Vol. 17 No. 2
www.FOHBC.com
Spring 2006
The official publication of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors
Bottles and Extras Chasing The Western Flasks Page 32
Check Out Our Website! If you haven’t seen our latest website, you might want to check it out. We have the latest and greatest finds in our Recent Finds column and a Bottle Detective column where you guess the bottle from a small clue and win $100. We also have a column called Auctioneer’s Viewpoint that is getting people’s attention. The What Is It column asks readers to help us out with identifying bottles we’re not quite sure of and Message In A Bottle is a forum for clubs and individuals to express their own opinions and announce upcoming events. It’s all good fun and in addition, we have a vast database of bottles sold over the years along with a recent bottle news, consigning information, and a resource page that will show you what clubs and other resources are available. Just go to www.americanbottle.com. We think you’ll find something of interest.
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The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors
Bottles and Extras
Vol. 17 No. 2
Spring 2006
No. 166
Table of Contents Bottle Buzz................................................2 Our hobby has lost a giant..........................4
www.HutchBook.com Ron Fowler.....................................30
Recent Finds............................................6
Chasing The Western Flasks Ralph Van Brocklin........................32
Quintet of new Koca Nolas discovered Charles D. Head..........................7
An Old and Bitter Storyteller Andrew V. Raposa...........................42
FOHBC Officer Listing 2004-2006..........10
Dr. Michael Smith’s Veterinary Roundtable Dr. D.G. Weare and the History of the Weare Medicine Company Michael Smith................................46
President’s Message.................................11 Regional Reports......................................12 Magnolia Ballroom Showcases Brewery Museum................................................17 A Tale of Two Machines and a Revolution of Soft Drink Bottling Bill Lockhart.............................19 Random Shots: Shooting Shots Part II: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Robin Preston............................26
You’re Going to Do What to the What, What? The Dhu Dhu Feeder from India Charles S. Harris...........................49 Ususal Bottles Bryan Grapentine..........................50 Another Glass Cap and Jar Inspired by William B. Fenn Barry L. Bernas..............................54 The Bethesda Spring Water Bottle Story Howard Dean.................................56
I’ll Take Patent Potpourri for a Thousand, Alex Joe Terry...................................58 Time in a Bottle Ed Faulkner..............................63 Farmer Distillers of Maryland Jack Sullivan.............................64 The First American Soda Fountains Donald Yates.............................70 Decorating on the tins we collect Introduction by Cecil Munsey....74 Something for Nothing Cecil Munsey............................75 Membership Information.........................76 Classified Ads and Ad Rate Information...77 FOHBC Show-Biz Show Calendar Listings............82
WHO DO I CONTACT ABOUT THE MAGAZINE? To ADVERTISE, SUBSCRIBE or RENEW a subscription, see PAGES 76-77 for DETAILS. To SUBMIT A STORY, send a letter to the Editor or have comments and concerns, Contact: Kathy Hopson-Sathe, Bottles and Extras Editor, 414 Molly Springs Road, Hot Springs, AR 71913 Phone: (423) 737-6710 or E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com BOTTLES AND EXTRAS (ISSN 1050-5598) is published quarterly (4 Issues per year) by the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. (a nonprofit IRS C3 educational organization) at 1021 W. Oakland Avenue, #109, Johnson City, TN 37604, (423) 282-5533; Website: http://www.fohbc.com. Periodicals Postage Paid at Johnson City, TN 37601. Pub #005062. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Bottles and Extras, FOHBC, 1021 W. Oakland Ave, #109, Johnson City, TN 37604. Phone: 423-913-1378. The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. assumes no responsibility for products and services advertised in this publication. The names: Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc., and Bottles and Extras, are registered ® names of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc., and no use of either, other than as references, may be used without expressed written consent from the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc. Certain material contained in this publication is copyrighted by, and remains the sole property of, the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, Inc., while others remain property of the submitting authors. Detailed information concerning a particular article may be obtained from the Editor. Printed by Central Plains Book Mfg. Co., Winfield, Kansas 67156.
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Bottle Buzz
News, Notes, Letters, etc.
Send Buzz Notes to: Kathy Hopson, E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com or write: Buzz Notes, 414 Molly Springs Road, Hot Springs, AR 71913
I’ve been told that there were two glass factories located in Elmer, New Jersey around 1900. The companies were: The S.M. Bassett Glass Co. and the Getsinger Glass Mfg. Co. Can anyone direct me to a source of history for these two companies? I am doing research on the town of Elmer and it seems that glassware production was one of the major industries. Thank you for your indulgence. I appreciate any help anyone may provide. Frank Swies 230 Andalus Drive Gahanna, Ohio 43230-2131 (614) 471-0583 fswies@wowway.com Last call in S.C. For liquor bottles COLUMBIA, S.C. – The end of 2005 wasn’t the only departure being celebrated in South Carolina” Partygoers and bar owners said good riddance to the liquor mini-bottle. For 22 years, South Carolina law required bartenders to use the 1.7-ounce
bottles most often associated with airplanes and hotel mini-bars. In 2004, South Carolinians voted the mini-bottles out, and lawmakers followed through in 2005 by approving regulations to give bars and restaurants the choice to pour from the big bottles starting January 1, 2006. From: Chuck & Kathy Norris: You don’t know me..., but I am a long time bottle guy and member of the Federation. We got our bottle magazine today and the wife and I enjoyed your article so much!!!! I knew about the baby killers, the bitters, and knew that they put a lot of pretty weird stuff, including poisions, into the early concoctions, but didn’t realize the damage done with the Jamican Ginger. Even living in Kansas, very close to Topeka, I had never heard of the epidemic, that the Topeka newspaper talked about. The only thing that I had heard of, and still hear occasionally around here is the Jake Leg expression. Normally used around here to
Bottles and Extras describe a laborer or tradesman, possibly alcoholic, that can do a good job for you if he shows up, or is sober. I know a number around here during prohibition drank a lot of vanilla when nothing else was available. I found about 200 of the same, unembossed small vanilla bottles strewn around an old farmstead in Western Kansas, where the guy was supposedly a drunk. I though you might enjoy a picture of my only Jamican Ginger bottle (shown below). One of my largest collections is mold blown sample bottles, mostly bitters and whiskies. This small flask like bottle, 4 3/ 4 inches, is similar to some sample whiskies I have, but this one is embossed with the Jamican Ginger Co., logo on the opposite side of the label. Well, guess I have...learned enough for one day. Again, thanks for you great article. Chuck cnorris@holtonks.net Corrections: First: The photo caption on Page 34 of the Winter (Jan.-Mar.) issue of Bottles and Extras as part of “Donnie Medlin’s World is Pepsi,” by Bill Baab, is not correct. The correct caption is as follows: Photos: Top left: Just a few of the collector’s paper-labeled Pepsis in amber, green and clear versions.
Bottles and Extras Top right: Rare amber Pepsis, 65 in all, grace the glass-fronted cabinet. Middle: The Pepsi-Cola Company bottled many other soft drink brands, including these. Bottom left: Rare signs among Medlin’s Mountain Dew collection. Bottom right:. Donnie Medlin with just a few of his Pepsi Cola clocks. All of them used to operate, but he found it too much of a job to keep them ticking. Second: The captions for the “Poisonland” article about the bone-shaped bottle in the same issue on Page 63 are reversed. The drawing on the left showing two angles with detail is the U.S. Patent drawing, while the right hand crude drawing is a depiction of the one dug in California. In response to the “How Safe Is Your Collection” article in the February Bottles and Extras newsletter by Jeff Wichmann: I was hoping ...this article would help remind (collectors) how important (insurance) is, and also...how affordable it is in relation to bearing a loss. Also, the reason I especially like the article is a personal one. I collect soda
Spring 2006 bottles, which at the time years ago when this happened, they were just beginning to have a value. Now they are getting quite valuable - it is even more important. But, to get back to the point, I went to my homeowner’s policy agent and explained that I had about $30,000 in soda bottles (then) and other glass collectibles. He increased my policy to cover an additional $30k in “contents,” and I thought I was covered and “safe.” Then my house was broken into on a weekend we’d attended a bottle show out of town. I came back to a ransacked mess and over $13,000 worth of depression glass just gone (as well as my camcorder and some other things). They didn’t touch the soda bottles, and the cops doing the investigation wondered why. I answered it for him by saying, “On that shelf of bottles you are standing there looking at, there is a $600 bottle sitting beside a $3 one. Do you know which one it is?” Of course he answered no, and that was my answer - they apparently didn’t either. But depression glass, they apparently DID know. So, I filed my homeowners claim, only to be told by the same agent, “Oh, didn’t you know - your homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover collectibles or antiques.” I was furious - why suddenly he knew to point that out now when he didn’t seem inclined
From Ed & Lucy Faulkner: This visitor showed up on our deck this morning just outside the sun room. It looks like hawks may have an interest in bottles too!
3 to mention it as he was adding the additional coverage, AND additional premium cost to me..... To make a long story short, I have a different insurance company now. And the check I received from the insurance company for my claim? A big whopping $427. I almost told them to keep it because they needed it worse than I did. Kathy Hopson-Sathe Jeff’s reply: That’s really too bad. That’s why I work with a special insurance company that handles only collectibles. Of course I have to have it for my business but I also have other pieces itemized just in case. I originally had my regular insurance company cover everything but found out they were too expensive and the coverage was not that great. I can’t say enough about Collectibles Insurance; they covered a loss when they didn’t even have to and the premiums are very reasonable. For those collectors out there who aren’t insured I hate to think of the consequences.
Of important notice: The position of Midwest Regional Editor has changed. Midwest clubs, please note the new editor’s information in this issue’s report. The position of Western Regional Editor is currently open due to the recent resignation of Scott Grandstaff, who has done a fine job for some time. Anyone interested in this position, please contact me or Bob Ferraro, Western Region Director. Ron Rasnake, who through the year 2005 took care of our Show Biz section has also resigned after doing a great job for so long. Clubs may send their show’s information to me or use the online form on our website: FOHBC.com. Your show will apprear on the website as soon as it is received. This will allow our online calendar to always be the most up-to-date. Willing to volunteer some time to the hobby and this magazine? Please contact the editor to see how you can help. Your time will be greatly appreciated.
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Spring 2006
Our hobby has lost a giant: DENVER, Colo. — John Mathus Eatwell couldn’t pass up a liquor bottle – not because he drank, but because he collected whiskey bottles. And for Eatwell, who died at his Morrison (Colorado) home Nov. 29, 2005 at age 73, they had to be Pike’s Peak whiskey flasks, which date to the mid-1800s. Eatwell, an architect who designed many buildings in Denver, searched high and low for the bottles – sometimes in Denver where outhouses used to be, and sometimes at 10,000-foot-elevation Leadville, said his son, Tom Eatwell of Fruita, Colo. People threw trash including bottles into outhouse holes, his son said. He married Karen Schepler on Dec. 15, 1956, with his death falling just short of their 50th anniversary. They were the parents of four children – two girls, two boys. Eatwell and his wife came across plenty of other things in those digs, from perfume bottles to bottles of medicine sold in Leadville drug stores. The medicines or elixirs were always supposed to cure something, said Karen Eatwell, “but the contents of most were about 90 percent alcohol.” The Eatwells’ mode of transportation to Leadville was a twoseat Austin Healey which John always drove with the top down, no matter what the weather. The real reason the top was always down was because the diggers’ shovels wouldn’t fit in if the top was up, according to Jeff Johnson, a longtime friend. Karen said she sometimes wouldn’t go if the weather was nasty, but neither rain nor snow stopped her husband. “John, Chuck Woehl, Mike Sabatos, Glen Preble and myself met for lunch once a month at the same restaurant and ordered the same pizza for many years,” Johnson said. “We all looked forward to this event, mainly to listen to John’s stories and busy life. “Since John was an architect, he would share stories about his many projects. He loved to tell us about his many problems with building departments and how picky they were with his design details. John was a great architect and never had to market for work. He had a great reputation which led to much repeat business. I work for an engineering firm and worked with John on many projects. He never changed to computer drafting and still did all his drawings by hand. That was remarkable. “All of our group were (and are) bottle collectors and, of course, our lunch conversations were mostly about bottles. John’s Pike’s Peak flask and Colorado whiskey collections were outstanding and he had so much enthusiasm when he added a bottle to his collections. “We always enjoyed hearing about John’s other activities. He kept us informed about how his children were doing in their midget car racing. He was sure proud of how well they competed.” Eatwell served as president of the Rocky Mountain Quarter Midget Association and Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association during the 1970s and ‘80s. Johnson said Eatwell dug the Leadville dump during the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. “He told us how he would leave early Sunday morning in the winter for Leadville, load up his shovels in his vintage bright red Austin Healey convertible (with the top down so the shovels would fit). After arriving at the dump, he’d pick through the frost for the first hour or two, then settle in to dig bottles and listen to the
Bottles and Extras
John Mathus Eatwell September 4, 1932 to November 29, 2005 (Denver) Broncos game on the car radio. “We sure are going to miss John, our great friend, but we do have all those memories.” Many bottles the Eatwells found were fancy embossed ones that had been made in glass factories in the East. But Eatwell was particularly attracted to the Pike’s Peak bottles because he was a “Pike’s Peak fanatic” who knew everything there was to know about the famous peak, his son Tom said. Eatwell co-wrote two books, one on Denver’s early drug stores (Denver’s Golden Days and Apothecary Palaces) and the other on his favorite subject called Pike’s Peak Gold. The Denver drug store book is out of print, but the history of Pike’s Peak is still available. Eatwell underwrote the cost of printing the book and also provided the illustrations, said his friend, David K. Clint III of Las Vegas, who wrote the text and designed the book published in 2000. It’s more than a book about bottles because it traces the famous peak’s history from its discovery by Zebulon Pike in the 1800s and deals with the early history of Colorado. “John Eatwell was one of the giants of our hobby,” said Ralph Van Brocklin of Johnson City, Tenn., a former Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors president. “He was the first chairman of the FOHBC, designed the organization’s first logo and was the first to suggest the possibility of hosting a national bottle show.” Eatwell’s interest in antique bottles led to his becoming a cofounder of the Federation of Historical Bottle Clubs during the late 1960s. He also chaired the FOHBC’s inaugural bottle show in Denver in 1969. The FOHBC name later was modified to the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. He was elected to the FOHBC Hall of Fame in 2002. Eatwell became an active member of the Antique Bottle
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Collectors of Colorado in 1967, including a stint as club president. Several members of the club’s board of directors were asked to share their memories of John. Barb Sundquist: “John was always willing to help in any way and never said no to any request. He planned and gave many excellent programs for the club.” Ken Watkins: “I never got to see his amazing collection of Pike’s Peak flasks. The night of a board meeting at his house, I got stuck in the snow and couldn’t make it. I will always regret that.” Mike Hofer: He was an extraordinary person, always willing top share his knowledge and his Pike’s Peak collection. A most loving man who shared his thoughts and life, he was a founding member of the ABCC and past president of the federation, but still found time to dig in the Leadville dump.” Rick Sinner: “He was an all-around good guy, always willing to help with anyone’s collection. He was the backbone of the ABCC for many years, holding all the offices. He was an outstanding man.” Ellen Jacobson: “The ABCC has lost a very special person.” Eatwell’s other passion was race cars which began when, as a kid, he sneaked into the Lakeside Speedway to watch midget car races. He drove in many races as a young man and later did hill climbs. All four of his children learned to race. His son, Andy Eatwell of Phoenix, started at age 4 in a quarter-midget race car. “It was unbelievable fun,” said his daughter, Willow Ems of Littleton, Colorado. Eatwell’s widow said her husband “was a very driven person. He’d make up his mind that something would get done, and it got done.” His daughter echoed her mother’s statement. “The way I describe him is passionate. He was passionate about everything,” she told a reporter from the Rocky Mountain News. “He was a perfectionist down to the last detail. It mattered to him to do your absolute best. Anything else was settling for mediocrity.” John M. Eatwell was born in Denver on Sept. 4, 1932, and graduated from West High School. Before that, the 6-foot-3 Eatwell lied about his age and enlisted in the Colorado National Guard at age 14. He could play the saxophone so he was quickly put into an Air Force band stationed at Pope Field in North Carolina. After that, he studied architecture at the University of Denver, paying for his schooling by driving a delivery truck at night. When the school dropped its architecture program, he enrolled at the University of Utah and later at the University of Colorado, according to family sources. He never earned his degree, but earned his architecture license after ten years of working in the field. Eventually he owned his own firm, John M. Eatwell Architects. He was self-employed during most of his career and designed commercial buildings, auto race tracks, homes and more. He designed the Far East Center in southwest Denver and many of the area’s Wendy’s, Black-Eyed Pea and Burger King restaurants, as well as condominium offices. Once his children had grown, he designed a home for himself and his wife, setting the house on a steep slope of scrub oak and rock near Conifer, Colo. He made sure the home was non-invasive because “he was very concerned that the house not dominate the land,” his widow said. The house works on a compost system, said his daughter, Willow, with no flushing toilets or garbage disposal. Completed in 1982, it has won numerous design awards and was featured twice in Colorado Homes and Gardens magazine.
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“And yet it was a very humble house,” his daughter told a Rocky Mountain News reporter. “It was not an ego statement.” Her father died of heart complications in his sleep and no one who knew him would be surprised that he worked all day the day he died, she added. He is survived by his widow; two sons, Tom of Fruita, Colo., and Andy of Phoenix, Ariz., and daughters Willow Ems of Littleton, Colo., and Margy Singer of Phoenix, and five grandchildren. Memorial contributions can be made to High Banks Museum, P.O. Box 264, Belleville, KS 66395, or MaxFund, 1025 Galapago St., Denver, CO 80204. Pike’s Peak Gold can be ordered from Karen Eatwell, 8990 Brandenburger Drive, Morrison, CO 80465. Cost of the regular edition is $67.50 plus $6 shipping including insured priority mail. Cost of the deluxe limited edition, signed and numbered by the co-authors and deluxe bound in padded leatherette with a foilembossed dust cover, is $97.50. The 250-copy deluxe edition also comes in an attractive slip case. There were only 750 copies of the regular edition printed. (Virginia Culver, Denver Post staff writer; Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News staff writer; FOHBC Southern Region Editor Bill Baab, Augusta, Ga.; FOHBC Historian Dick Watson, Medford, N.J.; FOHBC Western Region Editor Scott Grandstaff, Happy Camp, Calif., and FOHBC President John Pastor, Ada, Mich., also contributed to this story).
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Bottles and Extras
Recent Finds From Jack Sullivan For two decades , Tim Kearns of Chardon, Ohio, and I have been chasing rumors about the existence of previously unlisted Knowles, Taylor and Knowles (KT&K) whiskey jugs produced in East Liverpool, Ohio. Tim is the author of American Bone China about KT&K, a book that features many of the firm’s whiskeys. One of the elusive jugs was reported to be “Metropolitan” whiskey. But years of looking failed to turn up an example. In early September, however, John DeGrafft of Sun Lakes, Ariz., purchased the semi-porcelain container shown here, labeled “Metropolitan Old Rye Whiskey” and bearing the KT&K mark on the bottom. In addition to being a write and authority on American sarsaparilla bottles, John is an avid collector of whiskey ceramics. The seller told him that the jug was found in the estate of an elderly woman in San Antonio, Texas. This KT&K whiskey jug bears a purple overglaze transfer. It displays a crest that incorporates the initials MS&B, for Mayer, Schmelter & Burgower. That firm was well-known in San Antonio for its large downtown mercantile store. It also is said at one time to have stored goods at the nearby Alamo Barracks. MS&B’s wholesale liquor sales were at 2 East Commerce Street. An 1891 San Antonio city directory provides information on the partners. Mayer was Max B. Mayer, whose residence was at 311 Levaco Street. Schmelter’s first name was Harry and he lived at 415 Water Street. The third partner was Herman Burgower; his residence address was not given. “Metropolitan” is listed in Robert Snyder’s Whiskey Brands as an unregistered brand from the Bernheim Brothers of Louisville, Kentucky. MS&B claims on the jug to be the “sole agent” for Metropolitan in the San Antonio area. Another rumored, but elusive, KT&K reputedly is labeled “OlD Colony Bourbon.” Let’s hope that becomes a “new find” very soon! From Ralph Van Brocklin An interesting half pint Olympia-style flask embossed John Lollins / Salt Lake City / Utah was recently sold on eBay for $122.50. Although not truly a “new find”, it is largely unknown to collectors outside of Utah. Found in clear coloration in both the pint and half-pint capacities, the larger size is considerably more scarce. The first listing for John Lollins I was able to locate was in the 1869 E. L. Sloane & Co directory for Utah. He is not listed in the 1867 G. Owens Salt Lake City directory and no 1868 directory was available through the Utah Historical Society Library. The intial listing indicates that he is the proprietor of the Railroad Saloon on East Temple between 1st and 2nd. Locations for his business are variable over the next 15 years. A complete listing is not possible due to gaps in years of early directories available, but the following summarizes what I was able to find: 1872 - Saloon, Main Street 1874 - Saloonkeeper, East Temple btwn 1st & 2nd South 1878 - Saloon, 64 East Temple 1879 - Liquor Dealer, 4th South btwn 1st & 2nd West 1883-4 - Saloon, 111 Main 1884 - Saloonkeeper, 228 West 4th South In the 1885-6 directory, he is listed at 129 S. Main, a location at which he remains a remarkable 30 additional years, shortened only due to his death on April 5, 1915, at 75 years of age. His business was listed as a saloon through 1898, following which listings are for “Wines, Liquors & Cigars.” The business was operated as Lollins Buffet by sons Carl and Victor following his death. Each had been involved in the business as clerks or bartenders for several years. I am aware that they maintained the business at least through 1917, however I did not research the years following the advent of Prohibition.
