Bottles and Extras The official publication of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors
Vol. 15 No. 4
Fall 2004 ‘Tis the Season for Victorian Illumination Lamps Page 36
Poison Land Page 68
Iowa Blob-top Sodas Page 54
www.FOHBC.com
Saratogas of the North Page 70 EXPO 2004 Show Report Begins on Page 25
2004
The Definitive Book on Western Bitters Bottles... This exciting book by Jeff Wichmann, well known bottle dealer and auctioneer, examines the colorful world of western bitters bottles and is sure to be an excellent reference for years to come. He’s included virtually every western bitters known, many shown in different color variations, all in beautiful full color. With over 130 pages and hundreds of photos in an 8 1/2” x 11” format, you’ll see why these beautiful bottles are so highly prized by collectors. After traveling the west photographing collections, Jeff has taken the best of the best and produced a book which is sure to be a favorite in your antique and bottle library. Starts with the name, size, year made and type of top.
Discusses the history and background of each bottle.
Often includes examples in the different colors they are found in.
Only $29.95* *plus $5.00 shipping and handling. California residents include 7.75% sales tax.
LACOUR’S BITTERS SARSPARIPHERE
REVERSE
(pronounced “Sars-a-pear-a-fear”) Cylindrical fifth. 1866-75. Applied top. Louis Lacour became partners with Jean Castera in 1859, becoming one of the larg est wholesale liquor dealers in San Francisco. In 1866, Lacour became the sole owner and decided to create a special bottle for a new, special product. San Francisco Glass Works would design this funny container meant to look like a lighthouse. The bottle and the product were very successful. By 1869, however, Lacour, in failing health, sold the business. Louis Lacour ended up moving to San Rafael, a well-do-do area near San Francisco, and became a member of the California Stock Exchange. Lacour died of a heart attack in 1873. A succes in his own time, a unanimous vote of the Stock Exchange agreed to close business for a day in memory of this well known and well liked San Francisco businessman. Offices at the Stock Exchange were draped in black.
The Lacour’s Bitters, although not considered rare, are one of the most highly prized western bitters known. Their greatest claim to fame is not only their richly detailed design and unusual top, but the many beautiful colors these bottles are found in. Most often amber, the Lacour’s are also found in greens and various shades of aqua, the latter being the rarest color. There are three variants of the Lacour’s Bitters with minor differences separating them. Apparently, enough bottles were sold that it warranted two new molds. The main variance is that the examples made from 1870-73 are a little shorter than the original mold, and the examples made from 1874-75 are even a little shorter. They also have no dot on the base and generally display a little longer neck. Whatever the variant, the Lacour’s bottles are all highly collectible and desireable. Interesting to note, the top is the same as the Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters, which was also made in San Francisco. Rarity: Scarce, however, with the Lacour’s bottles, rarity is defined in color variance rather than overall rarity. Amber is the most common, greens next and aqua the rarest. Usually, the aqua variant is the later and third variant, while the greens are usually original and the second variant. Value Approximately: $1,000-$15,000 depending mostly on color. A pale green aqua example sold for $10,000 in 1995 and a beautiful green example sold in 1998 for $15,000.
Gives a rundown on the current status of the bottle and other points of interest.
Includes the rarity of each bottle and the current value.
This new and richly detailed reference will also be available in a limited edition, personalized, hard cover for only $49.95*.
Order by mail or phone!
We accept Mastercard, VISA and American Express (as well as checks and money orders)
Call 800-806-7722 or mail your order to: American Bottle Auctions 1507 21st Street Suite 203 Sacramento, CA 95814
The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors
Bottles And Extras Vol. 15 No. 4
Fall 2004
No. 160
Table of Contents Bottle Buzz................................................2
“Yukon Jack” - Part II Cecil Munsey.................................38
FOHBC Officer Listing 2004-2006...........4
Mrs. Diva Brown “Original Coca-Cola Woman” Cecil Munsey............................66
Random Shots - George Troug, Maryland Glass Etching Works, Cumberland, Md. Robin Preston..............................42
Poison Land - Coffin-shaped Bottles Mike Dickman..........................68
Great Lakes Steamers Meteor and Pewabic (1865) Served Norris & Rundle Sarsaparilla Don Yates..................................6
Snider’s Dairy, Medford, Oregon Dave Scafani...........................45
Saratogas of the North Phil Culhane..........................70
We Thought That We Had Found A New Bottle! Charles S. Harris....................10
The Dating Game - Liberty Glass Co., Lamb Glass Co. and Updates Bill Lockhart................................48
Membership Info... Display and Advertising Rates...74
Mark Twain - “Patron Saint” of Americana Whiskey Jack Sullivan.............................11
Rare Hutchinsons Enthuse Georgia Collector Bill Baab.....................................52
Recent Finds............................................5
Classified Ads.........................................75
Bottles on Montana’s Mining Frontier Ray Thompson.........................14
Collecting Bottles by State: The Ioway, Part 4 - Blob-top Soda Bottles Michael Burggraaf.........................54
History of the Franklin Glass Works Portage County, Ohio George L. Miller........................20
Let’s Talk About Ink - Elijah S. Curtis Ink Co. Ed & Lucy Faulkner.......................58
EXPO 2004 - Memphis, Tennessee Ralph Van Brocklin....................26
Two Brown Bottles Steve Ketcham.............................61
‘Tis the Season...for Victorian Illumination Lamps Rick and Berny Baldwin............36
Kool-Aide “The Most Consumed Beverage for Kids” and the bottles it came in Cecil Munsey................................62
Membership Benefits, Fed 4 Sale.............81 FOHBC Show-Biz Show Calendar Listings............82
WHO DO I CONTACT ABOUT THE MAGAZINE? To ADVERTISE, SUBSCRIBE or RENEW a subscription, see PAGE 72 for DETAILS. To SUBMIT A STORY, send a letter to the Editor or have comments and concerns, Contact: Kathy Hopson, B&E Editor, 1966 King Springs Road, Johnson City, TN 37601 Phone: (423) 737-6710 or E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com BOTTLES AND EXTRAS (ISSN 1050-5598) is published quarterly (4 Issues per year) by the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. (a nonprofit IRS C3 educational organization) at 1021 W. Oakland Avenue, #109, Johnson City, TN 37604, (423) 282-5533; Website: http://www.fohbc.com. Periodicals Postage Paid at Johnson City, TN 37601. Pub #005062. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Bottles & Extras, FOHBC, 1021 W. Oakland Ave, #109, Johnson City, TN 37601. Phone: 423-913-1378. The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. assumes no responsibility for products and services advertised in this publication. The names: Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc., and Bottles and Extras, are registered ® names of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc., and no use of either, other than as references, may be used without expressed written consent from the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. Certain material contained in this publication is copyrighted by, and remains the sole property of, the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc., while others remain property of the submitting authors. Detailed information concerning a particular article may be obtained from the Editor. Printed by Grafik Touch, Johnson City, Tennessee 37615.
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Bottle Buzz News, Notes, Letters, etc. Send Buzz Notes to: Kathy Hopson, E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com or write: Buzz Notes, 1966 King Springs Road, Johnson City TN 37601
Lost Bottles Tommy Mitchiner of Gordon, Ga., had great time at the FOHBC Expo in Memphis, Tenn., but he also lost a tote bag of jars and bottles he’d purchased. “Our truck was parked three blocks away and my wife, Sherry, and I tried to make just one trip with all our purchases,” he said. “I think I left a tote bag containing eight Mason 1858 fruit jars and some bottles beneath the table of the man I bought the jars from. “I didn’t get his name or card, and he probably doesn’t know me, but I paid him about $4 apiece for those eight fruit jars. Perhaps he’ll remember the transaction. “I’d appreciate it if he’d contact me at (478) 628-2373, or mail the items to me at P.O. Box 54, Gordon, GA 31031. Of course, I’ll reimburse him for postage and insurance charges.”
“Now That Was a Great Night”-A REBUTTAL The following is an apology and a rebuttal for an insulting piece of writing entitled “Now that was a great night!” This article appeared in the August Bottles and Extras Newsletter after having appeared in my local club’s newsletter, was entered into the FOHBC writing contest without my knowledge, and won the third place award given at the FOHBC National Show in Memphis. First of all, as the sole writer of this unfair and untrue article, I apologize to Vince Sierras and Billy Kiebala for the false remarks I made in reference to them. In my unsuccessful attempt to articulate upon the subject of Vince’s comment “Oh yeah, well I found a bunch of sodas in my hole,” I stated, “that may not be true considering his unusually strong competitive streak which necessitates lying if necessary just to match another digger’s score.” I originally meant to expand on the fact
that all of us are by our nature, competitive beings and that sometimes we exaggerate a little in order to spice up a story of a dig. In my VERY POOR WORD USE I used the word “lying” when describing Vince’s conduct. I hereby retract this statement. Throughout the years I have known him, I have found Vince to be a very fair, honest and agreeable person and it was not my intent to suggest him as a “liar.” Furthermore, I apologize to Billy for using the sentence “The curse of Billy” in my article. There is no such “curse” and anybody who knows Billy can tell you that in reality, he is a very fortunate bottledigger and also a kind, warm-hearted man who has been a friend to me when many others were not. He in fact, had secured permission to dig on the lot described in the story even though I made it seem in the story as if we were entering it illegally. The above are descriptions of written falsities which I take responsibility for and hereby refute. The article was meant to have somewhat of a sarcastic tone throughout its entirety, but some of the statements mentioned above just didn’t come off that way and some people whom I respect very much got very insulted. I once again apologize to them as well as to the readers who I have also misled. Ned Clarke
Who’s #1
In response Roger ’s claim that “www.antique-bottles.net is now officially the largest bottle site on the Web,” I would like to point out a few facts. Roger’s site is mainly a forum with questions that collectors post, with answers by other collectors. A helpful resource - yes - but counting questions as “pages” is a bit misleading. His 15,000+ pages adds up to 300MB of store which uses about 10G of bandwidth monthly. My site, www.antiquebottles.com, has
Bottles and Extras 600MB of store and uses about 40G of bandwidth monthly. His site has 1,000 active members, while mine has 3,600. And my site comes up #1 on antique bottle searches by Google, the leading search engine. Roger has made great strides to become #2, but the leading bottle site on the web is still www.antiquebottles.com Reggie Lynch rlynch@antiquebottles.com Seeking Crockery and Glass Journal info: I’m trying to find the Crockery and Glass Journal, which I understand was published from at least the late 1800s into the 1950s. My search brought me to your organization, and I’m wondering if anyone would have any insight into who published this journal and where I might find out more about it, and especially get my hands on copies - or microfice or otherwise. My interest is information or references to Hawthorn Pottery of Hawthorn Pennsylvania, a small pottery that operated from the late 1890s to the early or mid-1920s. I have a small collection and am in the process of designing and building a web site dedicated to their pottery and stoneware. Any help provided in pointing me to that Journal will be greatly appreciated. Steve Smith 6881 McLean Province Circle Falls Church, VA 22043 Phone: (703) 532-3968 Bottling Works Info Sought: The names on the bottles would be: Danville Bottling Works; Longo Bottling Works; or Lon Kola (cola?). The initials AL are on the bottom. The works was located at 222 W. Main St in Danville, Kentucky, late 1800s or early 1900s and was owned by Antonio Longo. The bottling company belonged to our great-grandfather, and we are attempting to find a bit of our history to add to our family tree. Any guidance would be very much appreciated. Thank you, Karen Longo kglon@comcast.net
Bottles and Extras
Fall 2004
Frank Condie Baxter was born Sept. 4, 1930 in Los Angeles, Calif., and passed away on June 8th, after a long battle with cancer. After enlisting in the Army in 1947, at the age of 17, he served 22 years as an infantryman and professional noncommissioned officer to include two years combat operations during the Korean War and two combat tours in the Republic of Vietnam. He also served with the Mountain Search and Rescue Team as well as the 5th Army NCO Academy at Fort Carson in between overseas tours. His military awards include the Combat Infantryman’s Badge (with star), two Purple Hearts and two
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Bronze Stars. Following his retirement from the military service, he worked for the D&RGW Railroad as a brakeman/conductor until his retirement in 1992. Frank had a special affinity for the landscapes and history of Colorado, and especially Pueblo where he occasionally gave historical lectures to the Historical Society and other organizations. He was an outstanding cook and an avid antique glass and bottle collector and has been recognized locally and nationally for his contributions to the hobby. Frank fancied things that had real character and personality. He liked imperfections that were trademarks of a process or individual. Collecting things like minerals, arrowheads and antique glass proved this. He began digging antique bottles in the late sixties and early seventies and could often be found in Cripple Creek, Leadville, Victor, South Pueblo or Florence neckdeep in an abandoned trash pit or outhouse that threatened to cave-in at any moment. His interest in antique glass blossomed in Colorado and he became active in bottle collecting clubs in Pueblo and Denver. Frank enjoyed glass collecting not only for the beauty of the objects themselves, but for the rich slice of historical Americana that they represented. He was recognized many times locally and nationally for his contributions to the hobby as a collector, editor and notable personality. He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Kaye Baxter. Our heartfelt sympathy is extended to Kaye — Frank embodied all of the things that are wonderful about this hobby and Kaye does, as well.
Who Says You Can’t Take It With You? On July 7, 2004 the bottle collecting world lost an avid digger, collector and member of The Southeastern Antique Bottle Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Wayne Gray, age 57, loved digging and collecting bottles. He also enjoyed going to all the bottle shows he could possibly get to. Wayne dug many places and introduced many people to the fascinating world of bottle collecting. Wayne was the truest of friends and if you ever met him, you immediately felt the warmth and joy in his soul and you were destined to become his friend. In 2000, while on a dig with bottle buddies, Frank Langston and Dave Swetmon, the trio unearthed one of the most desirable of all bottles, an extremely rare Hutchinson Coca-Cola from Atlanta, Georgia. It was the talk of bottle collectors everywhere and Wayne’s favorite find. The bottle traveled to Denver, Colorado, to the National Bottle Show in 2000 to be admired and several other locations afterwards. A few months after returning from the Denver show, it was found that Wayne had a brain tumor and would require immediate surgery. After the surgery, sadly it was learned that all of the tumor could not be removed and that extensive treatments would be necessary to try and stop the tumor from growing. Unfortunately, the tumor was located in the area that controlled his body’s motor skills and Wayne grew weaker over the next three years until he eventually could not even speak any more. Wayne never got discouraged or lost hope that he would get better, and right up until a couple of weeks prior to his death, he still had hopes of attending the EXPO in Memphis, Tennessee. Wayne’s wife, Nancy, indicated that among the notes he wrote
to her were ones indicating that he wanted her to get his registration in for the show, and that she did not have the heart to tell him that he was just not able to make the trip. When Wayne passed away, it was a tremendous shock to his bottle friends, even though his condition had been worsening over time. Wayne’s two “bottle buddies” Frank and Dave got together and discussed just how much the Atlanta Hutch Coca-Cola bottle that the trio had dug meant to Wayne, and although the bottle was indeed quite valuable, they decided that one can never put a price on such a wonderful friendship, and so - with the family’s permission - the decision was made that Wayne would take it with him! The bottle was safely tucked into the bend of his arm and buried back into the ground with him. It was a fitting final tribute to a wonderful friend, a loving husband, father and grandfather from his bottle buddies. We will miss him very much! Debbie and Butch Alley
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Bottles and Extras
Federation of Historicial Bottle Collectors
Business & News The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors is a non-profit organization for collectors of historical bottles and related collectible items. Our primary goal is educational as it relates to the history and manufacture of historical bottles and related artifacts.
FOHBC Officers 2004-2006 President : John Pastor, 7288 Thorncrest Dr. SE, Ada, MI 49301; Phone: (616) 285-7604; E-mail: JPastor2000@msn.com First Vice-President : Gene Bradberry, P.O. Box 341062, Memphis, TN 38184; Phone: (901) 372-8428; E-mail: genebsa@midsouth.rr.com Second Vice-President : Cecil Munsey, 13541 Willow Run Road, Poway, CA 92064-1733; Phone: (858) 487-7036; E-mail: cecilmunsey@cox.net Secretary : Ed Provine, 401 Fawn Lake Dr., Millington, TN 38053; Phone: (901) 876-3296; E-mail: ed.provine@thyssenkruppelevator.com Treasurer : Alan DeMaison, 6583 Berkshire Dr., Mentor, OH 44060; Phone: (440) 255-3880; E-mail: violinbottle@aol.com Historian : Richard Watson, 10 S.Wendover Rd., Medford, NJ 08055; Phone: (856) 983-1364; E-mail: rewatson@bellatlantic.net Editor : Kathy Hopson, 1966 King Springs Rd., Johnson City, TN 37601; Phone: (423) 737-6710; E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com Merchandising Director : Kent Williams, 1835 Oak Terr., Newcastle, CA 95658; Phone: (916) 663-1265; E-mail: kent@altarfire.com Membership Director : Fred Holabird, 701 Gold Run Ct., Reno, NV 89511; Phone: (775) 851-0837; E-mail: fred@holabird.com Conventions Director : Wayne Lowry, 401 Johnston Ct., Raymore, MO 64083; Phone: (816) 318-0161; E-mail: JarDoctor@aol.com
Business Manager / Subscriptions: June Lowry, 401 Johnston Ct., Raymore, MO 64083; Phone: (816) 318-0160; E-mail: osubuckeyes71@aol.com Director-At-Large : Ralph VanBrocklin, 1021W. Oakland Ave., Suite 109, Johnson City, TN 37604; Home (423) 913-1378; Office: (423) 282-5533; E-mail: thegenuine@comcast.net Director-At-Large : Sheldon Baugh, 252 W. Valley Dr., Russelville, KY 42276; Phone: (270) 726-2712; Fax: (270) 726-7618; E-mail: shel6943@bellsouth.net Director-At-Large: Carl Sturm, 88 Sweetbriar Branch, Longwood, FL 32750-2783; Phone: (407) 332-7689; E-mail: glassmancarl@sprintmail.com Midwest Region Director : Rick Baldwin, 1931 Thorpe Cir., Brunswick, OH 44212-4261; Phone: (330) 225-3576; E-mail: rsbaldwin@worldnet.att.net Northeast Region Director : Larry Fox, 5478 Route 21, Canandaigua, NY 14424; Phone: (585) 394-8958; E-mail: brerfox@frontiernet.net Southern Region Director : Reggie Lynch, P.O. Box 13736, Durham, NC 27709; Phone: (919) 789-4545; E-mail: rlynch@antiquebottles.com Western Region Director : Bob Ferraro, 515 Northridge Dr., Boulder City, NV 89005; Phone: (702) 293-3114; E-mail: mayorferraro@aol.com Public Relations Director : Mike Polak, PO Box 303258, Long Beach, CA 90853; Phone: (562) 438-9209; E-mail: bottleking@earthlink.net
Bottles and Extras
Fall 2004
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Recent Finds While perusing the sales tables at the Reno Show in July, I came across a pint coffin flask previously unreported. Embossed FAUST HALL / 40 – 44 EDDY ST. / BAUER & SACHAU, it was felt to be from San Francisco and a search of the San Francisco City Directories have confirmed such. The history of a liquor establishment known as Faust Hall goes back to at least 1884, and may pre-date that. In 1884, the directory has a listing for Charles Stepp, proprietor of the Faust Hall at 16 – 18 Geary Street. But, a search of the earlier directories finds an initial listing for Charles Stepp in 1877, when he is listed as a clerk for Adolph C. Weber, president of the Humboldt Savings and Loan Society at 18 Geary Street. No listing for Faust Hall in either the residential section or the liquor section exists and there is no listing for either Weber or Stepp in the liquor sections prior to the 1884 listing of Charles Stepp. I have found no indication of an alternate individual as a potential proprietor prior to 1884, but it is possible that there was one that might even pre-date the earliest directory I have available to me (1876). Our first listing for John D. Sachau is in the 1885 directory as a clerk for Henry J. Hinck, a gentleman in the grocery and liquor business at 743 Ellis Street. No additional listings appear until 1892, when he is noted as the proprietor of the William Tell House at 317 Bush Street. He remains there through 1895. The initial listing for Lawrence Bauer is in the 1890 directory as a clerk for Henry A.E. Buttelmann, groceries and liquors at the NE corner of Howard and 11th. In 1892, he has established his own business in wines and liquors at 121 Pine Street, a business locale which he remains at through 1899.
Charles Stepp continues to be listed as the proprietor of the Faust Hall at 16 - 18 Geary Street through 1895, with Adolph Weber maintaining the Humboldt Savings and Loan Society at 18 Geary Street, as well. In 1896, the Faust Hall comes under the proprietorship of a partnership between Charles Stepp and Joseph Straub. In the meantime, Charles Stepp has expanded his operations at this address to ultimately include being a mining broker, an owner of a mine and a vice-president of E.A. Fargo & Co. This partnership maintains through 1897 and in 1898 Straub takes over the proprietorship of Faust Hall, which he runs through 1900. In 1901, the Faust Hall comes under the ownership of Lawrence Bauer and a gentleman with the last name of Gerke. In 1902, Lawrence Bauer and John Sachau form their initial partnership to run the Faust Hall, still at 16 Geary Street. This partnership dissolves in 1904 and John Sachau establishes a new partnership with John D. Schroeder, running a saloon at 515 California Street in 1905. Bauer is noted for a residence, only. The partial directories for 1906 do not list Bauer, Sachau or Faust Hall and only in December is John D. Schroeder noted, now as part of the firm Schroeder Brothers, which has a grocery and liquor business at 1600 Geary. The 1906 quake apparently destroyed the Faust Hall on Geary Street and 1907 finds Bauer and Sachau operating a saloon called the Faust Hall at 40 – 44 Eddy Street, the locale corresponding to the pictured flask. They remain at this locale through 1913, at which time no further listings are found for Faust Hall or for Lawrence Bauer. John Sachau apparently passed away in 1915, as the 1916 directory lists his wife Ella as a widow.
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Bottles and Extras
GREAT LAKES STEAMERS METEOR AND PEWABIC 1865 - SERVED NORRIS & RUNDLE SARSAPARILLA From the book: “Memories of the Lakes”; by Dana Thomas Bowen; 1969; Freshwater Press, Cleveland, Ohio. which was the first steamship to cross Lake Superior. She was north of the rapids on a routine passage, when her boiler exploded. She quickly sank to the bottom and four lives were lost. One comment at this point: Early boilers were literally a shot in the dark. They were not designed, only fabricated. They were constructed of brittle cast iron and were fire tube boilers, meaning the high pressure was on the shell side, making a huge destructive bomb. The rivets were also made out of poor material and could fail or corrode. The captains often wanted to travel at Full Speed Ahead, which meant the firemen had to constantly pass the coal, break the large lumps with a sledge hammer, and the stokers would shovel this coal into the upper section of the boiler furnace. They also had to remove hot coals from the bottom of the furnace and extinguish these with a fire hose; then dump the coals over the side. Don’t forget the ship was made out of flammable wood with rosin, or pitch, to seal the joints. Many early ships, “Sailed Away”, due to sinking and possible boiler explosions, sending the ships to the bottom of the sea. Early communication was with bells, prior to radar and telegraph messages. Another major safety hazard was the red hot ashes spewing out of the stacks. These hot coals were too often the cause of on-board fire. If the wind changed direction, the coals could drop right down onto the wooden deck and start the fire. Most by Donald Yates steamers could travel at fifteen knots, but if there was a forty The most famous shipwreck on the Great Lakes was that of knot gale, this could cause the hot embers to fall onto the deck. Many early photos and art paintings show the red hot sparks the Steamer Pewabic. Unfortunately, she ended her career right after the Civil War at the bottom of the sea – Lake Huron. The and flames coming out of the stack. On August 9, 1865, the other officers of the Pewabic Steamer Pewabic was named for the Pewabic Copper Mines. She had a valuable cargo of copper in her hold, 350 tons, and included: First Mate Charles Cleveland, Steward John Lynch, several attempts were made to salvage it over the years after her Clerk Charles Mack; and Captain McKay’s brother serving as the Lookout Watch. The steamer Pewabic had on board sinking. approximately one hundred eighty passengers plus a heavy At the time the Pewabic sank to the bottom, the entire cargo of freight, consisting mainly of copper plate and ore. ship wreck was visible, but no one ever saw it for another This copper cargo had been loaded aboard in Houghton, fifty years. Today, green seaweed and moss covers the Michigan, in the Mackinaw region, and was consigned to rotting white oak timbers of this famous ghost ship as it Cleveland. This type of steamer was called a Packet. She rests on the bottom of Thunder Bay. It was located seven carried both passengers and freight on her travels from miles off Thunder Bay Island, Michigan and was adjacent Cleveland to the ports of Lake Superior. to Alpena. Only two bodies were found. In later salvage Stay Alert!!! It was about nine in the evening efforts to recover the ship’s valuable copper cargo, ten on that fateful day of August 9, 1865. Everything people died in the attempts. was “Steady as You Go” aboard the down bound Both the Pewabic and the Meteor were sister steamer Pewabic as she steamed off Thunder Bay in ships built in Cleveland by Garretson and Company Lake Huron, near Alpena, Michigan. It was raining in 1863. They were propeller type and of wooden lightly with a mild wind. The waves were noticeable construction. The crew of the steamer Pewabic were but not high enough to rock the steamer. The lookout considered to be very competent. George Perry could see a quarter-mile away and spotted an McKay was the twenty-seven year old captain of the approaching steamer. Pewabic. George was born at sea, on the sailing ship, He yelled out to the officer on duty in the pilot “Commodore Perry”, while in port at Swan Creek, house: “Steamer Ahead, Sir, Bound this Way” near Toledo, Ohio. At that time, these were world The majority of the passengers had dinner and class cruise ships. retired to their staterooms. A few passengers were George McKay had spent his entire live afloat. out on deck, and a few still lounged in the eerie oil In 1853, at age sixteen years, he was at sea with his Fig. 2 lamp lighted cabin. father aboard the early steamer, “Independence”,
Fig. 1
Bottles and Extras The up-bound ship was identified to be the steamer, Meteor, the sister ship of the Pewabic. It was standard protocol to stop both ships and bring them together and exchange such items as mail, messages, telegrams, and newspapers. The Captain of the Meteor was Thomas Wilson, who was born in Scotland, and had taken up sailing with his father. He was also twenty-seven years old and was highly capable and respected. The two ships were owned by Pioneer Lake Superior Line and were two of the finest and newest on the Great Lakes. The young captains were eager to outdo each other and exchange packages and messages from one ship to the other, as passengers and crew members gathered along the rails. The Pewabic had recently cleared the Soo Locks, SautĂŠ Saint Marie and headed down Lake Huron. Aboard were soldiers from the Mackinac Garrison, having been discharged of duty, as the Civil War had just ended a few months earlier. These two steamers recognized each other while still a safe distance apart, and then slowly maneuvered to stop together, broadside. Passengers on the deck of the Pewabic could hear music and watch the dancing aboard the Meteor. When the two ships were only twenty feet apart, an officer on the Pewabic became confused and gave the wrong order to the wheelsman who swung the ship directly into the path of the Meteor. Alert! The following events will never be precisely known, but the bow of the Meteor crashed into the side of the Pewabic, cutting a huge hole both above and below the water line. Immediately the Pewabic started to list as water rushed into the opening. Terror prevailed aboard the sinking ship. Passengers that were still dressed donned life jackets and tended for themselves. Those in their staterooms never had a chance, and went to the bottom with the Pewabic. Many of the passengers on deck were able to jump over to the Meteor and were saved. The Meteor was damaged, but remained on the surface. There were many acts of heroism. One passenger onboard the Pewabic picked up his child and handed her over the rail to the folks on the Meteor and she lived. He went back to save his wife in the same manner, but they both died. Captain Thomas Wilson of the Meteor later adopted the little girl, even though he never knew her name. The two ships swung close together
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Fig. 3
Fig. 4
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8 for a moment, then they separated as the Pewabic settled. The Pewabic sank in one hundred eighty feet of water, in only ten minutes time. Her hurricane deck ripped free from the rest of the ship and floated to the surface. Some more passengers were saved in this situation and were taken aboard the Meteor. Approximately 125 people lost their lives in this disaster. Captain George McKay of the Pewabic was one of the last ones to escape the sinking ship and was still tying to help passengers to safety with the help of a rope. As the Pewabic sank beneath him, Captain McKay had to be rescued himself by his crew. Passengers picked up by the Meteor were still not safe. A fire broke out in her cargo, due to the collision and she was severely damaged. The following morning, the Steamer Mohawk came by and the survivors were transferred to that ship and taken to Detroit. Both steamers were only two years old and the owners were shocked by the tragedy. The company was destroyed financially because they had no insurance. Fifty two years later the cold clear waters of Lake Huron washed over the steamer Pewabic. Then World War One broke out in Europe in 1914, and eventually involved the United States. Copper was one of the materials in short supply due to the manufacture of shell casings for artillery. Someone remembered the 350 tons of copper aboard the Pewabic wreck. The price of copper jumped higher until it seemed profitable to salvage the cargo of the old sunken steamer. A salvage attempt was made under the direction of Captain Fred Ermish of Sandusky, who was a professional diver and a salvage expert. A Toledo company in 1916 was developing a new type of diving suit designed for deeper water. Captain Ermish was employed to supervise the company’s diving endeavors, and in 1917, his diving suit was used on the Pewabic wreck and performed quite well. Captain Ermish first had to locate the wreck by dragging the bottom. This was successful. Their salvage ship was 130feet long and had a 40-foot beam. Salvage headquarters were established in Alpena, Michigan. Two divers had lost their lives in a diving bell on a previous attempt. After a few dives, they brought up the strong box, which contained $50,000. Unfortunately this was paper money and
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Bottles and Extras
Fig. 5 had totally disintegrated into a soggy mess. When the salvage operations finally ended, only fifty-five of the reported 350 tons of copper had been retrieved. Fortunately this was sufficient to pay for all expenses and retain a small profit. The salvage value of the copper was fivehundred dollars per ton. The salvaged items were put on public display in a vacant store in Alpena. The first person to visit the display was an eighty-two year old woman. She signed her name on the register with a pencil salvaged from the lost steamer, Pewabic. She had lost several relatives in the accident and walked two miles to see the display. The Detroit and Cleveland Transit Company, D & C Line, allowed passengers to view the display in Alpena. Norris & Rundle Sarsaparilla Captain Ermish stated that it was a great display. There were copper plates,
copper ingots, lead pencils, musical instruments, the captain’s binoculars, all types of clothing, shoes, books, dishes, knives and forks bearing the inscription: “Pewabic.” In the food category there were canned sardines, salted fish in sealed wooden barrels, and mixed pickles. There were also many cases of 1865 – NORRIS & RUNDLE Sarsaparilla – bottled at the City Bottling Works in Downtown Cleveland. The City Bottling Works was located at 17 Champlain Avenue right at the location of the Union Terminal Railroad Terminal. You have to look at a Civil War Map of Cleveland to find Champlain Avenue. It no longer exists and was displaced by the Terminal Tower Building in downtown Cleveland. This was also used as the main railroad station for many years, through 1960. Some members of the salvage team opened the ancient bottles and drank the Sarsaparilla. It still had a pleasant taste
Fig. 6
Bottles and Extras fifty years later. They also opened some of the sardine cans and tried them, finding them still edible. And no one got sick! The display included money in different denominations, both silver and gold coins; purses with men’s names on them. Horses were part of the ships cargo and their remains were found and displayed with hoofs and halters. There were also human bones, watches, jade jewelry, hairnets, ship’s knees, and of course the strong box which had contained the destroyed paper money. The Pewabic display also included starboard side timbers which had been crushed in the collision; parts of the ship’s engine and her wooden bilge pump. They also found some of her fenders; and a large English razor. They also brought up the huge anchor. This was later accidentally released and went rapidly back to the bottom. This is where our sad story ends with the wreckage of the Pewabic resting on the bottom of Lake Huron – the old steamer of Civil War days. But what became of the steamer Meteor, her sister ship? The other ship in that terrible collision. She had a good life after she crashed into the Pewabic, was repaired and found a profitable
Fall 2004 business in Great Lakes commerce. She was purchased by the Hanna Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland in 1867 and was put in the Detroit to Cleveland night time service. The Meteor’s captain was still Captain Thomas Wilson. Strangely, both of these same young captains, who survived this shipwreck, became important men in the latter history of the Great Lakes. Their careers continued to follow the lake shipping business for the remainder of their long and exciting lives. Captain George McKay of the Pewabic, became the first treasurer of the Lake Carrier ’s Association. He became superintendent of one of the largest fleets of steamships of the time and was also an outstanding leader in civic and Marine affairs in his home town of Cleveland. Captain George McKay died in Cleveland while in his eighties. Captain Thomas Wilson, of the Meteor, founded the Wilson Fleet of Great Lakes Freight Ships in 1873. This was a very successful enterprise. Captain Wilson died at age sixty-two, in 1900, while in Jerusalem. Possibly from eating stale sardines?? Review of the 1865 poster advertising the ten day cruises of the steamers Meteor & Pewabic:
9 1865 - GRAND PLEASURE EXCURSIONS TO LAKE SUPERIOR One of the new and magnificent upper cabin Steamers: METEOR Under Captain Wilson – Will give excursion trips as below: Will leave Cleveland at 8 p.m. every Monday. PEWABIC Under Captain George McKay – Will give excursion trips as below: Will leave Detroit at 2 p.m. every Tuesday. Visiting all points of interest on Lake Superior, passing through the beautiful St. Mary’s River, with its Thousand Isles, by daylight and within full view of the CELEBRATED PICTURED ROCKS! Touching at Marquette, where there exist perfect mountains of iron, and in the vicinity the new discoveries of silver and lead; At Hancock & Houghton where ample opportunity is given to visit the stamping mills of the Quincy, Pewabic, and Franklin Copper Mines, and the copper smelting works, at Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor, and Eagle Run. Newspaper Article: Daily News, Kingston, Ontario August 7, 1865 FEARFUL COLLISION AND LOSS OF LIFE ON LAKE MICHIGAN: Detroit, August 11th – A collision between Continued on page 10
Fig. 7
10 the propellers Pewabic and Meteor occurred at half past eight o’clock on Wednesday evening, six miles from shore. The Pewabic was struck in her port bow, just aft the pilot house, and sunk in three or four minutes. The ships had been running at full speed and struck with such force that as to crush the entire bow of the Pewabic. At the time of the accident it was scarcely dark, and the ships saw each other six miles apart. When approaching, they exchanged signals, and the Pewabic bore off to pass, but the Meteor, for some cause yet unknown, turned in the same direction and struck the Pewabic. A number of passengers were killed by the crushing timbers. A few passengers jumped on board the Meteor before the Pewabic sunk. The life boats were at once lowered from the Meteor and picked up those who were not carried down with the wreck. There were from 175 to 200 passengers on board the Pewabic. The names of 75 passengers and 23 of the crew saved are known. The Meteor remained near the scene of the
Fall 2004 disaster until morning to pick up any who might be floating on pieces of the deck, but none were found. Detroit, August 12, 1865: The propeller Meteor caught on fire on Friday morning while in St. Mary’s ship canal basin, and was scuttled and sunk in twelve feet of water. No lives were lost, but the passengers lost all of their belongings. No further particulars. The Meteor is the same steamer that collided with the steamer Pewabic. Both are now owned by J. T. Whiting Company of Detroit, Michigan. The historical information on the Norris and Rundle Bottling Works is from our book: Ginger Beer & Root Beer Heritage. Donald Yates 8300 River Corners Road Homerville, Ohio 44235 donaldbetsyyates@earthlink.net
Bottles and Extras Photos: Figure 1: Sailor boy from the steamer Meteor. Figure 2: Norris & Rundle Sarsaparilla, City Bottling Works, Cleve – 1864. Figure 3: Advertisement, 1865. Figure 4: Charles Lewis Bottling Works, 1856. Figure 5: 1864 Cleveland City Directory, George Norris & Company, City Bottling Works. Figure 6: 1865, Norris & Rundle Company, City Bottling Works. Figure 7: George Norris & Co. advertisement.
