Antique Bottle & Glass Collector | July-August 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

So you don’t miss an issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, please check your labels for expiration information.

To Advertise, Subscribe or Renew a subscription, see pages 66 and 72 for details.

To Submit a Story, send a Letter to the Editor or have Comments and Concerns, contact:

Elizabeth Meyer

FOHBC Business Manager

P.O. Box 1825

Brookshire, Texas 77423

phone: 713.504.0628

email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Fair use notice: Some material in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector has been submitted for publication in this magazine and/or was originally published by the authors and is copyrighted. We, as a non-profit organization, offer it here as an educational tool to increase further understanding and discussion of bottle collecting and related history. We believe this constitutes “fair use” of the copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this material for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner(s).

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector © (ISSN 10505598) is published bi-monthly (6 issues per year) by the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. (a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization) at 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002; phone: 713.504.0628; Website: FOHBC.org, Non-profit periodicals postage paid at Raymore, Missouri 64083 and additional mailing office, Pub. #005062.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC Business Manager, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; 713.504.0628, email: fohbcmembers@ gmail.com

Annual subscription rate is: $40 for standard mail or $55 for First Class, $60 to Canada, $80 Other countries, $25 Digital Membership [in U.S. funds.] Life Membership: Level 1: $1,000, Level 2: $500. The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. (FOHBC) assumes no responsibility for products and services advertised in this publication. See page 72 for details.

Coming next issue or down the road:

Arctic Oil Works–What’s Sperm got to do with it?

• History of the Baraboo Pottery–Baraboo, Wisconsin

• An early history of F. E. Suire & Company of Cincinnati, Ohio

• Pluck–John L. Sullivan & John S. Bowman

• ACL #6–Cowboys

• Nicholas Longworth and his Catawba Wine Bitters

•

The Fabulously Odd Mr. Klinkner and his Red Rubber Stamps

• Boy, have you got Moxie!

• What do You Collect?

• Reed & Carnrick New York Pharmacal Association

• A Clinton Physician Dr. Carl Gruber

• Dr. Guysott’s Extract of Yellow Dock and Sarsaparilla Update

• Early Pittsburgh Glasshouses

The names Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Inc. (FOHBC), and Antique Bottle & Glass Collector ©, are registered ® names of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Inc., and no use of either other than as references, is permitted 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.

• Soda City’s Only Two Earliest Colored Sodas: H. Deming & Co. and C. C. Habenicht

• On the Witness Protection Program

• Probst & Hilbs German Bitters Little Rock, Ark.

• Hutchinson Painted Flag Bottles

• Pressed Stoneware Bottles and so much more!

On the Cover: Component collage using vignettes from this issue.

FOHBC Board of Directors

Midwest Region Director: Henry Hecker, W298 S10655 Phantom Woods Road, Mukwonago, Wisconsin 53149, phone: 262.844.5751, email: phantomhah@gmail.com

Southern Region Director: Tom Lines, 1647 Olivia Way, Auburn, Alabama 36830, phone: 205.410.2191, email: Bluecrab1949@hotmail.com

Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors

The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors is a non-profit organization for collectors of historical bottles, glass 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 2022–2024

President: Michael Seeliger, N8211 Smith Road, Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521, phone: 608.575.2922, email: mwseeliger@gmail.com

First Vice-President: Position Open

Second Vice-President: Stephen R. Jackson, P.O. Box 3137, Suffolk, Virginia 23439, phone: 757.675.5642, email: sjackson@srjacksonlaw.com

Secretary: Alice Seeliger, N8211 Smith Road, Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521, phone: 608.575.1128, email: aliceajscreative@gmail.com

Treasurer: Kathie Craig, 1037 Hazelwood Avenue, Campbell, California 95008, phone: 408.591.6511, email: kathiecraig@sbcglobal.net

Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, phone: 713.504.0628, email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Director-at-Large: Ferdinand Meyer V, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002 phone: 713.222.7979 x115, email: fmeyer@fmgdesign.com

Director-at-Large: John O’Neill, 1805 Ralston Avenue, Belmont, California 94002, phone: 650.619.8209, email: Joneill@risk-strategies.com

Director-at-Large: Richard Siri, PO Box 3818, Santa Rosa, California 95402, phone: 707.542.6438, email: rtsiri@sbcglobal.net

Northeast Region Director: Charles Martin Jr., 5 John Halls Cartway, Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts 01985, phone: 781.248.8620, email: cemartinjr@comcast.net

Western Region Director: Eric McGuire, 1732 Inverness Drive, Petaluma, California 94954, phone: 707.481.9145, email: etmcguire@comcast.net

Public Relations Director: Position Open

Conventions Director: Craig Cassetta, 12 Marlin Court, Chico, California 95973, phone: 530.680.5226, email: craig.cassetta@gmail.com

Historian: Brian Bingham, 4305 Arbor Cove Circle, Oceanside, California 92058, phone: 442.264.9945, email: brian.bingham@att.net

Membership Director: Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, phone: 713.504.0628, email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Merchandising Director: Position Open

FOHBC Virtual Museum

Alan DeMaison, 1605 Clipper Cove, Painesville, Ohio 44077, phone: 440.358.1223, email: a.demaison@sbcglobal.net

Joe Gourd, 27W058 Fleming Drive, Winfield, Illinois 60190, phone: 630.653.7088, email: joegourd@aol.com

Ferdinand Meyer V, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002, phone: 713.222.7979 x115, email: fmeyer@fmgdesign.com

Miguel Ruiz, FMG Design, Inc., 101 Crawford Street, Studio 1A, Houston, Texas 77002, phone: 713.222.7979, email: mruiz@fmgdesign.com

Richard Siri, PO Box 3818, Santa Rosa, California 95402, phone: 707.542.6438, email: rtsiri@sbcglobal.net

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

Magazine Editor: Peachridge Collections, LLC, Ferdinand Meyer V and Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, phone: 713.222.7979 x115, email: fmeyer@fmgdesign.com

Design and Layout: Ferdinand Meyer V

Proofreaders: Alice Seeliger and Bill Baab

President’s Message

Michael Seeliger President Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors

N8211 Smith Road, Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521 608.575.2922

mwseeliger@gmail.com

I just returned from a fantastic week spent traveling to Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania attending bottle shows, viewing collections, and visiting friends. After talking for years about how wonderful the Mansfield Bottle show was, I finally got Mike Craig from San Jose, California, to join me in a whirlwind tour of the area. I picked up Mike at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and we immediately traveled to Mansfield, Ohio to be there for early admission. Just waiting to get in, we were pleased to sit and talk to so many friends and collectors. The enthusiasm was contagious. By the time the doors opened, it was electric as we moved around while bottles were being set up. For those of you who haven’t been to Mansfield, it is one of the best shows in the Midwest. As always, the Ohio Bottle Club does a wonderful job putting on this show. Matt and Elizabeth Lacy were there to greet everyone, along with Louis and Lindsey Fifer and club president, Ron Hands.

I got the pleasure of meeting so many great collectors and old friends at the show. I won’t try to mention them all for fear of leaving some out. The bottle stories, again, were fantastic. That evening we had dinner with Jim and Janice Hagenbuch and were invited to their house in the Philadelphia area later that week to view his collection.

We left the show on Saturday and traveled to Pittsburgh, where again, we were pleased to see Chip Cable’s collection of bottles. It is always a pleasure to view collections and hear the stories of how certain bottles were found and acquired. Each bottle has a unique background.

From Pittsburgh, we traveled to Rochester, N.Y., to visit and see the original Warner Building, home of H. H. Warner and his Safe Cure business. Mike had never seen the building, but I had several times. It was a pleasure to see someone enjoy seeing where Warner’s medicines were manufactured. For those of you who do not know Mike and Kathie Craig, they have the most complete collection of Warner bottles and go-withs in the world.

We left for a trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Mike is a glass blower, and his instructor has contacts with the people in charge of the glass blowing at the museum. This allowed us a behind-thescenes tour through the museum. What a thrill! It also allowed us to see some of the items they have in storage. There were two cabin Tippecanoe bottles on display at the time and many rare flasks. We also contacted the archives director, and I believe we have set in motion the ability to have them reference our Virtual Museum as a source of information for Museum visitors. They were over-

whelmed upon visiting our Virtual Museum through a website tour. We spent two days at the museum and then off to visit Terry McMurray and his historical drug store museum in Binghamton, N.Y. For those of you who have not had a chance to see it, try to pay a visit. It is like stepping back in time into a real live drugstore stocked with all the medicines and drugstore signs and displays. Terry is also a Warner collector, so many stories were exchanged.

From Binghamton, we visited Jim and Janice Hagenbuch and saw his impressive collection of bottles and early glass. We also saw the “pig pen,” where over 70 advertising and commemorative stoneware pigs were on display. Again, it made me realize that behind each bottle is a truly exciting and interesting story. Bottle collectors have so much history right at their fingertips, waiting to be shared.

Our next stop was with an old friend Will Fluman and a stay in his 1805 historic house he had restored. We then attended the Shupp’s Grove bottle show and again had the opportunity to buy some much-needed bottles.

The next stop was Fallingwater, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house near Washington, Pennsylvania. Since we were in Washington, Pa., we attended the bottle show there and again had some great experiences with collectors. Everyone was enthusiastic about the Federation, the Virtual Museum and Auction Price Report.

We met some great collectors on this 10-day whirlwind trip and when we got back to O’Hare Airport in Chicago, we were tired but extremely satisfied with how the trip went and all the great collectors and collections we saw. I encourage everyone to set up trips like this and take time to visit bottle collections on the way. Remember, there is an interesting story behind every bottle.

On a different note, have you had a chance to see the opportunity for the Northeast Region to host the FOHBC 2025 Convention?

We have had some great shows in the past from that region, and I’m sure 2025 can be just as spectacular. Manchester, Springfield, Syracuse, and York all had great FOHBC events in the past. The Northeast Region goes all the way down through Virginia. The West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey area is a hotbed for great shows in addition to the New England states. Hopefully, we will have some great proposals from this region, forcing us to choose the best one. Get your clubs or form a group to start looking into hosting this convention in 2025. See FOHBC. org for full details on what you need to do to begin the process, or contact your Regional Director, Charlie Martin, or our Conventions Director, Craig Cassetta.

The FOHBC online Zoom seminars have started. Have you attended any? If you missed them, they are available on the website in the members portal. Look at the ones scheduled down the road and make sure not to miss the ones that interest you.

Shards of Wisdom

“Heard it Through the Grapevine”

Tired of collecting? Hey, there is a cure for that problem.

Observations

by Ralph Finch

Hey, when you spend your days sitting in your late mother-inlaw’s bathrobe looking at the computer at various auction houses, that can happen. In fact, yesterday, courtesy of LiveAuctioneers, I noticed that I was presented with 450,000 items being offered that day! And after two hours, I had barely scratched the list.

Thanks to the Internet, the collecting world is getting smaller— and bigger—at the same time.

Three days ago, Janet was upstairs on her computer bidding on a large marble plant stand in Brussels, while I was downstairs on our smartphone bidding on a large, green, pontiled demijohn offered by a South Carolina auction house.

Janet stopped bidding after she couldn’t locate a Brussels shipper willing to send it over to Michigan. I was the high bidder, and the great piece of green glass soon arrived, doubled-boxed at a price that pretty much matched the cost of the demijohn.

But back to the problem. It’s easy to get tired of the hobby when you are collecting Jared Spencer flasks, or cobalt bitters, or...the world’s greatest collection of glass target balls. After that, no auction house or any garage sale in the world is likely going to have anything for you.

So switch to something easy and interesting that is right for you. How about…

Something from your home town? That won’t work if you are from New York City unless you have a lot of money and own a warehouse.

If you are from Zeba, Michigan, and are one of the 480 people there, you might have a challenge finding souvenirs, even though the village goes back a while (Zeba was initially founded in 1831). On the day I checked, eBay offered zero items on Zeba.

For something small and fun, how about collecting things with your last name? Although again, this has flaws. If your last name is Smith, you may need the above-mentioned warehouse just to stash your ton of goodies.

With a name like “Finch,” an old name but so-so common, it’s doable. I have a Ralph’s Snuff, a Ralph’s California Fruits box, a Ralph’s Coffee, a “R Finch” barber bottle, and a large, framed print of a ketchup bottle done by an artist named Ralph (Goings) 19282016. But if you have a last name like Brzezinski (as in Mika?), it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

Searching for a collectible with my middle name doesn’t take much of my time. My middle name? Dundas. It’s an old name with some historical ties but—not much. I did find a dryer vent maker in Canada by that name. (Ah, I’m familiar with hot air.)

I also noticed that “Dundas was a federal electoral district in Ontario that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1925.” Talk about sexy. One notch better: In 2006, Sotheby’s offered “The Dundas Collection of Northwest Coast American Indian Art.”

With a name like Dundas, you come close, as a teenager, to have bullies say, “Hey, dumb ass.”

Greek Coreform Glass Alabastron

Submitted by Chris Hartz

The publication and exhibition history of this approximately 3½-inch-tall Classical Period Greek coreform glass alabastron helped drive interest in the Fifth Century BCE piece, which topped off at $4,111 at LiveAuctioneers

Lot description: A stunning core-formed glass alabastron comprised of deep sea blue glass with opaque tangerine yellow and cyan blue trailing combed into a feathered pattern that envelops the entirety of the ovoid body. The discoid mouth flares outwards as a slender band of tangerine glass encircles the rim. Finally, a pair of applied trail handles, each in an elegant loop finishes the upper body. A divine work of glass art to be treasured for its impeccable form, beautiful hues, and sophisticated technique. Size: 1.5” wide x 3.6” high (3.8 cm x 9.1 cm); 4.7” high (11.9 cm) on included custom stand.

The alabastron is a long-bodied vessel with a rounded bottom, a

Greek Coreform Glass Alabastron

Shards of Wisdom

“Heard it Through the Grapevine”

cylindrical neck, and a flat disk for a mouth. Though usually without handles, some alabastra have trailed handles like this example. According to the Beazley Archive of the University of Oxford, the alabastron shape’s history extends back to Corinth, but was only preserved in Athenian pottery examples back to the mid-sixth century BCE. Alabastra were created in many materials, including alabaster, and the Greek term for this stone. Alabastron (most likely of Egyptian origin), was the source of inspiration for the name of this shaped vessel. Many examples were finished with a white ground, as if to imitate this stone. Others, like this example, were created from colorful glass. We know from vase painting imagery of women using alabastra following a bath, that these vessels most likely held perfumed oils.

According to the Corning Museum of Glass, core forming is “the technique of forming a vessel by winding or gathering molten glass around a core supported by a rod. After forming, the object is removed from the rod and annealed. After annealing, the core is removed by scraping.” This process of glassmaking was begun in the late 16th century BCE by glassmakers of Mesopotamia, and then adopted by Egyptian glassmakers in the 15th century BCE. The technique almost came to an end in the so-called Dark Ages of Mediterranean civilization (1200 to 900 BCE); however, by the 9th century BCE a new generation of glassmakers took up the technique once again, and between the 6th and 4th century BCE core-forming spread throughout the Mediterranean.

Exhibited in Ancient Glass: Selections from the Richard Brockway Collection at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, Salem from March 10 to May 19, 2007 and Glass of the Ancient World at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida from October 11 to December 28, 2008.

Published in Ancient Glass: Selections from the Richard Brockway Collection. Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, Salem, 2007; Glass of the Ancient World. Vero Beach Museum of Art, Florida; and Antiques & Art Around Florida, Fall 2009 - Winter 2010. Collecting Ancient Glass by Richard Brockway with Lynette Macleod, pp. 27. Provenance: Private, Vero Beach, Florida, USA collection, acquired before 2003.

The next image is a pair of Andrew Clemens (American, 18571894) ‘Sweetheart’ Sand Bottles each dated 1883 and with name banners for Charles Bramar and Maggie Bramar. Height with stopper 8 ¾ inches. Height without stopper 7 ½ inches. Diameter 2 ½ inches. The lot sold for $120,000 this past March by LiveAuctioneers. One bottle features a galloping horse to one side, above which hangs a name banner for Charles Bramar. The other side shows a clipper ship at sea, along with the date 1883. The second bottle is identified to Maggie Bramar and dated 1883, with an elaborate bouquet of flowers held in an urn on one side and a pair of yellow birds perched around their nest of eggs on the other.

Smithsonian posts 4.5 million historic images into public domain

We’re used to museums and libraries releasing hundreds, if not thousands, of images into the public domain, but no other institution has made quite the same splash as the Smithsonian. The world’s largest museum has added even more images from its collection to the public domain, totaling a whopping 4.5 million assets. Available on a platform called Smithsonian Open Access, anyone can download, reuse, and remix these images at any time— for free under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

The database pulls 2D and 3D images, as well as sound recordings and data sets, from the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo. The new additions to the initial 2.8 million assets mark a continuing release of information that opens up a wide range of possibilities for creators. With over 155 million items across all of its collections, the Smithsonian is continually digitizing and adding to the platform. While they are making these resources available, the museum technically disclaims any liability that the asset might have copyright considerations elsewhere or as yet unknown. These efforts are reaching the public: in the last quarter of 2022, 25.7 million assets on the database were viewed by the public.

So what can you expect to find? A dive into the 3D records shows everything from CAD models of the Apollo 11 command module to Horatio Greenough’s 1840 sculpture of George Washington. To facilitate that content for makers, the Smithsonian is also now on Sketchfab. Other notable pieces entering into the public domain include a portrait of Pocahontas in the National Portrait Gallery, an image of the 1903 Wright Flyer from the National Air and Space Museum, and boxing headgear worn by Muhammad Ali from the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Clemens ‘Sweetheart’ Sand Bottles

From & For Our Members

Antique Bottle Picture with Custer

Look at this picture from the Library of Congress National Archives. It is titled “The Peninsula, Va. The staff of Gen. Fitz-John Porter; Lts. William G. Jones and George A. Custer reclining.” The photograph is from the main eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862. Sitting in front of Custer is what looks like two aqua beer bottles with what looks to be paper labels and a labeled whiskey bottle, a pail of water with a ladle and five tin cups and a wicker-covered demijohn. My g-grandfather was the ultimate cavalry soldier. He was a first lieutenant under Custer’s command during the war.

Brian Bingham, Oceanside, California

“Clock face and clam shell” Cathedral Pickle Jar

[The following response relates to the Charles Gardner “Clockface and clam shell” Cathedral Pickle Jar in the FOHBC Virtual Museum Food & Sauces Gallery.]

Wonderful piece, especially with its history regarding the Gardner auction. The clip below comes from the New York Times. A 1977 obituary for Mr. Gardner, and explains the reason for the auction: “The auction came after negotiations broke down between Mr. Garner and the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, which had wanted to buy the collection and establish a museum. The company had declined to pay the $620,000 in cash Mr. Gardner asked.” (NYT 1977)

Bruce Shephard

Tampa, Florida

New Pepsi-Cola Book

Thank you for your kind response and invitation to participate in the FOHBC. By the way, I enjoyed the seminar Tuesday evening and hope I can attend more. It is a never-ending process of learning about bottles and how interesting they can be. Regarding my renewal, I was a member several years back and enjoyed the shows and the magazine. My first show was in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1996, one year after I published my first book, Pepsi-Cola Bottles Collectors Guide That book set a fire under collecting Pepsi-Cola bottles like I never imagined. Until then, no one had centered on Pepsi bottles. My second book, published in 2001, was Pepsi-Cola Bottles and More and was a success too. I had not planned to do a third book but so many collectors kept asking when and if I would do another one.

Four years ago, I started on my third guide, which is at the printers now. I hope to have it out this summer if nothing happens to slow it up. This book is the most different and inclusive of the three. Like book two, I added all the older vintage bottles I knew of that had been found since the last publication but added a new section on “No deposit–No return,” which no one has done to date. In addition to that, all known seltzer bottles by Pepsi are featured, all known drug store Bradham bottles, one additional back bar bottle that has been found, a section on error bottles, prototype and test market bottles, commemorative and special event, novelty and a large section on foreign bottles from around the world. In fact, the guide’s name is Pepsi-Cola World of Bottles–Caps, Cans & More. There is a section on caps/crowns and cans, from the first cone top, flat top steel and aluminum in use today. There is a section on cartons with correct bottles inside, Pepsi ads, the first Pepsi recipe, bottle design drawings, and more info and pictures. I’ve tried to point out that Caleb Bradham could have never imagined the future failures and successes of his “Brad’s Drink,” the original name (of Pepsi).

In what is featured in the book, one can see the evolution from the old thick glass bottles with crimped caps to the thin machine no deposit/no return bottles with screw-on lids or caps and, of course, the advent of the plastic bottle and aluminum cans being sold in over 200 countries around the world. A very interesting history that no one could have made up. He (Bradham) was quite a unique person with a desire to help people, at first by attempting to become a doctor, then as a druggist, and then by inventing a fountain drink that he took a lot of pride in when he saw how much friends and customers liked it. So, in the end, he probably accomplished more than he could ever have dreamed. If I can be of help at some shows or contributing articles and information, I would be glad to. Thanks again!

