politically correct". I guess that just don't cut it in the 21st century. It still should... And yet, with the quantity of killer glass present, coupled with the sheer volume of folks packing the aisles, it could have been a heckuva lot worse. Still, one theft is one too many~

Overall impression; I've always loved the Reno Show. But 2012 was, as Denaveauz and Maison named their top shelf whiskey, Crème De La Crème! The organization was great. The weather was great. The facility was great. We enjoyed great food, great beer, great whiskey, and great entertainment (thanks daughter Megan for the Ron White tickets!). We spent nearly four full days enjoying the company of the great friends and fellow collectors that we've gotten to know over the years. Who could ask for more!

In a nutshell, The show was over the top!

A sincere thanks to all who were responsible for a weekend that one and all will hold dear to their hearts. Simply awesome!

Bruce Silva

Countdown to Reno

The Federation Expo in Reno is just around the corner. Based on what I'm seeing and hearing, this should be the west coast show of the millennium, especially for western whiskey collectors. Ken Schwartz is bringing some real power to tease those with an appetite for the good stuff including a couple of small town fifths to die for; The Manhattan / Oroville, and The Peerless / Madera. He's also laying out the handled red whittled Non-Pariel flask from Kolb & Denhard, a green Chevalier / Castle flask and another dozen or so hitters. Check out his "menu" in this months Bottles & Extras classifieds.

We're looking forward to seeing one and all again this year. We will have a great assortment of pictures, glop tops, flasks, tankers and pre-pro shot glasses. According to Marty, the show is a sellout with around 350 tables reserved. WOW!!! He also said that our table assignment is SECTION D2 / TABLE B.

You can look forward to some great bottles at fair prices. Here's a few photos of some of the offerings that we'll be making available;

 A nice string of Cutters, many with a little something extra going for them in terms of color and crudity.

 A little bit of Aloha from the Islands.

Some desireable tool and glop top pictures in both clear and amethyst.

A quantity of "small town" fifths.

A few critters.

A flock of birds.

A couple of Star Shield JF's plus a little variety tossed in to keep things interesting.

A few more crude and rude glops.

Like I said, a bit of everything.

And that's just the tip of the iceburg. Plus, if you've got any wants or wishes, let me know in advance. I may just have that special bottle stuffed in a box around here.

So come on by the table, pull up a chair and take a load off. See you all shortly.

Bruce

PS: Here's a link to the show website;
http://www.fohbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/EXPO-2012-book.pdf

July 4, 1884

July 4, 1884

Jacksonville, Oregon (aka Table Rock City)

Jacksonville had, by 1884, assumed an air of civility. Gone were the days of the Indian wars, mad scrambles to new diggin's, and living on the frontier in Oregon Territory. The thirty some years that had elapsed since the cry of "Gold, Gold, Gold" had echoed down the canyon of what is now third street had mellowed the town. Gone were the Fourth of July days of old, replete with public drunkenness, the shooting of anvils, gunfire, and celebration to excess. Nope, Jacksonville had grown up. And there were some who missed the "good old days".

Bum Neuber and Otto Biede were pals. Bum was the town marshal (and also a saloon keeper) and Otto was the town tinsmith and glazier; both were respectable sorts. Bum and Otto were "old timers" who remembered J'ville during the "good ol' days". And they missed them.

Jacksonville had a surplus cannon, used in both the Indian Wars and the Civil War, stuffed away at the fire hall, which was in back of the city hall on Oregon Street. Just before sunup, Bum and Otto, snuck into the fire hall, moved the ladder truck and hose cart out onto the road, and proudly wheeled the cannon out of the building. So far so good. Hose cart and ladder truck back in their respective places, they guided the canon north on Oregon and turned the corner at California, pointing the canon due east along the main drag of the downtown commercial district. One, two, three, four, five... yes six... woolen sox full of black powder found their way down the muzzle of the cannon. The morning summer sun comes up over a good sized hill due east of Jacksonville, called Roxie Ann. As the sun slowly peeked over the top of the ridge, an earth shattering blast was unleashed by Bum and Otto. And.. every single window on California Street for three blocks shattered into a thousand pieces.