MARK TWAIN: "PATRON SAINT" OF AMERICAN WHISKIANA by Jack Sullivan (Special to Bottles & Extras) Capitol. Put simply, the quotation implies that the United States was destined to move westward and create an new empire in North America -- a prediction that largely has become true.
Whether you collect whiskey jugs, whiskey bottles, whiskey shot glasses, whiskey pub jugs, whiskey decanters, whiskey labels or general American whiskiana , know that you have a "patron saint." He is the famous American author and humorist, Mark Twain. Virtually every school child in America knows about Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835 in Hannibal, Missouri. They have heard about his rise from Mississippi River pilot and journalist to America's most celebrated author. They know of his major characters, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. But they are not taught about Twain and whiskey. It is time to set that matter right. More than any other writer in the Nation's history, Twain celebrated whiskey as the national drink of choice. He has been quoted saying: "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But perhaps his most famous tribute to whiskey was Twain's rather elaborate spoof on a patriotic saying known to young and old of his time: "Westward the course of empire takes its way...." Originally penned by an obscure American poet named George Berkeley in the early 1700s, the quote was picked up by Historian George Bancroft in 1840 and became a line stamped on the back cover of his highly popular (and still read) "History of the United States." In turn, the quote became the title and theme of a painting that adorns a stairway in the U.S.
Twain's "Jug of Empire" For Twain, who made a career out of debunking overly romantic notions, the driving force behind American expansion was not empire-building but whiskey. In his famous autobiographical book, "Life on the Mississippi," the author takes issue with the well-known quote about America's expansion. It should have been, he said: "Westward the JUG of Empire takes its way." Twain explained: “How solemn and beautiful is the thought, that the earliest pioneer of civilization, the van-leader of civilization, is never the steamboat, never the railroad, never the newspaper, never the Sabbathschool, never the missionary -- but always whiskey! Such is the case. Look history over; you will see. The missionary comes after the whiskey -- I mean he arrives after the whiskey has arrived; next comes the poor immigrant, with ax and hoe and rifle; next, the trader; next, the miscellaneous rush; next, the gambler, the desperado, the highwayman, and all their kindred in sin of both sexes; and next, the smart chap
who has bought up an old grant that covers all the land; this brings the lawyer tribe; the vigilance committee brings the undertaker. All these interests bring the newspaper; the newspaper starts up politics and a railroad; all hands turn to and build a church and a jail -- and behold, civilization is established for ever in the land. But whiskey, you see, was the van-leader in this beneficent work." Twain and Whiskey But Twain/Clemens was not merely a man of words about whiskey, but of deeds as well. While not given to overindulging, his fondness for bourbon was well known. As he wrote in his "Autobiography", he recalled imbibing at an early age: "For many years I believed that I remembered helping my grandfather drink his whiskey toddy when I was sixweeks-old, but I do not tell about that any more, now; I am grown old and my memory is not as active as it used to be." During his brief career as a journalist in Washington about 1868, Twain agreed to share expenses with a roommate with a similar taste for whiskey. Their total joint income per week was $24. In his autobiography he recounts: "Twenty-four dollars a week would really have been riches to us if hadn't had to support that
"Westward the Course of Empire" by Emanuel Leutze, 1861
jug; because of the jug we were always sailing pretty close to the wind...." When a friend sent him a case of whiskey, his thank-you note ran this way: "The whiskey arrived in due course...; last week one bottle of it was extracted from the wood and inserted in me, on the installment plan, with this result: that I believe it to be the best, smoothest whiskey now on the planet." In his later years, while in England on a lecture tour, Twain remarked to companions that despite enjoying their company he badly missed the taste of Kentucky bourbon. To accommodate him, his friends imported six cases and even switched from Scotch to help him drink it. When he left England two cases remained. "I will be back very soon," said he. "Save them for me." Though he never returned, the bourbon was left untouched until World War II when the supply was destroyed during a German bombing raid. Merchandising Twain During his lifetime, Twain lent his famous face and name to a wide range of products, including pens, shirts, and sewing machines. There was Mark Twain Tobacco, Mark Twain Cigars, and naturally -- Mark Twain Whiskey. One such brand was registered by Ralph W. Ashcroft of Brooklyn, New York, in 1907. Other Twain-related whiskeys are shown here: Mark Twain's Private Stock, a pre-Prohibition jug with a drawing of Twain on the front. A label from Mark Twain Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from a distillery identifies itself as the "Mark Twain Distilling Company" of Bardstown, Kentucky. This was a postProhibition brand showing a Mississippi riverboat on the label. There also was a Tom Sawyer Whiskey. Twain's image is used in advertising even to this day. According to Jim Zwick, the guru of Mark Twain collectibles,
Mark Twain's Private Stock jug
Label -- Mark Twain Bourbon
products that have been sold by drawing on the author's popularity after his death are Cream of Wheat cereal, Bass Ale, billiard tables, writing paper, natural gas, dry-cleaning services, cars, real estate agencies, the Mark Twain Bank, and numerous hotels, restaurants, and other tourist attractions in places he lived or visited. The ads and other Twainiana have become popular collectibles. For example, eBay regularly offers more than 600 Twain items, including books, at auction.
to view the product being made and, obviously, to sample some. In another ad he is shown visiting Klaproth's Tavern, an Elmira, N.Y., saloon, not far from Twain's spacious home. A barrel of Old Crow is being tapped on the bar and the author inquires of the bartender: "Lou, which barrel are we using now?" Old Crow was created by a man credited with developing the first bourbon whiskey, James Crowe, a Scottish chemist and physician who settled in Kentucky. The brand probably was familiar to Twain and may well have been his whiskey of choice. But he would not have appreciated the Old Crow ad that showed him entertaining fellow writer, Bret Harte, at home. The ad, shown here, depicts a mature, seated Twain while Harte is standing as if in the midst of a discourse. The scene could never have happened. Although Twain and Harte had been youthful friends, later in life they had become
The Old Crow Series of Ads No whiskey, however, can match Old Crow for latching onto the aura of Mark Twain. In a series of ads that ran in national magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and LIFE during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Twain is shown in various situations, including holding forth at a tavern, conversing with other notable contemporaries over a glass of bourbon, and as shown here, visiting the distillery
Old Crow Ad -- Twain at the Distillery
Old Crow Ad -- Twain and Bret Harte
estranged. Twain publicly pilloried Harte in his autobiography, stating: "He was bad, distinctly bad; he had no feeling and he had no conscience." In an 1878 private letter he wrote: "Harte is a liar, a thief, a swindler, a snob, a sot, a sponge, a coward..." Clearly Harte was never invited over to Twain's house to sip Old Crow or anything else. The Mark Twain Decanters From the 1950s to the 1970s when many whiskeys were merchandised in interesting, colorful, and collectible decanters, it was natural that Mark Twain would be a favored subject. As part of its series on famous Americans, McCormick Distilling of Weston, Missouri, in 1977 issued a 9 and 1/2 inch high decanter of the author wearing his typical white suit and sitting in a chair. The bottom is marked by Americana Porcelain as "Original Lionstone Sculptured Porcelain." In 1978 McCormick issued a miniature version of the same ceramic. Another handsome tribute to Twain is a decanter issued by Marita Spirits Ltd. of Clifton, New Jersey. Issued in 1973, the porcelain container is entitled "Mark Twain's Missouri. Shown here, the colorful boat-shaped bottle is dominated on one side with depictions drawn from the author's life and writings. It features a portrait of the younger Twain along with the figures of his two creations, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Also pictured are his boyhood home in Hannibal, Missouri, a stern wheeler riverboat and a light house made famous by the author. It held Anniversary brand Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, aged 12 years. A mark on the bottom identifies the potter as "Authentic Liverpool Porcelain." Liverpool has been a major ceramics center in England for several centuries. Twain, with his eye for advertising, probably would have enjoyed seeing these decanters in his lifetime. After all, he is the one who said: "I am proud to say that I lose my reason as immediately in the presence of a rare jug with an illustrious mark at bottom of it, as if I had just emptied that jug." With that statement the author admitted to being a "bric-abrac" collector. Those words appear in his 1898 book, "A Tramp Abroad, " written twelve years before his death in 1910. He was referring to German ceramics, which then were a major collecting craze of visiting Americans, but he might have felt the same about Lionstone and Liverpool Porcelain -especially when they were celebrating him. Look at the record: Twain the advocate
Old Crow Ad -- Twain at Klaproth's Tavern
of the role of whiskey in American history. Twain the enthusiastic consumer of bourbon. Twain the merchandiser of his image with whiskey. Twain the lover of jugs with marks. With that combination of attributes, what more do we need to anoint this great American author as fully meriting a citation as the "patron saint" of American whiskiana collectors?
Material for this article has come from a number of sources, not the least of which are Twain's own writings. For those interested in Twain collectibles, Jim Zwick's highly informative website is www.BoondocksNet.com.
The Lionstone Twain Decanter
Mark Twain's Missouri Decanter
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Bottles and Extras
Bottles on Montana’s Mining Frontier by Ray Thompson Fig. 1
Shortly after the great 1849 California gold rush, a trapper, Francois Finlay was alleged to have discovered gold in the northern Rocky Mountains in what is now Montana. He panned enough float gold
Fig. 2
from the bed of a foot hill stream near the present village of Gold Creek to know that there was a possibility of wealth in these valleys. In 1853, a railroad surveying crew under Captain John Mullen also washed gold here and named the stream Gold Creek. There are other reports of gold discoveries in Montana, but the most definitive was as Malone and Roeder1 put it, “The first discovery definitely to be recorded occurred in the spring of 1858, when James and Granville Stuart [Figure 1], along with Reece Anderson, found traces at Gold Creek east of present day Drummond By the summer of 1862 the Stuart brothers and other men were at work here. A small settlement called American Fork sprang up on Gold Creek, but neither the diggings nor the town ever amounted to much.” It was nearly a decade after the start of the western gold rush era that the streams of southwestern Montana revealed, in significant quantities, their centuries old secret GOLD!
During this invasion of Montana’s Rocky Mountains, newspapers across the country were being fed stories of fabulous strikes. Such accounts were great news to disappointed miners in Colorado, Nevada, California and Idaho. Their itinerant life styles were about to take another turn north to the glittering gulches of Montana. Once the word got out that there was gold in “them thar hills”, men came with what they could carry. Like ants on a hot summer day, they scurried over hill and dale in search of gold, the fabled substance of wealth and happiness. In quantities rivaling the California Mother lode, gold was found laced in the placers of Grasshopper Creek (Bannack, 1862), Silver Creek (Silver City, 1862), Alder Creek (Virginia City and Nevada City, 1863), Last Chance Gulch (Helena, 1864), Confederate Gulch (Diamond City, 1864), McClellan Gulch (Pacific City, 1864), Ophir Gulch (Blackfoot City, 1865), Lincoln Gulch (Lincoln, 1865), Cedar Creek (Louisville and Forest City, 1869)
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Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
and many other significant locations [Figure 2]. It is estimated2 that Montana population peaked in 1866 at 28,000 and by the 1870 census had only 20,595 residents. Tens of thousands were living from the land and on what they could get from early trading posts.
Trading posts were very scarce in the gold country of Montana Territory in the early 1860s. There were Fort Owen on the Bitterroot, Hell Gate [Figure 3] on the lower Clark Fork River near what is now Missoula, and Labarge City (Deer Lodge) on the upper Clark Fork. Fort Benton
15 [Figure 4], the upstream end of Missouri River steamboat navigation, was over 150 miles, as the crow flies, from the mines. None of these sleepy posts were prepared for the mass immigration of miners and those that followed. Hardware, foods and condiments, clothing, tobacco and whiskey were all in very short supply. However, it did not take long for the goods to start flowing into the camps. Transportation routes existed and the well of goods and services was primed by the miners. The long distances to civilization was a significant problem. Distance was time. To place orders and receive them took months. Freighting companies formed and grew [Figure 5]. Hauling out gold and returning with desperately needed supplies was a lucrative business. Established trading routes widened as mule and oxen teams passed over the often muddy and always treacherous trails. Goods poured in during the summers, but winters slowed or even stopped the wagon masters. High spring flows on the Missouri allowed the shallow draught steam boat from St. Louis to unload in Fort Benton [Figure 6]. Long strings of wagons regularly pulled the Mullan Road grade, topping the bluff above this upriver port, taking their loads to miners and the communities which grew along the gulches. Over the Mullan Road from the west, wagons rolled in from Ft. Walla Walla, Washington Territory and Spokane Valley, stopping at Cedar Creek, Hell Gate, Bear Creek, Gold Creek, and on to Deer Lodge [Figure 7] and Helena. Several great freighters handled much of the cargo bound for these new camps. Of note are Alexander Toponce, Ben Holladay, J. J. Mann, A. J. Oliver, Peabody and Caldwell, Sweet & Metzgar, and the Diamond R Company. In 1865, Alex Toponce3 had a contract to haul 90,000 pounds of freight from Ft. Benton to Virginia City. He was to be paid $0.11 per pound, payable in Alder Gulch gold for every 100 pounds delivered. Maybe with additional research one could determine what was in the load. It could be that some of the bottles I am discussing in this paper were carried on these wagons. Toponce was also a freighter on the road from Utah to Virginia City. His book is filled with interesting incidents and people he encountered in his travels. As competition for freight increased the price per 100 pound dropped fifty percent or more at the peak of the rush in the late
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Fall 2004 Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
1860s. The Mormons’ early settlement in Utah and their establishment of a strong agricultural economy gave them a great opportunity to supply the mines of Montana. There were already good trails
north to the Idaho mines in the Boise Basin and on the Salmon River. The road to Montana split from the main trail to Salmon just south of what is now Dubois, Idaho. This branch became the main route to the new mines almost overnight. With
Bottles and Extras the completion of the transcontinental railroad across northern Utah in 1869, the stage was set for easier and more regular transportation of goods from Corrine, Utah to Virginia City, Mont. [Figures 8-9] and other Montana mining camps. Manufacturers, ranchers, and merchants, used to supplying western gold rushes, were eager to send their goods to more insatiable pioneers. The myriad of supplies arriving in Montana in the 1860s stocked the shelves of businesses and cabins. They were used and used up. Many items, including bottles, were often reused until they became tainted with disagreeable contents or were broken. They were usually left behind, along with any other unnecessary gear, when the miners moved on to better diggings. It is what was left behind by the prospectors, traders, wagon masters, hurdy gurdy girls, saloon keepers, preachers, thugs, gamblers and agricultural men that entices our generation. A ghost camp has become the Lorelei, which in a silent calling beckons those of us too weak to resist entering. The rewards of a visit to the gray skeletons, which contrast against the deep blue mountain skies or the flowered meadow, are the chill of the breeze, the warmth of the sun and the haunting of knowing that you are not the first to stand on this spot. Every time I see an artifact of those days, I cannot help but be taken back, even momentarily, to when it was new and necessary. Whether it is a perfume, syrup pitcher, ointment container, lamp or other necessity, the user was grateful for it [Figure 10]. Maybe I will raise your awareness of Montana’s history by talking about a few types of bottles representing the 18601870 mining era in the newly established territory. Some of the finest products available in the United States at the time were available in the raucous, ephemeral camps. Memories of what was good and useful back home, or the insistence of an ever-present peddler, introduced bottles of all kinds to these raw and distant mountain valleys. These bottles, most often found in shards, contained whiskey [Figure 11], schnapps, champagne and wine [Figure 12], ales and brandy [Figure 13], soda and mineral waters, spices, catsup, mustard, pickles and pepper sauces [Figures 14-15], perfume, ink [Figure 16], medicine [Figure 17], bitters [Figures 18-19] and almost anything else you can imagine being shipped and stored in a bottle.
Bottles and Extras The cargo of the steamboat Bertrand is a time capsule of glass containers once destined for the mining camps of Montana Territory. The flat bottomed steamboats plied the Missouri with all the mining gear and goods you can imagine necessary on the frontier; all this in return for a load of gold, hides and passengers. As a testament to the success of many journeys up river, we see the remnants of their cargo scattered across the landscape. The Bertrand was not so lucky to have delivered its cargo, but left it on the bottom of the Missouri River. It hit a snag about 20 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska on April 1, 1865. Its cargo, lost to the ages, was discovered and excavated nearly 100 years latter. This story is told in vivid details, and the cargo is archived and displayed at the Steamboat Bertrand Visitor Center on the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri Valley, Iowa. As a significant archaeological discovery, it is the perfect time capsule for this decade of Montana Territorial history. Locally found artifacts can be closely associated, undeniably attributing them to the first major influx of gold miners into the new territory. As stated in the preface to Leslie Peterson’s The Bertrand Stores,4 “Seldom do we obtain more than a partial glimpse of the past from archaeological endeavors. In the case of the BERTRAND collection, however, the condition of excavated objects was as incredible as their diversity. Lack of oxygen and a slightly acidic soil assured the survival of inorganic and some organic materials. Even foods survived; a variety of canned or bottled fruits and vegetables were bound for Montana gold fields! Indeed, no collection of historic objects from the 1860s in any other federal museum compares to the BERTRAND materials. The significance of this collection remains its research value for archaeologists. Type specimens of every variety help determine the chronology for other archaeological finds.� Ronald Switzer5 has provided us with an excellent discussion and view of the Bertrand bottles. Jerome Petsche6 covers the wider array of artifacts from the Bertrand. All of these descriptions help me date other artifacts found in association with a described Bertrand item. Needless to say, the conditions in which the used and discarded artifacts are found in Montana differ considerably from those of the steamboat excavation. These bottles,
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Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
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Bottles and Extras
Fig. 14
Fig. 18
Fig. 15
Fig. 19
Fig. 16 Fig. 20
Fig. 17
thrown to the rocks below, were never to be given another slice of importance. That is until their stories, so faint that most never heard the whispers, were heard. The few with keen ears and eyes came forth after a hundred years to find and retrieve these discards, resurrect their stories and give them, once again, important places in history and on warm and lighted shelves. Very few early bottles, such as these pontiled examples found in Montana [Figure 20], survived this precarious pedigree. These were discarded very early and luckily survived and are among
Bottles and Extras the few in Montana collections. Many are discovered in pieces and after careful reconstruction give a good representation of how glass-house fresh house examples may have appeared [Figures 21-22]. The items pictured in this article are all attributed to Montana. I have used them to characterize the early mining occupation of Montana Territory from 1860-1870. They have been acquired by the author from many sources over the past 40 years. The included figures are examples of bottles and the places they were used. The bottles are grouped to conserve space, but you can see that they represent a considerable variety of glass ware. I have described the figures below. I hope this provides an illustration of what the gold seekers left behind in those first fleeting years of Montana’s mining legacy. References: 1 Malone, Michael P. & Roeder, Richard B., Montana, A History of Two Centuries, University of Washington Press, 1976. 2 Ibid. page 53. 3 Toponce, Alexander, Reminiscences of Alexander Toponce, Pioneer, 18391923, Published by Katie Toponce, 1923. 4 Peterson, Leslie Perry; The Betrand Stores, An Introduction to the Artifacts from the 1865 Wreck of the Steamboad Bertrand, Desoto National Wildlife Refuge, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; published by Midwest Interpretive Association, 1997. 5 Switzer, Ronald R., The Bertrand Bottles, A Study of 19th-Century Glass and Ceramic Containers, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 1974. 6 Petsche, Jerome B., The Steamboad Bertrand: History, Excavation and Architecture, Office of Archaeology and Historical Preservation, National Park Service, Washington, D.C., 1974. Illustrations: Figure 1: Granville Stuart. He and brother James were early mining and ranching pioneers, later to become prominent Territorial businessmen. They were consignees of much of the brandy and Udolpho Wolfe’s schnapps on board the Bertrand. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana. 1976.) Figure 2: Sketch map of Montana, by
Fall 2004 Fig. 21
author. Figure 3: The Worden and Co. store at Hell Gate circa 1860. Judge Woody is in the foreground of this later image. This store stood four miles down river from present day Missoula. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 4: Northeast view of Ft. Benton in 1869. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 5: A bull team in front of Murphy, Neel & Co. in Ft. Benton on its way to one of the Territory’s mining camps. This company was the consignee of many cases of bitters aboard the Bertrand. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 6: The banks of the Missouri River at Ft. Benton shortly after a river steamer unloaded. The boxes in the near center and right likely contain bottled goods. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 7: Deer Lodge, M.T. in 1869. This was Granville Stuart’s business location. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 8: The destination of much of the freight on board the Bertrand was Virginia City, M.T. The gulches around Fig. 22
19 this city supported some of the richest gold finds in the Territory. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 9: Wallace St. in Virginia City was home to many of the city’s businesses. The hand painted advertisement on the box to the right attests to the presence of Drakes Bitters in the 1860s. (Courtesy of Northwest Reprographics, Helena, Montana, 1976.) Figure 10: L to R: fancy perfume; syrup pitcher with applied handle and sheared lip as the original pewter pour spout; Cherry Tooth Paste pot lid; utility BIMAL pint; 12-sided ointment container of white pottery; lamp base with applied handle and sheared neck. (Photo by author.) Figure 11: From left: WILLINGTON GLASSWORKS with backward “Ns” ; Wm. McCULLY and Co., PITTSBURGH PA with PATENT on shoulder; ELLENVILLE GLASS WORKS in green. (Photo by author.) Figure 12: All free-blown bottles from L to R are a large olive green wine and a smaller amber liquor; a “standard” champagne; wine with a long, intrusive kick up; and a magnum champagne with a graphite pontil. (Photo by author.) Figure 13: Black glass - four ales of different shapes and lip finishes surround a three-mold quart brandy. (Photo by author.) Figure 14: L to R: three-mold olive oil; a very crude aqua, ground lip mustard, WHITNEY GLASSWORKS GLASSBORO, N.J. pickle with PATENTED MARCH 23, 1869 embossed on the neck ring; PARKER BROS. / LONDON CLUB SAUCE with a LEA & PERRINS stopper; cathedral pickles in three sizes and patterns, WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE on shoulder with plain glass stopper. (Photo by author.) Figure 15: Back row has four pepper sauces and an olive oil. The sauces are six-sided, eight-ribs and ring-necked, cathedral square, and round with eight flutes Front row has an H. T. HELMBOLD/GENUINE FLUID/ EXTRACTS//PHILADELPHIA, a pontiled French Mustard, “W” embossed on a raised oval ring for Wichert out of San Francisco, and E. R. DURKEE & CO/ NEW YORK. (Photo by author.) Figure 16: A variety of pottery inks and a wood case for a traveling ink. The bottle
20 is missing from the wood case. The pottery pints are stamped from P & J ARNOLD/ LONDON. The labeled white cone is from THADDEUS DAVIDS & CO. (Photo by author.) Figure 17: This grouping has a G.W. MERCHANT/LOCKPORT N.Y.; JOB/ MOSES on two sides; M. DIMMETT/ST. LOUIS//COUGH//BALSAM; DOCT/ MARSHALL’S//SNUFF: N Y MEDICAL/ /UNIVERSITY (with backwards N) in cobalt; DR J.H. McLEAN’S/CANDY VERMIFUGE/ST LOUIS which looks like a lozenge cylinder; R.R.R.//ENTd ACCORd/TO ACT OF/CONGRESS// RADWAYS// SARSAPARILIAN / RESOLVENT; rolled lip MRS INSLOWS/ SOOTHING SYRUP/CURTIS & PERKINS/ PROPRIETORS; and an amber rolled lip snuff. (Photo by author.) Figure 18: DR. J. HOSTETTERS/ STOMACH BITTERS in olive green
Fall 2004 (large size) plain base; a greenish yellow with L & W 10 on base with two dots under R; and amber with S. McKEE & Co. 1 on base. (Photo by author.) Figure 19: L to R: ST/DRAKES/1860/ PLANTATION/X/BITTERS six-log black cranberry color; an amber KELLY’S/OLD CABIN/BITTERS//PATENTED/1863; four-log DRAKES in olive green. (Photo by author.) Figure 20: All these bottles have open pontils except the soda, third from left, which has a graphite pontil. From L to R these are: a flared lip Jamaica ginger; acid with fitted stopper; blob top soda embossed H. GRONE & CO/St (with two dots under the T) LOUIS/Mo with letters FRL on the reverse; AYER’S //LOWELL/MASS // PILLS; 18 Paneled catsup; GIROLAMO/ /PAGLIANO; two-piece mold catsup; and a utility two-piece mold bottle in very heavy glass. This one was found
Bottles and Extras protruding from a cow trail.(Photo by author.) Figure 21: L to R: Light amber lady’s leg; BENNETT. PIETERS & CO//RED JACKET/BITTERS, amber; C. H. SWAIN’S//BOURBON//BITTERS on a yellow-amber, case-shaped bottle. (Photo by author.) Figure 22: L to R: HELLMAN’S// CONGRESS BITTERS//ST LOUIS. Mo; C. LEDIARD/ST LOUIS six-sided with double neck ring; BRADY’S//FAMILY// BITTERS. (Photo by author.)
Ray Thompson is a Montana native with a life-long interest in western mining history. He can be reached via E-mail: kcthomp@aol.com, phone: (406) 273-7780 or by writing to: PO Box 9003, Missoula, MT 59807.