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Spring 2006
Quintet of new Koca Nolas discovered by Charles D. Head They keep coming out of the woodwork of the past: Five Koca Nolas new to the bottle collecting world have emerged. Charles Comolli, a collector from Elberton, Ga., owns Koca Nolas from his hometown and Hartwell, Ga. Donnie Medlin of Louisburg, N.C., now known far and wide as one of the nation’s premier Pepsi-Cola collectors, owns a Louisburg Koca Nola. There also may be one from Talbotton, Ga. Kenneth Cornett of Rockford, Tenn. sent in an advertisement from the Maryville (Tenn.) Bottling Works. The ad reads: “Have you heard the news? The Maryville Bottling Works Co., have (sic) purchased the entire plant of the ‘Wildwood Bottling Works’ and with added improvements, are now ready to handle all orders promptly. Try their line of Soda Pops, Cascade Ginger Ale, Orerade and Koca Nolas, and you will be pleased and your customers satisfied. GIVE THEM A TRIAL. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.” The advertisement was carried in the April 11, 1907 issue of the Maryville Enterprise. Mr. Cornett said he owns eight different soda bottles, including a Hutchinson, from the Maryville Bottling Works, which was in business from 1907-1943. He has yet to see one embossed Koca Nola. There may be one out there, but the plant also may have used just a Koca Nola label affixed to one of its own bottles. If you count the Anacostia (Washington, D.C.), the total number of Koca Nola franchises now known total 30, with Georgia alone accounting for 11 of them: Ashburn, Atlanta, Augusta, Bagley, Donalsonville, Elberton, Hartwell, Macon, Milledgeville, Rome and Talbotton. That number is impressive when you consider that just a few years ago, I had heard of only the J. Esposito bottles from Philadelphia and a few others. I still would love to hear from other collectors who may know of even more. They can write either to me, or to Bill Baab, who edits my copy for these stories and has started a Koca Nola collection of his own. Our addresses are at the end of this article. Both the Elberton and Hartwell bottles are in clear glass and each has some
damage. The Hartwell bottle is embossed REGISTERED on the front shoulder and NABERS BOTTLING WORKS / Koca Nola (in script) / HARTWELL, GA., in an oval slug plate. There are no other markings. Thomas Mell Nabers, who owned the NABERS BOTTLING WORKS / LINCOLNTON, GA., and sold his soda in crown top bottles, also operated the Lincolnton Coca-Cola Bottling Company from 1911 until 1912. A photo of the Nabers Lincolnton bottle can be found on Page 49 of “Georgia Early Embossed Crown Top Soda Bottles” by Carl Barnett and Ken Nease. The Elberton bottle is embossed ELBERTON BOTTLING WORKS / Koca Nola (in script) / ELBERTON, GA. On the base is a C within a diamond. That
7 manufacturer’s mark also can be found on Macon and Atlanta, Georgia Koca Nolas and so far has eluded researchers as to its identity. The Louisburg bottle is embossed LOUISBURG BOTTLING WORKS / Koca Nola (in script) / LOUISBURG, N.C., inside an oval slug plate. Mr. Barnett found mention of the Talbotton bottle on Page 110 of the History of Talbot County, Georgia. “Aug. 23, 1906 — Talbotton Bottling Co., is now bottling real Coca-Cola, after a period of bottling Coca-Nola (sic).” So far, no bottles from that northwest Georgia city have surfaced. All this makes one wonder what else is out there in Koca Nola Land. Correspondence about this article may be addressed to: Charles Head, 23549-001 U. S. P. P.O. Box 150160 Atlanta, GA 30315 Bill Baab 2352 Devere Street Augusta, GA 30904 riverswamper@comcast.net Updated list follows on the next pages...
From L to R: Nabers Bottling Works Koca Nola, Hartwell, Ga.; Elberton Bottling Works Koca Nola, Elberton, Ga.; Louisburg Bottling Works Koca Nola, Louisburg, North Carolina (Photo by Bill Baab)
8 Rarity code: (1) Common. (2) Scarce. (3) Rare. (4) Extremely rare. KN1: J. ESPOSITO / KOCA NOLA / 812 & 814 WASHINGTON AVE. / PHILADA. aqua Hutchinson circa 1905. JE monogram on base. (3). Value $150 to $300. KN2: J. ESPOSITO / KOCA NOLA / 812 & 814 WASHINGTON AVE. / PHILADA. citron Hutchinson circa 1906. (4). JE monogram on base. Value $1,200 to $3,000. KN3: JE monogram on shoulder. J. ESPOSITO / KOCA NOLA / 7 FLUID OZ. / PHILA., PA. Bimal oval slug plate, teal crown top. (3). Value $50 to $75. KN4: JE monogram on shoulder. 7 FLUID OZ. / KOCA NOLA / REGISTERED / PHILA., PA. Bimal aqua crown top. JE monogram on base. (2). Value $30 to $50. KN5: JE monogram on shoulder. KOCA NOLA / REGISTERED PHILA., PA. ABM amber crown top. (2). Value $30 to $110. KN6: JE monogram on base. KOCA NOLA / REGISTERED PHILA., PA. ABM amber crown top. C.G. CO. 756 on heel (Believed to be Crystal Glass Co., Bridgeport, Ohio, 1882-1907). (2). Value $30 to $110. KN7: J.E. monogram base. KOCA NOLA / THIS BOTTLE NEVER SOLD. ABM aqua crown top. (2). Value $20 to $50. KN8: J. ESPOSITO / KOCA NOLA (in script) / 812 & 814 WASHINGTON AVE. / PHILA., PA. / REGISTERED 7-1/2 FLUID OZ. ABM clear crown top. D.O.C. 220 3 on heel (Believed to be the D.O. Cunningham Glass Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., 1882-1937). JE monogram on base. (3). Value $40 to $65. KN9: KOCA NOLA BOTTLING CO. OF KENTUCKY / KOCA NOLA / SOMERSET, KY. BIMAL oval slug plate amber crown top. R.G. CO. 73 on heel (More than likely the Root Glass Company, Terre Haute, Ind.). (4). Value $85 to $150. KN10: PENSACOLA BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / PENSACOLA, FLA. BIMAL oval slug plate teal crown top. (2). Value $80 to $125. KN11: FLORIDA BOTTLING CO. / KOCA NOLA. Oval slug plate, mug base,
Bottles and Extras
Spring 2006 aqua Hutchinson. ROOT 368 on heel (Root Glass Company, Terre Haute, Ind.). (2). Value $150 to $300. KN12: FLORIDA KOCA NOLA BOTTLING CO. BIMAL oval slug plate aqua crown top. ROOT 583 on heel (Root Glass Co., Terre Haute, Ind.). (2). Value $40 to $65. KN13: FLA. KOCA NOLA (in script) BOTTLING CO. BIMAL oval slug plate clear crown top. (4). Value $60 to $125. KN14: FARMER’S ICE & OIL CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) / CAMDEN, ALA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (4). Value $125 to $175. KN15: MONTGOMERY BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / MONTGOMERY, ALA. BIMAL round slug plate, teal crown top. (4). Value $80 to $125. KN16: CRYSTAL SPRING BOTTLING WKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / CRYSTAL SPRING, MISS. BIMAL. Round slug plate. Aqua crown top. Error in spelling of Crystal Springs. ROOT on base (Root Glass Company, Terre Haute, Ind.). (4). Value $125 to $175. KN17: KEEN BOTTLING COMPANY / KOCA NOLA (in script) / NEW RIVER AND / SOUTH PITTSBURG, TENN. BIMAL round slug plate. Dark amber crown top. (4). Value $300 to $400. KN18: KOCA NOLA BOTTLING CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) / GALLATIN, TENN. BIMAL. Oval slug plate. Amber crown top. (4). Value $125 to $175. KN19: KOCA NOLA (in script, no company or town). BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear and aqua crown tops. (1). Value $20 to $40. KN20: KOCA NOLA BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA IN SCRIPT) / GASTONIA, N.C. REGISTERED. THIS BOTTLE NOT TO BE SOLD. BIMAL. Oval slug plate. Clear crown top. Numeral 8 on base. (3). Value $100 to $150. KN21: LOUISBURG BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / LOUISBURG, N.C. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (4). Value $100 to
$150. KN22: KOCA NOLA BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script). MT. AIRY, N.C. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (4). Value $100 to $150. KN23: NEW LONDON BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / NEW LONDON, N.C. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, aqua crown top. (4). Value $125 to $175. KN24: KOCA NOLA (in script) / FAIRFAX, S.C. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (4). Value $150 to $200. KN25: ASHBURN BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / ASHBURN, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear and aqua crown tops (small “c” in vertical diamond on base, unknown glass company). (3). Value $75 to $125. KN26: B.I. TAYLOR & CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) / BAGLEY, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (4). Value $125 to $175. KN27: DONALDSONVILLE BOTTLING WORKS / KACONOLA / DONALDSONVILLE, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. Spelling errors (Should read Koca Nola, Donalsonville) (4). Value $125 to $175. KN28: ELBERTON BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / ELBERTON, GA. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. Embossed on base: C inside a diamond (unknown glass company). (4). Value $125 to $175. KN29: REGISTERED. NABERS BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / HARTWELL, GA. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (4). Value $125 to $175. KN30: MACON BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / MACON, GA. Oval slug plate, mug base, clear Hutchinson. Small “c” within a diamond, or large “C” on base (unknown glass company). (3). Value $500 to $650. KN31: MACON BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / MACON, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. Small “c” within a diamond on base (unknown glass company). (2). Value $30 to $60.
Bottles and Extras
Spring 2006
KN32: YANCEY’S BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / MILLEDGEVILLE, GA. BIMAL. Round slug plate, clear crown top. (4) Value $125$175. KN33: KOCA NOLA BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / Rome, Ga. (small letters). BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. C.S. & G. CO. on heel (unknown glass company). (1). Value $30 to $60. KN34: KOCA NOLA BOTTLING WORKS / KOCA NOLA (in script) / ROME, GA. (large letters). BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (1). Value $30 to $60. KN35: KOCA NOLA CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) /ATLANTA, GA. Oval slug plate, mug base, clear Hutchinson, Circa 1905. (4). Value $550 to $650. KN36: KOCA NOLA CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) /ATLANTA, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top. (1). Value $20 to $40. KN37: KOCA NOLA CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) / ATLANTA, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, clear crown top (tall variant of KN36). (2). Value $30 to $60.
KN38: KOCA NOLA CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script) / ATLANTA. GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, aqua crown top. S,I.G.W. on heel (Believed to be Southern Indiana Glass Works, Loogootee, Ind., 1905-13). (1). Value $20 to $40. KN39: KOCA NOLA CO. / KOCA NOLA (in script, extended K & N) /ATLANTA, GA. BIMAL. Oval slug plate, aqua crown top. (1). Value $20 to $40. KN40: Talbotton Bottling Works is now bottling real Coca-Cola, after a period of bottling Coca-Nola (sic), according to an article dated Aug. 23, 1906, in the History of Talbot County, Georgia. Bottles embossed Koca Nola may not exist. KN41: Maryville (Tennessee) Bottling Works. Bottle embossed Koca Nola may not exist. KN42: Dixie Carbonating Co., Augusta, Ga. Bottle embossed Koca Nola may not exist. KN43: KOCA NOLA CO. / KOCA NOLA / ATLANTA, GA. Paper label on 1-gallon ceramic syrup jug. (4). Value $150 to $300. KNGW1: KOCA NOLA mirror. THE
9 GREAT KOCA NOLA (in script) 5c TONIC DRINK (on front). Mirror on back. 1-1/2 inches in diameter. (1). Value $15 to $40. KNGW2: KOCA NOLA CALENDAR. (4). Value (in fine condition or better) $1,200 to $2,000. KNGW3: BOTTLE LABEL. DELICIOUS / DOPELESS / KOCA NOLA / THE GREAT TONIC DRINK. (Beware of reproductions). (1). Value (if genuine and in fine or better condition) $30 to $60. KNGW4: KOCA NOLA CO., ATLANTA, GA. WOODEN THERMOMETER. 7-1/4 x 24 inches. (4). Value $1,000-plus. KNGW5: KOCA NOLA (in script) THE GREAT TONIC DRINK. Celluloid watch fob. Two variants. Beautiful woman in full color in oval frame under mica on front. (4). Value in fine or better condition $700plus. KNGW6: COMPLIMENTS OF THE KOCA NOLA CO., ATLANTA, GA. CELLULOID MATCH SAFE. 2" x 2-1/2". Beautiful woman in green evening gown on red velvet fabric. (4). Value in fine or better condition $700-plus. KNGW7: COMPLIMENTS KOCA NOLA CO., ATLANTA, GA. LADIES’ FACE POWDER BOX. Beautiful Victorian age woman on lid. Opens to reveal mirror. Celluloid and metal. (4). Value $800-plus . MISCELLANEOUS PAPER ITEMS (letterheads, billheads, advertisements). Value $5 to $50. Note: KNGW means Koca Nola Go Withs.
The Maryville Bottling Works Co. ad.
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Spring 2006
Bottles and Extras
Federation of Historicial Bottle Collectors
Business & News The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors is a non-profit organization for collectors of historical bottles and related collectible items. Our primary goal is educational as it relates to the history and manufacture of historical bottles and related artifacts.
FOHBC Officers 2004-2006 President : John Pastor, 7288 Thorncrest Dr. SE, Ada, MI 49301; Phone: (616) 285-7604; E-mail: jpastor2000@sbcglobal.net First Vice-President : Gene Bradberry, P.O. Box 341062, Memphis, TN 38184; Phone: (901) 372-8428; E-mail: genebsa@midsouth.rr.com Second Vice-President : Cecil Munsey, 13541 Willow Run Road, Poway, CA 92064-1733; Phone: (858) 487-7036; E-mail: cecilmunsey@cox.net Secretary : Ed Provine, 401 Fawn Lake Dr., Millington, TN 38053; Phone: (901) 876-3296; E-mail: ed.provine@thyssenkruppelevator.com Treasurer : Alan DeMaison, 1605 Clipper Cove, Painesville, OH 44077; Phone: (440) 358-1223; E-mail: a.demaison@sbcglobal.net Historian : Richard Watson, 10 S.Wendover Rd., Medford, NJ 08055; Phone: (856) 983-1364; E-mail: rewatson@bellatlantic.net Editor : Kathy Hopson-Sathe, 414 Molly Springs Rd.., Hot Springs, AR 71913; Phone: (423) 737-6710; E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com Merchandising Director : Kent Williams, 1835 Oak Terr., Newcastle, CA 95658; Phone: (916) 663-1265; E-mail: kent@altarfire.com Membership Director : Fred Holabird, 701 Gold Run Ct., Reno, NV 89511; Phone: (775) 851-0837; E-mail: fred@holabird.com Conventions Director : Wayne Lowry, 401 Johnston Ct., Raymore, MO 64083; Phone: (816) 318-0161; E-mail: JarDoctor@aol.com
Business Manager / Subscriptions: June Lowry, 401 Johnston Ct., Raymore, MO 64083; Phone: (816) 318-0160; E-mail: osubuckeyes71@aol.com Director-At-Large : Ralph VanBrocklin, 1021W. Oakland Ave., Suite 109, Johnson City, TN 37604; Home (423) 913-1378; Office: (423) 282-5533; E-mail: thegenuine@comcast.net Director-At-Large : Sheldon Baugh, 252 W. Valley Dr., Russelville, KY 42276; Phone: (270) 726-2712; Fax: (270) 726-7618; E-mail: shel6943@bellsouth.net Director-At-Large: Carl Sturm, 88 Sweetbriar Branch, Longwood, FL 32750-2783; Phone: (407) 332-7689; E-mail: glassmancarl@sprintmail.com Midwest Region Director : Rick Baldwin, 1931 Thorpe Cir., Brunswick, OH 44212-4261; Phone: (330) 225-3576; E-mail: rsbaldwin@worldnet.att.net Northeast Region Director : Larry Fox, 5478 Route 21, Canandaigua, NY 14424; Phone: (585) 394-8958; E-mail: brerfox@frontiernet.net Southern Region Director : Reggie Lynch, P.O. Box 13736, Durham, NC 27709; Phone: (919) 789-4545; E-mail: rlynch@antiquebottles.com Western Region Director : Bob Ferraro, 515 Northridge Dr., Boulder City, NV 89005; Phone: (702) 293-3114; E-mail: mayorferraro@aol.com Public Relations Director : Mike Polak, PO Box 303258, Long Beach, CA 90853; Phone: (562) 438-9209; E-mail: bottleking@earthlink.net
Bottles and Extras
Spring 2006
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Federation of Historic Bottle Collectors
President’s Message Spring, 2006 As I have recently returned from the always terrific Columbus, Ohio Bottle Show and am preparing to attend the West Michigan Antique Bottle Show and the Baltimore Antique Bottle Show and Sale, I am always mindful of the concerted efforts and the tremendous amount of work that goes into hosting a successful show. At times, we tend to take things for granted. Today, many local shows are experiencing challenges such as increased costs for leasing show space, additional security concerns and the burden of having to carry liability insurance. The Federation is working on programs to assist the local clubs in meeting some of these challenges. As many of you are now aware, the Federation has procured a group liability insurance policy covering all FOHBC Affiliated Member Clubs for their shows and other club sponsored activities. If your local club is an FOHBC Affiliated Member Club, it is now covered under this policy! It is my hope that we (the Federation) can continue to provide additional benefits and programs for its Affiliated Member Clubs and we will continue to work on doing so. In the meantime, you can do your part to help support the local clubs by attending meetings, getting involved, attending the shows and perhaps taking a table or contributing an educational exhibit at the show. Please consider sharing a part of your collection with others, promoting the history and beauty of the bottles and
introducing new collectors to this extraordinary hobby. We all bear some responsibility to be involved and to make a contribution to the health and vitality of our hobby. The more that you put into it, the greater the reward and enjoyment of the hobby that you are likely to reap! At this time, I would also like to remind the local clubs to participate in the various FOHBC sponsored contests. Contest categories include; The Elmer Lester award for the most active club(s), the Newsletter contest, the Show poster (flyer) contest and several categories for authors. Contest forms have been mailed to the various FOHBC Affiliated Clubs. Please contact either myself or Ralph Van Brocklin if you have not received them or would like additional forms. Deadline for submission of the forms is June 1st. The Federation is also currently in the process of searching for qualified venues for its future EXPO and National Shows. Another project that the Board is currently working on is clarifying the processes and guidelines for hosting these events. If your club is interested in perhaps learning more about hosting a future Federation EXPO or National Show, please contract our Conventions Director, Wayne Lowry. He would be more than happy to speak with your club! Bids are currently being accepted for the 2008 EXPO and the 2009 National Shows. While we are on the subject of National Shows, I will take this opportunity to again encourage folks to attend the 2006 FOHBC National Show, August 18-20, at John
President : John R. Pastor 7288 Thorncrest Dr. SE Ada, MI 49301 (616) 285-7604 jpastor2000@sbcglobal.net
Ascuaga’s Nugget, Reno / Sparks, Nevada. This promises to be an exciting and funfilled weekend of activities. Please see additional information in this issue or contact Wayne Lowry for more information. On another note, - please join me in extending a warm welcome to the Federation’s new Midwest Regional Editor, Joe Coulson. Some of you may know Joe as the editor for the Midwest Glass Chatter - newsletter for the Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club. Joe has done a wonderful job as Editor of the Glass Chatter and I’m sure that he will make a wonderful contribution in his new role as Midwest Region Editor for the Federation. Joe’s address and contact information is: 10515 Collingswood Lane, Fishers, IN, 46038; E-mail: jcoulson@leaderjar.com. If your club is in the Midwest Region, please begin sending news of you club’s activities and events to Joe. And finally, I would like to thank outgoing Midwest Regional Editor, Joe Terry for all of his efforts and contributions. Joe has had an extremely busy personal schedule and we greatly appreciate his dedication and efforts on behalf of the Federation. Please be sure to read Joe’s article on the Brinkerhoff Patents later in this issue. Joe is an avid researcher and writer and we are privileged to be the recipients of his most current writing endeavor. With warm regards, John Pastor President, FOHBC
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Spring 2006
Northeast Regional News
Larry Fox 5478 Route 21 Canandaigua, NY 14424 (585) 394-8958 brerfox@frontiernet.net Northeast News
Potomac Pontil - The Potomac Bottle Collectors - Serving the National Capital I feel I should call every one’s attention to an article in the January 2006 newsletter. It is entitled “Yes, Virginia, There was a P.C.A.” by Jack Sullivan. Jack has done an excellent job demonstrating the fact that most all of us are more than just bottles. In our pursuit of our first love [bottles] we learn about so many other things. In this case Jack shares his knowledge of a small pottery in West Virginia. It is informative, historical and extremely well written. Go to Google, type in “Potomac Pontil” and enjoy this article as well as many others. This club has an exceptional monthly newsletter. Good News, Bad News - Good News from ESBCA Syracuse, New York. Good News Last year the Syracuse Club decided they had outgrown their show site of so many years. They contracted to lease an American Legion in Cicero. It was easily accessed from the Thruway and very easy to find. There was room for more tables and was a very well-lighted and beautifully maintained facility. It has tons of parking.
From the Midwest Region Director: On behalf of the Federation and the Midwest Region, I sincerely thank Joe Terry for several years of service to the hobby as the Midwest Region Editor! Joe is retiring from this position, and the editorial duties are in the process
Bad News In December this facility received more snow than the roof could hold. The roof collapsed while a party was going on inside.
Good News Not a single person was injured. Bad News The building would not be repaired in time for the Syracuse show. Good News After 9/11, 2001 we all know that fireman are special people. Well, they are no different in Brewerton, New York. Brewerton is just four miles north of Cicero and just off Route 81 and the fire hall is a nice modern facility. Message was, no need to cancel your bottle show. You can use our facility. From The Water Closet Gazette - Official Newsletter of CRABS Club Member Fran Hughes did some price comparison on bottles using catalogs from 1971 to 2001 and 2006 when he could. I found this interesting and have picked a few to share with you: Ayers Hair Vigor with stopper peacock, $32/$57/$100. Smiths Green Mountain Renovator, amber w/label, $10/$35/$95. Masons Pat. Nov 30 th 1858, amber, ½-gal., $45/$250. Dr. Kilmers Female Remedy, aqua, $12/ $70. Bunkerhill Brand Pickle, square pint, of being transitioned to Joe Coulson, who is an active member of the Midwest Antique Fruit Jar and Bottle Club (MAFJ&BC). We are asking all of the Midwest affiliated clubs to please help immediately in the transition by sending to Joe C.’s attention (1) a copy of your monthly newsletters and (2) any club-composed news or input on a monthly basis that you specifically want disseminated to the membership in the Midwest Regional News column of the Federation’s publications. Joe Coulson’s address is 10515 Collingswood Lane, Fishers, IN 46037-
Midwest Regional News
Joe Coulson 10515 Collingswood Lane Fishers, Indiana 46038 (317) 915-0665 jcoulson@leaderjar.com
This place was so nice. It was too good to be true.
