$4.00
September 2020
The Rise and Fall of Ellenville Glass Works Page 36
IN THIS ISSUE:
The Stoneware Doctor w PAGE 6
Mobile Bottler Twelves w PAGE 32
Medicine Chest: Some Killer Finds w PAGE 40 < Ellenville Glassworks
.. .. .. .. Watch for our Auction #27 coming October, 2020 .. .. .. .. Watch for our Auction #27 coming October, 2020
American Glass Gallery
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As a consignor, consider these benefits to help ensure your valued items reach their highest potential: As a consignor, consider these benefits to help ensure your valued items reach their highest potential: w Competitive consignor rates and low buyer premiums w Competitive consignor rates and low buyer premiums w Broad-based and extensive advertising w Broad-based and extensive advertising w Experience, knowledge, honesty and integrity w Experience, knowledge, honesty and integrity w Attention to detail and customer service w Attention to detail and customer service
These fine items, and many more, These fine items, and many more, will be featured in our upcoming will be featured in our upcoming October cataloged auction. October cataloged auction.
American Glass Gallery • John R. Pastor • P.O. Box 227, New Hudson, Michigan 48165 American Glass Gallery • John R. Pastor • P.O. Box 227, New Hudson, Michigan 48165 phone: 248.486.0530 • www.americanglassgallery.com • email: jpastor@americanglassgallery.com phone: 248.486.0530 • www.americanglassgallery.com • email: jpastor@americanglassgallery.com
VOLUME 37, #5 • September 2020 FRONT COVER:
This month's cover features an early bird's-eye view of Ellenville, New York with an image of the Ellenville Glass Works depicted at lower right. The glassworks was prolific in their manufacture of many bottles, including medicines, bitters, sodas, fruit jars, and even 'wasp catchers.' Read all about it beginning on page 36.
Publisher John R. Pastor
In This Issue:
Editors: Ralph Finch Bill Baab Jodi Hall
Letters to the Editor........................................................................... 2
Managing Editor Libby Smith The Medicine Chest John Panella Joe Widman American Historical Flasks Mark Vuono New England Review Mike George Bitters Columnist Bob Strickhart Spouting off on Mineral Waters Donald Tucker Contributing Writers: Ralph Finch Kevin Sives
Heard it through the Grapevine......................................................... 4 The Stoneware Doctor........................................................................ 6 Fruit Jar Rambles: A Solid-Pour Safety Lid..................................... 17 Classified Advertisements................................................................. 22 Show Calendar.................................................................................. 26 Mobile Bottler Twelves..................................................................... 32 The Ellenville Glass Works............................................................... 36 Medicine Chest: Some Killer Finds.................................................. 40
Design, Layout & Production Jake Pluta
ANTIQUE BOTTLE & GLASS COLLECTOR (ISSN 8750-1481) is published monthly by Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, P.O. Box 227, New Hudson, MI 48165-0227. Annual Subscription $35.00 at periodical rates, $49.00 at First-class rates and $4.00 per single copy. Canadian (First-class rate available only) $54.00 (in U.S. Funds). Overseas rates please inquire. Published by Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, PO Box 227, New Hudson, MI 48165-0227. Periodicals Postage is paid at New Hudson MI and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to ANTIQUE BOTTLE & GLASS COLLECTOR, PO Box 227, New Hudson, MI 48165-0227. PH: 248.486.0530; Fax: 248.486.0538, Email: jpastor@americanglassgallery.com, Website: www.americanglassgallery.com. © Copyright 2020 all rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any way without written permission from the publisher.
Coming in October: George Skinner McKearin, by Kevin A. Sives Tin-Tops — The Pioneers of Milk Bottles, by Alex Prizgintas New England Review, by Mike George Fruit Jar Rambles: Filbert's Flags, by Tom Caniff Medicine Chest, by John Panella and Joe Widman And other very cool stuff! September 2020
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LETTERS
to the Editor
Another Hampton’s V, this is No. II in Aqua
A New Twist on an Old Favorite — Shupps Grove in September
Dear AB&GC,
We received the following notice from Shupps Grove Show Chairman Steve Guion: “Due to the majority of bottle shows being cancelled this fall and winter, we are extending an offer for another outdoor show with plenty of social distancing this Sept. 18, 19 and 20!”
This is a picture of an aqua Hampton’s V. Tincture that I purchased on eBay a few weeks ago. I thought it fit the bill for “a bottle in a different color than normally seen in” article from the August Medicine Chest column. Hampton’s come in almost all colors, but this is only the second one ever recorded in aqua. The other is from the Greer Collection and was sold in a Glass Works auction a few years ago. Phillip Edmonds Greenbelt, Maryland Editor’s note: Manufactured in Baltimore and highly collectible due to their beautiful colors and big pontils, the Hampton’s Vegetable Tincture claimed to cure “rheumatism, dyspepsia, scrofula & c., and for all Nervous Diseases and Female Complaints.” Hampton’s Vegetable Tincture was made by Mortimer & Mowbray from 1845 to 1855. TOP: An arresting array of Hampton's colors. LEFT: Phillip's recently purchased aqua example.
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
The survey at the July 17-19th Shupps Grove Bottle Festival was an overwhelming 100 percent “YES” in response for another Fall show this September. Anyone wishing to get a contract or need additional information on the show, please see their full-page ad in this issue. Let’s have a fun and safe show this coming Sept. 18-20, 2020.
Outhouse Art from a Dump? Dear John, The article in the July edition of AB&GC by Ralph Finch titled “Outhouse Art Is In” caught my attention immediately. I was intrigued to see that there was something strikingly similar to a porcelain piece I dug in a Yarmouth, Maine,
LETTERS
to the Editor
bottle dump back in 2007. Although the piece pictured in the article appears to be of foreign manufacture (possibly Germany?), my little outhouse is Black Americana, although the subject matter is exactly the same. (See attached image).
LEFT: Dan Lakatos would appreciate any additional information on the subject of outhouse art. BELOW LEFT: Boyd Beccue still owns this size 0 embossed Maggi bottle from Germany.
Any additional background information provided by AB&GC readers would be greatly appreciated.
BELOW: The Guilford Mineral Springs as they appeared around 1870.
Thank You, Dan Lakatos Buxton, Maine email: fossil_glass@yahoo.com
Maggi Bottles Taste German Dear John, I enjoyed Tom Caniff’s article about Maggi’s products. (Actually I enjoy all his writing, even though I don’t collect jars.) When while digging in Germany in the early ‘70s I dug several Maggi bottles. Almost all of them were either 0 or 1, the small sizes. I did dig a size 6 once, but that one was traded away, along with most of the others, long ago. All but one was some shade of amber, but I dug a green example, size 0. That one was sold several years ago to a collector named Maggi. I was happy it would find a good home among relatives. The one Maggi still on my shelves is a 0 size, embossed on all four sides: Maggi Wurze (Maggi Spices) Ist Einzig (Is Genuine) Achtet Auf (Pay Attention to) Schutzmarke (Trade Mark) Kruze Stern (Cross Star). Maggi is embossed on all four shoulders and a cross star is on the base. The 0 appears on the neck, like virtually all Maggis. I believe the 0 size was a sample bottle, but that may not be the case given the number I dug. Many examples are not as heavily embossed, and this one is very crude. That
and the context it was dug in makes me believe it is one of the oldest styles. Maggi spices were on the table in restaurants across Germany and Austria. The stuff is wonderful on viener schnitzel (veal cutlets). Good memories. Boyd Beccue Montecello, Minnesota Editor’s note: The Maggi company originated in Switzerland in 1884, when Julius Maggi took over his father’s mill. He quickly became a pioneer of industrial food production, aiming to improve the nutritional intake of worker families. Maggi was the first to bring protein-rich legume meals to the market, and followed up with a readymade soup based on legume meals in 1886. After that Julius Maggi introduced bouillon concentrates, first in capsules, then in cubes.
Guilford Mineral Springs Eternal Hello, John, My husband, Richard Cofrancesco, and I enjoyed seeing his article and photo on the Guilford Mineral Springs in the latest edition of your magazine. Attached is another photo I just realized I had. Also, could you send a copy of the August 2020 magazine to our friends who introduced us to Guilford Mineral Springs, and provided the information and the photo above? Diane Kemble Note: The photo above is courtesy of Linda and Steve Lembke and the Guilford Historical Society.
September 2020
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Heard it through the
Grapevine An Ordinary Beer Mug? Not if you use your head; this one holds magic! Another trick (or treat) from Ralph Finch If you saw this ordinary beer mug on sale for, say, $5, would you pass it by? If you did, then the trick would be on you. See, earlier this year, this mug sold for $780 (including buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter’s three-part auction of Jim Rawlins collection of magic stuff, including a ton of gadgets owned by world-famous magician Harry Blackstone. Now, keep your eyes on my hands as I type this story and reveal the trick. Here is how Lot 10 was described (edited): “Harry Blackstone Beer Trick Beer Mug, circa 1940. Heavy ‘sham’ glass beer mug owned and used by Harry Blackstone Sr. in his stage show. Accompanied by an LOA from George Johnstone, Blackstone’s assistant. Johnstone’s letter explains how
Well, That Caps it! Return this article by Ralph Finch, and get your 5¢ deposit back … or maybe not Selling May 23 was this item from the Signari Gallery of Las Vegas. It was estimated at $600-$800. It was described as “Dedicated to Andy Warhol by Aurelio Cesareo, 2008. Featuring one of Warhol’s famous icons, the classic ‘Pepsi’ bottle cap, 19.75 by 27.5 inches.” I sorta like Art (as in Garfunkel), and I really like classic Roman art of, um, zaftig women, but this is art? Hmmmm. I know what I like, but $800 for a bottle cap? I’d go a quarter, a buck and a quarter if the bottle — with contents — is attached. And whatever it sold for (and I don’t care), there was a 30 percent buyer’s premium.
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the glass was used by Blackstone in great detail: ‘The glass beer mug was used after Harry produced the giant beer bottles from the empty (?) box. One of the bottles contained real beer. Harry filled the mug you now own and offered it to the band leader in the orchestra pit. He refused, saying it was too much beer for him to drink on the job. One of our girls handed Harry a smaller glass, about the size of double whiskey shot glass. Harry poured the contents from the big into the small glass and gave it to the band leader. The beer glass you own is not a legit one. It is thick glass but looks like it holds a lot of beer, ’taint so!” FYI: The auction featured “Blackstone memorabilia owned, used, and collected by the master, among them original oil paintings, show costumes, Blackstone’s famous Vanishing Birdcage (and other props), stone lithographs, photographs, correspondence and archival material, original cartoons and artwork, film footage and audio recordings of Blackstone and his troupe, and much more.”
Heard it through the
Grapevine Flush with Money? Here is what’s ‘Unique’ Notes from a wasted youth, Ralph Finch writes: OK, at 80, maybe the word “youth” is incorrect, but … I’m sure the collecting world is sitting on the edge of its seat (toilet or non) to find out what’s new in the old toilet collecting biz. The answer? Plenty. Now, as you can imagine, it’s a challenge to find 100-year-old toilet paper crap, as well as related material. Often I am asked, “How do you find this stuff?” (OK, actually, the question is, “WHY do you look for it?”) As to the “how”: You search the internet each day, you go on websites like “Invaluable” and peruse a few dozen auction houses each day, And, of course, search eBay. And it helps to have friends who feed your addiction. This time, it was a phone call from Mark McNee of Kalamazoo, one of the hardestworking antique dealers I’ve ever known, and I’ve known him for decades. You have heard about finding a needle in a haystack? If you are looking for a particular needle, let Mark know — he will find it. Over the last many decades, if the phone rings and I see it is from Mark, my first thought is: “How much is this call going to cost me?” (Sometimes, it has been a few thousand dollars.) The other day the call was to alert me to something that he had just found on eBay. Not old paper, but an old paper holder. It was described as (edited) “I love the look of this toilet roll holder Patented Oct. 12, 1886.” And it was painted with the most appropriate words: “The Unique.” And I said to myself, “I want it and I’m going to get it.” But, I
ABOVE: A rare and perhaps truly “unique” item was this tin holder of toilet paper which, when you pulled out the paper, the lid with a serrated edge would cut off the paper. (Actually, paper impressed into panels had already been patented in 1871 in Albany, N.Y. by the Albany Perforated Wrapping Co.)
should know better than to count my chickens before they hatch into little rolls of toilet paper. The opening bid for this 134-year-old jewel was $9.99, and I put in my first bid with only a minute left of the auction. And the price went up. And up. I kept increasing my bids but I was having a hard time keeping up. At the close, I wasn’t even close. It went for $422 with 34 bids (11 were mine) and placed by nine different bidders. Poop, said a sad Finch, losing out on yet another chance to spend a chunk of my son’s inheritance. September 2020
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Figure 1
The Stoneware Doctor By John Savastio J. W. Mason / Nelson Co KY / Whiskey I became a bottle digger and collector at age nine in the summer of 1970 when my family moved from Niantic, Connecticut to Newport News, Virginia. You see, I was born with a genetic predisposition for loving old bottles, and when I met Tom and Kevin Barnes and saw their amazingly cool collection they had dug up like a couple of archaeologists, the dormant gene was awakened, and I was instantly hooked for life. Our greatest finds in those early days were local blown-in-themold Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola bottles, as well as the bottles of their many rivals, such as Lemon Cola and Cristo-Cola. While we greatly desired stoneware jugs, crocks and bottles, they just weren’t coming our way in the dumps we were
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
Figure 2
digging in those days. It was not until around 1980, after I had moved with my family to Clifton Park, New York, and returned to Virginia for summer digging with my old friends, that I found my first stoneware piece of any significance. We were excavating the legendary Berkley dump, an 1890-1910 era ash midden about eight to ten feet deep. The Victorian era refuse was deposited on a swamp, so the bottom layers filled up with water, making digging very difficult. Tom and another Virginia digging legend, Ross Becker, were so determined to get at the treasures that lay at the base of this bottle mine that they bought a large gas-powered pump that could very quickly drain a hole and keep it dry. The downside to this was lugging the heavy beast into the dump, then tolerating a deafening engine spewing noxious gases in your face while going through the arduous task of digging! On this notable day, I was fantasizing about finding one of the amber Pepsis that were coming out of there. While I was not lucky enough to dig one of those, I did find an amber Norfolk Coca Cola. Fairly common yes, but I loved it nonetheless, and that bottle still sits on my shelf forty years later. Not long afterwards, a little 3 1/ 4-inch mini jug popped out and floated in the water in front of me (either Tom or Ross had the
pump at the time). I picked up the petite beauty and was elated to see that the following was “scratched” in cursive in the shiny Albany slip glaze: “J. W. Mason / Nelson Co KY / Whiskey.” Unfortunately, the top and the tiny handle were missing (see Figure 1). It was otherwise perfect, and just so appealing that I had to keep it. Although I see them from time to time, and find them very alluring and collectable, I know very little about the miniature stoneware jug genre, and there’s disappointingly little information about them on the internet. From what I’ve been able to gather, they were samples or giveaways, courtesy of saloon or distillery owners who gave them to preferred customers or perhaps to targeted clientele they believed could become regular customers. It’s not entirely clear to me exactly how the giveaway worked. Was it up to the discretion of a saloon owner, bartender, or liquor store owner as to who a potential customer was? Or did the distillery give them away? Did they place them on the counter at their establishments with a little sign that said, “Try Figure 1: J. W. Mason / Nelson Co KY / Whiskey dug in Berkley Dump circa 1980, unfortunately with top and handle broken off. Figure 2: Close up of damage to THOMPSON & CO. MAMMOTH SPRING WATER. Note the chip between the “A” and the “M” that I filled with Elmer’s glue!