James Ayers, Claudville, Virginia

FOHBC News

From & For Our Members

Many Thanks from Jerry McCann

Hi Mike (President Seeliger), my thanks to the Federation for bestowing the honor of induction into the Hall of Fame. My collecting journey began over 50 years ago and has given me the pleasure of friendship and travel in pursuit of this hobby. This journey would not have been possible without the services provided by the seminal publications headed by Ken Asher (Old Bottle Exchange, Bend, Oregon), Frank Knight (Bottle News, Kermit, Texas), Neal Woods (Bottle Trader, Indianapolis, Indiana) and Jim Spencer and Jerry Jones (Antique Bottle World, Springfield, Ohio). These individuals are easy to overlook as they were not primarily bottle collectors, although their activities supported the bottle hobby.

Legendary shows of the 1970s (Las Vegas, Auburn, Rochester, York) became incubators for historical bottle collections and collectors. Without the hard work of hundreds of volunteers who organize the clubs and shows, the hobby would be nothing. There are too many individuals to list or remember, but they all contributed to decades of fun and discovery. My induction to the HOF was made on the shoulders of so many friends who shared so much for everyone.

Jerry McCann, Chicago, Illinois

Bowman Cigar Box

Thanks for responding so fast. You should know that I’m on the verge of completing the fifth volume (July, 2023) of the series labeled Cigar Box Lithographs, a series of books which was initiated in 2018. The final volume of this series is programmed to come out next year, 2024 when I’ll be 88 years old. The 3-page story labeled PLUCK, a narrative about John L. Sullivan, first Heavyweight Champion of the World, 1882-1892, is a 1,200word vignette that celebrates a boxer who was probably more famous as a ring-fighter than was Mohammad Ali during his prime days.

The series of books goes out of its way to locate 19th century

wooden cigar boxes enhanced with beautiful lithographic prints featuring not only past historic figures, but famous events like battles, famous monuments, famous almost anything. There are about 120 cigar boxes illustrated in each volume. Each volume is just under 200 pages in length.

The PLUCK cigar box itself was made by the Bowman glass factory in San Francisco. Since John L. Sullivan went on a two-year boxing mission that took him to such far away places as Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and other west coast jurisdictions, I guess that the Bowman factory took advantage of an event and produced this cigar box. The factory where it was produced is labeled #176, First District, California. It is quite rare to come across any 19th-century wooden cigar box manufactured in California.

This box is worth quite a chunk of change, probably as much as the most rare of any collectible bottle that surfaces at any online auction sale. All I can tell you is that the box was picked in Vermont and I bought it on one of my trips to Boston to visit my sons in the area. But I would say that the cigar box is worth as much money as any antique bottle produced by the Bowman factory during the California Gold rush days! Smile! It is the only known cigar box that shows boxers in the ring. In this case the scene is bare knuckle boxing (people should know that bare knuckle boxers often wore cloth around their knuckles). Anyway, enjoy the story. Please forward my way your magazine so that I know what it looks like..... Thanks so much

Charlie Humber, Ontario, Canada

Editor: Please look for the PLUCK article in the Sept–Oct 2023 issue of AB&GC. John S. Bowman has two bottles in our Virtual Museum: Jewel Old Bourbon and Jewel Bitters.

John L. Sullivan pictured on an Allen & Ginter “The World Champions” cigarette card and a John S. Bowman & Co. Jewel Old Bourbon cylinder fifth.

My Grandpa was a Moonshiner

This picture has been in the family for over a century. My great grandfather (seated in middle with cup) was born in 1896 and is pictured with his buddies and their moonshine still in Walker County, Alabama. There was a fifth “associate” present but he chose to stand behind the bushes rather than have his picture taken…smart guy! Grandpa would get on the straight and narrow years later as he became a devoted church member…but on this particular afternoon these young guys didn’t look to have a care in the world.

Keith Quinn, Dore, Alabama

NEW Online Seminar Series Kicks Off with a Blast!

On the evening of May 9, 2023, the FOHBC held its first online monthly 1-hour online Zoom seminar. Veteran digger and AB&GC writer Jeff Mihalik presented “Three-State Digging

Part 1, I Have The Wheeling Feeling.” FOHBC president Michael Seeliger hosted the event and introduced Jeff who had a 40 minute presentation prepared focusing on digs, finds and the local history and characters living in Wheeling, West Virginia. This was followed by about 15 minutes of questions and answers. Part 2 will occur in October this year and will focus on other digs in the tri-state area. Seminars occur on Tuesday evenings during the first or second week of each month at 7:00 pm CST. Seminars are recorded and available in the FOHBC Members Portal.

Seminars FREE for FOHBC Members and $15 for non-mem-

bers. Sign up as a member prior to the seminar and attend free. All attendees will receive a Zoom invitation and will attend via desktop, laptop, tablet, or smart phone if they prefer. Attend them all or a-la-carte. RSVP to get an invitation at FOHBCseminars@ gmail.com. You will receive a Zoom email invitation with a link for each event. Simply join at the noted time, sit back, relax and enjoy some great antique bottle and glass seminars and discussion.

Proposed FOHBC Bylaws Revisions

President Seeliger and the FOHBC Bylaws Committee want to inform the membership that they are working on a bylaws revision and hopefully it will be ready for inclusion at our yet-to-bedetermined annual FOHBC Zoom membership meeting as we are not having a National Convention this year.

Interested members should monitor the FOHBC website for a full disclosure of changes and rationale behind the changes. Most are procedural changes to bring the bylaws up to modern standards of electronic communication. There will be a few changes that may require member discussion and an electronic vote will be taken by the membership if necessary. The bylaws revision rationale will also be in the September–October 2023 issue of AB&GC which will be in members’ hands near the end of August.

Invitation to Host – FOHBC 2025 National Antique Bottle Convention | Northeast Region

FOHBC Conventions Director Craig Cassetta recently issued via email and social media, the FOHBC invitation offered to any Northeast Region Antique Bottle and Glass Club, Show, Institution and Chairperson Consortium Team to indicate interested in hosting and holding the FOHBC 2025 National Antique Bottle Convention in a town, city, state in the Northeast Region. The event is a 50/50 shared effort between the Host and the FOHBC. The FOHBC provides overall management, marketing, advertising and financial backing. The Host is responsible for the event theme and the anchor event, the Antique Bottle and Glass Show & Sale. The Host can also suggest a convention logo, banquet speaker, seminar presenters, displays, extracurricular activities and a convention photographer. Host volunteers will also be given incentives. You can also see the four-page invite at FOHBC. org

Internet Bottle Show Detectives

Did you know that there are armchair antique bottle and glassbuyers out there who scour the recent bottle show dealer tables posted on the Internet and in club newsletters. We know of a growing group of these folks who constantly ask for dealer names so they can track down a piece they saw and possibly add to their collection. A whole new secondary market could be achieved if each show table was pictured after the event.

FOHBC Regional News

Editor Note: With an abundance of reporting information and photographs this issue, we are placing the entire Regional Directors report on our website FOHBC.org. Please go to the homepage under Editors’ Pick for “The Rest of the Story,” as Paul Harvey used to say.

Northeast Region [Charlie Martin Jr., Director]

A recent Baltimore Antique Bottle Club (BABC) newsletter had a wonderful review of their 42nd Annual Bottle Show, held this past March 12, 2023. Not only was the show well attended, (with over 1,000 paid admissions….WOW! How great is that?), their list of volunteers is as large as many bottle clubs’ memberships. (Another….WOW!) Here is a snippet from their newsletter article. “All of our club’s admission volunteers did a great job selling tickets, hand stamping, and getting door prize cards filled out. The club’s hospitality table volunteers were all helpful in introducing and representing our club to attendees, answering their questions, assisting attendees with the show’s layout and selling the club’s merchandise. The club’s appraisal table is always a great asset for those who want to get an estimated value of their bottle(s).” We can all learn a great deal from the success of fellow bottle clubs. Hats off to one of the Northeast’s premier bottle shows. If you’ve never attended this show, do yourself a favor and be sure to put it on your “bucket list.” You will not regret it.

Aaron J. Weber, GVBCA Show Chair, sent along the following report of their 51st Club Show and Sale, held on April 16, 2023. “Well, another one is in the books…52 to be exact. The GVBCA Rochester Bottle Show, held at Roberts Wesleyan University, was a success. Now that the dust has settled, we can look back and say, Well, that was fun! Our show featured 200 dealer tables, with 110 dealers from 11 states. Great merchandise, including antique bottles, advertising, ephemera, glass, jewelry, stoneware, and more, was plentiful. Dealers reported strong sales, and we had 533 paid admissions. Our show still includes incredible displays, 10 of them using 14 tables.

“This year’s award-winning displays were Best of Show and People’s Choice, “Dr. Pettit’s American Eye Salve Co, of Fredonia, NY” by Vince Martonis, from Gerry, New York (pictured) and Most Educational, “White Springs Farm & Geneva Milk Co.” by Preston Pierce, from Canandaigua, New York (pictured). Once again, incredible displays by all! A huge thank you goes out to all who helped to make this year’s show a success; we had a very good club effort to pull off another great show and sale!” Mark your calendar, the GVBCA will host its 53rd Annual Show and Sale on April 21, 2024.

William Rose of the Little Rhody Bottle Club provided the following report of their Swap Meet held on May 13, 2023. “At 7:00 am, dealers started setting up their tables at Leonard’s Antiques on Route 40, 600 Taunton Avenue, Seekonk, Massachusetts. Table set up was free to anyone, not just club members, for an event that was open with free admission to the public. The Spring day was sunny and warm as the public stopped in to buy, sell, or trade bottles. Members came from as far away as Vermont and Pennsylvania.” Club members Tish Hewins, John DeSousa and Bob Lanpher took photos for the event. Two additional Swap Meets are scheduled later this season at the same location for June 10, 2023, and September 2, 2023.

Bottle show season is well underway here in the Northeast Region. Listed below are shows that you may be able to attend in July such as the Shupp’s Grove Summer Bottle Festival in Reinsholds, Pennsylvania on July 14-16. The following week, on July 23, the Capital Region Antique Bottle Club will host their Annual Show and Sale, at Mabee Farm Historic Site, in Rotterdam Junction, New York. For a full listing of shows go to FOHBC.org Show Listings

Lastly, the FOHBC has released an invitation to host and hold the 2025 National Antique Bottle Convention in the Northeast Region. The Invitation “invites any Northeast Region Antique Bottle and Glass Club, Show, Institution, and Chairperson Consortium Team to indicate their willingness to host and hold the FOHBC 2025 National Antique Bottle Convention in a town, city or state” in that region. What a wonderful opportunity for our region! If you or your club would like more information or have any questions regarding the process of application you can reach out to Craig Cassetta, FOHBC Conventions Director at CCassettaFOHBC@gmail.com. You can also find the complete invitation for proposals at FOHBC.org.

Editor Note: Continued on page 28 and FOHBC.org for expanded coverage.

Chris Davis and Preston Pierce (right)

Chris Davis and Vince Martonis (right)

Virtual Museum News

By Richard T. Siri, Santa Rosa, California

The FOHBC Virtual Museum has been established to display, inform, educate, and enhance the enjoyment of historical bottle and glass collecting by providing an online virtual museum experience for significant historical bottles and other items related to early glass.

Note from Richard:

Alan DeMaison, our lead imager, is also the Museum treasurer. Did you know that the FOHBC Virtual Museum receives no monetary support from the FOHBC and survives on donations from members? This condition has been this way since we started the Museum in 2010. With Miguel Ruiz, the only paid person at the Museum, we need about $18,000 a year to continue using his outstanding website technician services. This budget cost includes travel expenses for imaging collections, equipment costs, hardware, software, website hosting, storage, and applications to keep up with performance, regulations and security.

Without the Virtual Museum team (Alan, Eric McGuire, Ferdinand Meyer V, Gina Pellegrini-Ott, myself and others) donating their time, the cost could double or more. Remember, the Museum is an educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit; your donations are tax-deductible. When you provide a gift, your name will be listed permanently on our Donor Wall, which shows all levels of contributions. There is no question about the quality of the Museum— it’s a head and shoulders above anything else in the antique bottle and glass world.

Alan is set to image poison bottles from the Joan Cabaniss collection and is looking for other collections in the Virginia area to image. He also sent another large group of early Beer and Soda Water spins for our growing Ales & Beers Gallery and the already robust Soda Water Gallery. These early specimens all came from the Tod von Mechow collection outside Philadelphia. [Editor Note: See page 22 of this issue for Registering Bottles by Tod] Also, we are seeking an imager in the Southeast if you are interested. Please get in touch with Alan or Ferdinand for specifics.

Remember to tell your friends and others about the Museum. After seeing what it’s about, maybe they may develop an interest in antique bottles and history. Get the younger generations to check it out; they love the Internet.

New Druggist Gallery off to a Healthy Start

Our latest Museum gallery is for Druggist bottles and is located at the West Wing of Level 2. Druggist, pharmacy, drugstore or prescription bottles are closely connected to other types of medicinal bottles. Most of the many thousands of local druggists during the 19th and early 20th century typically concocted their medicinal compounds to sell from their stores utilizing proprietary druggist or prescription bottles, many in gorgeous glass colors, with their embossed name and address. There were likely tens of thousands of different embossed druggist bottles made between the 1870s and 1920s—the heyday of the proprietary druggist bottle. As of this writing, we already have 58 representative bottles in various stages of development or displayed in the Museum.

Poison Bottle Gallery

As noted previously, this gallery received a nice boost recently when we set the groundwork to visit with Joan Cabaniss and her poison bottles. Many collectors know Joan as one of the authorities on these types of bottles. Joan, for many years headed up the Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association, which has now gone online on Facebook. These bottles are bound together because they were primarily intended for products, not internal human consumption. Content possibilities for some of the more generic bottles were virtually limitless. They included cleaning compounds, formaldehyde, insecticide or other pest chemicals, iodine, liniments, acids, embalming fluids, various antiseptic compounds, vaporizer substances, and many other substances known to be toxic to humans if ingested. We thank Joan, who contributed Rudy Kuhn’s Poison Bottle Workbook to help with the research component and look forward to a strong relationship with collectors in this arena. You can find the Poison Gallery located at the northeast corner of Level 3.

Frequently Asked Questions

One “Rule of Thumb” we prescribe to is that whenever we are asked a question about the “Virtual Museum,” we ask ourselves, “What would an actual museum do?” Let’s test it out.

Q: Will there be a Gift Shop? A: Yes, there already is, but it is under construction. The shop will be located to the right of the Entrance Lobby on Level 1. Q: How will you have time to image and write up hundreds of thousands of bottles? A: Like any museum, we are not a library and strive to have representative antique bottle and glass examples and history from all collecting areas. Q. Will the Museum ever be finished? A. Museums are never finished. Some start as a room in a house, then fill a volume, then move to a floor in a building, eventually growing to have their own structure or grow even more significant to a collection of Museums, like the Smithsonian. Museums are constantly evolving and expanding. Q: Will the Museum include foreign bottles? A: It already does. Since the initial planning for the Museum, the effort has always been intended to be a global effort. Eventually, we plan to image collections in Great Britain, Germany, the Middle East, and Australia. Many 19th-century early American bottles were made in Europe and shipped to America. The second online Zoom Lecture was based on this topic. Q: I have a bottle; can it be imaged for the Museum? A: Indeed, if we do not already have an example. Many persons made appointments or dropped by the Virtual Museum imaging station at our Reno 2022 Convention and had their bottles imaged. Q. My bottle is not expensive, can it be in the Museum? A. Certainly, if the bottle is historically important and has a story, it’s a prime candidate for inclusion. Hundreds of bottles are already in the Museum that fit this criteria. Q: How can I help? A: Besides financially, we need help researching, imaging, and for technical areas.

Please help us fill our Phase 4 Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial bottle.

Please help us in our Phase 4 fundraising capital campaign to continue development of the FOHBC Virtual Museum. The FOHBC and the Virtual Museum team thank our many donors who have helped us raise over $93,368 to date. We have $24,845 in available funds to continue development to build our galleries, exhibition hall, research library and gift shop. Donations are tax deductible. All donors are listed on our Virtual Museum Recognition Wall. With one salaried website technician averaging $1,200 a month, we need help. Plus, we are now traveling to collections with the Pandemic hopefully behind us, so more costs will be incurred. All other time is donated by the Virtual Museum team out of our love and passion for the hobby and the FOHBC. Thank you!

FOHBCVirtualMuseum.org

For gift information contact: Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Treasurer, 1605 Clipper Cove, Painesville, Ohio 44077, a.demaison@sbcglobal.net

Something Smells Here...

And Adam Koch swears that it’s not him.

Detroit bottle club member Ralph Finch picks up the scent and tracks down the guilty culprits…

So many years ago, there were smartalecks in the hobby (are there any now?) who liked to play jokes on other collectors.

In one 1977 Detroit bottle club newsletter, there was a photo of member Rod Wing’s newborn granddaughter, Tiffany, with her “milk bottle,” an amber Indian Queen with a nipple attached! [A] (At that time, Rod was the king of lightning rod balls.)

And here is my favorite prank that the Detroit club pulled off:

A super-rare cobalt Pierre Teller soda was found by a member, John Brookner, but—it was missing the top. Still, a bottle worth having, even in that condition. And back then was a man whose name became part of the hobby lexicon: Don Spangler of Dayton, Ohio. If a bottle was chipped, cracked, whatever—even missing a top—Don, a glass-repairing artist, could work magic on the item and bring a “dead soldier” back to life. And from that era on, any such bottle was described as “Spanglerized.”

So Brookner’s bottle was sent off to Don with the request to make a cobalt mouth to this great item. (FYI: Teller was in a variety of businesses and mineral waters from around 1848 to 1857.)

The then-current Detroit club president intercepted the request and asked Don to make a minor change. He also requested that the repaired bottle be returned to him in order to present it to Brookner at a club meeting.

When Brookner unwrapped the bottle, seeing his shocked face was worth the cost and effort. There was his su-

Your author, holding his… “Stinky.”

And, fyi: The “bracelet” he is wearing is not out of vanity, but given to him after a serious stay in a hospital.

“I wanted one that said ‘Tall, dark and handsome,’ but they must have been out of those.

Mine simply says: ‘Difficult Airway.’ Borrrrring.”

per-rare cobalt bottle with...a Coke-bottle mouth! [B] Later, Don repaired the bottle with a correct period mouth.

Now we turn to—ta-daa—an award presented in 1985 at Louisville’s “Kentuckiana Bottle and Outhouse Society Show,” carrying on the side the odious word: Stinky. It was an impressive creation, with the figure of a man sitting on top of the mouth of an eagle/eagle flask. And the man had his pants pulled down! [C] (That’s a moving image that will be hard to wipe out of your memory.)

And a related “Stinky” story, about which Akron, Ohio’s Adam Koch reveals: “The Ohio Bottle Club has had a long history of very successful bottle shows. During the early years, displays were a big part of our shows. At our very first show in 1969, Judge Edmund Blaske and Dick Watson were our display judges.

“The 1982 show chairpersons were Ted and Hazel Krist, and Doc Ford was the club president. At the show banquet, Doc Ford was emcee, introducing the speaker and presenting awards.”

Adam continues...“Previous to the show, I made arrangements with cartoon artist (and club member) Bob Villamagna to draw a caricature of Doc sitting on a flask, pants down.

“Bob did not hand me the rolled-up drawing until minutes before I made the presentation to Doc. I was unaware that Bob contacted Doc, and they pulled a fast one on me. To my surprise, when I unrolled the scroll, it was me sitting on the flask! Everyone, including me, got a big laugh out of it,” Adam admits. [D]

Regarding the “artwork,”? Artist Bob Villamagna, from his

– Photo by Janet Finch

“cramped West Virginia studio,” remembers: “I don’t recall the whole story here, but I do know that someone asked me to create the caricature of Adam and use the logo of the great Louisville Antique Bottle Club as the vehicle for the illustration.

“The Louisville logo, as you know, shows an impish character, pants down, doing his ‘business’ into the flask. It was a fun piece for me as I not only got to work Adam’s face into the flask but also work up his name as the embossing.

“I hope you are able to, as Paul Harvey used to say, get to ‘the rest of the story’.”

I asked the “Bitters-baron” of Ohio, Ted Krist, who “goes back awhile” but only comments:

“As for your ‘crappy’ award, there’s something about it that just doesn’t pass the smell test. Hope you find your answer.” – Ted and Hazel Krist.

So, will the ‘Stinky Award’ become the glass hobby’s “MacGuffin” (a term courtesy of the Maltese Falcon, the 1941 film noir written and directed by John Huston, where the falcon is used as a “MacGuffin.” [E] It’s a term indicating an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters yet is irrelevant in itself. The term was adopted by Alfred Hitchcock in many of his films and extended to a similar device in other fictional works, including this report. The Holy Grail of Arthurian legend has been cited as an early example of a MacGuffin.

Will I ever know how I ended up with Stinky? Will we ever learn what the No. 1 (or No. 2) thing a person has to do to earn it? Will the answers just...pass into the dust of time?

Is my face flush with embarrassment?

FYI: The Teller ten-pin was dug by John Brookner, who worked on the construction crew that dug the foundation of Detroit’s now-famous Renaissance (aka RenCen buildings), which just happened to be near the site of the mid-1800s Teller’s Sarsaparilla and Lemon Mineral Water company at 199 Jefferson Ave. The pontiled Teller’s Mineral Waters come in various shapes and colors, with the cobalt “ten-pin” the rarest. (In 2013, a cobalt 10 pin, once owned by the late Ron Binek, is said to have sold for about $3,000.)