Bum and Otto thought it jolly good fun. Otto gladly footed the bill to replace the window glass. And drinks were on the house for the rest of the day.

Happy Fourth!

___________________________________________

(Several years ago a friend of mine and I obtained permission to dig the Armstrong House. It was one of the oldest wood framed homes still standing in J'ille, dating to the mid 1850's. We'd located an outer on the side of the lot almost into the city right of way on 6th Street. It was a no brainer since it probed sold glass. Funny thing, the first five feet of that pit were solid window glass. Old window glass, wavy, crude and full of huge bubbles. The first bottle out, beneath this layer was an E.C. Brooks Druggist Jacksonville. Easy to date this one, 1884. Yep, and guess who lived in the house at that time. Thanks Otto, for the memories.)

Totally Choice, dude~

Choice Old Cabinet

The name itself instantly conjures up the mental image of a top notch whiskey. And what better way to merchandise a top notch product, than to have a top notch mold made for the bottles that held it. A quick glance at the full face embossing tells you that the bottles were blown in San Francisco thanks to the "funny R". The amber applied top cylinders, what few of them are around, have that characteristic look of a late 70's - early 80's classic western glop top.

Crane Hastings & Co. came into being on July 2nd of 1874 when Byron G. Crane and Everett L. Hastings established their co-partnership. They opened their doors that day at 608-612 Front Street.

Based on the appearance of the cylinder, the molds were commissioned and the order for bottles filled from the get-go.

This arrangement was short lived, thanks to the sudden demise of Hastings in 1875. He was aboard the ill fated steamer "Pacific", that went down on November 10, 1875 near Port Townsend Washington Territory. Hastings had been "up north", participating in legal proceedings against saloon owner S. Benton in Colfax, Washington Territory, caused by a default on a $1200~ payment for goods received from Crane Hastings & Co.. Colfax was located in what is now NE Washington near Moscow Idaho. Hmm, might be a good place to look for Choice Old Cabinets...

Hasting's wife participated in ownership of the company from the time of Everett's death until April 5th, 1876 when Crane legally assumed sole ownership of the firm while remaining at the same location.

Four years later, Crane, on March 10, 1880, went into a partnership with a Charles E. Benjamin. They retained the same company name of Crane Hastings & Co. but made a move over to 121 California Street; still in the heart of the wholesale liquor district. For whatever reason, two years later they relocated once again, only this time to two separate locations. One being at 316 Sacramento Street, the other at 321 Commercial Street. On April 1, 1886, Crane dissolved this co-partnership and again makes a go of it alone. He retains both locations. What I find strange, is that the two addresses are only a half block apart; the first on the corner of Sacramento and Front while the latter address is on the corner of Front and Commercial. He kept the doors open at both locations until closing the doors to the company in 1895.

Now back to the bottle (bottles). Based on the number of Choice Old Cabinet bottles remaining in private collections today, they must not have been highly successful; at least not in comparison to say A. P. Hotaling or Moore Hunt & Co. I could find no evidence of newspaper advertising in either the Daily Alta California or the Call. There are no etched shot glasses known to exist and I've not seen any back bar signs or other media that would indicate extensive advertising. According to Thomas, around twenty of the bottles exist; having been found in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.


Although it never made John's top twenty list, the Choice Old Cabinet is one of my favorite glop tops for many reasons. Often quite crude, the full face embossing and sloppy tops coupled with all the attributes of this era of whiskey really make it stand out in a crowd. What many collectors are unaware of is that there are actually two very similar molds in existence. One has the typically crude rounded embossing so typical of the late 1870's 1880's era while another has "chisel point" embossing so sharp that you can cut a steak with it.

This new mold was made at the time of glassblowing technique transition and has a tooled top. At first glance, one might mistakenly think that the old mold was simply re-cut. However, despite the outstanding job of duplication, minute differences exist proving that it is indeed a new mold. Oddly, the R's retain the characteristic curved leg of the older molds; an anomaly not present on most of the bottles blown during the 1890's transition era. As is so often the case, the tool tops "don't get no respect" despite the fact that they are infinitely rarer than the glop tops. Personally, I value both equally and am fortunate to have one of each in my collection.