Bottles and Extras moss green, $29/$175. Carter’s 1897 cone, cobalt blue, $14/ $70. Brown’s Indian Queen Bitters, amber, $245/$500/$1,400. J Lake Schenectady, smooth base, cobalt, $75/$800. Greeley’s bourbon whiskey bitters, puce, $ 110/$850/$2100. Guilford Mineral Spring, emerald green, qt., $22/$75. Wm. W. Lappeus Premium Soda or Mineral Waters, light blue, $55/$495. Thanks Fran, I hope everyone finds this as interesting as I did. From The Digger Newsletter of The Richmond Area Bottle Collectors Association - “Don’t Get Caught Short,” a digging story by Mark Seeley of Waverly Virginia. I am sure that when written the author never thought it would make it to an International Publication. It is just too good not to pass on. Apparently, while building a carport for a friend, Mark suddenly felt the need to answer natures calling. He grabbed his [as he called it], “ roll of don’t get caught short” and headed for the woods. Knowing the local history, he was well aware there was an old railroad bed in this woods. He started to wonder if he might find an old dump. You know the rest before I write it. While taking a dump, he discovered a dump [bottles 1925]. He returned on his lunch break and found some keepers. Why can’t more work days be this much fun. One more thing, be sure if Mark and I ever are at the same show that I know who he is before he knows who I am. I would appreciate it. Larry
9598, and his E-mail address is jcoulson@leaderjar.com. Joe C. is a very active and energetic member of the MAFJ&BC, and he is urrently the club’s secretary. He is also the editor of the club’s monthly newsletter, the Midwest Glass Chatter, and, with the application of his writing skills and computer expertise, he re-engineered the club’s newsletter into a terrific, professional-looking publication! Copies of the newsletter can be viewed at the club’s website at www.fruitjar.org, which Joe is also instrumental in maintaining. The Federation welcomes Joe’s involvement, skills and enthusiasm, and I urge all
Bottles and Extras Midwest clubs to support his efforts in maintaining a quality Midwest Regional News column by proactive and timely submissions of their desired inputs. Please refer to the Federation website for deadlines for the regional editor’s inputs to Kathy, and submit your specific club inputs to Joe several weeks prior to his deadline dates. Rick Baldwin Metropolitan Detroit Antique Bottle Club – The club will be electing officers soon. This will give members a chance to serve, and the election will help break up the monotony of poor bottle hunting this winter. Mike Brodzik hasn’t had time to be bored, however, as he is still untiringly laboring to document bottle users from the Detroit area. He took time to look up information on an unusual jug from Detroit, from John W. Amphlett, a crockery dealer (circa 1860s) who was located on Woodbridge Street.
Spring 2006 The Iowa Antique Bottleers - Mike Burgraaf continues his effort to catalog all known Iowa bottles. He sends his thanks to those members who came through with some new bottles to add to the list. The “Collectible of the Month” was a ten-pin style soda bottle from Harris E. Kincaid, a Fairfield, Iowa bottler. His bottles are the only known ten-pin style from Iowa. Mark Wiseman entertained readers with more of his stories in “the Diggers Scoop.” Findlay Antique Bottle Club - Things remain fairly quiet in Northwest Ohio, and everyone is waiting expectantly for warmer weather. The February edition of Whittle Marks has “Medicines of the Holy Roamin’ Empire,” from the Winter 2005 Bottles and Extras. (Thanks Tom!) In a few more weeks I should be back on track writing up new articles to fill the pages of the FABC newsletter. (Joe Terry)
McCurtain County 5 miles south of Idabel’.” Fletcher authored an interesting digging story called “The Big Pit.” Fletcher, Kenny Burbrink, his friend, Gary, Ed Stewart and Mark Wiseman explored Lexington, Mo., and, after several false starts, got permission to check out an area near a military school. Kenny found a hugebrick-lined pit full of glass. It later turned out to be so big that two diggers could work side-by-side with room to spare. Meanwhile, Fletcher and Wiseman decided to check out one of two other pits on the property and were rewarded by two Chas. W. Loomis / Franklin St. / Drug Store / Lexington, Mo., bottles, among other things. But Kenny, Ed and Gary continued expanding the big pit, finding lots of Crenshaw & Young / Druggists / 11th & Main / Lexington, Mo., bottles. The pit got so deep that buckets were employed to haul the dirt and finds to the top. The bottom was finally reached 12 feet down. Among the many finds were several varieties of fruit jars, two Hunter Brothers / Open All Night / 1003 Grand Ave. 1501 Grand Ave. (Kansas City drug store bottles), a Westerman & Rankin / Druggists / Lexington, Missouri, and a fancy half-pint whiskey embossed O’Bryan Bros / Trade Mark / Guaranteed Full Measure /
Southern Regional News
Bill Baab 2352 Devere Street Augusta, GA 30904 (706) 736-8097 riverswamper@comcast.net
Johnnie Fletcher, president of the Oklahoma Territory Bottle & Relic Club and editor of Oklahoma Territory News, has been wrapping up his Oklahoma bottle book. It probably has been published by the time you read these lines so you may want to contact Fletcher by writing to him at 1300 S. Blue Haven Dr., Mustang, OK 73064. He started off the New Year with a note on a super rare Shawneetown, Indian Territory drug store bottle (C.A, Denison / Physician & Surgeon / Shawneetown, Ind. Ter.). It sold for $1,000.01 on eBay. “Some people believed the bottle might be from, or associated with, present day Shawnee, Oklahoma. However, the Oklahoma Place Names Book, authored by George Shirk, provides the following information: ‘Formerly Kulli Inla. Post office name changed to Shawneetown August 16, 1892, and discontinued Oct. 15, 1929. Shawneetown was the approximate site of Miller Court House, the first post office in present day Oklahoma. In
13 Midwest Antique Fruit Jar and Bottle Club – The club had its winter show on January 7th. Club President Norman Barnett welcomed everyone to the Fruit Jar Gettogether on Saturday at 1:30 PM. Norman pointed out that the weather was much nicer than a year ago when the show was devastated by a freak ice storm. This year’s show went off without a hitch. Minnesota’s First Antique Bottle Club The club is looking forward to the show and sale in March. Fate has been conspiring to compromise the event this year, however. Prices for the room rental have risen significantly, and that, coupled with advertising costs, is threatening to put a dent in the affair. Dealers reserving spaces have also declined. With luck the situation will smooth out before the show date. Good Luck MFABC.
Louisville, Ky. Some nice color photos accompanied the article. Wiseman (with Elsie the Pup) described Iowa digging adventures in another story. I collect bottles. You dig? That seems to be the motto of Fletcher, whose February issue is loaded with three digging stories, all authored by friends Kenny Burbrink, Ed Stewart and Mark Wiseman (with Elsie the Pup). Summing up their finds: Burbrink’s: Two Red Top Ryes, three B.A. Henlen M.D. / Druggist / Herrington, Kan., one McGreery & Winderfelt / City Drug Store / Florence, Colo. (with an owl sitting on a crescent moon). Stewart’s “The Fourth Annual Memorial Day Dig” included Fletcher, Jerry Callison, Richard Carr, Jerry Hottman, Jim Ricketts, Mark Wiseman (with Elsie the Pup) during various stages of the holiday weekend dig. Their finds included George W. Simonds / Druggist / Atchison, Kan., a McPike & Fox / Atchison, Kan., a M.L. Gruenhut / Atchison, Kan., Hutchinson soda, a Central Drugstore / Keokuk, Iowa, a M. Noll’s Pharmacy / Atchison, Kan., an amber Chas. Tru & Co. / Chicago with an embossed hatchet, and a Balyeat’s Fig Tonic Blood Renovator / Quaker Medicine Co. / Arkansas City, Kan., the last a super rare Kansas bottle. Wiseman’s: American Bottling Works /
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Israly Bros. / Des Moines, Iowa crown top soda, an F.S Shadle & Co. / Druggist / Knoxville, Iowa, a L.H. Bush / Druggist / Des Moines, and a Dead Stuck for Bugs / Trade (bedbug with a pin through it) Mark / Non-Poisonous / Won’t Stain, The Philada. Chemical Co. / Cassel Germany, Philadelphia, Pa. As usual, Fletcher downloaded several color photos to complement the Memorial Day dig. The M-T Bottle Collectors Association of DeLand, Fla., publishes the Diggers Dispatch newsletter, co-edited by Bill and Sally Marks. The Markses noted in their January issue that rising gasoline prices have had a negative impact on bottle club shows, in addition to some venues raising the rent so high that shows were forced out of existence. (“My wife, Sally, wanted to go somewhere expensive, so I took her to a gas station,” Marks jokes (or was he?). His club’s 36th annual show and sale will be held March 18 at the Volusia County Fairgrounds 9 a.m., to 3 p.m. Check out their listing in the show schedule part of this issue. Reprinted in the newsletter was an article on imported clay pipes from the Arkansaw Bottler, newsletter of the Little Rock Antique Bottle Club. Anyone who has dug a bottle most likely unearthed some of the many hundreds of clay pipes in existence, in addition to American-made ones.
In addition to imported pipes from England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France and The Netherlands, diggers sometimes unearth Canadian examples. It is still possible to buy clay pipes from the Dutch and reproductions of famous clay pipes from Great Britain. The South Carolina Bottle Club is headed by Marty Vollmer, whose new nickname is “Lucky Marty.” While at an old house, Vollmer spotted a jug sticking out from beneath a pile of lumber. It turned out to be a South Carolina Dispensary jug manufactured by Joseph G. Baynham of Trenton, S.C. “Lucky Marty” is the man who followed a dump truck from where a lot was being cleared in the old section of Columbia and found a previously unlisted black glass, Saratoga-shaped mineral water from Charleston, S.C. Melissa Milner, editor of The Groundhog Gazette, newsletter of The State of Franklin (Tenn.) Antique Bottle & Collectibles Association, has been featuring stories of inns and taverns from east Tennessee. Her January issue spotlighted Amis Tavern and the Rogersville inns. While too lengthy to be included in this regional newsletter, this editor has one question: Wouldn’t it be great to probe for and dig the facilities’ privies? Her February issue featured the story behind the Mason jar, its closure invented by New York City tin mason John Landis Mason, who patented his idea on Nov. 30th,
1858. She illustrated it with patent office drawings and black-and-white photos. Husband Fred gave the January program, speaking about demijohns and black glass, with a table full of bottles from his own collection. David Tingen, who took over as editor of the Raleigh Bottle Club’s Bottle Talk newsletter in January, noted that Blake Schooley is the No. 1 Cheerwine fan. Readers can check out his web site at www.blakescheerwineoldies.com. Tingen hopes that Schooley will present a future program to the club. The January show and tell session produced a falsely labeled PepsiCola, according to Pepsi collector Donnie Medlin. One label read in part, “Do Not Abuse Equipment!” Medlin asks, “What’s there to abuse about a bottle?” The labels with the Pepsi crown obviously were used elsewhere and were placed on an amber beer bottle with the clear intent to deceive. Caveat emptor! New member David Bunn showed a Mint Cola from Macclesfield, N.C., a tiny town. Whit Stallings displayed a South Carolina Dispensary with palmetto tree, while Tingen chipped in with a pair of blob beers from the Von Hinken Brewery in New York. Each bottle shows a bartender in European attire, one left-handed and the other right-handed. Tingen, who has a fabulous collection of picture beers, downloaded photos showing the show and tell stuff.
break here as I write. About two years out of three we get this weeklong break from winter and it’s happening out there now. A few blessed days of bright, if weak, sunshine and sky you can actually see the blue of. It looks gorgeous through the window, but don’t neglect your jacket if you venture out.
Loren got into some digging during the recent rains. Poor Loren dug a “new” hole (20-30s), but his partner got into some turn of century stuff in his hole and snagged some Nevada drug bottles. Pat Patoka is retiring from the Auburn show. The veteran Pat has been hosting for longer than anyone (except maybe Pat himself) can remember. When you see him, shake the man’s hand over a job exceedingly well done and maybe raise a glass to his honor.
Western Regional News
Scott Grandstaff Box 409 Happy Camp, CA 96039 (530) 493-2032 scottg@snowcrest.net
Note: After many years, and as many reports of the Western Region, Scott has resigned as Western Regional Editor. If you are interested in volunteering for this position, please contact Bob Ferrero, Western Director, 515 Northridge Dr., Boulder City, NV 89005; Phone: (702) 293-3114; E-mail: mayorferraro@aol.com; John Pastor or Bottles and Extras Editor, Kathy HopsonSathe. Rolling Along Howdy Region. We’re getting the Feb.
Bottles and Extras
The Digger’s Dirt – Reno ABC Excitement is building as the national show inches closer and closer. Looks like over 80% of the table contracts have already been taken as of my knowledge. If you want a table, better move it! I expect a sellout early. Get hold of Wayne ‘n June Lowry without delay. 816-318-0161. Jeff Wichman has stepped up to conduct the auction. It’s going to be pandemonium in Sparks!
The Bottleneck - San Diego AB&CC Siphon Bottles, An Era of Elegance, Rick Hall Rick presents a great seltzer bottle article. Brings to my mind images of Groucho Marx and the boys, whooping it up. Lots of colors and shapes in those seltzers to find. Hey, did you know there was actually a
Bottles and Extras town named Seltzer in Germany? I read there are red ones out there. Crate Labels – Mike Bryant. Lithography came in around in the 1880s. For the first time colorful, high quality artwork was available. Many people were still illiterate so attractive pictorial labels broke out in massive numbers. California fruit growers ate this new printing technology up. The Stumptown Report – Oregon BCA Token Find! William Bogynska, pre-teen son of OBCA editor/treasurer/secretary Bill Bogynska, went to an antique show with the old man this Jan. He excitedly comes back from a round of looking over the tables with news that he’s spotted a rare Oregon trade token in with a bag of assorted coins for ten bucks. Bill knew perfectly well the regular token collectors had been through the show the day before and tried to talk him out of it, but young William
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI SHOW by Susan Kaiser The 21st Annual Antique Bottle and Collectibles Show and Sale was held on January 21 st from 9am-4pm at the fairgrounds. Early set-up for dealers and early admission attendees started on Friday, Jan 20st at 3pm followed with a free dinner on Friday evening. The show was very well attended with 75 dealers from 11 states setting-up 120 tables. Many thanks go to John Sharp, the chairman, and those who helped him. Several King Cottons and white label Cotton Pickers (sodas) were seen and sold. Gary Westmoreland picked up a scarce ACL (according to several dealers I talked with) called Stone Mountain Mist. Other merchandise represented were inks, crocks, mason jars, historical
Spring 2006 wasn’t about to be denied. He haggled the $10 asked down to 8 bucks and took the bag. Inside there was not one rare token, but seven rare small town Oregon tokens!! A veritable token collector’s treasure compared to how many were previously known. Major treasure. Recently sold on eBay was a flask. I suppose it was a well-known flask around the Oregon neighborhood. But it was an AAA Old Valley Whiskey monogram inside a circular slugplate, surrounded by Fleckstein and Meyer, Portland, Oregon. I want one!! Want one bad. Where have these been my collecting life? It sold for $611 on eBay. Is this normal?? The AtoZ Collector, Phoenix Arizona, Patty George at the editor’s pen. Poster Stamps – A Cinderella Story…Not!! By Arlele Bright. Cinderellas are any stamp or stamp-like object that does not carry the mail. Charities, events like worlds fairs and
bottles, paper merchandise, advertising signs, baseball cards, etc. Two displays are shown in these pictures: One is a Barq’s display by Robert Sherrill, Brooklyn, Miss., and Daniel Griffis from Slidell, La. The second one is called “Colorful Scents and Colognes” by Tom Lines of Birmingham, Ala.
15 expositions and war fund raising are among the many kinds. Stamp collectors have shunned them since the beginning but are finally starting to get hep to just how cool some of these stamps really are and the value is coming around. Better get them while you can if you want any. Once a collectibles’ value starts to move they tend to move pretty fast on the cream of the crop. The Corker – Golden Gate HBS – San Francisco. Privy Digger : One who goes where many others have gone before – Great quote on the digging story from Dayton that Gary (Darla) snagged for the newsletter. Good initial response is being seen already for the upcoming April show. The 40th show. With this year’s national in Reno and the club’s 40 th show it’s pretty exciting around old San Fran these days. I see a reprinted article by my friend Janet Bond (on Florida water, naturally),
Photos: Above left: Dealers are busy with the crowd at the show. Above: Inks cover a table. Below left: Barq’s display by Robet Sherrill, Brooklyn, Miss., and Daniel Griffis, Slidell, La. Below right: Colorful Scents and Colognes,” a display by Tom Lines, Birmingham, Ala.
16 from The Diablo Digger, 1973!!! 73…… Janet?? 73?? You were 11 years old at the time writing these articles?? Hmmmm? Why, personally I couldn’t even read yet, in 73. hee heeeee! You let Gary get away with printing the date? Or…. Is he still rubbing a knot on his head?? Kidding! Dump Digger ’s Gazette - ABC of Colorado. ABCC Traveling Bottle Display. Did you know the Colorado club has a great traveling display? Tasty photos and bottles and artifacts and a chunky bite of the local history, on the hoof cruising around the library circuit. Complete program looking good. It’s already been spotted in numerous locations, and still on the move. Way to go, Guys! The Punkin Seed - Las Vegas AB&CC In Range of the Glow of the strip, Dottie Doughty, 12 miles south of Las Vegas, there was once a small station called Arden, and
Spring 2006 a gypsum mill. Early in 1907, the Arden Plaster Co. owned and operated the mill. There was a mine five miles NW which supplied the mill by grace of a narrow gauge railroad. When we explored the area, our bottle digging didn’t turn up copious bottles. Instead, overall buttons in quantity were found and we always expected to do more research on them. Railroad workers must have had a boarding house there. Manufacture of work clothes for the working man goes back over 120 years. The overall button is the most common form found in the area. The metal button with a metal shank was the first made and used on work clothes. Stamped sheet metal, usually brass, makes up the top with steel backs and shanks. There are approximately 100 different railroad names known. There are fire departments, police departments, street car conductors and many other working organizations all in the same vein with embossed buttons out there to find. The majority were made from 1900 to 1930.
Bottles and Extras Collecting buttons is a natural go-with for any local artifacts collection. Don’t neglect to look out for them. They don’t take up much space to store and I guarantee if you start with a few you’ll be back for more. The Whittlemark – Los Angeles HBC New crew for the new year in L.A. There is a new club pres., Robert Doss, and newsletter editor Randy Selenak. The old crew has done a job to look up to, to say the least. Hats off to Dave Garcia and especially the long and selfless service of Dave Hinson for efforts above and beyond. Bad Medicine. R.N. Pam Selenak presented an elaborate program complete with a large collection of medicines and medical instruments from times past. Lots of labeled bottles and instruments both familiar and bordering on the bizarre were shown and discussed. Here with you always, in spirit of collecting fun. Yours, Scott
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Magnolia Ballroom Showcases Brewery Museum The historic Magnolia Ballroom nestled in downtown Houston at 715 Franklin features a “stout” museum of Magnolia Brewery artifacts. The museum collection artifacts have been donated by fans of the 1893 building, purchased from collectors across the U.S., found in small Texas towns, or given to the owner of the Magnolia Brewery Building by strangers who felt the items belonged “back home” at the former brewery location. The museum featurs artifacts related to the Magnolia Brewery and the signature Magnolia beers, including Magnolia, Richlieu, Southern Select, Hiawatha and Grand Prize, such as large tin advertising signs, beer bottles, beer cans, metal cone beer cans and poster prints. The museum also displays souvenir items, such as: dishware, tape measure, spinning top, salt shakers, logo bottle openers and matchbook covers. The collection at the Magnolia Brewery museum began in 1980 with items provided by John Moraida, Tim Womble, Marilyn Myers and Joe Baker. Each contribution arrived back at the brewery building with its own story. John Moraida gave a wooden Magnolia beer box, a large metal Magnolia beer sign and Magnolia beer bottle with cap. Moraida, owner of John’s Flowers and
Antiques in the Houston Heights historic area, came across the Magnolia Brewery items while frequenting antique sales around the state of Texas. Tim Womble contributed a large colorful Magnolia Beer tray showing a seated German couple with a pitcher of beer and glass in his hands, the Magnolia flower in her hand and the Magnolia emblem in the upper left hand corner. Womble had this item for many years in his kitchen and decided to give it back to the Magnolia Brewery building because he felt it was “coming home” and that it was a part of the Magnolia history. The beer tray reads: Houston Ice & Brewring Co. Magnolia Brewery. Joe Baker gave a Southern Select old tin beer can with the bottle-type top. The can was found in a field on Baker’s family ranch near Somerville, Texas. Marjorie Smith, of Bellville, Texas, called Marilyn Meyers, an associate of Bart Truxillo (current owner of the Magnolia Brewery building) to proved a framed Magnolia Brewery poster printed in 1908; the print hung in Smith’s grandfather’s store in Bellville, Texas. Premium beer produced by the Magnolia Brewery around 1900 could only be explained by comparison to German beer, considered then as the world’s finest. The
Contributors to the Magnolia Brewery Building Museum.
In 1913, Frantz Brogniez, brewmaster for the brewery, was awarded grand prize at the last International Conference of Breweries, received over 4,096 competing breweries.
image on the print is a German Kaiser seated at a pastoral table and chair in a wooded glen with his loyal dogs in the background. Housed in the Magnolia Brewery Ballroom, the Magnolia Brewery museum displays have grown tremendously as people from all over have continued to provide items that they have stumbled upon. Truxillo says the museum is forever seeking Magnolia Brewing related objects to be included in the historic collection. The Magnolia Ballroom is used today as a facility for weddings, parties and special events, and is unique in that it is one of Houston’s oldest buildings in use. For more information, please call the museum at: (713) 223-8508.