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History of the Franklin Glass Works Portage County, Ohio By George L. Miller Location Archaeological excavation of the Franklin Glass Works undertaken by Case Western Reserve University and the Western Reserve Historical Society from 1968 through 1970 prompted the need for a clear view of the factory’s history and its relationship to the surrounding community. Research efforts first focused on the location of the glassworks in Portage County, which in the 1820s was a sparsely settled area of Ohio. Between 1820 and 1830, however, the population of the country grew from 8,654 to 18,747. The number of residents in Franklin Township, where the glasshouse was situated, increased from 348 to 803 in the same period. Prior to the War of 1812, most glasshouses in America were established east of the Alleghenies, near the centers of population. The major exception to this was the glass industry that developed in Pittsburgh. The Trade Embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 made the buying public more dependent on native manufacturers. While there were only nine glassworks in operation in the United States in 1800, at least forty-four were built between 1808 and 1814. By 1820, half of the glasshouses in America had failed, largely the result of the importation of European glass after the War of 1812. 1 Congress responded to this large influx of foreign goods by passing the Tariff Act of 1816, which placed specific duties on black glass bottles and window glass and a 20% ad valorem duty on all other glass.2 However, it failed to protect the American glass industry because of a subsidy given to British glass manufacturers. In 1815 and again in 1816, the English Excise Act of 1812 was renewed. This Act taxed glass that was manufactured and consumed in England. If the glass was exported, however, then the tax was refunded to the manufacturer; in addition, he received a bounty for exporting it.3 Because of this subsidy, the English were able to compete quite freely with American manufacturers, leading to the demise of a number of American
glasshouses. One way in which the Americans could compete with English glass producers was to move their industries to the interior part of the country, thereby placing the cost of land transportation between their product and the imported glass. A U.S. Senate committee report from 1816 states “that a ton of goods could be brought 3,000 miles from Europe to America for about nine dollars, but that for the same sum, it could be moved only 30 miles overland in this country.”4 This high cost of land transportation appears to have offset the English subsidy judging from the number of glass factories built west of the Appalachian Mountians after the War of 1812. Certainly, many glassmakers moved west during this period.5 Another reason for going west may have been the availability of firewood for glass furnaces. In 1810, Tench Coxe reported that: Wood fuel and consequently alkaline salts are to be procured with a profit, because the land from which a glass manufacturer or potter should take them would be greatly increased in value, by the removal of the wood.6 Fuel, fire clay, silicates and market would all enter into the decision of where to build a glassworks. In 1824 the American glass industry received further assistance by the passing of a stronger protective tariff. Between 1824 and 1837, sixty-four new glasshouses were erected, thirty-three of them in the Midwest. 7 Eight of these were located in Ohio during the 1820s; one was the Franklin Glass Works in Portage County. In January, 1823, the Ohio legislature passed a law exempting “all mills, all woolen and cotton
manufactories, and all manufactories of iron or glass” from taxation. 8 This exemption, the 1824 tariff, the distance from English competition and the availability of fuel and raw materials undoubtedly all played a part in the selection of Franklin Township for a new glass factory. Aaron Olmstead of Hartford, Connecticut, had purchased all 13,830 acres of Franklin Township from the Connecticut Land Company in September, 1799, but died before he could develop it. Sometime before September 13, 1817, the trustee of Olmstead’s estate entered into negotiations with Jesse Farnam and Charles Douglas of Westfield, Massachusetts, who wished to purchase 6,295 acres. Lot 80, upon which the Franklin Glass Works was later built, was included in the transaction.9 Through a
[Figure 1]
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series of five deeds, the two men were able to secure clear title to roughly 90% of the 6,295 acres before their notes of loan were due in 1822. Although Lot 80 was not among those lots cleared by the deeds, it does not appear to have reverted to the Olmstead estate because Farnam and Douglas are named as the owners of Lot 80 in the Portage County land tax records for 1823, 1824 and 1825. The title to this lot was finally cleared from the Olmstead estate by a deed to Jesse Farnam dated November 28, 1828.10 Unfortunately, none of these documents includes specific mention of a glasshouse. Because of the tax exemption status extended to glass factories, the glassworks is not named in the Ohio land tax records between 1823 and 1830. The exemption law was reversed in 1832, but the tax list for that year could not be located. On the 1833 list, however, no improvements are shown for Lot 80, suggesting that the Franklin Glass Works was out of business by that date. Farnam eventually acquired an additional 2,900 acres of the township from the Olmstead estate; the two
[Figure 2]
Massachusetts men were considered in effect to be “the proprietors of the township.” 11 With their large land holdings, Farnam and Douglas would presumably have been interested in developing their lands so as to increase its value, especially since improvements were not taxed until after 1832. One of the easiest ways to enhance land value was to clear it of timber. As discussed above, Tench Coxe recommended building a glass factory or pottery as a good means of doing this. It is significant that both Farnam and Douglas had previous interests in glass factories. Both were among the incorporating owners of the Chester Glass Works in Berkshire County, Massachusetts in June, 1814.12 Although it was a short-lived venture, closing in 1815, Farnam and Douglas would have come into contact with glass craftsman and learned something of the business. The collapse of the eastern market after the War of 1812 would have created a pool of unemployed glass workers who could have been interested in a project that would establish a glassworks out of the reach of the cheaper imports. The success of the Mantua Glass Works and the Woodward, Hopkins, and Ladd Glass Works in Franklin Mills (Kent) might have suggested to Farnam and Douglas the feasibility of opening a glasshouse in that area. Whether or not they were actually involved in the undertaking is not known, however. No personal papers of either Farnam or Douglas have yet come to light which might clarify their role in the founding of the Franklin Glass Works. In the 1829 land tax records, Farnam is listed as owning all 193 acres of Lot 80 where the factory was erected, but no information is given with regard to the physical plant of the factory. A note indicates that taxes had been paid on one section of the lot containing 53 ½ acres and one of the 100 acres; 39 acres were delinquent. This situation suggests intended sales of land. Records for 1830 name Samuel
21 Foster as the owner of the 53 ½-acre parcel, but Farnam still owned the other parcels. The glassworks was located on the 100-acre section. According to Ohio’s law, joint owners of land could each separately pay his own part of the tax due.13 It is likely, therefore, that there was an attempt to purchase the site of the factory, but the transaction was not completed. In 1835, Farnam sold the westernmost 148 acres of the lot to Christian Cackler for $680, or about $4.60 an acre. A land boom was well underway at that time, but the low price does not reveal that a glass factory existed on the property. No mention is made of a glassworks or any other improvements in this deed. Cackler later noted in his published Recollections, “In the year 1824, James Edmunds, Henry Parks and a brother built a glass factory on the land now owned by Christian Cackler.”14 According to the 1850 plat book for Franklin Township, Cackler’s parcel contained 35 acres of plow land, 98 acres of meadow and 15.8 acres of woods and inarable land, probably a marshy area. Mengas Anderson owned the property early in this century. When he visited the site during the archaeological excavation, he recalled how they would drive the horses back and forth over the factory area to break up the brick walls (most likely the furnaces) with the plow. Because so little information about the factory site was contained in the written records, it was thanks to Anderson and successive owners who had plowed the land that knowledge of the glasshouse site was preserved over the years. The Factory On September 10, 1825, the Western Courier, a newspaper published in Ravenna, carried the advertisement which announced the opening of the Franklin Glass Works [Fig. 1]. The owners named at the bottom of the notice were Parks, Edmund and Parks. At the end of three weeks, the ownership was changed to James H. Edmunds [Fig. 2]. The announcement continued in this form for six months. These were the only advertisements of the factory to appear in the Courier for the years checked, which included 1825, 1826, 1830 and 1831. Cackler had stated that the factory had been built in 1824, but it was not unusual for a year to pass before production could get underway. Another bit of evidence
22 supporting the 1824 date was found in the records of the Portage County Court of Common Pleas. Richard and George Parks, the probable partners of Edmunds, declared their intent to become United States citizens in May of that year. That they had emigrated from Great Britain is indicated by their renouncement of allegiance to “any foreign prince, Pottentate, State or Sovereignty what-soever and Particularly to George the fourth of Great Britain, Ireland and Scotland.”15 If the Parks brothers were practical glassmakers, they must have broken the English laws restricting the emigration of skilled craftsmen, laws which were only repealed in 1824. This declaration, the 1825 advertisements, and Cackler’s reminiscences are the only sources which mention the Parks brothers. Cackler, writing forty years after the event, gave the name of only one brother, which he remembered as Henry. None of the sources checked, however, produced any sign of a Henry Parks. While the Parks brothers were in Portage County as early as May, 1824, they apparently left before the July 4, 1827 census of white males twenty-one years and older. If the brothers had been the capitalists behind the Franklin Glass Works, they might have persevered to recover their investment. If their share of the partnership was in return for practical glass knowledge, they may have exchanged an uncertain financial arrangement for the security of regular pay for work performed. The newspaper advertisements indicate the Parks brothers relinquished their partnership status soon after the first blow was begun. Even if they had been bought out, this change suggest there were financial problems during the first and critical year of production. Nonetheless, the Franklin Glass Works continued in operation after the Parks brothers left. Perhaps their skills were not critical or replacements had been found. How long James Edmunds ran the glass factory as sole proprietor is not known. In February, 1827, during the second season of production, Edmunds and Cackler borrowed $139.47 on a two-year note from Jesse Farnam.16 This suggests that Cackler may have been a partner with Edmunds, although the glass factory itself is not mentioned. Interestingly, Farnam’s note called for the payment to be in grain,
Fall 2004 or cattle. The third blowing season, from the fall of 1827 to the spring of 1828, apparently did not produce enough profit to continue producing glass. The chief evidence for this was found in the September 6, 1828 issue of the Western Courier, where the following announcement was published by the Commissioner Insolvents: Notice: Will be exposed to sale at public venue at the glass works in Franklin on the 15th day of September next…four hogs, a quantity of oats, utensils for making glass, also farming & other utencils, &c…these articles were assigned to me by James H. Edmunds…for the benefit of…creditors. – The said James H…will make application to the next court of Common Pleas to be holden at Ravenna…on the eighth of September next for the benefit of the act for the relief of insolvent debtors. During the summer months when glassblowing had ceased, furnaces were repaired and raw materials and fuel were acquired for the next season. That Edmunds applied for insolvency in the early fall may mean that he could not obtain the necessary supplies or labor force to begin full production. Edmunds was apparently able to recover from this insolvency, probably by acquiring new financial sources. In a suit brought by Freeman Trask, Cackler and Issac Crank, or Grant, are named as partners of James H. Edmunds. The suit was over a due bill, issued November 13, 1829 for $20 worth of material supplied to the Franklin Glass Works. 17 This suggests that the 1829-1930 season of glassblowing had begun, but how long production lasted is not known. A garbage pit to the north of the Franklin Glass Works contained an 1830 American large cent indicating that someone, possibly Edmunds, was living at the premises into 1830, if not later. In January, 1830, Jesse Farnam brought suit over the loan of $139.47 cited above. Cackler and Edmunds argued that Farnam was not available and did not appoint an agent to receive the grain or cattle, which they were ready to pay. Moreover, they claimed that: The said Jesse Farnam at the time of the commencement of this suit was indebted to them in the sum of two hundred dollars for money by them paid laid out and expended for him and for
Bottles and Extras money by him and received to and for their use, and for goods by them sold and delivered to him, and for work and labor by them done and performed for him.18 This suggestes that Farnam had some relationship or agreement with the Franklin Glass Works. Unfortunately, Farnam did not answer this charge and the case was dropped. Farnam is not listed in the advertisements or named in Trask’s suit as a partner, but this role may have been as landlord, receiving some part of the product as rent. Perhaps he had given money to have his vast land holdings cleared of timber. Farnam’s previous experience with the Chester Glass Works may have made him wary of investing, and so he made a loan instead. Glass may have been made into 1831, but the omission of the factory from the 1833 tax list implies that it was definitely out of business by that time. A number of factories may have figured in its closing. When the Franklin Glass Works was built, it was safely removed from foreign competition. However, there were two other glass facilities in Portage County, at Mantua and at Franklin Mills, which would have also been competing for the market in the Western Reserve. There was also strong competition from glasshouses in Pittsburgh and Zanesville. With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, and the Ohio Canal in 1832, the Western Reserve was no longer isolated, and glass from the east could easily and cheaply be shipped west via the canals. Even before the Erie Canal was finished, window glass from Geneva, New York, was being advertised as far west as Detriot.19 In 1832, a survey of American manufacturers was conducted by the House of Representatives to evaluate the need for a new tariff. Almost all of the glass manufacturers who responded said that glass prices had been falling for a period of six or seven years, the result of domestic competition.20 There is some evidence that this decline in prices may have been accomplished – at least in Franklin Township – by increasing problems in securing wood fuel for the glass furnaces. Although difficult to document, the introduction of pressed glass must also have altered the market. The profitability of glass factories in Ohio was also diminished by the removal of the tax-exempt status in 1832. At what point these economic forces would have brought about the collapse of the Franklin Glass
Bottles and Extras works is not known, but it was probably a furnace failure that tipped the scales and ended the enterprise. Archaeological excavation of the well at the Franklin Glass Works yielded fragments of one of the glory holes, large crucible shards, and large boulders of glass – one of which was so large that it plugged up the well. These are obviously the resulting debris from a major furnace failure, which must have been the coup de grâce of the glasshouse. A glass furnace full of hot glass represents a large investment in fuel, crucibles and labor. If it fails – if several pots break, or if the furnace collapses – it is often enough to bankrupt a glassworks. From Edmund’s own financial insolvency and the partnership changes, it seems that the Franklin Glass Works was no great financial success. The collapse of the furnace broke the willingness of the investors to advance any more money. A Note on James H. Edmunds Census records indicate that James H. Edmunds was born between 1780 and 1790, but the place of his birth, and where he learned the glass trade, have not been determined. The 1820 census for Chester Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts lists a John Edmunds and a Thomas Edmunds, who may have been related to the Edmunds in question. A venture in which Edmunds may have been involved was the Zanesville White Flint Glass Works, which published the following advertisement in the Cincinnati Gazette for May 2, 1820: Zanesville White Flint Glass Manufacturing Company, Edmunds, Bingham & Co., respectfully informs the public that they have commenced the above business in its various branches, on the improved plan, and from their long experience, both in Europe and American, feel justified in saying that the glass manufactured at their works shall not be inferior to any made in the United States…21 A major difference between the Zanesville factory and the Franklin works is that the latter enterprise did not advertise, nor presumably manufacture, “white flint glass.” It could not be proved that the Edmunds cited in connection with Zanesville is James H. Edmunds of Franklin Township. The 1820 census for Muskingum County, where Zanesville
Fall 2004 was located, does not list anyone named Edmunds. Only heads of household are specified, but Edmunds may have boarded with his parents. There is a John Bingham listed in Brush Creek Township, for example, whose household contained two men between 16 and 18 years, two between 26 and 45 years and one over 45 years of age. From the Portage County census of 1830, it is clear that James Edmunds was between 40 and 50 years old at that time, so it is plausible. However, according to the census taker, no members of the Bingham household were involved in manufacturing. The only personal statement of James H. Edmunds that has survived is a toast that he gave on July 4, 1825: “By Mr. Edmunds, - The clay of the West, not inferior to any clay in the known world.”22 This salutation, one of many patriotic toasts, may refer to Henry Clay, one of the driving forces behind the protective tariff of 1824. Given his business, Edmunds must have delighted in the pun, because the toast can also be interpreted to mean the clay from which the crucibles for melting glass were made. A resistant fire clay was required for these crucibles and deposits of this type of clay are rather rare. Availability of crucible quality clay was an important attraction for the industry in the Western Reserve. In March, 1831, Edmunds was charged with forgery in the Portage County Court of Common Pleas. The case was continued until the May, 1832 term, when the prosecuting attorney dropped the case. Unfortunately, the nature of Edmund’s alleged forgery is not described.23 Farnam’s suit agains Edmunds and Cackler indicates that Edmunds remained in Portage County at least until March, 1833, but his whereabouts after that date are unknown. Products of the Franklin Glass Works Most of the glasswares made at the Franklin Glass Works were bottles, flasks, tumblers and milk pans patterned in dip molds, having a plain or swirled rib design. A small quantity of sherds from some three-piece mold blown bottles were also recovered. The color of the glass ranged from light aqua to an olive green and from a light amber to brown. All of these colors could have resulted from varying amounts of iron in the glass and the degree of oxidation of reduction involved in processing each batch. Rims
23 on milk pans were usually folded over while others vessel rims tended to be only fire polished. Other Franklin Glass Works Publications David S. Brose of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History has his report describing the factory excavations and the glass produced by the Franklin Glass Works. The collections from the excavations have been turned over to the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio. Collections from the house area of the Franklin Glass Works were analyzed by Meredith Moodey for her masters thesis at the College of William and Mary. This thesis was completed in 1987. The following articles contain more information on the excavation and artifacts from the Franklin Glass Works: George L. Miller and Silas Hurry, “Ceramic Supply in an Economically Isolated Frontier, Community: Portage County of the Ohio Western Reserve, 1800-1825,” Historical Archaeology, 17, No. 1 (1983): 80-92. George L. Miller and Meredith Moodey, “Of Fish and Sherds: A Model for Estimating Vessel Populations from Minimal Vessel Counts,” Historical Archaeology, 20, No. 2 (1986): 59-85. Acknowledgements: I would like to express my gratitude to the numerous people who helped in my research of the Franklin Glass Works. First, I would like to recognize the financial backing provided by the Western Reserve Historical Society, which enabled me to gather the material for this history. The gifts of James F. Courtney, Mrs. Warren H. Corning and other members of the Committee to Restore the Franklin Glass Works, made this research possible. My report is an extension of Case Western Reserve University excavations, which were funded by a grant from the Kettering Family Foundation to David S. Brose. In addition to the funding I received, I would like to thank the several people who were the most helpful in my research. Both James Courtney and the late Duncan Wolcott were very helpful in the beginning stages of this project when I needed it most. Jim’s advice on my interpretations of various legal documents from the Portage County Court House saved me from making several errors in the
24 interpretation of those records. Virginia Hawley and other librarians at the Western Reserve Historical Society pointed out many sources I would have overlooked. John Shoup, of Kent, Ohio, was a storehouse of information about Kent’s history, which he generously shared with me. Arnold R. Pilling, my mentor Wayne State University in Detroit, read early drafts of the history and made helpful suggestions. To all of these people, and others, I owe a debt for their support and suggestions. Referemces: 1 McKearin, George S. and Helen. American Glass (New York: Crown, 1948), pp. 132-133. 2 McKearin, American Glass, p. 133. 3 Jarves, Deming. Reminiscences of Glass-Making (1868, repr. Ed. Great Neck, N.Y.: Beatrice C. Weinstock, 1968), p. 83 4 Quoted in George Rogers Taylor, The Transportation Revolution 1815-60 (“The Economic History of the United States,” 4; New York: Harper & Row, 1951), pp. 132-33. 5 White, Harry Hall. “Migrations of Early Glassworkers,” Antiques, 32, No. 2 (August, 1937): pp. 64-67. 6 Coxe, Tench. A Statement of the Arts and Manufactures of the United States of America for the Year 1810 (1814; repr. Ed. New York: Luther Cromwell Co., n.d.), p. xliv. Continued from page 19 a wood case for a traveling ink. The bottle is missing from the wood case. The pottery pints are stamped from P & J ARNOLD/ LONDON. The labeled white cone is from THADDEUS DAVIDS & CO. (Photo by author.) Figure 17: This grouping has a G.W. MERCHANT/LOCKPORT N.Y.; JOB/ MOSES on two sides; M. DIMMETT/ST. LOUIS//COUGH//BALSAM; DOCT/ MARSHALL’S//SNUFF: N Y MEDICAL/ /UNIVERSITY (with backwards N) in cobalt; DR J.H. McLEAN’S/CANDY VERMIFUGE/ST LOUIS which looks like a lozenge cylinder; R.R.R.//ENTd ACCORd/TO ACT OF/CONGRESS// RADWAYS// SARSAPARILIAN / RESOLVENT; rolled lip MRS INSLOWS/ SOOTHING SYRUP/CURTIS & PERKINS/ PROPRIETORS; and an amber rolled lip snuff. (Photo by author.) Figure 18: DR. J. HOSTETTERS/
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McKearin, American Glass, p. 135. Chase, Solomon. The Statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern Territory Adoped or Extracted from 1788 to 1833 Inclusive, 2 (Cincinnati: Corey & Fairbank, 1834), p. 1258. Portage County Deeds, 4: 261, 298. Portage County Court House (hereafter PCC). Portage County Deeds, 4: 300; 5: 7273; 7: 42-43; 11: 240. Cackler, Christian. Recollections of an Old Settler (Ravenna: Record Publishing Co., 1964), p. 22. This book reprinted newspaper articles written by Cackler in the 1870s. McKearin, American Glass, p. 592. Portage County Land Tax Records, Kent State Univ., Library, State of Ohio, A Compilation of Laws, Treaties, Resolutions and Ordinances…which relate to land in the State of Ohio…to the years 1815-16 (Columbus: George Nashee, 1825), p. 432. Portage County Deeds, 20: 597. Cackler, Recollections, p. 20. Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Journal 4, p. 146. PCC. Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Vol. 15-O, p. 134. Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Vol. 13-M, p. 136-39. Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Vol. 13-M, p. 136. Detroit Gazette (June 4, 1824). United States House of Executive
STOMACH BITTERS in olive green (large size) plain base; a greenish yellow with L & W 10 on base with two dots under R; and amber with S. McKEE & Co. 1 on base. (Photo by author.) Figure 19: L to R: ST/DRAKES/1860/ PLANTATION/X/BITTERS six-log black cranberry color; an amber KELLY’S/OLD CABIN/BITTERS//PATENTED/1863; four-log DRAKES in olive green. (Photo by author.) Figure 20: All these bottles have open pontils except the soda, third from left, which has a graphite pontil. From L to R these are: a flared lip Jamaica ginger; acid with fitted stopper; blob top soda embossed H. GRONE & CO/St (with two dots under the T) LOUIS/Mo with letters FRL on the reverse; AYER’S //LOWELL/MASS // PILLS; 18 Paneled catsup; GIROLAMO/ /PAGLIANO; two-piece mold catsup; and a utility two-piece mold bottle in very
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Documents, Vol. 223, House Documents, Vol. 7, Pt. 2, Documents 308, pp. 523-32. Quoted in McKearin, American Glass, pp. 232-33. Western Courier (July 9, 1825). Portage County Court of Common Pleas, Journal 5, March term 1831, p. 251; May term 1832, p. 432.
Note: This article first appeared in The Glass Club Bulletin of The National Early American Glass Club, No. 152, Spring, 1987, pp. 3-9. Photos: Figure 1: Advertisement of the Franklin Glass Works, published in Ravenna’s Western Courier (September 10, 1825), with Parks, Edmunds and Parks named as owners. [Photo courtesy Western Reserve Historical Society.] Figuire 2: Advertisement placed three weeks later, with only James H. Edmunds named as owner. [Photo courtesy Western Reserve Historical Society.]
George L. Miller Senior Laboratory Analyst Office of Excavation and Conversation Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Williamsburg, Virginia
heavy glass. This one was found protruding from a cow trail.(Photo by author.) Figure 21: L to R: Light amber lady’s leg; BENNETT. PIETERS & CO//RED JACKET/BITTERS, amber; C. H. SWAIN’S//BOURBON//BITTERS on a yellow-amber, case-shaped bottle. (Photo by author.) Figure 22: L to R: HELLMAN’S// CONGRESS BITTERS//ST LOUIS. Mo; C. LEDIARD/ST LOUIS six-sided with double neck ring; BRADY’S//FAMILY// BITTERS. (Photo by author.) Ray Thompson is a Montana native with a life-long interest in western mining history. He can be reached via E-mail: kcthomp@aol.com, phone: (406) 273-7780 or by writing to: PO Box 9003, Missoula, MT 59807.
Bottles and Extras
Fall 2004
25
FALL AMERICANA AUCTION Sat. & Sun. Oct. 30th & 31st @ 11:00 am (Both Days) Rte. 10 W. Swanzey, NH 03469
Previews - October 28th & 29th 9-6 pm, October 30th 9-11 am & immediately following Day I (Session I) 3-6 pm & October 31st 9-11 am or by appointment.
Sat., Oct. 30th @ 11:00 am (Day I - Session I) - We will be selling 200+ lots of Early Decorated Stoneware & Bottles only. To include approx. 100 pcs of Decorated Stoneware from various New England, New York & Pa. Potters w/various Decorations. We will also offer 150+ lots of Early New England & Mid-Western Bottles from several New England homes, including the bulk from a single owner collection from Massachusetts to include Historical Flasks, Bitters, Seal Bottles, Medicines, nice selection of Inks, freeblown examples & many other fine examples. This collection is one of the finest collections of Bottles we have had the opportunity to offer at public Auction & one sale that you will not want to miss. For further info, or complete listing, call 1-800-352-5251, or look online at www.knottypineantiques.com.
Sun., Oct. 31st @ 11:00 am (Day II- Session II) - We will be selling approx. 400+ lots of Early American Furniture, Accessories & Art Work from various New England homes only. To include 18th & 19th century Country & Formal Furniture. A very fine single owner collection of 19th & 20th century Artwork (various listed artists - lists avail.). Folk Art, Early Ceramics & Glassware, Cast Iron, Rugs, Needlework Samplers, Flow Blue & Dark Staffordshire. Fine selection of 18th & 19th century Country Accessories (many in paint), plus much, much more. For further info, please call 1-800352-5251 or look online at www.knottypineantiques.com (day II online catalog posted approx. 2 weeks before sale date).
Terms: 13% Buyers Premium - 3% Discount for Cash or Good Check - Visa & MasterCard accepted Left & Phone bids accepted with credit card deposit - Not responsible for errors or omissions - ALL SALES FINAL! NH Lic #4006 John S. Pappas - Auctioneer VT Lic# 2416 Gallery @ Knotty Pine Auction Service - Rte 10, P.O. Box 96, W. Swanzey, N.H. 03469 4.5 miles south of Keene, N.H., Rte. 10 South Gallery Phone: (603) 352-2313 www.knottypineantiques.com
Gallery Fax: (603) 352-5019 E-mail: kpa@inc-net.com
Consignments Still Being Accepted for Fall Americana & Future Sales Always interested in the outright Purchase or Consignment of Quality Antiques
Ah, the anticipation of the chase!
It’s got to be here, somewhere!
To the lucky few, the items are delivered.
For others, the hunt is on!
Oh yes, sweet success!!!
Show photographs by Ralph Van Brocklin and Kathy Hopson. Auction photographs provided by John Pastor.
EXPO 2004 - Memphis, Tennessee by Ralph Van Brocklin It was a Fantastic Time — And Not a Hot Time – In Memphis!!! 371 sales tables, 23 displays and the best weather I have ever seen in Memphis during the month of August… A spacious, well-lighted and comfortable exhibit hall... The convenience of an attached hotel... Well, I ask you, how could anyone not have had a great time at the Federation of Historical Bottle Collector ’s 2004 EXPO???! Under the capable planning and guidance of EXPO Chairman Gene Bradberry, Ed Provine, Dick and Carol Caughy, Tom and Lisa Phillips, Larry McCage and other members of the Memphis Bottle Collectors Club, Federation members, dealers and public attendees all were treated to that special event which only occurs every four years— a true bottle EXPO! For comraderie, fine glass and stoneware and the opportunity to add great items to ones collection, the hobby offers no other event that can rival it. Seminars One of the treats for attendees of the FOHBC-sponsored shows is the seminars which our show chairpersons arrange. Friday morning saw the presentation of six seminars in the period between 9:00 and 12:00, and the only quandry was how to choose which three to attend! The Federation has been privileged to have the American Collectors of Infant Feeders schedule their national meeting in conjunction with our EXPO’s. This year, one of their past officers, Jinny Brodsky, went a step further and presented a seminar entitled “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby - The History Of Baby Bottles.” For anyone interested in learning about this aspect of collecting, it was a talk not to be missed. A seminar on locating sites and digging bottles was presented by New Orleans digger Willie White and one on cleaning by incoming FOHBC Conventions Director, Wayne Lowry (better known as “Jar Doctor”). Three of our well-known Board members contributed to the morning, with Carl Sturm presenting a seminar entitled “Black Glass – Identification and Dating”, Norman
Barnett presenting on fruit jars and Dick Watson on bitters bottles. I missed Dick’s presentation, and I certainly wish that I had not, as I heard a lot of positive comments about how he blended a nice mixture of stories about his collecting experiences with how to collect in the bitters specialty. Author’s Forum, Book Sales and Signing
Traditionally, the Federation has presented seminars and provided researched articles in our magazine, Bottles and Extras, to promote the educational mission of the organization. This year, that process extended to a special program designed to thank the authors of our collector books and provide ideas and advice for others planning upon authoring a book or manuscript.
Bill Ham presenting at the Author’s Forum
Between 3:00 and 4:15 on Saturday afternoon, there was an open book sale and signing attended by twelve of our authors. For those who did not make the show or the sale, we are happy to provide you with contact information for any of the authors who attended (E-mail thegenuine@comcast.net): Warren Borton: Wyoming Bottles / Stoneware John Eatwell: Pike’s Peak Gold Bill Ham: Bitters Bottles, Bitters Bottles Supplement, Whiskey Bottles of The Old West Dewey Heetderks: Merchants of Medicine Jerry McCann, Fruit Jar Annual, 2004 Michael Miller: A Collector’s Guide To Arizona Bottles & Stoneware Mike Polak: Bottles: Identification and Price Guide Dick Richardson: The Pill Rollers Jim Sears: Redbook of Fruit Jars (Doug Leybourne) Dennis Smith: The Original CocaCola Woman — Diva Brown and the Cola Wars Bob Strickhart: Big Bill Best Bitters Guide Jack Sullivan: The American Whiskey Jug, The Whiskey Ceramics of Scotland, Ireland and England Don Yates: Ginger Beer and Root Beer Heritage 4:15 saw the beginning of the author’s forum and attendees were treated to four fine presentations on the motivations
Jack Sullivan shares his publishing experiences.
behind authoring, the process of researching and preparing material for publication, the decision to self-publish versus going through a publisher and the ins-and-outs of marketing ones book. [See page 33 for more detailed article.] Ralph Van Brocklin announced that the Federation will have a videotape of the presentation available for affiliated clubs and prospective authors. Also announced was a Board effort to provide a grant program to assist prospective authors, now in the discussion stages. Banquet: Gene Bradberry advised the Board in the early stages of planning this show that he wanted to try something a little different for the Awards Banquet at this EXPO and the 50’s dance drew in the attendees! A crowd of over 100 enjoyed a buffet dinner, the opportunity to honor some of the important accomplishments in the hobby over the past year, each others company and the dance featuring a live dj and show.
extended to two individuals instrumental in the success of the Federation over the past year. For his efforts as a newsletter editor and contributor, his feature articles in Bottles and Extras, his service as Southern Regional Editor and his efforts in helping establish the Horse Creek Bottle Club, Bill Baab received this well-deserved honor. The second individual chosen was introduced to the banquet attendees as the single most important individual in implementing and carrying forward the changes which have considerably strengthened the Federation over the past two years. For her efforts on all of our behalf, Kathy Hopson was honored and acknowledged by the group.
A special treat prior to the dance followed with the presentation of Ole Seversen who gave a humorous account of Swedish life in lovely Minnesota. Thanks to Steve Ketcham for telling us how it is! Following dinner, out-going FOHBC President Ralph Van Brocklin assumed the mike and thanked the Board and others in attendance for their efforts on behalf of the organization in his two year term. Then, turning his attention to the awards, presentations were made in two authors categories, for outstanding show posters and newsletters, to the Elmer Lester Most Active Club recipient and to the recipients of the President’s Award. [See page 34 for complete list of contest winners.] For the second year in a row, the Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Club was the recipient of the Elmer Lester Award for Most Active Club. In 2003, Howard Dean accepted the award on behalf of the club and Ralph indicated that he wished that he could have presented it to Howard, once again. Unfortunately, Lillian Dean has been having some health difficulties and that precluded their attendance. Best wishes were extended by all in attendance to these fine ambassadors of the hobby. The 2004 President’s Award was
Auction: The auction, held on Saturday evening, was the typical treat that show attendees have come to expect at Federation shows! 78 catalogued lots and 24 uncatalogued lots were offered by procurer and organizer John Pastor to a crowd estimated at in excess of 200.
The autioneering style of Norman Heckler and Co. was a little different than in years past, as Norm had a cold and opted to delegate the announcement and description of the items to Dann Louis and Ralph Van Brocklin. Still, even the threat of loss of his voice prior to auctions end
could not dissuade the good Norman Heckler from harranguing Ralph about his American flag tie and proclaiming that “you shall not leave this hall with that tie!” (For those who have never attended one of Norm’s auctions, the American flag tie is a staple of his attire. And, he found one on this evening to be most-appealing!)
The auction presented bidders with a nice array of bitters, Mid-Western patterned glass, historicals, open pontiled medicines and sodas. Several inks were offered , along with a labeled billy club featured in the April issue of Bottles and Extras and a cobalt blue figural pistol. Stoneware items included a signed Lanier Meaders face jug and a rare size of the Sunny Side Saloon jug from Lebanon, Kentucky. To stimulate the interest of local collectors, an open pontiled Memphis medicine was added straight from the collection of a considerate Federation member. He was not considerate enough to consign the cobalt pig that was rumored to make an appearance! [See page 32 for prices realized on specific items.]
Norman diplayed his usual flare for coaxing bids upwards and tempting individual bidders to stay in on the items. BAM editor Rod Walck was not allowed to stop bidding once he got started on an item (thanks for the bids, Rod!) and Scott Berry evoked a few perplexed looks when he hesitated on bidding on the Esposito Koca-Nola hutch, only to come back in above bid increment. All in the fun of the show!!! The best of the evening was the toe-to-toe between Norm and John Pastor, escalating to ‘I can get my hand higher than yours’ and from there ‘I can stand higher on this podium than you’ and finally ‘I can get higher up on this chair on this podium than you can’ bidding on several of the uncatalogued pieces of MidWestern pattern glass offered. Always the showman, Norm— always the showman!!! Now, I have to say that the spirit of the evening could not end at the hammer of the last item offered without a special thanks to Norman Heckler for all that he has done for the Federation… He left the podium with the gift of a very nice American flag tie with the sincere thanks of runner, announcer and, now, Federation Past-President Ralph Van Brocklin. The Show: Shortly before 2:00 on Friday afternoon a crowd of several hundred dealers and early admission buyers, rife with the anticipation this every-four-year event creates, began the scramble for the goods! And, a scramble it was (although no-one made good on the occasional chant of “rush the door”!!!) The crowd was large and the buying was intense during Friday set-up. At one point, Jim Hall of Gurnee, Illinois, had collectors three and four deep trying to examine, haggle for and buy from the collection of flasks and bitters he had recently acquired. Quality glass was to be found in abundance throughout the
show— bitters, historical flasks, inks, pontiled meds and handled whiskeys. The stoneware categories were wellrepresented, with blue decorated stoneware, advertising jugs and pitchers scattered throughout the hall. The mini jugs were so prevalent at this show that even those who make their primary collection of them had a hard time selecting which ones to purchase. In every category it certainly was not the typical “well, this is the only one at the show, so I guess that I will buy it”!
Among the happy stoneware buyers was Jerry McKinley who added a nice Princeton, Kentucky, miniature to his shelves. And, he certainly sent a number of collectors home happy by offering a number of early Western calendars in virtually mint condition and his usual assortment of mini-jugs, large jugs, stoneware and tokens. This writer scarfed up a great picture Jack Beam shot glass and a tough Bristol, VA-TN whiskey cylinder from among his offerings.
One of the more unusual pieces of pottery noted at the show was in the happy hands of Jim and Dolores Brawley, who indicated that it had made their show. A piece of terra cota advertising the Winkle Terra Cotta Company in St. Louis, it
featured a prominent eagle that would capture anyones attention! Jim, Dolores and their traveling companions, Curt and Ellen Faulkenberry, expressed a sentiment echoed consistently about this EXPO: “We enjoyed the hospitality, the great people and the opportunity to see and purchase some wonderful items. The people who ran the show did a fabulous job!” For Ed and Connie Tardy of Arkansas, the effort put into this show was readily apparent, as well. They opined “The officials in charge went above and beyond.” Of course, it is easy to say complimentary things when one is grinning ear-to-ear from the purchase of a nice item for ones collection— in this case a nice amber with yellow-olive tones quart strap-flask embossed E.L. FRY / CITY / DRUG STORE / -A- / FULL QUART / MARSHALL, TEX. Mike Burggraaf advised that the Iowa / Nebraska contingent had a great time at the EXPO and that he “sold well and brought home several cabins and a nice Mid-Western swirl.” The overall feeling of a great event spilled over beyond the show, itself. Holly Noordsy noted “We sold well, bought better, and had a whale of a good time!” while Rod Walck advised “Great venue— had a ton of fun!” Judging from their additional comments about Beale Street, I’d say that they did!!! And, having had just a wee bit of personal experience during my three years of oral surgery residency in Memphis….. I know that they did! The crowds remained strong through the general admissions period on Saturday, with many of the dealers indicating that their best sales were made during this time. I finally was able to get around the show a little and added four mini-jugs to my collection. Temptations included a green Vivard & Sheehan handled Eastern whiskey and a piece of Nashville stoneware reading in cobalt slip SPIRE & DUFF. The western flasks, western bitters and Tennessee bitters eluded me! Happily, not all Western collectors strictly focus on western items, which truly were in short supply at this show. Gerry Forbes, of Carmel, California, indicated “This was the best show for me in years! I found some real good items and I will certainly come East, again!” Also from Carmel, his friend, Ken Edward, echoed that sentiment.
This was a show that drew primarily bottle and stoneware collectors and dealers. Sales seemed to be slow only for those who were outside that arena. Conversation with friends Don and Shirl Kay, from Rogersville, Tennessee, indicated that the trade card sales were poor. Still, they indicated having had an enjoyable three days in Memphis. Advertising pertaining directly to specific categories of bottles attracted the most interest according to Kim and Mary Kokles, well known for their involvement with the Indianapolis Advertising Show. Kim made the observation “Mary and I found the show to be more evidence that quality signs, etc., are as difficult to come by as rare unusual bottles and flasks.” Despite the inability to make a significant addition to his collection, he advised “We have made all of the EXPO’s, save one, and still really enjoy them.” (Well, Kim, maybe at the next one there will be a certain multi-colored enamel backbar which I know you covet!) Sunday was slow, but that period allowed dealers to visit with one another, a luxury hard to come by in the first two days. EXPO Chairman Gene Bradberry allowed the dealers to begin packing early and a tremendous event for the Memphis Bottle Collectors Club, the officials of the show and the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors slowly dissipated into the streets of Memphis—a Memphis blessed with a stretch of temperate days that only accentuated what collectors know to be the blessing of a fantastic show! Displays: In an era where displays at local bottle shows are under-emphasized and disappearing, the FOHBC National Shows are always a treat, as the displays are encouraged and actively sought. This EXPO brought out 25 quality displays ranging from ACL sodas to EG Booz bottles. Ivan and Catherine Oakeson, of Salt Lake City, were attending their first EXPO and were laudatory of the displays, particularily the exhibit of Memphis bottles put together by the members of the Memphis Bottle Collectors Club. This display of 60 bottles and stoneware pieces included groupings in each category of the most desireable items from our host city. The bitters panel (pictured) included two bottles (Wiggs Bros & Co semi-cabin and OOSB “Our Own Southern Bitters” square)
which I had never previously seen, despite 20 years of Tennessee collecting. Rare colored pharmacies, open-pontiled medicines, beers, ales and sodas— overall a splendid effort on the part of the club! Intriguing, too, was the display adjacent, put together by Gene Bradberry, featuring items from the Mansfield-Van Vleet Medicine Company, a long-term and prominent firm in the Memphis area and one featured in the EXPO Souvenir Program. Included in the display were advertising boxes for Mansfield’s Mississippi Diarrhea Cordial and Plantation Chill Cure. No Mansfield display could be complete without the jug and, sure enough, there it was with the scratched promise “Plantation Chill Cure Is Guaranteed — Try It”! A joint effort by four members of the Memphis Club provided the third and final display of Memphis items. Devoted to the Tennessee Brewery and the Tennessee Beverage Company, this exhibit included a wonderful photo of the brewery dating back to around the turn of the century and several lithographs of beautiful women advertising the firm. A superb sign for post-Prohibition product NIB “The One Best Drink” was prominently displayed. The Federation was privileged to again have a display from Chuck Bukin who carries the distinction of being the only collector to have displayed at each of the EXPO’s the Federation has hosted. His display included Tom Haunton’s book Tippecanoe and E.G. Booz Too!” and was a colorful mixture of original and reproduction E.G. Booz bottles. For the advanced collector and the neophyte, alike, this was an attractive display. Moving out of the bottle arena, mention must be made regarding the Hyacinth Vase display of Michael Jordan, which won the Federation “Most Educational” Award. Brightly colored and nicely coordinated, this display certainly opened the eyes of many collectors to another area of glass collecting. Our one insulator display, assembled by Greg Delia, was a tribute to that aspect of glass collecting. Colorful exhibits of early glass (David Beadle’s Scroll Flasks) and the Don Pickett collection provided focal points for the lover of beautiful bottles. Two apothecary displays, one by Norman Gordon, explored the possibilities in that category. A display entitiled “Ceramics Imported From England” added another aspect of collecting.
Inks were well-represented, with displays by Keith Leeders, John Hinkel and Jim Berry. A back-lighted panel of cone inks was a show-stopper and it and the umbrella inks arranged with it showed beautifully the potential of that category. On the show floor another grouping of inks caught the eye of Tom Lines who remarked “Another stunning table top display was a small cabinet of umbrella inks including the extremely rare large size pontiled umbrella in cobalt… WOW!” Demonstrating one of the most unusual methods of displaying ones items was the exhibit put together by Jeff Harper of his Ball glass lid inserts. Displayed in frames, they provided quite a splash of color. Norm Barnett added his original closures display to the fruit jar category. We were pleased to have had the soda categories represented, as well. Dennis Smith provided a comprehensive display of his passion — Celery Sodas. Kathy Hopson and Geff Moore arranged a 50th Anniversary display of Mountain Dew items (a Johnson City firm!), Michael Elling provided an arrangement of Chero Cola items and Jimmy Wood received the “People’s Choice” award for his display of North Carolina and South Carolina ACL sodas. Congradulations to Jimmy on receiving this award and for a display which demonstrates a true love of the hobby! Eventually, All Good Things Come To An End… Combining the EXPO, Memphis’ week of tribute to Elvis Presley, its blues tradition and the 50th Anniversary of Rock and Roll, I leave you with Gary Guckert’s comments about the show: “Memphis is a great place and the FOHBC made Elvis Weekend even better by a rockin’ good bottle show with a smooth rollin’ organization of unloading, setting up, fellowship, friends and activities for bottlologists from the USA and all over the globe. There’s no blues to report from this EXPO except cobalt! Hats off to all involved and the good Lord for allowing us to share a great hobby together again!”