me, take one?” In any case, the giveaway jug appears to have been a rather costly means of attracting customers, but there are enough of these little beauties out there to make the case that it was an effective method for distillers to promote their products. Despite the dearth of data on the internet about miniature jugs, I was fortunate enough to find one article. Titled “Collecting the Miniature Advertising Jugs,” this informative and interesting piece was written by Dr. Ralph Van Brocklin and was published in the winter 2006 issue of Bottles and Extras. Dr. Brocklin, onetime president of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC), was a highly regarded figure in our hobby before his untimely passing. Following are some relevant highlights from the feature: “The standard miniature jug stands between 2.25 and 3.5 inches in height. They typically advertise a product, proprietor and/or establishment, the advertising either being scratched into or stenciled onto the jug.” “The total number of miniature advertising jugs almost certainly exceeds 3,000. There may be someone out there who has the resources and interest to try to obtain an example of every one that surfaces, but most choose to collect in a more practical fashion, limiting their collection to one or more categories.” “In Kentucky and Tennessee alone, there may be as many firms which utilized mini jugs as in all the western states combined.” “In the early 1980s, they were still routinely available in the $10-$50 range.” “Repair of stoneware has been going on for many years. Many of these repairs are excellent and I’d love to tell you that I never miss a repair - but I do! Watch for lip repairs, new handles and the coloring in of lip flakes. Don’t hesitate to ask a dealer if an item has been repaired.”
“The collector should consider the extent of damage and the amount/quality of repair when purchasing an item and adjust its value accordingly. Stoneware collectors appreciate mint items as much as those who collect bottles. But little nicks here or there or “pops” in the glaze/clay do not as drastically affect the price as similar problems would on a bottle. This tends to hold truer with the scratched jugs than with the stenciled ones. I have a number of damaged and repaired pieces in my collection that are integral to the collection as a whole.” “Among the categories of collecting are Redwing jugs, Fort Dodge Stoneware, Uhl Pottery, Christmas giveaways, hotel jugs, jugs with unusual slogans, pictorial jugs, jugs advertising a brand of whiskey sold by a specific proprietor, vinegar jugs, jugs with advertising on both sides, jugs advertising a bar or saloon, grocery/ mercantile/trading company jugs and jugs from a given locale.” “Regional collecting is particularly prominent in areas where few merchants produced jugs. Thus, collectors from the West will often try to build collections from anywhere west of the Rockies. Where a considerable quantity of jugs exists, collecting by state becomes more typical. Tennessee and Kentucky, for example, each have comparably large numbers of jugs and there are a number of collectors who focus on those particular states.” “In general, the whiskey samples tend to bring higher prices than the vinegar jugs from the same location/region.” I was reassured to see from Dr. Brocklin’s article that repaired mini jugs are a well-accepted means to attain pieces for one’s collection. I appreciate and prize the uniqueness and personal touch that the scratch method brings to each jug, so it would be interesting to learn about the process (Did they use their finger or some kind of writing implement?). As for value, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a “J. W. Mason / Nelson Co KY / Whiskey”
mini jug, very similar to mine, sold on eBay on Feb 17, 2020 for $112 (albeit a specimen that was not repaired – or at least not advertised as such!). While I did find three other variants of the J.W. Mason mini jugs online (one scratch style, two stenciled) – for a total of four, I could not find an example of any marked full-size vessel, either bottle or jug. I assume they exist, so perhaps one of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector’s readers could send in a picture with some more information. There are, however, many other mini jugs from Nelson County, Kentucky, which has been and still is a prolific region of the country for whiskey and bourbon manufacture.
Mammoth Spring I believe the first full-size stoneware jug I found was in a large ash dump nestled between old housing developments in Albany County. We started digging this site around 1990 when Gary and Chris noticed coal ash and turn-of-the-century debris piled up around a gopher hole. Thank you, Mr. Gopher, for showing us what lay underground in what was to become a very productive spot for us local diggers! Although I dug many exceptional items from this site, of interest for this article was an unusually tall and narrow cylinder-shaped stoneware jug, 12½ inches in height and 6 inches wide. Adding to its singular form is its unusually broad 3-inch wide lip finish. This late-1800s container lay on the very bottom of an eight-foot-deep hole, partially embedded in the native clay, leaving the distinctive shape of the urn in the earth when I lifted it out. Several of my digging companions were with me that day, and I think they were happy to see my euphoric response as I wiped the muck off the sides and saw that it was stenciled with large block letters: (in top arch) THOMPSON & CO’S. / <-> / MAMMOTH / <-> / (in bottom arch) SPRING WATER. The font and light brown color of the stenciled lettering are also rather distinctive. While this was my first complete full-size jug I ever dug, it September 2020
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was not perfect. There was a ding in the word “MAMMOTH,” between the “A” and the second “M”, with a hairline fracture radiating diagonally up through and beyond the “S” in “THOMPSON” and downward through the “R” in “SPRING” (see Figure 2). Furthermore, there was a hole in the bottom the size of a quarter. Despite the defects, I was enamored with the find, and there was no doubt it was a keeper for me.
sites in a city that was once a prolific 19th century hub for beer, soda and medicine merchants. Many of these businessmen had attractive glass or stoneware bottles made to package their merchandise and sold their wares to the local citizens. In my free time, I would slowly drive through the old neighborhoods and commercial districts, in search of construction sites and empty lots where these valued relics might be found.
Since I found this jug, my fellow collecting friends and I have always assumed that the proprietor for this water was the local Mammoth Spring, on Mammoth Spring Road in North Greenbush, just a twenty minute drive from the location I dug the olden receptacle. Without taking the time to delve into the local North Greenbush directories to assess the degree to which this site may have exploited by some entrepreneur, I instead did an internet search for “Mammoth Springs.” To my surprise and dismay, I could not find any evidence that the local Mammoth Springs was ever commercially operated, much less sold in jugs throughout the country.
It was on one of these excursions in the early 1990s that a pair of vacant lots caught my eye on what looked to be a Civil War era neighborhood on Orange Street. Venturing out with my six-foot probe, I located what I thought might be a privy, but turned out to be an ash pit about three feet deep and maybe eight feet by four feet wide. Predominant in this pit were Hennessey and Nolan Albany Hutchinsons with the old State Capitol Building (1812-1879) embossed on the obverse. I may have found as many as ten, with a few of them near-mint, whittled, and in a nice ice blue aqua. The heartbreaker in is this hole was a highly decorated PROFESSOR / GEO. J. BYRNE / NEW YORK / THE / GREAT / UNIVERSAL / COMPOUND / STOMACH / BITTERS / PATENTED / 1870. With that amazing find a broken dream, I returned to the site on a warm summer evening after a day of work just up the hill at the New York State Education Department.
I was able to find a Mammoth Springs jug for sale on eBay, with a more standard form but with the same distinctive font style and oversize mouth. The seller attributes the source of the water to be Mammoth Springs, Arkansas. Wikipedia tells us that this Mammoth Spring “is a large, first magnitude karst spring that arises in the Ozark Plateau within the state of Arkansas.” That’s very interesting but beyond the seller’s attribution, I could find no other information to corroborate that this spring was commercially exploited. Again, perhaps there are Antique Bottle & Glass Collector readers who can add some accurate history to this very captivating jug.
West Troy Pottery with Blue 1 I lived in downtown Albany, New York, from 1984-1996, and took advantage of my proximity to the many remaining old
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
I recall slowly chipping away in the crunchy coal ash when my digging tool suddenly struck an object creating a pleasant echoing hollow sound. This same strike exposed the alluring, shiny curved body of a gray stoneware jug or crock. Diggers know that larger stoneware pieces found in old dumps are typically broken. Jugs and crocks were useful utilitarian objects that served many purposes in an 1800s home, and thus were not commonly thrown out until damaged. Compound that with my innately pessimistic outlook, and in most situations, I would naturally
Figure 3: Close up of damage to WEST TROY POTTERY with large blue 1.
assume this centenarian pot was in pieces. However, in this instance, I was encouraged not only by the nice resonating ring that emanated from the artifact when I gently tapped it, but by the fact that it was so firmly entrenched in the ash that it did not budge. I slowly and carefully continued chipping away at the strata surrounding the object and was happy to see that as the top portion was revealed, it was indeed a jug. With the relic halfway unearthed, I did not see any blue design on it, which fueled my next fear that it might be blank. It was at that point however that enough of the surrounding resisting material had been removed that I was able to carefully raise it from its resting place of roughly one hundred years. Turning it around and lifting it to eye level, my wishes were realized when I saw a large (4 ½ inch), handpainted blue slip number 1, with horizontal hatch lines filling it in. Above that, the maker’s name: WEST TROY (in arch) / N.Y. / POTTERY was boldly stamped and lightly awash in blue slip glaze. Wow. Excitement. Joy. Disbelief. Next, check the condition. It was all there, but I did find a hairline crack running vertically from the base of the 1 for two inches, then diagonally to the right for two more inches (see Figure 3). I was disappointed that the jug was not perfect, but it was complete and structurally sound. Most
important, it was a splendid piece to add to my collection. Following are excerpts from an article titled “An English Porcelain Maker in West Troy” by Warren F. Broderick that provides some insight into the history of the West Troy Pottery: “The Village of West Troy is well known in conjunction with the manufacture of stoneware in the 19th century and was truly one of the major centers of American stoneware production. Located in Albany County on the west bank of the Hudson River opposite the City of Troy, West Troy was incorporated in 1836 from area communities known as Washington, Port Schuyler, West Troy, and Gibbonsville. West Troy became the City of Watervliet in 1896. The Erie Canal passed through the length of the village, just south of its second junction with the Champlain Canal.” “The first stoneware pottery was established there by Sanford Perry in 1833 at a site along the Erie Canal on Champlain Street, and under various owners it existed there until destroyed by fire in 1845. Following that fire, Nathan Porter and George Fraser opened a new pottery at the corner of Washington and Schenectady Streets” and “operated under various owners until 1899. During much of that time period, it was simply known as the West Troy Pottery.” Further internet research indicates that West Troy Pottery was prolific in their output for many decades, and their products were shipped west and north on the Erie and Champlain Canals and may be found in many areas of the country. Based on the wide range of striking jugs and crocks created there, they must have employed a substantial number of talented artists who painted a wide variety of animals, plants and abstract decorations using blue slip glaze. I also found photographs of three other West Troy Pottery number 1 (indicating
one-gallon size) jugs online. The 1s all have a similar design with the large flamboyant 1 filled in with horizontal hatching, but each also has its own distinctive flair reflecting the artist’s individual style. I did find one other online article about a crock created at the West Troy Pottery worth noting. The following is from the Crocker Farm July 18, 2015 Stoneware Auction lot # 1: “This jar features arguably the finest depiction of an elephant in American stoneware known. Its unusually-large-sized design dominates the horizontal space of the jar’s front, measuring an outstanding 11” long by 9” tall. The decoration, utilizing slip-trailed and brushed decorative techniques throughout, also includes graffito-style carving of the cobalt slip delineating the eye and ear of the animal. An exuberant, folk art quality is created with the heavily daubed and striped cobalt details throughout the elephant’s body. Adding interest to the design is the animal’s distinctive boot-like feet, an anatomical inaccuracy, which imparts a whimsical tone. Coupled with the appealing subject matter and charming style of the design is a wonderful sense of motion, conveyed with the creature’s raised trunk, running stance, and arched tail. This decoration was most likely inspired by the rise in popularity of the American circus during the latter half of the century, in which elephants such as Jumbo delighted large audiences. Price Realized: $166,750.00 ($145,000 hammer, plus 15% buyer’s premium).” (See Figure 4). Interesting that while my jug and this piece were made at the same pottery in roughly the same time period, the elephant crock is worth approximately 1,667.5 times more than mine! It does not matter; I still treasure my West Troy Pottery number 1 jug.
White’s Utica I dug my next stoneware piece in the fall of 2017 in one of my favorite ash dumps. I already wrote about this specific find in
Figure 4: West Troy Pottery with elephant that sold for $166,750 in 2015.
an article titled “Collecting a Pot-Pourri of Dug Bottles” published in the April and May issues of 2019 Antique Bottle & Glass Collector. Following is a summarized account from that article. I was digging alone about 20 feet from the edge of the landowner’s lawn. His sister had just visited me to say hello and to carry off a bucketful of our cast-off bottles. I was having a rather dreadful day, not finding anything very exciting. Regardless, this did not dissuade me from digging to the very bottom, as that is part of my creed. Time and time again, I have struck gold at the very bottom of a dump, justifying my doctrine of not leaving one shovelful of a hole undug! My doggedness was rewarded again this day, when the depth of the hole was well over my head, and my shovel pried up an elaborately decorated pottery jar. Although I had never dug one, I recognized its style right away as a White’s Utica piece. With its large, elevated, molded, blue slip sunflower, incised “1” on the back with just a wash of blue, nice gray glaze and raised dot pattern overall, I was immediately enamored (see Figure 5). The jar is small at just one quart in size, and likely was a container for butter, jam or honey. MissSeptember 2020
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The article does not state the reason for its abrupt demise, when the volume of its output would indicate the company was very successful.
ACORN DISTILLERY
Figure 5: Freshly dug quart size White’s Utica stoneware jar. Near perfect condition but missing lid.
ing was the stoneware lid, so I immediately engaged in an intensive effort to find it. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I showed the jar to renowned stoneware collector Art Dell at the next bottle club meeting. He said that it would be very difficult to find a matching lid for the jar. Indeed, in the two and a half years since then, his words have been proven to be prophetic. Despite searches on eBay, appeals on stoneware sites and forums, and asking at bottle shows, I have not been able to find a lid in the right style, color and size (3-1/4 inches). It is also missing a wire bail. White’s Utica factory was very prolific in the later part of the 19th century and into the early 20th century. Per the internet Antique Gazette, the roots of the firm were started by Noah White in the 1830s. Noah’s sons and grandson later joined the company, and it went through a series of name changes. From 1876 to 1882, the firm’s mark became “WHITES, UTICA, N.Y.” The company used the name “CENTRAL NEW YORK POTTERY” from 1890 to 1899, and then “WHITES POTTERY INC.” until the company stopped making stoneware in 1907.