Brookner, a bottle collector who actually (and legally) worked at the RenCen site after hours found the mint cobalt “Teller’s Mineral Water / Detroit.” Back in the 1970s, when the Detroit club was hot and covered the Detroit area from the river on out, a building didn’t go up—or down—without one of our members scouting it out.

For example: When the now 20-story Blue Cross Blue Shield building was just an empty lot, on May 27, 1973, Rod Wing, Nat and Mildred Champlin and others were there armed with shovels, looking for—and finding—so many great bottles. Within an area of only a few blocks, the city revealed Cronk and Norris sodas, Kling and Stroh beers, or Fisher Electric Railway insulators. “Dr. Owens European Life Bitters” were coming up in the early ‘70s, and many rare cures and other bitters came from the excavated city, too.

The great bottles have changed hands many times. The great stories, too.

FYI2: Why the great digging in Detroit? Digging back in our history, the site that was to become the city of Detroit was established on July 24, 1701, by Antoine de la mothe Cadillac, a French military leader. It was incorporated as a city in 1815 and spent the decades leading up to the Civil War as the final U.S. stop on the Underground Railroad. The area also was earning a reputation for, among other things, the manufacturing of cigars and kitchen ranges. Great cars and a not-so-great football team came later.

Adam Koch holding a Bob Villamagna illustration.

A younger Ralph Finch affectionately gazing and holding his first writing award.

Glass Works Auctions

proudly presents

Part 4 of The Neil Moore Collection

Closes July 10th, 2023 @ 10:00PM (Lots 262 through 347) Opens for bidding July 3rd

Part 2 of The Dave Kyle Collection

Closes July 24th, 2023 @ 10:00PM (Lots 35 through 69) Opens for bidding July 17th

For more information contact: Glass Works Auctions, P.O. Box 180, East Greenville, PA 18041 Phone: (215) 679-5849 ~ Email: info@glswrk-auction.com ~ Website: glassworksauctions.com

America the Beautiful ACL CORNER #5

Geyser (Figs. 2 & 3) in Yellowstone, surrounded by a crowd of observers, and asserts that something (the geyser and/or the soda) is “Acclaimed by Thousands.” Old Faithful was discovered by an American expedition in 1870, two years before Congress created what became the first National Park in the world. The geyser is one of 10,000 hydrothermal features within Yellowstone and the most famous, erupting every one to two hours by shooting thousands of gallons of boiling water into the air for one to five minutes. Reportedly, soldiers stationed in the area in the 1870s used the post-eruption pools of hot water to do their laundry. No doubt, due to its picture, the bottle was often saved by consumers as a souvenir rather than returned to the store for the nickel deposit, and it is relatively available today. A nice example typically will set you back $100 or less.

Okay, I realize that I’m biased, but I believe the United States of America is the most beautiful country on earth. Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and down to the Gulf of Mexico, America has towering mountains, vast deserts, rain forests, prairies, and everything in between.

Justifiably proud of the physical beauty of our country (and looking to catch the attention of consumers), soda bottlers often created labels depicting an iconic natural feature within their locality. Let’s look at a few of these ACL soda bottles.

“Old Faithful Beverages” (Fig. 1) was put up by the Old Faithful Beverage Company of Idaho Falls, Idaho, which is located near the western entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The bottle depicts an eruption of the Old Faithful

“Yosemite Beverages,” from the Yosemite Beverage Company of San Francisco, California (Fig. 5), comes with several different ACL’s in different sizes and colors, bottled in the late 1930s through the 1950s. All the bottles are hard to find and highly sought after by collectors. The ACL depicts the Bridalveil Falls (Fig. 6), located near El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevadas. Protected from development since 1864 by President Lincoln, the huge preserve of pristine land became a National Park in 1890 and has been popular with tourists since its inception. (Fig. 7) Direct railroad service from San Francisco to Yosemite National Park began in 1907, and the number of annual visitors reached five million in 2016, at which time the government had to start limiting entries. A rare seven-ounce example of the bottle made with a striking red and white ACL on green glass sold for $325 in 2022.

Only two volcanos in the contiguous United States have erupted during the twentieth century, and both are depicted on ACL soda bottles. “Mt. Lassen Beverages” is a ten-ounce bottle put up in 1950 by the Mount Lassen

Company of Susanville, California (Fig. 8). The back of the bottle touts that it is “A Delightful Beverage

Beverage

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain! America, America, God shed His grace on thee!

[Mike Dickman]

[Fig. 1] Old Faithful Beverage Co., 12 ounces, 1964. Based on the wording printed on the bottle (“Sparkling–Effervescent”) and the crown cap (“Non Carbonated”), the soda likely was made using naturally fizzy water from one of the thousands of local springs.

[Fig. 2] Old Faithful Beverages crown cap depicting the erupting geyser. The cap is rarer than the bottle.

America the Beautiful by Katharine Lee Bates, 1895 [Fig. 3] “Old Faithful” painting by Albert Bierstadt, 1881.

Made from Mountain Spring Water.” Technically named Lassen Peak, the volcano in northern California awoke from 27,000 years of dormancy and violently erupted between 1914 and 1917, after which it returned to an uneasy sleep. (Fig. 10)

“St. Helens Beverages” was bottled by the St. Helens Ice & Beverage Company in St. Helens, Oregon. (Fig. 11) The front depicts Mount St. Helens, located in Washington State about 40 miles from the Oregon town that bears its name, from where the peak is clearly visible. The bottle comes with several similar but different applied color labels in various sizes, ranging from 7 to 32 ounces, and was put up between 1945 and 1960.

[Fig. 7] Southern Pacific Railroad Company advertisement, 1907. Stagecoaches also served the park in those days.

[Fig. 8] Mt. Lassen Beverages, 1950.

[Fig. 9] Mt. Lassen Siphon Water, ACL seltzer bottle, 1938.

[Fig. 4] The Old Faithful crater between eruptions, where early residents used to wash their clothing. Photograph by William Henry Jackson, 1972.

[Fig. 5] Two different varieties of the Yosemite Beverages soda bottle, seven ounces (1946) and ten ounces (1959).

[Fig. 6] “Bridalveil Falls and El Capitan” photograph by Carleton Watkins, circa 1880.

In 1980, long after the soda brand had disappeared from commerce, Mount St. Helens suddenly erupted with far greater violence and destruction than that of Mt. Lassen, killing fifty people and reducing hundreds of square miles of surrounding territory to wasteland. (Fig. 12) “Mt. Lassen Beverages” and “St. Helens Beverages” are scarce but do appear from time to time and are not terribly expensive when found for sale, typically under $50 for a nice clean example, although the rare quart size costs more.

No state has more physical beauty than our fiftieth, the State of Hawaii, (Fig. 14) and it was home to several beautiful ACL soda bottles. “Maui Soda” is a seven-ounce ACL bottle from 1966, put up by the Maui Soda & Ice Works of Wailuku, Maui. The red ACL has an outline map of the island of Maui with a volcanic crater and a tiny leaping swordfish and states “no ka oi,” which means “the best” in Hawaiian. The bottle is colorful, cute,

Fig. 11

St. Helens Beverages, 1946. The town had a population of less than 5,000 in the 1950 census.

[Fig. 13] Maui Soda, 1968.

[Fig. 15] Cascade Beverage Co., 1953.

[Fig. 10] “The Great Explosion,” photograph of Mt. Lassen by B.F. Loomis, 1914. At times, the plume from the years-long eruption could be seen from 150 miles away.

[Fig. 12] The eruption of Mt. St. Helens on July 22, 1980, which deposited volcanic ash over hundreds of miles in eleven contiguous states. Photograph courtesy of USGS.

[Fig. 14] Iao Valley on the Island of Maui, Hawaii.

and readily available and typically costs less than $50 for a nice, clean example. Like “Old Faithful Beverages,” this bottle is another type that apparently was saved by locals and visitors. My bottle was given to me by a friend, who purchased it at a flea market in Maui. (Fig. 13)

The magnificent Cascade Range (which includes the two volcanos discussed previously) extends from British Columbia in the north through Washington, Oregon and northern California in the south. The range is reportedly the home of Bigfoot, also known by its Native American name of Sasquatch. Some of the snow-capped peaks are depicted on the blue-and-white front ACL of “Cascade Beverages,” which was bottled in Wenatchee, Washington, in 1953. (Fig. 15) The bottle comes in several variants and is not too hard to find, typically costing only $15 to $50.

“Shasta Beverages” was bottled by the Shasta Water Company of Seattle and San Francisco in 1952 and shows the reflection of mountains in Shasta Lake, California. (Fig. 16) Like many soda bottles of the 1950s, it contained a mere seven ounces of liquid. Its slogan was kind of silly: “It has-ta be Shasta.” Lake Shasta is the largest artificial reservoir in California, created in the 1940s as part of the Central Valley Project. Sadly, the lake is under stress today due to the longstanding Western drought. When found, a nice example of the clear-glass bottle sells for about $200, although a very rare and dramatic version exists sporting a red-and-white ACL on green glass that costs more.

Finally, “Red River Valley Beverages” depicts one of America’s most important natural resources, its vast, fertile plains. Bottled in 1950 by the Crookston Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Crookston, Minnesota, the bottle proudly proclaims on the back that it was “Bottled in the heart of the Red River Valley, the breadbasket of the Nation.” (Fig. 17) The Red River Valley spans northwest Minnesota and northeast North Dakota into Canada. It is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, growing enormous quantities of wheat, corn, potatoes, sugar beets and many other crops. In 2022, a mint example of the pastoral little seven-ounce bottle sold on eBay for $85.

These are just a few of the many ACL soda bottles depicting various natural features located throughout America the Beautiful. God bless America!

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Sweeney, Rick, Collecting Applied Color Label Soda Bottles (3d ed. 2002, PSBCA). Tim A.C.L. Miller, a FaceBook page showing hundreds of rare ACL sodas from Tim’s collection.

VintageSodaCollector.com by FOHBC member Tom Pettit, a great resource. Weide’s Soda Page (ca-yd.com), by Chris and Catherine Weide, another great resource. Wikipedia entries for Mount Lassen, Mount St. Helens, Old Faithful, Red River Valley, Shasta, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite.

Editor Note: See AB&GC September–October 2022 issue for the premier article in this series, The Joy of Collecting ACL Bottles, followed by ACL Corner #1–Portraits on Bottles, ACL#2–Topic of Space, ACL#3–Indians, ACL#4–Famous Women. Look for ACL#6 next issue–Cowboys!

[Fig. 17] Shasta Lake, California.

[Fig. 16] Shasta Beverages, 1952.

[Fig. 18] Red River Valley Beverages, 1950.

Auction #35 will include a diverse selection of more than 280 Lots including Historical Flasks, Rare Bitters, Choice Pontiled Medicines, Inks, Blown and Pattern Molded Wares, Sodas, Mineral Water Bottles, Black Glass, and much more!

Full-color catalogs for this sale are only $15 (post paid). Call or visit our website to reserve your copy.

Registering Bottles

By Tod von Mechow

One key to a profitable bottling business was getting used bottles returned so that they could be cleaned, refilled and sold. In the 1850s, the price for a bottle of soda water was about 2 ½ cents wholesale and 4 ½ cents retail in the larger cities where there was competition. The expectation was that the bottles would be returned. The bottles themselves cost about $5 per gross or about 3 ½ cents per bottle. This would require a bottle to make at least three round trips to cover the cost of the bottles, investments in machinery, materials and labor.

There were several reasons that bottles were not returned: the consumer using the bottles for other domestic purposes, consumers disposing of the bottles as trash, and the theft of bottles for sale to other bottlers who used them illegally. Oftentimes these bottles were shipped to other states where the buyers were beyond the reach of the law. This is supported by the following article involving John & Alexander Dearborn of New York City that appeared in the New York Tribune on June 8, 1850:

CHARGE OF STEALING SODA-WATER BOTTLES

A complaint was made on Wednesday against Daniel Tuttle, driver of a soda-water wagon, by Mr. Alexander Dearborn, who charges Tuttle with stealing during the month of May last past, 200 dozen soda-water bottles of his property, valued at $124. The bottles, it seems, were in baskets standing at the South Ferry, and Tuttle was seen by George W. Prescott to convey one basket of bottles, which basket bore the direction of J. & A. Dearborn. The case will be heard before Justice Osborne.

These used bottles were valued at two cents apiece. To protect their bottles, vendors initially started to mark their bottles with their names and location. An example of this is William R. Evans of Philadelphia, who ran the following ad that appeared in the Public Ledger on December 9, 1844:

TO BOTTLE DEALERS, BOTTLERS, AND OTHERS

The subscriber has suffered great inconvenience from the loss of BOTTLES, used in his business, by their being purloined from his customers, and sold, and has been induced to incur the expense of having them manufactured for his own use, having his name on them. Now this is to notify all dealers in the article, and the public, that whenever such bottles are ascertained to be in other than the possession of his customers, prompt legal means will be adopted to recover them, as stolen property.

WM. R. EVANS

Bottlers who used unembossed bottles had a very difficult case to make, claiming that unembossed bottles were stolen from them. Later, starting in 1845, some bottlers started adding phrases like “THIS BOTTLE IS NEVER SOLD” to their bottles as in this advertisement by Adam W. Rapp in the New York Herald published on May 5, 1845 stated:

J. & A. DEARBORN

NEW YORK MINERAL WATERS (motif of star) UNION GLASS WORKS

W. R. EVANS PHILAD.A

TO WHON (sic) IT MAY CONCERN.

THE subscriber has, at great expense and labor, got up a Glass Bottle, in every respect improved on those now in use in this city, for Soda or Mineral Waters, in the following particulars – the color blue, partially oval, size larger, and stamped on one side, this bottle never sold, and A. W. Rapp, proprietor, on the opposite side, A. W. Rapp, New York. These alterations and additions have been made with a view of distinguishing the Waters and Syrup manufactured by myself from inferior articles which have been deceptively palmed upon the public as being of my manufacture.

I therefore now thus publicly caution all those concerned, and others, against purchasing, using, or keeping in their possession any of the said Bottles, as there are none bearing any resemblance whatever to them in this city, a plea of ignorance, therefore, will avail nothing; and those bottles will be taken when ever they are found, and persons prosecuted to the extent of law for using, purchasing, or keeping them in their possession, as they are not intended for sale but for my special and exclusive use.

Orders for Soda or Mineral Waters handed to either of the drivers, transmitted through the City Dispatch post, or from a distance by mail, inclosing cash, will meet prompt attention.

ADAM W. RAPP, No. 95, 3d Avenue, N. Y.

The bold body text highlights in the above are mine. Legal actions brought by bottlers against illegal users of their bottles were difficult to prosecute and sometimes bottlers took the law into their own hands as documented by this episode involving Eugene Roussel of Philadelphia in the Public Ledger on March 15, 1845:

James Guyer was put upon his trial for assault and battery upon Geo. W. Boggs. The defendant was in the employ of Eugene Roussel, and he went on the occasion in question to the premise of the prosecutor, in company with Mr. R. to seize some mineral water bottles with Mr. R.’s names cast on them, which the prosecutor had in his possession. Mr. R. claimed them as his, from the fact of the name being on them, but Boggs resisted, and a melee ensured. The jury found the verdict of guilty, and the Court sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of one hundred dollars and the cost of prosecution.

It is possible that George W. Boggs of Boggs & Company used the proceeds to have his own bottles made. After years of petitioning, state legislatures slowly reacted. The first law passed was one in New York State on May 7, 1847. This was followed by a similar law in Pennsylvania in 1849. Other states were soon to follow. The Pennsylvania law was explained as follows in an article in the Public Ledger on April 18, 1851:

Seizure of Bottles and Penalty Imposed.

By a law passed in 1849, the manufacturers and venders of Mineral Water and other beverages in bottles, when complying with the requisitions of said law in regard to having their bottles marked and publication there of duly made in the newspapers,

are protected specially against the loss of bottles by stealth or improper detention. It is made unlawful for any person to sell or dispose of or to buy or traffic in bottles thus marked not belonging to them, and gives the owners the right and power under a warrant, to search for them in the suspects premise, and to seize and take them away forthwith. The law also imposes a penalty of 50 cents for every bottle so recovered, upon the person in whose possession they are found.

After these acts were passed, bottlers quickly began to advertise for protection of their bottles. Sometimes these were as generic as marking their names on their bottles, but other times the embossing would get very specific, such as this ad following passage of the New York law by Thomas D. Greene and recorded in the Evening Post on June 18, 1847:

Caution. – The following description of the bottles used by me in my business, is published in Compliance with the Law recently passed by the Legislature:

The following name or mark, to wit,“J. Deane, 164 Broadway,” is stamped on some half pint bottles used by me in the bottling of porter, ale and cider. Said bottles are of green glass, and a description of said names or mark and said bottles has been filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and in the County Clerk’s Office for the City and County of New York.

THOMAS D. GREENE.

152 Broadway.

Greene had just purchased the business from James Deane and had not yet had his own bottles manufactured. Some advertisements listed multiple bottles and many of

these ads did so with great detail, which is helpful in identifying the dates of usage of specific bottles. One such ad is that from Robinson, Charlesworth & Tryner of New York City in the New York Tribune on April 3, 1851:

NOTICE. – The undersigned being engaged in the manufacture, bottling and selling of Soda and Mineral waters, Porter, Ale and Cider in bottles with our names and other marks stamped hereon, do hereby publish the following descriptions of the names and other marks so used by us upon our three styles of bottles, viz:

R. C & T NEW-YORK

Stamped in raised capital block letters on one side thereof.

R. C. & T. NEW-YORK

BROWN STOUT. (On the reverse side.)

Stamped as above described.

R. C. & T. NEW-YORK

X X (On the reverse side.)

Stamped as above described.

As our bottles are never sold by us, we hereby caution all persons against selling, and all bottle dealers or keepers of junk shops against purchasing any of our bottles so marked or stamped. Such offenders will thereby become liable to the penalties of law of this State, passed May, 7, 1847, for which penalties they will certainly be prosecuted by us.-New-York. April, 1851:

ROBINSON, CHARLESWORTH & TYNER

376 Bowery

Note that the first bottle listed in the above advertisement does not have embossing on the reverse and the exact three bottles listed in these advertisement are pictured below:

Bottle 1 from advertisement above R. C & T. NEW YORK

Bottle 2 obverse and reverse from advertisement above R. C. & T. NEW YORK – BROWN STOUT

Bottle 3 obverse and reverse from advertisement above R. C. & T. NEW YORK – X X

Another example of this notification, by A. P. Smith of Charleston, South Carolina, which appeared in the Charleston Daily Courier on April 29, 1850:

NOTICE. – The undersigned hereby warns all persons from purchasing empty Soda Water Bottles bearing his stamp as follows: SMITH & CO., PREMIUM SODA WATERS, CHARLESTON, as these bottles are never sold by him; and all persons buying or offering them for sale, will be prosecuted according to law.

A. P. SMITH

Ads like the example noted on the left can provide valuable information to the sharp collector. A. P. Smith, the Englishman, who bottled in Charleston, has several bottles marked with his name and that of Smith & Company, but only the sided soda bottles are listed in this advertisement and dates their manufacture prior to 1850, whereas the mug-based bottles, the plate mold soda bottles and the oversized soda bottles date after 1850.

Another interesting ad is from George W. Brandt of Carlisle, Pennsylvania that also gives useful information as to who manufactured his bottles as documented in the Carlisle Weekly Herald on August 3, 1853:

NOTICE

THE subscriber having complied with the requirements of the act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, on the 20th day of April, 1853, cautions all persons against buying, selling or filling his bottles, under the penalty of fifty cents, for each bottle bought, sold, or filled, for the first offence; and $5.00 for each bottle bought, sald (sic), or filled, for the 2d offense. I hereby announce my determination to enforce the penalty of the aforesaid acts, in all cases of its infringement. I find my bottles are becoming public property, greatly to the disadvantage of my business.

Description-Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Two hundred Gross Mineral and Ale bottles, green shade, Dyotteville (sic) make, with the name of G. W. Brandt, Carlisle, thereon.

The bold highlighting is mine to point out all his bottles were manufactured by the Dyottville Glass Works.

G. W. BRANDT.

G. W. BRANDT CARLISLE G. W. BRANDT CARLISLE DYOTTVILLE GLASS WORKS PHILAD.A

Sided SMITH & Co. PREMIUM SODA WATER CHARLESTON bottle dating 1850 and before.

Plate mold A. P. SMITH CHARLESTON bottle dating after 1850.

Oversized A. P. SMITH CHARLESTON S C bottle dating after 1850.

Mug-based SMITH & C0. CHARLESTON S.C. UNION GLASS WORKS PHIL.A SUPERIOR MINERAL WATER bottle dating after 1850.