For those in the market for one, I might suggest checking out ebay. There is one currently available from a well known and respected western collector.

It's totally choice, dude~

Neat Stuff - New era / old world skills~

JERSEY CITY — As he wielded a hand torch in a cluttered two-car garage one recent night, Kiva Ford admitted, “I really don’t have time for a relationship because I love glass too much.”

By day, Mr. Ford is a scientific glass blower for a large pharmaceutical company, creating and repairing medical apparatus — full-jacketed two-neck flasks, custom-jacketed reactors, reflux condensers, hydrolysis tubes — vital to researchers combating diseases like cancer. By night and on weekends, Mr. Ford is usually in his garage, working on his own personal creations — glass goblets, Champagne flutes, flower vases — to sell at art shows or online.

“I must admit, I’ve become a bit of a glass hermit,” Mr. Ford said.


Mr. Ford, who grew up in Milford, N.J., “dreaming of something fun to do with my life,” found it at Salem Community College in Carneys Point, N.J., where he earned an associate’s degree in scientific glass technology through the only degree program of its kind in the country.


Historically, glass blowers have been drawn to South Jersey — considered the birthplace of American glassmaking — because the area’s pure sand and abundant forests provided natural resources vital to the glassmaking industry. In 1739, a man named Caspar Wistar immigrated from Germany and founded the country’s first successful glass factory in Salem County. Many scientific glassmakers still remain in the region.


“Most people do not know about our profession, but we are in demand,” said Bob Pontoon, a former president of the American Scientific Glassblowers Society — Mr. Ford is one of its 650 members — which was founded in 1952.


On this night in his garage, Mr. Ford was squinting through a pair of Didymium safety glasses, repairing a glass vacuum manifold.


“Chemists use these manifolds as a way to control their chemical reactions in an inert atmosphere,” Mr. Ford said, reaching for a blow hose. “The stopcock is broken off this manifold and needs to be sealed back together.”


Mr. Ford connected one end of the hose to the manifold and placed the other end in his mouth. He ignited a hand torch, placed a large flame to the manifold and began manipulating its shape by puffing slowly into the blow hose.


“Blowing air into the manifold keeps the seal from collapsing while it is being heated with the flame,” Mr. Ford explained between puffs. “In this business, you really have to understand what certain glass pieces want to do, and what they don’t want to do.”


Mr. Ford, 28, works at Roche Pharmaceuticals in Nutley, N.J., where chemists, researchers and scientists rely on his works to extract, distill, store and test chemicals used in laboratory and university experiments.


“To me, the scientists are the real heroes because they can manipulate molecules to create new drugs in a way I would never be able to understand,” Mr. Ford said. “The best part of my job is seeing some of the pieces I have made being used to test a brand new cancer drug or something of equal significance — it’s neat to know that I play a role, albeit a small one, in the whole medical discovery process.”


Mr. Ford removed his Didymium glasses, which he said he needed to “filter out the yellow sodium flame, which is difficult to see through during the heating process,” and carefully laid the vacuum manifold in what looked like a box of cat litter but was actually vermiculite, a clay mineral used for thermal insulation. His work complete, Mr. Ford began tinkering some more, breathing into decorative pieces scattered across a large table; it is a pastime that in recent years has become more of a business than a hobby.


“Every morning is like Christmas for me,” Mr. Ford said. “I really love what I do — it never gets old.”


Before closing up shop for the evening, Mr. Ford, squinting again through his Didymium glasses and reigniting his hand torch, went about the business of attaching a glass base to the stem of a goblet.


“It’s a rite of passage as a glass blower to be able to make a technically well-crafted goblet,” Mr. Ford explained. “To make one that is technically acceptable, you sometimes need to throw out about 1,000 of them.”


Mr. Ford held his goblet up to a light to check for any technical errors. He could not find one.