More photos continued on page 34.
The Peoples Choice ribbon from FOHBC was won by Jimmie Wood of Denver, N.C., for his display of North Carolina and South Carolina ACL soda bottles.
FOHBC EXPO 2004 AUCTION The auction at the 2004 EXPO was the fourth consecutive sale arranged for our National Shows by John Pastor, incoming Federation President. Norman Heckler and Company again offered their services to the organization and, under their auctioneering prowess, a total of $44,200 was realized for the consignors of the 102 lots in this sale. Monies remaining after payment of consignors and expenses all go to help fund the activities of your Federation, including future sales! Highlights of the sale are included below:
Lot 19: Cobalt pontiled Harrison’s Columbian Ink, $950.00.
Lot 2: Pattern Molded Amber Globular, 24 ribs swirled right, $600.00.
Lot 29: Koca-Nola Hutch Soda, $575.00.
Lot 43: Open-pontiled Ward & McClelland Apothecaries, Memphis, $425.00.
Lot 58: Signed Lanier MeaderFace Jug, $1,300.00. Lot 68: Medium blue-green Dr. Birmingham’s Anti-Billious Bitters, $4,400.00.
Lot 49: 4-7/8" Amber Norwich Coffin with label, $725.00.
Overall, this was a fine auction for the buyer, with a number of items going extremely reasonably. The Federation invites you to join us in 2005 at the Grand Rapids, Michigan, National Show and FOHBC Auction to try and land yourself some nice items for your shelves and, perhaps, some bargains to boot! Our thanks, as always, to “Registration Goddesses” Liz Maxbauer, Sue Louis and Jodi Hall for their efforts before, during and after the sale.
Lot 61: Cobalt Figural pistol, $750.00.
Lot 62: Yellow shading to yellow amber Brown’s Celebrated Indian Herb Bitters, $2,600.00.
Lot 73: Lavender 6-1/2" Fancy Cologne, $400.00.
FOHBC EXPO 2004 AUTHOR’S FORUM Jack Sullivan led off the forum by discussing ways to present one’s material. Seven principles were elaborated upon: 1. Establish a context for your readers - Explain why you are writing the book and what you hope the reader will garner from the book. This can be done in a Preface, the Forward or the First Chapter. 2. Tell a story - Stories are always popular and hold readers attention. Concentrate on the individuals involved in the subject material. 3. Pictures are worth a thousand words - Photos, illustrations, advertise-ments, etc., all draw and hold attention 4. Break up the material 5. Provide references - The importance of proper footnotes in the final product was among the items he stressed, advising that an author’s work may not be taken seriously without proper documentation of sources of information. 6. Provide an index - Easy reference of what is in a book is extremely valuable to the reader 7. Price lists - Not all authors choose to use these, and he does not. Identifying items as to rarity may be a useful substitute if a price list is not a component which the author chooses to use. In response to questions at the conclusion of his talk, Jack indicated that he preferred the self-publishing approach, citing concerns that publishers often take away some of the autonomy of the author to print what he or she feels important. Dewey Heetderks followed with a nice presentation about the motivation behind authoring, detailing the stages he went through to reach the point of sharing his “passion and curiosity” and advising the audience “if you are a writer, take the same passion and curiosity of your collecting into your writing.” As with most of us, Dr. Heetderks indicated starting as a collector, then became a builder to display his collection properly and only after the organization needed to complete that phase was integrated into his life did the writer in him surface. He advised that to be a writer required a combination of a lot of desire and hard work”. Next, he became a publisher because “no one wants to publish a book on urinary bottles!” Passion, organization, desire and perseverence were suggested as imperatives in reaching the publication phase. The final stage for him was
becoming a marketeer of his book and these qualities were detailed as equally important in getting the book into the hands of interested parties. Book signings, Ebay, Amazon.com and a personal web page were all part of the marketing of his book. Questions regarding how to evaluate the number of books one should have printed were posed and the general feeling was that with off-set printing one should assess what would realistically sell and not get talked into printing larger quantities just because the price per unit for additional printed was low. The volume of books requiring storage can be a problem and even the small additional cost may never be recovered. Jerry McCann suggested that authors should consider self-publishing using the xerographic process as the technology has now improved to the point where color and clarity are close to that of offset printing. One of the major advantages is that runs of books as low as 25 are possible utilizing that process. John Eatwell laid out his background in authoring prior to Pike’s Peak Gold, discussing how he was involved in the research for, and publishing of, the first book put out by the Colorado club entitled Colorado’s Golden Days and Apothecary Palaces. Among the points he made describing this were that one should expand the base of one’s book to include historical information that extends one’s potential market, as markets are not always obvious and establishment of numbers of books to publish is difficult. The larger the number of groups one appeals to, the higher is the potential that the book will at least break even for the author. John also cautioned that authors need to look at how they go about publishing
Dr. Dewey Heetderks
and how many books they opt to publish with the knowledge that their final reward may only be a demonstration of their love of the hobby. Among the considerations for him were publishing a book that demonstrated his love of the history behind and the bottles representing Zebulon Pike, Pike’s Peak and the Pike’s Peak gold rush. To have a final product that was satisfying to him as an author required more expensive paper, off-set printing, accurate color and an all-around high quality effort. This is expensive and a trade-off for financial success. Bill Ham echoed the same theme in his presentation, advising that an author must present a product which “makes his heart sing”! Bill gave a comprehensive picture of what was entailed in publishing his books, starting out with a general idea of how to assess the extent of one’s market in the collecting field and pointing out the importance of coming to grips with one’s motivation to author. He squelched the first three notions that an author will receive recognition, make money or “be offered great bottles”. Motivation should be to record and share history and, most importantly, to do that very thing inside you that does “make your heart sing”. Identifying what your readers desire in a book becomes the next issue to identify and Bill advised that he has found that collectors want useful information, a test that has information that is easy to find and use, color pictures, lots of pictures and illustrations, accurate information with a detailing of sources, rarity of items and a price guide. This latter factor became apparent to him following the initial offering of Bitters Bottles and was incorporated as a facet of his Bitters Bottles Supplement. Specifics in his talk included the responsibilities of the author, the publisher and the printer in the process of getting the book to market. The material presented on the specifics of what computer, software and camera to utilize was punctuated by a presentation of particular pages in Bitters Bottles Supplement. A simple shadow box and the type of natural lighting to utilize in order to achieve the superb colored photos he has in the supplement was demonstrated.
The Most Educational ribbon from FOHBC was won by Mike Jordan of Ocala, Fla., for his display of Hyacinth Vases. Insulator display put together by Greg Delia.
Norman Barnett’s display of original jar closures.
Various items from the Memphis display. Jeff Harper’s display of Ball glass lid inserts.
Chuck Bukin’s display of E. G. Booz bottles.
Dennis Smith’s display of Celery Sodas.
John Hinkel (L) and Ed Faulkner take a few minutes to pose with last issue’s “Let’s Talk About Ink’ article. Jerry McKinley, of Shelbyville, Kentucky took home this J. H. Kearns, Pro. / Sunny Side Saloon jug from Lebanon, Ky.
“Ceramics Imported from England” display.
Apothecary display. Adriana Alucema of Houston, Texas had the winning bid for Dr. Birmingham’s / Anti Billious / Blood Purifying / Bitters - This Bottle Not Sold.” The Don Pickett Collection display provided by BottleAuction.com.
38
Fall 2004
“YUKON JACK” Part II by Cecil Munsey Copyright © 2004 Figure 1
• “The Cat and the Painkiller” • “Perry Davis’ Painkiller” PROLOGUE In Part I of the article entitled, “YUKON JACK,” the history of the wellknown prospector and pioneer of the Yukon Territory, Leroy Napoleon (“Jack”) McQuesten, was related; His development of the “Sourdough Thermometer” that utilized the famous proprietary medicine, Perry Davis’ Painkiller as one component was described; The classic milk-glass figural “Klondike” pocket-flask was shown and discussed. The believed relationship of the flask blown to commemorate the goldseeking pioneers of the Yukon, like Jack McQuesten, was explained; The part in the “Yukon Jack” McQuesten history played by his Koyukon Athabascan Indian wife Katherine (“Kate”) James Satejdenalno McQuesten was also presented; The fact that McQuesten had a popular whiskey and honey liqueur named in his
Figure 2
Figure 3 honor was covered; It was also mentioned that the McQuesten River and the McQuesten Mineral Belt in the Yukon, were named to honor the pioneering efforts of “Yukon Jack” McQuesten. “The Cat and the Painkiller” Undoubtedly there isn’t an American alive who is not familiar with the writings and sayings of the “Lincoln” of our literature, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (“Mark Twain”) – see Figures 1 - 4. It is generally accepted that his masterpieces, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, are children’s books. While that is true, it is just as true that they are also adult books. Part of his greatness is that he had messages for both young and old. Like Charles Dickens, Twain employed humorous satire to underscore social injustice. It is Twain’s role as a humorist and philosopher that is the focus of this first of the two sections of the story of Jack McQuesten that is presented here as Part II of the article, “YUKON JACK”. Recall McQuesten’s “Sourdough Thermometer,” where the last product to freeze in the Yukon winter, was a bottle of the alcohol-laced patent medicine – Perry Davis’ Painkiller. Then note the following excerpts from Twain’s, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Chapter XII, “The Cat and the Painkiller” [Figure 5]. Tom is suffering his first big case of love sickness. Tom suddenly lost interest in life because Becky Thatcher had stopped
Bottles and Extras coming to school. Aunt Polly became very concerned and decided to do something about Tom’s problem. Most will recall Aunt Polly as the symbol of the typical ultra-conventional housewife of the 1800s: “She began to try all manner of remedies on him. She was one of those people who are infatuated with patent medicines and all new-fangled methods of producing health or mending it. She was an inveterate experimenter in these things. When something fresh in this line came out she was in a fever, right away, to try it; not on herself, for she was never ailing, but on anybody else that came handy. She was a subscriber for all ‘Health’ periodicals and phrenological frauds; and the solemn ignorance they were inflated with was breath to her nostrils. All the ‘rot’ they contained about ventilation, and what to drink, and how much exercise to take, and what frame of mind to keep one’s self in, and what sort of clothing to wear, was all gospel to her, and she never observed that her health journals of the current month customarily upset everything they had recommended the month before. She was as simple-hearted and honest as the day was long, and so she was an easy victim. She gathered together her quack periodicals and her quack medicines, and thus armed with death, went about on her pale horse, metaphorically speaking, with ‘hell following after.’ But she never suspected that she was not an angel of healing and the balm of Gilead in disguise to the suffering neighbors.”
Figure 4
Bottles and Extras “The water treatment was new, now, and Tom’s low condition was a windfall to her. She had him out at daylight every morning, stood him up in the woodshed and drowned him with a deluge of cold water; that she scrubbed him down with a towel like a file, and so brought him to; then she rolled him up in a wet sheet and put him away under blankets till she sweated his soul clean and ‘the yellow stains of it came through his pores’ – as Tom said.” “Yet notwithstanding all this, the boy grew more and more melancholy and pale and dejected. She added hot baths, shower baths, and plunges. The boy remained as dismal as a hearse. She began to assist the water with a slim oatmeal diet and blister plasters. She calculated his capacity as she would a jug’s, and filled him up every day with quack cure-alls.” “Tom had become indifferent to persecution by this time. This phase filled the old lady’s heart with consternation. This indifference must be broken up at any cost. Now she heard of [Perry Davis’] Painkiller for the first time. She ordered a lot at once. She tasted it and was filled with gratitude. It was simply fire [high alcoholic content] in a liquid form. She dropped the water treatment and everything else, and pinned her faith to Painkiller. She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with deepest anxiety for the result. Her troubles Figure 5
Fall 2004 were instantly at rest, her soul at peace again, for the ‘influence’ was broken up. The boy could not have shown a wilder, heartier interest if she had built a fire under him.” “Tom felt that it was time to wake up; this sort of life might be romantic enough, in his blighted condition, but it was getting to have too little sentiment and too much distracting variety about it. So he thought over various plans for relief, and finally hit upon that of professing to be fond of Painkiller. He asked for it so often that he became a nuisance and his aunt ended by telling him to help himself and quit bothering her. If it had been Sid, she would have had no misgivings to alloy her delight; but since it was Tom, she watched the bottle clandestinely. She found that the medicine did really diminish, but it did not occur to her that the boy was mending the health of a crack in the sitting-room floor with it.” “One day Tom was in the act of dosing the crack when his aunt’s cat came along, purring, eying the teaspoon avariciously, and begging for a taste. “Tom said: ‘Don’t ask for it unless you want it, Peter.’” “But Peter signified that he did want it.” “‘You better make sure.’” “Peter was sure.” “’Now you’ve asked for it, and I’ll give it to you, because there ain’t
39 anything mean about me; but if you find you don’t like it, you mustn’t blame anybody but your own self.’” “Peter was agreeable. So Tom pried his mouth open and poured down the Painkiller. Peter sprang a couple of yards in the air, and then delivered a war whoop and set off round and round the room, banging against furniture, upsetting flowerpots, and making general havoc. Next he rose on his hind feet and pranced around, in a frenzy of enjoyment, with his head over his shoulder and his voice proclaiming his unappeasable happiness. Then he went tearing around the house again spreading chaos and destruction in his path. Aunt Polly entered in time to see him throw a few double somersets, deliver his final mighty hurrah, and sail through the open window, carrying the rest of the flowerpots with him. The old lady stood petrified with astonishment, peering over her glasses; Tom lay on the floor expiring with laughter.” “’Tom, what on earth ails that cat?’” “’I don’t know, aunt,’ gasped the boy. “’Why, I never see anything like it. What did make him act so?’” “’Deed I don’t know, Aunt Polly; cats always act so when they’re having a good time.’” “’They do, do they?’ There was something in the tone that made Tom apprehensive.” “’Yes’m. That is, I believe they do.’” “’You do?’” “’Yes’m.’” “The old lady was bending down, Tom watching with interest emphasized by anxiety. Too late he divined her ‘drift.’ The handle of the telltale teaspoon was visible under the bed valance. Aunt Polly took it, held it up. Tom winced, and dropped his eyes. Aunt Polly raised him by the usual handle–his ear–and cracked his head soundly with her thimble. “’Now, sir, what did you want to treat that poor dumb beast so for?’” ‘“I done it out of pity for him– because he hadn’t any aunt.’” “’Hadn’t any aunt! – you numskull. What has that got to do with it?’” “’Heaps. Because if he’d ‘a’ had one she’d ‘a’ burnt him out herself!
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She’d ‘a’ roasted his bowels out of him ‘thout any more feeling than if he was a human!’” “Aunt Polly felt a sudden pang of remorse. This was putting the thing in a new light; what was cruelty to a cat might be cruelty to a boy too. She began to soften; she felt sorry. Her eyes watered a little, and she put her hand on Tom’s head and said gently: “’I was meaning for the best, Tom. And, Tom, it did do you good.’” Tom looked up in her face with just a perceptible twinkle peeping through his gravity: “’I know you was meaning for the best, auntie, and so was I with Peter. It done him good, too. I never see him get around so since–‘“ ‘“Oh, go ‘long with you, Tom, before you aggravate me again. And you try and see if you can’t be a good boy, for once, and you needn’t take any more medicine.’” From the Autobiography of Mark Twain, edited by Charles Neider comes an interesting and appropriate quote regarding the above story of the cat and the painkiller: “It was not right to give the cat the “Painkiller;’ I realize it now. I would not repeat it in these days. But in those ‘Tom Sawyer’ days it was a great and sincere satisfaction to me to see Peter perform under its influence – and if actions do speak as loud as words, it took as much interest in it as I did. It was a most detestable medicine, Perry Davis’ Painkiller.”
boy: “It was a most detestable medicine, Perry Davis’ Painkiller. Mr. Pavey’s negro man, who was a person of good judgment and considerable curiosity, wanted to sample it and I let him. It was his opinion that it was made of hell-fire. These were the cholera days of 1859. The people along the Mississippi were paralyzed with fright. Those who could run away did it. And many died in the fright in the flight. Fright killed three persons where cholera killed one. Those who couldn’t flee kept themselves drenched with cholera preventatives and my mother chose Perry Davis’ Painkiller for me.” The painkiller part of the story of Perry Davis (1791-1862) started in Dartmouth, Massachusetts during the winter of 1839. In Perry Davis’ own words, “My stomach became very sore. My digestive organs became weak. My appetite failed. Night sweats followed. Then my kidneys were affected. Piles in their worst form were preying upon me. The canker in my mouth turned very troublesome. Under all these circumstances I thought I was fit subject for the grave.” The sick Davis decided to invent some concoction that would relieve his misery while he awaited the sound of “Gabriel’s horn.” He supposedly selected the “choicest gums and plants” in the world and “directed by the hand of Providence”
Bottles and Extras put together the famous “Perry Davis Painkiller [Figures 6 and 7].” Davis put his product, to be used internally and externally, on the market in 1840 and by 1843 he was doing quite well with it and living in Providence, Rhode Island and had listed himself in the City Directory under the title “Physician.” Even though he jealously guarded his “God-given” formula, an analysis was made of his product by a druggist. The ingredients, in a 5-plus-gallon batch, were revealed to be: “Gum myrrh 2 1/4 pounds, Capsicum 10 ounces, Gum benzoin 6 ounces, Gum opium 8 ounces, Gum fuiaic [sic] 3 ounces and alcohol 5 gallons.” It was the cholera epidemic of 1849 that made the “painkiller” famous. Before the year was out Davis was selling 6,000 bottles a month. At about the same time, sea captains coming through the great seaport of Providence, began to take Davis’ product with them on their voyages all over the world. Soon Perry Davis & Son opened a branch office in London. According to Mr. Davis, sales “increased more than a thousand-fold.” (It is interesting to note at this point that Perry Davis [Figure 8] was a generous financial supporter of both the Baptist Church and the Temperance Movement.) At the age of 71, in 1862, Davis breathed his last breath. His son, Edmund, took over the business and carried on until he died in 1880. The business was then sold and remained in Providence until 1895, at which time it was removed to New York City. Left: Figure 6 Below: Figure 7
“Perry Davis’ Painkiller” One of the most famous of the patent and proprietary medicines that bottle collectors are very familiar with is Perry Davis’ Painkiller that was invented in 1839. Beyond Perry Davis’ Painkiller as a component of Jack McQuesten’s famous “Sourdough Thermometer” and as “…a most detestable medicine,” mentioned in “The Cat and the Painkiller” (above), the reader is offered here a capsule history of the medicine that has thrived and survived for over 160 years. To begin, in Mark Twain’s own words, spoken by and as Samuel Langhorne Clemens [Figure 2] – Twain’s real name – about his experience as a nine-year-old
Bottles and Extras And without any apparent trouble, Perry Davis Painkiller survived the Pure Food and Drug restrictions of 1906. Today, 163 years later, it can still be purchased under the title “Liniment, Painkiller Brand” in both the United States and Canada. The term liniment implies external use but after all it is liquid – who knows? If even tempted, remember, “Yukon Jack” McQuesten’s “sourdough thermometer” where the ultimate measuring device of coldness was the fourth bottle. That bottle was Perry Davis’ Painkiller which, because of its alcohol content, didn’t freeze solid until the weather reached – 76º F. Figure 8
Fall 2004 References: Books: Amato, Robert A. Packaging Power (Yukon Jack). New York: Jobson Publishing Corporation, 1989. Belknap, E. M. Milk Glass. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1949. Holbrook, Stewart H. The Golden Age of Quackery. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1959. Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide to COLLECTING BOTTLES. New York Hawthorn Books, Inc. 1970. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875, Chapter XII. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. London, Chatto & Windus, 1884. Wearin, Otha D. Statues That Pour – The story of Character Bottles. Denver, Colorado: Sage Books, 1965. Periodicals: Hansbrough, Vivian. “There’s History in Figure Bottles.” Hobbies, January, 1958. Lane, W. C. “Glass of Our Pioneers – Bottles 1650-1800.” Hobbies, December, 1935.
41 London, Jack. “The Wife of a King.” Overland Monthly, Volume 34, August 1899. Munsey, Cecil. “Tom Sawyer’s Bout With Patent Medicine.” The Bottleneck, Volume 2, No. 9, September 1967. Munsey, Cecil. “Perry Davis’ Painkiller.” The Bottleneck, Volume 2, No. 10, October, 1967. Internet: Captain Jack: http://users.stargate.net/skye Jack London: http://sunssite.berkeley.edu/london/ Jack London: h t t p : / / w w w. p a r k s . s o n o m a . n e t / jlstory.html Jack London: http://www.geocities.com/jacklondons/
Cecil Munsey 13541 Willow Run Road Poway, CA 92064-1733 858-487-7036 cecilmunsey@cox.net
7
Perry Davis & Son advertisement.
Advertising lithograph for the painkiller.
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Fig. 1
Fig. 2 It doesn’t take pre-pro collectors very long before they start wondering from where their treasured glasses originated and who made them. Answering the first question is relatively easy given that brand and owner information is often included on the label. The second question proves to be much more of a challenge but, as discussed below, a sizable proportion of them apparently were designed and produced by George Truog, owner and founder of the Maryland Glass Etching Works of Cumberland, Maryland. Shot-glass blanks were manufactured by many companies in pre-Prohibition times and they came in wide range of sizes and styles. It’s almost impossible to determine who molded a particular glass and it’s likely that brand information was applied to whatever the etcher had on hand at the time. The fact that many identically-branded glasses survive in several different size variants supports this idea. The labels are distinctive, however, and in many cases highly artistic, and that’s made it possible to track the origins of many of the glasses back to Cumberland. Cumberland and surrounding counties played home to many glass houses in the later part of the nineteenth century. In his early history of the area (The Glass Industry of Allegany County, Maryland),
James Bishop tells us that George Truog established the Maryland Glass Etching Works in 1893 and it quickly became renowned for producing etched glassware of supreme quality that equaled or bettered that being imported from Europe. The techniques available for decorating glass were at the time fairly limited but the Maryland Glass Etching Works distinguished itself by producing acidetched designs that both had a high degree of artistry and would withstand fading through continued use. Popular Truog designs included storks, flowers, and cherubs, and one could purchase complete sets of drinkware, jugs, and dishes all embellished with his naturalistic designs. He also created a series of water glasses etched with patriotic or religious verses, such as the “America”, “Home Sweet Home”, and “Star Spangled Banner” glasses shown below. He also produced a very popular “Lord’s Prayer” glass, examples of which can be found in virtually any antique store, usually for $10 or less. [Figure 3] Although details of Truog’s operations are sketchy, the artist signed many of his early glasses and that makes it easy to attribute his handiwork. His signature is surprisingly difficult to locate even when one is familiar with his work, but patience and a practiced eye will often lead to the
Fig. 3
discovery of a tiny “GT” hidden in one of the details at the right of the design. [Fgure 2] It’s the presence of a signature that first identified Truog as being involved in shot-glass production, although until recently his output was considered to be very limited. Among the first Truog shots to be identified as such were a series of “Souvenir” glasses featuring a pair of clasped hands. A GT signature can usually be found on the cuff of the hand on the right, although not all glasses bear one. Truog produced at least two different designs in 1897, one for the Waynesboro, PA centennial and one for a German Baptist conference held in Frederick, MD. The obverse of such glasses features dosage measure lines and the “Victor Liver Syrup” brand name within a frosted crescent. [Figure 4] The glasses were sponsored by Dr. P. D. Fahrney, an influential member of the German Baptist Church and also owner of The Victor Remedies Company of Frederick. Victor Remedies went on to back annual church gatherings in Roanoke, Va., in 1899 and Bristol, Tenn., in 1905 as evidenced by shots bearing similar clasped-hand inscriptions. Truog apparently found many customers in his own back yard, including local store owners R. E. Johnson, John J.
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Fig. 4 Stump & Co., and also the Cumberland Brewing Co, but his work advertised patent medicines and businesses from Baltimore and New York in the east to Minneapolis and St. Louis in the Midwest. The “Dr. Petzhold bitters” and “Regulator” and glasses are classic examples and both bear the tell-tale GT signature at lower right. [Figure 5]
Fig. 5 Truog was Italian-born, but war forced his family to flee to Switzerland while he was still very young. He was educated in the arts and completed studies at the University of Zurich before emigrating to the US in 1883. He was by now an accomplished artist and secured a position designing etched glass patterns for the Central Glass Works of Wheeling, WV. He later helped found the Seneca Glass Company of Morgantown, WV but it was destroyed in a blaze in 1893 and he moved to Cumberland to establish his etching company. Not only was Truog a talented artist, he also had a quirky sense of humor that is evident in a series of novelty glasses. These include two “Don’t Drown” glasses which implore the imbiber to keep the contents at a level below that which might imperil an etched hog or a fly. In the same series is an “Eye Opener” that features a cowled monk (photo: Bill Naglik). [Figure 6]
Fig. 6 Several variations on the hog theme survive. In one, the hog is handsomely portly whereas in another the animal seems grossly inflated to the point where it might rupture! Neither of the latter two glasses are signed, but Truog’s hand in the floral design is so evident that they are almost certainly his. [Figure 7] Playing counterpoint to the “Eye Openers” are at least two “Nightcaps”. One predictably features a woolly cap embraced by a wreath of flowers, but the cap in the second glass is worn
43
Fig. 7 by a clock face whose hands tell us that the hour is late and this had better be the last tipple! My personal favorite Truog glasses include the whimsical “Going Back on a Friend”, a glass that has sparked considerable debate as to its meaning. Then there is “It’s a Long Time Between”, featuring a character whose lugubrious face leaves little doubt that the word left hanging is “drinks”. Then there is a deliciously lecherous gent in the “Just a Smile” glass. One can only imagine the consequences of filling this particular glass! Finally, there’s the wonderful “I Do / I Don’t” glass, featuring two panels within which we see a child performing (or not) on a pot. [Figure 8]
Fig. 8 One really has to wonder who would have purchased these glasses and why, but clearly they were popular at the time because so many have survived the 100 plus years since their manufacture, most of them in pristine condition. Auction prices on these glasses has risen spectacularly in the past two years as awareness of them grows, from a mere $20 each to over $150. If only the stock market performed so well! Although the Truog novelty glasses have irresistible charm, they probably represented a sideline for the company, with the bulk of his work involving manufacture of branded beer and whiskey glasses. Very few of these were signed so attribution has been difficult, but first inklings that this might be the case came with the publication of Barbara Edmonson’s book, Old Advertising Spirits Glasses. In the Introductory material, she drew attention to original designs that appear in a scrapbook that was compiled by Truog and that now resides in the library of Alleghany College, Cumberland. They include sketches of the monk “Eye Opener” and “Don’t Drown the Fly” glasses Fig. 9 mentioned above, but they also
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Fig. 10 include designs for several branded whiskey glasses. [Figure 9 - 10] All but one of the examples shown here are known to made it into production because the corresponding glasses are in Paul Van Vactor’s collection (featured in Random Shots, 2003). While the “Jed Clayton” is a classic Truog design that he was obviously proud of since it featured in company advertising, the other two are not. The scrapbook also shows many exquisitely detailed beer glasses that would be equally hard to identify as being Truog designs, which leaves one wondering exactly how many of the thousands of shots that are known to exist came off the Maryland Glass Etching Works production line. Respect for Truog’s talents and productivity has risen several notches with the recent publication of George Truog and His Art by Dale Murschell. The author is a respected expert and booster of Cumberland glass and has done much to raise awareness of the area’s proud production history. [Figure 11] The book reproduces pages from the same scrapbook shown in Old Advertising Spirits Glasses, but it additionally features a second scrapbook of designs owned by Truog collector Naomi Himmelwright. The designs were sketched on tissue paper for later transfer to metal production plates. Two plates survive in Allegany
Fig. 11
County Museum and are reproduced in Dale Murschell’s book: most significantly, one of these includes the design for the popular “Lord’s Prayer” tumbler. But the tissue designs are a remarkable find for shot-collectors because they indicate the true scope of Truog’s work. Unfortunately the original sketches are now discolored with age and hence copy quality leaves much to be desired, but this detracts little from the impact of the scrap book or Dale’s efforts to ensure that Truog receives the recognition that he deserves. I’m very grateful to Dale for making the copies available and granting permission for them to be reproduced here. Many glasses previously considered mundane now have to be evaluated in a new light. Take the “Fairland Rye” for example. This is a glass from my own collection that I thought little of until I was astounded to discover it was a Truog design dated 9/12/09. Perhaps less surprising was the realization that Truog was also responsible for the trademark Altschul “barrel on A” design (but note the spelling of “School”!). While Altschul glasses echo a familiar pre-pro theme replete with grain stalks, they’ve always commanded premium prices that reflects a certain panache than we now know to be Truog. There are many other familiar labels scattered throughout the scrap book
collage, a rare treat for the dyed-in-the wool glass collector. It’s also a delight to note that there, buried amidst a jumble of flowers and mercantile slogans on p. 139, is the design for the 1905 German Baptist Conference glass, held in Bristol TN. [Figure 12]
Fig. 12 It’s not so much that we needed confirmation of Truog’s hand in the design, but rather it provides a reassuring anchor for an impressive body of work that must have found its way onto a table or bar in virtually every home and watering hole across the Unites States. Truog ultimately died penniless after having squandered a fortune on a lavish lifestyle. Like all great artists, however, his legacy continues to grow unabated: certainly, those of us who find the appeal of pre-pro glass to be irresistible will continue to seek him out and pay a premium for his talents. For more information on George Truog or any of the books mentioned in this article, please contact Robin Preston at 245 N 15 th Street, MS #488, Philadelphia, PA 19102, E-mail robinpreston@drexel.edu. Robin is an enthusiastic collector of pre-prohibition shot glasses and maintains the collector’s website www.pre-pro.com.
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Snider’s Dairy by Dave Scafani Medford’s first successful commercial dairy’s roots were planted with the arrival of John and Maude Snider in Medford during December of 1904. John and proposed marriage to Maude in Xenia, Ohio, with the idea that they would move to Medford and manage the Warner Ranch. She accepted and one week later they were married and on a train headed west to Oregon. Upon arriving in Medford, they found their house was not completed, so they stayed at the Nash Hotel. John completed the house in 1905 at what is now 2241 West Main between Rosario’s and the 7-11 convenience store. The business was known as Warner and Snyder (sic) until late in 1910. They sold milk, dairy products and chickens, both locally and to The Southern Pacific Railroad. The first phone number was Farmers 2148, but that changed in 1910 to 7118. This phone number shows on the first known photograph taken of John and his delivery wagon circa 1910 or 1911. In 1911, the name Medford Dairy first appears in the phone directory with John Snider as the proprietor. The spelling of John’s last name seems to be changing, although as late as 1913, an ad in the county fair brochure spells the name
“Snyder.” In 1912, John and Maude moved The Medford Dairy to the “Ish Ranch,” owned by William H. Gore, the president of Medford National Bank. The new Jacksonville Road address came with a new telephone number of 201 J3. At first, the 250 cows were handmilked by John and a crew of Swiss milkmen, who yodeled to the cows, claiming that they gave more milk that way. There is no record of any changes in production when machine milking was introduced. The milk filtered through cheesecloth as a method of cleaning it before it was delivered to the customer. Before 1910, all milk deliveries in the Medford area were made door-to-door using a wagon with five-gallon cans and a ladle to dip out the milk for the customer. The first known embossed milk bottles probably were used by Southern Dairy in 1910-1911. The initial order for Medford Dairy bottles was for 1500 bottles and was probably first used in 1912. Maude got up every morning at 2:30 am to cook breakfast and make preparations for lunch and dinner. She often rode the wagon with John on his morning milk deliveries, sometimes returning half-frozen.
Two children were born to the Snider’s during their years at the Gore Ranch. Mary, born in 1913, and John, born in 1918. Their only playmates were children of the ranch hands. Some ranch hands, like Little George, would bring back Hershey bars for the children when they went into town. IN 1916, the dairy’s name was changed to Snider’s Dairy. In the middle of 1918, the Snider’s bought the Independence Creamery at 601 North Grape for expanded processing. The phone number at the creamery was 755R. D.O. Fredericks was hired to run the creamery. John and Maude continued to live at Gore Ranch until 1920 when they left the ranch to move into town on Pennsylvania Avenue. In October of 1921, they bought a larger creamery from Eldridge Dairy at 28-32 North Bartlett, with a new phone number of 203. The Snider’s also opened a short-lived branch at 319 South King Street in Ashland. Another branch was opened in Grant’s Pass in 1926, but it didn’t last long either. John died in 1930. The North Bartlett Street address remained the heart of the business for Maude and her children, John and Mary, who added produce and soda to their dairy product line. Originally they bottled Whistle Soda, Green River, Sunkist, root beer and seltzer water. They even had a soda bottle and two different bottles designed for their business. Eventually, they became Medford’s first Pepsi-Cola
Snider Embossed Milk Bottles
1911-1915
1911-1915
1916-1918
1916-1918
1918-1921
1918(?) -1935
1921-1935
1921-1935
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John Snider with his first delivery wagon. distributor. In 1963, the creamery was sold to Arden, but John and Mary continued in the Pepsi bottling and distributing business.
Bottles and Extras
28-32 North Bartlett Street, circa 1921.
Right: 1913 ad for Medford Dairy, J. W. Snyder, Prop. Below: Medford Dairy advertisement from 1912.
Snider’s Seltzer Siphon Labels
Black Pryoglaze 1935-1963
Black Pyroglaze 1935-1963
Etched 1921-1935
Soda Bottle 1920s - 1930s
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Top of an advertising calendar for Snider Dairy & Produce, year 1934, which shows the staff of the dairy at that time. John Snider (top right) and the staff of Medford Dairy.
Snider’s Dairy Timeline 1904
Warner Ranch Location John and Maude move to Medford from Xenia, Ohio
1905
House and barn finished. Address: 2241 West Main.
1909
Name “Warner & Snyder,” phone Farmers 2148.
1910
Warner & Snyder, phone changed to 7118.
1911
Medford Dairy, John W. Snider, Prop., phone changed to 201 J3 (late).
1912
Gore Ranch Location Medford Dairy moves to Gore Ranch (old Ish place), Jacksonville Road.
1916
Snider’s Dairy, Jacksonville Road, phone 201.
1918
Medford Location Snider’s Dairy, 601 North Grape, phone 755R (mid-year); D.O. Frederick, manager (bought Independence Creamery)
1921
Snider’s Dairy and Produce Co., 28-32 North Bartlett, phone 203 (October) bought from Eldridge Creamery, Ashland Branch, 319 South King. Snider family moves into town to Pennsylvania Ave. Farm produce and soda bottling are added to Snider’s inventory. Brands: Whistle, Green River.
1926
Branch office opened in Grant’s Pass.