Another source of information available to researchers of these bottles is the chain of lineage of bottling firms. When one firm bought out another, they typically acquired and registered the predecessor’s bottles. When several changes in ownership took place over several years, these ads will list bottles of all the preceding firms. An example of this is the following ad from Morton & Richardson in the Trenton State Gazette on March 7, 1854:

NOTICE

Is hereby given that the undersigned has this third day of March, 1854, filed in the Clerk’s Office of the county of Mercer, and State of New Jersey, a description of the bottles owned and used by them in the manufacture of Mineral Waters, Spruce Beer, Mead and Bottling of Porter, in said county of Mercer, viz our bottles are of the form, size and kind commonly used in the manufacture of these beverages. Mineral Water Bottles marked W. Morton, Trenton, N. J., Porter bottles marked on one side N. Richardson, Trenton, on the other “this bottle is never sold. Also Porter Bot-

tles marked McFarland & Simpson, Philadelphia, Spruce Beer and Mead Bottles W. Morton, others Morton & Richardson

All persons are hereby notified not to destroy, secreted, use, sell, or traffic in any of our bottles, under the penalty of the law, in such case made and provided.

MORTON & RICHARDSON

The bold highlighting is mine to reflect the current firm of Morton & Richardson and predecessor firms of Nathan Richardson and William Morton. This ad also mentions porter bottles marked McFarland & Simpson of Philadelphia. Many times firms would legally buy excess supplies of bottles or bottles of firms that were going out of business. The firm of McFarland & Simpson was short-lived and the predecessor and successor, Andrew McFarland, appears to have sold off the porter bottles of this firm, but retained the mineral water bottles. These types of advertisements can be found throughout the country.

Perhaps the most extensive list of bottles from predecessor firms and those bottles purchased, possibly legally and/or perhaps illegally, was that of Edmund S. Clark as documented in this ad in the Mobile Daily Times on May 12, 1867:

NOTICE.

I do hereby give notice that I will institute criminal proceedings against any and all parties, purchasing or selling, for any use

whatever, any of the SODA WATER BOTTLES and BOXES, branded with the following trade marks, to-wit:

CLARK & WELLS, CLARK & MUNN

And I do further give notice that all parties who, have received from me plain Soda bottles and boxes, or of any brand whatever, and more especially those branded-

J. H. Kump, B. E. Dye,

MORTON & RICHARDSON Mead bottle dated 1854

N. RICHARDSON TRENTON N. J. “N” THIS BOTTLE NEVER SOLD porter bottle pre-partnership

W. MORTON TRENTON N. J. “W” (Script) soda water bottle pre-partnership

Martin & Winter, J. Schweinhart, Dearborn, Daniel Kaiser, H. Battlemann, Dewell Bros., Honesdale Glass Works, M. L. Nashville, Tenn., A. Lohn, J. Karns, Plain Bottles.

have disposed or will hereafter dispose of them, that I will institute against criminal proceedings for theft, and against those purchasing the same, for receiving stolen goods knowing them to be stolen. I having brought on the whole stock of the above named firms, and being the only one in possession of it.

E. S. CLARK. Soda Water Manufactory, corner Dauphin and Franklin sts.

It is interesting that Clark does not mention bottles with his own name on them at this time. Clark & Wells and Clark & Munn were two of the partnerships that E. S. Clark was previously a part of in Mobile, Alabama. It is likely that bottles with his name were produced soon after this ad was published. The J. H. Kump bottles were likely those marked Memphis. Clark was a partner with Kump in Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi in the firm of Kump & Co. No bottles are known from this partnership. Bryon E. Dye worked for Philo M. Clark in Indianapolis and briefly

took ownership of the plant when Clark moved on. Philo M. Clark was somehow related to E. S. Clark and later they were partners in Mobile. Dye later partnered with J. F. Kump as J. F. Kump & Company in Kansas City. How J. H. Kump & Company and J. F. Kump & Company in Kansas City are related is yet to be unraveled. Several of the firms listed were from the New York City area. These include Martens & Winter of Brooklyn (misspelled Martins), Dearborn of New York City, Henry Battermann of New York City (misspelled Battlemann) and Deuell Brothers (misspelled Dewell) of Williamsburg. The Honesdale Glass Works bottles were also likely from the New York City area. The Honesdale Glass Works were located in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but much of its product was sent via canal to Newark, New Jersey and then a short hop to the New York metro area. The J. Schweinhart bottles were from Pittsburgh. The Daniel Kaiser bottles are likely from his Keokuk, Iowa operation and not his earlier Quincy, Illinois operations. The J. Cairns (misspelled Karns) were likely also from the operations in Keokuk, but could have been from the Cairns operation in Saint Louis. The M. L. bottles are from Nashville as stated from a still unknown bottler. The A. Lohr bottles (misspelled Lohn) are from Cairo, Illinois. It would be interesting if the bottles listed in Clark’s advertisement from these firms are dug in the Mobile area.

CLARK & WELLS MOBILE. ALA. soda water bottle dating before the advertisement.

CLARK & MUNN MOBILE soda water bottle dating before the advertisement.

HONESDALE GLASS WORKS –MINERAL WATER bottle used by Clark at the time of advertisement.

E. S. CLARK MOBILE ALA. soda water bottle that appears were made after the advertisement.

I have no idea how Clark intended to prosecute holders of unembossed bottles, but Marsden & Denhalter, of Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, seem to have solved the problem of identifying unembossed bottles as their property. They simply claimed that “all” soda bottles not marked with the name of their only competitor, Thomas Parsons, in the Great Salt Lake Basin belonged to them! Their advertisement appeared in the Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper for a number of issues, including the one below on May 10, 1878:

SODA WATER BOTTLES

Notice is hereby given that all soda bottles in the city and adjacent towns that have not Parsons’ name blown in them, belong to the firm of Marsden & Denhalter. Bottle and junk dealers are hereby notified that we shall prosecute persons buying, selling or filling them, as they are our private property.

MARSDEN & DENHALTER

So no matter if bottles were embossed with the names of bottlers from San Francisco, California or New York City, New York, Marsden & Denhalter claimed all soda bottles were their property.

These types of advertisements continued through the end of the nineteenth century. Especially interesting to collectors are bottles that are listed but are not known to exist. I have seen several of these in ads from Philadelphia and hope to turn up actual examples. I call them phantom bottles as they haunt me! I know they exist, but cannot find them.

Again, I would like to encourage all Bottle Clubs to connect with the FOHBC to ensure that their Club’s show is promoted in the best possible way. If there are any questions you have about submitting a show report or other information you need for your club, please ask. All of our directors are here to help your club prosper! Until next issue, happy bottle hunting!

Midwest Region [Henry Hecker, Director]

The Kansas Territorial Antique Bottle and Post Card Club held their show on April 2nd at the fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas. According to Mike McJunkin, one of the organizers, the show was a rousing success with 100 sales tables, many great displays of an eclectic assortment of inks, medicines, dairy, uranium glass, and insulators. The show was the club’s 16th annual, free to the public and well attended with brisk sales.

Please visit my website Soda & Beer Bottles of North America for information: www.sodasandbeers.com.

The North Star Historical Bottle Association in Minneapolis, Minn. held its 51st show on April 16th. Steve Ketchum reports that while tables were down somewhat, attendance and buying were very strong.

Of special note, President Seeliger attended and “scored” a vivid aqua Warner’s Safe Rheumatic Remedy that may be unique. [See page 65 this issue for picture]

As a member of four history involved organizations, all requiring dedicated volunteers, several challenges strike me as paramount in maintaining the long-term viability of these bodies:

a) Continuous recruitment of new members.

b) Engagement with the public: other like organizations, schools, museums et al.

c) Marketing our contributions using every media possible with special emphasis on youth.

Comments can be directed to todvon@verizon.net

d) An executable strategic plan that includes formal fundraising and member cultivation at its core.

In my opinion, FOHBC is doing things right thanks to those dedicated volunteers!

Photos courtesy of Larry Grotz and Glass Works Auctions.

Meadow Gold Milk by Rick Knight, Topeka, Kansas

Labeled Medicines & Bitters, many with contents by Henry Tankersley, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Western Region [Eric McGuire, Director]

As we enter the active bottle show season here in the West I have heard nothing but good reports from shows. More to come and you can find the most complete upcoming shows right here in this magazine.

I would like to take a little of your time and reminisce. After eight decades of existence, I have a lot to reminisce about. We all have fleeting flashbacks about our past and, admittedly, much of mine can relate to bottles and some of the interesting people I have met on my journey through life. Naming a few would do injustice to those I didn’t name. At this moment I am thinking of one who is a little different from most.

I believe there would be general agreement that most bottle collectors are men, and in the digger–collector category, even more would be men. One woman stands out in my mind that fits the latter group and she was good at it too. I don’t believe I ever asked her how she got hooked on the digging and collecting hobby, but I saw her in action many times. Her name is Judy Miyasaki, and long retired from active digging, she definitely left her mark in the area of Central California. Many younger collectors only know her by name, but the older crowd still knows Judy as a legend as well. She held her own and was as dedicated as anyone I know.

Judy grew up in Modesto, California, but soon gravitated to the San Francisco Bay area where she honed her passion. It didn’t matter if it was a dump, privy, construction project, or other potential site, she would go 100 percent. In the 1960s Judy was ever present at the mud flats off Benicia, California, one of the toughest digging sites imaginable. The bottles were often ‘gold rush’ era but located three to six feet deep in the bay mud. Wooden boxes, or cribbing, had to be constructed in order to dig that deep in mud. The treasures were often bottles with nearly unmatched iridescence, and are still considered highly desirable today, even though that site is no longer available.

The photograph above is Judy, holding one of her favorite Benicia bottles. Collectors still refer to a ‘Benicia’ bottle as being an example having exceptional iridescence. Anyway, Judy was there—and many other places too. Her generally mellow demeanor belied her passion for the hunt—a truly exceptional person.

She no longer digs and quietly enjoys her memories, just as I am doing now. Regardless of denial, which only goes so far, the physical body can only take a limited amount of abuse, and I only

hope most of you can push the digging part of collecting to its full limit. So much for that flashback.

Southern Region [Tom Lines, Director]

As a newbie in this position, I managed to pull together a few Southern show reports with input from Brian Commerton and Keith Quinn. I look forward to getting more show reports from across the Southern Region once the Federation disseminates my contact information to member clubs and individual members.

My email is Bluecrab1949@Hotmail.com. Please feel free to share your show experiences, digging adventures and flea market finds.

The Chattanooga North Georgia Antique Bottles & Advertising Show occurred on March 18 at the humongous Dalton Convention Center. The final table count was somewhere around 175 to 185. Plenty of bottles for all tastes, from black glass to jars, flasks to ACLs. Stoneware and advertising were also plentiful. The crowd was fantastic for just being the show’s second year. Federation president Michael Seeliger was also present. The show featured hourly drawings for a variety of attractive prizes.

The Mobile Bottle Collectors Club’s 50th Annual Show & Sale in Daphne, Alabama, on March 25, had well over 100 sales tables and a large crowd. The Mobile Club continues its tradition of having a great show! I don’t know how many years in a row I’ve been there, and I can’t count them up on my fingers and toes anymore! There’s always a great selection of bottles and glass to be had. I managed to snag my first black glass mallet plus a screaming yellow open pontil utility.

Brian Commerton reports that The Greater New Orleans First Annual Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale was hugely successful on Saturday, May 20, in Mandeville, Louisiana. Thirty-three vendors had nearly 60 tables filled with a nice selection of bottles and collectibles. Public attendance was outstanding, with 350 to 400 people visiting to browse and buy. Next year’s show will increase to 70 tables. The 2024 show date is yet to be determined. A big thank you to show coordinators Peter and Sam Taggard for making the show happen. I’m looking forward to next year’s show.

Steve Holland and Keith Quinn, show chairs, report that the 3rd Annual Alabama Bottle & Antique Show in Gardendale, Alabama, on May 20 was, without a doubt, their breakout show. “We had 85 tables, with early buyers lined up at 8:00 am (approx 25 total). The crowd and parking lot were full from 8:00 am until after lunch. We will be able to take Saturday this year and really build off it. We had new dealers and the positive word of mouth will lead to more new dealers and attendees next year. Every dealer and collector-buyer I spoke with said they had an outstanding show. We had one dealer from Michigan. Gardendale and the surrounding areas have really rallied around this event, and just for the record, next year’s show will be a 2-day event with dealer set-up on Friday.

On the near horizon is the 2023 Tallahassee Antique & Bottle Show coming up on June 17. That should be a good one. Please let me know your local show dates and news. Thanks!

Visit FOHBC.org for expanded coverage.

PIKE’S PEAK OR BUST

I remember the first time I heard “Pike’s Peak or Bust”—I was about ten years old. It was painted on the canvas of an old covered wagon at a hot spring my family and I frequented in California. I discovered at that time California was only one of several gold rushes. The Pike’s Peak rush was well known, just less than the ‘49ers. Fast forward to 2016, when I moved from Hannibal, Missouri, 30 miles south, to Louisiana, Mo. It took two years for me to meet one of my neighbors from a block and a half away and around the corner.

Will is a large, bald, imposing fellow who looks the type you really don’t want to piss off. He is the classic stereotype of opposites—a kinder, gentler soul you will never likely meet. I had been studying maps of the town and my neighborhood and had noted several houses on Will’s block that were represented on the 1876 bird’s eye view map. Will’s property once had a large two-story structure on the map with a small one-story, barn-looking house next door. This smaller one was still standing and had been vacant since my relocation. While passing by one day, I noticed Will mowing the lawn, so I asked if he knew the owner, to which he replied he did. When I asked if he could obtain permission

By Jack Klotz

So, do you happen to know how old your property is?”

[Left] Colorado Gold Rush “Pike’s Peak or Bust” painting. Following the California Gold Rush of 1849, a second gold rush occurred in the Kansas-Nebraska Territories and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The motto of the prospectors was “Pike’s Peak or Bust!” The slogan led naturally to the flip-side of the gold-fever coin; namely, the “Bust!” An engraving published in 1870 by W. M. Cary proved quite popular. It showed a Colorado Gold Rush prospector at the end of the line. He lies dead alongside his covered wagon. An Indian arrow through the wagon’s covering is evidence of his probable cause of death. His ox sniffs at the skull of another beast of burden whose fate he is destined to share. This 16” x 13” oil on canvas signed Jim Smith is a copy of that engraving. It is quite well-executed and dates circa 1884. It is housed in an ornate gilt frame by Shussler Brothers of San Francisco. There are two sections of raised wooden molding missing. The painting is in excellent condition. It is quite a handsome piece, ready to hang and enjoy. – Heritage Auctions

for me to hunt for the old privy for old bottles, he said he was pretty sure it was no problem. Since I was already there and had breached the always delicate topic of privy digging, I took it to the next obvious level.

I asked Will, “So, do you happen to know how old your property is?”

He proudly puffed up and replied, “Well, yes, it was built way back in 1915.” I smiled back as one harboring a secret would. I have had this happen on numerous occasions when homeowners are unaware of the history of the property, not just the existing structure.

said, “You can hunt and dig in my yard if you want to.” REALLY? I didn’t even have to ask or explain how I use non-invasive probes to locate the privy holes and drop tarps to keep the lawn clean, etc.

Since I got the green light to help myself, I jumped at the chance and went to probing right then and there. The older Sanborn showed several outbuildings nearer the house than where a privy would likely be located and one shed in a far corner of the backyard that was more likely an area for the outhouse. In the short time I have hunted this town, I have discovered that the maps tend to show where NOT to dig, so I was surprised to discover a couple of obvious depressions near where the outbuildings closest to the house had once stood. A quick probing indicated nothing had been buried there and was likely a stump or bush removal.

My next area of focus was the corner where the shed was indicated on the map. There was a bit of shallow crunchiness, but it felt more like coal clinkers or an ash pit with no feel of any glass.

[Left] The Denver area was sparsely settled until the late 1850s. Occasional parties of prospectors came looking for gold, then moved on. In July 1858, prospectors found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek. By spring 1859, teams of thousands of gold seekers arrived and the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush was under way.

“Hmmm,” I pondered and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I can see that. Are you aware there was an earlier house, at least by 1876 and likely much older?” Will got wide-eyed and had a look of total amazement. “No! I had no idea!” Will replied, astonished.

I told him of the maps and that I would print him copies if he wanted. The earliest Sanborn map dated 1896 for our neighborhood showed a one-story house by then with a different footprint than Will’s current house. This tells me there should be at least two privies, one for each of the earlier homes. I noticed Will was a bit of a yard freak with a perfectly manicured lawn. I figured my chances of obtaining permission to dig in his yard would be slim to none, but before I could even ask, he

I moved methodically along the back property line and noticed two very slight depressions about ten feet apart. One probed out glassy right before hitting solid clay near the handle of my fivefoot probe. Not good news, I thought to myself. I angle probed for the sides and hit the clay walls, indicating another wood liner. The cap felt unusually hard and I might have missed it if not for the glassy feel near the bottom. Moving over to the next depression, I encountered something that felt more like a sewer pipe, also shallow at about four and a half feet and again having clay walls. All the privies I have dug except one late brick liner have been wood liners in this town of mine. Consequently, they tend to be tougher to probe and dig with any exactness. Usually, all the wood is long rotted away, with a possible stubborn corner post nearer to the bottom. The bottoms are usually a solid clay barrier.

[Next Page] Very rare, beautifully illustrated antique Victorian engraving of Pike’s Peak and Manitou Springs. The engraving is from Marvels of the New West, a Vivid Portrayal of the Stupendous Marvels in the Vast Wonderland West of the Missouri River Published in 1888 by the Henry Bill Publishing Company. Digitally restored.

Standing near where the two privies were located behind owner Will’s home.

“

No! I had no idea!”

I flagged out the two likely spots and asked Will if that weekend would be OK to dig? He pondered on it and said, “Sure. We’re having a family get-together and BBQ for Memorial Day weekend here, but you’re welcome to come over and join us for the fun.” Suddenly realizing I had forgotten it was a major holiday, I suggested rescheduling for a later date to dig as I didn’t wish to impose. Will was too gracious and insisted I come over and added there would be plenty of young ones to help move dirt if the need arose. I shrugged and agreed to return Saturday morning. When I arrived at 10 am, the yard was void of any activity and I wondered if I got my days mixed up.

Chinese Liquid Blueing Tripple Strength.” I always like these with the misspelling of “blueing” and “tripple” and have a couple with different lip finishes in my collection. Along with this shard came a gloppy applied top lady’s leg neck looking every bit the 1870s. This got me excited! Few things give me a jolt of energy, as does a good shard. Along with the neck was a base to a Whitney Glass Works fruit jar. Now we’ve got some age!

It wasn’t until after four hours of digging that the first intact artifact appeared, and it wasn’t even a bottle! I first thought it was a mini-night lamp used to find the outhouse after dark, except it

I laid out my first tarp and started an exploratory hole at the spot that felt glassy. My goal was to keep the size of my hole to a minimum to cut down on the disturbance factor, something I do in yards that are this well-maintained. I’ve perfected my method of digging a post hole without the aid of a post hole digger, which allows less chance of breaking anything encountered undamaged. The soil was darker than usual, not the normal tan color of the native clay I’m used to seeing in the caps. In addition, this topsoil was as hard and tough to dig as any clay cap I’ve ever encountered. At three feet deep, I hit the more typical clay cap and was able to bring up about six inches of seedy night soil at about four and a half feet deep. Up to this point, there had been no shards of glass or pottery fragments or any definitive signs of a privy. I eventually uncovered a few bones, one with a butcher cut that told me someone gnawed on it and tossed it into the pit. All this took a good part of an hour and a half as I slowly worked at widening the hole little by little, keeping it to a minimum.

It “only” took me another hour to find my first glass shards—a base marked “A&DHC” with partial embossing for a “Gillet’s

looked like it had lugs. Maybe a weird insulator? It was embossed, “Mrs. G. E. Haller-Patd. Feb 25 73.” Later I discovered it was a strange and fancy fruit jar stopple. The opening that I had thought was for a lamp wick was actually the opening to the juicer part of the device.

By now, the BBQ was in full swing and the older adults were keeping an eye on the food while the younger adults were playing whiffle ball with the kids that ranged in age from about four to sixteen. In all there were about 20 kids and adults playing ball about 40 feet from where I was digging my foxhole! The game was a form of baseball with bases to run. Whoever caught a fly would exchange places with the unlucky batter. Extra points were jokingly awarded to whoever hit the ball into the privy hole! Several of the younger crowd came over to check out what I was digging for, but they each quickly became bored and went back to their game—all but one little girl who sat quietly at the edge of the hole, wide-eyed and not missing a thing. She seemed absolutely transfixed and I would be surprised if she didn’t become an archaeologist. Poor deranged child!

[Left and above] Parker Brothers “Pike’s Peak or Bust,” Puzzle, 1895, Salem, Massachusetts, Cardboard, paper, metal. Overall: 1 x 7 ½ x 7 ½ in. The Liman Collection, New-York Historical Society, Museum & Library.

After four and a half hours of hardscrabble digging of mostly broken shards, I finally came upon a bottle I’d recognize anywhere, mainly because I’ve dug dozens of busted ones and only one whole one. I first recognized the oval plate with “Old Rye” embossed. Just above it were the familiar long skinny legs associated with a “For Pike’s Peak” flask! “Well, it’s undoubtedly busted,” I said to nobody in particular. I decided to take some in situ pictures anyway, just in case. One never knows. Well, it was a good call as it was not only whole but undamaged! It was also a large quart size to boot! WOWZER! I was over the moon! First whole bottle out of the hole! I was now having delusions of grandeur of what could be waiting below. I was quickly brought back to reality with a second quart-sized For Pike’s Peak flask in several pieces. Underneath that was another quart flask but a clasped hands type, also in pieces! To rub it in, the bottle goddess wasn’t done with me yet and delivered even another quart clasped hands flask in pieces! I surmised they had been likely tossed in the pit altogether and all broke against each other except the top flask! OUCH! It hurts worse than a glass cut!