“Looks like a keeper,” he said.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 9, 2012, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Blowing Glass Is His Day Job, And It’s His Other Job, Too.

Larger than life

Some people, and some places, are larger than life. Famous, bordering on infamous. Such is Bodie. Situated in literally the middle of nowhere southeast of Bridgeport California, at over 8,000 feet in elevation, it is about as far removed from civilization as possible. Bad weather, bad whiskey and bad men all combined to make it one of the wickedest towns in all the “wild west”. No wonder a little girl said, when informed that they were moving the next day for the already notorious burg, “Good bye God, I’m going to Bodie.

The middle of May seemed to me, to be a good time to visit. The snow had melted a couple of weeks prior, Sonora Pass was open and the temperature was supposed to be a balmy fifty some degrees. A long, dusty, pothole riddled road winds through the high dessert sage for mile after mile, until you climb the last rise and Bodie unfolds in front of you; (or at least what’s left of it).

The sky is bluer, the clouds seem closer, and the place has a surrealistic aura about it; a magnetism I can’t explain.

Ore carts, hoist wheels, mining implements; all have a patina polished by over a century of baking in the high desert sun half the year and being buried under ten feet of snow the other half. 

Instead of drab gray, the weathered buildings have a warm sepia tone.

There is a presence one can feel as you stroll amongst the dilapidated hulks that once were hotels, boarding houses, cabins and ornate homes replete with weathered Victorian gingerbread.

The windows stare back as you gaze into them, lonely and forlorn, seemingly framing past, present and future.

Many of the buildings still have contents; left where they were as the last residents packed up what few belongings they valued and headed for greener pastures elsewhere.

There are times when, if you're very, very quiet, you can almost hear the ghosts speak.

Of course, what self respecting western collector can’t help but think of a Pearson Bros. Soda when dreaming about the town.

We spent a mesmerizing day there, wandering through town, amazed at the abundance of rusted tin cans, broken bottles and the pungent smell of high dessert sage.

Sadly, the time came all too quick to retrace our steps, so we bid adieu to Bodie and made our way back to the High Sierra cabin that we called home that week.

Trust me, we’ll be back! I wonder if the old saying actually read "Good, by God, I'm going to Bodie!"



"Bricked"

In answer to the “What’s up?” emails; here goes…



Turns out there’s a geek speak term in the computer world called “bricked”. I’ve just gotten a crash course in Bricked 101.


The OS, Win Vista 64, in this computer that I had custom built by Dell about 3 years ago,  has been somewhat problematic but useable. I’ve been able to run compatibility software to integrate old with new programs and the 5th edition of Western Whiskey Bottles (WWB) was slowly coming back to life after the last computer “issue”.


Thanks to Dell who built this thing and Seagate who built & distributed the defective primary hard drive (a 750gb / #7200-11), with a ticking time bomb in the form of faulty firmware, I'm dead in the water.

We were gone on vacation for well over a week at the first part of May, and returned last Monday (5/21) only to discover that the grenade finally detonated when I attempted to boot up the system. My primary desktop was rendered useless. The bios failed to recognize the startup drive and all we got was a simple error message to the tune of no hard drive recognized. Anyone care to run a Google search of the same and then join in a class action?


Now that I’ve vented, many thanks to the tech dept. at my IT, who were successful in at least getting me back up in a marginal fashion using a spare surplus drive running Windows XP. Turns out that the Seagate Free Agent external backup drive which was supposed to be backing up my files, was also not doing its job. Here’s hoping that the firmware fix that Seagate may or may not perform on their “Barracuda” hard drive in the next who knows how long, will resurrect my data.


As such, the photos, research, data, layouts etc. are gone once again; perhaps for good. If so, kiss the 5th edition of “WWB” good-by. This is the 3rd failure of this Dell computer (and subsequent BS attempted fixes by Dell), with consecutive total loss of unrecoverable data, and there’s no more smoke in my shorts (to quote an old pal up in D’ville).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Time will tell. And as for Dell, well, you can guess where they can go!