Hard at work to get the barrels out each day.
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The Magnolia Brewery is one of only two remaining buildings of what was once the Houston Ice & Brewing Company.
Timeline facts of the Magnolia Brewery Building Hugh Hamilton hired architect Eugene Heiner, an important Houston architect in the late nineteenth century to design and build a four-story main building for the brewery at the original site. In the spring of 1893, the new building was completed. By 1915, the company had expanded to more than ten buildings joined together physically and stylistically. The Houston Ice & Brewing Company, dubbed the Magnolia Brewery, was well known for its beers, sold at five-cents a bottle. In 1893, the brewery had top-of-the-line machinery, producing 100 tons of ice and 60,000 barrels of beer per year, all produced Brew Master Bio Frantz H. Brogniez was born October 26, 1860, at Haine-Saint-Paul, in Hainaut, Belgium. His father was a noted Brew Master and for 25 consecutive years, served in the Belgian senate at Brussels. In 1881, Brogniez entered the University of Louvain and enrolled in “Special Sciences,” including engineering and biochemistry. He continued his studies at the Louis Pasteur Institute in France. In 1882, Brogniez went to Lichterveld to work in a brewery. While there, he developed the first “blond” beer in Belgium. With the view of following in his ancestors’ steps in the brewing art, Brogniez came to America and settled in Detroit. In 1896, he established a brewery and operated it until he released his interests to develop a brewing establishment in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1904. He developed the Terre Haute establishment from a small enterprise to one of the largest in the nation.
The Houston Ice & Brewing Company founded by Hugh Hamilton in 1892 was one of Houston’s largest companies at the turn of the century, and by 1910, encompassed more than twenty acres north and south of Buffalo Bayou.
with artesian well water. By 1910, beer production had expanded to 200,000 barrels per year. Magnolia Building, located at the corner of Franklin and Milam Avenues, was redesigned in 1912 by H.C. Cooke and Co. The building, which still stands, was constructed in the footprint of a former structure known as the Franklin Building. It is believed that around 1915, the brewery was at its largest. With the onset of Prohibition in 1920, the brewery began its decine and was forced to place its sole dependence on the manufacture of ice when the brewery accounted for the majority of the company’s profits. It was at this time the brewery changed its name to Houston Ice & Cold Storage and began leasing, or selling, its
buildings. In 1922, Hugh Hamilton passed away before witnessing the full demise of the company. The Houston Ice & Brewing Co. struggled to survive, but was finally shut down in 1950. Following the shut down, the building housed many different businesses before Burt Truxillo purchased it in 1968 from a bank trust. By this time, the building was in poor condition and was being occupied by homeless people. Truxillo immediately began the building’s restoration. Despite all of its dramatic history, the Magnolia Brewery Building survived and is now a small souvenir of the company that helped make Houston the historical and industrial center of Texas at one time.
Due to his wife becoming ill and needing to live in a warmer climate, in 1912, Brogniez and his family moved to Houston. Brogniez took charge of the Houston Ice & Brewing Company, building the establishment from a little concern to the largest brewing company south of Milwaukee. In 1913, Brogniez’ brewing art brought him into international fame. He was awarded the Grand Prize for his Southern Select beer at the International Congress of Brewers, in competition with 4,096 brewmasters from all over the world. In the wake of prohibition, Brogniez went to El Paso in 1923 and became associated with brewing interests in Juarez. With the repeal of Prohibition apparent, Howard Hughes was urged to get into the brewing business and agreed to do so on the condition that Frantz Brogniez be the brewmaster. Brogniez and his family arrived back in Houston, which he had adopted as his home city, in 1933 and
personally supervised construction of the large plant of the Gulf Brewing Company. He was in charge of the company’s operations until June, when he underwent mandatory bed rest due to illness and exhaustion. Frantz P. Brogniez, sone of the wellknown brewmaster, who throughout his lifetime had been trained in the brewing arts of the Brogniez family, took charge of operating the Gulf Brewing Company after his father’s death. Frantz H. Brozniez’ career in Houston was another impressive episode in the history of the family, which for 260 years had been outstanding in the brewing arts.
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19
A TALE OF TWO MACHINES
AND A REVOLUTION IN SOFT DRINK BOTTLING 2004 © Bill Lockhart, Alamogordo, New Mexico During a history seminar (ca. 1994) at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), my professor, Cheryl Marin, told us that writing history is like putting together a jigsaw with most of the pieces missing. Bottle research, whether seeking information on the bottles themselves or the companies that made them, is similar. It can also be equated to the role of a detective or to a scavenger hunt. In other words, we look for clues, little tidbits of information that we can eventually piece together to form a coherent account about the company or objects we are studying. The following article looks at a series of semi-related or seemingly unrelated “clues” and eventually brings them together into a coherent account. The El Paso Connections I became interested in El Paso bottles in 1992, when I worked for John Peterson, an archaeologist at UTEP. My first task was to clean and catalog 374 bottles excavated from the El Paso Coliseum. After that, just about everything I encountered led me back to bottles. About 1993, I began collecting information for a book on El Paso soft drink bottles. When I began writing my dating section, I noticed that three things seemed to have happened about the same time: 1) volume information (e.g. CONTENTS 6 FLU. OZS.), embossed on the heels or bases of the bottles, began appearing; 2) soda bottles made from manganese-bearing glass (that changed to a purple color with prolonged exposure to sunlight) disappeared; and 3) soda bottles began to be machine-made rather than mouthblown. The best dates I could come up with for this phenomenon were 1913-1916. So I figured (incorrectly) that the three changes happened about 1914 (see Lockhart 2000). All That Embosses Must Be Gould It took a few years to sort out all of the causes for these changes. The first change was actually not too difficult to find once I began looking seriously. I knew that a law must have been passed, and I knew an approximate period – all I needed to do was find it. The problem was that I did not know whether the law had been passed by
Congress or one of the regulating bodies like the Department of Agriculture. I also began looking at 1914, then moved forward. My starting point was a year too late, and that delayed my success. On March 3, 1913, Congress passed H. R. 22526, generally known as the Gould Amendment to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Although the original Act demanded a great deal of labeling information, it did not require the inclusion of volume specification. The Gould Amendment corrected that oversight when it stated that the “quantity of the contents be . . . plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the package in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count” but continued on to explain that “reasonable variations shall be permitted.” Although the law went into effect immediately, it clarified that “no penalty of fine, imprisonment, or confiscation shall be enforced for any violation of its provisions as to domestic products prepared or foreign products imported prior to eighteen months after its passage” (U. S. 1913:732). In other words, the industry actually had a grace period to comply with the law – until September 3, 1914. In order to be in compliance with the Gould Amendment, soda bottlers in El Paso (along with those in the rest of the U. S.) had to include volume information on their containers by no later than September 1914. All bottles bearing volume data can therefore be dated as no earlier than 1913 and possibly not until 1914. Thus far, I have found only one datable, mouth-blown bottles containing volume information. However, a few embossed, machine-made bottles contained no volume information. This suggests that they were produced prior to the Gould Amendment. All other embossed, machine-made bottles (at least those that I have examined), filled by El Paso bottlers, bore volume information. It is important to note that many generic bottles (i.e. no embossed labels) do not contain embossed volume information. Volume data applied to paper labels was also in compliance with the Gould Amendment. Most soft drink bottlers, however, chose to use embossed volume
Figure 1: Embossed Volume Label
data [Figure 1]. The Color Purple The second change in El Paso soda bottles was actually connected to the third one (see below). Since most sand contains impurities, notably iron, glass tends to pick up the colors of these impurities, especially greens and aquas. One of the easiest ways to produce colorless glass was to add a chemical that masked the green colors (Miller and Pacey 1985). Manganese, long used as a decolorant for bottle glass, actually works well in closed tanks, such as those used for mouth-blown bottles. Its use to decolor bottle glass began about 1876 (in the U. S.) and became popular by at least 1890 (possibly earlier). In the early days of the Owens Automatic Bottle Machine, manganese-bearing glass was often used. Bottle makers soon learned, however, that manganese did not work as effectively with open tanks, used by all semi-automatic and fully-automatic bottle machines (Miller and Sullivan 1984). Therefore, glass chemists began experimenting to find the right combination of ingredients to produce colorless glass that would work well in open tanks. The answer was to use selenium in conjunction with one or more other chemicals, often arsenic. Selenium was so effective that it is still used as a decolorant today. Thus began a long process of change from blowing bottles into molds by mouth (and using manganese) to machine manufacture (using selenium). The switch began by at least 1912 and lasted until at least 1933, although most companies had made the switch by the early 1920s. In soft drink bottles, however, the change was more abrupt – between 1912 and 1914. The Matrix, or the Machines Take Over The third change noted in the El Paso study is the development of semi-automatic bottle machines and their adoption by glass houses that made soft drink bottles. Semiautomatic machines were not new; the first had been developed in 1881. However, to understand even a basic discussion of the importance of semi-automatic machines to soft drink bottle makers requires some basic knowledge of how the machines work.
20 Both fully- and semi-automatic machines operate in two stages. In the first stage, two processes operate to form a parison, the pre-mold or initial mold. In the first process, the finish (named because it was the last stage in the mouth-blown bottle process) is formed. Simultaneously, the second process presses or blows the glass to form a hollow shape. The parison is then transferred to the second mold for the final process where the glass is blown into its desired shape. The difference between a semiautomatic machine and a fully-automatic machine is simply how the glass is delivered to the parison mold. In a semiautomatic machine, the “gob” of glass is delivered by hand; fully automatic machines deliver the glass mechanically. This means, of course, that there is no way to tell by looking at a bottle whether it was made by a semi-automatic or fullyautomatic machine. Michael J. Owens invented the first fully-automatic bottle machine, patented the device in 1903, and saw it go into actual production the following year (Turner 1938:106). Unlike many of the previous machines, the Owens machine was a blowand-blow device (the parison was blown, not pressed). The principle under which it operated was similar to those that preceded it, but one aspect was totally unique and remained so. Suction was the method used to introduce the glass into the parison mold. A gob of glass was sucked into the mold and cut off with a “knife.” The knife left a distinctive, uneven circular scar on the base of the finished bottle. The parison was then blown into shape and transferred into the final mold. By 1914, inventors in the glass industry began to develop “gob feeders” for semiautomatic bottle machines in order to convert them to fully-automatic machines
Figure 2: Root Semiautomatic Bottle Finish
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and compete with the success of the Owens machines. Initially, I thought this conversion to automatic machine production explained why bottles with machine-made characteristics began to appear in El Paso about the same time as the 1913-1914 Gould Act demanded that bottlers identify the capacity of their bottles. However, it was a red herring.1 Gob feeders were not actually introduced into common use until about 1917. The real answer was even more interesting although more complex.
By 1911, the number had grown to 52, and it almost doubled in 1912 to 96. The next significant increase occurred in 1915, when the numbers leaped from 1914’s 102 machines to 265 (Turner 1938:108). Among other things, the increase in semi-automatic machines in 1912 probably reflects the increased use of the machines to produce soft drink bottles. The 1915 increase was almost certainly caused by the use of gob feeders – thereby converting the machines to fully-automatic production. For us, however, the important year is 1912.
The Root of the Red Devil The Root Glass Co. is best remembered by most people for its development of the original “hobble-skirt” Coca-Cola bottle in 1915. However, the company is important for a lesser-known invention as well. In 1901, Chapman J. Root established a glass plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, and followed it with a second operation in the same city the next year. The second plant made fruit jars, exclusively, but closed in 1914. The Owens-Illinois Glass Co. purchased the company in 1932 (Toulouse 1971:445-447). According to Toulouse (1971:445-446), “Beverage bottles were . . . handmade until about 1912,” the year the company began to produce all its soft drink bottles on its own semi-automatic bottle machines. The plant began work on the machines in 1905 and used the developing models to make some bottles prior to 1912, but full implementation did not begin until the new machine, known as the “Root Machine” or the “Red Devil,” was perfected. Although there is no certain way to tell the difference between bottles made by the semiautomatic process or a fully automatic bottle machine, the early Root (and many other) bottles had a noticeable horizontal seam that circled the neck just below the crown finish [Figure 2]. On most later (fully automatic) bottles, the horizontal seam was placed at joint of the neck and finish (i.e., the base of the crown). Phillip Arbogast had patented a semiautomatic bottle machine in 1881, but practical semi-automatics were not in use in the United States until 1893. They were not used to manufacture small-mouth bottles (such as soft drink bottles) until about four or five years after the introduction of the Owens machine (Davis 1949:207; Scoville 1948:178-1979). By 1909, there were only 19 semi-automatic bottle machines used in small-mouth container production in the United States.
The Graham Entrance Another entrant into the field of semiautomatic bottle machine development was the Graham machine developed by the Graham family who formed the Southern Indiana Glass Co. from the Lythgoe Bottle Co. at Loogootee, Indiana, in 1905. The son of a glass blower, Charles Lythgoe had bought the Caledonia Bottle Co. and renamed it for himself. Joe Graham’s first job was with Lythgoe and set the stage for the Graham purchase of the company. Joe began working on a semi-automatic machine in 1906 and had it operational by the following year. The machine was almost fully automatic by 1910. 2 The machine was unique because of its “turnover” design that blew the bottle in the finish-down position during the second stage of the manufacturing operation. The company logo showed an upside down bottle superimposed over a “G” followed by the words “Blown Upside Down” (Keller 1998:17-27; Toulouse 1971:213-215). The family changed the company name to the Graham Glass Co. in 1907 (Toulouse claimed 1913) and began a program of expansion. In 1910, Robert Graham established a new plant in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and built the New Lake Park addition the following year. Shortly after that, the Grahams added a branch in Checotah, Oklahoma. The Graham brothers bought the former Citizen’s Glass Co. in Evansville, Indiana, in 1912. Business grew to the point where the Evansville plant had the greatest production of any single factory in the U. S. for beer, ginger ale, soda, and general-purpose bottles. In 1916, the Owens Bottle Co. bought the company but continued to run it under the Graham Glass Co. name. The Chacotah plant was sold to the Illinois Glass Co. in 1923. Owens closed the Loogootee plant in 1926 and the Okmulgee branch in 1929 (Keller 1998:21-27;
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Toulouse 1971:213-216). Thus, the Graham family added another automatic bottle machine to the glass-making community. Follow the Leader At least 15 glass companies manufactured soft drink bottles and switched to semi-automatic or fully automatic machinery during the early 20th century. The trend began, of course, with the American Bottle Co. and the Owens Automatic Bottle Machine in 1905. By 1908, Glenshaw Glass Co. had installed a British Ashley semi-automatic machine,3 and the Brockway Machine Bottle Co. soon followed with an Olean machine about 1910, the same year the Graham brothers introduced their machine. Root joined the group in 1912, and the Laurens Glass Works obtained a Jersey Devil machine in 1913. Other bottle manufacturers continued to make mouth-blown bottles and waited until as late as the 1920s to convert to fully-automatic machines and bypassed the semi-automatic stage [see Table 1].
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On the OP Trail When Michael R. Miller and I began our research on the bottles of the Southwestern Coca-Cola Bottling Co., a multi-plant operation with branches in both New Mexico and Arizona, we found bottles with interesting marks that were not listed in Toulouse (1971) or any of the other, usual sources. These included OP5S, OP1050, OP5S 76, and OP5S 576 [Figure 3], always embossed in fine-lined characters on the heels of Coca-Cola bottles. Other similarly marked non-Coke bottles include OP62 and OP02 found on El Paso soda bottles from the 1913-1920 period, along with a straight-sided Coke bottle marked OP 37 A [Figure 4]. One of these bottles was a very light blue in color, rather than the Georgia Green color usually found in Coke bottles and others were a very light aqua. Porter (1996:6) claimed that light blue hobbleskirt Coca-Cola bottles were only produced by the Chattanooga Bottle Co. and Laurens Glass Works. That led me to the conclusion that the marks had been used by the
Chattanooga Bottle Co. because Southwestern bought other bottles from the company later but never from Laurens Glass Works. This proved to be another red herring. One problem with this idea is that it does not explain what OP actually means. A further reading of Porter (1996:4) disclosed that the number 576 was the code used by the Graham Glass Co. for CocaCola bottles. He also noted that “until 1920 [there was] no mark but usually a large mold number on the base.� Because one of the marks we found on Southwestern Coke bottles contained the number, 576, I submit that the OP marks were actually used on early bottles by Graham Glass Co. Porter further stated that the Okmulgee plant used OG as an identifier from 1920 to 1926. The OP mark in conjunction with 576 and other numbers may well have been used by the Okmulgee plant prior to 1920. In addition, two six-panel bottles used by Southwestern for different fruit flavors (i.e. not a Coca-Cola bottle) were marked OS 149 G 20 and OS 149 G 23 [Figure 5].
Table 1: Chronology of Automatic and Semi-Automatic Machine Installation Among Soft Drink Bottle Manufacturers Company
Type of Machine
Chicago, IL Toledo, OH
Owens Automatic
1905
Miller & McNichol 2002:6 Toulouse 1971:30-33
American Glass Works
Paden, WV
Unknown
1916
Toulouse 1971:22-24
Brockway Machine Bottle Co.
Brockwayville, PA
Olean
ca. 1910
Toulouse 1971:59-62
Berney-Bond Glass Co.
Bradford, PA
Jersey Devil
ca. 1915-1917
Toulouse 1971:70-73
Coshocton Glass Co.
Chosocton, OH
Semi-Auto
1915
Toulouse 1971:102-103
Chattanooga Bottle & Glass Co.
Chattanooga, TN
Unknown
Unknown
Toulouse 1971:108-111
Glenshaw Glass Co.
Glenshaw, PA
Ashley
1908
Toulouse 1971: 211-213
Graham Glass Co.
Evansville, PA
Graham
1910
Keller 1998:21-27 Toulouse 1971:213-216
Hazel-Atlas Glass Co.
Wheeling, WV
Unknown
Unknown
Toulouse 1971:239-242
Laurens Glass Works
Laurens, SC
Jersey Devil
1913
Toulouse 1971234-236
Semi-Auto
Unknown
Toulouse 1971:379-380
North Baltimore Bottle Glass Co. North Baltimore, OH
Date Installed
Source
Location
American Bottle Co.
Obear-Nester Glass Co.
East St. Louis, IL
Semi-Auto
1915
Toulouse 1971:373-375
Root Glass Co.
Terre Haute, IN
Root
1912
Toulouse 1971:445-447
Southern Glass Co.
Vernon, CA
Hartford-Empire
1924
Los Angeles Times April 6, 1924
Three Rivers Glass Co.
Three Rivers, TX
Unknown Hartford-Empire
Unknown 1924
Toulouse 1971:494-495 Smith 1989:7-13
22
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Figure 3: Coke Bottle marked with OP5S 567 G 20 [Miller]
Figure 4: OP 37 A Mark (Okmulgee, Oklahoma)
Figure 5: Southwestern Flavor Bottle marked OS 249 G 20 [Miller]
These were used during the same approximate period that the OP bottles were used by Southwestern and may also indicate bottles from the Okmulgee plant. Similar marks are found on six-panel bottles used by the Empire Bottling Works of El Paso (OS 1012) about 1914, the earliest bottles from the Deming Coca-Cola Bottling Works (predecessor to Southwestern) (OS 1102), Woodlawn Bottling Co. (OS 1202P), Magnolia Bottling Co. (OS 1413R), Houston Ice & Brewing Co. (OS 936 A), Triangle Brand (OS 215 S/21), and one of the early Southwestern flavor bottles (OS 1218P) about 1918 [Figure 6]. Keller (1998:28) offered additional information that confirms the above conclusions. He stated: Bottles produced in Loogootee carried a “model” or order number on the bottom edge followed by a suffix such as LP, LS, or LG (e.g. 513 LS). Bottles produced at the Evansville plant employed a similar coding system. The model or order number was followed with the letters EG and the date (year), e.g. 2436 EG-29. The last two digits indicate the year of the original order (2436 EG-29 would refer to Evansville, 1929), not necessarily the date of manufacture.4 If LP, LS, and LG were indicative of Loogootee, then the OP and OS (and OG as per Porter 1996:4) certainly represented Okmulgee. Bottles marked CH indicate the Checotah plant (see below). Codes of ES and EP almost certainly exist for the Evansville plant. Any marks not specifically noted in this study can be dated according to similarly-marked bottles from the Loogootee or Okmulgee plants. The “P” and “S” following the plant initial are intriguing, but the answer may be simple. In our sample, all bottles marked “P” are Coca-Cola bottles, and all bottles marked “S” are soft drink flavor bottles. In the bottle-making industry, the term “soda” was usually used for soft drink bottles, and the term “private mold” was used for bottles made especially for a specific bottler. In all likelihood, the OP stands for Okmulgee, Private Mold, while the OS means Okmulgee, soda. In addition, the “G” may have indicated the plant’s general purpose bottles (e.g. food, household, etc.) or, of course, may have merely stood for Graham. Speaking only of Coca-Cola bottles,
Bottles and Extras
Figure 6: Graham’s OS 1413 R Mark (Okmulgee, Oklahoma)
Porter (1999:4) stated that EG was used for the Evansville plant, LSQ for Loogootee, Indiana, and OG for Okmulgee between 1920 and 1926. I submit that the OP and OS heelmarks represented the Okmulgee plant from 1913 (the beginning of machinemade bottles by Graham) to 1920 with OP used on Coke bottles and OS used on other soda bottles. The year, 1920, was the year of the change in systems as shown by the date code for 1920 on two OP bottles. Porter also noted that Coke bottles used a G with a date code in 1927 and the word GRAHAM in 1928 and 1929 (a drawing of a Dec. 25, 1923-patent Coke bottle in with GRAHAM 29 in Jones 1966:33 supports Porter). David Whitten added two soft drink bottles from his collection with “E,” “G,” and numbers on the heels (816E G25 from M. & S. W. Co., Covington, Kentucky and 2699E 5 G26 from Epping in Louisville). Casi’s Coke Collection (2004) also listed an EG 23 1657 mark. These are almost certainly variations on the EG mark. Whitten also found an 1650LG24 mark, another style noted by Keller (1998:28) from the Loogootee plant. That led to the discoveries of more bottles with marks that fit the description. A mark of 1960E G28 appeared in Pollard (1993:185) on an Orange Crush bottle used in Plattsburgh, New York. Similar marks were found on soda bottles with 4143E G29 (Empire Bottling Works, El Paso), 1865EG25 [Figure 7], and 1865E G28. The last two marks were on the same style of container, a square-bodied soda water bottle from Magnolia Coca-Cola Co., El Paso, made
Bottles and Extras
Figure 7: Graham’s 1865EG25 Mark (Evansville, Indiana)
in two different years. A second style of “square” bottle was also used by Magnolia, and examples of these are marked 1063E G29 and 30E G11439. The earlier style seems to confirm the hypothesis that the three- or four-digit numerals preceding the “E” represent catalog numbers, but the second variation, with two different numbers seems to question it. A close look, however, shows that there is at least one minor variation, the exclusion of several words embossed around the heel on the first bottle, that may indicate the need for a second catalog number. A Triangle Brand soda bottle from El Paso was marked on the heel with CH 243S G 21 [Figure 8], a mark almost certainly used by the Checotah plant from 1920 until the plant’s closing in 1923.