On Tuesday at 10 am, I tarped out the second pit and got to slingin’ dirt. I expected it to have more glass as the later pits around these parts tend to be full. By the late 1890s, they seemed more relaxed about cleaning out the privy holes, and folks filled them in while loaded. I was sadly disappointed to discover this pit was more sparse than the last one! Within a short couple of hours, I had this pit cleaned of the handful of bottles that had been patiently waiting for me. I quickly discovered what had felt like a sewer pipe when first probed. I pulled up several massive pieces to a gigantic crockery container of at least five gallons and nearly as thick as a sewer pipe!

The first bottle of any age was a “Vibro Oil” bottle; side embossed only. It was badly cracked and missing the base when I pulled it up. It seems to be unlisted, as I can find nothing about it at all. It had a tooled top so it was a good sign. Next out of the hole came a plain shoo-fly flask. A foot from the bottom came a “Kickapoo Indian

In the next three hours, numerous broken bottles, half a dozen whole unembossed flasks, medicines, and various lamp pieces found their way out of the hole that now bottomed out at seven feet deep. Of the whole embossed “keepers” came a “Trask’s Magnetic Ointment” and a “Matthew’s Peruvian Celery.” Along with the Pike’s Peak flask and the glass stopper, that was it! Of the broken pile, the criers were a bottomless “C. Conrad Original Budweiser,” a crude “Hostetter’s,” a light strawberry puce “S.T. Drakes,” and a gorgeous golden yellow “Dr. John Bulls Compound Cedron Bitters.” Near the bottom of the hole, I found three pontiled bases to the larger apothecary jars of the Civil War period that seem to be common in the early 1860s pits, which is what I would date this one to.

Even though I came home with only four embossed items after eight hours of tough digging, the Pike’s Peak flask made it all worthwhile. It turns out it is likely the most common of all the Pike’s Peak variants, a GXI-8, but then ask me how many I have found in my 56 years of digging before this, and I can say, “Not enough!”

After hiking the block and a half to my home to shower and rehydrate, I returned for some BBQ and talked of hunting for bottles. It took me until Tuesday to recuperate from the eight hours of digging and the first real dig of the season after what seemed a five-month-long winter. I discovered I had gained a few more pounds during the winter than usual.

Oil” cylinder from the Healy & Bigelow Co. Next to that was a fancy eight-sided sample bottle embossed, “Oriental Toilet Water - T. Kingsford Oswego, N.Y.” On the very bottom of the pit was a sapphire blue atomizer-style perfume bottle with remnants of Mary Gregory-style characters painted on the sides, definitely the best, if not the oldest, find of the day.

I couldn’t help but feel this wasn’t the newer privy hole I was looking for, and as I write this, I’m becoming more convinced another search may be on the horizon. After all, the 1880s seem to be completely unrepresented from either pit and likely all of the 1890s as well. This last dig smacked of turn-of-the-century stuff, for the most part.

The final part of this story is the coincidence of how I moved from one county to another to lead me to the Pike’s Peak flask. I doubt I would have ever met Will or dug his yard without making the move, which leads me to the point—I live in Pike County, named for the one and same Zebulon Pike of Pike’s Peak fame! The only thing better in my mind is digging one on Pike’s Peak itself! So I guess I’m now a bonafide Piker!

Maybe my next move is to Alaska, where I can dig up a rare Alaskan hutch soda! Naw! I can’t see it! Maybe Hawaii for a Lovejoy whiskey! Ha!

Bitters Bottles Supplement 3

by Ferdinand Meyer V

Collectors are deeply indebted to all who have worked on cataloging Bitters bottles, going back to Stephen van Rensselaer’s original publications. The cataloging of Bitters as a separate category began with J. H. Thompson’s Bitters Bottles (left), published in 1947. The work of Richard Watson in Bitters Bottles (right), published in 1965 with a supplement in 1968, was the first to include accurate drawings of the bottles with their embossing. This was followed by It’s a Bitters (Volume 1 & 2) (left) by Jewell Umberger in 1969 and 1001 Bitters Bottles by Ed Bartholomew in 1970. Western Bitters by Bill and Betty Wilson (pictured), also published in 1969, combined the cataloging of Western brands with historical information on the producers

and agents for the products. Jeff Wichmann published Antique Western Bitters Bottles—The Best of the West (pictured) in 1999 and was instrumental in getting this Bitters collector hooked.

The work of Carlyn Ring in For Bitters

Only (pictured left column), illustrated by Diane Wheaton and published in 1980, combined accurate drawings of the bottles with their embossing with related material and introduced a catalog system for the bottles. Her publication helped Bitters become one of the most prized and collected categories of antique bottles.

When Bitters Bottles (pictured) was published in 1998, Bill Ham thought it probably included all the various Bitters bottles up until that point. He was surprised when several unlisted Bitters bottles were brought to the Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Extravaganza Show at Valley Forge the Labor Day weekend in 1998 when the book was released. Collecting information for a supplement was started that weekend, and the first Bitters Bottles Supplement (pictured) was published in 2004. Since that publication, many more bottles have been discovered, and much more information has been found. This material resulted in Bitters Bottles Supplement 2 or BBs2.

BBs2 was a monumental effort that included much work over many years. The 474-page hardcover book was meticulously cross-referenced and based primarily on Bill Ham’s collected information and the Peachridge Glass database with 38,000 plus images and hundreds of files of obscure bitters. Besides new and updated bottles and advertising, there were color plate sections on rare bitters, bitters facsimile bank notes, postal covers, almanacs, shell cards and tokens. For ephemera, the great museum-destined archives of Dan Cowman, Joe Gourd and Ben Swanson, among others, were included. Additionally, the Index was redone to include all three books. Every documented Bitters ever produced and their makers were indexed.

Bill Ham closed out his Foreword in BBs2: “Future information and discoveries should now be sent to Ferdinand Meyer V, who will continue cataloging Bitters bottles and related material for possible future publications.”

Work of this nature is never complete. Just as previous researchers stopped at some point and presented their work, we believe that the additional information found in BBs2 justifies ongoing archiving. There will be further discoveries, which we have set aside for Bitters Bottles Supplement 3. Whether this is a hardbound or digital book is undetermined as time will tell us when is the next benchmark to publish.

I thank my wingman, Joe Gourd, who constantly sends and reviews new material for us Bitters collectors. If you have what you think is a new find or an interesting addition to BBs3, please send it to Ferdinand Meyer V at fmeyer@fmgdesign.com so it can be assessed and cataloged.

French fold blank lithograph note card. Card opens inside and is blank. The back of card has biography for the scene titled “Baron Stiegel, Glassmaker of Manheim.“ Card comes with original envelope.

H

Henry William Stiegel’s American Flint Glass Manufactory

James Duguid and John De Caro

enry William Stiegel was a notable entrepreneur of his time. From his arrival in Philadelphia in 1750 to his close of business in 1774, he owned more than 7,000 acres of land, as well as stores, a mill, a malt house, two iron works, and three glass works. His iron works included Charming Forge and Elizabeth Furnace.

The glass works included one at Elizabeth Furnace and a second and third at Manheim. This third glassworks, the American Flint Glass Manufactory, is where the glass in this article was made. The glass blowers at Manheim melded German, English, Irish, and Italian traditions that led to the development of the Stiegel pattern-molded pocket bottles. This blend of traditions of glass blowing led to the development of bottles and blown glass that can be truly identified as early American glass.

Stiegel was a consummate glass manufacturer, but he was also a force in economic development. With partners, he laid out the town of Manheim, which is near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He

marketed his products widely in local stores in Pennsylvania and stores as distant as Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Boston.

Most of the Stiegel bottles are in non-lead glass (soda-lime glass), and they occur in over 17 different patterns that are usually in shades of amethyst. A discussion of the Stiegel pocket bottles, along with pocket bottles from Wistarburgh and New Bremen, can be found in Speculation on Early American Pattern-Molded Pocket Bottles, complete Stove, Elizabeth Furnace, 1769

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

with color plates of the bottles (Duguid, 2018). Overall, the first Manheim glass and the Elizabeth works were moderately successful. It is likely that most of the soda-lime glass pocket bottles made by Stiegel were blown at the first Manheim glass works.

In 1764, Stiegel traveled to England, which was an enormous undertaking at that time. This trip is documented in the account ledgers of Charming Forge. About a year later, he shipped bariron to London from Charming Forge, which was likely arranged through contacts he made during his trip. Before the trip, he had begun making glass at Elizabeth Furnace (Hunter, 1950). He was determined to make glass products as good as those imported from England, and this trip was likely to gather information about the manufacture of flint glass, a form of low-lead-content glass (McKearin and Wilson, 1978).

In 1767, the Townsend Acts, which were intended to curtail colonial industry, levied import duties on manufactured goods, including glass that was sent to Colonial America from England. In response, colonial merchants signed articles of non-importation, and by the spring of 1769, English glass was in short supply. Stiegel seized this opportunity; he expanded his production and distribution, hired English glass blowers, and constructed his second glass works at Manheim (Palmer, 1993).

Stiegel began constructing his second Manheim glass works, the American Flint Glass Manufactory in early 1769, and by the fall of that year, it was likely in full production. At this glass works, he made a few flint glass pocket bottles. However, they are extremely rare. The reason for their rarity is likely that he had an ample number of soda-lime glass pocket bottles for sale from the first Manheim works. Consequently, he made fewer flint glass pocket bottles.

At the American Flint Glass Manufactory, his production began with a new set of molds instead of using the existing molds at the first Manheim works. This is probably because the molds at the first Manheim works were in constant use. The new molds were likely made at Elizabeth Furnace and finished by the blowers. The patterns of these new molds are 16-vertical ribs, 20-vertical ribs, 16-diamond and 18-diamond.

The colors of items blown in these molds are as follows: 16-vertical rib in green shading to dark amber in the neck; 20-vertical rib in clear and clear with a green tint; 16-diamond in yellow-green, and 18-diamond in black glass (dark amber), black glass (dark purple), yellow shading to amber in the neck, aqua, green, and clear. The 18-diamond flasks and the only known 18-diamond tumbler were blown in the same 18-diamond mold. Other patterns and colors were likely made and are waiting to be discovered.

With permission from the land owner, John De Caro excavated numerous shards of glass from the second Manheim site in 2005. The shards of flint glass were in 16-vertical rib, 20-vertical rib, and 18-diamond. The colors of the shards were yellow shading to amber, clear, clear with a green tint, aqua, and light green. Since then, a few flint glass bottles in these patterns have been identified.

Some flasks from Union Glass Works, Philadelphia, and Keene,

Figure 1: A dark purple 18-diamond flask. Note the rather wide mouth of this bottle, which is characteristic of all of the flint glass bottles.

Figure 2: Base of the same 18-diamond flask above, which is characteristic of all of the bases of the 18-diamond flint glass bottles.

Figure 3: 18-diamond green bottle.

New Hampshire, have unavoidable low-level concentrations or traces of lead, but the common bottle glass from these works is nonlead soda-lime glass. Stiegel went to great lengths to produce his Diamond Daisy and associated soda-lime glass flasks in a traditional Germanic non-lead glass. He also knew that flint glass was far more durable than the traditional soda-lime glass.

The shards found at the Stiegel Flint Glass Manufactory, as well as waste glass, all appear as common bottle glass until they are tested for lead. When tested, all of the shards with no intermixed soda-lime glass have a high and highly variable lead concentration. The reason for the very high lead content is speculative. After the Townsend Act, Stiegel had a seemingly endless surplus of litharge, pure red lead. With the addition of new blowers and new molds, Stiegel would have either had to sell the red lead or use it. The proof that he decided to use it is the fact that the tumbler and the flasks he produced are all loaded with lead. Also, if he were to run out of red lead, he could always buy wagon loads of raw flint cullet.

Stiegel was on the brink of failure but had the heart to keep going and simply put the red lead he owned to use. Stiegel, in keeping with his personality, had to make the best flint glass money could buy. Examples of this flint glass are shown in the figures included.

A dark purple 18-diamond flask is shown in Figure 1. Note the rather wide mouth of this bottle, which is characteristic of all of the flint glass bottles. Figure 2 shows the base of the same 18-diamond flask, which is characteristic of all of the bases of the 18-diamond flint glass bottles. Figures 3 and 4 show 18-diamond bottles in aqua and green, respectively. Figure 5 shows a yellow 18-diamond flask that shades to amber in the neck, along with a matching shard that was excavated at the site. Figure 6 shows the only known 18-diamond tumbler, which was blown in the same mold as all of the 18-diamond bottles.

The reason that the flint glass from the American Flint Glass Manufactory has remained unknown for so long is simply that no one ever tested the shards and compared them with whole examples. We can thank John De Caro for his work in making this discovery.

The construction and operation of the American Flint Glass Manufactory consumed all of Stiegel’s capital and all the money he could borrow. The economic downturn that preceded the Revolutionary War caused many of the Colonial glass works to fail along with all of Stiegel’s operations. The financial strain for Stiegel was too great, and he was forced to close all operations in 1774. He marks this closure with the simple statement in his account ledger on May 7, 1774, “Glass House shut down” (McKearin and Wilson, 1978).

References:

Duguid, James O., 2018, Speculation on Early American Pattern-Molded Pocket Bottles, Self-published, available from the author for $25 plus shipping, jamesduguid60@gmail.com

Hunter, Frederick William, 1950, Stiegel Glass, Dover Publications.

McKearin, Helen and Wilson Kenneth M., 1978, American Bottles and Flasks and their Ancestry, Crown Publishers Inc., N.Y.

Palmer, Arlene, 1993, Glass in Early America, Winterthur Museum Publication.

Figure 5: Yellow 18-diamond flask that shades to amber in the neck, along with a matching shard that was excavated at the site.

Figure 4:18-diamond aquamarine bottle.

Figure 6: Only known 18-diamond tumbler.

Jarring Discoveries, TheFruitfulEarlyDaysofCollecting

Likely nothing bores today’s younger collectors more than hearing old-timers spin yarns about the “Good Old Days” of collecting. No, amber Millvilles weren’t lurking at every flea market, but make no mistake, there were some pretty amazing discoveries to be made and deals to be had by individuals ready to dig in, work hard, and EDUCATE themselves about this fledgling hobby called bottle collecting. For certain, antique glass collectors had acknowledged historical flasks, etc., as desirable for decades. Still, the pursuit of a broader class of bottles, fruit jars, insulators, etc., intensified in the 1960s and never looked back.

My dad (Leigh Beardsley) and I got thrust into the antique canning jar craze in a left-handed way. We were avocational New York State archaeologists intent on building a large collection of Indian artifacts from Central New York. Along the way, dad thought collecting an arrowhead from every state would be fun.

We put an advertisement in The Antique Trader saying that we’d trade arrowheads from New York for arrowheads from other states. That ad changed our lives. Yes, we got some “takers” and did some trading, but we also were contacted by folks who had arrowheads to trade, but they didn’t want our New York State arrowheads in return. They wanted antique bottles and jars. Dad and I thought that was very strange, but we wanted arrowheads. So, we raided my two grandmothers’ cellars in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, securing some old Mason jars, boxed them up, and sent them along. Wonder of wonders, by return mail, came some really nice artifacts. We were thunderstruck. My dad was an eager entrepreneur, and it didn’t take long for a light to come on indicating that something big was happening in the collecting field… just not in our area.

Old canning jars actually had value. We bought whatever books on jars we could find, subscribed to OBX (Old Bottle Magazine), and started running ads in the local Pennysavers that we’d clean out unwanted fruit jars from basements and actually pay money for them. The phone kept ringing for the next 15 or so years. Competitors said we were lucky. Someone once said, “luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If our competition only knew the hours spent pouring over the Blue Books, lugging and cleaning literally thousands of dusty jars from dirt floor basements, and trying to keep aware of opportunity when it knocked.

What follows are recollections of a young high school student (me) who loved archaeology but who also loved the thrill of the hunt. Walking onto a newly plowed field was very much like walking down dark cellar stairs. You never knew what might be waiting for you. These were such exciting times in our household. I kept daily journals. Our whole family participated, making priceless memories.

By Mike Beardsley Chittenango, New York

OK, We Blew That One

We got a “basement call” from a homeowner on Mary Street in Auburn, New York, our hometown. It was one of our first calls, and we were excited. We retrieved several bushel basket loads of old Masons. One was different. It said Mansfield, and it had a picture of the jar on the jar. Try as we might, we couldn’t find it in any of our reference material. A guy named Alex Kerr in Los Angeles also ran ads for jars, so we called him. I was doing homework at an old black desk in the kitchen when dad reached Alex. After pleasantries, dad told Alex about the jar. Alex asked if it was for sale. Dad said yes and covered the receiver. Dad told me he was going to ask for the absurdly high sum of $12.50. I said OK but told him we would pay the postage. Alex jumped on

Mansfield Glass Works jar.

Two very early Rochester, New York antique bottle show photos—likely 1969 or 1970. Leigh Beardsley seated and that’s me in both photos looking very studious—nerdy might be more like it!

the jar. We were thrilled…for a little while. The jar eventually turned out to be the super rare RB #1618 and was worth a LOT more than $12.50. Hey, live and learn. Alex remained a friend for years after that and always loved to remind us of that purchase!

That ain’t no Fruit Jar!

Not long after the Mansfield debacle, we got a call leading us to an old, rambling farmhouse in Sherwood, New York. The jars in the basement weren’t much…old but common. We loaded the Econoline, and the nice lady came out and asked us if we wanted a glass of lemonade before heading home. We went into her old farm kitchen with its dark brown wainscot cupboards that seemed to be eight feet tall. The woman opened the cupboard door to fetch glasses. My ever-sharp and opportunistic father spotted an unusual-looking jar sitting alone on the top shelf. He asked about it and had to help the woman get the jar down as it was beyond her reach. Was it for sale? The woman hesitated, then said yes. We left Sherwood with the darnedest-looking jar you ever saw. It had a long, narrow neck and a bulbous body. The embossing said, “Fluid or Dry Sealing Adjustable by Atmospheric Pressure Griswold’s Patent 1862.” Dad and I were excited…we felt we found another unlisted jar—no calls to Alex this time.

The Laconia, New Hampshire Bottle Show was coming up, so

we’d take our new prize there with a price tag of $125. It would be the centerpiece of our table. When the date came, my buddy Mark Clymer and I piled into my first car, a 1961 Dodge Seneca (Glacier Blue), and headed to Laconia. After some duck pin bowling and a look at Lake Winnipesaukee, we crawled off to sleep in the Seneca as we couldn’t afford a motel. At set up the following day, I gingerly pulled the Griswold jar out of the Mogen David box and placed it on the table. Instead of cheers, we got jeers. “That’s no fruit jar…probably a battery jar… certainly not worth what you are asking.” I was crushed. Even Roy Brown shook his head and walked away from our now-tainted treasure. We took the jar back to Auburn. A couple of weeks later Ralph Bond published his 1970 book of Fruit Jar Patents and guess what was in there…our freshly snubbed Griswold. Our phone lit up like a Christmas Tree from the same folks who had trashed our treasure. I don’t remember what we ended up getting for the jar, but it was substantially more than $125.

How we stopped collecting insulators in one night!

Edgar Smith was a quiet and gentle man who worked as a lineman for New York Telephone. Edgar collected arrowheads (like us); he had an interest in old bottles and jars (like us), but he especially liked insulators. My dad was the General Agent for the Lehigh Valley Railroad for Central New York. As such, that gave us tacit permission to climb the telegraph poles that ran along abandoned LVRR lines and remove the “jewels” that hadn’t been previously shot up by hunters. Nothing like dragging a huge wooden ladder over rotted ties and down embankments for a mile or two!

We paid our dues to secure our Hawley’s, Brookfield’s, etc. In fairly short order, we built a decent collection of insulators— nothing super scarce—but we assembled some “goodies” through climbing and trading. Edgar would run ads in the Union Springs,

Fluid or Dry Sealing Adjustable by Atmospheric Pressure Griswold’s Patent 1862 jar.

NY Pennysaver looking for bottles, fruit jars, etc. He got a call from an older woman who told Edgar she didn’t have any fruit jars but did have some milk bottles. Edgar made the house call anyway and got the surprise of his life. Edgar bought the lady’s “milk bottles” and immediately called my dad. With a degree of excitement in his voice, he explained that he wanted to come to the house immediately to show us something…NOW— highly unusual for normally reserved Edgar.

Edgar carried a beat-up cardboard box into our Indian room and set it on the table. This was the same box he’d just carried from the old woman’s cellar. Before opening the box, Edgar took a moment to look over our collection of insulators resting on steel shelving near the Indian room door. He wasn’t acting like himself…he was smiling and almost giddy. Edgar finally opened the box and set out the lady’s “milk bottles.” Out came two quart Airtight barrel wax sealer fruit jars and one coveted pint Air-tight Ravenna. All three pontiled jars were as clean and sparkling as the day they left Ohio. Dad and I were stunned. Edgar didn’t want money, he wanted to trade his “milk bottles” for insulators. Dad glanced at our collection and, without hesitation, said, “take ‘em all.” The deal was done in less than a minute. We helped Edgar load up the insulators, and dad and I never climbed another pole.