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
July 14, 2019, Bastille Day, was hot and humid with the high peaking at 86 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, it was a good day to dig. It was also a good day in terms of the volume of good bottles I would find. The haul included a 2-inch amber indented panel bottle embossed PROTO NUCLEIN; four Hutchinsons, including a quart-sized DeFreest; a NYC pint strap-sided flask with slug plate embossed “A. NEURAD 202-204 FIRST AVE;” a local embossed pharmacy; several Bromos; a Kilmer’s Kidney Cure; an amber blob Weber’s Weiss Bier Albany; an 1858 Mason jar, plus a dozen more bottles that were at least sellable. At about six feet down, I was still in a very rich layer and digging accordingly with extra caution. When a digger meets a bottle — or any vessel — there are different manners of introduction. Sometimes you just bump into each other, which can be dangerous to the bottle if the digger is not careful with his digging tool. On other occasions, a small sliver of the artifact is suddenly revealed to the digger, teasing him with what might be. I’ve had bottles unexpectedly fall into the hole right at my feet as I’m chipping away at an ashen wall. On this day, in this instance, my shovel spade sunk into the crunchy ash without obstruction, but as I pried the load of olden coal embers upward, a peculiarly shaped jug popped up from the earth. It was in my hands and in front of my face in a heartbeat. I was stunned. Bulbous in form, with a cream-colored base and a lightly orangey-brown top, it was magnificently stenciled. I was delighted beyond words but was aghast when I noticed the very top was sliced off (see Figure 6). Other than that, it was intact and in lovely condition, including the
handle. The broken exposed surface was infused with rust, reflecting the hundredplus years it had spent in the ground with metal and other trash from long ago. I mused that if it was complete, such an enchanting piece could never have been thrown out by anyone in their right mind. No, instead it was purchased around 1890, as a loving gift from a wife to a husband with sophisticated tastes who appreciated a quality Irish Whiskey. The blessed man was delighted and cherished every drop of the finely distilled beverage. He also treasured the elegant and striking jug it was packaged in and placed it on the mantle above the fireplace as a reminder of his wife’s tender devotion. There it stayed undisturbed for a decade, until it was struck by a ball, errantly thrown by one of the grandchildren (Vera, Chuck and Dave) while playacting baseball stars of the era: Christy Mathewson, Frank Chance and Honus Wagner. The prized piece tumbled end over end to the floor, where the very top was tragically shattered. With the beloved object beyond repair, Grandpa reluctantly threw it into the ashbin, along with the Hutchinson soda bottles the grandkids (who were now in a bit of trouble) had placed there earlier, and the strap-sided whiskey he had polished off the night before. Whatever the circumstances of its purchase, consumption, breakage and disposal into this ash tip around the turn of the last century, I was now the privileged caretaker in this chain of ownership. Being an obsessive collector (like many of you readers), I next turned to the internet to find out all I could about my new revered possession. My searches based on the compelling wording of the transfer: “ACORN DISTILLERY / (in top arch) TIPPERARY CO / (intricately designed acorns on branch with oak leaves) / (in base arch) IRISH WHISKEY / RIPE & MELLOW / GUARANTEED ¼ GALLON” turned up very little. One thing I was sure of, it was British made. I based this on two factors:
1) The high quality of the transfer. The British had mastered and industrialized this craft, creating enormous quantities and varieties of elaborately designed flagons, ginger beer bottles, creamers and pot lids. American transferware, by comparison, is plain, rudimentary, and scarce. 2) The transfer on the jug clearly indicates it was an Irish Whiskey from Tipperary County, Ireland. This compelled me to seek further information from the Facebook private forum Bottle Diggers and Collectors, dedicated to the experiences of the British bottle digging and collecting community. I posted pictures of my Acorn find there, along with a description. I was impressed that one of the very first persons to respond was none other than Alan Blakeman, owner of BBR Auctions. To my astonishment, Alan straight away corrected my assumption on the county of origin. “American made” he stated bluntly. He added that it’s “quite a scarce piece” and “well worth repairing - with correct neck/lip finish.” How were Alan and the others so sure that it was of American manufacture? One giveaway I quickly learned is the location stenciled on the jug: “TIPPERARY COUNTY.” Niall O’Connor remarked that “My Dad was from County Tipp. No one (from Britain or Ireland) would say ‘Tipperary County.’” He further informed me “there was an American Acorn Distillery in Pennsylvania.” Paul Bloomfield offered his considerable knowledge on the artifact: “I would have thought it was at least a hundred years old. American made (probably Sherwood Bros) for the American market. If you google ‘Weideman Company Cleveland Ohio,’ they had an identical style jug made for Auld Lang Syne Malt Whiskey. The spelling of whiskey with an ‘e’ is also a good clue to American origin.” So, there you have it, very compelling evidence that the jug was in fact made
in the United States. Paul Bloomfield, incidentally, is the coauthor, along with Alan Blakeman, of the masterful Whisky Galore (a celebration of stoneware whisky jugs … & more!) As soon as I knew of this book, I ordered a copy directly from Alan, and when at last it arrived (autographed by Alan), I was delighted at the in-depth detailed research and the high quality of the graphics. The description of the jug from page 11 in the book is as follows: “ACORN DISTILLERY: There is no record of Acorn Distillery in County Tipperary, Ireland. This jug looks American in manufacture, and most examples have been found there. The reverse layout of ‘Tipperary Co’ is again typically American. ‘ACORN DISTILLERY / TIPPERARY CO / IRISH WHISKEY / RIPE & MELLOW / GUARANTEED ¼ GALLON’, America, no pottery mark, (probably Sherwood Bros), 7.75ins tall. Value £200-250.” Further internet research confirmed that the Sherwood Brothers were the only American company who mastered the skill to produce quality transfer printed stoneware with sophisticated design. However, firm attribution is difficult because they do not appear to have marked any of their whiskey jugs. From the pieces I have seen ascribed to the Sherwood Brothers, there is a wide range in the level of detail and complexity in the transfers. Probably the most elaborate are the superb Martindale & Johnson jugs with a scene of an Indian maiden in front of a waterfall. Jack Sullivan’s November 5, 2009 blog on the Sherwood Brothers, ‘Bottles, Booze, and Back Stories; Sherwood Brothers: Under the Radar,’ offers a little more insight on this company and their highquality transferware that distinguished them from all other potteries in the U.S.: “Almost two decades ago, I wrote an article entitled ‘Who Made America’s Whiskey Ceramics?’ At that time, I was convinced that most, if not all, of the
Figure 6: Side view of ACORN DISTILLERY IRISH WHISKEY missing top.
Figure 7: Sherwood Brothers Pottery salesman’s sample demonstrating the skills of the craftsmen.
fancy jugs and bottles were made in Scotland or England and shipped to our shores. Alan Blakeman, the leading guru on British bottles, disagreed. He argued that the U.S. must have had pottery firms with the capability of designing and executing even intricate transfer designs. Alan was right.” “I saw the proof for myself in 1998. It was a small stoneware crock, a salesman’s sample for the Sherwood Bros. Pottery September 2020
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of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Shown here in a detail (see Figure 7), the crock is drawn with an elegance and precision equal to anything the “Old World” could produce. The ad copy on the item offers to provide underglaze transfer printed items of equal perfection to Sherwood Brothers clients.” “New Brighton is nestled in the western Appalachian Mountains not far from Pittsburgh. Because of good clay sources in the region, the town spawned a number of ceramic manufacturers. About 1879, the Sherwood brothers, G.W. and W.D., founded their pottery. By 1895 they were employing as many as 140 workers and had the capacity to produce two railroad carloads of pottery per day. Their success extended into the 20th Century.” “For most of its existence Sherwood Brothers had a highly skilled force of pottery workers and artisans. Unlike other American potteries of the time, this firm had mastered the art of the underglaze transfer. This process requires great skill and precision. Sherwood Brothers boasted of its ‘Sherwood Ware’ as a ‘decidedly superior line, made up in a decidedly superior way.’ Its transfer work, the company said, was accomplished ‘from fine designs cut in copper, bringing out patterns than cannot possibly be reproduced by a rubber stamp.’ Stamping was a more commonly used, and cruder, method of inking a design or label on pottery. The firm bragged about its workforce: ‘Sherwood artists, experts who devote all their time to this work, are constantly producing some strikingly beautiful results.’” “A catalog from early in that period shows Sherwood Bros. Company offering a wide range of stoneware items, including whiskey jugs, stoneware bottles, inks, canning jars, jelly crocks, mugs and steins, pitchers, teapots, stacking bowls, cuspidors, match scratchers, and water coolers, chicken watering fonts, ice tubs, butter and preserve jars and -- not to be overlooked -- chamber pots.”
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
“Because a major component of the firm’s trade was whiskey containers, the arrival of Prohibition in 1920 was serious blow to its business. This shock was compounded by the onset of the Great Depression a few years later. Business directories indicate that by 1931 the number of employees had dwindled to 40 and by 1935 was only 35. About 1939 Sherwood Bros. went out of business.” “Other defunct potteries such as those in Red Wing, Minnesota; Knowles, Taylor & Knowles in East Liverpool, Ohio; and White’s of Utica, New York, have continued to attract the attention of generations of collectors to their ceramic containers. Sherwood Brothers, perhaps because they did not always mark their products, consistently have flown below the collector radar. As America’s foremost transfer printing pottery of the 19th and 20th Centuries, they deserve a much better fate.”
James Van Dyk Tea Pot Several weeks later, digging in the same venerable ash mound, a delicate and delightful miniature pottery teapot, measuring 3 inches tall, and 1-1/4 inches at the base, popped out of the ground. The top half was in a brown glaze with a creamcolored bottom, and it was stenciled with black lettering within a rectangle: “JAS. VAN DYK / TEA IMPORTER.” I was instantly enchanted with the find, but my joy was significantly tempered by the glaring fact that the pour spout was broken off. Looking online that evening, I was able to find a few pictures of complete VAN DYK teapots just like mine that included a cute little lid (that too was missing on mine). Additionally, I found a variant of the teapot that is stenciled “JAMES VAN DYK CO. / TEAS & COFFEES.” According to ads found online from the 1930s, the company was founded in 1760 by Nicholas Van Dyk, grandson of one of New York City’s first inhabitants, when
he hung a sign in front of his little shop in Newark announcing the sale of coffee, chocolate, mustard and spices. His business prospered, even in the perilous days of the Revolutionary War. The tradition of coffee roasting was handed down from father to son for six generations. I was able to find further information about the James Van Dyk company from Who’s Who in New York City and State Edited, by John W. Leonard, Third Edition: “James Van Dyk: Tea and coffee merchant. Born in Carondelette Mo., January 23, 1863, parents Nicholas and Eliza (Bennett) Van Dyk. attended Public School No. 1 in Brooklyn and had private instruction. He married Cecile Russell in Brooklyn, N.Y. Children: James Johnson born 1893, Doris born 1895, Francis Russell born 1901. In coffee roasting business with father when 13 years of age: in retail tea store when 15: before 16, opened a branch tea store for the C.A. Tea Co., at New Bedford, Mass, which is still running. Opened tea store for himself when 18 in Brooklyn, which is still in existence, being owned now by Van Dyk & Bayer. Traveled west in 1901, studied medicine for 2 and ½ years until Sept. 1902. Then conducted several tea stores in Brooklyn. In 1900 started the James Van Dyk Co., which now operates 40 stores in 15 cities.” James was quite the entrepreneur! It may be indicative of how deeply the family business was instilled in his DNA when he bailed on his medical studies after two and a half years to go full tilt into the tea and coffee business that had been in his family’s blood for 140 years. It seems like a good decision, because by 1914 James was operating 65 stores in 27 cities. Three Van Dyk stores were opened in my neck of the woods – in Albany, Schenectady and Troy. Besides coffee and tea, they sold groceries. I assume one of these stores was the source of my teapot. Diane Van Dyk, great granddaughter of James, manages the Facebook Forum:
Van Dyk Teas and Coffee, and provided some additional information about her great grandfather’s business. “The James Van Dyk teapots were giveaways for the Van Dyk Coffee and Tea Company. The teapots like yours were little banks, because, per their ads, the money you saved by buying their quality affordable coffee or tea left you money in the bank. My grandfather Francis (son of James) passed away at a young age and his older siblings, Doris and James Johnson, then controlled the business. Unfortunately, they did not have their father’s business acumen and they ran it into the ground. My father, Nicholas, was too young to be of any help, and the business was sold off in the mid-1940s. My great grandfather James was, in my opinion, ahead of his time as a businessman. Reading his ads, he was very creative.” Judging by his success, I must agree with her. I do not have the opening dates for the stores in my area but judging by the 1900 founding date of the company, and the 1890-1915 range of the ash dump where I found the pot, it probably dates from around 1902-1910. They must be fairly scarce because Diane said they go for around $200 when they pop up on eBay. One other note of interest: Jack Sullivan’s Sherwood Brothers blog does list teapots as one of that company’s products, and at least one eBay seller attributes his Van Dyk teapot to the Sherwood Brothers Pottery. Diane confirmed that this was her understanding as well. However, like the Acorn Distillery jug, it is unmarked.
Healy the Healer While I loved each of the stoneware pieces described in this narrative, the hairline cracks, dings, chips and missing handles bothered me. But what could I do? I did know of people who repaired stoneware and pottery, but they only did it for their own pieces. Fortunately, as fate would have it, somehow, sometime, somewhere – probably at a bottle show, or bottle meeting, or
Figure 8: Front and side view of repaired J.W. Mason mini jug restored to its original form and luster.
maybe while digging side-by-side in a bottle dump, I met Mr. Jim Healy. I don’t recall the exact circumstances, but I do remember that I felt an affinity for Jim right away. Perhaps it was his gregarious nature, or a good deal he gave me on a bottle I liked, or the sweet essence of his relationship with his wife Gert, who is always by his side at the shows. As I got to know Jim better, I became aware of his artistic skills, as well as the fact that he was dabbling in stoneware repair. As I broached Jim on the possibility of his mending some of my damaged pieces for a fee, he said he was about ready to go into practice doing stoneware repairs, and we made plans for me to bring him some of my damaged items. I decided to start with a couple of mini jugs: my J.W. Mason, found as a youth in Virginia around 1980 (as described earlier in this chronicle) and another, even smaller two-tone one with a missing handle (but no inscription on it). This was over a year ago, but from what I recall, the turnaround on the items was quick. As I drove the half hour to Jim’s house, my anxiety rose as the moment neared when I would at last be reunited with the precious items from my collection. Once I arrived, and the pleasantries
of greeting one another were past, I was finally able to see and hold my restored treasures. I was awestruck and pleased beyond words. The results exceeded my highest expectations. The top and handle of the J.W. Mason were so perfectly blended with the original body of the jug there was no way to discern where they were melded together. The Albany slip glaze was flawlessly matched to its original, as was the texture of the jug’s surface (see Figure 8). The two-tone mini jug with the missing tiny handle, was similarly impeccably whole again. Dreams do come true. If I were not such a manly man, I would have hugged him on the spot, but I instead lavished him with praise and paid him a very reasonable fee for such masterful work.