1930
John Snider dies. Maude and children, Mary and John, carry on.
1937
Company officers listed as president, Maude Snider; secretary, Robert C. Hart; treasurer, Eugene Thorndyke; manager, Charles Clay. Bottling of Pepsi-Cola, Sunkist, Mug Root Beer, Schweppes and near beer.
1942
John W. Snider, Jr., vice-president; Mary Snider, secretary-treasurer.
1963
Snider’s Dairy & Produce sold to Arden. John and Mary continue bottling Pepsi-Cola.
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Fall 2004
The Dating Game by Bill Lockhart
Liberty Glass Co., Lamb Glass Co., and Updates Background Liberty Glass Co. was formed from the Bartlett-Collins Glass Co. in 1918, at Liberty, Oklahoma, with George F. Collins as its manager and secretary of the corporation. Toulouse (1971:321) placed the L.G. mark as used from 1924 to 1946, but did not note any earlier mark. He noted a change to the L-G mark and dated that from 1946 to 1954 when the company made a final change to LG (no punctuation). The company made milk bottles exclusively until 1935, when George F. Collin & Co. of Poteau, Oklahoma, ceased operation, and Liberty began the manufacture of soft drink bottles as well. About 1955, Liberty expanded its output to a general line of containers. Although Peterson (1968:49) did not cite his sources, he placed the L-G mark as beginning in 1936, a full decade earlier than the date claimed by Toulouse. He also suggested 1953 as the beginning date for the LG mark. Peterson did not assign end dates to marks. Giarde (1980:65-68) dated the L.G. mark from 1924 to 1934, the L-G mark from 1934 to 1954, and LG starting at 1954. Giarde also suggested that the L.G.Co. mark found on early milk bottles is the missing mark from Liberty Glass and was used from 1918 until the beginning of the L.G. mark in 1924. Although the L. G. Co. mark was also used by the Louisville Kentucky Glass Works from 1880 until the late 1880s (Toulouse 1971:323), the company was never known to have made milk bottles. Although the three major researchers (Toulouse, Giarde, and Peterson) agree on most dates, there are two conflicts, one minor – the other of major importance. The minor conflict is only expressed by Peterson with the beginning date of 1953 for the final LG mark, where both others cite 1954. This discrepancy is relatively inconsequential. The disagreement over the beginning date of the L-G mark, however, is important as it differs by a full decade or more. Giarde placed the date at 1934, Peterson at 1936, and
Toulouse at 1946. An intuitive time for the change would have been about 1935, when Collins’ Poteau plant closed, and Liberty began making soft drink bottles. It is probable that the date given by Toulouse was a typo (he certainly had several!) – he likely intended it to be 1936. As somewhat of an aside, the actual date for the beginning of soft drink bottle production was probably 1934. Toulouse cited city directories as his sources, and they are notorious for recording changes a year late. For example, if the 1934 directory came out in April, and Liberty began making soft drink bottles in May or June, then date codes for 1934 would show up on bottles, even though the directory did not record the change until the 1935 edition. The year, 1934, fits better with the marks found on the bottles. Milk Bottles Empirical testing of milk bottles produced interesting results. I looked for date codes I had recorded for El Paso soft drink and milk bottles along with the Lynn Loomis collection and input from Warren A. Hackbarth. On milk bottles, the L.G. mark always appeared on the heel of the bottle, and I found date codes of 28 (1928) and 31 (1931) on bases. Milk bottles from companies that were only in business prior to 1928 were not marked with date codes. That probably means that Liberty Glass did not include date codes on its earliest containers, although the sample is small. This supports Giarde’s claim for a 1924 to 1934 date range. Empirical testing also supports Giarde’s beginning date for the L-G mark. Many Liberty Glass Co. milk bottles with the L-G mark were used in El Paso – almost always embossed on the heel and always accompanied by a two-digit date code on the base (although two bottles had both the L-G mark and the date code on the bases – 1942 and 1947). Dates range from 1934 to 1958. A single exception was embossed with a strange date code – a 31 with a “1” that looks more like a capital “I” with tiny serifs. The use of the LG mark began at least
Bottles and Extras as early as 1955 on milk bottles and continued in use until at least 1971. Note that an overlap exists between 1955 and 1958 when both L-G and LG marks were used. By 1971, most companies had phased out glass bottles in favor of plastic containers or waxed-paper cartons (or both). Presumably, the mark continued to be used by those few companies preferring glass over the alternative containers. LG logos always appeared on the heels with date codes on the bases. Oddly, the L.G. mark returned to use on some milk bottles. Bottles in the Hackbarth collection have L.G. marks on heels with two-digit date codes of 51, 56, 61, and 67 on the bases. All of these bottles have pyroglazed labels on them, a technique not used on bottles until 1934. Therefore, these codes must be for 1951 through 1967. These were obviously used concurrently with both L-G and LG marks. Soft Drink Bottles Empirical testing of El Paso and New Mexico soft drink bottles (especially the Lynn Loomis collection) tells a more interesting story than any found in the usual sources. The earliest date code for the L-G mark I have seen on a soda bottle is “37” (1937), which probably indicates that Liberty began using the mark on soda bottles in 1935, about the time it began the manufacture of soft drink bottles. The mark continued to be used until at least 1967. The company, however, was very inconsistent about the placement of the mark. Mostly, the earliest bottles were marked with both the L-G and the date code on the base (1937 to mid-1940s). Beginning in 1946, however, the logo (LG) was mostly placed on the heel with the date code on the base. The logos returned to the base (along with the date codes) in 1953 and remained in that position until 1967. During both transition years (1946 and 1952), the logo appeared on both the heel and base, although the date code remained on the base. There were occasional exceptions, however. In both 1956 and 1963, both the logo and the date code appeared on the heel. I have not found bottles with the usual pattern in either 1956 or 1963, although they may exist. The final mark, LG, first appeared on soda bottles by at least 1961 (possibly earlier) with both the logo and date code
Bottles and Extras on the base as had been common with the L-G mark. Note that this means an overlap period between 1961 and 1967 when both L-G and LG were used. Sometime between 1972 and 1977, the date code migrated to the heel of the bottle, while the logo remained on the base. The marks remained in that position throughout the 1970s, although I cannot confirm the placement after the late 1970s. Coca-Cola Bottles Because the Coca-Cola company demanded that their bottles be marked in a specific way, Coke bottles are a special case. The well-known, hobble-skirt bottles are distinguished by different patent markings in the central labeling area of the bottles. According to Kendall (1978:7) and Pollard (1993:45), these may be broken down into roughly four types prior to the addition of Applied Color Labels (ACL) in 1963: 1) BOTTLE PAT’D NOV 16, 1915 (1917-1930); 2) BOTTLE PAT’D DEC. 25, 1923 (19261938); 3) BOTTLE PAT. D105529 (19381951; and 4) IN U. S. PATENT OFFICE (1951-1963). At this point, I have only seen L-G marks on two different types of Coke bottles: the D 105529 and IN U. S. PATENT OFFICE variations. The D bottles have L-G embossed on the skirts (i.e. about halfway between the heels and the labeling areas), although I have only seen this on 1951 bottles. It is possible, however, that Liberty made Coke bottles earlier. According to Porter (1999:7), as well as my personal observations, manufacturer’s marks on Coke bottles were placed on the skirt until 1951 when they were moved to the base. Marks may be found in both locations in 1951. The L-G mark was on the base of IN U. S. PATENT OFFICE bottles by 1952 and continued until at least 1962. Hopefully, readers will write in and extend the dates for the D 105529 bottles. Conclusion The L. G. mark was probably used by Liberty Glass from about 1924 until about 1935 when soft drink bottles were added to the factory’s inventory. Based on existing literature, the company probably did not mark its earliest bottles (19181924). The L.G.Co. mark was probably used by Lamb Glass Co. instead of Liberty (see Lamb Glass Co. below). Date codes
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began to appear on bottles with the L.G. mark in 1928 and continued until about 1934. The L-G mark began use in 1934 and continued to be used until at least 1958, four years longer than any of the established references claim. LG on milk bottles was used at least as early as 1955 and as late as 1971. The L-G mark on soft drink bottles was likely used between 1935 and 1967, although the positioning of the mark changed from the base to the heel and back again during that time (including its appearance on both heel and base during the two transition years of 1946 and 1952). The final mark, LG, appeared at least by 1961 and was used until at least the late 1970s. Both marks were used during the 1961-1967 period.
Lamb Glass Co. Rex M. Lamb and associates formed the Lamb Glass Co., a corporation, in July 1921 at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. From the beginning, Lamb produced machinemade containers and specialized in milk bottles. Lamb merged with the Dorsey Corp., owners of Chattanooga Glass Co. in 1964 but continued to mark its bottles with the distinctive L52 logo. In 1955, the company began the manufacture of wide-mouth food bottles and packers due to the adoption of waxed paper and plastic containers (and discontinuance of glass bottles) by an increasing proportion of dairies. By 1971, the company began using the © (Circle C), the symbol of
Table 1: Liberty Glass Co. - Marks, Location and Dates Mark
Mark Location
LGCo
Heel
L.G.
Date Location
Bottle Type
Date Range
None
Milk
1918-1924*
Heel
None
Milk
1924-1927
L.G.
Heel
Base
Milk
1928-1934
L-G
Heel**
Base
Milk
1934-1958
L.G.†
Heel
Base
Milk
1951-1967
LG
Heel
Base
Milk
1955-1971
L-G
Base
Base
Soda
1935-1945
L-G
Base and Heel
Base
Soda
1946
L-G
Heel
Base
Soda
1947-1951
L-G
Base and Heel
Base
Soda
1952
L-G
Base
Base
Soda
1953-1967
LG
Base
Base
Soda
1961-1972 ††
LG
Base
Heel
Soda
1977 ††-1978
* Giarde (1980:67) suggested “probably 1920s” and attributed the mark to Liberty. Hackbarth noted that this mark fits better with the patterns used by Lamb Glass Co. As such, it was probably used beginning in 1921, possibly throughout the 1920s. ** Some exceptions are known with L-G and the date code embossed on the base (at least 1942-1947). † After being discontinued in 1934, this mark was used again concurrently with the L-G and LG marks. †† There is a gap in our data from 1973 to 1976. The actual year when the date code migrated to the heel is currently unknown.
50 Chattanooga Glass (Toulouse 1971:317318). Unfortunately, the company never embossed date codes on its bottles. In a personal communication, Warren A. Hackbarth disagreed with Giarde’s interpretation that the L.G.Co. mark was used by Liberty Glass Co. Hackbarth noted that on all of his bottles that bore the L.G.Co logo, the mark was followed by the number 52. Toulouse (1971:317) noted two marks for the Lamb Glass Co., L52 (with a subscript 52) used “Since 1921” and LAMB from “1855 [certainly a typo for 1955] to 1964.” Giarde (1980) added two other marks – L52 and L -52 – and dated both “FROM 1921.” L.G.Co.52 fits better with the other Lamb Glass Co. configurations than with the Liberty Glass Co. formats. It should be noted, however, that collectors in the Lockport, New York, area attribute the L.G.Co. mark to the Lockport Glass Co. of that city. It seems likely that L.G.Co.52 was the earliest mark used by Lamb. I have not personally seen either the L52 or L-52 marks. Maybe our readers can supply more information on these. On bottles I have seen, the L52 marks have a large “L” (no serifs) with 52 “tucked” inside the “corner” (see drawing). All of these marks that I have seen fit into a datable context from 1941 to the early 1950s (based on bottle use by El Paso and Southern New Mexico dairies). It is possible that the L.G.Co.52 mark was used in the 1920s, the L52 and/or L-52 marks used in the 1930s, and the L52 (with 52 “tucked” into the “L”) used from 1940 on. Once again, maybe our readers can help with assigning dates to some of these other Lamb marks. Acknowledgements I especially want to thank Lynn Loomis for letting me spend three days photographing and recording information from his remarkable collection. Special gratitude also goes to Warren A. Hackbarth for looking through his collection and sending me much-needed milk bottle information. As always, thanks to my fellow researchers, Mike Miller, Bill Lindsey, Carol Serr, and David Whitten for looking over my work and offering suggestions. Update - Keystone Marks Everything ever printed about manufacturer’s marks is only our latest knowledge about the subject. Because of
Fall 2004 this, my research is ongoing. Therefore, I would like to present additions to my earlier discussion about the Knox Glass Bottle Co. and their keystone marks (see my article in the winter 2004 issue of Bottles and Extras). Upon reading the article, Robert Wagner called me from Mississippi to report a bottle he had found with unusual markings. The base was embossed with the K-in-a-keystone mark typical of Knox but it also had a J-in-acircle mark beside the keystone. The bottle was from the Hazelhurst Bottling Works, and Robert figured it had been used around 1936 to 1938 or earlier. I contacted Jack Underwood who suggested that the initial molds used by the Jackson, Mississippi, plant were probably sent down from the main Knox plant with the K-in-a-keystone mark already on them. Engravers at the Jackson branch probably added the J-in-a-Circle mark to distinguish their new plant. It is also likely that new baseplates with J-ina-keystone were substituted for those from the main plant as soon as possible, so the J-in-a-Circle mark combined with the K-in-a-keystone mark was probably only used during the first year, 1932. A bit later, I visited Lynn Loomis to photograph his extensive collection of New Mexico bottles. In his collection, I discovered a total of four soda bottles with D-in-a-keystone marks on their bases. Both the “D” and the keystone were a bit more crude than those on most Knox bottles, and the “D” bottles lacked the typical three-part code used by Knox. Again I asked Jack Underwood, and he said that the bottles were probably made by the Denver plant and sent me a photocopy of a page from an undated issue if the Knox News, a paper circulated within the Knox group. The plant was apparently opened on April 1, 1946. According to Toulouse (1971:298), Knox closed the plant in 1951. Bottles in the Loomis collection were estimated to date in the mid-1940s to mid-1950s range, so the period the plant was open coincides with the approximate use date. Another inference on Knox also comes from the Loomis collection. Some bottles with the J-in-a-keystone mark appear to have a date code to the right of the manufacturer’s mark during the 1950s (such as A53 and A57). In at least two cases, these bear the A57 code, and the bottles (Mission Dry blue label) probably date from the mid-1950s to at least the
Bottles and Extras late 1960s (see Bates 1992:M-9). This indicates that the Jackson plant, and possibly the Palestine plant (both controlled by the Southern Underwoods), continued to use the individual plant mark until at least the late 1950s. It was previously thought that all the plants converted to the use of the generic K-ina-keystone mark about 1952. I recently ran across a great article in the “Granny Kath’s Kitchen” column (Antique Glass & Bottle Collector) from October 1998 about Knox marks on fruit jars. Vivian Kath showed photos and gave descriptions of three quart variations, one pint, one half-pint, and two half-gallon variations of fruit jars with the K-in-akeystone mark used by Knox. In all of these cases, the Knox manufacturer’s mark was embossed on the center body of the jar. Kath also showed two other variations, one with an upwardly-slanted Knox in a circle and one with an upwardly-slanted script Knox. She also included photos and descriptions of lids marked with Knox or the logo. Of greatest interest to me was the TEXAS MASON embossed with an outline of the State of Texas and MADE IN TEXAS BY TEXANS embossed on the base. This jar was made by the Knox plant at Palestine, Texas, from mid-1948 to mid-1949. The pint and quart jars were created as part of a promotion by the State of Texas during those years. A few twopiece metal closures “lettered TEXAS MASON in red above a red outline” were specially made to accompany the jars, although most of the jars were packed without tops. Although the Palestine plant made other fruit jars, it apparently always used the K-in-a-keystone mark on them rather than the T in a keystone used on soft drink bottles (Kath 1998). In another column of Granny Kath’s Kitchen (October 1996), she noted the keystone mark with no letters inside that was used by the Mason Fruit Jar Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Like other jar embossings, the mark appeared on the side of the jar instead of the base. She also stated that a keystone-in-a-circle mark was embossed on other fruit jars. She speculated that the circle marks also may have been used by the Mason Fruit Jar Co. but admitted that the identification was not certain. Knox also had a brief international connection. The Canadian Knox Glass Co., Ltd., received its federal charter on
Bottles and Extras February 1, 1939, and established a plant at Oshawa, Ontario. As in the U. S., Roy R. Underwood was president. On May 14, 1940, however, the short-lived branch was sold for $618,270 to the Dominion Glass Co. The plant continued to operate under Dominion for at least two more years (King 1987:156-157). Unfortunately, the mark used by the plant is currently unknown. A final note on the company came from Volume 5 of The Bottle Trail by May Jones. In the earliest table of manufacturer’s marks, she claimed the K-in-a-keystone mark as being used by the Marienville plant. Unfortunately, she did not name her source, but I have found no other reference to a mark used by Marienville. Update - AB Marks In response to the AB-Connected article in The Dating Game column, Bruce Mobley sent in information about his collection. In addition to the heelmarks noted in The Dating Game for A B Co bottles, Bruce has S-12, S-13, and S-14, also embossed on A B Co heels. This indicates that the American Bottle Co. switched the order of date codes in 1912 (from the 11-S) and continued to use them until at least 1914 (at least in the Streator plant). In addition, he noted three- and four-digit basemarks that look very much like catalog codes. Now, all we need is to find surviving American Bottle Co. catalogs. In looking over the old May Jones newsletters (The Bottle Trail, Vol. 3), I discovered where Toulouse got his ideas about the AB-connected mark. She quoted a letter from a Mr. Carroll of Anheuser Busch (Jones 1963): It is my assumption, and this is not based on actual fact that the brand [AB-connected] refers to the Adolphus Busch Glass Co. rather than the American Bottle Co., whereas, the brand ABCO refers to the American Bottle Co. Of the two brands I think the brand [ABconnected] is older but I could be mistaken. I also assume, without any actual basis of fact, that you are correct in thinking that the brand [AB-connected] without identification insofar as letters of the alphabet or numbers were concerned, was the earlier type of bottle and was then followed in
Fall 2004 succession by the addition of a letter of the alphabet and then the addition of a number. It is important to note that Carroll admitted he was guessing about the identification of the AB-connected mark as belonging to Adolphus Busch. This is a rare look at one of the sources used by Toulouse in his book. Questions for Our Readers A future article will discuss marks found mostly on heels (lowest part of the sides – not the base or bottom) of bottles. Some of these marks are currently identified, but their locations on the bottles are unknown. If any of your bottles with these marks also include numbers, please let us know. 1. OG, EG, LSQ, G, and GRAHAM are all marks identified as being found on Coca-Cola bottles by Porter (1996:4). Are these marks found on heels or bases? 2. Are any other (non-Coca-Cola) bottles marked with OG, EG, LSQ, G, or GRAHAM? 3. Are any Coca-Cola bottles marked on the heel with LP? 4. Are any bottles marked on the heel with LS or LG? If so, what kind of bottles are they? 5. Have any of you seen the L52 and/or L-52 marks, that Toulouse and Giarde report finding on milk bottles? Any ideas about what years they were used? 6. Does anyone have any idea what the “52” on Lamb Glass Co. marks could mean? Comments are always appreciated. Bill Lockhart 1313 14th St., Apt. 21 Alamogordo, NM 88310 (505) 439-8158 bottlebill@tularosa.net References: Bates, Paul, Karen, & Tom 1992 Handbook of Painted Label Soda Bottles. An Interactive Book. Museum of Beverage Containers and Advertising, Millersville, Tenn. Giarde, Jeffery L. 1980 Glass Milk Bottles: Their Makers and Marks. Time
51 Travelers Press, Bryn Mawr, California. Hernon, Peter and Terry Ganey 1991 Under the Influence: The Unauthorized Story of the Anheuser-Busch Dynasty. Simon & Schuster, New York. Jones, May 1963 The Bottle Trail, Volume 3. Nara Vista, New Mexico. 1965 The Bottle Trail, Volume 5. Nara Vista, New Mexico. Kath, Vivian S. 1996 “Granny Kath’s Kitchen.” Antique Glass & Bottle Collector 13(6):48-53. 1998 “Granny Kath’s Kitchen.” Antique Glass & Bottle Collector 15(6):50-53. Kendall, William N. W. 1978 “Collecting Coca-Cola Bottles, Phase II.” Old Bottle Magazine 11(10):6-8. King, Thomas B. 1987 Glass in Canada. Boston Mills Press, Ontario. Lockhart, Bill 2004 “Knox Glass and the Marks Toulouse Missed.” Bottles & Extras 15(1):62-63. Peterson, Arthur G. 1968 400 Trademarks on Glass. Washington College Press, Takoma, Md. Pollard, Gordon 1993 Bottles and Business in Plattsburgh, New York: 100 Years of Embossed Bottles as Historical Artifacts. Clinton County Historical Association, Plattsburgh. Porter, Bill 1996 Coke Bottle Checklist. Privately printed, n. p. Toulouse, Julian Harrison 1971 Bottle Makers and Their Marks. Thomas Nelson, New York.
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Rare Hutchinsons enthuse Georgia collector by Bill Baab Tommy Mitchiner doesn’t do things halfway. When he started digging antique bottles in Savannah some 40 years ago, his personal goal was to build the finest collection of John Ryan sodas ever seen. Ryan established his Excelsior Bottling Works in the port city in 1852. During the 20-odd years he was in business, his soda waters and ginger ales were packaged in a vast array of colorful bottles. Counting the colors and bottle heights, Mitchiner has collected 130 different Ryans. Mission accomplished! Today, the Gordon, Georgia man is striving to build the best-ever collection of Georgia Hutchinson bottles, and he’s well on his way since starting on that path in 1995. Hutchinson bottles both pre-dated and post-dated the crown top, and were utilized by many small town bottlers who had jumped onto the soda bandwagon led by the Coca-Cola Company. As short a time as 20 years ago, Hutchinsons were mostly ignored by collectors, who viewed the bottles as “poor relations” to blobtop sodas and many times were left in the dumps. That philosophy no longer exists, as Mitchiner can attest. “I decided to collect Georgia Hutchinsons because you rarely see them advertised for sale, and you rarely see them at bottle shows,” Mitchiner said. “I’ve acquired most of mine through deals with other collectors. “Bob Jenkins of Carrollton, Ga., has a super collection, but I have 15 town bottles that he’s never heard of. The bottles hail from Blue Ridge, Helena, Warrenton, Arlington, Donalsonville, Forsyth, Barnesville, Claxton, Cochran, Wadley, Thomson, Tallapoosa, Nichols, Cuthbert and Dawson. “My favorites have to be from little towns. I dug an H. D. Smith Hutch from Tennille and then I bought a Sandersville & Tennille Bottle Works Hutch from Ken Nease, a collector-dealer from Claxton, Ga. “After I got that one, I said to myself that I think I’ll try to get more.” It’s a tossup as to which bottle is his favorite between the E.P.C. Fowler Hutch
of Tallapoosa manufactured by the Dixie Glass Works there (Fowler was a glass works officer), the Forsyth Bottling Works and Mines Bottling Works of Barnesville. The closure on the Claxton Bottling Works bottle, so far a one-of-a-kind which Nease covets, looks more like a John Matthews gravitating stopper bottle, but as far as Mitchiner is concerned, “I still call it a Hutch!” Mitchiner has documented his 191Georgia Hutchinson collection through the use of soft pencil rubbings of each variety’s embossings. He includes other information and has it all mounted in a handy holder.
Most of his bottles are aqua in color, but his Hart & Moore / Wadley, Ga. Hutch is lime-green, while a pair of E.H. Stuart & Co., Hutches from Macon sparkle in lime-green and blue-green. He just acquired a Kelley & Alley Hutch from Macon and “it’s so rare, I don’t have the courage to clean it,” Mitchiner said. He also likes his “error” bottles, such as the “Brainbridge” (instead of Bainbridge) Hutchinson and the O.F. Copeland / “Gainsville” (Gainesville). The collector is looking for a Benton & Stone Hutch from Dublin and wants it badly enough that he is offering $500 for it. Others of his heart’s desire include Cartersville Bottling Works; J.P. Williams & Bro., of Buford; S. Pagetty of Columbus; Pagetty & Willett of Columbus; Henry Grader Bottler, of Columbus; A.H. O’Neal Bottler of Wsinder, Athens Bottling Works, Covington Bottling Works, Persse & Linder of Savannah; A.J. Allee of Rome, and Dixie Carbonating Co., of Augusta. Hutchinson bottles came into existance in 1879 when Charles G. Hutchinson of Chicago patented a spring stopper, which eventually replaced the cork and wire closure in use for most of the 19th century. His stopper consists of a loop of stiff wire with a circular metal flange on one end. The flange is rimmed by a rubber gasket that sits inside the bottle just below the neck. When the bottle was filled, the loop was pulled up, forcing the flange into the neck, sealing the contents. The pressure of the carbonated soda water or beer kept the rubber-sealed flange tight against the neck. To open the bottle, the loop was pushed down, breaking the seal. The system’s usage spanned the years from the mid-1880s through 1920 when the U.S. government banned their use because the bottles were difficult to sterilize.
Photos by Bill Baab
Here’s a rare Cochran Bottling Works, a Hutchinson that’s one-of-a-kind so far.
Bill Baab 2352 Devere Street Augusta, GA 30904 (706) 736-8097 riverswamper@comcast.net
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< Tommy Mitchiner with a part of his fabulous collection. Some of his John Ryan sodas occupay other shelves.
Most of Mitchinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ever-growing Georgia Hutchinson collection.
>
< Color It Hutchinson: from left, limegreen Hart & Moore, Wadley; lightcitron Macon Bottling Works, E.J. Burke; green E.H. Stuart & Co., Macon, and a blue-green Stuart.
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Bottles and Extras
Collecting Bottles by State, The Ioway Part 4 - Blob-top Soda Bottles by Michael Burggraaf This article is the fourth in a series that deals with collecting bottles by state and by type. The last issue of the Bottles and Extras magazine featured the different bitters bottles known from Iowa. In this issue, I will cover a few of the various blobtop soda bottles used by Iowa bottlers from the 1850s to the 1880s. Iowa gained statehood in December of 1846 and was rapidly growing as new areas of the state opened up for settlement. As the population and industry of the state grew, so did the demand for locally bottled soda water. Early entrepreneurs took advantage of this demand by establishing soda bottling works, mostly in the larger towns situated on the Mississippi River. The earliest bottlers in Iowa used the typical squat body style bottle with the blob-top lip that was so common during the 1850-1870s era. Collectors from Iowa
Fig. 1
refer to this style of bottle simply as a blobtop soda or a long-neck soda. During the 1850s, bottling works were established in Burlington, Davenport, Dubuque, Ft. Des Moines and Keokuk. John F. Miller and a Mr. Zeisler were the first businessmen in Davenport to establish a soda bottling plant in that town. The embossing reads Miller & Zizler and the variation in the Zeisler name is most likely a mold makerยนs error. The Miller & Zizler soda bottles from Davenport are unusual in the fact that the bottle has a 5-sided back while the front is plain but has a two petals embossed on the front shoulder. All examples of the Miller & Zizler bottles are iron pontiled and come in various shades of aqua. Around 1858 Zeisler moved to St. Louis and engaged in the same line of work there. After Zeislerยนs departure,
Figs. 2
Mr. Miller continued operating the bottling works and continued using the same style bottle, minus the Zizler name. Iron pontil and smooth base examples of the J. F. Miller bottles exist, all in various shades of aqua. Another example of an iron-pontiled soda exist from Dubuque. Charles H. Belcher and James Belcher were the proprietors of the Excelsior Mineral Water Manufactory in Dubuque from 1856 to 1859. The bottles used by Belcherยนs soda plant are all the typical long-neck style and are iron-pontiled. Examples are known in aqua and cobalt blue. The early settlement of Ft. Des Moines, later shortened to Des Moines in 1857, produced an unusual soda bottle with more squared shoulders and a long neck. The bottle is iron pontiled and is a beautiful teal blue color. The bottle is embossed A. SHAW / FT. DES MOINES, IOWA. Dr. Alexander Shaw was listed as the proprietor of the Eagle Drug Store in Fort Des Moines during the 1850s. Dr. Shaw no doubt saw the need for soda and mineral water for the local citizens and
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Fig. 3
began marketing his own mineral water in conjunction with the drug store business. The town of Keokuk perhaps prospered as quickly as any Iowa town during the 1850s, resulting in several iron-pontiled soda bottles from that city. Embossed iron pontil soda bottles exist from the firms of HENSHAW & VAN HAREN; MAGRUDER & CO. [Figure 1]; and J. CAIRNS [Figures 2]. Fred Henshaw and C. VanHaren established a mineral water factory in Keokuk in 1856 and continued business through 1857. Their iron-pontiled bottles are the typical long neck style in aqua glass. The bottles used by the bottling firm of McGruder & Company are unusual by the fact that the embossing is placed inside a fancy sunken panel on the front of the bottle. While this feature was commonplace on patent medicine bottles, it is a feature seldom seen on soda bottles. The McGruder bottles are known in aqua and various shades of cobalt blue. The Cairns bottles have a unusual history as John Cairns never actually resided in Keokuk. His main bottling concern was located in St. Louis as there are a number of different Cairns bottles from that city. It is theorized that Cairns established a branch depot in Keokuk as the steamboat trade between the two towns was well established. The Cairns bottles marked Keokuk, Iowa were perhaps made
to be sold exclusively in the Keokuk area. The river town of Burlington, Iowa has the largest number of blob-top sodas known. The earliest examples are the long-neck bottles used by N. E. Coburn, which have been found with iron-pontiled
bases and also with smooth bases. His bottles are embossed N. E. COBURN on one side and BURLINGTON / IA on the reverse side and come in a wide range of aqua colorations. This company was in business as early as 1860 and the last year of production was in 1865. For reasons unknown, during the late 1860s, the Burlington bottlers began the practice of using large capital initials embossed on their bottles. The first example in the photo shows a deep aqua, blob-top soda bottle embossed O & G/ BURLINGTON / IOWA. No information has been found yet to identify this partnership. The "O" initial may represent Chris Osterberg, an off-and-on soda bottler in Burlington, as well as being a proprietor a copper works. The crudeness and style of the bottle should likely date it from the late 1860s to the mid 1870s. The second Burlington bottle is embossed W & Co. / BURLINGTON / IOWA and was most likely used by the bottling works owned by C. G. Warth, who established his soda company in 1870. During 1875 and 1876, Mr. Warth began a partnership with C. Walther. It is highly probable that these two men used the third
Fig. 4
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Bottles and Extras Fig. 6
bottle shown in the photo which is embossed W & W / BURLINGTON / IOWA. The brief time of their partnership explains the difficulty in obtaining this particular bottle. [Figure 3] As Iowa¹s population improved, so did methods of bottle manufacture and methods of sealing soda bottles. By the 1860¹s, the use of the iron pontil rod was all but eliminated in the manufacture of soda bottles. Most, if not all, examples from this time frame forward are smooth base bottles. However, the method of preserving the soda water within the bottle had become more complex as numerous closures and devices were being invented during this time and the next few decades to follow. Iowa proved to be no exception to these bottle contraptions as the next few examples will show. Two unusual sodas from Des Moines feature uncommon lip styles for soda bottles. One example shown is the slope shouldered bottle with the mushroom style blob lip which is embossed GEHRING & HUTTENLOCHER / DES MOINES / IOWA. The bottle dates from the late 1860s and employed the use of an unusual lip and an unknown closure. The other odd soda from Des Moines is the example embossed along the base STEHM & RICHTER. This bottle has an unusual square lip with a closure system that is also unknown. A few examples of this bottle were unearthed at the old Fred Stehm Bottling Works site in Des Moines. Examples that were found were aqua and a deep apple green. [Figure 4] Sioux City boasts the only known soda bottle from Iowa to employ the use of the gravitating glass stopper. This closure was patented in 1864 by John Matthews. The bottle is embossed A. JACKSON / SIOUX CITY / IOWA [Figure 5]. While some of the gravitating stoppered bottles have the
Matthews patent dates embossed on the bottom of the bottle, the Jackson bottle has no base embossing of any kind. Anthony Jackson was in the soda water business in Sioux City from 1870 to 1877. Marble stoppered bottles from the United States are rare as few bottlers could afford the more expensive equipment needed to fill the Codd style bottles. However, two of the larger bottling firms in Davenport, Iowa employed the use of Hiram Codd’s marble stoppered bottles. Fig. 5
Fig. 7
The Hill & Witt bottling works used a variety of blob-top bottles, but also used the Codd style bottle for a short time. John Hill and Henning J. Witt were in business together from 1874 to 1879 and the Codd bottles appear to have been used near the end of the partnership. Their bottles are embossed HILL & WITT / DAVENPORT / IOWA with the H. CODD PAT./ JULY 23 & APRIL 29 / 1872 & 1873 embossing along the base. During 1879, Mr. Hill sold out his share in the business and H. J. Witt became the sole proprietor of the soda works. Mr. Witt evidently liked using the Codd bottles as he continued using this style bottle for a short period of time. His bottles are embossed H. J. WITT / DAVENPORT / IOWA with the same patent embossing along the base. If you compare the two firms bottles you can tell that they are nearly identical and were actually manufactured from the same bottle mold. Close examination of the front embossing area shows that strategic filling of the "ILL" in HILL and the "&", as well as cutting in the "J", created the new embossing of H. J. WITT. Iowa’s only round bottom soda was used by the firm of Chesterman & Barrow of LeMars. The bottle is rather plain with the only embossing on the round end of the bottle which reads: C. & B. / LE MARS / IA [Figures 6 and 7]. The bottling works run by Chesterman & Barrow was in LeMars from 1883 to 1886 before moving to Sioux City. The blob-top bottles used by the Fairfield bottlers liked the style of the tenpin soda bottle. Harris E. Kinsloe was the first bottler in Fairfield. He established his bottling works in 1877 after moving from Pennsylvania. His first bottles were the typical long-neck style but he quickly switched to the tenpin style in the late
Bottles and Extras 1870s. He later sold out to Alexander Easton in 1891 and Mr. Easton continued using the tenpin style bottle for a number of years before switching to the more popular Hutchinson stoppered bottle. Fairfield is the only town in Iowa to have used the tenpin style bottle. [Figure 8] Other unusual soda bottles from Iowa include the bottles from Beacon which were discussed in an earlier issue of Bottle and Extras. The tall quart example embossed WM. BEARDSLEY, BEACON, IOWA [Figure 9] is shown along side an odd-sized soda bottle from Council Bluffs. Both bottles have unusual lever and cam closure devices with a close up view of the Council Bluffs top [Figure 11]. The pintsized bottle from Council Bluffs is embossed WHEELER & HERALD / COUNCIL / BLUFFS / IA. [Figure 10] The back side is embossed FULL PINT on the shoulder and half way down is an embossed line to show when the bottle was half full. Perhaps you now have a little better idea of the few but interesting early soda bottles that were used in Iowa. We may not have the quantity of colored sodas like the eastern states and California but we still
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enjoy the pursuit of our home state bottles. With the few colored examples that exist and the unusual varieties and closures that were used, collecting early blob sodas from Iowa presents a rewarding challenge and the opportunity to meet other interesting people during the search. And as always, it¹s the memories of the people we meet that help to make this hobby great. Next time we¹ll take a look at the Hutchinson soda bottles available from Iowa. References: The Antique Bottles of Iowa, 18461915, by Burggraaf & Southard, 1998. An Introduction To Collecting Soda Pop Bottles, by Ron Fowler, 1984.