Love that Sidney Show

In the early days of collecting, it seemed like there was a bottle show about every weekend. Many small towns had their own bottle clubs and put on great events. These were particularly fruitful experiences for dad and me. We’d arrive early and set up a table but never expected to sell much. Fruit jar collecting fever was still mainly a Midwestern thing, and we were there to buy jars from the local diggers and pickers to stock our bi-monthly fruit jar mailing list. If we didn’t sell a jar, that was ok. I was always super excited the night before a show…perhaps like a hunter anticipating “opening day.” Dad preferred the selling, so he manned the booth while I roamed the aisles “hunting” for

treasures as folks set up their tables. The Sidney show was one of these treasured rural events.

Gary Wilson ran the show in an efficient but always friendly manner. We carried our jar display to our table then I took off to scour the hall. Minutes into my “hunt” I noted a picker with three or four bushel baskets full of jars under his table. The top of his table was reserved for “real bottles.” A handdrawn sign in pencil stated that anything under the table was 50 cents. Lying out on top of one of the baskets was a pristine S. B. Dewey Fruit Jar from Rochester, New York. I couldn’t get my two quarters out of my pocket fast enough. I didn’t even dicker on the price (nice of me, huh!). I proceeded back to our table proud as a peacock and told dad, “beat that”! (As a family, we were hyper-competitive. Every lunchtime, dad would come home from the LVRR station, and we’d play Jeopardy for a penny a point.) Well, beat it; dad would.

As the show was winding down, two older spinster sisters approached our table, carefully looking over our jars. I thought we might make a sale. Can I help you? Well, they were looking for a specific jar like the one they had at home. They didn’t see it at the show. They remembered that it had the name of a Doctor on it. My dad asked, Dr. Ramsay? Yes, that was it. Dad got their telephone number but then asked if they were going directly home after the show, as he didn’t want this fish to slip the hook. Yes, but they lived 45 minutes away. No problem. The ladies eventually left the show with dad in hot pursuit. I was left to pack up the booth and then sit with the boxes on the curb long after the show had closed. I helped take down the tables, fold the chairs, and anxiously waited. About two hours later, Dad returned clutching his Dr. Ramsay prize…mint as could be. Dad’s Doctor trumped my Dewey, but it was a day we never forgot!

Air-Tight Fruit Jar

S B Dewey Jr. Rochester N.Y. jar

Doctor Ramsay’s jar

Another “under the table” find

For decades, the Syracuse Regional Market has been a haven for “antiquers,” collectors, pickers, etc. Opening at 7 am on Sunday mornings it has been a Syracuse staple providing good buys to early risers. I’d eagerly leave my house early in anticipation of the hunt...sometimes with my very young children in tow. One such day, I got to the market and realized I’d forgotten to stop at the bank the day before. I had my checkbook and 75 cents to my name. A lady had a bushel basket of old amber Clorox bottles under her table marked $1 each. I noticed a curved, blown glass handle sticking out from the Clorox bottles. A little pawing and I uncovered a perfect pontiled Chestnut Grove Whiskey nearly obscured by the pile of Clorox containers. I offered the woman my 75 cents. Nope, she was firm on her dollar. When I pulled out my checkbook, I thought she’d spit. She didn’t want my check, so with a chilling scowl, she scooped up my three quarters. I grabbed my son and the whiskey and made off down the aisle. I thought it might be presumptuous to ask her for a bag.

Scamming the Scammer

I’m sure that we all have friends that we enjoy but who always seem to need to try to “one up” you. Well, one of my dad’s railroad buddies was just such a dude. He was always better at golf or found better antiques etc. Well, Art decided that he would become a picker for dad and me as we scoured Cayuga County for more Atlas & Ball wire bail jars to satisfy our “Moonshine Connection” commitment. Dad and I sent literally thousands of jars to moonshiners in North Carolina via a furniture hauler. We didn’t make a lot per jar, but in quantity, it really added up, plus it gave us an outlet for the many jars we got by cleaning out basements. Art would call us when he had built up a load. One evening dad and I arrived and Art’s garage floor was covered with hundreds of clear E-Z Seal jars…the mother load. That’s when Art dropped the hammer on us. He decided he needed a bigger cut of the action and increased the price he was asking for the jars by .25 cents per dozen. Dad wasn’t happy, but we were over a barrel. We needed the jars to fill the next truck, and it looked like the always cagey Art had stung us again. But wait. As I was loading the mountain of terminally boring E-Z Seal jars, I noted that a few of the jars looked different. Yes, the jars were clear and had wire bails, but they sure weren’t Atlas. I didn’t want to draw attention, so I quietly kept boxing up all the jars while Art and dad talked. Once back in the Econoline, I told dad that Art may have pulled

a fast one on us, but I thought we might have gotten the last laugh. Back home, mixed in with the E-Z Seals were three very scarce Family Fruit Jar pints. Hah! Art had totally missed these gems. For once the “good guys” won.

Struck by Lightning

Cleaning out basements wasn’t all glitz and glamour. There was always an abundance of dirt, cobwebs, spiders, and such. Many of the jars were full leading to lugging heavy boxes up rickety wooden cellar stairs. Some of the lids had often corroded and “popped,” leaking their reeking rotted contents onto your hands and clothing. Often shelves had collapsed causing us to root the fallen jars out of the dirt floors.

Once home, the real fun began. The family would gather around a large galvanized steel tub in the backyard. Each of us would sit in a folding lawn chair surrounded by boxes of full jars waiting to be opened and cleaned. Like witches concocting a brew, we’d dump the contents into the tub. We’d try to guess what spoiled fruit or vegetable (or meat) we were discarding—tomatoes, relish, plums, beef, peaches, etc. It wasn’t long before our tub was brimming with a smelly colorful concoction worthy of Hocus Pocus.

Cleaning out a hundred jars or so loses its luster in short order, especially on hot days. Only the neighborhood flies seemed to enjoy themselves. But once in a great while, you get a pleasant surprise! Near the tub was our water hose

Chestnut Grove Whiskey

Trade Mark Lightning jar

to rinse out the newly emptied jars. One afternoon we’d been working on a rather large batch of Lightning jars containing what appeared to be elderberries. A few of the quarts seemed to take forever to rinse out. Could the berries have stained the glass? Holding the jars up to the sun’s rays, we were enchanted to find several of the Lightning’s were amber glass. No, not super rare, but a real shot in the arm after dumping untold numbers of common clear, Ball blue, and 1858 Mason jars. We’d dance a little jig and then get back to the task at hand.

They’re Just Stoneware Jars, No One Wants Them

A fruit jar collector in the area passed away unexpectedly. We didn’t know him very well, but his wife contacted us to buy his collection. Unbeknown to us, a “local expert” offered to price the jars for the widow prior to our seeing the assemblage. The “expert” drove the collection to our home and unloaded the boxes. Yikes, Mr. Expert had pretty much marked the jars at full retail. Dad explained that there wasn’t much room for any profit at those prices, but the “expert” stood firm. We ended up buying the collection more to help out the widow than to make any money. One box of jars remained unopened. The “expert” explained that those were “just stoneware jars that nobody wants.” He brought them to us just to relieve the widow from having to discard them. After the expert left, we opened the box. Yes, most of the jars were common stoneware unmarked wax sealers, but in the corner of the box was a jar with a beautiful black glazed finish. Lifting the jar out of the box, we were excited to note delicate gold lettering on the jar’s shoulder that spelled out the words Torrey’s Egyptian Fruit Jar. The jar was mint, super rare, and scored off the charts on the coolness scale. It was the only Torrey’s that we ever turned up. Dad’s generosity in paying more than he should have for the collection was rewarded by an “old stoneware jar that nobody wants,”…per the expert!

Take Me to Church…Cathedral Pickle Luck Strikes Twice

The Onondaga Lake Park Antique Show was always one of my favorites. Being an outdoor show, it was always subject to the weather whims of Mother Nature, and “mom” rarely showed favorably on the event. I’d paid for early admission and sloshed around the booths in a downpour. One fellow was setting out

some bottles. I quickly spotted a gorgeous deep green, iron-pontiled cathedral pickle in the pint size. Not wishing to draw attention to that one bottle, I grabbed a junk bottle on the table and asked for a price for the pair. The dripping dealer wanted $20 for the two. I suggested $18. Sold. I vanished into the storm (smiles). Two months later, I attended the Syracuse Antique Show at the New York State Fairgrounds. I had to work in the morning, so I arrived after the show had been open for almost four hours. I was feeling glum since all of the good buys had likely already been scarfed up by my bottle friends. In fact, I almost didn’t attend the show.

Two hours into the show and I’d found nothing. My fears were realized. But wait, in a booth in a center aisle I spotted what looked to be the neck of a bottle sticking out about one inch above a stack of metal lunch boxes. The antique dealer had used the bottle to prop open the lunch box lid to show the thermos inside. I lowered the lunch box lid to reveal a riveting, deep green cathedral pickle…this time about 1 ½ quart. This pontiled gem had been hiding in plain sight all day long behind Fess Parker (Daniel Boone). At $35 it made my antique show trip more than memorable.

Torrey’s Egyptian Fruit Jar

Cathedral Pickle Bottle

Calling All Jar Collectors, Alice Creswick’s notebook: “X-ray reveals unusual jar” Here is an odd little jar reported by Mike and Nancy Beardsley of New York State. It’s called an “X-Ray Fruit Jar.

X Marks the Spot

My wife Nancy and I attended a small antique show at a Catholic Church School in East Syracuse, New York. We’d only recently gotten married and I was trying to get Nancy hooked on the antique thing. I’d taken her to bottle shows at the York Fairgrounds, Rochester, NY, Syracuse, etc. Because we were newlyweds, Nancy tolerated my fascination with all things old. Growing up on a small farm, Nancy’s family had no time for frivolous ventures like going to antique shows. Back at the St. Matthew’s show, about five tables in I spotted a most unusual jar. It looked like a glass pillow resting on a large brass lid. I turned over the “pillow,” and the lid read “X-Ray Fruit Jar.” I was stunned. Nancy, however, didn’t really seem to share my enthusiasm. I explained that we had a slew of fruit jar books, and no fruit jar ever started with an X. She remained unmoved, stating the obvious—”it sure doesn’t look like a fruit jar,” she said. And she was right. The jar was odd, but hey, it called itself a fruit jar…who was I to argue?

I sent pictures off to consummate researcher and friend Alice Creswick. A few weeks later came the word that my wife was right. In spite of the name, our “X-Ray” was not a fruit jar in the truest sense. It was actually made to hold fruit and then sit on top of a container full of the same fruit on a country store shelf. Drawn by the fruit in the X-Ray jar, the customer would buy said fruit and dip their fruit purchase out of the larger container. As such, the “X-Ray Fruit Jar” was more of an advertising piece, promoting the fruity contents for the store owner. Hey, I think it’s still the only jar beginning with the letter “X”!

Christmas Surprises

About April of 1980, our family was at the Rochester Bottle Show. For me, Rochester was like Christmas, your birthday, etc., all in one. This time Nancy and I were pushing our one-yearold son Brandon in a stroller as dad and mom worked our table. It wasn’t Brandon’s first bottle show. He was born in March of 1979, and we actually stopped at the Syracuse Bottle Show on the way home from the hospital. At three days old, he was a shoo-in for the award for the youngest attendee.

Back to the Rochester Show. After our marriage, I moved from my boyhood home in Auburn, NY, to Chittenango, NY, near where my wife grew up. In trying to educate myself about the history of my new “hood,” I learned that there had been a Saratoga-like resort just south of town that touted the healing powers of its “white sulphur water.” George Waddy’s booth wasn’t far from our fruit jars. Among George’s many wonderful Saratogas for sale was his newly acquired quart Chittenango White Sulphur Water bottle. I was smitten—a very cool bottle from my new “hometown.” But, it had the absurd price of $425—over the moon for 1980.

I was told that it was the only one known and had been found in the wall of the house being renovated at the corner of Race and Russell streets in Chittenango. Somehow legendary trade card dealer Kit Barry had acquired the bottle and then sold it to George. Nancy and I pondered the purchase. Hey, that was about 5% of my annual salary at the time. But, buy it we did, to “bring it home to Chittenango.” We were thrilled. About a week later, George called me. I think he had seller’s remorse. He asked me if

we ever decided to sell the bottle to let him have the first crack at it. I promised George that I would.

Fast forward about three years, I’m guessing. My mother and father-in-law were hard-working farm folks. Antiques were foreign to them, and I’m sure they thought Nancy and I were absolutely nuts to pay so much for a bottle, especially an empty bottle. It was nearing Christmas, and my in-laws were invited to a holiday party at a co-worker’s home in Cazenovia, N.Y. During the gathering, my father-in-law spotted two quart Chittenango White Sulphur Water bottles resting on a piano, mint as could be. Come to find out, the party host had recently sold their family’s summer camp on the Erieville Reservoir. The bottles turned up as they were cleaning out the house, and the other family members said the host should take them since she lived closest to Chittenango. Were they for sale? Yes.

No amount was discussed. My in-laws got the phone number, and two snowy nights later, I was sitting in the living room of a modest ranch house with the two Chittenango bottles on the coffee table before me. Dad and I always believed in making fair offers and sharing the wealth. After small talk, I offered the woman $400 for the two bottles. She started to cry. She explained that her son had desperately wanted the new Commodore 64 Computer for Christmas, and she hadn’t yet told him they simply could not afford it. Well, now she could, and she was overcome. She told me she was going to ask me for $20 for the bottles. As I headed out into the snow, I had a lump in my throat but a big smile on my face.

So, now there were three Chittenango White Sulphur bottles known, and we owned all three. True to my word, I called George Waddy and sold one to him, and I sold the other to a gentleman in Rochester, N.Y. Even though the two Erieville bottles were a prettier shade of green we kept the original Chittenango bottle and have it to this day.

Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Yes, we’ve certainly been lucky…but…you have to put yourself in a position for luck to find you.

Attending bottle shows; visiting antique shops, flea markets, and garage sales; putting ads in the newspaper; networking; etc., all heighten the odds that good fortune will shine upon you. Even after all these years good bottles and jars are still “coming out of the woodwork” (sometimes literally) and they will be discovered by those best prepared to discover them.

Chittenango White Sulphur Water

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but when cleaning bottles, we use what we must!

Bottle Tumbling

By Rod Vining

With a“Twist”

Removing a freshly cleaned bottle from the tumbler is always an exciting experience, especially when you are experimenting with new polishing compounds. I had been waiting with anticipation all week for this moment. As I removed the first canister from my bottle tumbler and walked toward the sink, I reflected on my collecting journey and what brought me to this moment.

I started collecting Indian pottery shards at the ripe old age of six in my great-grandmother’s garden after it rained. By the time I was twelve, I found an old trash dump and started digging bottles. I was hooked for life. When I was fifteen, I was actively searching the woods for trash pits and old outhouses or walking the bayous and beaches at low tide. I remember being the “new collector” when every other bottle collector, except me, had such awesome collections.

There was an eccentric old man who lived nearby in one of the oldest homes in town. Vincent collected many antiques and historical items, including some really nice old bottles. What he had was always “better than anyone else.” If you did not believe it already, he would find a way to remind you by working it into the conversation. Since he was at least 50 years ahead of me in collecting years, I did not mind his bragging from time to time.

“Sarracenia Life Bitters - Tucker Mobile, Ala.” with a motif of three legs joined in center enclosed in a circle in olive green. Found and tumbled by the author.

Fast forward to the late 1980s, before bottle tumbling had been standardized by “The Doctor,” we did the best with what we could cobble together on our own. Most of us who were experimenting with tumbling were willing to share our knowledge with each other, but not Vincent. He would absorb all the information he could from everyone else but never add anything to the collective knowledge base.

Vincent had a windowless room within his home with a lock on the doors behind which all of his tumbling “magic” occurred. If you happened to visit his house, you could hear the sound of belts, motors, gears, and copper churning in the canisters, but no one was ever able to behold the sight with their own eyes except him. He had an old Cuckoo clock that was modified to crow only once per day, and when it did, he would always stop whatever he was doing, or excuse himself from your company, to retreat behind the locked doors to flip his canisters. Of course, that is only an assumption on my part since we did not know what his procedures were at the time. One time I caught only a glimpse

inside the room. I could see a motor spinning canisters of bottles, and on the shelf were jars of what I assume were cutting and polishing compounds. Vincent’s tumbling results were amazing and better than any of us could achieve at the time. Too bad it was all so secret. Whenever I would try to pry information from him, he swore he would rather take it to his grave! Oh well, I just quit asking him and did my research elsewhere.

I like to think that I have made great strides in my tumbling abilities over the years. I learned to be able to remove many small chips, scratches and flaws with my Dremel tool, but it took years to find the right wheels to use for top-notch results. I replaced my old machines and plugs with the ones “The Doctor” makes and could not have been happier. I now thought I had “arrived” and I was sure that even Vincent could not have done better.

Sarracenia Life Bitters— fresh from being tumbled.

Examples of Alabama bottles from my collection.

Time to flip canisters

Vincent passed away about 20 years ago, but only recently, his relatives, who were just as eccentric as he was, sold the old home and had the obligatory estate sale. I made sure to be the first one in line. I was finally going to see what was in that room! I went straight for the room, only to find it still locked with a sign reading “No Admittance.” It took me several hours to convince the dealer running the sale to put me in contact with the current owner. When I reminded him of who I was and what a great friend Vincent had been to me, he relented to sell me the contents of the room, but I had to buy it all, sight unseen. The deal was made. I am sure I was more excited than that guy who televised the opening of Al Capone’s vaults, but I tried not to let it show.

We put the key in the lock, and I swung open the doors to reveal...an old, worn-out, home-built tumbler like the one I retired years ago. The motor would still run, but the belts were rotten, the pulleys and bearings were all rusty, and the rubber-coated shafts were all cracked.

Even the canisters and homemade plugs were worn beyond use. Well, the deal was that I had to take everything in the room, so I started loading it all up. At least the jars of 1200 silicon carbide and the aluminum oxide polishing compounds appeared to be uncontaminated. Under the tables were numerous other empty metal, ceramic, and pottery jars and urns. They appeared interesting and old enough to be “vintage.” Maybe I could put them on the dollar table at our next bottle show.

As I was leaving, the owner stopped me and handed me one last box. He said he had just found it while moving furniture and remembered that Vincent had said that he wanted me to have it after he passed away. I was so deflated at this point that I just put it in the truck with the rest of my “treasure from the vaults” and headed for home. I unloaded everything and finally opened that last box. Maybe this could be the one thing that made the whole ordeal worthwhile, but to my surprise and dismay, it was an ornate metal urn with Vincent’s ashes in it! Why would I ever want such a thing? Why would he direct his relatives to give this to me?

I thought long on the subject and remembered all the times Vincent said he would take his tumbling secrets to his grave. He had no better equipment than the rest of us at the time. He was even using the same grit and oxides; at least the jars that were labeled were the same as I had always used. I reckon his secret polishing compound was something he kept in the unlabeled jars. Suddenly, the pieces all came together, and I looked at Vincent’s urn with new eyes and cautious anticipation.

My excitement builds as I twist the plug to release the bottle from the canister. I dump the contents in the sieve and eagerly wash the bottle. As the water runs clear, I raise it up to the light to inspect the finished product. And lo and behold, Vincent can still put the finishing shine on the glass, even from the grave! Now I just don’t know what I am going to do when his urn is empty.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, but when cleaning bottles, we use what we must!

WANTED: Anything to do with Dr. E. R. Clarke from Sharon, Mass.

All bottle sizes and variants, labeled or unlabeled, pontiled or unpontiled plus any related ephemera such as advertising, billheads and historical information.

Charlie Martin Jr. 781.248.8620

cemartinjr@comcast.net

Capital Region Antique Bottle Club

Annual Show & Sale Bottles, Stoneware & Early Antiques

Free Admission!!!

Sunday, JULY 23rd, 2023 9:00am - 3:00pm At the Mabee Farm Historic Site 1100 Main St. Rotterdam Junction N.Y.

***This Will Be An Outdoor Vendor Show***

Dealers will get a 20’ x 20’ Space for $25 - Set-up at 7:30am (Bring your own Tables and Pop-Ups)

Plenty of Parking, Easy access, (limited inside tables for club members)

Dealer Contact Information:

Adam Stoddard - 518-256-7663 (acstoddard63@gmail.com)

Roy Topka - 518-779-1243 (rmt556@yahoo.com)

See Allen in “TheHolyGrailof Chero-Colas” in the Sept–Oct 2022 issue of AB&GC.

[Above] In what is now southern Italy, Pompeii was a bustling metropolis, until an eruption from the mighty volcano Vesuvius engulfed it in ash nearly 2,000 years ago. The stone skeleton of this ancient city has emerged through centuries of excavations—an intriguing glimpse of another time. Yet, at least one-third of the Roman city remains buried, and that means the tantalizing discoveries continue. – CBS News

[Right] Lot 2079. “Mona Lisa of the Deep” Daguerreotype $73,200 Realized. S.S. Central America Auction.