The Process I was so impressed that I asked Jim about his background as an artist and how he does what he does with the stoneware repairs. He said he was inspired to start drawing and painting as a youth by his uncle, renowned local illustrator Leonard Healy. Jim has been an artist all his life, and spent his career traveling all over the country as a blueprint designer for Sears. September 2020
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Jim said he did not discover the materials or invent the process used to repair stoneware, but once he learned, he fine tuned his own techniques to match his skills and experience. Jim first drills small post holes strategically placed around the area to be repaired. Next he inserts 10- or 12-gauge ceiling hanging wire into the holes and shapes them to build the framework needed to support the molds (see Figures 9, 10 and 11). He then carefully shapes the molds into the targeted form, whether it’s a missing handle or top, or a hole in the side or bottom. The molds are made from glossy photographic developing paper. Jim uses auto body filler to replace the missing ceramic. He adds the hardening agent to the filler in a proportion that produces the desired vitrified quality to simulate the feel and rigidity of stoneware. Once mixed, the resultant exothermic chemical reaction creates a great amount of heat and hardens within thirty seconds, so Jim must work very fast and with great care as he pours the mixture into the mold. If creating the top of a jug, Jim will place a wooden dowel right in the middle of the top to form the cork hole. Using cooking spray on the inside of the mold ensures it is easily removed after the casting has dried. Jim will patch up any rough spots by applying the amalgam where needed and using various tools and techniques to simulate and match the surface of the object being restored. This touch-up work must be done within two hours before the surface becomes completely rock hard.
Figure 9: ACORN DISTILLERY IRISH WHISKEY with holes drilled in top ready for wire to be inserted. Figure 10: ACORN DISTILLERY IRISH WHISKEY with wire frame in place ready for mold and pouring of mixture. Figure 11: The J.W. Mason mini jug repair in process with wire frame in place for both the top and handle.
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
Once Jim is happy with the repaired area, he prepares it for the coloration phase by applying acetone. This process modifies the molecular structure of the surface so that when the first coat of paint is applied, it will bleed into the outer layer of the jug for a base color. Jim meticulously blends his oil paints, and thins the mix with additional acetone, to precisely match the color and look of the stoneware. This may take several coats before he is happy with the result. The last phase
involves the application of up to five coats of lacquer that are sanded and buffed to simulate the glossy sheen of salt glaze. Jim is so exacting in his art that the most intense scrutiny (at least by me) cannot distinguish between the original and repaired surfaces. With the first pieces from my collection restored to their original glory, and my confidence in Jim’s abilities even further bolstered by his detailed description of the exacting nature of his art, the die was now cast. We arranged for me to drop off the next pieces for repair.
The Restoration In history, the “Restoration” refers to the return of Charles II as king of England in 1660 following the period of Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth. In my world, the “Restoration” refers to the extraordinary preservation work made by Jim Healy to several of my most valued dug stoneware artifacts. I returned to Jim’s home on July 21, 2019, along with my nephew Mike, a digger and collector like myself. Visiting Jim’s home is like touring a museum. He, too, is a passionate digger and has an incredible collection of dug bottles that includes many scarce Warner’s, Saratogas and pottery bottles that Mike and I enviously admired. His gun collection is also very impressive, with many dating to the Revolutionary and Civil wars, but that is a story in and of itself that I will leave to someone else to chronicle. After a joyous visit, I left Jim with several of my most treasured finds. Jim told me it would take a while and to be patient. Between work, time with kids, time with my lady, working on the house, bottle digging, playing tennis, visiting family and friends, the months flew by. In late October, I got a call from Jim. The repairs to my coveted stoneware relics were done. The next Sunday, November 3, I arrived at his house eager with anticipation. The pieces were in his workshop, in the back and detached from the house.
As soon as we arrived in his workshop, Jim handed me a half-pint (small size) Warner’s Safe Cure (5WR) that was dark green (see Figure 12). How peculiar! As soon as I held the bottle, its heaviness gave away that it was ceramic. Feeling raised lettering on the back, I turned it over and saw my name, JOHN SAVASTIO, embossed in an arch just like WARNER’S name is embossed on his bottles. Beneath that is a star, and underneath that the bold side portrait of an eagle, and finally at the bottom, where ROCHESTER, N.Y. is normally stamped, was the year, 2019. Knowing that I was a Warner’s collector, Jim had created this fantasy bottle as a very special personalized gift. This was totally unexpected, and I was astonished. What a fantastic and poignant present from a very talented and generous friend. But this was just the beginning. Jim had my items on a table in the back of the room and I took them in one by one. The West Troy jug, with the large blue 1, though only suffering before from cracks on the front, now glowed as if fresh out of the kiln, yet still retained the grandeur and look of an old piece of folk art from the 1880s (see Figure 13). I next picked up my White’s Utica honey pot with the blue sunflower. This item had been close to perfect except for the missing lid. Using a White’s lid close in size to the one needed for my jar, Jim created a mold that captured the detailed design and adjusted the size to fit my jar perfectly. On top of that, he fashioned a wire bail and added a vintage wood handle just like it would have had in the day. I was so pleased and happy to see this beautiful little jar restored to its original glory (see Figure 14). Following that, my eyes fell upon the Acorn Distillery, the Sherwood Brothers whiskey jug with the ornate yet delicate oak leaf and acorn transfer. The top inch had been long gone when I had dug it up three months earlier, and now it was seamlessly whole again, from top to bottom, with the touch of wear from being buried for
a hundred years still providing it that aged splendor (see Figure 15). I savored the moment and the fact that it would be proudly displayed in my bottle room for many, many years to come. Jim has quite purposefully placed the Mammoth Springs in the back so that it would be the penultimate of my prized objects to come into view. This flagon had a chip right in the front when I had dug it, along with two radiating cracks. By contrast, it was now so vastly improved that it sparkled and exuded perfection, which brought me immense gratification. And right next to it was a jug that was very similar in form with the same singular broad lip finish, but because I knew it was not mine, I had not taken note of it at first. However, I was thunderstruck when I recognized that it too was a Mammoth Spring! And not only that, this one was emblazoned in the center with a Woolly Mammoth! Jim took delight in my shock and confusion, and quickly explained that it was a fantasy jug that he had hand-painted on a blank 1870s stoneware container as a special gift for me to augment the original one I dug (see Figure 16). Jim matched the unique style and coloring of the original jug’s font but added the spectacular accoutrement of a masterfully painted mammoth, one of the greatest creatures ever to walk the face of the earth. Personally, I feel this is even better executed than West Troy Pottery elephant that sold for $166,000! Our hobby is very rewarding when we unearth a great and unexpected find or track down a precious artifact through hard work and diligence. But without the joy and fulfillment that comes with sharing our prized possessions with family and friends, it would be a hollow pastime. And every now and then, our friends will go far above and beyond our expectations and surprise us with something extraordinary. Such was the case with this very special gift from my dear and very talented friend, Jim Healy, the Stoneware Doctor.
Figure 12: Front and back of John Savastio WARNER’S SAFE CURE fantasy bottle. Was the backwards “J” intentional? Figure 13: Flawlessly refurbished WEST TROY POTTERY with large blue 1. Figure 14: White’s Utica stoneware jar with replica lid and wire bail. Ready to fill with honey!
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Footnote 1: You can find an advertisement for Jim Healy’s stoneware repair services in the April 2020 issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, page 23. I noticed a similar service provided by “Stoneware Stoneworks,” advertised in the March 2020 issue, page 23.
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Footnote 2: When I contacted David Graci, author of “White’s Pottery” and “American Stoneware Bottles: A history and study” about this article, he had this comment: “There is a long-standing tradition among stoneware collectors, who are relegated to two camps: Those who accept stoneware items that have some repair work and those who refuse any form of repairs. These are long standing beliefs and care must be taken when dealing with any item that you as
a collector wish to have repaired. It has always been my operating method of telling a potential buyer that an item has a repair by placing a tag with pertinent info on the piece with the repair. That way no one is misled.” Note that Jim marks his fantasy pieces on the base, and I have a note in my collection inventory spreadsheet documenting repairs so that information will be provided to potentials buyers when the items are eventually sold. REFERENCES:
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Crocker Farm; Stoneware Auction lot # 1; https://www. crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2015-07-18/lot-1/ Extremely-Important-West-Troy-NY-Stoneware-ElephantCrock/); July 18, 2015. Antique Bottle & Glass Collector; “Collecting a Pot-Pourri of Dug Bottles;” April / May 2019. Internet Antique Gazette, Gazettewww.internetantiquegazette.com Facebook; Bottle Diggers and Collectors (private forum). Bottles, Booze, and Back Stories; Sherwood Brothers: Under the Radar; Jack Sullivan; November 5, 2009 (http://bottlesboozeandbackstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/sherwoodbrothers-under-radar.html). Internet site: Hoxsie! (https://hoxsie.org/2013/04/17/van_ dyk_not_van_dyke/) – (source for 1930s Van Dyk ads).
Bottles and Extras, “Collecting the Miniature Advertising Jugs”; Dr. Ralph Van Brocklin, Winter 2006.
Who’s Who in New York City and State – Third Edition; John W. Leonard; 1904.
The Hudson Valley Regional Review, Volume 5, Number 2; “An English Porcelain Maker in West Troy”; Warren F. Broderick; September 1988.
Facebook ; “Van Dyk Teas and Coffee,” Forum managed by Diane Van Dyk; (https://www.facebook.com/dianevandykco/).
Whiskey Galore; BBR Publishing; Alan Blakeman & Paul Bloomfield; 2010.
H. H. Warner His Company and His Bottles 2.0. SelfPublished. Michael William Seeliger; 2016. Digital.
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
Figure 15: ACORN DISTILLERY IRISH WHISKEY before and after. How gratifying to have this beautiful whiskey jug returned to its original magnificent form.
Figure 18: The JAMES VAN DYK Teapot before and after mending. Note the perfect new top that really brings this piece to its past splendor.
Figure 16: Original THOMPSON & CO. MAMMOTH SPRING WATER wonderfully brought back its native state, with the MAMMOTH fantasy jug highlighted by Jim Healy’s superbly composed mammuthus primigenius.
Figure 19: A group shot of my dug stoneware artifacts that Jim has so immensely improved though his expert craftsmanship.
Figure 17: Jim Healy, the Stoneware Doctor, holding the original and fantasy MAMMOTH SPRING jugs.
Figure 20: A collection of incredible fantasy jugs Jim has created for the annual Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC) shows.
Fruit Jar Rambles Extra By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff
SOLID, MAN! A solid-pour Safety Lid is cool The April 2019 GLASS CHATTER, the newsletter of the Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club, included the top item in Photo 1, showing a previously unreported “solid-pour” made in a SAFETY fruit jar lid mould. The jar lid’s embossing, partially visible in the aqua glass solid-pour, reads PATENT APPLIED FOR. This little prize was acquired by Midwest club member Dave Rittenhouse. Full and partial solid-pour fruit jars have been reported for years. These solid-pour jars and partial jars were thought to be the result of filling the glass moulds with hot glass to heat them at the beginning of a run and were probably also the result of accidents with the automatic glass blowing machines. Most of these solid pieces would have been tossed back into the cullet bins, but some did survive, possibly taken to be used as paperweights or door stoppers. Solid-pour jars reported over the years came from moulds that include the -ATLAS- MASON’S PATENT, the BALL (3-L) MASON, the BALL PERFECT MASON, various MASON’S PATENT NOV. 30th 1858 examples, the MODEL MASON, the PREMIUM COFFEYVILLE, KAS., the SCHRAM AUTOMATIC SEALER, a WOODBURY WGW half-pint, and others. But there’s only been one other solid-pour lid reported, a green example made in a Hartell’s PATENTED OCTOBER 19, 1858 glass screw-cap mold. Photo 2 shows a solid-pour of the bottom couple inches of a Canadian CROWN jar. The Nelson Glass Co. was incorporated on Oct. 22, 1891, in Muncie, Ind., for
the purpose of “manufacturing and selling glass fruit jars, bottles, and any and all articles of things made of glass, iron or wood, or partly of any or all of them.” On Dec. 30, 1891, Irenaeus P. Nelson applied for a patent for his idea of a “Jar Sealing Device” for “fruit-jars and the like.” The idea, which was applied to the SAFETY jar (Photo 3), called for “inclined grooves” to be blown into the jar’s neck to receive the ends of the locking wire (Figure A). Nelson received patent 471,756, on May 10, 1892. Then, after five years, on Nov. 11, 1896, CHINA, GLASS AND LAMPS reported that “the idle flint bottle works” of the Nelson Glass Co. had been purchased for $20,000 by the Muncie Flint Glass Co. The Nelson Glass Co., it added, had “abandoned fruit jar mfg. 3 years ago ...” Figure B shows an ad from the DAYTON (Ohio) HERALD newspaper of Jan. 8, 1894, which offers pint, quart, and half-gallon “Safety Fruit Jars” in “White and Amber.” And while we’re on the subject, Photo 4 shows a heavy, 7 inch long, 3 inch wide, sun colored amethyst, solid-pour glass lid to a battleship covered dish, complete with four gun turrets and two smoke stacks! This was likely saved for use as a paperweight or even a doorstop. Its bottom shows fairly heavy wear. I don’t recognize the particular battleship. It’s not one of the several covered dish tops that I know of that were used by E.C. Flaccus, Flaccus Bros., Exley Watkins, and other mustard packers in the Wheeling, W.Va., area. Photo 5 shows one of the clear glass battleships for which George A. Flaccus, president of Wheeling’s Flaccus Bros Co., held the Oct. 4, 1898 design patent. This design-patented covered dish, in
PHOTO 1: Solid-pour (top) and regular SAFETY fruit jar lids.
PHOTO 2: Canadian CROWN jar solid-pour.
both clear and milkglass, was used by the company for its Prepared Mustard, and it could well be that the battleship covered dish, whose mould our solid-pour lid came from, held some other circa-1900 food packer’s mustard, jelly, or whatever. September 2020
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Fruit Jar Rambles Extra By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff
GILL’S TEA JELLY GLASS Commercial jelly glasses obviously evolved from the plain tumblers used by early American housewives to pack their own special jellies in. The store-bought jellies gave the thrifty housewives a free jelly or drinking glass to use after they’d been emptied, and while this might have brought only a slight advantage to the sellers, it’s still no wonder that packers of a few other products availed themselves to this advantage.