Figure 8: Graham’s CH 243S G 21 Mark (Chacotah, Oklahoma)
Michael M. Elling provided an interpretation for one of the marks. He discovered a bottle embossed 2577 EG 26 7. He noted that the 2577 was the “pattern or contract number” (what we would also call a catalog code); EG identified the plant; 26 was the date code; and 7 was the mold number (personal communication). While we cannot verify the mold number code by historical sources, Elling’s interpretation fits the general pattern for codes on Graham bottles. Elling also provided marks from Chero-Cola bottles: 46 EG 22, 46 G 20 2,
Spring 2006 46EPR 1, 46 EPR, 46 EG 22 7, 46 EPP, 46 EPR 7, 46LP 2. This list makes it pretty clear that the initial number (46) is a code for CheroCola. A summary of the Graham codes indicates that EP, ES, and EG all indicated Evansville; OP, OS, and OG stood for Okmulgee; LP, LS, and LG were Loogootee marks; and the CH marks represented Checotah. Available evidence suggests that the use of letter codes to identify each factory and possibly the type of bottle, along with a catalog code, probably began with the use of semi-automatic machinery about 1912. Such codes were at least in use by 1914 or 1915. Date codes were not included until 1920, and it may have taken a few years for all of the engravers to catch on (as was certainly the case with the OwensIllinois engravers two decades later – a full transition in code styles required four years). By 1923, the date codes were solidly in place. Even though the Owens Glass Co. bought the plant in 1916, the factory continued using the Graham system of markings until at least 1930. Where Have All the Illinois Bottles Gone? As our research group was looking into the Illinois Glass Co. marks, David Whiten asked if any of us had ever seen a Diamond I mark on a soda bottle. Although the mark is very common on pharmacy bottles and is found on other types, we could only find one soft drink bottle (used by the Empire Products Corp. in El Paso and date coded 29 [1929]) with the mark. Illinois Glass received three licenses from the Owens Bottle Machine Co., one in 1910, probably for the manufacture of whiskey bottles; another in 1911 for the exclusive manufacture of pharmacy bottles; and a final license in 1914 to make “5 to 13 gallon carboys” (Miller & McNichol 2002:7-8). Indeed, all the Diamond I pharmacy bottles we have examined or that have been reported to us were made by an Owens machine (and contained the distinctive Owens scars on the bases). The exclusive Owens license for soft drink bottle manufacture was obtained by the Ohio Bottle Co. and transferred to the American Bottle Co. in 1905. Illinois Glass, therefore, could not have used the Owens machine to make soft drink bottles during the early years when the company used the Diamond I mark. The company
23 noted: In 1920 – just ten years after our installation of the first machine [i.e. the Owens Automatic Bottle Machine] – in order to maintain our place of leadership in the bottle industry, we added another completely new type of Automatic Machine to overcome certain license restrictions which hampered us in the operation of the original. . . . at the present time, on either one or the other of our two types of Automatic Bottle Machines, we can make any type of blown container, with the exception of milk bottles and fruit jars (Illinois Glass Co. 1923). The 1903 Illinois Glass Co. catalog contained an even 50 styles for soda and related (e.g. ginger ale) bottles [Figure 9]. The number had swelled to 89 in the 1908 catalog and 96 in 1911 (Putnam 1965). By the 1920 catalog [Figure 10], however, the company offered only 12 bottle styles for soft drinks. The obvious conclusion is that soda bottle sales had fallen considerably. A very likely implication is that Illinois Glass Co. was still offering mouth-blown soft drink bottles prior to 1920. However, soft drink bottles were included at the end of the machine-made glass section of the 1920 catalog, reflecting the new automatic bottle machine production that began that year. A bit of explanation and speculation is in order. Most soft drink bottlers were not loyal to their suppliers; in fact, most were quite fickle and would take advantage of any reduction in price, transportation decrease, or temporary sale to improved their own profits. For example, the Southwestern Coca-Cola Bottling Co. used bottles made by at least six manufacturers in 12 years. An examination of El Paso soda bottlers shows that this was common practice. Assuming Illinois Glass Co. was unable to immediately change to machine production of soda bottles during the ca. 1913 shift experienced by the industry in general, it is likely that virtually all of its customers would have transferred their allegiance (and their business) to its competitors. It is also unlikely that Illinois glass would have regained the lost business, even with a shift to machine manufacture in 1920, especially in view of the company’s limited selection. Three Rivers Glass Co.,
24
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Figure 9: Soda Bottles from the 1903 Illinois Glass Co. Catalog
Figure 10: Soda Bottles from the 1920 Illinois Glass Co. Catalog
by comparison, offered dozens of styles (see Smith 1989).
bottles, so the evidence concurs with the observations. The timing of the new, machine-made soda bottles beginning just prior to the federal requirement for volume embossing also fits the El Paso timetable. Congress passed the Gould Act in early 1913 with enforced compliance no later than September 1914. Since both Root Glass Co. and Graham Glass Co. had perfected their semi-automatic soda bottle machines by 1912, and other companies were already using similar machines, it is reasonable to assume that machine-made glass production (at least in soda bottles) was available in much of the industry prior to the deadline for compliance to the Gould Act. Machine-made soda bottles (made by
We Can Put Humpty Dumpty Together Again So, now we have as many pieces to our puzzle as I have been able to find. Of course, it would be nice if we had more pieces, so our answers would be absolute, but that rarely happens in any kind of bottle or historical research. It is time to assemble the pieces to make a sensible picture. Since it all started with observations about El Paso soft drink bottles, we should first look at those. The solarized purple in bottles indeed faded from the soft drink industry with the advent of machine-made
companies other than the Owens-licensed American Bottle Co.), therefore, were into the mainstream of soft drink bottlers by 1913, so some bottles were produced without the volume information. Our look at the OP and OS marks on bottle heels is, of course, a bit of a side trip, but much of our research findings come as a result of serendipitous connections while looking for something else. This particular side trip combines the research conducted by Mike and I in our search for marks on bottles used by the Southwestern Coca-Cola Bottling Co. with published findings to produce a new chronology for Graham Glass Co. bottles as shown in Table 2. Serendipitous research is also associated with the last unconnected thread of our deductive research. Because the Illinois Glass Co. had captured the Owens license for making pharmacy bottles and one of the licenses for whiskey bottle production, they were restricted to using Owens machines exclusively for these containers. The company was therefore constrained to use mouth-blown production for soft drink bottles. As a result, they could not compete with companies using the Red Devil and other machines to produce soda bottles. Evidence from the Illinois Glass Co. catalogs shows that production was, indeed, greatly reduced. David was correct – the Illinois Glass Co. was not producing many (if any) soft drink bottles during the time period when the Diamond I bottles were produced. I hope that this account has helped to show a bit of the procedure that goes into bottle research. Generally, publications only show the final results – with no hint
Table 2: Graham Glass Co. Manufacturer’s Mark Chronology Mark
OP ** OS ** OG † LP † LS † LG † LSQ † EG ††‡ CH †† G †† GRAHAM
Location Heel Heel Heel ? Heel ? Heel Heel ? Heel ? Heel Heel Heel ? Heel ?
Plant
Okmulgee Okmulgee Okmulgee Loogootee Loogootee Loogootee Loogootee Evansville Checotah All Plants All Plants
Bottle Type
Coca-Cola Soda Coca-Cola Coca-Cola ? Soda ? Unknown Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, Soda Soda Coca-Cola Coca-Cola
Dates*
1910-1920 1910-1923 1920-1926 1910-1920 1910-1923 1910-1920 ? 1920-1926 1920-1926 1920-1923 1927 1928-1929
Source Lockhart Lockhart Porter (1966:4) Keller (1998:28) Keller (1998:28) Keller (1998:28) Porter (1996:4) Porter (1996:4); Keller (1998:28) Lockhart Porter (1996:4) Porter (1996:4)
* With the exception of those provided by Porter, all dates are the best estimate of the author based on bottles observed, data provided by collectors, and information from sources. ** These marks are usually (maybe always) accompanied by numbers and may include two-digit date codes by at least 1920. † These marks may include numbers, but the inclusion of the date codes is currently unknown. †† This mark is accompanied by two-digit date codes and probably other mold numbers. ‡ Frequently, the “E” and “G” are separated in the coding (e.g. 1865E G25).
Bottles and Extras as to the process involved. Even this account only scratches the surface of the process. It is often years between discoveries. Once I had made my initial observations about El Paso bottles, it took three years to find the Gould Amendment. It was a couple of years after that when I met Mike Miller and began looking at Southwestern Coca-Cola bottles – we did not try to discover which company used the marks until a while after that. It was still later when I found Bill Porter’s book on Coke bottles and only very recently that Mike Elling told me about the Graham history. Our glass research group, with its input, is only two years old. It took David’s observation about the missing Illinois soft drink bottles and our investigations into the Root and Graham glass company marks to suddenly bring about the realization of how the various clues fit together. Like detective work, glass research is a long-term process. Acknowledgments My gratitude to the bottle research group to which I belong (David Whitten, Bill Lindsey, and Carol Serr) for suggestions and proofreading and to Bill for providing access to his 1920 Illinois Glass Co. catalog. Kudos to Mike Miller for his part in our joint effort in researching the Southwestern Coca-Cola Bottling Co. history (hopefully to be published in book form by the middle of 2006) and the use of his drawings. Thanks also to Mike Elling for passing on information from Tim Pillow about the Graham book and for information on bottles in his collection. The book provided the final key to one manufacturer’s mark mystery. References Casi’s Coke Collection. 2004 Casi’s Coke Collection. http:// www.cokebottles.de/homer2.htm Davis, Pearce. 1949 The Development of the American Glass Industry. Harvard University Press, Boston. English, S. 1923 “The Ashley Bottle Machine: A Historical Note.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 7:324-334. Illinois Glass Company. 1903 Illustrated Catalogue and Price List Illinois Glass Company: Manufacturers of Bottles and Glass Containers of Every Kind. Illinois Glass Company, St. Louis. Reprinted by Larry Freeman, 1964. Illinois Glass Company. 1908 Illustrated Catalogue and Price List Illinois Glass Company: Manufacturers of Bottles and Glass Containers of Every Kind. Illinois Glass Company, St. Louis.
Spring 2006 Illinois Glass Company. 1920 Illustrated Catalogue and Price List Illinois Glass Company: Manufacturers of Bottles and Glass Containers of Every Kind. Illinois Glass Company, St. Louis. Illinois Glass Company. 1923 Fifty Years of Achievement in Building up a Service of Better Bottles. Illinois Glass Co. Jones, May. 1966 The Bottle Trail, Volume 6. Nara Vista, New Mexico. Keller, Michael E. 1998 The Graham Legacy: Graham-Paige to 1932. Turner Publishing Co., Paducah, Kentucky. Lockhart, Bill. 2000 Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink Industry in El Paso, Texas, 18812000. Townsend Library, New Mexico State University at Alamogordo. http:// alamo.nmsu.edu/~lockhart/EPSodas/ Miller, George L. and Tony McNichol. 2002 “Dates for Suction Scarred Bottoms: Chronological Changes in Owens MachineMade Bottles.” Paper presented at the 2002 SHA meetings, Mobile, Alabama. Miller, George L. and Antony Pacey. 1985 “Impact of Mechanization in the Glass Container Industry: The Dominion Glass Company of Montreal, a Case Study.” Historical Archaeology 19(1):38-50. Miller, George L. and Catherine Sullivan. 1984 “Machine-made Glass Containers and the End of Production for Mouth-Blown Bottles.” Historical Archaeology 18(2):8396. Paquette, K. 2002 Blowpipes: Northwest Ohio Glassmaking in the Gas Bom of the 1880s. Xlibris Corp., n. p. Pollard, Gordon. 1993 Bottles and Business in Plattsburgh, New York: 100 Years of Embossed Bottles as Historical Artifacts. Clinton County Historical Association, Plattsburgh. Porter, Bill. 1996 Coke Bottle Checklist. Privately printed, n. p. Putnam, H. E. 1965 Bottle Identification. Privately printed, Jamestown, California. Scoville, Warren C. 1948 Revolution in Glassmaking: Entrepreneurship and Technological Change in the American Industry, 1880-1920. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachutts. Smith, Michael David. 1989 Texas Glass: An Illustrated History of the Three Rivers Glass Company 1922-1937. Atwood Printing, New Braunfels, Texas. Toulouse, Julian Harrison. 1971 Bottle Makers and Their Marks. Thomas Nelson, New York. Turner, W. E. S. 1938 “Twenty-one Years: A Professor Looks Out on the Glass Industry.” Journal of the Society of Glass Technology 22:99-164. United States. 1913 The Statutes at Large of the United States of America from March, 1911, to March, 1913. Secretary of State, Washington, DC.
25 (Footnotes) 1 For those readers who are not fans of mystery novels, a red herring is a particularly smelly fish. It could be used effectively to block the odor of a prisoner being tracked by bloodhounds and throw the dogs off the scent. Mystery authors employed various devices to distract their readers from the actual guilty party, and these came to be known as red herrings. In this case, I use the term, not to denote intentional misdirection, but to indicate a line of inquiry that turned out to be misleading. 2 Toulouse (1971:215) claimed that “by 1910 the hand-transfer was virtually automatic, and by 1912 the machine was fully automatic with Graham’s own feeder.” Keller (1998:29), however, stated that “the promise that the Graham machine held out for becoming truly automatic . . . did not come to fruition. . . problems were never overcome. Eventually more sophisticated and efficient machines were developed by the industry and the Graham machine became obsolete.” 3 For the full story on the Ashley machine, see English (1923). 4 This does not fit with my empirical observations. For example, Southwestern Coca-Cola Bottling Co. used the exact same bottle with codes of OS 249 G 20 and OS 249 G 23. This indicates that the “20” and “23” are date codes for the year of manufacture rather than the original order. Bill Lockhart 1313 14th St., Apt. 21 Alamogordo, NM 88310 (505) 439-8158 bottlebill@tularosa.net
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Figure 2
Shooting Shots Part II: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly by Robin Preston The previous edition of Random Shots broached the subject of how to document a shot collection photographically, beginning with a discussion of factors to consider when selecting a camera and stressing the need for a tripod (see footnote at the end of this article for an update). In this issue, I’d like to consider what makes a good photograph and then return with specific guidelines in a subsequent installment. eBay is an endlessly fascinating social phenomenon, but the sheer volume of activity also means that it can serve as a powerful educational tool. This is particularly true during winter months when 100+ pre-pro glasses are offered for sale each week. Every auction comes with at least one photograph, few of which were created by professional photographers. Thus, an investment of just a few minutes on the site rewards one with access to images that vary widely in terms of quality and diversity of technique and one
Figure 3
quickly gains a sense of what works photographically and what does not. The following pages present a selection of these images and attempt to identify what makes and breaks a shot-glass photo. Shake, Rattle and Roll. The first example [Figure 3] reinforces the need to use a sturdy camera support when photographing glasses. This is a rare glass from Adolph Beck & Co. of Chicago, although it’s difficult to ascertain its origins from the blurry photo. The human frame is simply not capable of becoming sufficiently rigid to support a camera without movement, meaning that hand-held photos are going to be blurred. The degradation in image quality may be subtle or, as in the example shown here, severe enough to make the label indistinct. The myopic and presbyopic The next few examples cover basic problems in technique that should have been obvious in the camera viewfinder or digital view screen. The first [see Figure 1] suggests that the photographer was peering at the glass through bottle lenses, because the shot was jammed right under the nose of the camera. The optics were unable to focus at such close distance so the resultant image is blurred. There are additional exacerbating issues such as a hand-held glass (more blur), most likely a hand-held camera (still more blur), and use of a flash (reflected hot-spots), all of which add insult to injury of the fact that this is a detailed and highly desirable glass from Jas. Gorman of Lynchburg, Va. Next is an image in which the subject occupies only a small fraction of the frame [Figure 4]. This kind of presentation is
common in listings where a scanner has been used to create an image of a glass, or where a collection of five or six glasses are being auctioned as a group. Sellers seem to think that they have to stand several feet distant from a group in order to fit them all within the frame, paying little attention to whether or not the frame is actually filled, let alone whether or not potential buyers can ascertain condition of the glass or even distinguish a label. Since even the most basic image manipulation programs have cropping tools, it’s easy to clean up such photos, although cropping does nothing to aid resolution (photo editors come preinstalled on new computers but if yours did not, free downloads are readily available via the internet). The lesson to be learned from the previous examples is that the glass needs to be sufficiently close to the camera that the label and general condition can be readily established, but not so close that it exceeds the minimum focusing distance of the lens. Too light, too dark Included in the “obvious in the viewfinder” category are lighting extremes. The first example is an image so dark that it’s difficult to discern that the subject is actually a shot glass, let alone that it’s a valuable Peoria picture
Figure 4
Bottles and Extras glass [Figure 5]. Digital cameras automatically adjust exposure time to compensate for ambient light levels but, as a general rule, if you can’t read the label when looking at the glass through the viewfinder or view screen, then you’re unlikely to be able create a successful image. At the opposite extreme is the example shown in Figure 6. Again, digital cameras are adept at responding to light extremes, but the label on this Valley City glass is so bleached by light and background glare that it’s difficult to make out the city of origin. Figure 7 shows a glass photographed in direct sunlight, but now the lens is pointing straight down into the mouth of a glass that’s standing on a white background. The light is so intense and directional that it creates a shadow of the label that is sufficiently crisp that it appears to be etched in the base! The photographer gets full marks for creativity and composition, but what are we to conclude about the condition of the glass or label? It’s difficult to deduce anything other than the fact that it comes from Kansas City. A final example of light excess is shown in Figure 8. Although the photographer was working indoors, the glass was proffered before a brightly-light window and the lens aimed directly up at the glass and into the sun. The camera optics are overwhelmed by light and the resultant image is marred by stupefying glare. So far we’ve dealt with basic errors in photographic technique that literally scream at the viewer from the page. In the next sections we’ll look at changes in lighting and camera position that are relatively subtle yet have a substantial and detrimental effect on the resultant image. Contrast, contrast, contrast. A photographer faces two major challenges when trying to create memorable and compelling images of their shots. The first is the tendency of glass to concentrate and reflect back strong images of anything in close proximity. The other is the issue of how to make an etched inscription stand out clearly against the background. Given that the inscriptions on pre-pro glasses fade with handling, many have been thinned significantly in the century or so since they were minted. Trying to capture them
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27
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
on film can thus be as challenging as stalking a ghost. Most pre-pro glasses were branded with a white label so it follows that if we wish to make the etching stand out clearly we choose a dark, contrasting background. Yet “white-on-white” syndrome is one of the commonest photographic ailments encountered on eBay. Two prime examples are shown in
Figures 9 and 10. On the left we have a Cuckoo Whiskey from Boston, on the right a Hayner Lockbox 290. Both glasses feature prominently in many collections where they’re prized for the intricacy of their etching. But would you want to bid on either of the glasses shown here without being able to determine the content and condition of the label? Probably not.
Figure 9
Figure 10
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Figure 11 Figure 2 (on the first page of this article) was taken from a recent auction in which the seller decided to cover the rich, contrasty table upon which the glass is sitting with a white crocheted fabric. Any idea where this glass comes from? Figure 11 shows an Old Fox River glass nestled on a kitchen countertop. The photographer realized that white-on-white was a problem and hence inserted a piece of paper to provide contrast. Unfortunately it’s also white and the label melts into the background.
Figure 12 Finally, here’s yet another Boston glass but this time photographed against a natural landscape [Figure 12]. Sadly, the snow lay deep and crisp and even on the day of the photograph and we end up with another example of white on white. There actually IS a reason that Russian troops are kitted out with white smocks for winter combat: white-on-white makes for perfect camouflage! The lesson here is that if we wish to make the label on a pre-pro glass stand out clearly, we need to choose as background that is as dark as possible.
