Spring 2012 in Chico!

When 2+2 doesn't equal 4

Got an email the other day from a non-collector. He'd spotted the sign next to one of my display cases pictured on the opening page of the website. Said he'd picked one up at the estate sale of an old gold panner down in Northern California. He went on to say, "I am interested in selling it and was wondering if you could recommend a place to do so and perhaps a "ball park figure" to ask as I am not very well versed in vintage whiskies/bourbon memorabilia."

Here's my reply;

First, a bit of history of Fenkhausen. Amandus Fenkahausen and Herman Braunschweiger entered into a "co-partnership" in 1878. Their flagship brand of whiskey was "Old Pioneer". The labels and the embossed bottles that contained the product, pictured a side view of a California grizzly bear. It rapidly became exceptionally popular. Later, Braunschweiger left this partnership to establish one by the name of Braunshweiger and Bumstead (ca. 1881 - 1885). When Fenkahausen and Braunschweiger split up, Fenkhausen retained the rights to the Old Pioneer brand.

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

The firm of Braunschweiger and Co. came to be in 1886 after the partnership dissolution of Braunschweiger and Bumstead. Braunschweiger and Co.  retained the Bear Grass brand at that time. Other brands marketed by the firm included "Bear Valley", "California Club", "Extra Pony", "Golden Chief", "Golden Cupid", "Golden Rule", "Golden Rule XXX Sour Mash Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey", "Oak Valley Distilling: Brunswick Extra Pony Pure Bourbon Whiskey", "Silver Wedding" and "Tennessee White 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

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~

Dues paid as requested

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

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.

SHM / Stuarts - Wilmerding

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 last week after looking at it I dont beleive it is made from the Cassin`s mold you can see the slugged out area on the Stuart`s fits the SHM but not the Cassin`s also the Cassin`s has a different bottom and the shoulders are different and if the Stuarts was made from the SHM that would explain the circle on the front of the 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