FIGURE B: Ad from the January 8, 1894 DAYTON (Ohio) HERALD.
PHOTO 3: Pint aqua SAFETY fruit jar.
PHOTO 4: Solid-pour battleship covered dish lid.
FIGURE A: Patent drawing showing "Inclined Grooves."
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
PHOTO 5: Flaccus Bros. battleship covered dish.
Photo 6 shows one such container, used to market tea. This 5 1/8 inch tall, slightly tapered tumbler has a white, unmarked, metal snap-on lid, has its full original contents, and its label, which reads: “Gill’s Hotel Special Orange Pekoe & Pekoe Tea 1/4 Pound Net Wt. Packed By The James G. Gill Co., Inc., Norfolk, Va.” The attractive jar is enhanced by five horizontal bands around the glass in red, white, green, yellow and orange, from top to bottom. The James G. Gill Co. was founded in 1902 on Water Street, in downtown Norfolk. According to an October, 1953, BROADCASTING TELECASTING magazine, the Tea & Coffee company had been offering their “Gill’s Hotel Special Coffee” since its inception. Photo 7 shows a squat, key-wind tin of “Gill’s Hotel Special Coffee And Chicory Roasted And Packed By The James G. Gill Co.” Gill’s Hotel Special Tea was likely added to the line early on, and in 1950, it was being offered for sale over 230 miles away in Fredericks, Maryland, as per an ad in the FREDERICK NEWS. In the 1970s the company added First Colony Coffee & Tea as a gourmet division to sell to specialty shops, restaurants and department stores, and in 1992, First Colony’s retail coffee shops became a large
Fruit Jar Rambles Extra By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff
part of its business. In 1995 the company, now First Colony, family owned since its inception, was bought by an investment group. About 2001, the retail sites changed ownership and were closed, and in 2011, First Colony Coffee & Tea itself was reported closed after 109 years of business in Norfolk. Another of Gill’s glasses is shown in Photo 8. This one would be about the same size, with the same style snap-on lid, and a label reading “1/4 Pound Net Wt. Gill’s Hotel Special Orange Pekoe & Pekoe Tea Packed By The James G. Gill Co., Inc. Norfolk, Va.” This is just a plain glass, without the colorful pyroglazed bands. And just to show that Gill’s wasn’t the only jelly-tumbler tea packer, Photo 9 shows two more 4 3/4 inch tall, clear glasses: the one on the left with a label for 2 Oz. of Forbes Green & Black Blend Tea, from the Jas. H. Forbes Tea & Coffee Co. of St. Louis, Mo., and the right-hand example still full of 2 1/2 Oz. of the original Janco Brand Orange Pekoe & Pekoe Tea, from Janney-Marshall Co., Inc., of Fredericksburg, Va. The Forbes glass has a blue and white sailboat and palm tree motif, while the Janco glass has floral designs in red and white. Both glasses have the same unmarked snap-on lids.
PHOTO 6: Gill's Hotel Special Tea packed in a jelly-style tumbler.
It’s also possible that any or all of these jelly-style glasses can be found with labels for jelly, mustard or whatever. The primary goal of the glass makers was to sell their product, no matter what material was packed in them.
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PHOTO 8: A plain Gill's jelly-style Tea jar without horizontal bands.
PHOTO 9: Jelly tumbler-style jars with Tea labels. PHOTO 7: Gill's squat key-wind Hotel Special Coffee and Chicory tin.
September 2020
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For Sale d FELLOW COLLECTORS/DEALERS: Please, if at all possible, include a name and phone number with your advertisements. Not everyone has a computer, and a physical address does help to make sure that all of our readers can reach you. Thanks. 12/21 FOR SALE: See our Bottle-Hunting, RiverWalking, profusely illustrated color book on Ebay, item #20272016554. Buy signed copies direct from us only $29 postpaid! DREW and CATHY SIMMONS, 47 Walnut Ridge Road Stow, MA 01775. snorro@comcast.net 9/20
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Shows, Shops & Services d Are you a SARATOGA BOTTLE COLLECTOR? Join the Saratoga Bottle Collectors Society and get fabulous quarterly newsletters and meet some wonderful fellow collectors! BOB PUCKHABER, 603-731-8071. rjppersonal@comcast.net 9/20 NORTH JERSEY ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTORS ASSN. is planning on holding its 51st Annual Bottle Show and Sale this November 8th, 2020 in Pompton Lakes, NJ. If you are interested in renting
space, please contact me by email for more information. KEN DICKSON, Email: froggy8@optonline.net 10/20 WE BUY COLLECTIONS - Baltimore, D.C., V.A. and Stoneware. Leave message if no answer. J & R FINE JUNK & COLLECTABLES. JEFF 443-904-0566 or 410-335-1383, ROB 443-417-0109. 9/20 FIRST ANNUAL MID-MAINE ANTIQUE BOTTLE CLUB SHOW & SALE. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2020. TOPSHAM FAIRGROUNDS EXHIBITION HALL, TOPSHAM MAINE. FLYER AND DEALER CONTRACT, PLEASE EMAIL DAN AT FOSSIL_GLASS@YAHOO.COM 10/20
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Wanted d WANTED: Connecticut drug store, pharmacy or apothecary bottles. Embossed or labeled. We collect, research and document Connecticut drug stores. STEVE POULIOT, 860-608-7208, steve@ctbottleman.com 12/20 WANTED: EMBOSSED CURES WANTED: Including these pontils: Avery's, Benson's, Bernard's, Brown's, Bull's, Burt's, Cannon's, Flander's, Frambe's Geoghegan's, Hamilton's, Jacob's, Lay's, McAdoo's, McElroy's, Parham's, Rhodes' Prov. R.I., Rohrer's, Rudolph's, Star-in's, Stone's, Toledo, Woodman's. ALSO BIMALS: Anchor, Bavarian Bitters, Beesting, Bixler's, Bliss, Boot's Indigestion, Bowanee, Bower's, Bradford's, Bromo Mineral, Bronson's, Bull's (Baltimore), Carey's CholiCura, Clement's Certain (green), Collins' Opium (aqua), Cook's Turpentine, Cowan's Certain, Davis Indian, Detchon's Infallible, Edelweiss, Electrofluid, Ewer's Arcanum, Forest Pine (unpontiled), Francisco's, Frog Pond 8", Green's King's Cure, Large Handyside's (chocolate amber), Helmer's, Hilleman's, Hinderman's, Holden's (green), Hungarian, Indian Mixture, JBF, Kauffman Phthisis, Keeley's (opium, neurotine, solution), Large Kellum's, Kid-Nee-Kure, Lenape's, Lindley's, Long's Malaria, Loryea (green), Marsden, McConnon Cough, Amber McLean's (8"), Miniotti's (clear), Morning Glory, Murphy K & L. Pageapfel's, Park's (clear), Peck's, Pennock's, Peterman's (green), Rattail, large River Swamp, Riverview, Scott's (bird), Streetman's, Struble's (aqua), Tremaine's, Universal, Vosburgh, Wadsworth (goat), Warner's K & L Rochester (green, aqua, clear), Wildwest, Wilkinson's, Wilson Footrot, Winan's (no Indian), York Corn Cure. Looking for many others, especially embossed with label, contents, box. Also would like data on unlisted cures for future Cure Book. JOHN WOLF, 937-275-1617. ohcures@yahoo.com 1186 Latchwood Ave., Dayton, OH 45405. 12/20
WANTED: U.S.A. Hospital Dept. and any pre-1866 embossed food bottles, mustards, early Baltimore, Wheeling, D.C., Alexandria sodas, beers (stoneware or glass) damage free. BRUCE, cwaddic@yahoo.com Phone: 703307-7792. 12/20 WANTED: Hobbleskirt embossed Coca-Cola bottles: 1915's, 1923's, D-Patent's 6oz's and 6 1/2 oz's. Collector will buy or trade. JIM GEORGES, georges77@twcny.rr.com or 315-662-7729. 7/21 WANTED: Harley bottles of West Chester, Pa. and Philadelphia, Pa. The West Chester bottles display either J. Harley or James Harley. The Phila. Bottles display Edwd Harley, Schul (Schuylkill) 4th & Market St., Philada (Philadelphia) or E. Harley, 802 Market St or E. Harley, West Market St. These two bottling businesses operated in the 1840s through the early 1880s. BOB HARLEY, Phone: 215-721-1107. Email: rwh220@yahoo.com 12/20 WANTED: Buffalo, NY & Lockport, NY stoneware and bottles. Also, Buffalo beer trays and advertising signs. PETER JABLONSKI, 12489 Hunts Corners Rd, Akron, NY, 14001. Ph: 716-440-7985. 12/20 WANTED: DAVID ANDREWS VEGETABLE JAUNDICE BITTERS Looking for a slightly damaged example, Priced accordingly. DON, 978-994-2629. 9/20 WANTED: PHILADELPHIA STRAPSIDED or Seamed Whiskey Flasks. I collect and catalog these and also have an interest in Thomas H. Dillon (TD) Philadelphia mineral water bottles. Please contact me if you have any in your collection or wish to sell. ART MIRON, 215-248-4612. jestar484@verizon.net 4/21 WANTED: Cholera cure collectors? I would like to hear from you. I collect anything with the word Cholera on it. CALEB HUFFORD, 410 Needle Eye Lane, Delano, TN 37325. 9/20
WANTED: PAINTED-LABEL (ACL) BOTTLES from Thatcher Glass in Elmira, NY. Looking for company sample bottles that had square painted label of one color on the front. Says Thatcher Glass, Elmira, N.Y. on the back. I have several different ones, looking for more. Also looking for pictured Lion's Club bottle from Pennsylvania, and Brockway bottle from Oklahoma as well. If you have or know of someone who has some, I would appreciate contacting me. Thank you. DAVID MEINZ, Phone: 407-854-8108. David@DavidMeinz.com 9/20 WANTED: BUYING Pre-Pro etched & amp; embossed beer brewery glasses; whiskey shot glasses; pre-pro brewery mugs, steins including souvenir steins mugs; souvenir china; old advertising material: signs, trays, mirrors, saloon material; back bar whiskey bottles; other early American bottles, flasks, bitters, especially from Kentucky. PAUL VanVACTOR, Phone: 502-533-2693, email: pvanvactor@aol.com P.O. Box 221171, Louisville, KY 40252-1171. WANTED: Old Marbles. Please call me! PAT DARNEILLE, 503-888-0665. 10/20 WANTED: Jar Lid for Cohansey 2 1/2 Gallon R.B. #628. EDDIE DeHAVEN, 609-390-1898. 23 W. Golden Oak Lane, Marmora, NJ 08223. 9/20 WANTED: Milk Glass Figural Bottles. Phone: 740-341-0472. 9/20 WANTED: Will pay a fair price for these Hutchinson Bottles - 1. E.B. Co. / Evansville / Ind. 10 sided panels. 2. P.G. Stephen / Buffalo / NY 8 sided panels. 3. E.L. Winans / Buffalo / NY 12 sided panels. ZANG WOOD, Zapa33-51@msn.com 505-3271316. 1612 Camino Rio Farmington, NM 87401. 9/20 WANTED: Albany & Troy, NY pre-1900 beers, sodas, whiskeys and stoneware. Also J. McKnights, Edward Risedorph and David Lithgow paintings. STEWART C. WAGNER, 518-698-7325, swagner@northernindustrial. com 9/20 September 2020
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WANTED: Albany Sodas, Stoneware, Beers. Looking for Clapp squat soda, Thos Burns squat soda or any other rare color variants and or unique dated Hutchinson's. Will buy, cash, trade, sell and travel within NY state. Please email with pictures. bryanbull21@yahoo.com 9/20
WANTED: Fruit jars with original closures in mind condition. The Mason Jar of 1872, milk glass; Air Tight Fruit Jar, barrel shaped, amber; Lafayette, (profile), HG; Bee (metal lid); The Van Vliet Jar of 1881, clear. Also rare jars from New Jersey that I don't own. PHIL ALVAREZ, 908-362-5339. 9/20
WANTED: ACL's from North and South Carolina. 704-732-0373 or 704-530-3941. 9/20 WANTED: GEORGE OHR CABINS. Or Cabin Inks. BOB TERRY, 303-569-2502. llterryualusa@yahoo.com 9/20
WANTED: Any Croton-On-Hudson or Harmon, NY bottles. Also any bottles from Max or George Troyansky (Brooklyn, NY) (My 3xGreat and 2xGreat Grandfathers). I prefer contact through my cell phone. I can also be contacted via email. 845-381-3059. noahlewisny@yahoo.com 9/20
WANTED: Oregon advertising crockery and Oregon pre-prohibition shot glasses. Also, looking for Pre-Prohibition Western Liquor Advertising. Would like automobile, gas and oil advertising signs and anything related to railroad or gambling. JIM DENNIS, 541467-2760. 9/20
WANTED: O.M. Robinson's Jaundice Bitters, Dexter, Maine. Probably label only bitters. Arabian Elixier of Life, Dexter, Maine, label only most likely. RICK WHITNEY, 207-924-3443. history@dextermaine.info 215 North Dexter Road Dexter, ME 04930. 9/20
WANTED: Rare square bitters -- square bitters type embossed GIN. Any bottle embossed OINTMENT considered. Michigan well/water bottles. Bitters from Michigan. Duffy malt whiskey look-a-likes. Cabin, semi-cabin and figural BITTERS. BRUCE SCHAD, 662-237-4365. 384 CR 89 Carrollton, MS 38917. 9/20
WANTED: Looking for T. King Chicago True Blob & J&S Chicago and James Eaton Chicago and please a Cobalt Buck & Rayner Chicago Mineral for my dear Uncle Carl's bucket list. 815-325-1865. 9/20
WANTED: Stoddard Glass - Flasks, Medicine Bottles, Utility Bottles - Spring Water; Snuf Bottles; Glass Free blown or Whimseys. Love those Ugly Brown Bottles - email pics. Also Bottle Diggers Attention!! Wanted - Old doll parts - heads, bodies - Chinas or Parians Body Parts too! www.Withingtonauction.com withington@conknet.com Phone: 603-4783232. 9/20 WANTED: Indiana drugstore bottles from 1870 - 1890s period. Especially like small town examples and any with monogram, mortars and pestles, etc. Mint bottles and colors a perpetual need. Many thanks. RICHARD STRINGFELLOW, akstringfellow@comcast.net P.O. Box 134, Williamsport IN 47993. 9/20
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
WANTED: Quality bottles, advertising and stoneware from Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas including: Red Wing-made advertising jugs from saloons, druggists, grocers, etc. Bitters, coffin whiskies, blob beers and sodas, patent medicines, cures. Brewery advertising signs, trays, etched glasses. STEVE KETCHAM, 952-221-0915. steve@antiquebottledepot.com P.O. Box 24114, Edina, MN 55424. 9/20 WANTED: Emerald Green Sandwich Glass Christmas Salts, Ives Trains and other old items embossed with the name Ives on them. Call or write. JEFFREY W IVES, 860-6399881. 36 Geer Rd, Lebanon, CT 06249. 9/20
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Notice of Fraud Alert! Readers: Please be aware of solicitations to “WANTED ads” in the magazine. Specifically, a "bob chris," e-mail bobchris463@gmail. com, or Darlene.makowski123@ gmail.com, or Kelvin Max, gmail account: maxkelvin901@gmail.com Several folks advertising in the magazine have been contacted by these aliases claiming to have items they are looking for in their "Wanted Ads.” It is always prudent to be cautious when sending money to people who you do not know. Mail fraud and wire fraud are federal crimes. This information is also being passed on to postal and local authorities. Please continue to be cautious and vigilant when transacting business or sending money to someone that you do not know. The staff at AB&GC
WANTED
Greer #s of the mint state #1265 United States Syrup #1685 United States Syrup #1383 Dr. Perkins’ Syrup #5 Arthurs Renovating Syrup #778 Halls / Palingenesia / Or Regenerator
Also non Greer bottles of the mint state Dr. C.W. Robacks Scandinavien Blood Purifier Cincinnati, O, IP
Write, Call or Email
John Keating P.O. Box 13255 Olympia, WA 98508 360-628-9576 johnkeating473@yahoo.com
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WANTED: Clarke’s Vegetable Sherry Wine Bitters, Sharon, Mass. All bottle sizes & variants…pontil/smooth base. Also, ANY ephemera..newspaper ads, invoices, letterhead, etc.