This Old Landscape Would-be sellers on eBay are frequently driven outdoors in search of adequate lighting, typically balancing the shot precariously on a convenient fencepost or railing. Since little thought is given to the background, we’re treated to a dizzying array of texture, color and highlights. As a keen gardener, this can be an endless source of fascination, but it can also be a major distraction if the focus of hunt is pre-prohibition glass rather than a rare perennial Geranium. An example is shown in Figure 13. In the color version it’s difficult to be sure if the intended subject is a bed of daffodils or the bloom etched on the Cassel Eye-Opener. The season changes for the example in Figure 14, but again, General Wayne is having difficulty distinguishing himself from the backdrop of trees, lawn and siding. We move indoors for Figure 15 and now the main focus is the neighbor’s house, while in Figure 16, the seller’s hand dominates the image. While hand-holding requires minimal set-up, flesh tones provide a decidedly sub-optimal background plus there is the issue of movement-induced blur consider. On occasion the distraction of fingernails deeply impacted with what might well be recent privy night soil is so disturbing that clicking on to the next listing is a welcome escape! While most of the images shown on the right could have benefited greatly from tight cropping to remove peripheral distracting elements, the take-home is that if we wish to focus a viewer’s attention on the glass, we need to provide a clean background. Time for reflection The other main barrier to capturing clean images of subjects made of glass is the issue of reflections. Curved vessels such as shots are particularly difficult in that they concentrate and focus light into vertical bands and they usually end up positioned so as to obliterate a crucial part of the label. The stronger and more directional the source, the more obvious the problem becomes, as seen when one tries to use a flash [Figure 17]. Reflections can originate from the back, the front, or both walls of the glass, depending on camera position. The photographer who created the image in Figure 18 was doing everything right in terms of a clean backdrop that nicely contrasts the label, but he was standing
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Bottles and Extras in full sun and so we see a pair of hands holding a camera reflected hotly from the front of the glass above the word “Shamrock”. The take-home here is that one has to examine everything in immediate vicinity of the glass and evaluate it for its ability to show up as reflected hot spot in the final photograph. Figure 17
Figure 18 Figure 19
Spring 2006 Stuff it! One common way of dealing with reflections off the back wall of a glass is block them with paper or fabric. The insert can also provide strong contrast for the label, although one still has to be wary of reflections bouncing off the front wall. The Gannymede “76” glass in Figure 19 is a good example: this image was created by the same seller who snapped the Shamrock above. Again, the source of the refection is the camera and hands that hold it, accentuated by the contrasting material within. Figure 20 shows a “stuff it” technique that never works: filling the glass with a dark liquid. Despite all expectations to the contrary, liquids just seem to make the pre-pro labels fade away. A Parting Shot So what have we learned from our eBay tutors? First, make sure that the image on the view screen is in focus and there’s sufficient light to read the label by without overwhelming it. Second, choose a background that’s uniform and contrasts well with the label. Third, be aware of any brightly-illuminated hotspots in the vicinity of the glass that may cause strong reflections. Finally, crop the image so that the glass fills the frame. These are the basic rules, but how they’re translated into a successful image depends very much on individual tastes and the willingness of the photographer to spend a few minutes experimenting. I’ll provide some specific ideas in the next installment, but for now, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite “shot shots”. The background is black felt and the glass is illuminated by soft, natural light coming from my home office window [Figure 21]. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
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Figure 20
Figure 21 Robin is an enthusiastic collector of shot glasses and maintains the collector’s website www.pre-pro.com. He can be reached at 245 N 15th St., MS#488, Philadelphia, PA 19102, e-mail oldwhiskey@pre-pro.com.
Shortly after the first installment of “Shooting Shots” went to press, Consumer Reports printed a buyer’s guide to point-and-shoot cameras (November 2005, pp. 16-19). They gave high scores to the Canon Powershot A510 ($180), the Kodak EasyShare CX7430 ($180), and the Olympus D-580 Zoom ($160). Two other footnotes. A collecting colleague wisely suggested that one select a camera in which the memory card is accessed from the side rather than the base. This makes it easy to remove in the middle of a shooting session. For similar reasons, you might also want to start each session with a set of fully-charged batteries so that you don’t have to disassemble the camera-tripod assembly in order to replace a drained power pack. And finally, my four-year old digital camera is beginning to show signs of age. Specifically, images shot under low light conditions are scattered with multicolored dots, much as if I’d strung my glasses with teensy fairy lights. I believe this reflects individual light detectors going bad, so given how low prices on pointand-shoot cameras have fallen in recent months, it may make more sense to buy new rather than used.
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Spring 2006
Bottles and Extras
www.HutchBook.com Hutchinson Bottle Directory To Be Published On The Internet By Ron Fowler © 2006 When Joe Nagy initiated work on this project almost 30 years ago, there was really only one practical means for delivering the final product to users: paper. Joe’s decade of hard work was primarily conducted via the U.S. Mail; personal computers, the Internet, and EMail weren’t available tools. Although I have many years of experience with these powerful tools, in late 2003 when I projected the time and effort necessary to put the Hutchinson Bottle Directory together, I made several miscalculations: (1) I estimated it would take five years of effort to publish the first edition; it should turn out to be a 2.5-3 year project instead. (2) We predicted there were 7,000-10,000 different Hutchinson bottles maximum. Wrong; were now at 14,000+ and the list continues to grow! I won’t be surprised if we someday reach 15,000 listings. Given the planned spreadsheet format with illustrations, this many listings equates to 1,000 - 1,100 paper pages and that means the book would need to be at least two or possibly three volumes in length. The associated production costs of publishing to paper would push the break even price far beyond the reach of most collectors, and a Hutchinson Bottle Directory that collectors can’t afford is of no value. (3) After 32 years of self-publishing and selling thousands of books, I still love doing research, gathering and organizing data, and putting it all together. What I do not enjoy is the printing, collating, binding, packaging, labeling, mailing, and record keeping. Eliminating most/all of this distribution hassle means the time saved could be dedicated to updating the web site and on other writing projects. (4) Publishing the Hutchinson Bottle Directory via paper would provide the collecting community with a “snapshot” of data at a specific point in time. Unfortunately, hard copy books do not lend themselves well to updating and the
Hutchinson Bottle Directory contains data that by its very nature begs to be continually refined, corrected, and enhanced. Although updated paper pages could be produced and distributed periodically, doing so is potentially a logistical nightmare with all of the aforementioned distribution hassles. By comparison, publishing the Hutchinson Bottle Directory via the Internet offers an incredible opportunity to deliver what is essentially a “living” book! We’re all so used to our reference books having specific publication dates that the concept of accessing continually updated data is somewhat foreign. Consider your own reference books that are gathering dust because the data is outdated and then mull over the idea of a “live” Hutchinson Bottle Directory; hopefully you too will be excited about the Internet as a superior delivery methodology. Last summer I initiated the process of gathering and evaluating information about alternative ways to deliver the Hutchinson Bottle Directory. Publishing via CD ROM was briefly considered, but deemed not practical; the data is quickly outdated and the process includes most of the headaches involved with distribution. Publishing to a web site, however, offered substantial benefits and only a few drawbacks. My personal expertise at building and maintaining a web site starts and stops with www.SeattleHistoryCompany.com and constructing a site for the Hutchinson Bottle Directory was definitely beyond my skill level. Consequently, I enlisted the assistance of a professional web designer whose specialty is database design. The home page has already been built, and the bottle database is currently under construction. The Hutchinson Bottle Directory is very much a collaborative effort. As point guy, my role is to orchestrate and coordinate the acquisition and organization of the bottle data that has primarily been supplied by 150+ advanced Hutchinson collector specialists from across the continent. For
several reasons, I have chosen to “build” the Hutchinson Bottle Directory out in the open, frequently providing updates so everyone involved/interested can follow our progress. I rather enjoy the added responsibility and pressure of knowing many of my fellow collectors are closely tracking progress and sharing in the excitement of realizing that delivery of the Hutchinson Bottle Directory data is rapidly approaching. Extending this concept a bit further, we have reserved www.HutchBook.com and intend to build the book as you watch. Once the structure is in place, we will move existing data to the web site, continually add in new listings and data, and incorporate the illustrations as they are completed. When the new www.HutchBook.com site is up, we will announce its availability. While testing the waters on the possibility of publishing to the Internet, I kept track of the most frequently asked questions and/or concerns expressed by advanced collectors. Here are their questions and my responses: HOW MUCH WILL ACCESS TO WWW.HUTCHBOOK.COM COST? Access to www.HutchBook.com will be FREE. We plan to partially fund the ongoing costs of web hosting with web site advertising. Were also exploring the development of a Hutchinson Bottle Collectors Association with a modest annual dues fee that could be utilized to fund the web site. More details about this initiative will be announced via www.SeattleHistoryCompany.com. I AM WILLING TO PAY A FEE TO ACCESS WWW.HUTCHBOOK.COM; YOU SHOULD CONSIDER CHARGING FOR ACCESS IN ORDER TO RECOVER YOUR COSTS. Although I have invested thousands of hours (I didn’t keep track of my time from the 1970s - 1990s), and considerable out-
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of-pocket cash, from the very get go I have considered the Hutchinson Bottle Directory my contribution back to a hobby I have now enjoyed for 45 years. This is my ninth book and the best I’ve done is manage to break even on two of my previous eight books. Bottle books are not money makers, they are labors of love!
MANY COLLECTORS ARE EXPECTING TO USE A HARD COPY HUTCHINSON BOTTLE DIRECTORY THEY CAN TAKE TO BOTTLE SHOWS OR WHEN OUT ANTIQUES SHOPPING. DOES PUBLISHING TO WWW.HUTCHBOOK.COM LEAVE THEM OUT IN THE COLD?
MANY COLLECTORS DON’T HAVE COMPUTERS OR INTERNET ACCESS; HOW WILL THEY USE THE HUTCHINSON BOTTLE DIRECTORY?
A multi-volume, hard copy Hutchinson Bottle Directory with data on 14,000+ bottles wouldn’t be very portable. Including “printer friendly” capability will allow collectors to easily print selected pages, e.g. specific states, and this should lessen concerns. Looking further into the future, even this won’t be necessary; envision instead taking a hand held computer to a bottle show and dialing into www.HutchBook.com to access totally current data! This technology is available today but it is still a bit pricey. It’s time, however, is coming.
I suddenly have a vision of an Iowa cornfield with a newly built baseball park and a booming voice saying “If you build it, they will come!” Perhaps the availability of the Hutchinson Bottle Directory via a free web site will inspire a few more folks to finally join the Internet revolution. These days, most people have access to public libraries with personal computers that offer Internet access, and almost everyone has friends and/or relatives who have computers and Internet access. Play ball! I WANT A PAPER COPY AND AM WILLING TO PAY FOR IT. WILL AT LEAST A FEW PAPER COPIES BE AVAILABLE? No, we are not going to print and distribute paper copies. The time saved will instead be invested into continually updating www.HutchBook.com. The web site will essentially become each collector’s “copy” of the data and they’ll have no need to maintain their own hard copy. WILL I BE ABLE TO PRINT WWW.HUTCHBOOK.COM DATA? Yes, the site will include “printer friendly” capability and users will be able to print pages using their own time, electricity, paper, and ink.
HOW OFTEN WILL CHANGES BE POSTED TO WWW.HUTCHBOOK.COM?
I recently performed a time test with an EMail message containing new bottle data. From the instant the message arrived up thru the time it took to key the new data into the website program and upload it to the Internet, a total of only eight minutes elapsed! Another example is a phone call I recently received from a Pennsylvania collector who had been out digging that afternoon and within the previous hour found an unknown Pennsylvania quart Hutchinson bottle. He was excited about his new find and called to provide data on it. At that point, only the two of us knew about this newly found bottle, but with an on-line Hutchinson Bottle Directory, I could have immediately posted the information to the web site. Just imagine: that bottle spent the past 100+ years in the ground and within two hours of being
31 unearthed the entire collecting world could know about it! Bottom line: the database will be updated continuously. Somewhere down the line, I’ll pass the torch to younger collectors and let them bring new enthusiasm and fresh ideas to this initiative. WILL WWW.HUTCHBOOK.COM INCLUDE “SEARCH” CAPABILITY? By its very nature, the Hutchinson Bottle Directory is designed to facilitate searching in that the listings are organized by country, state/province, city, and bottler. Beyond that, the web site database offers search capabilities that would only be available by tediously pouring thru 14,000+ entries in a hard copy book. In addition to making all of the Hutchinson Bottle Directory data available to the collecting community, I am equally excited about being able to electronically search and use the data in ways we never dreamed possible! IS WEB SITE SECURITY A CONCERN? Security is a concern and the data will be secured so the web designer and I are the only ones who can manipulate the data. Otherwise, the data posted at www.HutchBook.com will be available for viewing worldwide, 24 x 7. Gathering and evaluating information in order to make this important decision has been a very challenging process. In addition to exploring uncharted technical waters, many collectors across the U.S. and Canada were surveyed in order to provide direct input from the ultimate users of Hutchinson Bottle Directory data. Although this change in direction won’t please everyone, I strongly believe this is the right decision and now is the time to implement it. For any questions/concerns that arent addressed, please contact me via E-mail to HutchBook@yahoo.com.
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Spring 2006
Bottles and Extras
Chasing The Western Flasks By Ralph Van Brocklin Penning my last flask column six months ago I had the air conditioning running and was distracted by thoughts of being out on the golf course. This morning as I place pen to paper, it is lightly snowing and the East Tennessee countryside is absolutely beautiful! No golf to distract me this day (unless I turn on the Pebble Beach coverage), which is probably just as well as I have many miles of travels and many bottles to cover! Traveling Oregon Mid-October saw me headed to the show at Canyonville, Oregon. A couple of days were spent with my friend Dale Mlasko during which we poked around Jacksonville and Medford, not finding anything, but getting some permissions that he should now be taking advantage of with the ground finally soft! When you are visiting with Dale, you really don’t have to find anything, because you can just get lost in the beauty of the flasks in his back-lighted display case. I still covet his Angeli flask which was dug off a lot in Monterey, California, by a couple of the guys I used to be in the Mission Trails Historical Bottle Club with back in my younger days. Whittled, light amber… what a great bottle! And, he has probably the best Small Design Millers known to man— intensely whittled, green and mint. A nice Jesse Moore, Old Castle, Large Design Millers… there is not a bottle that fails to captivate! Dale, Melissa (soon to be Mrs. Mlasko – congratulations, you two!) and I drove up to Canyonville for what is certainly one of the nicest venues for a show anywhere in the West! Bruce Silva, Keith Lunt, Dave Scafani
Figure 1a: Canyonville show scene.
and Bill Bogynska have built a show which consistently brings in nice items and quality dealers from Oregon, Washington and Northern California. [Figures 1a-d] Flask additions were not as plentiful for me at this show as they have been in some years past, but I did add a gorgeous chocolateamber private mold Fleckenstein and Mayer half-pint union oval (unusual in having considerable whittling) [Figure 2], a The Eintracht amber half-pint dandy from San Diego and a clear half-pint Herman Fritz dandy flask, also from San Diego. The prettiest flask in the hall was offered by Rocky Becker—a yellow with green overtones slug plate Fleckenstein and Mayer union oval half pint. This flask is now in Medford, adding yet more color to Dale’s shelves! Other very nice offerings of flasks were found on the tables of Randy Littlefield of Milwaukee, Oregon and Jim Dennis of Dufur, Oregon. Among the offerings were an assortment of Oregon flat flasks, coffins and pumpkinseeds. The crème of the crop of these was an early pint shoofly embossed with Fleckenstein and Mayer and the AAA Old Valley brand [Figure 3]. A combination of factors make this one of the top Western clear flasks — it is an early bottle, it draws an association between one of the favorite brands of whiskey distributed in the West with one of the significant firms on the
Figure 3: Fleckenstein & Mayer, AAA Old Valley pint shoofly
Pacific Coast and it is rare. Prior to one being offered for sale in a December EBay auction by Oregon collector Shayne Bowker, this was only the second one I had seen. Randy’s did not sell — Shayne’s sold to another serious Oregon flask collector, Garth Ziegenhagen, at what I would consider a great bargain— $611. I could not convince the Dean of Western Whiskey Dealing, Bob Barnett, to let me drive him to Canyonville for the show, so
Figure 1b: Some of the flasks offered on Randy Littlefieldʼs table in Canyoneville.
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Figure 2: Fleckenstein & Mayer Union Oval, Private Mold
Figure 1c: Canyonville Dealers
Figure 4: Crater Lake
Figure 1d (above): Canyonville Insulator Display.
Figure 11 (left): Ohio House, Placerville label only pumpkinseed
Figure 5: California Token flasks - Marysville, San Francisco, Oxnard
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Spring 2006
Figure 12a: AAA Old Valley, yellow olive.
Figure 12b: Group of four amber flasks: J.F. Cutter, C.P. Moorman, Fleckenstein & Mayer, Taussig.
Figure 12c-e (middle row, L-R): first, Lilienthal teardrop; second, Lilienthal “Cognac-style;� third, Three Cities Lilienthal Figure 13 (middle row, fourth bottle): Half-pint Goudie & McKelvey amber shoofly
Figure 25 (above): Front and back of Old Gilt Edge flask Figure 22 (left): Bonita Bar, Arcadia, Calif.
Figure 27: Gobe Saloon, Butte, Montana
Bottles and Extras when the show was over I made a trip out to Lakeview, Oregon, for a visit with Bob and his wife, June. Along the way, I made a side trip to Crater Lake, which I had not visited since a trip across the states with my parents following completion of sixth grade (39 years ago…. can that really be so???!). If you have never been there you need to make it a priority. In late October the park facilities are closed and the traffic is virtually non-existent. If you love the quiet serenity of the open West, you can experience it on a wind-swept overlook to one of the prettiest spots in the world [Figure 4 and cover background image]. Any collector of Western whiskey items will know Bob Barnett — most are aware that he turned his business over to Bruce Silva a couple of years ago following a significant accident and the health-related problems which followed. His presence is tremendously missed at the shows and I have particularly missed having he and June set up next to me at Auburn and Reno. It was great to see them and spend a day with them at their home! Bob’s friends will be happy to hear that he is up and about, although having to use some supplemental oxygen. Dealing remains in his blood and he told me he had been involved in brokering a land deal for a cattle firm he had previously worked with and that they were keeping him occupied with buying quality cattle and culling out the poor end of the herds. He didn’t have any bottles squirreled back to deal, though… you’ll have to see Bruce for those! Digging, personalities in the hobby (if your ears were burning about that time, you can bet we were talking about you!), shows and bottle deals made for some wonderful conversation. We had some good laughs about some of the bottles I returned in the old days never to get another opportunity to put one on the shelf and we talked about all the great bottles he had brokered between one appreciative collector and another. He still finds it pretty amusing that I had been buying bottles from him for several years before making the comment, ‘I’m going to get up to Lakeview to visit and see your collection,’ only to be stunned by the comment that I could come and visit but that I wouldn’t be viewing any more than a one- or two-bottle collection. I was dumbfounded by that until he explained that he had to make a decision early on whether he would be a dealer and, if so, that he would not be able to collect, too. The temptation to keep the best items would
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Figure 6a: Colorado, Montana and Idaho shot glasses.
Figure 6b: Rieger & Co., Salt Lake City, shot glasses.
hamper that…. So, here I was finally making my first trip to Lakeview to visit (some 20 years into our friendship) and, yep, no collection! But, what wonderful hospitality from Bob and June and what a great visit! A couple of more days riding the cinderpaved backroads of Oregon (you can bet the rental car company loved getting a formerly white, now dusty-red colored van back!) and I caught a flight to Salt Lake City to visit with Western whiskey friends Ivan Oakeson, Stan Sanders, Elvin Loader and Roger Terry. Salt Lake City Just as Bob Barnett has had some health issues, Stan Sanders has been battling bladder cancer and getting to shows has become impossible for him. So, I’ll take the visit to him!!! And, considering that Mrs. Sanders has graciously cooked me my favorite meal of leg of lamb (and there is no one who can prepare it better — no one!) each of my last two visits, I am not sure if I’m doing Stan a favor by showing up on his doorstep or just looking after my own selfish culinary interests!!! Sandwiched around dinner, I got the opportunity to meet a couple of his collecting friends in Salt Lake and we went
back through the Stan Sanders Bottle Museum. For those who have never seen or heard of this tribute to the collecting spirit, I hope that you get the opportunity to visit him sometime. Post cards, tokens, paper, historical research, bottles, stoneware, advertising….. Incredible! The first time I visited him I thought that a couple of hours would give me a pretty complete picture of his collection — days of viewing is more like what is required! Visiting with Stan is always a pleasure — only wish that he and I had known one another when he was making his fishing excursions down into the waters off Mexico. Talking politics, bottles, researching items… Friends, deals, shows… Good food, good spirits… Now that’s a great visit! Hope that you are feeling well as you read this, Stan! I’ll be out again, soon! Following dinner, it was over to pick up Ivan for some visiting and a run down to Provo to visit with Elvin (Ben) Loader. Ben and I have been dealing back and forth almost as long as Bob Barnett and I — probably a good 20 years. When he sold his Western flask collection, Roger Terry and I were fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to purchase it and several of those bottles yet grace my shelves. I have never seen as pretty of a Crown
36 Shoulder Cutter as the one that came from him and his yellow-olive, half-pint Kane, O’Leary and Co. union oval is stellar. Ben has sold most of his collection, but still loves to visit about collecting. We had a nice visit and he made available a number of shot glasses and four token flasks [Figures 5, 6 a-b]. The tokens included a pint GILT EDGE 32 EAST ST., S.F. and half-pints PALACE LUNCH MARYSVILLE, CALIF. KNUDSEN & BREENJORD THE BEACH 212 EAST S.F. DAVID COHN LIQUOR DEALER OXNARD, CAL. Waiting for Ivan to get off work the following day gave me the chance to get up to Morgan, Utah and visit with Roger Terry. I never got to see his collection at its peak, but I wanted to see the great bottles I had heard he had retained and to see his acquisitions from the Blackie Owens collection. The Western bitters I saw would about knock your socks off — especially the square Boerhaave’s Stomach Bitters and Alex Von Humboldt’s Stomach Bitters! A nice run of Henley’s and all those “Sole Agent” fifths from Blackie’s collection! If Roger ever extends you an invitation, don’t wait all the years I did. Take advantage of the opportunity to see some superb Western glass. Where else would one see three S.T. Suits fifths???! Ivan and I did not get to do any digging this trip, but hit a favorite restaurant prior to my flight back home and the realities of having to pay for my time off! California The first weekend of December saw my folks and I making the trip from their home in Salinas over to Auburn for the 49er Historical Bottle Club’s show. This show is a favorite with the Western crowd and one you need to attend if you are thinking about being a collector of Western bottles. Visits with folks who I don’t often see make this an enjoyable trip, even if I don’t make any additions to my collection. This trip I got the opportunity to do both. Friday set-up is typically a scramble for me. The show is held in two buildings and I am back and forth between the two. Unfortunately, my forays through one hall kept me from being in the other hall when some dynamite flasks came out! Luckily, Gary Webe came running with the word that Lane Puckett was putting out some rare flasks and I got there before everything was snapped up. But, to my dismay, one lucky
Spring 2006 fellow was holding the Clinch and Company Grass Valley pumpkinseed and pint coffin. How he missed the half-pint shoofly from Clinch and Company [Figure 7] is beyond me, but it ended up in my hands and I was fortunate enough to add a Marysville pint pumpkinseed that I did not have, as well. Embossed W W WARD / GROTTO / MARYSVILLE [Figure 8], it is a fairly available pumpkinseed in the half-pint size, but I had not been able to acquire it in the larger size. Lane’s other offerings included most of the Marysville coffins and pumpkinseeds other than the 4th Ward House and monogrammed Mountain Brook coffins. Samplings included [Figures 9 a-b]: Pint and half-pint DAN DONAHOE / MINT / SALOON / MARYSVILLE pumpkinseeds. Pint and half-pint W T ELLIS & SON / WHITE SWAN / KENTUCKY / WHISKEY / MARYSVILLE, CAL pumpkinseeds. Pint and half-pint GIBLIN – O’BRIEN / THE / ELITE / MARYSVILLE pumpkinseeds. Pint and half-pint W W WARD / GROTTO / MARYSVILLE pumpkinseeds. Pint and half-pint GROTTO SALOON / WARD & FRYE / PROP’S / MARSVILLE, CAL. pumpkinseeds. Half pint MOUNTAIN BROOK / WHISKEY / JOHN W. STEWARD / MARYSVILLE / CAL pumpkinseed. Pint and half-pint MOUNTAIN BROOK / WHISKEY / JOHN L. STEWARD / MARYSVILLE / CAL coffins. Prices ranged between $150 and $500 on all but the Clinch and Company flasks and the majority of the bottles sold over the two day show. Smarting a little after losing out on two bottles I am not likely to get another chance to own, I walked back over to the other building to find my friend Dennis Strader setting up and… he had brought with him the one Monterey County flask which I had long sought — a pint pumpkinseed embossed THE BISMARK / J L WHITE / MONTEREY, CAL. [Figure 10]! Strong on the price, but a bottle I had to have! A little wheeling and dealing on a few other bottles that I might make a little on to reduce the price on the ‘seed and … DENNIS, YOU MADE MY SHOW!!! Now I need the half-pint ... (That’s the great thing about collecting — there is always something else to chase!) Other additions made at this show were a label-only, half-pint pumpkinseed OLD
Bottles and Extras
Figure 7: Clinch & Co. half-pint.