Mike Burggraaf got started collecting antique bottles in 1968 and has become an avid collector of Iowa bottles and Iowa stoneware jugs. Research on the bottles and the history that goes with them has always been an important and enjoyable segment of his collecting. Mike is co-author of “The Antique Bottles of Iowa 1846-1915” published in 1998. He also is the current Iowa Antique Bottleers editor, which he has been doing since 1991. You can contact Mike by writing to 305 E. Burlington, Fairfield, Iowa 52556 or by E-mail at: qrsglass@lisco.com.
Fig. 9
Fig. 8
Fig. 11
Fig. 10
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Let’s Talk About Ink with Ed & Lucy Faulkner
Elijah S. Curtis Ink Co. The Elijah S. Curtis Ink company is an old company that dates to the 1840s. In searching through references, including the book, FORTY CENTURIES OF INK, nothing was found on this company. A survey by Carter’s Ink in 1870 did not list them either. The only mention found was in the book OLD INKS by Lavinia Nelson. She found them listed in the Boston Directory for 1847-48. Two addresses were found for the company, one at 9 Dock Square, Boston and another at 66 Broad Street, Boston (on a broadside and a label). Even though no written history was
found on the company, we found two great old broadsides (printed advertising circular) that gives some interesting information on a main product - powdered ink. The company (at this time) was located at 9 Dock Square, Boston, and seems to have been a wholesale company selling powdered ink in quantity to retail merchants for mixing and bottling. Quantities sold varied from small boxes making just a little to enough for a barrel. The broadside implied that Curtis would provide labels and the merchant would have to supply his own bottles. This could explain the many different type of labeled Curtis bottles that are seen. We have never seen an embossed Curtis bottle. Merchants could also have bottled this under their own name after mixing and bottling. These bottles should be pontiled or at least of that time period, as it is not likely Curtis could compete with the many companies organized in the late 1850s-60s in and near Boston that produced a ready made ink and of better quality. The broadside states in part...“This ink in bottles, including labels, will cost, counting the wholesale prices of the ink,
Bottles and Extras and the fair market value of bottles, corks etc., for quart bottles, one dollar per dozen, pints 75 cents, half-pints, 50 cents, 6 ounce, 30 cents, 4 ounce, 20 cents, or 20 cents per gallon by the barrel, averaging all expenses included, less than one-fourth of the present price of any other kind of ink...persons wishing to put up ink in the large way will find this the most economical and convenient article they can find...All the wrappers and labels are ready gummed so as to save the inconvenience of pasting. Moisten with a brush or sponge dipped in water and they will adhere to the bottles without further trouble...” The broadside also gives full directions for mixing by the barrel or small quantities. If mixing a barrel, start with a five gallon mixture, stir with a stick for a week and then add twenty gallons of rain water, after which it is good for immediate use. Another interesting bit in these broadsides was a note about how healthy this ink was to use. It contained no poisonous ingredients and was free from offensive effluvia (harmful vapors or offensive odor), and would not injure the sight of persons having weak or irritable
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eyes. It also would not effect the health of persons having the habit of putting pens in their mouths, and on this account no other ink but this should be used in schools. A few years ago, several different unused and uncut Curtis labels turned up in quantity. These labels were sold at paper shows, bottle shows, auctions, and now occasionally on the internet. While a lot of people framed these, some have been glued on any bottle that looked like an ink. For this reason, many people are a little hesitant to buy Curtis bottles. We have seen some we believe to be 19th century with original labels and some that definitely were recently applied labels (old labels, newer bottles). The broadsides and labels from Curtis make interesting reading, however, and are worth collecting as well as the bottles. Ed & Lucy Faulkner Ink Bottle Collectors (& glass works bottles)
Ed & Lucy Faulkner 4718 Kyloe Lane Moseley, VA 23120 faulkner@antiquebottles.com http://home.comcast.net/~edandlucy1/
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TM
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“THE DON PICKETT COLLECTION” SERIES AUCTION #2 96 LOTS OF SCARCE PRE CIVIL WAR PONTIL BOTTLES WITH RARE COLOR VARIANTS.
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TWO BROWN BOTTLES by Steve Ketcham Two recent additions to the collection piqued my curiosity. Both are simple, unembossed, amber bottles featuring labels which bear intriguing images. One product is called Pluto Water; the other is Bevo. The Pluto Water bottle is the older and larger of the two bottles; its label states it once held 25 ounces. It carries no embossed product name, measures nearly 12 inches high, and bears a hand-finished blob lip. The base is embossed R. G. Co. (possibly Renton Glass Company of Renton, Washington). The most interesting visual on the label is the red devil image of Pluto which stands front and center. Apparently, it was the idea of the waters coming from deep within the bowels of the earth which inspired the name Pluto Water and the red devil label image. In mythology, Pluto was the god of the underworld. On one side of the label, to the left of Pluto, are the testimonials of two doctors, both giving glowing medical reviews to the product. Professor D. W. Yandell, M. D., Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Louisville, wrote, “I know of no waters superior to those of French Lick. They are strikingly useful in liver troubles and in the indigestions. They do quick and great good to persons made invalids by sedentary habits, overeating and heavy drinking. They act well on the bowels, kidneys, and skin. In a word, they are great depurators, while they increase appetite and quicken digestion.” Dr. Joseph Rogers of Indianapolis, Indiana, testified, “These waters are especially adapted to the treatment of diseases of the skin, dyspepsia, constipation, chronic inflammation of the various mucous surfaces, scrofula, rheumatism, all specific diseases, and in fact, where a tonic and alterative effect is desired.” The French Lick area of southern Indiana was first settled in 1812 when a U.S. fort was built there. The nearby spring water, which
emitted a strong sulphur smell, was soon drunk for its supposed medicinal properties. It was found to be especially useful as a laxative. Dr. William Bowles began a spa at French Lick in 1842, drawing people from across the land to drink and bathe in the waters. The famous waters of the French Lick Springs Hotel Company were touted in magazine ads as late as the 1930s. The ads advised, “What Nature won’t, Pluto will,” and promised readers, “Take Pluto Water and see a new world in 10 days!” One particularly striking ad depicted a small boy sobbing to his dog, “Mama Slapped Me.” The text of the ad attributes Mama’s mood to constipation and prescribes Pluto Water as the way to household bliss and better parenting. Like so many product ideas from the past, the water-as-medicine idea has never really gone away. While I have found no waters advertised as laxatives, many brand names promise something beyond simple thirst quenching and hydration. My recent visit to www.bottledwaterstore.com was a water revelation. I found a product called Glaceau Vitamin Water which comes in no less than “fourteen gulpable functional formulas….” Flavor names suggest a benefit which the beverage provides to the drinker. Flavors include endurance/peach, stress-b/ lemon lime, energy/tropical citrus, revive/fruit punch, focus/kiwi-strawberry, and perseverance/peach. There is even a flavor called leadership/lemon roobios which ought to sell well in Washington D.C. I saw no promises for a Pluto-Water-like laxative effect from any of the Glaceau drinks, but there was a version called determination/raspberry yerba tea. Readers will please draw their own conclusions. While Pluto Water is no longer sold, the spa which grew
up around it still thrives in French Lick, and patrons may still bathe in the waters. The second bottle is a small, unembossed, ten-ounce stubby affair, machine made with a crown-style lip. According to the Anheuser-Busch website, Bevo was a non-alcoholic malt beverage first trotted out in 1916 in reaction to the growing U.S. movement toward Prohibition. It was quite popular during Prohibition. Bevo was sold as a family beverage,. To one side of the label is a stork on a nest; to the other an eagle. The bottle’s reverse label pitched Bevo as “The All-Year-’Round Soft Drink, Appetizing Healthful- NutritiousRefreshing.” The label also reminded consumers, “Milk or water may contain bacteria, Bevo never does.” And to squelch any lingering doubts about the product, the label’s final pitch assures that Bevo is, “Immensely popular in U.S. Cantonments and on Men-of-War.” If our boys in uniform like it, it must be good! Shortly after Bevo was introduced, August Busch built the Bevo Mill, a restaurant located near the AnheuserBusch brewery. According to www.beertravelers.com, “The Bevo Mill, a replica of a Dutch windmill, was a highclass restaurant, with beer and wine (no hard liquor) available only at tables. There was no bar, no sawdust, no bawdy women.” While the manufacture of Bevo ended in 1929, the Bevo Mill remains open today, still featuring its stone-carved gnomes, original tile murals, and fine German fare. Anheuser-Busch spent $1 million on restoring the building in the 1980s. So dominant is the unusual structure, the St. Louis neighborhood where the mill is located is known today as Bevo. Two simple, amber bottles recently found their way into my collection. Neither was expensive nor fancy. Without labels, the bottles would have been relegated to the 50-cent box under some table at a bottle show. But each holds a piece of history. The Pluto Water bottle reminds us that the French Lick resort area still thrives, though the waters are no longer sold for medicinal purposes. The Bevo bottle reminds us of our nation’s Prohibition era, while it also connects past to present through the historic Bevo Mill in St. Louis. Even the simplest of old
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Bottles and Extras
We Thought That We Had Found a New Bottle! by Charles S. Harris, Ooltewah, Tenn. Have you ever found what you thought was a new unlisted bottle? Gotten all excited about it? Purchased it? Set down at the computer to write an article about it? Finished the article, went to the Guide to American Nursing Bottles to confirm a couple facts and found it? Then looked in the rarity guide and found out that there are already 24 of it known in the ACIF club collections? Well, that is just what Teresa and I did. It makes for a good laugh on ourselves, one that a few of y’all might appreciate. In March of 2003 Teresa was digging deep into her Searches on eBay looking for some new bottles and Go-Withs. She pulled up a fairly common looking bottle with an unusual name. It was basically a Stork or Baby-All or Armstrong Nurser with one flat side and horizontal ridges on the curved side. It was listed as an “EVEREADY”. She looked in the small ACIF Bottle Rarity Guide and it wasn’t there. She bid on the bottle and couldn’t wait for it to arrive in the mail. Finally it arrived and she unpacked it. In all the excitement of a new find she said, “Skip, we need to send in a New Find sheet on this bottle.” Then I commented, “Aw, heck, I’ll just write a little story about it. Ginny & Charna are always eeding material for the next issue of the
KA. It’s not an earth shattering find, but interesting.” I then sat down and began writing. Almost through, I went to the large Guide to check a couple facts and there it was — glaring at me as the last entry under the “E’s” where it directed me to look under Seamless Eveready. I went back to the small rarity guide and it wasn’t under the “E’s”, but was under its full name “Seamless Eveready.” At that point, in minor desperation, I deleted everything that I had written and went down to my workshop in the basement. Then it began to gnaw on me and here I am at the computer again a month later. Evidently the manufacturer owned or bought the patent, # 2616581 in 1952, which probably covers either the flat side on the round bottle or possibly the ridges for secure gripping. The only variation in the bottles is the number of ridges which can be 17, 18, 28 or 29 horizontal ridges and the bottom markings. The patent # is the same on the STORK and the BABY CARE nursing bottles and they are a product of and evidently leased by the Seamless Rubber Co. of New Haven, Conn. and sold by the Rexall Drug Stores. The ARMSTRONG NURSER is a product of and evidently leased by the Armstrong Cork Company. Who actually owned the patent is unclear. If you can’t laugh at yourself, You sure don’t have any right to laugh at someone else.
from 175 to 200 passengers on board the Pewabic. The names of 75 passengers and 23 of the crew saved are known. The Meteor remained near the scene of the disaster until morning to pick up any who might be floating on pieces of the deck, but none were found.
further particulars. The Meteor is the same steamer that collided with the steamer Pewabic. Both are now owned by J. T. Whiting Company of Detroit, Michigan.
Continued from page 9 the propellers Pewabic and Meteor occurred at half past eight o’clock on Wednesday evening, six miles from shore. The Pewabic was struck in her port bow, just aft the pilot house, and sunk in three or four minutes. The ships had been running at full speed and struck with such force that as to crush the entire bow of the Pewabic. At the time of the accident it was scarcely dark, and the ships saw each other six miles apart. When approaching, they exchanged signals, and the Pewabic bore off to pass, but the Meteor, for some cause yet unknown, turned in the same direction and struck the Pewabic. A number of passengers were killed by the crushing timbers. A few passengers jumped on board the Meteor before the Pewabic sunk. The life boats were at once lowered from the Meteor and picked up those who were not carried down with the wreck. There were
The historical information on the Norris and Rundle Bottling Works is from our book: Ginger Beer & Root Beer Heritage. Donald Yates 8300 River Corners Road Homerville, Ohio 44235 donaldbetsyyates@earthlink.net
Detroit, August 12, 1865: The propeller Meteor caught on fire on Friday morning while in St. Mary’s ship canal basin, and was scuttled and sunk in twelve feet of water. No lives were lost, but the passengers lost all of their belongings. No Photos: Figure 1: Sailor boy from the steamer Meteor. Figure 2: Norris & Rundle Sarsaparilla, City Bottling Works, Cleve – 1864. Figure 3: Advertisement, 1865. Figure 4: Charles Lewis Bottling Works, 1856. Figure 5: 1864 Cleveland City Directory, George Norris & Company, City Bottling Works. Figure 6: 1865, Norris & Rundle Company, City Bottling Works. Figure 7: George Norris & Co. advertisement.
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KOOL–AID “The Most Consumed Beverage for Kids” and the bottles it came in by Cecil Munsey Copyright © 2004 SECTION I Background bottle history A very interesting and often overlooked time period in the history of bottles, is the one between 1915 and 1945. It was during that thirty-year period “Specialty” and “Applied Color Labeled” (ACL) bottles were invented and first utilized in the soda pop industry.
Figure 9
According to John J. Riley, Secretary of the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages from 1939 to 1957 and author of “A History of the AMERICAN SOFT DRINK INDUSTRY, Bottled Carbonated Beverages 1807-1957”: “The ‘Specialty Bottle’ Vogue. Glass containers of special form, configuration, or surface design were long known. But the development of a beverage bottle of such unique design that it would serve to identify the product contained in it, did not assume particular importance until the Coca-Cola patented bottle became widely used, following its introduction in 19151916 [Figure 1]. “It was during this period that the proprietors of such prominent branded drinks as NuGrape, Orange Crush, TryMe, Chero-Cola, Whistle, Orange Kist, Dr Pepper, Double-Cola, Howdy, and many others adopted special bottles for their products….” According to Cecil Munsey, author of this article and the 1970 classic book, “The Illustrated Guide to COLLECTING BOTTLES”: “Applied Color Labeling (ACL). This process is a relatively new method of enameling that was developed around 1920 in the United States but it was not until the 1930s, however, that it began to replace the popular mold-created embossments [of the Specialty Bottle] as a means of decoration and identification. Applied color labeling is used almost exclusively today on milk bottles, soda water bottles and other common bottles. With this innovation, common bottle decorations became more complicated than they had ever been before. “The process as originally developed consisted of powdering a borosilicate with a low melting point and mixing it with an oxide for color, and oil. The resulting paste was then applied to the bottle through a stainless-steel screen similar to the screen used in silk-screening. The
Bottles and Extras screened bottle then had to be slowly dried at about 300 degrees in a muffle [oven] before another color could be applied. Since most bottles with applied color labels used two colors the process then had to be repeated for the second color before the bottle was fired in the muffle to fuse the paste with the glass. In the late 1940s it was discovered that by replacing the oil in the mixture with a thermoplastic wax or plastic resin which was solid at room temperature but became fluid and could be screen printed if moderately heated, the drying process was almost completely eliminated. The deletion of the drying step permitted two colors to be printed in rapid succession during a single trip through an automatic printing machine.” In Brian Wade’s recently published
Figure 10
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book, DECO SODA BOTTLES, A guide to collecting those fancy embossed soda bottles of the 1920s and 1930s,” [see book review reference in the bibliography at the end of this article], he pictures a specialty bottle (page 51) and describes it as follows: “KOOL-AID, clear, 8 oz., straight-sided bottle. Plain bottle, familiar brand. Icicle design on shoulder and lower section. Name on front panel with slogan ‘FIRST IN FLAVOR’. Patent date on bottom ‘JULY 16, 1940’. ‘KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN’ on reverse. I believe this is the same company known for their powdered drink mix.”
under the patented brand “OnorMaid” [Figure 4]. In 1922 he added to his line of more than 125 different items ranging from face creams and lotions, medicines and salves, soaps and toilet waters to food flavorings, jelly making products, a soft-drink syrup called “Fruit Smack.” It was sold in four-ounce corked glass bottles (none of which seemed to have survived) and came in six flavors – Grape, Cherry, Raspberry, Orange, Root Beer, and Lemon. It was concentrated so that a family could make a pitcher full of the beverage for only pennies. But shipping it presented problems of breakage, leaking, and the weight of the glass when it was transported. It was that final wondering Perkins – who had Figure 1 and tentative sentence in his admired Jell-O (itself a powdered description that started the research trip I concentrate) since he was first introduced took to learn the history of Kool-Aid and to it as a youngster and had already to be able to answer the question – did perfected fruit pectin powders to make jelly Kool-Aid, the famous powdered drink mix at home – felt that Fruit-Smack could be ever come in bottles? reduced to a dry, concentrated, easilySECTION II
Figure 3
Origins of Kool-Aid “Fruit Smack” to “Kool-Ade” to “Kool-Aid” By 1922 Edwin Perkins [Figure 2], a 33-year-old mail-order entrepreneur from Hastings, Nebraska [Figure 3] owned and operated the Perkins Products Co. He sold products by mail order and by trust agents
Figure 2
Figure 4
63 soluble form capable of being packaged in an envelope. He also reasoned that such a powdered drink mix could become a national product that would be of great interest to food brokers, especially if the product was attractively packaged. And that might allow him to get out of the timeand-product-intensive trust agent and mail-order business he had started to develop in 1900 when he was only 11years-old. His objective was to dehydrate FruitSmack by tinkering with the recipe, focusing on the right mixture of dextrose, citric acid, tartaric acid, flavoring and food coloring. By 1927 he had a Fruit-Smackmodified product he named “Kool-Ade [Figure 5].” He maintained the same six flavors and later added Strawberry. He trademarked “Kool-Ade” in 1928 in the name of the Perkins Products Company. Government regulators eventually contacted Edwin Perkins and complained that “Ade” was a name reserved for fruit juice products, so the name was changed to “Aid.” The product became “KoolAid.” Perkins Products Company trademarked the “Kool-Aid” name in
64 1934 [Figure 6]. There were other setbacks. Packaging took longer to perfect than expected, and the company missed the 1927 summer season. After experimenting with “asphaltum-laminate paper” (which leaked black, tarry material into the product) and hard waxed bread wrapping paper (resulting in envelopes which wouldn’t stay glued shut), Edwin settled on a soft waxed paper inner liner and a lithographed outer envelope in bright colors [Figures 5 & 6]. By 1929, with the Stock Market crash, the Great Depression had started and although banks all over the country were closing their doors and men were losing their jobs, the demand for Kool-Aid escalated. At ten cents a package (enough to make two quarts of fruit-flavored drink), Kool-Aid made enough glassfuls that families could have whole pitchers full on hot summer afternoons. It was also during this period that young pint-sized entrepreneurs learned to set up Kool-Aid stands on card-tables in their front yards [Figure 7]. From that time to this, almost every neighborhood in America features youngsters selling lemonade and/or KoolAid at stands in their front yards. By 1931 business was so good that Perkins Products Company became a national firm by relocating the company to Chicago, a better distribution point and closer to sources of supply. In 1933 the price of Kool-Aid was cut in half, from ten cents a package to five cents to ensure sales would continue to increase. It worked – the price stayed at a nickel for over thirty years. Net sales of Kool-Aid increased from $383,286 in 1931, to $1,564,292 (five years later) in 1936. The decrease in price, according to a 1956 article in Advertising Age, was “a daring gamble that made the company.” [One of the proofs of that 1956 statement is in the fact that by 1950 the company was producing 323,000,000 packets of Kool-Aid annually, for a net sales of ten and a half million dollars.] Since Kool-Aid was a seasonal product and didn’t fit into the regular merchandising pattern, Perkins developed the successful marketing concept he called the “Silent Salesman.” Kool-Aid was packaged in one-ounce envelopes, forty envelopes of six assorted flavors in one colorful lithographed counter display carton which showed the range of flavors [Figure 8]. The forty-packet carton was
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Figure 7 ^
^ Figure 5 Figure 6 >
Figure 8 an innovation in display techniques at the time and helped promote Kool-Aid even as it sat on the grocery shelf. SECTION III Kool-Aid in bottles While never approaching the sales of Kool-Aid in traditional paper packages, beginning in 1936 Kool-Aid was sold in bottles [Figures 9 and 10]. From the midto late- 1930s, as described in the early paragraphs of this article, the bottles used were “Specialty” bottles [Figure 9]. During the 1940s and 1950s, the newer
“Applied Color Labeled” (ACL” or “painted-label”) bottles were utilized [Figure 10]. Both types of Kool-Aid bottles utilized the popular Crown Cork closure. [Figure 11[. Kool-Aid in bottles was selling well, being bottled in franchised plants around the country. It required large amounts of sugar and as a result wartime sugar rationing handicapped the sale of the drink in bottles. A traditional packet of KoolAid was a flavored concentrate to which sugar and water had to be added. As a
Bottles and Extras
Figure 11 result, packets outsold the bottled product. By 1950, the Perkins Products Company was producing 323,000,000 packets of Kool-Aid annually, for a net sales of ten and a half million dollars. Kool-Aid was one of the most recognized products in the country. The trademark was also registered in Canada in 1938 and Mexico and Cuba in 1951. In 1953, Perkins sold the business to General Foods (which would merge with Kraft in 1989). Within a year, General Foods introduced a new advertising campaign for Kool-Aid, featuring the Smiling Face Pitcher [Figure 12] that remains Kool-Aid’s trademark today. Root Beer and Lemonade flavors were added to the original six flavors in 1955 and presweetened Kool-Aid was developed in 1964 and redeveloped in 1970. SECTION IV Edwin Perkins and the days before Kool-Aid (“The beginnings are here at the end.”) Black inventor Edwin Elijah Perkins (1889-1961) developed “Kool-Ade” in 1927 [Figure 5] – a modification of an earlier product named, “Fruit Smack.” It was, however, in 1900 that the complete story of the entrepreneurial Edwin Perkins
Figure 12
Fall 2004 begins. He was 11-years-old in 1900 and his father had just traded a farm near the village of Hendley (Nebraska) for a general store that later became known as “D. M. Perkins-General Merchandise.” In his after-school hours, Edwin began clerking in the store. Kathryn (“Kitty”) Shoemaker, a friend of the Perkins family and the girl he would marry in 1918, brought to the store some packages of a new product she had purchased in Hastings – the new product was called “Jell-O,” and it came in “Six Delicious Flavors.” Edwin was entranced with the new product and persuaded his father to carry it in the store. For the rest of his life, he recounted how the Six Delicious Flavors influenced his decision to get into the pre-packaged food business. A couple of years later in a magazine (sold in the general store) Edwin saw an advertisement, “Be a manufacturer – Mixer’s Guide tells how – write today.” He did write to the advertiser in Ft. Madison, Iowa, to get some formulas and labels with his name printed on them. The labels read “Manufactured by Perkins Products Co., Hendley, Nebraska.” He made a nuisance of himself in his mother’s kitchen, making pungent extracts, medicines and other concoctions suggested in the “Mixer’s Guide” packet of materials he had sent away for. During the following years, Perkins graduated from high school, published a weekly newspaper, did job-printing (on his own printing press), served as postmaster and set up a mail order business called “Perkins Products Company” to market the numerous products he had invented. (Perkins and his printing press in 1909 is featured here as Figure 13). During those early years of the 20th century he also made and sold bluing, perfume, and other preparations that he made in his mother’s kitchen. He sold his products through sales agents who were sent merchandise and rewarded with a premium when they sold the goods and sent in the money. In 1918, Perkins married his childhood sweetheart, Kitty, and developed a remedy to kick the tobacco habit called “Nix-OTine” (pronounced almost like “nicotine”). When veterans
65 returned home from World War I, many with the cigarette habit picked up in the army, the tobacco remedy business prospered. The patent medicine was composed of herbs to be chewed, large flat herbal tablets to be swallowed, a hideoustasting mouth wash with silver nitrate in it and a powerful herbal laxative. The combined effort was guaranteed to cure anyone, and for those who stuck to the program, it probably did. Business was so good that in 1920 Edwin and Kitty moved to Hastings, eighty miles east of Hendley. Its location on several railroads and highways made it a better distribution point than the small village of Hendley. In 1921 he went to St. Louis for a month to learn more about the household products business. He worked with a small firm which contracted to make bulk orders of lotions, creams, patent medicines, and the like and studied their production and distribution techniques. When Perkins returned to Hastings, he spent a year preparing to introduce his own “Onor-Maid” line of products [Figure 4]. During that time he supported his family by “Nix-O-Tine” sales. To sell the household products, Edwin set up a nationwide system of representatives who sold door-to-door from sample cases, using the same procedures as salesmen for Watkins, Jewel Tea, Fuller Brush and similar companies. Continued on page 67
Figure 13
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His door-to-door salesmen came from advertisements he printed and distributed himself. One flier read, “I Want You to Be My District Manager,” post cards soliciting product representatives who could “Earn $10 a Day,” and booklets telling managers how to secure Perkins agents. “Our District Managers are now permitted to appoint both men and women agents.” Another advertisement offered new Ford or Hudson automobiles to the most enterprising managers. Edwin made a “Personal Guarantee” that any hard worker with a $3.50 sample kit could succeed as a Perkins agent. One of the most popular items in the sample kit turned out to be the summer soft drink “Fruit-Smack,” a liquid put up in four-ounce corked bottles. It came in six flavors. It was concentrated so that a family could make a pitcher full of the beverage for only pennies and a cup or two of sugar. Those were the days before Kool-Aid. See previous SECTIONS II & III, as already presented, for a comprehensive explanation of the invention of Kool-Aid and how it became “The Most consumed
Beverage for Kids” and all about the two types of bottles it came in.” REFERENCES Books: Morgan, Hal. Symbols of America. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., Stream Press, 1986. Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide to the COLLECTIBLES OF COCA-COLA. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1972. Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide to COLLECTING BOTTLES. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1970. Riley, John J. A History of the AMERICAN SOFT DRINK INDUSTRY, Bottled Carbonated Beverages 18071957. New York: ARNO PRESS, 1972. Wade, Brian. DECO SODA BOTTLES – a guide to collecting those fancy embossed soda bottles of the 1920s and 1930s. New York: Privately Published, 2003. Periodicals: Munsey, Cecil. BOOK REVIEW – “DECO SODA BOTTLES.” The Soda
Bottles and Extras Fizz, September-October, 2003. Thompson, Stephanie. “Kool-Aid Hits Road, Fueled with Smiles.” Brandweek, 31 May 1999: v40, i22, p6. Pollack, Judann. “Kool-Aid Pitcherman Stays, But Ogilvy Puts Him To Work: Kraft Icon Plays More Active Role In New Ads; Line Extension Set.” Advertising Age, 15 Mar. 1999:57. Pamphlets: “Edwin Perkins and the Kool-Aid Story.” Historical News, Adams County Historical Society, Vol. 31, No. 4, 1998. Internet: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/history/ka-timeline.html http://www.kraftfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/history/ka-pitcher.html http://www.kratfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/history/ka-man.html http://www.kraftfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/facts/ka_facts.html http://www.anglefire.com/journal2/ gleanings/blackhist.html http://www.agustachronicle.com/ stories/061902/flea_kool2.shtml
Cecil Munsey, 13541 Willow Run Road, Poway, CA 92064-1733 - 858-487-7036 - cecilmunsey@cox.net
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Mrs. Diva Brown
Bottles and Extras [Fig. 2]
“Original Coca-Cola Woman” by Cecil Munsey Copyright © 2002
You’ve probably heard for years, the rumors about a woman who claimed to have the original formula for Coca-Cola. She really did exist and she did sell products and peddled copies of a formula she claimed was based on the original Coca-Cola invented by John Styth Pemberton in 1886. The History Early in 1887, John S. Pemberton, James C. Mayfield, E. H. Bloodworth and A. C. Murphy formed a proprietary medicine partnership called Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia. The Pemberton Medicine Company sold a soda fountain drink called Yum-Yum that later was renamed “Kola” or “Koke.” Pemberton was the inventor of several proprietary medicines including Extract of Stylingia, Globe Flower Cough Syrup, French Wine of Coca and Coca-Cola. On June 6, 1887, “Doc” Pemberton applied to the U. S. Patent Office to register the label of “Coca-Cola Syrup & Extract” that he had invented in 1886. On June 28, the trademark was granted in Pemberton’s name. On July 8, 1887 Pemberton sold twothirds of his newly patented Coca-Cola formula to proprietary medicine salesman George Lowndes and Willis Venable, operator of the soda fountain at Jacobs’s Pharmacy in Atlanta where Coca-Cola was first sold in 1886. The sale to Lowndes and Venable was
not completed before Pemberton had taught James C. Mayfield, a partner in the Pemberton Medicine Company, how to manufacture the Coca-Cola syrup, along with his other proprietary medicines. “Doc” Pemberton died on August 16, 1888. Partners J. C. Mayfield and E. H. Bloodworth carried on the business of the Pemberton Medicine Company. In 1893, they sold all their formulas except the Kola formula to T. J. Eady, a real estate speculator. In 1895, Mayfield bought Bloodworth’s interest in the Kola formula they had received from Pemberton before he died. Mayfield and his wife Diva bottled and sold their Kola soft drink at Atlanta’s Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895. Their product was among the 6,000 exhibits at the fair. Since the fair attracted 13,000 visitors a day and was visited by 1,000,000 total visitors from all over the globe, Koke must have been tried by thousands of fairgoers. Diva was on the committee that arranged to have the Liberty Bell shipped down from Philadelphia and placed on display at the event [Figure 1]. The fair was held in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park (a former racetrack). 800,000 people viewed the Bell before the event ended in December 1895. The Cotton States and International Exposition was a huge success from the first day when President Grover Cleveland opened it by throwing, by long-distance, [Fig. 1]
a switch in Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts. In addition to the Liberty Bell display arranged by a committee to which Diva belonged, the fair featured Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. John Philip Sousa composed and premiered a march for the event – “King Cotton March.” [Figure 2] Among speeches at the exposition was the famous “Atlanta Compromise” address by Booker T. Washington. The speech pleaded for blacks to compromise their demands for equality for the sake of getting jobs. Whites cheered the speech while many blacks were critical. “My-Coca” The strain of the event on the Mayfields may have been too much for them. Diva and Mayfield divorced the next year in 1896 and Diva began selling her own kola formula. It was later, after she re-married, that she was known as Diva Brown. She became a minor celebrity in the South around the turn of the century peddling copies of the “authentic” Coca-Cola formula she claimed she and her exhusband Mayfield received from Pemberton before he died. Although she was labeled by one trade journal as “a humbug and a fake,” she had many bottlers who bought and used the recipe. In 1909, she established her own beverage company in Birmingham, Alabama. Through her “My-Coca Company,” she sold “My-Coca” syrup in bulk to soda fountains and in take-home bottles with a diamond-shaped label that greatly resembles the early Coca-Cola label. My-Coca labels [Figure 3] feature a picture of “Mrs. Diva Brown” below
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Summer 2004
which is the claim, “ORIGINAL COCA- giving the syrup its dark, distinctive color. COLA WOMAN.” The My-Coca To balance the sweetness of the sugar and give the syrup its “tang,” lime juice, trademark is printed in Spencerian citric acid, and phosphoric acid were script just as is the Coca-Cola added. Then as the basic blend trademark. Around the four cooled, into the mix went edges of the label is the vanilla extract, elixir of further claim that the orange, and several product was pungent oils “ M A N U refined from FA C T U R E D various fruits, FROM THE herbs, and trees: ORIGINAL COCAlemon, nutmeg, COLA FORMULA.” spicebush, coriander, and Examples of those labels are neroli (distilled from the flower rare and, depending on their Fig. 3 of the orange tree). The most exotic condition, sell for hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars. component was oil of cassia, also known Mrs. Diva Brown died in 1914 but her as Chinese cinnamon, made from the bark My-Coca Company continued to sell the of a tree found in the tropical regions of My-Coca beverage well into the 1920s in Asia. And, of course, added to this brew was the South and Midwest. the fluid extract of coca leaves. The exact amount will never be known but it is safe The Real Thing For all who want to know, the original to assume, when mixed with the sugar and formula for “Doc” Pemberton’s Coca-Cola pure caffeine, it was sufficient enough to started with 40 gallons of boiling water produce an effect on those who consumed into which sugar and caffeine were stirred. the mixture (syrup) along with a spritz of Next caramel was added for coloring, cold, carbonated water.