– Holabird Americana

[Below] East Dennis, Mass.—

The top lot of the first day of Eldred’s April 6-7 Spring Sale was a 9-inch-long gold and silver mounted dress Bowie knife with a bone and silver coffin-form handle and sheath inscribed “Sacramento May 1859.” Discovered in a private collection on Cape Cod Collection, it sold to a California buyer for $68,750, a significant advance over the presale expectation of $9/12,000. – Eldred’s

[Right] This snuff was dug from a privy in Portage recently. There were other pontils, mostly broken, but this one is much earlier than what we find in Wisconsin. Portage was founded very early with Fort Winnebago established in 1828 so that may explain it.

– Henry Hecker

[Right] Half gallon

cobalt blue “Schwartz & Haslett Pittsburgh, Penna“ druggist bottle from the 1870s. I had the pint, of which there are two known examples. This half gallon was purchased by a friend of mine at a house sale for $2. He was nice enough to work out a trade with me. It is the only one I’ve ever seen.

– Chip Cable

[Left] Anthony Ayers had a hunch that he’d found a masterpiece. While vacationing in the English countryside in 1995, Mr. Ayers spotted a dusty, wood-panel painting tucked behind an armoire in an antique shop. It depicts Mary holding an infant Jesus in her lap as her older cousin Elizabeth and a toddler John the Baptist look on lovingly; the backdrop features an oak tree with a goldfinch, an ancient symbol foreshadowing the Crucifixion. The shopkeeper suggested that the painting could be from the Renaissance. Mr. Ayers wasn’t an art historian—he was an amateur artist and cabinet maker in the Chicago area—but he was intrigued enough to ask a few friends to pool their funds and buy the painting for roughly $30,000. Mr. Ayers soon came to believe that what he’d found was actually a Raphael. If true, the find would be seismic. Raphael is considered one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, and at his death in 1520, he left behind fewer than 200 works. Anything he created would be worth a fortune. The last Raphael work to be auctioned, a sketch titled “Head of a Muse,” sold for $48 million at Christie’s in 2009. And that was before a rediscovered Leonardo da Vinci, “Salvator Mundi,” raised market expectations in 2017 by selling for $450 million. – Wall Street Journal

Read and see more in the FOHBC Virtual Museum.

Lost & Found

[Left] Wooden crate of packaged Warner’s Log Cabin Extract bottles sealed up since 1887. Purchased from Dave Olson at the ChattanoogaNorth Georgia Antique Bottle Show.

– Michael Seeliger

[Right] This amazing example of an extremely rare Callahan’s Old Cabin Whiskey was dug on the north side of Pittsburgh about two blocks from where his saloon (Hugh Callahan) was located.

– Chip Cable

[Below] Here is a pair of glass “sandals” that are actually flasks. They were excavated as grave goods from a Roman burial in Cologne, Germany, third century AD. – Eric McGuire

[Below] A delicate porcelain bowl, measuring under 4.5 inches in diameter, sold for more than $25 million during a bumper week of Chinese art sales in Hong Kong. Described by auction house Sotheby’s as “highly important,” the antique hails from a rare group of ceramics decorated at Beijing’s imperial workshops in the 18th century. The bowl was produced during the time of the Yongzheng Emperor, who ruled China from 1722 to 1735 (though the enamel was likely painted shortly after his death). It is part of a tradition known as “falangcai,” or “foreign colors,” a name given to porcelain originating from the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen but enameled by artisans in Beijing’s Forbidden City. Once part of a pair, the item was first recorded in a collection assembled by Shanghai-based shipping merchant Captain Charles Oswald Liddell in the late 19th century. The two bowls were split up in 1929, when they were each sold for £150 (amounting to just over £7,600, or $9,400, in today’s money). The bowl’s “twin” is held now at the British Museum in London – Sotheby’s

[Above Right] Archaeologists in China have found the remains of what may be the world’s oldest known flush toilet. Broken parts of the 2,400-year-old lavatory, as well as a bent flush pipe, were unearthed last summer by a research team among ancient palace ruins in the Yueyang archaeological site in the central city of Xi’an, according to Chinese state media. Described by researchers as a “luxury object,” the toilet was thought to have been located inside the palace, with a pipe leading to an outdoor pit, according to state-owned China Daily. Liu Rui, a researcher at the Institute of Archeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who was part of the excavation team, told state media the toilet would have likely been reserved for high-ranking officials during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) and the later Han Dynasty (206 BCAD 220). He added that servants would likely have poured water into the toilet bowl every time it was used.

Member Photos

A collection of spectacular and inspiring photographs from around the world and around the web. Please feel free to submit your images for consideration.

Very hard to find Indian themed

Read and see more in the FOHBC Virtual Museum.

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector

We call this the Victorian Room – Elizabeth J. Meyer

Bruce Rogovin

Grouping – James Campiglia

ACL sodas.

– James Campiglia

Poison flasks – Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association

Cross over Mason over S jar. – Dave Eifler

Member Photos

Facebook Page image – Tony Moller

My colorful strap-sided flasks. – Drew Zambella

A sweet Sunday sunset – Michael George

L&T Patent poison bottles – Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association

Facebook cover –Hans-Jürgen Krackher

Welcoming the National Association Breweriana Advertising (NABA) as a FOHBC partner.

Warner’s Safe Rheumatic Remedy in Aqua–Michael Craig

Classified Ads

ADVERTISE FOR FREE:

Free “FOR SALE” advertising in each issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC). One free “WANTED” or “FOR SALE” ad in AB&GC per year each renewal. See page 72 for more info. DEALERS: Sell your bottles in the Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. Change the bottles each issue. Include your website in your ad to increase traffic to your site. Send all advertisement info to FOHBC Business Manager, Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423 or best, email to: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

FOR SALE

FOR SALE: 22 John Ryan’s plus an additional 48 other Georgia sodas. Text or email for photos and prices. Rod Vining, 251.957.6725, vinewood@mchsi.com 3/23

FOR SALE: Jar Doctor is for sale - includes equipment, inventory, supplies (shipping boxes, containers, etc.), molds, jigs, power tools, customer information, supplier information, and training. Please contact R. Wayne Lowry, JarDoctor@aol.com, 816.318.0161 for information and/or to discuss options. 01/23

FOR SALE: Book: A History of the Des Moines Potteries, with additional information on Boonesboro, Carlisle, Hartford, and Palmyra. 214 pages, 65 color. Cost $23 plus shipping, media mail add $4.50, priority add $6. Mail to Mark C. Wiseman, 3505 Sheridan Ave., Des Moines, Iowa 50310, 515.344.8333 01/23

FOR SALE: Mint: 1) Warner’s Safe Nervine half pt. slugplate. Light amber, $300 2) Warners’s Safe Cure London, half pint, green, $300 3) Warner’s Safe Kidney & Liver Cure. Pint, slugplate, A & D.H.C. on bottom, $250 4) Warner’s Diabetes Cure, pint. Melbourne, $150 5) Dr. Von Hopfs Curacoa Bitters, Chamberlain & Co., Des Moines, Iowa, yellow, $175. I have a lot more Warner’s for sale. Will trade for mini whiskey jugs. Stencil or scratch with maker and town and city on them. Jack Brower, 479.434.6306 01/23

WANTED

WANTED: BLACK HAWK, COLORADO

Th. Crook Sky Light whiskey flask. I will pay $10,000 for a half-pint coffin or a pint coffin or a pint shoofly. Flask must be in mint condition and delivered to Colorado. Other Black Hawk bottles might be of interest if not already owned. Contact: David D. Spellman at spellmand@centurylink.net 01/23

WANTED: Adirondack Springs, Westport, N.Y., Top prices paid for bottles in excellent condition, photos, postcards or other advertising. These springs are presently owned by my family. Jim Tromblee at jtromblee@together. net or 813.663 8285 3/23

WANTED: Harley bottles of West Chester, Pa. and Philadelphia, Pa. The West Chester bottles (3) display either J. Harley, James Harley or E.M. Harley. The Phila. Bottles (4) display Edwd. Harley, Schul (Schuylkill) 4th & Market St., Philada or E. Harley, 802 Market St. or E. Harley, West Market St. or Edw. Harley, 1838 Market St., Phila. Bob Harley, email: rwh220@yahoo.com, Phone: 215.721.1107 12/23

WANTED: Houston, Galveston, Richmond and Rosenberg, Texas bottles. Triple XXX Root Beer items. Mo-Pep, Javo, Dr. Nut and Deacon Brown. Delaware Punch and Green’s Muscadine Punch, Juni Phosphate and High Island, Texas items. Earl McIntyre, 14214 Jaubert Ct., Sugar Land, Texas 77948, 832.914.2477, emcintyr@comcast.net 7/23

WANTED: Most Pre-1960 Kent and Queen Annes Counties, Maryland postcards, ephemera, bottles, advertising, souvenirs, crocks, banknotes, railroadiana, maps, militaria, steamboatiana, cannery items, photos, match covers, signs. Primary towns: Dolchester (Beach), Betterton (Beach), Chestertown, Centreville, Love Point. Mark Newsome, 9265 American Legion Rd, Chestertown, Maryland 21620, 410.699.0893. 7/23

WANTED: Old time collector seeks Redondo/ Redondo Beach California bottles etc., Dave Deto, 209.626.9846, 3867 Cael Lane, Clovis, California 95619 7/23

WANTED: Corry Pennsylvania bottles etc., Conn Planters Bitters, Oregon Indian Med. Co., Northwest PA. bottles etc., Don Small, bottledon@hotmail.com, 814.663.6090 7/23

WANTED: 1976 Expo commemorative flasks in colors I do not already have. Pat Jett, 314.570.6917; patsy_jett@yahoo.com 3/23

WANTED: Refrigerator water bottles – Bilby style: Katz Drug, Minnehaha, Spirit of 76, Aerox, any others of which I am not aware, and any in amber. Dave Parmalee, jdparmalee@ comcast.net, 865.719. 4162 3/23

WANTED: Jar lid for Cohansey 2 ½-gallon RB #628. Call Ed DeHaven 609.390.1898 or 609.402.6229. Thanks! 3/23

WANTED: Ford City, Pa embossed bottles, also Meckling and Kramer, Kittanning, Pa. Remember the Maine Hutches. Keystone Bottling Works, Sagamore, Pa., Bill Oleksak, 724.859.0113, billoleksak1947@gmail.com, 3/23

WANTED: Moore Ink bottles and any related items to the Moore Ink Co. Thank you. Ron Rainka, 1198 Main St., Warren, Ma. 010830685, tele: 413.436.5998 3/23

WANTED: Checkers Chemical Co., Winston-Salem NC (Reverse) “It makes you feel good all over” Amber, about 10”, square bitters form, Blown, No damage and clean. Will pay $500. Thank you, Curt Ewing, curtielind@ yahoo.com 3/23

WANTED: All types of MOBILE ALABAMA Bitters, Whiskeys, Medicine, Drug Stores, Sodas (no crown tops), Decorated Stoneware, Transferware, Paper and all other related items. One item or an entire collection. Rod Vining, 10691 Old Pascagoula Road, Grand Bay, Alabama 36541, 251.957.6725, vinewood@mchsi. com 3/23

WANTED: Amber Claussen Bottling Works Hutchinson soda bottle from Charleston, S.C., Joe, 803.926.0906 3/23

WANTED: Exposition Brewing Co. Delray (Detroit) Mich Beer, blob tops 12 oz amber or aqua or quart size amber – American Brewing Co. Delray Mich, blob tops 12 oz. amber, aqua or clear or quart size amber. Also Geo. H. Schmitt Delray Hutchinsons, quarts, blob tops or crown tops – Geo. H. Schmitt Delray Seltzer Water clear. Rick Myers, 313.742.8668 3/23

WANTED: North Florida bottles, Southern Stoneware or unusual black glass forms. Contact Alan McCarthy 850.832.1882 1/23

WANTED: To buy Dr. Mitchell Sarsaparilla from Perry, NY in Wyoming County. Will pay $4k. Bours Cordial Tonic from Geneva, NY. Will pay $4k. Looking to buy large Milk Bottle Collections from all over the United States. Contact Jim 315.527.3269 1/23

WANTED: 1-Spencer Bros (Brothers) Oak-

Classified Ads

landvale Farm Saugus Massachusetts Milk Bottle. 2-PJ Spencer, Malden, MA Milk Bottle (Cardboard top says “The Old Spencer Farm”) 3-Frank P Bennett, Oaklandvale Farm Milk, Saugus MA Milk Bottle. Interested in tops or any other items or information related to these three farms. Any size bottle is fine. Please email lyork1@cfl.rr.com or leave a message at 407.416.2677. Call will be returned ASAP. Thank you. 1/23

WANTED: Rare pontiled meds particularly Southern meds, Michael D. Morgan, mmorgandive@gmail.com 1/23

WANTED: Dr. A. C. Daniels advertising signs–St. Johnsbury, Vermont Old Items, Dennis Daniels, 448 Pleasant St., St. Johnsbury, VT, 05819, 802.748.2274. 1/23

WANTED: Colored Figural Bitters. Also other bitters that are unusually shaped or unusually colored, for their grouping! Mint specimens only please! Randolph Haumann, 10410 Gold Arrow Drive, Reno, Nevada 89521-5190 or cell 415.518.4124 (leave message) or email: hawkeye751@outlook.com, Call Now! So you are not sorry...Later! 11/24

WANTED: Hobble skirt embossed Coca-Cola bottles: 1915s, 1923s, D-Patent’s 6 oz and 6 1/2 oz. Collector will buy or trade. Jim Georges, georges77@twcny.rr.com or 315.662.7729. 07/24

WANTED: Colored Illinois and Missouri Sodas. Also Colored Fruit Jars. Top $$$ Paid. Call, text or email. Steve Kehrer, email: kehrer00@gmail.com, 618.410.4142. 03/23

WANTED: Hobble skirt embossed Coca-Cola bottles: 1915s, 1923s, D-Patent’s 6 oz and 6 ½ oz. Collector will buy or trade. Jim Georges, georges77@twcny.rr.com or 315.662.7729. 07/24

WANTED: OWL DRUG bottles, tins, boxes, paper, anything from the Owl Drug Company. Marc Lutsko, letsgo@montanasky.net, 406.291.0861, Box 97, Libby, Montana 59923 TOP DOLLAR paid 01/24

WANTED: Volunteers to help the FOHBC. Help our organization stay strong by writing an article, be a magazine proofreader or a Virtual Museum researcher. Post on our social media sites and share our posts. There are many ways you can help. Donations to our non-profit orga-

nization are always accepted. Thank you. 01/23

WANTED: Embossed Ford City, PA bottles. Also, Mechling & Kramer, Kittanning Hutch and Remember the Maine Hutch. Keystone Bottling Works, Sagamore, PA Hutch. Bill Oleksak, billoleksak1947@gmail.com. 724.859.0113 01/23

WANTED: Hello Levi Strauss and Western collectors! Years ago, a well-known California dealer discovered a major California gold rush archive from the Hardy-Kennedy store in Forest Hill, California. In it were a number of Levi Strauss billheads from the 1850s. We are looking for collectors who may have bought one or more and are soliciting copies of these billheads for an important paper I am working on. The information contained on these may be integral to the substance of my proposed paper

and may enhance the value of your billhead! I am looking forward to some discoveries. Thanks in advance. Fred Holabird, fredholabird@gmail.com, 775.851.1859 01/23

SHOWS, STOPS & SERVICES

NEEDING: Historical pictures for the online FOHBC Research Library.

AUCTION PRICE REPORT: Remember, all FOHBC members get access to the Auction Price Report website. Visit the FOHBC.org Members Portal.

REMEMBER: Please keep up with your membership to avoid interrupted service. Membership options available.

Fifty-two jugs from fifty-three jug proprietors! Biographical sketches with their jugs and advertisements. This is the first complete Florida jug book ever!

Four-Color, Soft Bound, 8.5 x 11, 174 pages, Includes glossary and index, Book cost $50 plus $4 shipping & handling, Total $54. Send check or money order to: David Kyle Rakes, P.O. Box 2706 Belleview, FL 34421 Any questions: Cell phone: 352.817.5136, Email: Barakes123@gmail.com

Sho-Biz Calendar of Shows

FOHBC Sho - Biz is published in the interest of the hobby. Federation-affiliated clubs are indicated in red. Information on upcoming collecting events is welcome, but space is limited. Please send at least three months in advance, including telephone number to: FOHBC Sho-Biz, c/o Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; phone: 713.504.0628; email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com Show schedules are subject to change. Please call before traveling long distances. All listings published here will also be published on the FOHBC.org website.

13–17 June 2023 – Dubuque, Iowa

American Breweriana Association Annual Convention, Hotel Julien, Dubuque Iowa, Public Show: Saturday June 17, 2023, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, Contact: Larry Handy, Phone: 267.221.8300, ohhugo1@aol.com

17 June 2023 – Johnston, Iowa

The Iowa Antique Bottleers 52nd Annual Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show and Sale at the Johnston Lions Club, 64th Place and Merle Hay Road, Johnston, Iowa; Admission $2, Children Free, For info contact Mark Wiseman, 3505 Sheridan Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50301, 515.344.8333 or Joyce Jessen, 515.979.5216, See Contract on website, FOHBC Member Club

17 June 2023 – Tallahassee, Florida

2023 Tallahassee Antique and Bottle Show, Saturday. 9:00 am to 3:00 pm ($3 admission); Dealer setup on Friday, 16 June, from 12:00 to 6:00 pm. Dinner will be provided. Setup continues on Saturday from 7:30 to 9:00 am. Early buyers Friday afternoon-evening and Saturday morning. The cost for early admission is $20 and includes dinner. Location: North Florida Fairgrounds, 441 Paul Russell Rd., Tallahassee, Florida 32301. For more information contact Britt Keen 850.294.5537, britt_keen@hotmail.com or visit our Facebook page. See Info PDF on website

01 & 02 July 2023 – United Kingdom

The 31st UK SummerNational, the largest event of its type. BBR, Elsecar Heritage Centre, Nr Barnsley, S. Yorks., S74 8HJ t: 01226 745156 email sales@onlinebbr.com, www.onlinebbr.com

14-16 July 2023 – Reynolds, Pennsylvania

Shupp’s Grove Summer Bottle Festival, 607 Willow Street, Reynolds, Pennsylvania. Friday, early buyers only from 11 am to 5 pm at a ticket price of $20 per person and running through Sunday, July 16 2023. Saturday and Sunday hours are from 6 am to dusk; admission is free to all on these two days. Contact Steve Guion at william03301956@gmail.com or call him at 717.371.1259. He has information and dealer contracts for those wishing to set up at the festival.

22 July 2023 – Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Tulsa Antiques and Bottle Club’s 45th Annual Antique

Advertising and Bottle Show from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm at SageNet Center at the Tulsa Fairgrounds, 21st Street and Pittsburgh Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74144, Dealer setup 10 am to 6 pm Friday, and 6 am to 8 am Saturday. Free admission and parking. Visit website, Contact: Henry Tankersley, 918.663.3218, henrytankersley3@ gmail.com or Dale Peterson, 918.693.1918, cpeters2@sbcglobal.net

See More Info on website. FOHBC Member Club

23 July 2023 – Rotterdam Junction, New York

Capital Region Antique Bottle Club Annual Show & Sale, This will be an outdoor vendor show. 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Mabee Farm Historic Site, 1100 Main St., Rotterdam Junction N.Y., Contact: Adam Stoddard, 518.256.7663, acstoddard63@gmail.com or Roy Topka, 518.779.1243, rm556@yahoo.com, FOHBC Member Club

01 August–05 August 2023 – Chicago, Illinois

2023 National Association of Breweriana Advertising Convention. See Link

04-06 August 2023 – Tonopah, Nevada

First Tonopah Nevada Rock & Bottle Show. This event is Hosted by the Town of Tonopah. We are in search of vendors. If interested, please contact Chrissy Pope. Tourism & Events Coordinator, Town of Tonopah at 775.277.0804, Chrissy.townoftonopah@gmail.com

12 August 2023 – Lincoln, Alabama

8th Annual Lincoln Bottle & Antique Show. Lincoln Civic Center, 123 Jones Street, Lincoln, Alabama 35096, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Contact chairman Jake Smith, 256.267.0446, syl_bottleguy@ yahoo.com. Free public admission, $20 early admission Saturday 8:00 am till 9:00 am, Free appraisals. Info on Facebook.