Figure 8: WW Ward Grotto pint pumpkinseed.
MOORMAN VERY FINE STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY BOTTLED BY OHIO HOUSE PLACERVILLE CAL [Figure 11] and a half-pint San Francisco coffin flask embossed D CHESNEY / 113 GRANT AVE / & / 129 SIXTH ST / S.F. There were a few other flasks here and there within the show, but no large
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Spring 2006
Figure 9a: Above: Grotto Saloon and White Swan pumpkinseeds from Marysville, Calif.
Figure 9b: Dan Donahoe Mint Saloon, Marysville pint pumpkinseed and The Elite, Marysville half-pint pumpkinseed.
Figure 10: The Bismark, Monterey, pumpkinseed and D. Chesney, S.F. half-pint coffin flask.
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groupings. Richard Siri had a nice Fleckenstein and Mayer knifeedge in a pretty yellow-amber and there were a couple of vertical Wormser flasks, as well. Joe Morrison offered a nice yellow-green Large Design Millers which I am not sure if sold or not (I blasted out of the show early to get back to Salinas in time to watch the UCLA-USC football matchup, only to be terribly disheartened by a thorough shellacking of my Bruins!) While on the Coast this trip I also made the drive over to Shaver Lake to visit with my friend and fellow flask-enthusiast Gene Baker. Over the years he and I have done a lot of dealing and competing and he’s one of those guys you just wish that you lived close to! He advises that he is planning upon retiring and taking up a shovel to do some digging, so if you live up in that area you might give him a shout. I’ve spent too much money on bottles to retire, so I’m not in a position to join him in his digging years just yet! Gene’s collection includes a number of pumpkinseed flasks which I have not been able to acquire and I took advantage of the visit to photograph these bottles for my book on Western flasks (which I swear will eventually make it to print!!!) I was impressed with the grouping he has put together — more extensive than I had envisioned and I really enjoyed seeing the other categories he collects, including Western cylinders, bitters, blacking bottles and ammonias. His amber ammonia with multi-colored swirls may be one of the prettiest bottles I have seen. Private Sales In the interim between my last column and now, I am aware of only a few private sales of individual flasks and no large groupings. Included among these was a clear pint pictorial coffin flask embossed R. C. MAGOR / WHOLESALE / LIQUOR DEALER / (embossed teapot) / RAWLINS, WY. Warren Borton, in his book Wyoming Bottles – Historical Bottles of Wyoming 1868-1910, notes that Richard Magor was in Rawlins from 1880 until his death in 1901, which helps us date the flask. Considered rare, this flask traded hands in the $800-$1,000 range. Other flasks parting company with prior owners included the Jesse Moore which Roger Terry and I had acquired from Ben Loader in the purchase of his collection. A superb bottle, it has been well-traveled, going from Ben to Roger to me, then to Ted Siri to Richard Siri and now back to Roger! Richard also sold the Old Bourbon Castle I wrote about last time, Ken Schwartz being the proud new owner. An amber union oval LOUIS TAUSSIG / 205 & 207 / BATTERY STREET / S.F. changed hands for $1,250 and a half-pint amber strap LILIENTHAL & CO / CINCINNATI / SAN FRANCISCO / & NY / DISTILLERS with a smoothed base flake realized $450. A very rare amber shoofly flask, embossed J D HEISE & CO / GROCERIES / WINES / & / LIQUORS / SW COR VALENCIA & 16TH STR S.F. changed hands at $2,400. Auctions And, on to the auctions…[Figures 12a-e] American Bottle Auctions can always be counted upon for some offerings when it seems that no-one is going to offer a good flask again. Jeff Wichmann has changed formats to a more frequent offering of a lesser number of bottles, but he is still managing to offer some flasks in each auction. In September, one lucky bidder acquired a mint Lilienthal Teardrop at $330. Other offerings that auction included a very rare union oval tooled top pint in yellow amber LIVINGSTON & CO / S.F. / 220 & 222 / CAL. ST. ($3,740)
38 and an example of the Heise shoofly noted above ($3,080). In the “Express” auctions, he realized an incredible $1,210 on a light amber tooled top Lilienthal Distillers strap flask and $1,320 on a very nice applied top amber flask embossed SPRUANCE STANLEY & CO / 410 / FRONT ST / S.F. A light to medium amber AAA OLD VALLEY netted $1,650. Jeff continues to be counted on for other things, as well. He has graciously donated items to past Federation auctions, runs a website that helps promote the hobby and it is my understanding that he may get involved with helping the Federation run the auction at the 2006 National Show in Reno. Interested in consigning? — let us know! EBay EBay — ahhh, EBay! For someone writing a column like this, EBay makes life so much easier! You just have to be diligent about book-marking the bottles and getting the prices noted before the item disappears. Hopefully I have spotted most of the significant bottles — if you noted something which I missed and you think it should appear in the column, please feel free to e-mail me. EBay Ambers It seems that very few of the amber Western flasks are offered on EBay. And the past several months have been typical. Offerings have included: AAA OLD VALLEY A pretty yellow olive with a buffed base chip, $1,200. [Figure 12a] JF CUTTER, STAR / SHIELD Light golden amber, mint, $2,000. [Figure 12b] CP MOORMAN Light yellow amber, mint, $710. [Figure 12b] GOUDIE & McKELVEY PEPPERTREE SALOON, SAN PEDRO. Near mint half-pint shoofly, $1,726. [Figure 13] Vertical WORMSER BROS / SAN FRANCISCO, near mint, $356. EBay Clear Pumpkinseeds and Coffins Every once in a while you catch a title on EBay that gets your heart to thumping. And, so it was when I saw a listing for “Manitou Colorado Pumpkinseed Flask”. Talk about an incredible and desirable Western pumpkinseed! Embossed E. P. CREIGHTON / ARCADE SALOON / MANITOU, the bottle would have blown through the roof and blown through my
Spring 2006 checking account except … the only thing blown was the whole shoulder of the flask. Ah, well — at least I have my pictures of the one from John Eatwell’s collection. As an accompanying article by Bill Baab advises, John passed away in December. He had the pre-eminent collection of Colorado flasks and I had the great privilege of visiting with him and with his wife on two occasions while researching and photographing the Colorado flasks for my book on Western flasks. He was a tremendous asset to our hobby and I will certainly miss him! (As a possible point of interest to the reader, his family is selling close to 500 of the leftover copies of John’s book Pike’s Peak Gold. At $20 per copy, they are a tremendous bargain and I will be happy to refer you to the family if you desire a copy.) Also from Colorado (and finding its way into my Colorado flask collection!) was an extremely rare (only other example known is in the Eatwell collection) pint coffin flask from Cripple Creek embossed W AND W BAR / McBRAYER / CRIPPLE CREEK / COLO [Figure 14]. Perfectly mint, this bottle pitted me against a good buddy of mine from Oklahoma and….it now resides on my shelf at the hefty sum of $1,685. The state of Montana was represented by three shooflies [Figure 15] in the past few months. Held back by a bruise in the face, a pint basket-based shoofly embossed C E CROWLEY / WINE MERCHANT /
Bottles and Extras
Figure 14: Pint W and W Bar, Cripple Creek, Colorado
18 SOUTH MAIN ST / BUTTE, MONT. realized only $127.50, where a mint example more recently brought close to $700. A half pint GWIN & JOHNSON / TURF EXCHANGE / 114 MAIN ST / ANACONDA, MONT., one of the more
Figure 15: Pint basket-based Crowley, Butte, Mont. shoofly; half-pint Gwin & Johnson, The Turf, Anaconda, Mont. shoofly; pint John Heller., Great Falls, Mont., shoofly.
Bottles and Extras
Figure 16: (L) Weinburg, Tacoma, W.T. Figure 17: (R) Half-pint Olympia flask. Wellington Saloon, Prescott, Arizona
Figure 18: Ranier Saloon, Toulumne, Calif. half-pint
Figure 19: Two eBay offerings of California pumpkinseed flasks: McDonoughʼs, S.F. pint and The Sequoia, Mill Valley, Calif. pint.
Figure 20: Pint and half-pint Abadie, Eureka, Nev. pumpkinseed flasks
Spring 2006 rare of the Anaconda flasks, hammered to $1,276 and a very badly cracked pint THIS LIQUOR BOTTLED BY / JOHN HELLER / GREAT FALLS / MONTANA realized $46.00. Ah, the advantages of one’s bottles being mint!!! Texas was represented in the clear flasks with a super clear fancy-based pint shoofly. Embossed DEL MONTE / KING & REILEY / 298 / MAIN STREET / DALLAS, TEXAS, a high bid of $432 was realized. Watch my next flask column for more Texas flasks promised last time, but unable to be delivered due to space constraints this time! From Washington State, a clear THE TACOMA / FRITZ REBOTSKI / HOQUIAM, WASH pint realized $445 (see the Fall 2005 issue of Bottles and Extras for a photo) and a flask embossed A. WEINBERG / monogram / TACOMA, W.T. [Figure 16] with a significant bruise on the shoulder reached $116. Arizona flasks are tough, tough, tough!!! A half-pint Olympia-style Wellington Saloon [Figure 17] with completely missing top made it to $160 and did not even meet the seller’s reserve! As one would usually expect, the California offerings were more plentiful. Among the noteworthy were: A pint pumpkinseed RAINIER SALOON / BLUE GRASS / S. HOSSLI / TUOLUMNE, CAL. [Figure 18], which screamed to $2,045. This is one that absolutely shocked all of us who seriously collect the Western pumpkinseeds, “Saloon” embossing not withstanding. Even more interesting than the price realized was the effect it had on the market six months later when the same seller listed the half pint and made a comment about how well the pint had done. Since he had placed a reserve on the bottle, almost (key word!) everyone assumed that the reserve would be close to the price realized by the pint, so the only serious bidder ended up with it at the reserve — a very good buy of $800! Congratulations, Steve! DAN DONAHOE / MINT / SALOON / MARYSVILLE. A clean and near mint pint pumpkinseed realized a reasonable $355 while a half pint with a crack in the lip made it to $90. McDONOUGH’S / 700 KEARNEY ST / S.F., CAL. [Figure 19]. With a nice amethyst tint and only a little stain, this pumpkinseed flask failed to capture the attention of the California collectors, closing at a price below reserve of $122.50.
39 It was later purchased off EBay at $300. A nice little half-pint pumpkinseed from just north of the Bay, $416 was paid for a J E BRADY / SEQUOIA / MILL VALLEY, CAL. And, finally for this category, the great state of Nevada! A clean and mint half-pint pumpkinseed flask embossed FRANK ABADIE / WHOLESALE / LIQUORS / EUREKA, NEV. [Figure 20] was offered by a seller whose mother had dug the bottle back in the 1970s. Friends pitted against friends … ahhh, the stress of an auction! Bob and Ralph … this one ended up in Tennessee at $1,625. I am happy to report that it joined a damaged pint recently dug by my friend Ivan Oakeson — darn — should have found the time to go digging with him while I was out in Salt Lake! EBay Flats and Miscellaneous Style Flasks This continues to be the one area of Western flask collecting where bargains can be found. But, as the following sales will illustrate, flasks which are rare and flasks from the non-Coastal states can command a premium. By state: California – BONITA – BAR / BEN NEWMAN, / PROPR. / ARCADIA, CAL. One I had never previously seen, this pint screw cap dandy realized $175 [Figure 22]. B O HART / FERNDALE, CAL (all in script) A scarce clear half-pint screw cap defender flask with staining garnered the starting bid of $69. W H TUTTLE / THE OWL / NEVADA CITY, CAL. This half-pint dandy is always a popular bottle and realized $154.50. C. TYNAN / J H CUTTER / WHISKEY / SALINAS, CAL. These are found in both the half and full pint sizes, with the pint being considerably more rare. The association with Cutter Whiskey makes them very popular. This halfpint clear dandy closed at $179 in an August auction [Figure 23]. VENDONE BAR / embossed stags head / SAN BERNARDINO. An extremely rare and desirable screw Figure 23: Tynan, cap dandy reflected Salinas, Calif.
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Spring 2006
Figure 24: (L) Vendome Bar, San Bernardino. Figure 26: (R) Senate Saloon, Grand Junction, Colo.
Figure 28: Sunset Wine House, Everett, Wash.
Figure 29: Index,. Wash. flask
Figure 30: (L) Doctor Bar, Raymond, Wash. Figure 31: (R) Grantʼs House of Quality, Seattle, Wash.
in the price realized of $257 [Figure 24]. Others included a clear pint dandy from Darmody and Schaffer, Los Angeles ($45), a clear pint dandy D.B. Jerrue from Los Angeles (no bid at the reserve of $45), an amber pint dandy Jos Melczer from Los Angeles ($25), a clear pint dandy Berges & Garrissere, Salinas ($17) and an amber half-pint dandy EAGLE VINEYARD / WM GOLDMAN / PROP. / S.F. which realized $28. A really nice half-pint clear defender flask embossed GILT EDGE with a crown and with the original label for OLD GILT EDGE / O K / WHISKEY / WICHMAN, LUTGEN & CO went to a new home at a very reasonable $66 [Figure 25]. Colorado – Flat flasks from this state can get pricey! Three good ones — two quite rare, were offered: THE BRANCH / SALOON / KOKOMO / COLO. Talk about a tough flask to find! Stained and poorly photographed this halfpint defender flask failed to meet the seller’s minimum bid of $1,125. ST REGIS BAR / J E DULMAINE / GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. This halfpint dandy flask is unlisted in Glen Preble’s book Impressed In Time – Colorado Beverage Bottles, Jugs and Etc 1859-1915. J. E. Dulmaine did have two different flasks embossed for the Windsor Bar, but this is the first I have seen for the St. Regis Bar. A bottle not even found in the Eatwell collection, it realized an appropriately strong price of $800. THE SENATE SALOON / GRAND JUNCTION / COLO. A half-pint defender flask that shows up occasionally, this example reached $433 [Figure 26]. Montana – AUGUST HELLER’S / FAMILY LIQUOR STORE / KALISPELL, MONT. This half pint rectangular flask was offered by David Bethman and realized $52. FULL MEASURE ONE PINT / WARRANTED DOUBLE STAMPED WHISKEY / BOUGHT DIRECT FROM DISTILLERY BY US / RYAN & LAUDER / GLOBE SALOON / 101 E. PARK BUTTE, MONTANA. A 16-ounce capacity pharmacy-style flask, this received the opening bid of $850. Perhaps a one-of-a kind [Figure 27]! Oregon – Surprisingly few flat flasks were offered from Oregon. Two that I did note were: GULLEY’S FAMILY LIQUOR STORE / 384 1ST STREET / PORTLAND, ORE. An amber rectangular banded quart, it realized the opening bid of $40. Rare, but apparently
Bottles and Extras not highly sought. THE MIDWAY / 244 1 ST ST / PORTLAND, ORE. A clear half-pint dandy, this flask was a bargain at $21.50. Utah – JOHN LOLLINS / SALT LAKE CITY / UTAH was embossed on an offered clean clear half pint Olympia-style flask. It realized $122.50. (see “New Finds” on page 6.). Washington – Dave Bethman and Marc Lutsko’s online auction site “thebottlevault” has been the source for a large quantity of good Washington flasks in the past few months. Several of the bottles noted below were offered on their site. SUNSET WINE HOUSE / 1919 HEWITT ST. / EVERETT, WASH. A half pint clear Baltimore oval flask, it reached $109 [Figure 28]. F. H COLLINS / “BAR” in horseshoe / INDEX, WASH. This clear pint dandy flask from a small Washington town realized the starting bid of $150. [Figure 29]. BERGLEEN & LITTLE / DOCTOR BAR / RAYMOND, WASH. A half-pint Washington style flask, this closed at $72 [Figure 30]. Dolan’s (in script) / HOTEL STEVENS BAR / 902 1st AVE / SEATTLE. A clear pint dandy flask, it had a small check and realized only $33. GRANT’S / HOUSE OF QUALITY / 1412 THIRD AVE / SEATTLE. A very clean clear half pint ringed dandy, it was popular to the tune of $82 [Figure 31]. Levinson’s (in script) / OUR NAME / OUR GUARANTEE / SEATTLE, WASH. This half-pint dandy realized $36. OUR HOUSE / WINE / & / LIQUOR CO / 151 / WASHINGTON ST / SEATTLE. A nice pint screw-cap dandy that closed at $42 [Figure 32]. THE ORIENT / P M LOW & CO / 323 FIRST AVE / SOUTH SEATTLE, WASH. was embossed on a half pint clear rectangular banded flask that realized $78 [Figure 33]. Territorial Bottles While scrolling through the flask listings on EBay I came across an Oklahoma Territory flask that did not exactly get me excited until …. I realized that it was a quart and not the typical pint or half pint capacity flask. A strap-sided flask embossed LEIGHTON & CO / THE MONARCH BAR / EL RENO, O.T., I was thrilled to put it on the shelves with my half pint Monarch Bar [Figure 37] and my other territorial and Oklahoma flasks!
Bottles and Extras
Figure 32: (L) Our House, Seattle, Wash. Figure 33: (R) The Orient, South Seattle
Spring 2006
41
Made available privately were four very nice Oklahoma flasks which came out of the Bill Slavik collection: FRANK MENTEN / BROADWAY CAFÉ / 205 BDWAY / O.K. CITY halfpint strap. [Figure 34] SHORE DISTILLING CO / ELK CITY / OKLA half-pint coffin. [Figure 35] J. A. HANNING / ARCADE SALOON / SHAWNEEE, O.T. half-pint strap. [Figure 35] McLEAN BROS / EL RENO, O.T. halfpint strap. [Figure 36] I am including photographs of these, as well as the other Oklahoma territory flasks
Figure 34: Territorial flasks from Oklahoma.
Figure 36 (above) and 37 (R): Five more territorial flasks from Oklahoma Territory are illustrated.
I own to give an overview of what is available to collectors [Figures 34-36]. There are others… Johnnie Fletcher is currently working on a book which will feature the Oklahoma and Indian Territory bottles, glasses and stoneware. Please consider letting him know what you have to help make that project as complete as possible. You may reach him at Johnnie Fletcher, 1300 S. Bluehaven Dr., Mustang, OK 73064. Phone (405) 376-1045 or E-mail him at privyguy@aol.com. Until next time……
Figure 35: More Territorial flasks from Oklahoma.