67 Bibliography Books: Allen, Frederick. Secret Formula – How Brilliant Marketing and Relentless Salesmanship Made Coca-Cola the BestKnown Product in the World. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, Inc., 1994. Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide to the Collectibles of Coca-Cola. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1972. Poundstone, William. The Big Book of Big Secrets. Barnes & Noble Books, 2001. Riley, John J. American Soft Drink Industry. Washington, DC: American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages, 1958. Internet: Smith, Dennis I. “Celery-Cola and James C. Mayfield.” Retrieved June 2002 from: http://home.att.net/fred-taylor/ Mayfield.htm Cecil Munsey 13541 Willow Run Road Poway, CA 92064-1733 (858) 487-7036 cecilmunsey@cox.net
Continued from page 65 His door-to-door salesmen came from advertisements he printed and distributed himself. One flier read, “I Want You to Be My District Manager,” post cards soliciting product representatives who could “Earn $10 a Day,” and booklets telling managers how to secure Perkins agents. “Our District Managers are now permitted to appoint both men and women agents.” Another advertisement offered new Ford or Hudson automobiles to the most enterprising managers. Edwin made a “Personal Guarantee” that any hard worker with a $3.50 sample kit could succeed as a Perkins agent. One of the most popular items in the sample kit turned out to be the summer soft drink “Fruit-Smack,” a liquid put up in four-ounce corked bottles. It came in six flavors. It was concentrated so that a family could make a pitcher full of the beverage for only pennies and a cup or two of sugar. Those were the days before Kool-Aid. See previous SECTIONS II & III, as already presented, for a comprehensive explanation of the invention of Kool-Aid and how it became “The Most consumed
Beverage for Kids” and all about the two types of bottles it came in.” REFERENCES Books: Morgan, Hal. Symbols of America. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., Stream Press, 1986. Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide to the COLLECTIBLES OF COCA-COLA. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1972. Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide to COLLECTING BOTTLES. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1970. Riley, John J. A History of the AMERICAN SOFT DRINK INDUSTRY, Bottled Carbonated Beverages 18071957. New York: ARNO PRESS, 1972. Wade, Brian. DECO SODA BOTTLES – a guide to collecting those fancy embossed soda bottles of the 1920s and 1930s. New York: Privately Published, 2003. Periodicals: Munsey, Cecil. BOOK REVIEW – “DECO SODA BOTTLES.” The Soda
Fizz, September-October, 2003. Thompson, Stephanie. “Kool-Aid Hits Road, Fueled with Smiles.” Brandweek, 31 May 1999: v40, i22, p6. Pollack, Judann. “Kool-Aid Pitcherman Stays, But Ogilvy Puts Him To Work: Kraft Icon Plays More Active Role In New Ads; Line Extension Set.” Advertising Age, 15 Mar. 1999:57. Pamphlets: “Edwin Perkins and the Kool-Aid Story.” Historical News, Adams County Historical Society, Vol. 31, No. 4, 1998. Internet: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/history/ka-timeline.html http://www.kraftfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/history/ka-pitcher.html http://www.kratfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/history/ka-man.html http://www.kraftfoods.com/kool-aid/ html/facts/ka_facts.html http://www.anglefire.com/journal2/ gleanings/blackhist.html http://www.agustachronicle.com/ stories/061902/flea_kool2.shtml
Cecil Munsey, 13541 Willow Run Road, Poway, CA 92064-1733 - 858-487-7036 - cecilmunsey@cox.net
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by Mike Dickman Photographs by John Gregory In the last article (Spring, 2004), I discussed the use by glass makers of the skull-and-crossbones symbol (also called the Death’s Head) on poison bottles, as a nonverbal way to warn about lethal contents. Now, I will examine the coffin. As everybody knows, “coffin” is defined as “a case or box to put a dead person into for burial.” The reason for using the Death’s Head is obvious. By the time glasshouses began embossing it onto bottles, it was a wellknown symbol of danger. Underscoring its recognizability, the American Pharmaceutical Association had suggested in the mid-1850s that bottles for poisonous substances contain the word “poison” or a Death’s Head. But...a coffin? Although coffins are associated with death, isn’t the symbolism of a coffin-shaped bottle a bit obscure? Apparently not, or at least some drug companies and glassblowers didn’t think so. Exactly how coffin-shaped poison bottles were conceived is lost in the mists of time, but the first such bottle apparently was made in England. According to Roy Morgan’s research, the U.K. Patent Office issued a patent in 1871 to G.F. Langford for a bottle
“in the shape of a coffin.” Today, there are six known examples of that quintessential British coffin bottle, all of which are dark cobalt. The late Rudy Kuhn assigned it Number KU-36 in his classification system, and a photograph of it adorns the cover of Mr. Morgan’s book. The esteemed British auction firm BBR auctioned one example at the U.K. Summer National Show on July 8, 2001, which drew spirited bidding and ultimately brought a hammer price of £8,700 (approximately $14,000 including the buyer’s fee). Gee, wouldn’t you like to dig a couple of those babies! By the way, it isn’t just a fantasy to dig a KU-36 coffin. BBR’s KU-36 auctioned in 2001 actually was dug some twenty or more years earlier. The story is interesting: when the digger grew up and got married, his new wife ordered him to “throw all those old bottles.” But he didn’t obey (good for him!) and instead secretly packed them into boxes and stored the boxes in his attic, eventually to be forgotten until his older brother called in early 2001. The older brother, who had seen a picture of the KU-36 coffin in a used price guide and recognized it as one of his brother’s long-discarded bottles, called the kid brother to taunt him over his lost fortune.
This is the patent drawing for a bottle designed by James W. Bowles of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1876, just five years after G. F. Langford had patented a different type of coffinshaped bottle in England. Although no examples of this striking earlyAmerican coffin-shaped bottle are known to exist, perhaps one may be waiting in a privy or attic somewhere!
This coffin-shaped bottle (KU-16) contains coffinshaped pills called “coffinoids.” Evidently, the Crystal Chemical C o m p a n y considered the symbolism of a coffin to be effective in warning of danger and toxicity.
Bottles and Extras But, of course, little brother had the last laugh! And I suspect that wife forgave husband, too. Another KU-36 (the sixth known) was dug in England in 2003. Returning to the 19th century: we Americans were not too far behind our British cousins with respect to coffin-shaped poison bottles. Griffenhagen and Bogard state that, “In 1876, James W. Bowles of Louisville, Kentucky, obtained a patent for a poison bottle in the shape of a coffin.” I have reproduced a drawing of what may be Bowles’s design from the archives of the U.S. Patent Office, but unfortunately for collectors, this particular bottle was never manufactured (as far as we know...but might one be awaiting discovery?) Eventually, American glass houses did manufacture coffins. In addition to the KU-36 (which Rudy Kuhn erroneously believed to be unique at the time he wrote his workbook), I am aware of six other types of coffin-shaped poison bottles, and all of them were made in the United States. All of them were classified by Rudy as “KU’s” which stands for “Unusual or Odd Shaped” and all are considered scarce to extremely rare. The known American coffin-shaped poison bottles are the so-far-unique bisque pottery KU-1 (which was dug many years ago in a Civil War site in North Carolina and also has a Death’s Head embossed on it); the amber “F.A. Thompson & Co. Detroit” (classified as KU-4) which has the word “poison” embossed on both of its two sides; the cobalt (and at least one known small amber) D.P. Company KU-8 in
This D. P. Company’s bottle (KU-8) where made in several sizes and are extremely rare and desirable. E v e n without warning labels, the KU-8 bottle clearly makes its point: do not drink!
Bottles and Extras several sizes, which also has the word “poison” embossed on both sides as well as a fearsome-looking Death’s Head on its front; a striking lime green KU-9 coffin, about which little is known; the Norwich/ Crystal KU-18s sold by companies located in New York City, known in both cobalt and amber and in several sizes; and the cobalt and milk-glass Dr. Oreste Sinanide’s bottle (classified by Rudy as KU-22) also from New York City. According to the KU-22’s elaborate embossing, “A youthful appearance is a social necessity not a luxury,” and the good doctor’s product was supposed to “prolong or restore youthfulness,” which makes his choice of a coffin seem somewhat odd from a publicrelations point-of-view. This last bottle comes with a ground-glass stopper and is scarce but available from time to time. Glass Works Auctions, in fact, had a milk glass example of the KU-22 in its September 2004 auction, which auction had not yet taken place when I wrote this article (August 2004). “Coffin Madness” reached its peak with the KU-18s. The same basic bottle, with different base embossing, was used by both the Norwich Pharmaceutical Company and the Crystal Chemical Company, both of New York City. Not only were the bottles coffinshaped, but the little pills (bichloride of mercury) were coffin-shaped as well. Norwich’s label bragged, “25 Tablets/ COFFIN SHAPE/Pat. Applied For” with a drawing of the very realistic-looking coffinshaped pill, while Crystal’s label proudly named its product, “COFFINOIDS.”
Fall 2004 British collectors call the common irregular hexagon KI-10s (the so-called “Lewis and Towers Practical Poison Bottle” patented in England in 1899) “coffins” but I’m not sure why, since they really are not coffin-shaped. Some types of whiskey bottles, too, are called “coffins” by collectors but the bottles probably were not meant to be actual coffins, for obvious reasons. As a general rule, true coffin-shaped poison bottles are not cheap and, as the BBR auction of KU-36 demonstrates, some are exceedingly expensive. The most available and reasonably priced are the smallest-sized (3½”) cobalt KU-18s, which seem to sell in the neighborhood of $100 to $125 in mint condition. I saw several nice ones for sale at the 2004 EXPO in Memphis, including one with complete label, full contents and its original, sealed cork. I’ll end this article with author William Ketchum’s colorful description of the purpose for making poison bottles in the shape of a coffin: “its form [was] gloomily predictive of the fate awaiting one who fails to heed its warning.” References: The late Rudy Kuhn’s numbering system of poison bottles was explained in an earlier
69 Poisonland column (Bottles and Extras, Vol. 14, No. 3). Volumes I and II of “Poison Bottle Workbook” are available from Rudy’s widow, Terry Kuhn, 3954 Perie Lane, San Jose, CA 95132; Ph: (408) 259-7564; cost is $20 per volume plus $5 shipping. The 60 or so pages from unpublished Volume III are available for the cost of copying plus postage from the Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association, which publishes the informative quarterly Poison Bottle Newsletter. Contact Joan Cabaniss, Secretary/Editor, 312 Summer Lane, Huddleston, VA 24104. Blakeman, Alan, “British Bottle Review” No. 88 (January-March 2001), p. 11, for the amusing story of the history of the British KU-36 auctioned by BBR. Griffenhagen, G. and Bogard, M., “History of Drug Containers and Their Labels” (American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, Madison, WI 1999), p. 9495. Ketchum, William C., Jr., “A Treasury of American Bottles” (Bobb-Merrill Co. 1975) p. 185. Morgan, Roy, “The Benign Blue Coffin” (Kollectarama, England 1978) pp. 7, 40. Webster’s New World Dictionary, College Edition, p. 284
Mike Dickman, 120 Solana Dr., Sante Fe, MN 87501 - 770-657-1021
The F. A. Thompson bottle (KU-4) was blown in honey amber glass and is popular among collectors for its color, embossed city name and pronounced coffin shape.
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Saratogas of the North by Phil Culhane In 1873, George E. Walton, M.D., wrote an essential reference book for today’s Saratoga collector: “The Mineral Springs of the United States and Canada.” Not only is it great as a shopping list, it also has a highly enlightening section with ads placed by the various Springs at the back of the book (which likely underwrote the printing costs). Since that time, Bernie Puckhaber has given us a book on the Springs of Saratoga, Jack Stecher has written of the Thruway Springs and Don Tucker has given us a wide-ranging guide covering almost all of the Springs that used Saratoga-type bottles. I would like to offer, for your consideration and enjoyment, the Northern Springs. Consider these Springs as the Canadian equivalents to Saratoga and its American brethren - the proprietors sure did. Fame by association? Probably. Caledonia Springs Caledonia Springs, located six miles in from the Ottawa River in eastern Ontario, must stand as the Granddaddy of them all as far as Canadian springs are concerned. The springs at Caledonia Springs share the same oral history as many other springs, both Canadian and American; the early literature is full of references to Canada’s First Nations people (a.k.a. “Indians”) using the springs for their healing qualities, and before them, animal tracks into prehistory. I can almost see the bunny rabbit on crutches dragging his wee body to the springs now! Caledonia Springs is different from its early Canadian contemporaries (Caledonia Springs was first commercialized in the early 1830s) in one important way. Through the mists of time, we are left with a single marked bottle, but what a bottle it is. This iron-pontilled black glass quart bottle was blown in Bristol, United Kingdom, at the Ricketts Factory. It bears an applied seal that reads “Caledonia Springs / U. C.” U.C. is the abbreviated form for Upper Canada, the name used for the present-day province of Ontario prior to 1841. To this date, this quart is still the only known Canadian
bottle with the “U.C.” embossing, making it not only the King of Canadian Saratogastyles, but also one of the reigning royalty of Canadian bottles, period. The bottle most likely dates from the period 18371840. It is fascinating to note that the proprietor, writing in 1841, states, “four thousand cases of a dozen bottles each have been forwarded to various parts.” How many with applied seals, I have to wonder? William Parker, an American, was the proprietor of the Springs from 1837 to 1846, and it is due entirely to his vision and tireless efforts that the Springs ever served more than local native peoples and ailing rabbits. In 1837, Parker invested a lot of money into clearing the land and building a fine hotel. Less than a month into the 1838 season, the hotel burnt to the ground. Not willing to give up on his dream, Parker held a lottery. Every ticket entitled the bearer to a lot at Caledonia Springs, with a few lucky souls winning the (rebuilt) hotel and even the Springs themselves. Of course, these few grand prizes were redeemable for instant cash from Parker. This effort netted him fresh investment capital, substantial publicity, and several hundred new property holders in the area who stood to benefit if the Springs flourished. The lottery worked so well that Parker held a second, with equal success. Caledonia had four springs: Sulphur, Saline, Gas and Intermittent, as well as several hotels, a racetrack, a circular railroad for guests, and a glassworks.
Above: Close-up of Caledonia Springs seal. Right: Caledonia Springs, U.C. black glass, quart bottle.
Bottles and Extras Parker invested in building a bottle glassworks at the Springs in 1844, with the first samples on public display in Montreal in mid-September. Sadly, no known bottles or shards from the Caledonia Springs Glassworks have yet been found, nor has the site of the glassworks itself. The Caledonia Springs Glassworks may have produced glass through much of the 1840s, but no firm evidence has yet been uncovered. Digs at the Caledonia Springs site over the past three years have turned up black glasscovered kiln bricks, but that’s another article. The next known Caledonia Springs water bottle is an aqua blob-top pint from the 1890s. Clearly, tens of thousands of bottles were shipped from Caledonia Springs from 1841-1890, but in what sort of bottle? I hope that future digs will provide answers.
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71
Varennes At Varennes, Quebec, a once-small village just east of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River, there was a botanical oddity noted by 18th century monks. Three species of flowers that needed salt water in their diet to survive were flourishing in one small area of the village, along the banks of the St. Lawrence. The next location these flowers were found was almost 250 miles closer to the ocean. The reason they survived? “La Saline,” as the saline spring at Varennes would soon be named. The springs at Varennes were commercialized circa 1840, with the requisite hotel and spa attributes being added. In 1859, the hotel, springs and all, was sold to the local curé, the parish priest, who promptly ceased the “ungodly acts” occurring there. He promptly moved in nuns, the elderly and orphans as tenants. In 1871, however, the curé sold the grounds, moving his charges closer to the parish church, and the new owner restored the spa to its former glory. One Quebec author, who has written extensively on the history of Varennes, claims that this “devil to god and back again” slant on the Varennes story is true, based on interviews with local elders and on the verbal folklore surrounding the curé and his religious philosophies. To date, no marked bottles from the Varennes Springs have been found from the 1840-1859 period. The most fascinating reminders of the second era of Varennes are two cornflower blue round
Varennes Seltzer bottles, pint and quart.
bottom bottles, embossed “Varennes Seltzer / Varennes / Near Montreal.” What’s most stunning about this pair of bottles is that one of them is a quart. This bottle is the only round bottom quart I’ve ever seen, and after 30 years of dedicated collecting, that’s saying something. The embossing is wonderful – with the duplication of “Varennes,” as well as the directions “Near Montreal.” My guess is that the third line was included as a form of advertising; as buyers in distant markets could not be counted on to know where Varennes was located. I’m hopeful that someone can fill me in on other quart round bottoms, hopefully cornflower blue ones, so that perhaps I can get a sense of where these bottles were made. Further research may help clear up the story
behind these bottles. For now, they stand as two exceptionally attractive Canadian Springs bottles. They aren’t Saratogashaped, but then again, neither is the Eureka Springs bottle, and it’s included in the Saratoga books. Plantagenet/Carratraca According to the 1873 book mentioned at the beginning of this article, the author believed that these two Springs, the Plantagenet Mineral Springs and the Carratraca Mineral Springs, were the same. In fact, they were not. They were, however, located within five miles of one another, and only about ten miles away from Caledonia Springs, mentioned before.
Five Hundred Miles Away From Home Every so often, I’ll find out about a fantastic Canadian bottle hiding in an American collection, many, hundreds of miles from where it was first produced, or at least sold with contents. A great number of our early coloured bottles, pontils and bitters were purchased by American collectors while holidaying in Canada during the 1950s and 1960s, as Americans took up bottle collecting long before Canadians did. Also, Americans occasionally bought Canadian bottles (with contents) back in the 1800s, and brought them home, wherever home might be. These bottles sometimes show up in dump digs south of the border. The quart Varennes shown in this article is one of two that were dug in a hotel dump in South Carolina, if you can believe it. When I received a letter from an American collector with a photo of the quart Varennes, I could only think that something had “happened” to the photo: I had owned a pint Varennes for over fifteen years; as he hadn’t mentioned the bottle as a quart, I could only see that the bottle was too short and fat, and the embossing too tall and thin, for the photo to be correct. It took several E-mail exchanges as well as his actually mailing me an image of the quart Varennes next to a standard aqua pint round bottom for the fact to compute in my skull: this was a very different bottle! Months of chatting back and forth, and I can happily say that the quart and pint now sit together on my shelf. If you know where the second Varennes quart is, or if you have any other neat Canadian bottles on your shelves, I’d love to hear about them – you may have something on your back shelf that we don’t even know about up here.
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According to their literature, “the Plantagenet spring water was first introduced to public notice in 1832.” The mandatory apocryphal tale is included; in this case referring to 1832 as being “a memorable year for the province. It was devastated by that most terrible of Divine inflictions, the Asiatic cholera, the city of Montreal having been actually decimated.” A lumber merchant by the name of Cameron used the Plantagenet waters, and induced friends and employees to use it as well. The result? Naturally: “this singular fact is recorded, that of all those who used the water and were attacked by the cholera, none died, while of all those who refused the water none recovered.” With an introduction like that, how could you help but love Plantagenet Mineral Springs water? Merchants from as far away as Ottawa (80 miles) were advertising Plantagenet Waters as early as the late 1840s, available for sale in bottles in their stores. In the summer of 1871, an ad ran daily in the Ottawa Citizen, with an image of a roundbottomed bottle boldly marked “Plantagenet Mineral Water.” Given the
Plantagenet Mineral Springs bottle (from newspaper advertisement).
existence of the two Varennes bottles, it seems quite natural that the image in the newspaper advertisements represented an actual embossed Plantagenet bottle, not just a bit of advertising. However, for all that, no bottles have yet been found – unless they too are in American collections. Carratraca Mineral Springs were located only a few miles west of the Plantagenet Springs, and their 1870s booklet on the place is quite humorous. In addition to comparing the qualities of Carratraca’s waters to those of the bestknown American spas, they also claim it to be “superior to all waters from any other Plantagenet Springs.” Plantagenet being a hamlet of some 900 souls at the best of times, most of them rural farmers, the humor becomes readily apparent. Despite their claims of Carratraca Waters being shipped everywhere, no known examples of Carratraca bottles have come to light either. Frelighsburg
Victoria Spring, Frelighsburg quart.
Bottles and Extras
The only Canadian Saratoga-style bottle, and the only one that has been widely known for the past several decades, comes from the Springs at Frelighsburg, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, just above Vermont (Tucker’s M-56). The Victoria Springs bottle is one of the few early aqua Saratoga-style bottles, and is quite scarce – or is it? A bottle-collecting friend tells me of someone who, in the 1960s, had over 100 Victoria Springs bottles: he used them to bottle and sell maple syrup! If nothing else, there is a reason to dig 1960s era dumps in the Eastern Townships – who knows what might come up?
Nowadays, the Victoria Springs site is lost to history. An article written on the Springs in the 1960s notes that, by that time, the Springs site was completely lost and forgotten, that no trace of the Springs existed, and that it was anyone’s guess to within three or four miles where the Springs may have been located. Victoria Springs was an Acid spring, as noted by the capital A on the bottle, as well as the chemical analysis of the waters done in the 1860s when the Springs were first opened. For the visitors, “a neat summer house has been erected over the spring. A broad carriage road leads directly to the spring and bathing house, and the grounds have been laid out in a tasty manner.” Despite the fact that the literature goes on to state, “the Company will at an early date erect a large house for the accommodation of visitors,” no hotel was ever built there, and the popularity of the Victoria Springs of Frelighsburg, Quebec was rather shortlived. The Victoria Springs Company was incorporated in 1868, with $25,000 in Capital Stock, but apparently, that was not enough to build a lasting reputation. St. Leon Another Canadian spring that can lay claim to a Saratoga-style bottle, although not technically a Canadian spring bottle, is the St. Leon Mineral Spring in Quebec (Tucker’s M-41). I am sure I’ve seen a history of this bottle written up in a small format issue of Antique Bottle and Glass Collector, though I haven’t been able to find that issue in months of looking. The Saratoga-style bottle was used by Earl W. Johnson, 27 Congress St., Boston, Massachusetts. I can only presume
Bottles and Extras
Fall 2004 Catharines salt springs were discovered in 1816, and apparently, a bottling plant was opened in 1847 to market the mineral water to the world. There is only one bottle left that may relate back to this firm, marked “St Catharines / Mineral Water / G. L. Mather Agent / Astor House / New York”. The bottle is an olive green whiskey type cylinder, quart-sized, and likely dates c. 1870. This bottle is also quite rare. Whether the bottle’s embossing relates directly to the springs in St. Catharines, Ontario is something I do not know. I hope that future research will add more knowledge to this bottle’s story. Other Canadian Springs
St. Leon quart Photo supplied by Don Tucker
Johnson had the waters shipped to him in barrels and that he bottled them in Boston for resale. In later years (c. 1890s-1900s), St Leon used a tall half-gallon lightning closure bottle with a fabulous image of a lion. Given the size of the bottle, the lion’s face is almost 5" tall, and on the best-blown examples, the lion looks quite majestic. By that time, however, the company’s head office had moved to Toronto, Ontario. St. Catharines The last Canadian spring with a great bottle available has to be the St. Catharines mineral spring. The St.
There are a small number of newer (late 19th century) Canadian springs for which no bottles or only newer c. 1900 crown stopper bottles are known. In his 1873 book, Walton mentions a sulphur spring and hotel located at Sandwich (Windsor), Ontario, for which I’ve never seen a bottle. Crown stoppered spring water bottles are known from St. David’s Mountain (near Niagara Falls, Ontario), as well as Russell Lithia Springs from Clarence Creek (a few miles from Caledonia Springs and Plantagenet, in Eastern Ontario).
73 by the time any springs had been found, the remarkable curative powers of mineral spring water had been significantly toned down. Overall, the selection of bottles is very small and they are all classified as “rare”, but they do exist – the Northern Springs. About the Author: Phil Culhane has collected bottles for thirty years. He has co-authored two books, Transfer Printed Ginger Beers of Canada and Primitive Stoneware Bottles of Canada, and continues to publish Canadian Bottle and Stoneware Collector magazine. Phil can be reached at pculhane@magma.ca, 102 Abbeyhill Drive, Nepean, Ontario, Canada K2L 1H2. The magazine’s web site is www.CBandSC.com. Phil is always interested in hearing about Canadian bottles in American collections. Wanted: Interesting bottles and stoneware from QUEBEC – medicines, whisky flasks, spring waters, ginger beers, sodas, etc. etc. etc. Anything interesting and/or unusual and/or colourful. Phil Culhane – phil@canadianbottles.com. (613) 831-7749
Summary For being the second-largest country in the world, Canada’s dearth of Spring water bottles probably points more to the country’s tiny population, rather than any lack of mineral springs in the country. Eastern Ontario is rich in springs, with Caledonia Springs claiming four different types of springs, and numerous other springs located in other towns nearby. There were several springs located throughout Quebec, as well as several in Alberta and British Columbia. These latter provinces were so sparsely populated up until the 20th century that
Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors’ Slide Shows for Rent Educational - Fun Informative To rent one of these programs, or if you have questions about the specific contens please contact: Barbara Hill Box 601, Tulare, CA 93275 Phone: (559) 686-1873
St Catharines / Mineral Water / G. L. Mather Agent / Astor House / New York bottle.
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Classified Ads FOR SALE FOR SALE: MISSOURI HUTCHES. Stevens-Bowling Green SP $25. St. Joseph Bottling & Mfg. Co., St. Joseph, Mo., SP flashing in blob, scarce, $48. Carl Kehr, Columbia, Mo., SP, VG $45. Queen City B&G Co., T Hayes Sedalia, SP, clean, small lip chip & base bruise, 1879 bottle, scarce $65. Andriano Bottling Co., St. Joseph, Mo., near mint, super embossing $28. Fair Play BW Fairplay, Mo., SP, lip damage $25. Kansas City Bottling Co., Kansas City, Mo., SP, extra nice $28. C.M. EvansApollo Lithia Springs, Smithville, Mo., SP, clean, VG rare $95. Crown BW, J.A. Fryer, Nevada, Mo., SP, one bruise $35. Contact: PAUL LAWRENCE, Ph: 573468-4924, E-mail: pljlbot@fidnet.com. FOR SALE: Arizona Bottling Works, Phoenix, Arizona, Hutch $115.00. 4 1/ 2 & 4 7/8 Al S. Lamb Druggist, Aspen, Colo., one has hole in bottom so $45 for both. Bitters Barley Malt Bitters Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. Listed in Bill Ham’s book as extremely rare, page 84 #B22. Has bubble burst on back, so $485.00. Postage & Insurance extra. Contact: JAMES O. DENNIS, Ph: 541-298-1979. FOR SALE: West Coast bottles including California & Nevada. Also, Western Americana and Antiques. Please send your wants to: JOHN SHULER, Ph: 775-720-4723 or write: 1167 Chaparral Ct., Minden, NV 89423. FOR SALE: OCTOBER SALES LIST: Contact RALPH VAN BROCKLIN, 1021 W. Oakland Ave., #109, Johnson City, TN 37604; Ph: (423) 913-1378; E-mail: thegenuine@comcast.net. All items postage paid. Western Flasks: 1. AAA OLD VALLEY Light yellow amber with some amber swirls. Cleaned. Mint. Not much crudity, but a beautiful color, $1800.00. 2. BRICKWEDEL A pretty yellow-togolden-amber tool top pint flask. Good strike. Uncleaned. Very near mint, $750.00. 3. JF CUTTER (Star & Shield). Amber. Good strike and mint, $1750.00. 4. C.P. MOORMAN Amber, mint, $650.00. Western Bitters: 1. CHEVALIERS CELEBRATED CROWN BITTERS Golden amber, nice drip on top, mint, $375.00. 2. DR RENZ’S HERB BITTERS Nice
olive amber, mint, Westerrn “R”’s, nice drip, $825.00. 3. DR. RENZ’S HERB BITTERS Light yellow olive, small manufacturers flaw with irridescence in edge of lip, $700.00. 4. DR. RENZ’S HERB BITTERS Nice light yellow olive coloration, mint, western “R”’s, $1250.00. All bottles guaranteed and returnable.
FOR SALE: Selling thousands of old bottles and fruit jars, medicines, milks, soda pop, cola, product jars and jugs. Also, old marbles and thousands of other collectibles at bargain prices. Contact: LEONARD TUGGLE, P.O. Box 157, Spencer, VA 24165-0157; Ph: (276) 694-5279.
If you could not make it to the EXPO ... Why not bring the EXPO to your home ??? EXPO T-Shirts picturing some of Memphis’ finest bottles on the front and “Celebrating 50 Years of Rock and Roll” on the reverse are available. Beautiful! Quantities limited:
. 70 Large . 4 XL . 2 XXL $18.50 Postage-paid. EXPO Souvenir Program - This 72-page guide to the 2004 EXPO contains color photos of some of the finest bottles from the state of Tennessee, ads from serious buyers, four articles about Tennessee Items and all the details regarding the show. Lovely! $3.00 Post-paid.
EXPO Auction Catalogue - 78 lots pictured in full-color. Includes a listing of prices realized. Add this catalogue to your reference library. $5.00 Post-paid. To order, please contact: Ralph Van Brocklin 1021 W. Oakland Avenue, Suite #109 Johnson City, TN 37604 thegenuine@comcast.net
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Bottles and Extras
Classified Ads BOOKS / PERIODICALS KETCHUP, PICKLES, SAUCES 19th Century Food in Glass 498 pages of pictures & research of glass containers the early food industry utilized.
Smyth Bound - $25.00 to: MARK WEST PUBLISHERS PO BOX 1914 SANDPOINT, ID 83864 GINGER BEER & ROOT BEER HERITAGE, 400 pages, all Photos are in fullcolor. $30.00 + $4.00 S/H. Contact: DON YATES, 8300 River Corners Road, Homerville, OH 44235; Phone: (330) 625-1025. FOR SALE: A limited number of 2002 and 2003 Federation Auction catalogues with prices-realized lists are available at $5.00 each plus $2.00 postage. Full color and beautifully photographed they make a handy reference! Contact JOHN
PASTOR, 7288 Thorncrest Drive SE, Ada, MI 49301; Phone: (616) 285-7604 or RALPH VAN BROCKLIN, 1021 W Oakland Avenue, #109, Johnson City, TN 37604; Phone: (423) 913-1378. THE PILL ROLLERS, Third Edition, C.G. & L.C. Richardson. This is the only comprehensive book on apothecary antiques available to collectors with a serious interest in pharmaceutical antiques and collectibles. The book has 185 pages with 800 items illustrated. A separate price guide is included with the book price. The glossary includes information to help identify pharmaceutical artifacts including an extensive listing of names to help identify drug jar and apothecary bottle inscriptions. The price is $37.50, including shipping, and can be ordered from: CHARLES RICHARDSON, 1176 South Dogwood Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. FOR SALE: CD-rom on Dr. Hatchett’s Drug Store Museum of Lumpkin, Georgia. Descriptions of hundreds of
INSURANCE for Bottles Your homeowners insurance is rarely enough to cover your collectibles. We’ve provided economical, dependable collectibles insurance since 1966. • Sample collector rates: $3,000 for $14; $10,000 for $38; $25,000 for $95; $50,000 for $190; $100,000 for $278; $200,000 for $418. Above $200,000, rate is $1.40 per $1000. • Our insurance carrier is AM Best’s rated A+ (Superior). • We insure antique to modern bottles (breakage included), and scores of other collectibles. “One-stop” service for practically everything you collect.. • Replacement value. We use expert/professional help valuing collectible losses. Consumer friendly service: Our office handles your loss - you won’t deal with a big insurer who does not know collectibles. • Detailed inventory and/or professional appraisal not required. Collectors list items over $5,000, dealers - no listing required. • See our website (or call, fax, E-mail us) for full information, including standard exclusions.
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pharmaceutical bottles, patent medicines, etc. – dating from late 19th to mid-20th century. Indexed by product and by manufacturer. Cost - $12. Available from Stewart County Historical Commission, P.O. Box 818, Lumpkin, GA 31515 or contact: ALLEN VEGOTSKY, 2215 Greencrest Dr., Atlanta, GA 30346-2629; PH: (770) 270-1034; E-mail: a.Vegotsky@att.net. FIRE GRENADE PRICE GUIDE - 122 grenade types priced from 400 auctions, 130 b/w illustions, 46 pages, $26.70 PP. Contact: RON FELDHAUS, 5117 W 92nd St, Minneapolis, MN 55437, or E-mail: vrfeldhaus@aol.com. PEPSI-COLA BOTTLES & MORE: COLLECTOR’S GUIDE, VOL. 2 with prices. All Color! $35.00 + $3.95 Shipping. All new! Over 1500 bottles 169 pages. Vol. 2 does not contain bottles shown in Vol. 1. Contact: James Ayers, RJM Enterprises, 5186 Claudville Hwy., Claudville, VA 24076.
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Classified Ads Can you tell the “Real” from the “Repro”? Now you can with Tippecanoe & E. G. Booz Too! A book about cabin bottles, by Thomas C. Haunton. Detailed info on 57 different bottles, with new “McKearin” numbers, over 140 photos, and new information on E. G. Booz - the man! A price guide and free CD with 200 color photos are also included. Send $32.95 postpaid to: TOM HAUNTON, 48 Hancock Ave. #1, Medford, MA 02155-5621. E-mail: tchaunton@comcast.net GEORGIA CROWN TOP BOTTLE BOOK. 260 pages with over 1400 bottles. Includes Georgia Bottling Works, 263 different Script straight-sided Coca-Cola bottles from Georgia, 236 different Georgia Chero-Cola bottles. Many others also listed. All Color! $39.95 + $3.95 Shipping. Send to: Georgia Soda Bottle Book, 1211 St. Andrews Drive, Douglas, GA 31533. FOR SALE: Two books on whiskey jugs by Bottles and Extras writer Jack Sullivan. THE AMERICAN WHISKEY JUG features 200 richly illustrated pages with index. $20 plus $5 postage. THE WHISKEY CERAMICS OF SCOTLAND, IRELAND and ENGLAND features 100 pages with index. $10 plus $3 postage. Or buy both for $25 plus $5 postage. Contact: JACK SULLIVAN, 4300 Ivanhoe Pl., Alexandria, VA 22304; PH: (703) 370-3039; E-mail: jack.sullivan9@verizon.net. COLLECTING APPLIED COLOR LABEL BOTTLES, Third Edition (2002). 1200 full-color photographs with over 1600 ACL soda bottles listed and over 1650 prices realized in an easy to read format. $45 includes postage Contact: KATHY HOPSON, 1966 King Springs Road, Johnson City, TN 37601; E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com. FOR SALE: “BOTTLE IDENTIFICATION AND PRICE GUIDE – 4 TH EDITION” The “BOTTLE BIBLE” for everyone – comprehensive, updated pricing guide, (3) new chapters: Cobalt Blue Medicine Bottles, Violin Bottles and Museum & Research Resources. Expanded & updated chapters: Determining Bottle Values, Trademark Identification, Dealer/Club Guide / Glossary / Auction Houses, Bibliography. 300 b/ w photos – 16 page color section - $21.00 (includes book/shipping/handling).
“AMERICAN PATRIOTIC MEMORABILIA” Comprehensive Pricing Guide – 17 chapters including Uncle Sam items, political, folk art, flags, World War I & II posters, stamps, sheet music, advertising - $20.00 (includes book/shipping/handling). Check or money order to: MIKE POLAK, P.O. Box 30328, Long Beach, CA 90853; PH: (562) 438-9209; E-mail: bottleking@earthlink.net. A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO ARIZONA BOTTLE & STONEWARE A HISTORY OF MERCHANT CONTAINERS IN ARIZONA 124 pages of very detailed sketches of bottles and stoneware from the state of Arizona (1999) Spiral bound, $25.00. Contact: MICHAEL MILLER, Miller Antiques, 9214 W. Gary Road, Peoria, AZ 85345, PH: (623) 486-3123 or by E-mail: gramike@earthlink.net. FOR SALE: Now, finally available! BIG BOB BEST BITTERS is a comprehensive price guide for collectors of bitters bottles reporting auction prices realized for the last 17 years. This printing contains nearly 4000 accurately described bitters in a convenient, easy to read
format. Listing bottle description and condition, Ring/Ham number, sale date and realized auction prices, this reference is a must-have for the collector or dealer of bitters bottles. To encourage your attendence at bottle shows, the price is an affordable $10. Price postage paid is $15. Send check or money order with your mailing instructions to: BOB STRICKHART, 3 Harvest Drive, Pennington, New Jersey 08534.