THANK YOU. Charlie Martin Jr. 781-248-8620, or cemartinjr@comcast.net
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Please don't forget to use your 60-Word FREE classified ad credit in the magazine. Email, or "snail-mail" your ad to us! Libby@AmericanGlassGallery.com P.O. Box 227 New Hudson, MI 48165
Also:
Any old Medicine or Pharmacy Bottles from Columbus, Georgia or Phenix City, Alabama September 2020
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Show CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 11 & 12
SEPTEMBER 18 & 19
SEPTEMBER 19 & 20
SMYRNA, GEORGIA
AURORA, OREGON
ADAMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
50th Annual Atlanta Antique Bottle Show & Sale, (Sat. 9 AM to 3 PM; Dealer set-up and Early Adm. Friday, 3 PM to 8 PM, $20 Early adm. - includes BBQ dinner Friday evening), at the Smyrna Community Center, 200 Village Green Circle, Smyrna, GA 30080. Free adm. Sat! Info: JACK HEWITT, Box 12126 Big Canoe, Jasper, GA 30143. PH: 770.856.6062, or: BILL JOHNSON, 770.823.2626, email: bj3605@comcast.net. Sponsored by the R.M. Rose Co, Distillers.
Oregon Bottle Collectors Association Bottle, Antiques, & Collectibles Show & Sale, (Friday 12 - 5PM, dealer set-up & early bird admission $5; Sat. 9AM - 3PM general adm. by donation), at the American Legion Hall, 21510 Main St. N.E., Aurora, OR. Info: WAYNE HERRING, Ph: 503.864.2009; or: BILL BOGYNSKA, Ph: 503.657.1726, email: billbogy7@gmail.com
New, Special September Shupp's Grove Bottle Festival, (Sat. & Sun. 6 AM to dusk, early buyers Friday, 3 PM), at the famous 'Shupp's Grove', 607 Willow Street, Reinholds, PA 17569. Info: STEVE GUION, PH: 717.626.5557, or: 717.371.1259, Email: affinityinsurance1@windstream.net
CA
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RICHMOND, RHODE ISLAND
SEPTEMBER 12 HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA
CA
The Los Angeles Historical Bottle Club’s 54th Annual Antique Bottles, Fruit Jars, Insulators, Antiques & Collectibles Show & Sale, (9 AM to 3 PM; Early Birds $10 at 8 AM), at the Huntington Beach, Elks Lodge #1959, 7711 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach, CA 92648. Free Adm! Info: DON WIPPERT, Ph. 818.346.9833, Email donwippert@yahoo.com, or DICK HOMME, Ph. 818.362.3368.
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SEPTEMBER 12 & 13 GRAYSLAKE, ILLINOIS Antique Bottle Show, (Sat. 9 AM to 4 PM; Sun. 9 AM to 3 PM), at the Lake County Fairgrounds, 1060 E. Peterson Rd, Grayslake, IL 60030. Adm. $7, Children under 12 free. Info: TIM ZURKO, Zurko Promotions: 715.526.9769.
CA
SEPTEMBER 19 The Little Rhody Bottle Club tailgate swap meet, (9AM to 2PM) at the Jules Antique Center, 320 Kingstown, Richmond, Rhode Island (3 miles East of Route #95 on Route #138). Free set up for all! Free coffee, donuts and pizza for participants. Bring your own tables! Info: WILLIAM ROSE, 508.880.4929; email: sierramadre@comcast.net. SEPTEMBER 19 New Location! The Raleigh Antique Bottle Club Show and Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM), at the Hill Ridge Farms Event Center, 703 Tarboro Road, Youngsville, NC 27596. Info: DAVID TINGEN, 919.848.4387; Email: tingen1@ mindspring.com, website: www.raleighbottleclub.org. Inside and outside setup areas, lots of parking and open space. Sponsored by Hill Ridge Farms.
WESTFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
LEBANON, INDIANA
PEKIN, ILLINOIS
The Indianapolis Circle City Antique Bottle Club is hosting their 8th Annual Antique Bottle Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM, Early buyers 7:30 AM, $20), at the Boone County Fairgrounds, 1300 E. 100 S. Lebanon, IN 46052. Free appraisals, Free admission! Info: MARTIN VAN ZANT, 41 East Washington St., Mooresville, IN 46158. PH: 812.841.9495; email: mdvanzant@yahoo. com, or: "Balsam" BILL GRANGER, 6915 S. 280 E., Lebanon, IN 46052. PH: 812.517.5895; email: bgranger@iquest.net.
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New Location! The Greater Buffalo Bottle Collectors Association 22nd Annual Show and Sale, (9:00 AM to 2:00 PM), at the Pvt. Leonard Post, Jr. VFW, 2450 Walden Avenue, Cheektowaga, N.Y. Info: TOM KARAPANTSO, 716.487.9645, email: tomar@stny.rr.com, or: PETER JABLONSKI, 716.440.7985, email: peterjablonski@roadrunner.com; or JOE GUERRA, 716.207.9948, email: jguerra3@roadrunner. com SEPTEMBER 20
SEPTEMBER 19
NC
CHEEKTOWAGA, NEW YORK
YOUNGSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
SEPTEMBER 13
Pekin Bottle Collectors Assoc. 51st Annual Show & Sale (8:00 AM to 3:00 PM), at the Moose Lodge, 2605 Broadway Street, Pekin, IL. Admission $2, Free Appraisals. Info: DARYL WESELOH, PH: 309.264.9268.
SEPTEMBER 20
CA
The Merrimack Valley Antique Bottle Club’s 46th annual bottle show, (9AM to 2PM, early buyers at 8AM), at the Westford Regency Inn, 219 Littleton Road, Westford, MA. Just five minutes off Exit 32 of I-495 follow the signs. Special Note: There will be a $20 door prize drawing just for early buyers at 8:45 AM. Info: CLIFF HOYT, PH. 978.458.6575; Email; choyt48@comcast.net Website: www.mvabc.org
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SEPTEMBER 26 BATH, ONTARIO, CANADA 4th Annual Bath Antique Bottle and Insulator Show, (9 AM to 2:30 PM), at the Bath Masonic Lodge, 428 Main Street, Bath, Ontario, Canada. Info: RICHARD DOBING, email: loyalistcollectibles@gmail.com
Show CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 26
OCTOBER 3
OCTOBER 10
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
MANSFIELD, OHIO
COVENTRY, CONNECTICUT
New, 1st Annual Border States Antique Bottle, Postcard, and Insulator Show and Sale, (9 AM to 3 PM), at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper St., Bldg. 21, Lawrence, KS 66046. This is a combination of the Hutchinson Kansas Territory Bottle & Postcard Show, and the Platte City NW Missouri Insulator & Bottle Show. 80 + tables of antique bottles, insulators, postcards, telephones, porcelain signs, lightning rod balls, misc. and table-top antiques. Free Admission! Info: MARK LAW, Ph: 785.224.4836; email, Kansasbottles@gmail.com, or: DARRYL WAGNER, Ph: 816.719.0801, email: nwmoshow@dwagnerkc.com.
NEW DATE! (this year only). The Ohio Bottle Club’s 42nd Annual Mansfield Antique Bottle & Advertising Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM, early buyers Friday 3 to 6 PM, $35), at the Richland County Fairgrounds, Mansfield, OH. Adm. $5. Info: MATT LACY, PH: 440.228.1873, Email: info@antiquebottlesales.com; or LOUIS FIFER, 330.635.1964, Email; fiferlouis@yahoo.com Website: www.ohiobottleclub.org
The Southern Connecticut Antique Bottle Collector Association's 49th Annual Show, (8 AM to 1 PM), outdoors on the grounds of the historic Coventry Glass Works, 289 North River Road, Coventry, CT 06238 (corner of Rt. 44 & North River Road). For more information or dealer contracts, please contact: BOB, 203.938.3879, email: rdsrla@ optonline.net
SEPTEMBER 27
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HAMMONTON, NEW JERSEY
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The Fall Antique, Glass, & Bottle Show presented by the Batsto Citizens Committee, Inc. (9 AM to 3 PM, rain or shine!), in historic Batsto Village, Wharton State Forest, Rt. 542 Pleasant Mills Road, Hammonton, NJ. Free Admission! Info: JIM HAMMELL, 856.217.4945, email: hammelljm@gmail. com
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OCTOBER 2 & 3 WILLIAMS, CALIFORNIA 3rd Annual Antique Bottles & Collectibles Show, (Sat. 9 AM to 3 PM; Early Bird Friday, 10:00 AM, $10), in the old gym behind the Sacramento Valley Museum, 1491 E Street, Williams, CA. Free Adm. Saturday. Info: SLIM or CHRISTY EDWARDS, PH: 530.473.2502, email: closethegatefenceco@ yahoo.com
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OCTOBER 3
JOHNSTON, IOWA
BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI
The Iowa Antique Bottleers 51st Annual Show and Sale, (8 AM to 2 PM), at the Johnston Lions Club, 64th Place and Merle Hay Road, Johnston, IA. Adm. $2, children free. Info: MARK C. WISEMAN, 3505 Sheridan Avenue, Des Moines, IA 503104557, email: markcwiseman@msn.com, PH: 515.344.8333, or: JOYCE JESSEN, 515.979.5216.
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4th Annual Mississippi Gulf Coast Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale presented by The Old Guys Digging Club, (Sat. 9 AM to 4 PM; Dealer Setup, Friday, 12 to 5 PM, and Sat. morning 8 to 9 AM, Early buyers $20), at the Joppa Shrine Temple, 13280 Shriners Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39532 (Exit 41 - I-10). Sat. Free Adm. and Appraisals. Info: NORMAN BLEULER, 6446 Woolmarket Rd, Biloxi, MS 39532, Ph: 228.392.9148, Email: normanbleuler@gmail.com, or: PETER TAGGARD, 645 Village Lane South, Mandeville, LA 70471 Ph. 985.373.6487 Email: petertaggard@yahoo.com
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OCTOBER 4 CHELSEA, MICHIGAN The Huron Valley Bottle and Insulator Club 44th Annual Show & Sale, (9AM to 2 PM), at the Comfort Inn Conference Center, 1645 Commerce Park Drive next to the Comfort Inn, Chelsea (Exit 159 off I-94). Adm $3 for adults, children 16 and under, free. Info: MIKE BRUNER, Email, abbott4girl@sbcglobal.net, or ROD KRUPKA, 248.627.6351; Email: rod.krupka@yahoo. com
OCTOBER 18 FINDLAY, OHIO
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Findlay Antique Bottle Club's 44th Annual Antique Bottle & Collectibles Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM; early bird Sun. 7 AM - $10), at the Old Mill Stream Centre, Hancock Cty. Fairgrounds, 1017 E. Sandusky St., Findlay, OH. Adm. $2, Children under 12 Free! Info: Show Chairman FRED CURTIS, 419.424.0486; email: finbotclub@gmail.com, Website: http://finbotclub.blogspot.com
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OCTOBER 18 SCRIBA, NEW YORK The Empire State Bottle Collectors Association’s 22nd Annual Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2:30 PM), at the Scriba Fire Hall, U.S. Route 104 East, Scriba (2 miles East of Oswego). Info: BARRY HAYNES, P.O. Box 900, Mexico, NY 13114. PH: 315.963.0922, or 315.963.3749, or Co-Chair CHRISTINA CHAMPION via Email: 110HarleyHorses@ gmail.com
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Show CALENDAR OCTOBER 25
NOVEMBER 8
JANUARY 23, 2021
ALSIP, ILLINOIS
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
New Location! 1st Chicago Bottle Club's 51st Annual Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM), at the Doubletree Inn by Hilton, 5000 W 127th St, Alsip, IL 60803. Adm. $3, Children under 16 free (No early adm). Info: RAY KOMOROWSKI, 127 S. Cuyler, Oak Park, IL 60302. PH: 708.848.7947. Email: 1stChicagoBottleClub@gmail.com
New Location! The Pittsburgh Antique Bottle Club’s 51st Annual Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM, early buyers 7 AM, $25), at the Elizabeth VFD Station 139, 107 Market Street, Elizabeth, PA 15037. Adm. $3. Info: BOB DeCROO, 694 Fayette City Rd., Fayette City, PA 15438. PH: 724.326.8741, or JAY HAWKINS, 1280 Mt. Pleasant Rd., West Newton, PA 15089, PH: 724.872.6013; web: www.PittsburghAntiqueBottleClub.org
Mississippi Antique Bottle Club presents their 35th Annual Show and Sale, (Sat. 9 AM to 4 PM, Free admission; Dealer Set-up and Early Buyers, Friday, 22nd, 12 Noon to 7 PM, $20.00, and Sat. 7 AM - 9 AM), at the Mississippi Fairgrounds, 1207 Mississippi St, Jackson, in the East Bay of the Trade Mart Building. Info: CHERYL COMANS, PH: 601.218.3505.