20 August 2023 – Poughkeepsie, New York

Hudson Valley Bottle Club 36th Annual Mid Hudson Bottle Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 2:30 pm, early buyers 8:30 am, Poughkeepsie Elks Lodge 275, 29 Overocker Road, Poughkeepsie, New York, Contact Info: Mike Stephano, 27 Rogers Road, Hyde Park, New York 12538, 845.233.4340, mjsantique@aol.com, FOHBC Member Club

26 August 2023 – Clarksburg, West Virginia North Central West Virginia Antiques & Collectibles Show & Sale, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm; General Admission $3, 16 and under Free Admission, Free Parking, Early buyers 7:30 am, $20. Village Square Event Center, 1489 Milford Street, Route 19 S. Clarksburg, West Virginia 26301, Contact: Don Kelley, 724.998.2734, bonzeyekelley@gmail.com

02 September 2023 – Seekonk, Massachusetts

The Little Rhody Bottle Club Tailgate Swap Meet, starts at 8:00 am and ends at 2:00 pm. Free set-up for all who wish to attend. Bring your own tables! Show Address: Leonard’s Antiques, 600 Taunton Ave. (Rte #44) Seekonk, Mass., Contact Info: William Rose 508.880.4929, sierramadre@comcast.net, FOHBC Member Club

09 September 2023 – Castle Rock, Colorado

The 57th Annual Antique Bottle Collectors of Colorado Show. Douglas County Fairgrounds at Kirk Hall, 500 Fairgrounds Dr., Castle Rock, Colorado 80104. Early admission Sept. 9th at 8:00 am $10. General Admission: Saturday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, Free. More information: Fred Bjork, 719.310.8388, manfredbjork@yahoo.com, antiquebottlecollectorsofcolorado.com, FOHBC Member Club

15 & 16 September 2023 – Aurora, Oregon Oregon Bottle Collectors Association Bottle, Antique & Collectibles Show & Sale, Friday 12 to 5:00 pm dealer set-up and early bird admission $5, Saturday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm regular public admission by donation, Show Address, American Legion Hall, 21510 Main St. N.E., Aurora, Oregon, Contact Info: Wayne Herring, Show Chairman, 503.864.2009, Bill Bogynska, 503.657.1726, billbogy7@gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club

16 September 2023 – Santa Rosa, California

The Northwestern Bottle Collectors’ Association’s 56th Annual Antique Bottle Collectors Show at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, 1351 Maple Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95404. General Admission: Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, $3, Saturday early admission 8:30 to 10:00 am, $10. For dealer and show information contact John Burton johncburton@msn.com, 707.523.1611, FOHBC Member Club

16 September 2023 – Lebanon, Indiana

Indianapolis Circle City Antique Bottle, Advertising and Antiques Show, Boone County Fairgrounds, 1300 E. 100 S, Lebanon, Indiana 46052, Set-up: 7:30 to 9:00 am, Show hours: 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, Admission–Free, (Early Admission–$20), Free appraisals on antique bottles and glass. For show Information contact: Martin Van Zant, 812.841.9495, 41 East Washington Street, Mooresville, Indiana 46158, mdvanzant@yahoo.com or “Balsam” Bill Granger 317.517.5895, 6915 S. 280 E., Lebanon, Indiana 46052, bgranger@iquest.net FOHBC Member Club

17 September 2023 – Depew, New York

The Greater Buffalo Bottle Collectors Association’s 24th Annual Show & Sale, Polish Falcons Hall, 445 Columbia Avenue, Depew, New York 14043, General Admission $4: Sunday 9 am to 2 pm. Contact chairman Tom Karapantso, 716.4879645 or tomar@stny.rr.com or gbbca.org, FOHBC Member Club

17 September 2023 – Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Merrimack Valley Antique Bottle Club’s 48th Annual Bottle Show & Sale, New location: Chelmsford Elks Lodge, 300 Littleton Road, Chelmsford, Massachusetts 01824, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, $4 admission, $20 early admission (8:00 am), Visit mvabc.org or contact: Kevin Cantrell, 978.551.6397, kmcantrell86@gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club

23 September 2023 – Cleveland, Mississippi

2nd Annual Mississippi Delta Antique Bottle, Advertising and Collectable Show & Sale, Bolivar County Expo Building, 601 1st Street, Cleveland, Mississippi 38732, Saturday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Free Admission. Early admission, Saturday, 7:00 am to 9:00 am, $20, Mississippi Antique Bottle, Advertising and Collectable Club, For details contact, Cheryl Comans, 1211 S. 5th Ave., Cleveland, Mississippi 38732, 601.218.3505, cherylcomans@gmail.com, John Yarbrough, 4139 Hwy 8, Cleveland, Mississippi, 662.721.7446, john@johnsigns.com, FOHBC Member Club

23 September 2023 – Santa Ana, California

The Los Angeles Historical Bottle Club’s Annual Antique Bottles, Fruit Jars, Insulators, Antiques & Collectibles Show & Sale, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm Free, Early Bird $15 at 8:00 am, Club Members All Day Entry, at the Santa Ana California Elks, Lodge, 1751 South Lyon St., Santa Ana, California 92705. Free Admission, Info: Don Wippert, Tele: 818.610.9332; Email: donwippert1@ gmail.com or Chuck Gildea, tele: 949.351.7620. FOHBC Member Club

24 September 2023 – Topsham, Maine

The Mid-Maine Antique Bottle Club 3rd Annual Show and

Sho-Biz Calendar of Shows

Sale, Topsham Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall, Topsham, Maine, $2 General Admission, 9:00 am, $15 Early Buyers 8:00 am to 9:00 am. Contact Paul McClure, 207.832.1503, oldbottles@outlook.com, midmaineantiquebottleclub.com, FOHBC Member Club

07 October 2023 – Coventry, Connecticut

Coventry Bottle Show, Jointly sponsored by the Museum of Connecticut Glass and the Southern Connecticut Antique Bottle & Glass Collectors Association, 289 North River Road, Coventry, Connecticut 06238. General Admission 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, $4; Early Admission 8:00 am, $15. Info: Bruce Mitchell, Show Chairman, LFranz465@hotmail.com, 860.508.6269.

FOHBC Member Club

30 September 2023 – Chesterfield, Virginia

The Richmond Area Bottle Collectors Assoc. presents the 51st Richmond Antique Bottle and Collectibles Show and Sale; General Admission is $3, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm; Early Admission is $10 from 7:30 am, at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds, 10300 Courthouse Road, Chesterfield, Virginia 23832. Info: Tony Townsend, 804.379-0902; RichBottleClub@comcast.net,

FOHBC Member Club

06 Oct. & 07 October 2023 – Williams, California Sacramento Valley Museum Antique Bottle Show, Bottles, Collectables, Antiques, 1492 E St., Williams California, Friday, Oct 6th, Early admission $20, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Saturday Admission Free 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, Show chairs Cristy and Slim Edwards, closethegatefenceco@yahoo.com, 530.586.0717

15 October 2023 – Findlay, Ohio

Findlay Antique Bottle Club Antique Bottle & Collectibles

Show & Sale, Hancock County Fairgrounds, 1017 E. Sandusky St., Findlay, Ohio, 9 am to 2 pm $5, Early Bird Sunday 7 am to 9 am $20 (Dealer-only set up Saturday) Contact: Fred Curtis 419.424.0486, finbotclub@gmail.com Details and Contract Online, FOHBC Member Club

21 October 2023 – Macungie, Pennsylvania

Forks of the Delaware Bottle Collectors Association 49th Annual Bottle and Antique Show & Sale, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, $3 Admission, Macungie Memorial Park Hall, 50 Poplar St., Macungie, PA 18062. Early Shopper Admission at 7:30 am ($20 admission fee for early shoppers) For info: Bill Hegedus 610.264.3130, forksofthedelawarebottles@hotmail.com

For updates see our Facebook Page – Forks of the Delaware Bottle Collectors, FOHBC Member Club

20 & 21 October 2023 – Biloxi, Mississippi

Presented by the Olde Guys Digging Club of Biloxi, MS., the 6th Annual Mississippi Gulf Coast Antique Bottle Show will be held from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Saturday, October 21 at the Joppa Shrine Temple, 13280 Shriners Blvd., Biloxi, MS. 39532 (Exit 41- I-10). Dealer set-up on Friday, October 20, from noon to 5:00 pm and Saturday, October 21 from 8:00 to 9:00 am. Free Admission on Saturday. Early Buyers $20 per person during dealer set up on Friday. For more information or table contracts contact: Peter Taggard, 645 Village Lane South, Mandeville, Louisiana 70471. Phone:

985.373.6487 Email: petertaggard@yahoo.com FOHBC Member Club

27 & 28 October 2023 – Nashville, Tennessee Area Tennessee Bottle Collectors Presents their Nashville Area Antique Bottle & Advertising Show, Wilson County Fairgrounds, 945 E. Baddour Pkwy, Lebanon, Tennessee 37087, Behind Expo Center, I-40 Exit 239B, Friday 2:00 to 7:00 pm Early Buyer $15 Admission, Saturday 8:00 am to 2:00 pm Free Admission. Dealer Set-up: Friday: 1:00 pm, Saturday: 7:00 am. For Show Info or Vendor Contract, Contact Show Chairmen Greg Eaton: at 865.548.3176 or Stanley Word at 615.708.6634, FOHBC Member Club

10 & 11 November 2023 – Auburn, California ’49er Historical Bottle Association Best in the West 45th Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show, Gold Country Fairgrounds & Event Center, 1273 High Street, Auburn, California 95603, Friday Early Admission Noon to 5:00 pm – $15, Public Saturday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Set-up Friday Noon to 5:00 pm. For show info contact: Mike Lake, PO Box 799, Foresthill, California 95631, 530.333.5696, m.lake.foresthill@gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club

19 November 2023 – Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show at the Farmer’s Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville Street, Greensboro, North Carolina 27405, Sunday 8:00 am to 2:00 pm, No Early admission, Set up: Sunday 6:00 am to 9:00 am. Cost of admission $1, Contact: David Erickson, 257 Palomino Trail, Lexington, North Carolina 27295, 336.247.1928, dave.erickson111@gmail.com

18–20 January 2024 – Muncie, Indiana

Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club presents the 2024 Convention! Located at Courtyard by Marriott & Horizons Convention Center (401 S. High St., Muncie, Indiana) 52nd Annual Rendezvous Non-Stop 3-Day Event, Dealers & Collectors Get Together at Hotel. Swapping Jars. Swapping Stories. Culminating at the Show With Over 80 Tables, Thursday, Jan 18. Room-to-Room Sales, Hospitality Suite, Seminars/Tours, Friday, Jan19, Club Meetings, Show & Tell, Auction, Saturday, Jan 20, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, Free Appraisals, $2 Admission, Details at fruitjar.org. Special Hotel Rate is $119 per night. 765.287.8550, $40/First Table & $35 for Additional Table montyfoust@comcast.net 765.635.4626

20 April 2024 – Columbia, South Carolina

The South Carolina Bottle Club’s 51st Annual Show & Sale, 206 Jamil Road, Columbia, South Carolina 29210, 172 tables last year with room to grow! Saturday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Donation at the door suggested, Dealer Only Set-Up 7:00 am to 9:00 am, Jamil Shrine Temple, Contact: Marty Vollmer 803.629.8553, martyvollmer@aol.com or Art Gose 803.840.1539, scbottlehunters@ gmail.com, FOHBC Member Club

01 August to 04 August 2024 – Houston, Texas

FOHBC 2024 Houston National Antique Bottle & Glass Convention & Expo hosted by the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. Brought to you by Peachridge Collections, LLC. Host Hotel: Hotel Zaza Museum District. Featuring a major museum exhibition that will include the Sandor P. Fuss Collection and selected highlights from

FOHBC National Event

Rosetta Stone. Extremely rare Albany-Slip-Glazed Stoneware Temperance Jug, Incised “B 1885” and “Bray 1885,” Simeon L. Bray, Evansville, Indiana, 1885. Featuring a monkey curiously ascending the jug’s spout, this Anna-inspired work is the only Bray temperance jug that we have seen signed with the potter’s full last name, serving as a basis for attribution of related examples. H 7-¾.” – Crocker Farm, Sparks, Maryland

the David P. Wilber and Anthony Gugliotti Collections. Simultaneous FOHBC Virtual Museum Exhibition of same. Please contact Ferdinand Meyer V, fmeyer@fmgdesign.com for information.

For all the latest Australian news!

Quarterly publication of 36 pages. Many of the consumable goods in 19th century Australia were supplied by both England and the United States, resulting in some nice bottles of U. S. origin having been found in Australia. $65 per year.

PayPal: abcr@bigpond.com

Email: travisdunn@bigpond.com

ABCR Auctions often offers items of U. S. interest, such as these upcoming items to the left. Also operated by Travis Dunn, this auction can be found at: www.abcrauctions.com

Auctions run every three months. Email: info@abcrauctions.com Free to register. Low commissions. Reliable condition assessments.

Membership Benefits & Display Advertising Rates

The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC) is a non-profit organization supporting antique bottle and glass collecting. The goal of the FOHBC is to promote the collection, study, preservation and display of historical bottles and related artifacts and to share this information with other collectors and individuals. Membership is open to any individual, club or institution interested in the enjoyment and study of antique bottles and glass. Membership benefits include:

–Antique Bottle & Glass Collector (AB&GC), the official publication of FOHBC and the leading publication for those interested in antique bottle and glass collecting and all associated ephemera. Annual subscription includes 6 issues (bi-monthly) of this all-color, 72-page plus covers publication. (Digital memberships also available.)

–Free classified advertising in AB&GC. Ads may be up to 100 words for items of $25 or greater value; and one free ad of 60 words each year For Sale, Wanted, or For Trade. (Restrictions apply and free ads are limited to the first received for available space.) Ads appear on the FOHBC website also. See page 72.

FOHBC.org, a comprehensive website dedicated to the organization and hobby, providing access through the Members Portal to the latest news in the collecting world, Membership Directory, archived magazine issues, indexed articles, Federation meeting minutes and announcements, and a vast assortment of research material.

Virtual Museum of Historical Bottles and Glass, the most comprehensive antique bottle and glass experience on the Internet. Spinning images of museum-quality examples of antique bottles and glass, including well-researched history of the manufacture, distribution, and use of each item.

–Auction Price Report, an online resource which includes the sale price and description of anything auctioned by the top antique bottle and glass auction houses in the past decade. Easy to use. Updated annually. (Password protected.)

–National Shows and Conventions, featuring displays, educational seminars, membership meetings, social events, and banquet with interesting speakers, all centered around a first-class sale event. Members are eligible for discounts on “Early Admission” or table rental.

–Newsletter, digital presentation of periodic postings to keep FOHBC members up to date on current issues affecting the hobby.

Affiliated Bottle Club Membership brings these additional benefits to your group:

–Federation-sponsored Insurance Program for your show and any other club-sponsored activities. (Application required for each event.) Value of this is many times more than the cost of club membership.

Club Display Ad in AB&GC at discount of 50%.

–Free Club Show Ad on the Federation website to increase your show’s exposure.

–Free Links to Club Website; Social Media (Facebook) exposure.

–Free Federation Ribbons for Best in Show and Most Educational display at your show.

For more information, questions, or to join the FOHBC, please contact: Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC Business Manager, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; phone: 713.504.0628 or email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Visit us at FOHBC.org

Where there’s a will there’s a way to leave Donations to the FOHBC Did you know the FOHBC is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization?

How does that affect you? It allows tax deductions for any and all donations to the FOHBC. You might also consider a bequest in your will to the FOHBC. This could be a certain amount of money or part or all of your bottle collection. The appraised value of your collection would be able to be deducted from your taxes. (This is not legal advice, please consult an attorney.) The same-type wording could be used for bequeathing your collection or part of it; however, before donating your collection (or part of it), you would need the collection appraised by a professional appraiser with knowledge of bottles and their market values. This is the amount that would be tax deductible. Thank you for considering the FOHBC in your donation plans.

Membership Application, Classified Advertising & Article Submission

FOHBC Individual Membership Application

For Membership, complete the following application or sign up at FOHBC.org (Please Print)

Name

Address City __________ State___________________

Zip ___________ Country _________________

Telephone

Email Address

Collecting Interests ________________________

Additional Comments

Do you wish to be listed in the online membership directory?(name, address, phone number, email address and what you collect) { } Yes { } No

Would you be interested in serving as an officer? { } Yes { } No

Would you be interested in contributing your bottle knowledge by writing articles for our magazine? { } Yes { } No

Would you be interested in volunteering to help on any FOHBC projects? { } Yes { } No

Membership/Subscription rates for one year (6 issues) (Circle One) (All First Class sent in a protected mailer) United States -

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Free Ads

Category: “WANTED”

Maximum - 60 words

Limit - One free ad per current membership year. OR

Category: “FOR SALE”

Maximum - 100 words

Limit - 1 ad per issue. (Use extra paper if necessary.)

Digital Membership (electronic files only) $25

Canada – First Class $60 Other countries – First Class $80

- Life Membership: Level 1: $1,000, includes all benefits of a Standard 1st Class membership. No promise of a printed magazine for life.

- Level 2: $500, includes all benefits of a regular membership but you will not receive a printed magazine, but rather a digital subscription.

Add an Associate Membership* to any of the above at $5 for each Associate for each year.

Associate Member Name(s)

*Associate Membership is available to members of the immediate family of any adult holding an Individual Membership. Children age 21 or older must have their own individual membership. Associate Members enjoy all of the rights and privileges of an Individual Membership.

Signature

Please make checks or money orders payable to FOHBC and mail to:

Date

FOHBC Membership, Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, Phone: 713.504.0628

Email: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Affiliated Club Membership for only $75 with liability insurance for all club-sponsored events, 50% discount on advertising in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, plus so much more, Contact: FOHBC Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, PO Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423, 713.504.0628, fohbcmembers@ gmail.com

Clearly Print or Type Your Ad

Send to: FOHBC Business Manager: Elizabeth Meyer, P.O. Box 1825, Brookshire, Texas 77423; phone: 713.504.0628; or better yet, email Elizabeth at: fohbcmembers@gmail.com

Magazine Submission Requirements:

We welcome the submission of articles and related pictures pertaining to antique bottle and early glass collecting, our hobby, digging, diving, and finding, as well as other interesting stories.

SUBMISSION POLICY—Articles:

All Antique Bottle & Glass Collector articles or material needs to be submitted via an FTP site, email or hard copy. Electronic text files should be in Microsoft Word. Electronic photo files should be in JPEG, TIFF or EPS format.

Resolution of 300 dpi at actual publication size is preferred but as low as 150 dpi (at double publication size) is acceptable.

SUBMISSION POLICY—Classified ads:

All ad copy should be typewritten, clearly & legibly printed, or sent via e-mail.

The FOHBC will not be responsible for errors in an ad due to poor quality, illegible copy.

The FOHBC reserves the right to refuse any advertising.

Please send articles/images to fmeyer@fmgdesign.com or mail to business manager noted on bottom of previous column.

$1000 June 2021 Glass Works Auctions

Lot 141: June 2021 · Glass Works Auctions “ST / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, (Ring/Ham, D-108), New York, ca. 1862 - 1875, black olive amber color 6-log cabin, 10”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. Perfect condition, extremely bold impression, no wear or scratches. A very rare color and as dark as any we’ve sold! Also four heavy ‘beads’ are embossed on the base, something we have not seen in any other Drake’s! Dan Catherino Collection.

$2,400 November 2020 American Glass Gallery #121

$180 May 2012 American Glass Gallery #8 “ST / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, (Ring/Ham, D-105), New York, ca. 1862 - 1875, medium salmon pinkish puce 6-log cabin, 10”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. A 1/2” in diameter in-making chip extends from beneath the applied collar down into the neck. Pure puce color that looks great in any lightning.

$14,000 September 2020 Glass Works Auctions

$15,690 September 2020 Glass Works Auctions #121 251: “General Washington” And Bust – “E Pluribus Unum / T.W.D.” And Eagle Portrait Flask, Kensington Glass Works, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1820-1830. “Firecracker” Medium amber with a strong olive tone, sheared mouth – pontil scar, pint; (light exterior high point wear). GI-14 Tremont Labeth collection.

Lot 185: ““S T / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, 1862 - 1880. Medium-to-deep pinkish raspberry, cabin form with 6 logs above the label panel, applied sloping collar - smooth base, ht. 9 7/8”, near mint; (just the slightest trace of minor wear, and the embossing is a little weak in the upper shoulders as is not uncommon with this mold, otherwise perfect). R/H #D106. A gorgeous, rare, eye-appealing color that passes plenty of light, and having plenty of pink!

Lot 172: “ST / DRAKE’S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - PATENTED / 1862”, (Ring/Ham, D-105), New York, ca. 1862 - 1875, medium moss green cabin, 9 7/8”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. Recently ‘picked’ at the ‘Elephant Trunk’ flea market in Connecticut (a favored venue of the ‘Flea Market Flip’ reality television show), and possibly only the second known example in this very unusual moss green color. In 1993 we auctioned the collection of Elmer Smith of Shelton, Washington. Lot 20 in that collection was at that time the only moss green Drake’s Plantation Bitters known to exist, it sold for $10,000!

Drakes Plantation Bitters

Available to FOHBC Members Only!

Online Auction Price Report. Search on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer. Includes 10 years of results from American Bottle Auctions, American Glass Gallery, Glass Works Auctions and Heckler in Phase 1. The Auction Price Report will only be available to FOHBC members. Joining the FOHBC will give the new member 24/7/365 access. What a great tool this will be for the collectors, diggers, pickers, researchers and the generally curious! Phase 2 will include images!

Visit the FOHBC.org Members Portal for instructions.

FOHBC Member. Please check your mailing address information and notify us of any corrections. FOHBC.org

Don’t miss one issue of the new AB&GC. Keep your FOHBC membership up to date!

FOHBC c/o Elizabeth Meyer, FOHBC Business Manager P.O. Box 1825 Brookshire, Texas 77423