FOR SALE ads are a benefit of FOHBC membership. Send YOUR free ad today!
MISCELLANEOUS $500.00 REWARD! for any information leading to the return of my stolen property, ie: WILLIAM GOEPPERT & SON, aqua, “champagne” top, quart beer from San Francisco, circa 1882. Please contact: DAVE ACORN, 11312 Cottontail Way, Penn Valley, CA 95946; PH: (530) 432-2111.
WANTED WANTED: MISSOURI HUTCHES: From Cuba, Washington, Lutesville, DeSoto, Festus, Crane, Galena, Higginsville, Irondale, Mountain Grove, Perryville, Pleasant Hill, Rich Hill, Seneca, St. Louis true Hutches only: Ackerman, Eclipse with slug plate, Liberty Bottling, Schlieper & Graf slug plate. Contact: PAUL LAWRENCE, Ph: 573-468-4924; E-mail: pljlbot@fidnet.com. WANTED: Montana sodas - ACL Cleo Cola/Billings; embossed Apex Springs/ Dillon; embossed Hamilton Bottling Works; embossed Wolf Point Bottling Works; Niagara Bottling Works/Great Falls; ACL Big Chief/Missoula; ACL 5HI/ Plentywood. Contact: R.J. REID, 1102 East Babcock St., Bozeman, MT 59715; PH: (406) 587-9602; E-mail: reid@mcn.net WANTED: DR. E. P. EASTMAN’S YELLOW DOCK BITTERS, LYNN, MASS, - DR. RAMSDELL’S RESTORATIVE OR FAMILY BITTERS, LYNN, MASS CLARKE’S
ELECTROCLARIENT BITTERS, or any other medicines (embossed or labeled) from Lynn, Massachusetts, the home of Lydia Pinkham, Mrs. Dinsmore’s, Lougee’s, Thurston’s, Juno, and many more. Also would love to correspond with other medicine collectors to share stories, experiences! Contact: ANDY RAPOZA, Ph: (832) 928-7472; E-mail: andrewrapoza@charter.net. WANTED: Colored Drug Stores and Colored Hutches. Top Dollar! Contact: JOHN WHITNEY, 6703 E. Indep. St., Tulsa, OK 74115; Ph: (918) 835-8823 WANTED: Moulton items! I collect bottles and related items with my name on them and am interested in purchasing anything which I do not have. TOM G. MOULTON, 1911 Preservation Dr., Plant City, FL 33566-0945; Phone: (813) 754-1396; or E-mail: corkscru1@aol.com. WANTED: Jumbo collector, Frank Tea & Spice items with original closures. Also wanted, the following fruit jars
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Attn: Pepsi and Mountain Dew Collectors
PEPSI : COLA BOTTLES COLLECTORS GUIDE
by James C. Ayers ISBN: 0-964-54430-X - $29.50
An in depth bottle guide listing over 530 bottles. Many rare and unusual styles. Entire book (144 pages) all color with enlargements. Each bottle listed with ID#, complete description, date, rarity scale and price.
PEPSI : COLA BOTTLES & MORE
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The world’s first full color bottle magazine simply got BETTER and BIGGER PACKED FULL of all the information you need on the UK & worldwide scene Well-researched articles & All the latest finds Upcoming sales & Full show calendar “the classified ads alone make a subscription worthwhile, but the color pictures make it absolutely ESSENTIAL. Heck, what
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ALL NEW Vol. 2 contains over 1500 bottles - 168 pages - all color with enlargements - over 790 items pictured - includes Pepsi-Cola embossed, paper label, ACLs, Back Bar Bottles; also features Devil Shake, Diet Pepsi, Evervess, an extensive listing of Mountain Dew and competition bottles, Patio, Pepsi Free, Pepsi Light, Slice, Teem, Tropic, Surf and many others. Almost three times the number of bottles in Vol. 1. Truly a must for all Pepsi and Mountain Dew collectors. A super bottle guide with prices! NOTE: Vol. 2 Does Not contain bottles shown in Vol. 1
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CB and SC 102 Abbeyhill Drive Kanata, Ontario, Canada K2L 1H2 Check out our Web site: www.cbandsc.com
Bitters to ginger beers and everything in between!
E-mail: Info@cbandsc.com and closures: Ravenna pint, JJ Squire pint, Masons Union pint, The Chief pint, lid for small-mouth Crowleytown pint, CF Spencers Improved original lid, Hanes combination original lid, Eureka original lid. Contact: PHIL SMITH, 2281 Clarkston Ln., Union, KY 41091; Ph: (859) 384-9651; E-mail: psmith4099@aol.com. WANTED: Buffalo Distillery, Stomping Ground, Kentucky whiskey bottles or jugs. Any Georgetown, Ky. bottles or jugs. Any Mayseville, Ky. bottles or jugs. Contact: DONALD FINGER, 3227 Cynthiana Rd., Georgetown, KY 40324; Ph: (502) 863-0689 (no calls after 9pm). WANTED: Paying top dollar for mint or near mint examples of Vaughn’s Vegetable Lithontriptic mixture (smooth or pontil) and Dr. Sykes Sure Cure for Catarrh. Also paying top dollar for meds embossed “RHEUMATIC,” “AGUE” or “FITS” for my personal collection. Contact: MARK HOELTZEL, M.D., 2335 Lancashire St., Ann Arbor, MI 48105; Ph: (734) 769-3043 or E-mail: dr_dboy@yahoo.com. WANTED: Fish Bitters (F-44, F-45 & F-46) in all colors. Aqua, pink puce & copper-puce corns. Olive-amber & pink puce Bakers Orange Grove. Also Cabins, Barrels, Cannons, etc. Mint only. Contact: RANDOLPH HAUMANN, Ph: (415) 239-5807 or E-mail: hawkeye751@aol.com. WANTED: BLOB TOPS FROM BROKEN SODAS. Diggers, I will buy colored soda tops from broken bottles. Want good condition, with no cracks or large chips. Quantity is ok. Also wish to purchase dated sodas 1860-1865 from New York. Contact: ED GRAY, 698 Harness Hill Rd., Marietta, GA 30068; Ph: (770) 578-1727 before 9pm EST or E-mail: cegray@trane.com. WANTED: Western Hall embossed bottles, Owen Casey blob sodas, San Diego, Calif. Bottles & advertising related. I have
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Classified Ads Western bottles for trade. Contact: RICK HALL, 2265 Needham Rd., #18, El Cajon, CA 92020; Ph: (619) 6980167; E-mail: botlmole@cox.net. WANTED: Old tin beer, soda and juice cans. Glass food containers with good labels. Other tins such as tobacco, coffee, misc. food cans, oil cans, lard and honey tins, etc. No plastics or aluminums. Found in old dumps, attics, basements, crawl spaces and in walls of old buildings during or part of remodeling or tearing down demolition. Will pay cash or trade for older West Coast bottles. For quotes, contact: LOREN LOVE, P.O. Box 412, Dayton, NV 89403; Ph: (775) 246-0142 (eve). WANTED: D. Brannon and Michigan bar stoneware pieces and PreProhibition California Whiskey bottles, advertising and ephemera. Contact: JOHN & CHERYL O’NEILL, 1805 Ralston Ave., Belmont, CA 94002; Ph: (650) 631-7495, E-mail: joneill@croins.com.
WANTED: Oregon pumpkinseeds and “Go-Withs.” Contact: GARTH ZIEGENHAGEN, 2596 S.W. Pumice Ave., Redmond, OR 97756; Ph: (541) 548-4776; E-mail: zigs@bendcable.com. WANTED: Early New England glass, especially blown 3-mold, Stoddard glass, colored pontiled medicines, colored pontiled inks, etc. Also, figural Bennington Pottery pieces. Also scarcer Saratoga-type mineral water bottles. Contact: DON FRITSCHEL, P.O. Box 3354, Boulder, CO 80307; E-mail: donfrits@aol.com. WANTED: Advertising jugs and crocks from Missouri and Illinois. Have a special interest in St. Louis jugs and ones from the surrounding area in Missouri and Illinois. (IE: Levin Liquor Dealer, John Black Liquors, Rodenberg Liquor, Horowitz & Caplan Liquor, Whiting & Co. Fancy Groceries, Star Liquor Co., Valley Liquor, Cornet Bros., Hausmann, etc.) Contact: DAVE CRANCER, Ph: (636) 225-2755; E-mail: mojugz@charter.net
$ REWARD $ 30 Below Will Pay TOP DOLLAR for a
ACL Soda From San Diego, CA Mike Bryant (858) 581-2787 sdmike@san.rr.com
WANTED: DemiJohns and other large blown glass bottles. Would like to correspond with other collectors and exchange information and maybe trade bottles. Contact: DAVID HOOVER, Email: dlhoover@comcast.net. WANTED: These Hildebrandt & Posner’s: 1/2-pint and pint amber pumpkinseeds; 1/2-pint and pint aqua pumpkinseeds; 1/2 clear pumpkinseed without air vents; 5th and 6th size cylinders; 4-mold tool-top and globtops with crude tops, whittle and odd coloration. Perferably mint, or near mint. Contact: BILL REEVES, PO Box 252, Cedarville, CA 96104; or Phone: (530) 279-6304 (eve).
FOR SALE ads are a benefit of FOHBC membership. Send YOUR free ad today!
Veterinary Animal Medicine Advertising Wanted
Quality Pratts poster with Indians
Buying quality antique veterinary advertising: * Posters by Pratts, Dr. A.C. Daniels, International Stock Food, etc. * Veterinary country store cabinets, both tin front and glass front. * Advertising go-withs: Celluloids, Bar Spinners, Watch Fobs, Chalk statues, Thermometers, anything odd and unusual * Labeled Veterinary medicine bottles, especially with boxes. * Boxed Veterinary Medicines with contents. * Veterinary tins.
Contact either:
libottle@optonline.net
(631) 589-9027
Mark Smith 10 Holmes Court Sayville, N.Y. 11782-2408
Ken Opengart 1101 Simonton Dr. Watkinsville, GA 30677 chkenlps@yahoo.com 770-769-8438 (home)
Mike Smith 7431 Covington Hwy. Lithonia, GA 30058 PetVet@mindspring.com 770-482-5100 (work) 770-979-3239 (home) Finders Fee for tip leading to the purchase of either of the two Pratts Food posters shown.
WHISKEY FLASKS WANTED ALL SHAPES, SIZES AND COLORS FROM NEW YORK, BROOKLYN & LONG ISLAND Quality Pratts poster with Brownies
We will buy one item, or a whole collection.
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Classified Ads I am the cataloger of Tennessee trade tokens. My book TRADE TOKENS OF TENNESSEE is sold out. The book is constantly being updated. Any help with the historical undertaking, by sending me any information on tokens, will deeply be appreciated. I also collect tokens and would appreciate the opportunity to buy/trade for tokens that I need. Also, wanted are Tennessee Centennial items, Natiional Banknotes and obsolete banknotes, replies will be answered. Feel free to write, call or E-mail me: JOE COPELAND, P.O. Box 4221, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 Ph: (865) 482-4215; E-mail: joecopeland@comcast.net
McMURRAY ANTIQUES & AUCTIONS Specializing in Drugstore, Apothecary and Country Store Antiques and Collectibles
A Leader in the Field - Conducting 3 Cataloged Auctions Annually Collector of Dr. Kilmer Swamp-Root and Patent Medicine Bottles & Advertising Always Buying One Piece or Entire Collections
TERRY MCMURRAY P.O. Box 393 - Kirkwood, NY 13795 Phone: (607) 775-5972 - Fax: (607) 775-2321
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all at one time. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Available in White & Clear PVC (3” through 6” ID) 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Prices ranging from $85.00 to $125.00 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 CLEANING MACHINES 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Units available, starting at $160.00 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 OXIDES 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Aluminum, Cerium, Tin, Silicon Carbide 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 TUMBLING COPPER Payment by Major 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 New 12-gauge chisel point in 3 sizes Credit Card or PayPal 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Copper Wire: $3.75/lb. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 CUSTOM GLASS CLEANING 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Including bottles, decanters, insulators, jars, lamps, pitchers, 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 vases ...almost anything glass that needs cleaning. 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Two pricing options: 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 1) Uninsured option 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 $15.00 for polish 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 $20.00 for cutting (etching and scratch removal) 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 * customer assumes all risk for breakage 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 2) Insured option 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Cost is 5% of agreed upon value of the piece 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Minimum charge $30.00 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Piece must pass inspection - no cracks, potstones or thin glass 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 If breakage does occur; insured will be paid agreed upon value 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 and piece will not be returned 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Postage is paid by customer both ways, regardless of option 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 R. Wayne Lowry 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 401 Johnston Ct., Raymore, MO 64083 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 E-mail: JarDoctor@aol.com 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 Website: www.jardoctor.com 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 (816) 318-0161 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212 123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212
JARX DOCTOR
FAX: (816) 318-0162
SHOPS AND SERVICES CHAPEL ANTIQUES Specializing in antique furniture, bottles, Western Relics, Victorian glass collectibles, etc. Contact: CHAPEL ANTIQUES, 112 N. Curry St., Carson City, NV 89703; PH: (775) 885-8511
SPRING STEEL PROBES Length 36” to 48” Diameter 1/4” to 5/16” “T” Handle 1” Dia. x 12” and Ring 4” above tip, both welded. $37.50 includes S/H $3 Extra for Rush Shipping Cashier Check or M.O. R. L. Wilcox 7422 Park Drive Mechanicsville, VA 23111 Phone: (804) 746-9854 or E-mail: Wilcox7422@aol.com
Churchill’s Antique Bottle Cleaning Service Introductory Offer: Will clean one bottle at no charge ! (minus postage) Try me risk free! Less than 10 bottles: $15 each. 10-14: $12.50 each. More than 15: $10.00 each.
MARK CHURCHILL PO Box 7023 Grand Rapids, MI 49510
(616) 248-3808 E-mail: mdiscoidalis@netzero.com
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The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Membership Benefits Individual Membership Open to any individual that has an interest in bottles, flasks, jars or related items, some of the benefits of membership are: • A full year subscription to our quarterly 84-page publication Bottles and Extras, which contains specialty articles, regular columns, classified advertising, show reports, reports pertaining to our clubs and a listing of bottle shows nationwide. • Quarterly newsletters detailing news of the Federation and the hobby. • Free advertising of “For Sale” items in Bottles and Extras (a trial period of 1 year duration, beginning with the Summer (July) 2003 issue. Restrictions apply - ads may be up to 100 words, items must be of $25.00 or greater value, and free advertisements are limited to the first 100 received, based upon date mailed.) • One free ad of 60 words each year for use for items “Wanted”, trade offers, etc. • Advice on publishing your book / manuscript, and a forum for your articles. • The opportunity to obtain “Early Admission” to the annual Federation shows. • Access to the informational FOHBC Slide Show Presentations. • Individuals holding full membership may additionally request Associate membership for their spouses and children up to age 18. The costs for this is $5 per individual.
Affiliated Club Membership Available to any club, association or organization which has ten or more members and has an interest in bottles, flasks, jars, or related items, some of the benefits of affiliated membership are: • A full-year subscription to the quarterly magazines and newsletters, plus... • A 50% reduction in the cost of display advertising in the magazine and the newsletter. - In addition to this, there is a free ¼-page advertisement in the newsletter and free posting of the ad on the Federation website, www.fohbc.com, as a part of the advertising package when you advertise your show in the magazine. • One complimentary individual membership per year is provided to Affiliated Clubs for their use as an honorarium, raffle item, door prize, etc. • The Federation will post links from our website into your clubs website free of charge and will assist with creation of a web page for you, as our webmaster’s time allows. You supply the photos and general text and we will do our best to get you up and running! • A show ribbon for Most Educational Display at your show. • Access to the informational FOHBC Slide Show Presentations. • Each year, the Federation elects members to the Honor Roll and Hall of Fame to recognize their individual contribution to the hobby of bottle collecting. Our clubs are encouraged to sponsor individuals for these honors.
FED-4-SALE Federation Goodies from the Past ~ Please Note: Prices include shipping. ~ Coffee Mugs (1992 EXPO) $7.50 each – ppd. You’ll find coffee never tasted better. Only 43 available! Commemorative Flasks - Fabulous Fakes! $8.50 each – ppd. 1969 ABCA 10th “Success to the RR” Green 1976 EXPO, St. Louis (Scroll) Blue, Amber, Olive, Aqua 1988 EXPO, Las Vegas “Celebration of Am. Glass” Blue 1994 FOHBC Nat’l, Cherry Hills, New Jersey FOHBC 25th (free-blown date seal) Olive EXPO & National Show Programs $5.30 each – ppd. 1984 EXPO Souvenir Program, Montgomery, Alabama 1988 EXPO Souvenir Program, Las Vegas, Nevada 1994 National Souvenir Program, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 2001 National Auction Catalogs $4.30 each – ppd. 1984 Update & Price Guide, C Ring & S Ray $3.30 each – ppd. 116-pg. update to For Bitters Only by Carlyn Ring FOHBC Decals $1.00 each – ppd. Please specify INSIDE or OUTSIDE…
FOHBC Pins & Buttons $3.00 each – ppd. The Original Emblem, from the 1976 EXPO, St. Louis, Mo. 1984 EXPO Button, Montgomery, Alabama (Very limited quantities) 1988 EXPO Pins, Las Vegas, Nevada T-Shirts, 1988 EXPO, Las Vegas 2 XL only! $10.50 each – ppd. Back Issues: “Federation Journal” $13.30 per copy – ppd. Spring 1974 (V2-1), Fall 1974 (V2-2) Spring 1975 (V3-1), Fall 1975 (V3-2) Back Issues: “Bottles & Extras” $5.30 per copy – ppd. Only a few issues not available… ~ Please Note: Prices include shipping ~
Submit orders to: Federation Merchandise c/o Kent Williams 1835 Oak, Terr., Newcastle, CA 95658
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The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Presents
2005 National ANTIQUE BOTTLE AND ADVERTISING SHOW
DeVos Place AUGUST 13 - 14, 2005
303 Monroe Ave., NW Grand Rapids Michigan
For more information, contact: John R. Pastor Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors 7288 Thorncrest Dr. SE, Ada, MI 49301 (616) 285-7604 jpastor2000@msn.com
Ales
Medicines
Insulators
Fruit Jars
Bitters
Flasks
Presents . . . The 7th Annual Illiana 2004 Antique Bottle & Pottery Saturday - November 13, 2004 Terre Haute South High School Cafeteria
Sodas
Terre Haute, Indiana
Contact: Ned Pennington, 267 So. 22nd St., Terre Haute, IN 47868 Call for reservations: (812) 234-2214 Member: Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC)
Coca-Colas
Early Admission: $10 (Includes Club Membership) 7am to 9am Hours ~ 9am to 2pm - Free Admission
Whiskeys
Just off I-70 at Davis Ave. & 7th St.
Advertising
Marbles
Show & Sale
Inks
Beers
Jugs
Blown Glass
Demi Johns
Milks
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FOHBC SHO-BIZ FOHBC Sho-Biz is published in the interest of the hobby. Federation affiliated clubs are noted. Information on up-coming collecting events is welcome, but space is limited. Please send at least four months in advance, including telephone number, to: FOHBC Sho-Biz, c/o Ron Rasnake, 6301 Lilyan Parkway, Fort Pierce, FL 34951, or E-mail: RonOldGins@bellsouth.net. Show schedules are subject to change. Please call ahead before traveling long distances. All listings published here will also be published on our web site at http://www.fohbc.com.
OCTOBER 2004 OCTOBER 2 - RICHMOND, VIRGINIA The Richmond Area Bottle Collectors’ 33rd Annual Show and Sale (Sat. 9 AM - 3 PM, Early buyers, 7:30 AM) at the Showplace Annex, 2003 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Richmond, Virginia. INFO: ED FAULKNER, 4718 Kyloe Ln., Moseley, VA 23120, PH: (804) 739-2951; E-mail: faulkner@antiquebottles.com or MARVIN CROKER, PH: (804) 275-1101; E-mail: marvincroker@comcast.net. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** OCTOBER 2 - EAST HAMPTON, CONNECTICUT Yankee Pole Cat Insulator Club’s Annual Swap Meet &picnic/ cookout (Sat. 8 AM – 4 PM) at the home of Larry & Mary Emmons, 68 Long Crossing Rd., East Hampton, Connecticut. INFO: JOHN RAJPOLT, PH: (203) 261-1190, E-mail: rajpolt@earthlink.net or LARRY EMMONS, PH: (860) 2678584. **Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire** OCTOBER 2 - PT. PLEASANT, WEST VIRGINIA West Virginia’s 9th Bottle Show (Sat. 10 AM - 4 PM) at the West Virginia State Farm Museum, Rt. 1, Point Pleasant, WV 25550 (Rt. 62 North of Pt. Pleasant, Fairgrounds Road to the Museum). INFO: CHARLIE PERRY, 39304 Bradbury Rd. Middleport, OH 45760; PH: (740) 992-5088 or (740) 992-3730; E-mail: perrycola@eurekanet.com. OCTOBER 2 - BUFFALO, NEW YORK Greater Buffalo Bottle Club’s Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM – 3 PM) at the Erie County Fairgrounds Health Expo Building, South Park Ave., Hamburg, New York. INFO: PETER JABLONSKI, PH: (716) 440-7985, E-mail: Psjablon102@cs.com or ED POTTER, PH: (716) 674-8890. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** OCTOBER 8-9 - SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA Northwestern Bottle Collectors Association’s 38th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission Fri. 2 PM – 7 PM) at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Finley Hall, Santa Rosa, California. INFO: BEV SIRI, PH: (707) 542-6438 or N. B. C. A., P. O. Box 1121, Santa Rosa, CA 95402. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** OCTOBER 9 - BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA The Tulsa Antiques & Bottle Club’s 28th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM - 4 PM) at the Broken Arrow Community Center, 1500 S. Main St., Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. INFO: RICHARD CARR, 4 Gawf Place, Muskogee, OK 74403; PH: (918) 6874150. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB **
OCTOBER 9 - OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA The Prairie Signals Insulator Club’s Annual OK Swap Meet (Sat. 9:30 AM - 2 PM, set-up, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM) at Warwick Estates Club House, 6060 Woodbridge, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73162. Tables are free, but need to be reserved in advance. INFO: SANDY ELLISON, 11825 Lanceshire Circle, Oklahoma City, OK 73162; PH: (405) 721-6578; E-Mail: Diamonds4me@att.net. **Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire** OCTOBER 10 - BEDFORD, PENNSYLVANIA Bedford County Antique Bottle Club’s 27th Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 1 PM, early admission 7 AM) at the Bedford County Fairgrounds 4-H Building, Bedford, Pennsylvania. INFO: LEO McKENZIE, PH: (814) 623=8019 or CHARLES HAZLETT, PH: (814) 695-0128. OCTOBER 10 - KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE Yankee Bottle Club’s 37th Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission 8 AM) at Keene High School, Arch St., Keene, New Hampshire. INFO: CREIGHTON G. HALL, 382 Court St., Keene, NH 03431, PH: (603) 352-2959. OCTOBER 15 - MORRISTOWN, TENNESSEE The Tennessee Valley Traders & Collectors 2nd Annual Show (Fri. 10 AM - 6 PM, free admission; Early Admission Sat. 8 AM - 3 PM, $10; Dealer set-up, Fri. 9 AM; First table, $25, each additional $20) at the Tally Ward Recreation Auditorium, Morristown, Tennessee. INFO: BILL HENDERSON, PH: (423) 581-8386; E-mail: showprobill@charter.net. OCTOBER 16 - ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA Pennsylvania Antique Bottle, Breweriana & Advertising 4th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM, early admission 8 AM) at the Merchants Square Antique Mall, 12th & Vultee St., Allentown, Pennsylvania. INFO: MARK ZEPPENFELT, 4881 Cypress St., Wescosville, PA 18106, PH: (610) 391-0871, E-mail: uuubuy@rcn.com. OCTOBER 16 - LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA The 1st Annual Three Amigo’s High Desert Insulator Thang & Bar-B-Q (Sat. 8:30 AM - ?) at the home of Craig & Sue McLaurin, 43020 42nd St. W., Lancaster, California. INFO: CRAIG McLAURIN, PH: (661) 943-7649, E-mail: cbmzeek@earthlink.net or RON JENKINS, PH: (661) 945-0527, E-mail: jinx162@verizon.net or JON KREDO, PH: (661) 9460280, E-mail: sndykay@earthlink.net. **Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire** OCTOBER 17 - FINDLAY, OHIO Findlay Antique Bottle Club’s 28th Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at The Old Barn, Route 224 (1 mile west of I-75 exit 159), Findlay, Ohio. INFO: FRED CURTIS, 1635 Washington Ave., Findlay, OH 45840, PH: (419) 424-0486.
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Fall 2004
OCTOBER 17 - SCRIBA, NEW YORK Empire State Bottle Collectors Association’s 6th Annual Fall Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at the Scriba Fire Hall, U. S. Rt. 104 East, Scriba, New York. INFO: BARRY L. HAYNES, P. O. Box 900, Mexico, NY 13114, PH: (315) 963-0922 or (315) 963-3749. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** OCTOBER 21 - 22 - SAVANNAH, GEORGIA The 7th Annual Savannah Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission Fri. 4 PM – 7 PM & Sat. 8 AM – 9 AM) at the National Guard Armory, Eisenhower Dr., Savannah, Georgia. INFO: DAVID POWELL, 2617 Salcedo Ave., Savannah, GA 31406, PH: (912) 354-3576 or RUSS BUTLER, PH: (850) 627-4909, E-mail: oldglass99@yahoo.com. OCTOBER 23 - CANYONVILLE, OREGON The Jefferson State Insulator Club and Siskiyou Antique Bottle Collectors Association’s Insulator and Bottle Show (Sat. 9 AM - 5 PM, free admission; dealer set-up and early buyers, Fri. 3 PM - 7 PM, Sat. 7 AM - 9 AM, $10.00) at the Seven Feathers Resort (800-548-8461), 146 Chief Miwaleta Lane, Canyonville, Oregon. INFO: BRUCE SILVA, P.O. Box 1565, Jacksonville, OR 97530; PH: (541) 899-8411; E-mail: jsglass@intergate.com or SCOTT MORRELL, 5508 Pioneer Road, Medford, OR 97501; PH: (541) 608-1043, E-mail: nslater@medford.net; Website: http://www.insulators.com/clubs/jsic/show/ **Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire** NOVEMBER 2004 NOVEMBER 6 - CLAWSON, MICHIGAN Metropolitan Detroit Antique Bottle Club 28th Annual Show & Sale, (Sat. 9:30 AM to 3 PM), at the Clawson Knights of Columbus Hall in Clawson, MI (870 North Main Street (Livernois). Info: BRUCE HECKMAN, PH: (248) 641-1701, E-mail: hisser@comcast.net or PAUL BERTALAN, PH: (248) 689-9086, E-mail popsew@aol.com. NOVEMBER 6 - 7 - SPRINGFIELD, OHIO Springfield Insulator Show (Sat. 8 AM - 4 PM, Sun. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Clark County Exposition Center, I-70 exit 59, Springfield, Ohio. INFO: STEVE BLAIR, 105 State Rt. 56 SW, London, OH 43140, PH: (740) 852-3148, E-mail: csob50@aol.com or GLENN DRUMMOND, 600 Co. Rd. 87, Notasulga, AL 36866, PH: (334) 257-3100, E-mail: pat.eighteenseventyone@verizon.net. **Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire** NOVEMBER 7 - ELKTON, MARYLAND Tri-State Bottle Collectors & Diggers Club’s 32nd Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM) at the Singerly Fire Hall, Routes 279 & 213 (I-95 exit 109A), Elkton, Maryland. INFO: DAVE BROWN, PH: (302) 738-9960. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** NOVEMBER 7 - PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh Antique Bottle Club’s Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 2 PM, early admission 7 AM) at the Washington Twp. Firehall, Route 201 (1.8 miles south of I-70), Fayette City,
Bottles and Extras
Pennsylvania. INFO: BOB DeCROO, 584 Fayette City Rd., Fayette City, PA 15438, PH: (724) 326-8741 or JAY HAWKINS, 1280 Mt. Pleasant Rd., West Newton, PA 15089, PH: (724) 8726013. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** NOVEMBER 20 - MOUNTAIN HOME, NORTH CAROLINA Dixie Jewels Insulator Club’s Fall Swap Meet, (Sat. 9:30 AM late afternoon) at the Mountain Home Fire & Rescue, U. S. Hwy. 25, Mountain Home, North Carolina. INFO: FRED & BECKY PITTMAN, PH: (828) 692-6236, E-mail: trailat@mindspring.com. **Listing Courtesy of Crown Jewels of the Wire** NOVEMBER 21 - GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Southeast Bottle Club’s 3rd Annual Greensboro Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 3 PM, early admission 7:30 AM) at the Farmer’s Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro, North Carolina. INFO: REGGIE LYNCH, PO Box 13736, Durham, NC 27709, PH: (919) 789-4545, E-mail: rlynch@antiquebottles.com or DAVID JACKSON, PH: (336) 288-2677. ** FEDERATION MEMBER CLUB ** NOVEMBER 21 - SPRINGFIELD, OHIO Antique Bottle & Fruit Jar Show & Sale (Sun. 9:30 AM – 3 PM) at the Heart of Ohio Antique Mall, U. S. 40 at I-70 exit 62, Springfield, Ohio. INFO: JOHN BARTLEY, P. O. Box 53, North Hampton, OH 45349, PH: (937) 964-8080, E-mail: jbartley@who.rr.com.
To get your show listed in the publication as well as on the website, send at least 4 months in advance, or as soon as you know the date so it can appear as soon as possible to: Show Biz / Ron Rasnake 6301 Lilyan Parkway Fort Pierce, FL 34951 E-mail: RonOldGins@bellsouth.net or Webmaster/Editor - Kathy Hopson 1966 King Springs Road Johnson City, TN 37601 E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com (423) 737-6710 The Show Calendar is always up-to-date on the website: www.fohbc.com/FOHBC_ShowCalendar.html
Wanted: Colored Hutchinsons Buy or Trade Highest Prices Paid California • Eastern Cider Co. (Amber) • Paul Jeenicke, San Jose (Emerald Green) Colorado • C.A. Montag, Buena Vista (Amber & Green) Connecticut • Perkins Root Beer, Bristol (Amber) • W.H. McEnroe, New Britain (Amber) • Moriarity & Carbross, Waterbury (Amber) Georgia • Augusta Brewing Co., Augusta (Amber) Illinois • Independent Bottling Works, Chicago (Green) • Miller & Kluetsch, Chicago (Amber) • Chicago Consolidation Bottling Co., Chicago (Amber) • Peoria Seltzer Water (Cobalt) • Chas. Singer, Peoria (Amber) • Lohrberg Bros, Red Bud (Green) Indiana • K&C (Cobalt) • C.W. Arnold, South Bend (Cobalt) • Wyeth & Wyeth, Terre Haute (Amber) Kansas • H.E. Dean, Great Bend (Amber) Kentucky • The City Bottling Works, Louisville (Cobalt) • Geo. Stang, Louisville (Cobalt) Michigan • M Jos De Guise, Detroit (Amber) • Michigan Bottling Works J.W. Koch, Detroit (Amber) • Quackenbush Bros., Grand Rapids (Green) • C.O.D. Bottling Works, Jackson (Cobalt) • Property of Sprudel Water Co., Mt. Clements (Amber) • The Twin City Bottling Works, Chas. Klein, Prop. (Cobalt)
New York • F.H. Berghoefer, Binghamton (Amber) • F.A. Jennings, Hudson (Cobalt) • Manor Bottling Works, New York (Lime Yellow) • Sand Altamont, NY (Cobalt) • Thompson & Stebbins, Rochester (Amber) • D.J. Whelan, Troy (Cobalt) Ohio • A. Dalin Ashtabula, Harbor (Amber & Cobalt) • Sandusky Bottling Works (Blue) • J.I. Marsh, Portsmouth (Amber) • Jos X Laube, Akron (Amber & Cobalt) • M.J. Tyrer, Newark (Apple Green) • The Consolidated Bottling Co., Lima (Cobalt) • Lake Erie Bottling Works, Toledo (Amber & Cobalt) • Miller Becker & Co., Cleveland (Olive Green) • Voelker Bros., Cleveland (Cornflower & Cobalt) Oklahoma • O.K. City Bottling Works, C.G. Frost (Amber) Pennsylvania • Jno. J. Bahl., Allentown (Green) • Goudie Mol & Co., Allentown (Green) • P.H. Reasbeck, Braddock (E. Green) • Johnson & Bros., Delta (Green) • J.C. Buffum & Co. City Bottling House, Pittsburgh (Cobalt) • Royal Bottling House, J Ungler, Pittsburgh (Amber) • J.W. Reis Ginger Ale, Laurel Street, Pottsville (Cobalt) • Ridgeway Bottling Works, R. Power (Cobalt) • F.J. Brennan, Shenandoah (Yellow) • Ashland Bottling Works, Ashland (Amber) • Johnson & Bros., Delta (Amber) • Phil Fisher, Pittsburgh (Citron) • Eagle Bottling Works, York (Amber) • Seeters Vighy & Carbonated Beverages, L. Cohen & Sons Pittsburgh (Amber & Citron) • Laffey & Harrigan, Johnstown (Cobalt) • Turchi Bros., Philadelphia (Citron) • J.F. Deegan, Pottsville (Various colors) South Carolina • Claussen Bottling Works, Charleston (Amber)
Minnesota • Spa Bottling Co., St. Paul (Cobalt)
Texas • Kennedy Bottling Works, Kennedy (Amber)
Nebraska • Pomy & Segelke, Omaha (Amber)
Wisconsin • Lemon Beer, Noonan & Irmiger, Manitowoc (Amber) • Jos. Wolf, Milwaukee (Amber & Cobalt) • M. Gondrezick, Tomah (Green)
New Jersey • N. Masington, Camden (Amber)
R.J. BROWN 901 SOUTH FOREST DRIVE TAMPA, FL 33609 (813) 870-2551 RBROWN4134@AOL.COM
Mark Twain: Patron Saint of American Whiskiana
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Page 11 Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Talk About Ink E.S. Curtis Ink
Rare Hutchinsons Enthuse Georgia Collector Page 52 Great Lakes Steamers Meteor & Pewarbic Served Norris & Rundle Sarsaparilla Page 6
Page 58 Bottles & Extras FOHBC c/o Ralph Van Brocklin 1021 W. Oakland Avenue, Suite #109 Johnson City, TN 37604
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