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The Tri-State Bottle Collectors and Diggers Club 48th Annual Show & Sale (9 AM to 2 PM), at the Singerly Fire Hall, Routes 279 & 213, Elkton, MD. Info: PH: DAVE BROWN, PH: 302.388.9311, email: dbrown3942@comcast.net
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NOVEMBER 1 TOPSHAM, MAINE New, 1st Annual Mid-Maine Antique Bottle Show, (9 AM to 2 PM; Early buyers 8 AM, $15), at the Topsham, Maine Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall, 54 Elm St. Topsham. Presented by the Mid-Maine Antique Bottle Club. Adm. $2. Info: PAUL McCLURE, Ph. 207.832.1503; email: oldbottles@outlook. com NOVEMBER 8 OAKLAND, NEW JERSEY North Jersey Antique Bottle Collectors Assn. 51st Annual Show & Sale, (9 AM to 2 PM, early buyers 8 AM), at the Pompton Lakes Elks Lodge No.1895, 1 Perrin Ave, Pompton Lakes, NJ. Info: KEN, PH: 973.248.6406, email froggy8@optonline.net
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MARCH 14, 2021
NOVEMBER 14
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA Antique Bottle Collectors of North Florida 52nd Annual Show & Sale, (Sat. 8 AM to 2 PM; early buyers Fri. 2 PM to 7 PM, $50, 3 - 7 PM, $40, 5 - 7 PM, $20), at the Fraternal Order of Police Bldg., 5530 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL. Free adm. Saturday. Info: MIKE SKIE, 3047 Julington Creek Road, Jacksonville, FL 32223, PH: 904.710.0422, or COREY STOCK, 904.607.3133, or email: jaxbottleshow@yahoo.com
The Baltimore Antique Bottle Club's 41st Annual Show & Sale, (8 AM to 3 PM), at the Physical Education Center, CCBC-Essex, 7201 Rossville Blvd. (I-695,Exit 34). Info: Show Chairman RICK LEASE, 410-458-9405 or e-mail: finksburg21@comcast.net For contracts, call: ANDY AGNEW, 410-527-1707 or e-mail: medbotls@comcast.net Website: baltimorebottleclub.org
NOVEMBER 29
APRIL 17
BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
Forks of the Delaware Bottle Collectors Association 47th Annual Show & Sale (9AM to 2PM, early buyers 7:30 AM), at the Bethlehem Catholic High School, 2133 Madison Ave., (corner of Madison & Dewberry Avenues), Bethlehem, PA. Info: BILL HEGEDUS, 20 Cambridge Place, Catasauqua, PA 18032, PH: 610.264.3130.
New, Larger and Better Location! The South Carolina Antique Bottle Club's 48th Annual Show. ONE DAY SHOW WITH NEW DATE! The show will be held at the Jamil Shrine Temple, 206 Jamil Road, Columbia, SC. Details soon to follow. For more info: MARTY VOLLMER, Ph: 803.629.8553; email: martyvollmer@aol.com, or: ERIC WARREN: 803.960.7814, email: scbottles@ aol.com
JANUARY 10, 2021 TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS The Little Rhody Bottle Club Annual Show & Sale, (9:00 AM to 3 PM, early buyers 8:00 AM, $15), at the Holiday Inn, 700 Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton, MA (off Exit 9, Rt. 495). Adm. $3. Info: BILL or LINDA ROSE, PH: 508.880.4929; or Email: sierramadre@comcast.net
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Please don't forget to use your 60-Word FREE classified ad credit in the magazine. Email, or "snail-mail" your ad to us! Libby@AmericanGlassGallery.com P.O. Box 227 New Hudson, MI 48165
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Mobile Bottler Stephen Twelves Had Something to Crow About By David Kyle Rakes
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ollectors of early Southern sodas get to enjoy an infinite number of bottle shapes and colors, but I have become much more interested in researching the bottler and his background. You never know what might turn up. I was able to uncover a lot of fascinating information about Charleston, South Carolina and Mobile, Alabama bottlers whose containers reside in my collection. I learned that A.P. Smith of Charleston was Andrew Pickens Smith and was a minister as well. Mobile’s Miguel Monju was a direct descendant of Spanish aristocracy, and a hidden drawer in a family heirloom desk played a key role in uncovering his background.
My latest research was inspired by the emerald green and iron-pontiled S. Twelves soda from Mobile. Most Southern antique bottle collectors had discovered the “S” stands for Stephen, but what about his surname, a name with numerals 1 and 2? So I checked the genealogical records and discovered his name had nothing to do with numbers. It is an English surname dating to medieval times originating from “alte-waellaa,” or “at the well” or persons who lived near a spring or stream. Since Twelves was in the bottling business (selling whiskey as well as soda water), his origins seem fitting because he advertised his liquor as if it came from a well. Its cost was lower and easily purchased. The Twelves story begins in 1822 when Stephen Sr., his wife and children emigrated from Boston, Lincoln, England to the Spring Garden section of Philadelphia, Pa. Twelve (there’s that name
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1855 ad
again) years later, he applied to become an American citizen in the Court of Quarter Sessions in Philadelphia on Oct. 10, 1834. It was granted, and his wife and children automatically became Americans, too. The children were Stephen Junior, Richard and Samuel. Stephen Sr., born in England on Sept. 10, 1816, was believed to have operated a drug manufacturing business at 560 North Front Street in Philadelphia until his death in 1842. While growing up, Stephen Junior apparently strayed from the straight and narrow path and became entangled with authority before moving to Mobile. While in his early twenties, he wound up in court in a couple of cases, one in which he was accused of operating a “tippling house.” He pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. Before leaving, he advertised his licensed Oyster Cellar business for sale at 92 North 2nd Street, nothing the establishment was doing a good cash business, but he was planning “to leave the city in a few days.” In 1838, he moved to Mobile, where he opened a liquor and grocery business at
56 Front Street and 55 Commerce Street. A year after his departure, his Schuykill, Pa., property and home were seized and sold by the sheriff to settle old debts. In 1842, he was joined in business by Henry Leitman and the business became known as Stephen Twelves & Co. Seven years later after nearly ten years in business, Twelves was now a big supplier of wines, liquors and groceries. The city itself was experiencing an explosive growth because of the emerging cotton trade. Planters used slaves to pick the crops, which were shipped down river to Mobile for trade and transferred to ocean-going ships. Records reveal staggering annual cotton export numbers, averaging about 100,000 bales in the 1830s to 500,000 bales by the 1850s. The city’s population at Twelves’ arrival was some 12,000 inhabitants. By 1860, it had increased to 29,000. Twelves tried to start a family when he first settled in Mobile, but in 1841 his first wife, Mary B., also a Philadelphian, died at age 24. They had a son, Thomas
Boyd Twelves, but he passed away shortly after his mother’s death. Twelves Junior married again, to Mary Elizabeth Grant, and they became parents of George C., Charles H., Stephen P., James M., Rebecca C. and Jarvis Turner Twelves. In that same year, Twelves’ business was prospering. He advertised “5 half-bushels Mess Shad, 5-1/4 barrels Mackerel.” In 1842, Twelves Jr. relocated the liquor and grocery store to Nos. 4 and 6 Commerce Street and No. 5 North Front Street inside a four-story brick building boasting a 28-foot frontage on Commerce Street. Competition came from John O’Reilly in 1842, but he sold just whiskey and no soda water.
There is only one type of soda bottle and one whiskey bottle known for Twelves. The soda is emerald green, iron-pontiled and is simply embossed S. Twelves / Mobile. The whiskey bottle is unique. It is olive amber in color, tall and cylindrical in shape with an applied top. There is an applied seal on the bottle shoulder containing the image of a rooster with the lettering S Twelves / Mobile surrounding it. No one knows why the proprietor chose the rooster. Perhaps he wanted a product he could crow about! In 1843, he offered cash for any empty bottles. “Persons having Bottles they wish to dispose of can have them sent for cash paid by leaving word at my store, No. 55 Commerce Street.” He also ran ads selling sperm (whale) candles, strained sperm oil, cigars, ale, peach brandy, bitters, scotch and whiskey. The businessman was the victim of a few incidents he could have done without. He inserted a newspaper ad offering a $20 reward “for the person who put the (fire) crackers under my horse while (it) was standing opposite the Franklin House on the evening of the 4th of July, or any information thankfully received. (s) Stephen Twelves. In another ad, he offered a $50 reward for the return of a stolen watch: “Stolen from my house on Joseph Street, Mobile, a gold patent lever watch, double case, marked inside of outer case as follows: F.S. & Co.-U 18 and some dry hieroglyphics, No. 4056. My house was entered and the watch stolen between the hours of 4 and 6 o’clock A.M. The above award will be paid on the delivery of the watch or $25 on the conviction of the thief. Stephen Twelves, 55 Commerce Street, Mobile.”
Twelves whiskey and soda bottles
In 1848, his ads listed brandy, gin, wines, cordials syrups, groceries, porter, ale and cider for outfitting hotel and steamboat bar stores, He also had become a popular public figure and ran for public office as an alderman. He may have been elected in 1855. September 2020
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dies, whisky, rum, cordials, liquors, tobacco, segars. Liquors and Groceries for sale at the Lowest Prices.” One of the cleverest ads I came across had a rendering of a salty sea captain that could be viewed two different ways: turning it one way reads: “I bought my Brandy at Twelves” with the captain smiling. Turning the image the other way, it says, “I Didn’t,” and the captain was scowling. The eye-catching ad was used time and again in newspapers of the late 1850s to the 1860s. On April 25, 1861, Stephen Twelves Jr., died in Mobile at age 45 from consumption (tuberculosis). His second wife, Mary Elizabeth, died March 15, 1886. All of the Twelves family are buried in Mobile’s Magnolia Cemetery, third largest in the city, covering 100 acres. It is listed on the National Registry of Historical Places and more than 80,00 persons are buried there. The S. Twelves whiskey is extremely rare, with only one known example. The soda is considered very rare, with approximately ten to twenty known examples.
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Twelves ad from 1861
Worse yet was an 1860 newspaper ad claiming Mobile businessmen Stephen Twelves, Joseph Tucker, Haviland, Clark & George (druggists) and I.C. DuBose & Co., sold the dangerous and fraudulent Hosteiter’s (sic) Celebrated Stomach Bitters. The ad claimed the men would wind up in court and warns the public not to buy this product. Twelves may have pulled the product from his shelves. Of course, the true spelling was Hostetter’s. By 1860, Twelves’ business continued to grow. He now owned as many as eleven slaves and his son Samuel was employed at the store. The census for that year noted the value of his real estate was $14,000 and his personal estate was worth $5,000. He advertised extensively in local newspapers, with one example saying he is “An importer of, and dealer in, wines, bran-
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SOURCES: Rod Vining, Grand Bay, Ala., contributed photos, ads and records relating to Twelves’ bottles and life. Denisha Logan, librarian at Mobile Public Library, provided numerous Twelves records. Professional genealogist Robert David, Hanceville, Ala., contributed vital Twelves records. Stephen Twelves Sr., Spring Garden, Philadelphia, Pa., 1830 Census, page 338. Philadelphia Naturalization Records, Page 662; funeral notice for Stephen Twelves Sr., Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Sept. 9, 1842, Vol. XIII, issue 48, Page 2. Stephen Twelves Jr., census returns, 1850 Mobile Roll M432-11, page 301A, Image 56; slave schedule, household 19750; 1850 Mobile Census, 1860 Mobile Census, 1st Ward. Stephen Twelves, 1836 Court Case, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Records 1754-1845, Vol. 52-53. Stephen Twelves charged with keeping a tippling house, Public Ledger newspaper, June 13, 1838, Vol. 5, issue 67, Page 2. Stephen Twelves, Oyster Cellar business, Public Ledger, Oct. 30, 1838, Philadelphia, Vol. VI, Issue 6, Page 3. Stephen Twelves Schuykill, Pa., property seized, June 5, 1839, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 17, 1839, Vol. XX, Issue 144, Page 4. Death of Mary B. Twelves, Mobile Daily Commercial Register and Patriot, Aug. 18, 1841, Vol. 21, Page 3; Twelves’ marriage to Mary E. Grant, The Independent Monitor, Tuscaloosa, Ala., Sept. 7, 1842, Page 7; Stephen Twelves liquor, grocery addresses, 1842-1861, local history and genealogy, Mobile Public Library, Stephen Twelves newspaper ad with salty sea captain drawing, 1859 Mobile City Directory via Rod Vining, Grand Bay, Ala. Dangerous fraud caution to the public, Mobile Register, Jan. 27, 1860, Vol. VI, Page 3. Will of Stephen Twelves Jr., April 12, 1861, Will Bok 3, abstracts, 1857-1870, Pages 264-265. Death of Stephen Twelves, Findagrave.com, Affiliate record 89071763, Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Ala., interments for the week ending April 27, 1861, Mobile Daily Advertiser, May 4, 1861; Mobile County Death Records 1843-1875 Index, Mobile Genealogical Society Inc., 1994. Death of Mary Elizabeth Grant Twelves and children, Magnolia Cemetery stones and markers, photos at Findagrave.com.
Remember: Advertising doesn’t cost,
IT PAYS! A display ad this size costs only $30.00 for one month. What are you waiting for? Call us today!
The Collection of Peter Tillou
Coming to Auction September, 2020! An Exceptional Group of Early American Glass, Bottles & More
Heckler
www.hecklerauction.com | 860-974-1634 79 Bradford Corner Road, Woodstock Valley, CT 06282 September 2020
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Ellenville Glass Works
The rise (and slow fall) of a New York glassworks By Phil Bernnard A display of Ellenville base-embossed whiskies at the National Bottle Museum in Ballston Spa, N.Y.
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volunteer for the National Bottle Museum in Ballston Spa, N.Y. As a museum entity, our mission statement in the industry is to promote the technology of bottle making through the ABM machines. We have gotten away from that, but are trying to return to that purpose. My responsibility is to go to shows as a museum representative and cast our presence once more into the hobby. We only do it regionally due to budget constraints, but we try and send out packets to show chairs around the country. And that brings us up to date. So last August we were at the Hudson Valley Bottle Club show in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a small but well-attended event. The show chair at this event is Mike Stephano, president emeritus and owner of this outrageous collection of Ellenville Glass Works items. Until that time, I was oblivious to the existence of such a glassworks. The items were so unique and unusual that I was able to persuade Mike to lend us some for display. After about four months of negotiation and pleading, we were able to get the display set up. I am happy to say that it has made quite an addition to our museum.
