Letters to the Editor

to the Editor

Remember the Mampe Bottle

Hi, John,

In July you had a very interesting article by Frank and Frank Jr. Wicker about the firm of Dr. Carl Mampe. I recently was lucky to acquire this Mampe bottle with the elephant trademark on both sides.

In thirty years of collecting I’ve never seen or heard of this bottle. Would you please be so kind and forward this picture to the Franks with the question if they are familiar with this example?

Thanks for your help. Regards,

Horst Klusmeier Dusseldorf, Germany

Yellow American Life: The Rest of the Story

Hi, John,

Here is the story about the American Life Bitters from the Ballentine collection. I got a call one day from a friend of my sister-in-law who said she had a bottle she wanted to sell. I believe this was around 1977 or ’78. I went to her house and sitting on top of her refrigerator was a yellowish bottle shaped like a cabin.

She knew I liked bottles and I thought to myself this could be a good one. We settled on a price of a few hundred dollars. At the time I was teaching school, while my wife stayed home with the small children. Even though I collected bottles and other antiques, I was tempted to make a quick profit. What if I could triple my investment in one day?

I knew Mary Ballantine well. She lived about ten minutes from my house. Mary came to the door when I knocked. I said, “Mary, would you be interested in this bottle I have for sale?” She said yes, and we made the deal.

If I remember right I heard her husband Paul was a little irritated at the purchase. I found out a few years later that the yellow American Life bitters was considered to be one of the special items in Mary’s collection.

Pictured (above) is the New Carlisle, Ohio, Kennedy farmstead home of the Ballentine’s American Life Bitters. There was a Kennedy, I believe, involved in the patent of this bitters but I do not know if there was a connection.

The bottle sold in September 2020 in the Glassworks auction for $49,000, including sale premium. It was exciting being a part of this bottle’s story.

Paul Snyder New Carlisle, Ohio

to the Editor

Jim Healy holding the special presentation jug that he made for John Savastio.

‘Stoneware Doctor’ Creates Fantasy Jug

Dear John,

Thanks to you and the staff at AB&GC for the wonderful job of putting together and laying out my article, The Stoneware Doctor, in the September 2020 issue. A few weeks after receiving the magazine, I was at the Sunday, Sept. 13 Capital Region Antique Bottle & Insulator Club outdoor bottle show at Mabee Farm in Rotterdam Junction, N.Y.

While there, I visited the table of the Stoneware Doctor himself, Jim Healy, and was thrilled to pick up a fantasy jug I had commissioned a few months earlier. This piece honors my great grandparents, Rocco and Angelina Savastio, who immigrated to the United States with their young family from Italy in 1887. The vessel, which is from that period, features a masterfully executed Italian sparrow in the center, the national bird of Italy.

Additionally, Jim added 13 stars to pay tribute to the original 13 states of the country my great grandparents adopted and dearly loved. Also included on the front of the piece are my name, the first initials of my son, Noah, and my daughter, Christina, and the town we now live in, Latham, N.Y.

Jim had once again exceeded my expectations and I was overcome with joy and emotion and did my best to express my heartfelt appreciation to him. This is a piece that I will treasure for the rest of my life, and that my children and their children will enjoy for generations.

I will close by reiterating my enthusiastic recommendation for Jim Healy’s talent for any seeking stoneware repair or to have a remarkable fantasy piece created for them.

John Savastio Latham, N.Y.

Holy, Moses! What a History

Hi, John,

I found this bottle in an antique shop several years ago, and was intrigued because I had never seen one before.

I have always liked the Moses bottles, both the water and the gin, but I never saw one in carnival glass. It wasn’t expensive, so it came home to join the others on the shelf.

I am not a researcher, so I did not make an effort to find out about it. Over the years I have mentioned it to various people I have met, and no one had ever heard of one. I finally called the Poland Springs Museum and their resident expert did not know of any other, so thought it was just content stain.

I think that after fifty years of collecting I’d know the difference. The marks on the bottom indicate it was made by Anchor Hocking in September 1941. I suspect it was a prototype for a promotion that did not happen because of WW II. It has the Federal Law Prohibits warning appropriate to the time and the embossing is strong.

If any of your readers has any knowledge of this bottle I would be glad to hear it.

George Oglesby Lakehurst, N.J.

Editor’s note: The Salem Glass Works had a long history of glassmaking, beginning in 1862 and running until it sold to the Anchor Cap and Closure Co. in 1934. For the grand opening of the new Poland Spring House in 1876, Hiram Rickers introduced the unusual Moses Bottle, which continued to be the symbol of Poland Spring beverages well into the 1970s.