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Since no one at the museum really knew anything about this glassworks, I was tasked with putting together a talk. I gave the talk in March and here is my research: Ellenville Glass Works was originally founded in 1836 on the Round Out Creek in Ulster County, N.Y. This is about ten miles west of New Paltz, N.Y. There seems to be controversy about how long it lasted, but 1897 is given as the fire draw-down date. There are local people that say it continued to 1922, but no marketable product was successfully produced in that time. The original founders were (no first names) Merrick, Carpenter and Shaffer. They originally purchased 4,200 acres of forested land. Their novel marketing plan was to divide this in to fifty-acre lots and sell to farmers. But what they did was they accepted no money. The buyers had to clear the timber off their land and that was part of their payment. Also the location was on the original Delaware and Hudson Canal, just completed, which connected the creek to large waterways and transportation routes. Once they got the kilns going, they were making about 65,000 bottles a year. During that time, their customers were
Dr. Townsend, Lydia Pinkham, Shenks and Swaims Pulmonic Syrups. They were just one of the several glasshouses making these items. Meanwhile, they were having management and financial issues. None of the owners had a great deal of experience in this field, so inventory and raw material supplies were a constant problem. In 1845, the original owners sold the glassworks to Jasper Gilbert, John Turner and Alvin Preston. These new owners also owned Coventry and Willington Glass Works in Connecticut. This enabled molds to be moved back and forth, which explains the similarity of their products and inventory. These new owners remained until 1866, when financial woes beset the Connecticut companies. But between those years, output at Ellenville went from 65,000 to 300,000 bottles annually. They also did contracts with the larger patent medicines and bitters as well as flasks and cylinder whiskeys. Incidentally, the only item marketed by the company was these cylinder whiskeys. These same designs were also found with Coventry, Willington and Westford marks, showing that the molds travelled around. None of them were embossed; they all had paper labels. The Ellenville bottles ended up in South Carolina or the
PHOTOS (clockwise from top left): A display at the National Bottle Museum. Some of the Hutchinson bottles produced. Ellenville diamond base embossing. A dazzling array of Ellenville bottles. Labeled cylinder whiskeys.
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Caribbean. They are found on shipwrecks in that area. Also during this time (1845-66), the canal wharfs were expanded. There was an influx of Irish, English, Scottish and German glassblowers who displayed a distinct South Jersey influence on whimseys or “end-of-day” pieces: footed bowls, candle sticks, and pitchers with lacy decor. In 1859, it was recognized that there was not enough wood to feed the furnaces (they were using 4,200 cords annually), so the decision was made to change to coal. Most other glass factories did not change until after the Civil War (around 1866). So without embossing, the only signature marquee was the color of the glass. They did not use local sources. Soda ash came from England, sand from New Jersey, and limestone from Ohio. This is what gave the glass its yellow green amber, olive amber or olive green color. All this was possible through the canal system that was right behind the factory. The company prospered until about 1866 when economic depression hit the glass industry hard, causing financial despair. This affected not only Ellenville but Coventry and Willington glassworks as well. So in 1866, the company reorganized. A.B. Prescott became president and Jacob Hermone the plant manager. In this time frame (1866-79) more contracts were made with bottlers of patent medicines and bitters and whiskeys. Bottles included Doyle’s Hop Bitters, Plantation Bitters, Dr. Townsend, Wilcox patent fruit jars, hero jars, druggist ware, carboys, demijohns as well as cylinder whiskeys. When the company was making carboys and demijohns, they had a large willow lot. This was where the weaving was done on the bottles to protect them during shipping. When the men were making the glass, the children were transporting the bottles and the wives were weaving the willow basketry. The entire town was employed during these times (estimated
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More labeled bottles from the Ellenville Glass Works displayed at the National Bottle Museum.
to be about 500 workers). In addition to bottles, insulators were produced there. Then in 1879 the company was courtordered to be sold. From this time on, the company continually experienced financial and production difficulties, mostly due to new owners that had no experience in this industry or went into it underfunded. During this next phase, they attempted crown glass (windows) but could not produce clear glass. Between 1880-97, the company reorganized or changed hands at least four times. If it wasn’t financial (depression, run on banks), it was labor disputes or poor organization. The company limped along without having a great deal of success during this time. In 1897, they finally saw the light and stopped. This situation is not unique to Ellenville. Many of the smaller glasshouses that I have looked at in New York had multiple owner turnover. Very few lasted more than a few years before another change. These would include glassworks like Redwood Glass Works, Redbrook Glass Works, Sand Lake Glass Works, New Lebanon Glass Works to name a few.
The exceptions would be Lancaster Glass Works, Clyde Glassworks, Vernon, Mt. Pleasant, Congressville, Merchant Glass Works and, of course, Corning.
r Photos courtesy of Mike Stephano
r SOURCES: Fowler, Rob: Hutchinson Bottle Directory - Seattle History Co. Hutchbrook.com 2015. Knittle, Rhea: Mansfield Early American Glass - Appleton Century N.Y. 1927. Skye, Stephan: Irish Glassmakers of Ellenville, Neversink Valley Museum of History and Innovation. 2014.
r Editor’s note: In a November 15, 1889 issue of the New York Times was this notice: “MIDDLETOWN, N.Y., Nov. 14. -The manufacture of glassware by machinery on a permanent scale is now for the first time undertaken in this country at the longidle Ellenville Glass Works, in the neighboring village of that name.”
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By John Panella and Joe Widman
LET’S LOOK AT A FEW KILLERS The era of patent medicines really blossomed after the Civil War and continued as a major mode of self-treatment until the early 1900s. It was a period when the art of medicine was very primitive. The nation and the world were full of quack doctors plying their trade with little or no training, using blood purifiers and strong purgatives, as well as alcohol, chloral, cannabis, chloroform, coca leaves, cocaine, ether, camphor, opium, mercury, even gold and silver derivatives. The use of deadly poisons was less concerning to the doctor, chemist and patent medicine company then the effect of the nostrum. Effective and intoxicating drugs were in vogue to relieve symptoms and keep the taker coming back for more. Hell yes, it cured sometimes via psychotropic effects rather than anything else. When the cure/tonic/killer wore off the malady usually returned with a vengeance and the taker was crying for more. Basic positive economic gain for the maker and a temporary but invigorating feel good cure for the taker, a win-win situation. But was it really?
The Promises Many people turned their trust to patent medicines recommended by friends, local grocers and pharmacists. The medicinal value of these substances was “proven” by word of mouth and an abundance of TOP RIGHT: An image of a notorious "Joy to the World" trade card put out by Perry Davis. BOTTOM RIGHT: Detailed label from a 24 bottle wooden crate of Pain-Killer. FOLLOWING PAGE: TOP ROW: A cute Pain Killer trade card featuring a young boy and girl; A portrait of Perry Davis. BOTTOM ROW: A beautiful label on large size wooden crate; The author's patent medicine display, including four Perry Davis box crates.
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By John Panella and Joe Widman
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By John Panella and Joe Widman
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By John Panella and Joe Widman
exaggerated print testimonials (usually tucked away in the brightly-printed bottle carton) trumpeting the medicine’s efficacy to heal everything from cancer to malaria. Panaceas to be sure, with many beneficial uses. No government agency demanded exhaustive laboratory analysis before the product was released to the public. It was a self-medicating, drug-fueled culture, a real free for all. Now we’ll talk about killers, just a few, as there are too many for us to even scratch the surface. We will look into only bottles that had the word KILLER embossed. Whether digging or scouring the bottle shows or auctions, these concoctions should be brought into consideration.
Perry Davis, Manufacturer of the PAIN KILLER Perry Davis (1791-1862) epitomized a 19th-century, self-made man. He struggled to overcome physical, mental, and financial hardships during most of his life. Davis was born into a poor family from Dartmouth, Mass. He received little formal education and was sent to work when still a child. At age 14 he severely injured his hip in a fall. He suffered from chronic pain, walked with a limp, and could never run again. Perry’s father apprenticed him as a shoemaker. By the age of 22 he had saved PREVIOUS PAGE: TOP ROW (left to right): An extremely rare, possibly unique, 1845 advertising flyer for Perry Davis; A trade card recommending taking Pain Killer along on a voyage; An image of the first Perry Davis apothecary shop, in Providence, Rhode Island. BOTTOM ROW: Front and reverse sides of an illustrated Pain Killer trade card. THIS PAGE: TOP: A highly graphic Perry Davis Pain Killer metal advertising sign BOTTOM ROW: Perry Davis Pain Killer bottle with label and reverse of same bottle showing directions.
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By John Panella and Joe Widman
enough money to marry, and for the next thirty years he and his wife lived in poverty, punctuated by tragedy. Five of their seven children died before adolescence. Despite lack of formal education he was a tinkerer and inventor. His first invention was a grinding mill, for which he received in 1840 a patent. It was a clever device but unfortunately not a popular one. Like many people of his time he was needing an epiphany to survive, some divine intervention. The next step was this concoction he dreamed up.
A Dr. Seth Arnold's Cough Killer trade card reading "Perfectly Safe".
He had long suffered from a combination of disorders related to his overall weakened and painful array of medical conditions. He wrote: “I searched the globe in my imagination with eager anxiety and selected the choicest (vegetable) gums and plants that I thought the world afforded, and directed, as I believe by the hand of Providence, in compounding and proportioning the medicine so that the narcotic influence of use might be destroyed by the other, in order that when the stimulating influence was over, it became a nervine to sooth and a balm to heal.” Bingo! The cholera epidemic of 1844 and the public fear of the disease that followed gave the Pain Killer a huge commercial boost. Perry Davis and Sons set up their Pain Killer Establishment at 74 High St. in Providence, Rhode Island.
Dr. Seth Arnold's Cough Killer labeled bottle and packaging.
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Comparing that situation with today’s Covid-19 pandemic, I am sure we can all understand Perry’s overnight success. It was the panacea everyone needed! It was out on the market. By the early 1850s, the gross revenue from the sale of the Pain Killer had amounted to over $300,000 dollars. In his fifties, Perry Davis finally achieved financial success. His image, along with his signature, was used as branding on every bottle of the Pain
Killer, which was stashed in most American households. He was set for life! People in cities, those going overland in covered wagons, the Forty-Niners, the missionaries going to China, all packed the Pain Killer by the case in their bags, literally spreading it about the country and the world. Two or three gulps taken out of the bottle could calm the nerves and assuage the pains of daily living, thanks to the opium and the ethanol in the nostrum. Raw opium contains more than 35 alkaloids, including morphine, codeine, papaverine, and thebaine. Many patent medicines of the era contained opium, or an opium preparation such as laudanum, or morphine. Pain Killer had them all. They advertised aggressively as being the “vegetable” pain killer. They advertised on trade cards, in newspapers and almanacs, medical journals, and offered giveaways like sewing needles and script coupons. All this advertising included wild claims, hyperbole, lavish illustrations and bogus testimonials. Opium was readily available in the United States until 1914, when its distribution came under federal control after the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Act. It went into effect in 1919, so the public had plenty of opportunity to stock up before it was pulled from the shelves. This was by far its greatest era of sales. Bought by everyone, hidden everywhere, yes, everyone was “saving for a rainy day.”
Dr. Seth Arnold and the COUGH KILLER / BALSAM From Perry Davis, fast forward to 1898. You wake up freezing on a cold morning and the full effects of a cold/virus/flu hit you. Unlike today’s Covid-19 pandemic, you are not thinking of calling an expensive doctor, but probably a supernatural healer or another quack, and the idea of
By John Panella and Joe Widman
going to a hospital does not even appear in your mind. Right away you think you’d better pop over to a post office, a drugstore, general store or even hairdresser and pick up a small size of Dr. Seth Arnold’s Balm (or Cough Killer, one and the same). The packaging claims it cures anything from a toothache to a full-blown cold in just five minutes flat! You think, this is for me, a fast-acting panacea, this is just what I’m looking for. What the packaging fails to say, of course, is that this “medicine” that can be ingested or applied topically to the skin, contains opium, morphine and alcohol. Unlike Perry Davis, it seems that Dr. Arnold was a licensed medical practitioner, on record as running a laboratory in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Dr. Arnold peddled his balm/cough killer as a quick cure for any bowel discomfort caused by cholera, dysentery or diarrhea, the regular litany for any 19th-century urban dweller. Opiates are truly effective for many bowel complaints. In short, more narcotics and booze to cure what ails you.
called “The Great American Fraud,” exposed the abuses of patent and proprietary medicines and were instrumental in changing legislative public opinion. Both the Perry Davis Pain Killer and Dr. Seth Arnold’s Cough Killer were instrumental in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which required the labeling of all narcotic and poisonous ingredients. As mentioned before, the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Act in 1914 marked the beginning of the end of narcotic-laden patent medicines. The four year “window of opportunity” allowed the populace to stock up. In early 1919 federal FDA officials combed the pharmacies and points-of-sale of narcotics and effectively took them off the legal market. This was the beginning of the illegal drug trade and the end of the Golden Age of American Medicine, patent medicines containing narcotics, and the beginning of a new era.
The Decline of Patent Medicines By the end of the 19th century the patent medicine business had become so corrupt and abusive that it was a total national disgrace. False and misleading advertising filled medical journals. Newspapers and magazines contained fictitious testimonials and unabashed lies. Publications like the Ladies Home Journal stopped accepting patent medicine advertising. In 1904, Edward Bok published the results of analyses of many patent medicines, publicizing the fallacies of their claims. Another effective attack came from Samuel Hopkins Adams, writing in Colliers magazine. His series of articles,
Dr. Seth Arnold's Cough Killer! bottle. From the collection of Gordon Hugi.
Dr. Seth Arnold trade card showing a young girl with a puppy. From the collection of Gordon Hugi.
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WANTED!
CA
PAINTED-LABEL (ACL) BOTTLES from Thatcher Glass in Elmira, NY.
NC
Looking for company sample bottles that had square painted label of one color on the front. Says Thatcher Glass, Elmira, N.Y. on the back.
EL
I have several different ones, looking for more!
LE
D
Also looking for pictured Lion's Club bottle from Pennsylvania, and Brockway bottle from Oklahoma, as well. If you have or know someone who has some, I would appreciate contacting me. Thank you. David Meinz 407-854-8108 David@DavidMeinz.com
October 2nd & 3rd, 2020
Sacramento Valley Museum Presents the 3rd Annual Bottles and Antiques Show & Sale October 2nd & 3rd, 2020 1491 E Street, Williams CA Show Chair Slim Edwards: 530-473-2502 closethegatefenceco@yahoo.com Friday, Early Bird Admission $10, 10:00 a.m. Saturday, General Admission, 9AM to 3PM, Free
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1111
1st Annual Border States Antique Mart Show & Sale Saturday September 26, 2020 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM Free Admission
Douglas County Fairgrounds 2120 Harper St. Bldg 21, Lawrence, KS 66046 Southeast corner of Lawrence, 23rd St & Harper
This is a combination of the Hutchinson Kansas Territory Bottle & Post Card Show and the Platte City NW Missouri Insulator & Bottle Show. We invite other table top antique dealers to join us for this 1st Annual Fall Show & Sale. 80+ tables of antique insulators, bottles, jars, postcards, telephones, porcelain signs lightning rod balls & arrows and other miscellaneous collectibles. FREE insulator & bottle appraisal available.
BUY – SELL – TRADE
For information and/or a show packet, contact:
Darryl Wagner 14615 Skyview Ave. Smithville, MO 64089 816-719-0801 nwmoshow@dwagnerkc.com
OR
Mark Law 5129 NW Arroyo Dr. Topeka, KS 66618 785-224-4836 Kansasbottles@gmail.com
Show managers not responsible for accidents or losses.
WANTED
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