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Spring 2006
An Old and Bitter Storyteller © Andrew V. Rapoza, 2006 There is a bitters bottle that few have seen. It is exceedingly rare; experts claim there are less than a half dozen still in existence. It was made before the Civil War and bears all the hallmarks of bottles from that early era: a slightly rough birth scar marks where the fragile newblown was severed from its iron pontil umbilical cord; an imperfectly applied collar swaddles the stretched and twisted neck; air bubbles and potstones fill the glass like a frozen galaxy of stars and planets, and whittle marks hint that it shivered in the cold embrace of the glassmaker’s mold. This was not one of those gloriously fancy figural bitters; it sat plainly on the store shelf next to dozens of other aqua-colored bottles. Its only claim to fame was the name bequeathed by its creator. It is embossed on three sides, the words stretching into space, demanding to be noticed, purchased, used, and remembered. This simple glass antiquity is an old and bitter storyteller – the last testament of one of the thousands of forgotten healers of the nineteenth century. Its sole purpose now is to tell its story to all who will listen. During the first half of the nineteenth century, Samuel and Mary Eastman raised their crops and their children in the rugged foothills to Maine’s tallest mountains. Living deep in the new state’s interior was not for the weak-willed or those of delicate constitution; even the town’s name – Strong, Maine – intimated the kind of person best suited to live there as well as the character of those the area would produce. Samuel and Mary met the challenge, exceeding the life expectancy of adults of that era by a good measure (living to eighty and seventy-nine years respectively), and having an extra large family of a dozen children. Mother and father were exemplars for their offspring, demonstrating a drive to survive and thrive. Mary ran the home and raised the children, usually while pregnant with still another, and Samuel served over the years as a state senator, justice of the peace, captain in the militia, and a member of the governor’s executive council, all in addition to farming for his family’s food and profit. The Eastman farm yielded a bounteous harvest. Three sons became lawyers, two others became doctors and one a banker; one daughter married a lawyer and the other a ship captain. Most of the Eastman boys traveled far from home to find their futures. One son ventured to and died in New
Orleans in the terrible cholera year of 1832. Four other brothers pioneered the new Wisconsin Territory, apparently encouraged, as were thousands of other New Englanders, by the government’s cheap sale of land to promote rapid settlement of the region. Benjamin and Harry Eugene were the first Eastman brothers to go west. In 1840 Benjamin settled in Platteville, Wisconsin, near the Iowa border, where he became a two-term Congressman after the territory became a state. Harry arrived in the same year and was later elected the third mayor of Green Bay. Another of the adventurous sons was Ezekiel Porter Eastman, who traveled to the new land of his brothers shortly after his graduation in 1838 from the Medical College of Maine and his marriage to Mary Macomber in 1840. Ezekiel had been married just one month back in Strong when brother Benjamin wrote to a physician friend in Boston, urging him to marry quickly and come to Wisconsin, promising excellent prospects for his medical business. The old friend declined, but within the next few years, Ezekiel, as a newlywed young doctor, took up the challenge because Eastmans knew how to grow a challenge into an opportunity. In 1842 Ezekiel and Mary made the long journey west to the frontier
Bottles and Extras territory, settling into a young village on Lake Michigan called Milwaukee that had reached a population of 1,700 inhabitants a few years earlier. Writing to his father from there in the spring of 1843, Ezekiel reported that he had just endured what the Indians were saying had been the severest winter in eighteen years. He told his father that immediately upon his arrival he had purchased eighteen parcels of land and was in the process of building two fine brick homes, each with three bedrooms, a cellar, and a kitchen. He had also teamed up with one of the town’s oldest settlers, Dr. Jesse S. Hewett, who was a quiet, unassuming man and good physician but a poor businessman. “[He] has no facuilty of getting business or husbanding it,” Ezekiel wrote, “I have the whole care and controle of the books and co[mpany] affairs. He is just the right kind of a man for my partner …” Ezekiel’s doctoring route ran all the way across the territory over to the Platteville region. He also wrote that the next day he was going to leave “for the Mississippi country to collect some fo[u]r or five hundred Dullars that is due me. There I shall see Ben … The tour that I am about to make would be thought to be a long one in Maine. I shall go west two hundred miles …” Before he closed his letter, the fledgling doctor gave his father some medical instructions to pass on to family back home in Strong. For one of his Porter cousins, he prescribed a syrupy mixture of plant materials: rhubarb, balsam of tolu, bloodroot, and dried juice of the poppy flower – opium. As the final hurdle in his medical studies at Bowdoin College, Ezekiel had written his dissertation on the benefits of opium for the cure of rheumatism, asserting that when administered without “timidity” the patient experienced “a kind of delightful ectacy, forgets his sufferings, &c.” He demonstrated that same zeal for extreme dosing and exhibited further faith in the healing power of plants by directing his sisters to virtually marinate themselves in a broth of the common yellow dock weed. The large, dark roots of this plant cut open to reveal yellow pulp. The liquid that was drawn off from boiling the yellow matter was much admired for its gentle laxative effect, thus flushing out sickness or, if used externally, washing it off the body. An 1844 herbal medicine book revealed, “The reason that the value of this article is so little known … is because the patient does not
Bottles and Extras take enough of it, and does not follow it up long enough.” Ezekiel was already trying in 1843 to convince his sisters not to make this mistake, urging them to make it part of their daily rituals, “get some yellow dock – steep it – drink it and wash in it every day for months …” He urged his father to tell his sister Julia “not to fail to do so. She must persevere in its use … if she [does] she will be cured.” He insisted that his other sister Frances should also use yellow dock and wrote, “I have cured three or four of the same disease within the past year.” He suspected, however, that Julia would not hold much stock in his advice, so he teased that if his cure seemed too “far fetched,” he would get some big-name doctor to tell her the same thing. Although Ezekiel was successfully enduring the rugged travel, weather, and experiences of doctoring over extraordinary distances, Wisconsin might have proved too rugged an experiment for Mary. By the end of that year 1843, she was pregnant with their first child in a largely untamed land that was still populated with Indians, beset by severe winters, and far from their families back in New England. Mary refused to travel back, even for a visit, without Ezekiel, so they left together and for good. Charles Follen Eastman was born in August of 1844 in the tranquil, tame little village of Monroe, Maine – perhaps too peaceful and quiet for Ezekiel to practice his profession and sustain his family. In the spring of 1846, Ezekiel, Mary, and their baby relocated to bustling Lynn, Massachusetts. The young healer and his family settled into the same neighborhood as several other branches of the Eastman family tree that had also relocated from hometown Strong. All five families lived in close proximity to each other, within a mile radius of the very large town’s central business district. But there was more than just familiar faces that attracted them to this seaside town. Ezekiel was thrilled to get an invitation from the residents of Nahant (a community on a peninsula that extends into the ocean from Lynn) to be their physician. Nahant was a popular summer coastal resort for the affluent, hosting several hotels, including one that was said to be the largest in New England at the time. The opportunity for many patients, many of whom were wealthy, appealed to the young doctor whose prospects had been far fewer and bleaker in the remote backwoods villages of Maine and far less arduous than his
Spring 2006 practice on the Wisconsin frontier. In March, 1846 he wrote to his brother-in-law back in Strong, I am three miles from Lynn at the watering place of the United States. I was hired by the inhabitants of the place to tend them for four hundred and fifty Dollars a year. In summer my charges to strangers will amount to more than my salary. I spend now four hours each day at Lynn where [I earn] an average two Dollars and a half each day … A doctor on salary was a rarity indeed and Ezekiel’s retainer was especially generous because he was free to collect additional fees from the wealthy summer tourists to Nahant’s hotels and to spend a good part of each day doing the same in Lynn. It was also probably much easier to collect his earnings from the town than it would have been to gather it from an equivalent of many dozens or even hundreds of individual patients. It was not always easy to ply his profession, however, because the population seemed plagued by excessive health. In 1847 a cousin of Ezekiel’s wrote, “I have heard of no colds or bowel complaints in Lynn (or rarely) this summer. Doct. Eastman says it is alarmingly healthy here just now.” Again in January of 1853, Mary Eastman was not certain whether to root for healthy neighbors or her husband the healer, “Notwithstanding this unseasonable weather – there is no severe sickness here as yet – Should we be glad or sorry?” Another challenge came from medical competition. One of his sickly relatives in Lynn found herself surrounded by a dizzying array of healers; she relied on the psychic insights of a clairvoyant healer, the cold-water baths of a hydropathist, the advice of a minister turned healer, and the pills of her cousin, Ezekiel Eastman. In late 1846 Ezekiel went on a whirlwind tour of England, France, Germany, and Belgium to learn the water cure. (Also known as hydropathy, the water cure started in Austrian Silesia [now located in Czechoslovakia], and was becoming the rage in the late 1840s. The new healing regimen advocated the use of water only, almost always cold, in the form of baths, showers, and virtual mummification in soaked sheets, to cure all ills.) Ezekiel quickly soaked up information on the new healing method and upon his return in the beginning of 1847, began his hydropathic
43 practice at Dracut Heights near Lowell, Massachusetts, in an establishment with enough space for sixty patients. He was apparently at that facility for a very short time, however; by May it was already being run by different doctors. Upon Ezekiel’s return to Lynn, a cousin named Oliver Porter wrote to his wife who was at a water cure facility in Maine, urging her to come back home because during her absence, cousin Ezekiel had become a capable water cure healer. Oliver heard that he had used the water cure for typhus fever “with excellent success.” For most of 1849, Ezekiel again tried to run his own water cure facility, this time in Gorham, Maine, but that effort also ended in under a year and he came back to Lynn again. Upon his return, he was willing to try the next new thing – homeopathy. Homeopathic medicine was repeatedly diluted (often in a sweetened base) to minimize the presence of the single medicinal ingredient it contained because it was believed that potency increased as the active ingredient’s presence was decreased. After only a brief effort with the tiny pills, Ezekiel replaced his newest experiment with the botanical
44 medicines that he had learned to trust in his earliest years as a healer. In the midst of the many medical philosophies being practiced, some physicians practiced eclecticism – a blend of medicines and therapies from the various systems, according to the needs of the particular case. Ezekiel Porter Eastman was one such eclectic healer: he had immersed himself in the water cure and taken a little dose of homeopathy, but he also administered medicines with gusto, which was considered totally unnecessary by water cure purists and completely improper by homeopaths. His success was rewarded, however, with kudos from the town press; one newspaper reported, “Dr. Eastman is another fine specimen of the polished gentleman, as well as [an] accomplished physician. He unite[s] in his practice both the old and new systems, using drugs or cold water, as occasion in his judgment may require, and for this he is highly esteemed by many.” He sold medicines of his own creation, like some pills that he gave to Oliver Porter to whom he told, “They never have failed to cure Dispepsia,” and warranted a cure, “They excite the bile to do its duty in digestion – or in some way helps it.” In 1853 he introduced Eastman’s Sick Headache Remedy. It was said to have created a sensation in the community because “there are so great a number of people who are afflicted with the distressing complaint, for which no [specific] medicine has before been made public.” John B. Alley, part owner of a wholesale leather business, testified that the remedy almost entirely cured him and had “relieved or greatly mollified the disease” of several of his neighbors and friends. It came as no surprise – to his sisters, at least - that Ezekiel also decided to bottle a medicine made of yellow dock root. He arranged to have the bitters manufactured by Joseph B. Hill, a barber in Lynn. (Hair dressers/barbers of this era were often involved in mixing chemicals and other ingredients to make their own hair oils, tonics, pomades, etc., so by mid nineteenth century standards, medicine preparation by a barber was not at all a stretch on the credulity of the average person.) Since counterfeiting labels of commercially successful medicines was easy and frequently done, they resorted to a bottle version that had his proprietary information embossed right into the aqua glass: “Dr E. P. EASTMAN’S // YELLOW DOCK /
Bottles and Extras
Spring 2006 BITTERS // LYNN MASS.” He also registered the product name at the U.S. Copyright Office in 1852. The general population knew their botanical ingredients and could even go to the local drugstore and buy various roots and herbs to make their own medicines, poisons, glue, shoe polish, and any other household compounds, if they desired. They knew then that the bold declaration of YELLOW DOCK was a promise to spend time in the outhouse, flushing the illness away. But this medicine was no deceitful money grab for Eastman; he had demonstrated years earlier that he really believed in the stuff. He had promised cures to his own sisters if they would faithfully, frequently, and repeatedly drink and wash in the soupy water made from boiling yellow dock roots. It was the only medicinal ingredient he prescribed for their illnesses and he told them to use it internally and externally for months until cured. While many thousands of medicines would be concocted in the nineteenth century solely to quench their maker’s greed, Ezekiel Porter Eastman can be counted among those who actually believed in their medicine. It is highly likely that he resorted to J. B. Hill and the retail sale of his medicines in the mid-1850s as a means of adding to a dwindling income; he had to cut back on his practice because of a difficult challenge to his own health. In January 1853 he had appeared vigorously healthy, telling his sister with manly pride, “I have been home from my morning calls about half an hour – since my return I have shovled the snow from off the poarch drank a mug of ale smoked a cigar read the paper and now I am [writing to] you.” But the doctor was human after all; he became stricken with the ubiquitous scourge of the nineteenth century, consumption (tuberculosis). By January 1855, after less than a decade of practice in Lynn, Ezekiel left on a long trip to regain his health. He intended to go to the South, “but on arriving in Washington, D.C., he became more enfeebled, and by the advice of physicians turned to the West.” He rested in Platteville, Wisconsin, probably at the home of his brother Benjamin C. Eastman, who was then finishing his second term as a congressman from that state. With the comforts of a successful life and a home without children, Benjamin and his wife Charlotte were able to provide his brother a restful environment that gave some relief from his terrible disease. A letter from
Ezekiel to a friend back in Lynn was shared in one of the city’s newspapers, “The Doctor finds himself much more comfortable there, his appetite is good, and he can take some little exercise in the open air. He has gained strength since his arrival, and thinks that country, above all others, is the proper place for persons affected with pulmonary complaints.” Ezekiel’s Midwestern hiatus appeared to buy him extra time. He returned to Lynn and resumed his physician’s chores, but his death in February 1860 at just 43 years old “was not unexpected.” He had been unable to continue his profession for the six months prior to his decease, consumption having “long since marked him as its victim; but, having an excellent constitution, and a determined will, he has, several times, by extraordinary perseverance, baffled the inroads of disease, astonishing … those who knew of his troubles and sufferings.” His tenacious will to live had served him well, cheating death more surely than all his medicines could do. Eastman’s Lynn home has long since been demolished to make room for the city that replaced it. His patients and his competition lie silently in the earth. No painting or daguerreotype of him is known to have survived. His bitters were never advertised in the town papers and like their creator they had a short life of only a few years. Thus there are less than a half-dozen bottles of Dr. E. P. Eastman’s Yellow Dock Bitters known to exist, but they bear his name, testifying to his existence and his belief that he had made life a little less bitter. Author’s Note: According to Carlyn Ring in For Bitters Only back in 1980, someone has a labeled version of Dr. E. P. Eastman’s Yellow Dock Bitters. I would love to make contact with that person or institution so that I can find out all the words that appear on the existing portion of the label. Please E-mail me at andrewrapoza@charter.net. Thank you! References (Spelling variations within the article’s selected quotations are as they appear in the original letters and writings of their authors.)
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· Advertisement, Bangor Daily Whig and Courier (Bangor, Maine: 9 June 1849). · Advertisement, The Bay State, 6 December 1855. · Eastman, Ezekiel P. “Dissertation on Rheumatism,” Medical Dissertations, Vol. 9, 1837-1838 (Medical School of Maine: Historical Records and Files. George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives. Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine, August 30, 1838). · Editorial, “Hydropathy,” Freedom’s Amulet (Lynn, Mass.), 6 December 1848. · Editorial, no title (under the abbreviation, C. M. S.), Lynn Weekly Reporter, 27 January 1855. · King, William Harvey, M.D., LL.D. History of Homoeopathy and Its Institutions in America, (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1905), Vol. I, p. 224. · Letter, Benjamin C. Eastman to Henry Blanchard, 3 February 1840, © Vermont
Philatelic. · Letter, E. P. Eastman to Samuel Eastman, 6 May 1843 (© University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents; see http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/ wipionexp.Letters2w) · Letter, Dr. E. P. Eastman to Phillip M. Stubbs, 28 March 1846 (collection of The Lynn Museum, Lynn, Mass.). · Letter, John A. Eastman to Frances A. Eastman, 20 October 1846 (© University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents; see http://digital.library. wisc.edu/1711.dl/ wipionexp.Letters2z) · Letter, Julia (Eastman) Stubbs to Philip M. Stubbs, 28 June 1848 (collection of Andrew V. Rapoza). · Letter, Maria Eastman to Julia (Eastman) Stubbs, care of P. M. Stubbs, 11 January 1853 (collection of The Lynn Museum, Lynn, Mass.). · Letters from Oliver Porter to Aurora
45 Porter, dated 25 August 1847, 3 and 17 October 1847 (Porter Family Correspondence, Massachusetts Historical Society). · Obituary of Ezekiel Porter Eastman, Lynn News, 22 February 1860. · Ring, Carlyn compiler, For Bitters Only (Boston: The Nimrod Press, 1980), p. 178. · Rix, Guy S., compiler, History and Genealogy of the Eastman Family of America (Concord, NH: 1901). · Sanborn, Dr. P. E. The Sick Man’s Friend, Being a Plain, Practical Medical Work on Vegetable or Botanical Principles (Boston: William Johnson, 1844). · Watson, Richard Bitters Bottles (New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1965), p. 100 (112). · Weiss, Harold B. and Howard R. Kemble, The Great American Water-Cure Craze (Trenton, New Jersey: The Past Times Press, 1967).
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Dr. D. G. Weare and the History of the Weare Medicine Company Daniel G. Weare was born in 1821 and died in Fairport, New York in April, 1890. Nothing of Daniel’s early life has been recorded, even though you will see that he was an important figure in at least two towns and had biographical material written about him in several county and city histories. I believe that he was probably born in or near Fairport from the simple fact that he was was survived by three sisters and a brother who all lived in the area. The first recorded notation of Daniel is when he started medical practice in Fairport in 1847. Fairport is a suburb of Rochester, New York. The now Doctor Weare would have been twenty-six at the time. When or where he received his medical training is unknown at this time. Dr. Weare must have had a bit of the wanderlust in him. He left his medical
practice in Fairport after only 18 months and traveled to Georgia. Nothing of his time in Georgia could be found. In the Spring of 1857, at the age of thirty-six, Daniel has what appears to be a chance meeting with Edgar Richmond in the town of Lincoln, Michigan. Edgar was the town clerk and county register of Pentwater
Bottles and Extras township in Oceania County, Michigan. The pair traveled on foot to Pentwater where Daniel G. Weare became the town’s first doctor. Dr. Weare must have had an immediate positive impact on the township for by the next year, 1858, he was elected county supervisor. Soon thereafter he purchased a tract of land east of Pentwater and set about establishing “the Weare Place.” Daniel built a one and a half story frame home, started an apple orchard, and strawberry fields. He was also interested in horses and horse racing and started raising trotting horses. He continued to practice medicine, as it is recorded in an early county history that he had enough medicine in his house to stock a drug store. On April 2, 1861, the area east of Pentwater was organized into a township. The town was named Weare after the good
Ephemera showing the succession of ownership of the Dr. Weare name after the death of Dr. Weare himself. I have never seen a receipt or letterhead from the company while Dr. Weare was in ownership.
Dr. David G. Weare
Bottles and Extras doctor and still exists today. As the country was now engulfed in the Civil War, the little backwoods township that was Weare felt the call of Patriotism. Company I, Sixth Michigan Cavalry was raised in Pentwater by C. W. Deane, the town lawyer. Dr. Daniel Weare signed up as company surgeon on October 15, 1862. He is listed as 41 years old when he went off to the rigors of war. The Sixth was to become part of what is now called the “Michigan Brigade.” This Brigade was commanded by Brigadier General George Custer. Their first major engagement was during the Southern invasion of Pennsylvania by General Lee’s Army of Virginia. The Sixth fought at Hanover, and then led by General
Heave Remedy box c1910. The company name on the box suggests this packaging was produced during the time of Gazley ownership. The side panel (below) has the 1906 Drug Act disclaimer.
Spring 2006 Custer, met the Confederate Cavalry on July 3rd, 1863 on the fields east of Gettysburg and won the day. During their service, the Sixth Michigan Cavalry lost 49 killed in action, 26 men died from wounds, and 247 died of disease for a 18.1% casualty rate. Dr. Weare survived his time in the Army and was mustered out of service on November 7th, 1865 in Leavenworth, Kansas. While I have no recorded facts concerning Dr. Weare, I can say that many Civil War surgeons for Cavalry units doubled as the unit’s farrier. They would usually spend time doctoring the men and the horses. Since Daniel had an interest in horses prior to entering the service, it’s a good bet that his three years spent in the army provided him with many opportunities to develop veterinary medicines and try them out first hand. It is only after his time in the service that he is recorded as a producer of horse remedies.
47 Dr. Weare returned to Weare, Michigan after the war, and in 1868, he purchased the drug store in Pentwater formerly owned by E. A. Weaver. In 1873, at the age of 52, Daniel Weare sold his store and land holdings and moved back to Fairport, New York, leaving the town named after him. No biographical information in either Weare or Fairport address why Dr. Weare made this move. We do know that in that same year, he opened a drug store on Main Street in Fairport. Daniel seems to have settled down, as in Michigan, to the life of a successful business man. Little is recorded during this time for him as a physician. He is generally described in newspaper reports as a chemist and druggist. His sales of veterinary medicines seem to take center stage as the Monroe County Mail newspaper describes his remedies for domestic animals as having a national reputation. The paper on April, 1, 1887 describes Dr. Weare as
Box with one dozen doses of Dr. Weare Worm Expeller. c1900. Most of the surviving Dr. Weare medicines seem to come from the time of Mulliner ownership.
Dr. Daniel Weare’s business ad from the Fairport business directory of 1880-1881.
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Left: Dr. Weare booklet with image of Stock Food box on the cover (Opengart collection). Right: Large, graphic box produced by the Mulliner Company c1900. Colorful and graphic boxes suuch as this are always in demand among veterinary and country store collectors.
“doing a business in a quiet way, the Doctor may be classed as one of the substantial business men of the town.” The Rochester Union Advertiser of July 20, 1888 states of Dr. Weare’s veterinary medicines, “If the doctor were not so conservative regarding his methods of advertising, I venture the assertion that his goods would have international sale.” Dr. Daniel G Weare died of “neuralgia of the heart” in April 1890. He left no heirs, however this was not to be the end of Dr. Weare veterinary medicines, not by a long
shot. Soon after the doctor’s death, his store was taken over by Becker & Came. Little is known about these two gentlemen who seem to have produced Dr. Weare’s remedies until about 1897. At that time, George Mulliner Jr., who had previously been a bank clerk, bought out Becker & Came. Mr. Mulliner had a part interest in a grocery store and seems to have produced Dr. Weare veterinary medicines through that means. Sometime in the early 1900s, A. D. Gazley, Glenn Gazley, and Ernest Gazley became involved with the drug
Left: Produced by Dr. Weare himself. c1880. This is the only example of a veterinary medicine produced during the time of Dr. Weare of which I am aware. Center: Becker & Came’s ownership of the Dr. Weare name came with the death of Dr. Weare in 1890. They sold out to George Mulliner around 1897. Right: Package produced during the ownership of George Mulliner. This package is multicolored and has much more graphic appeal. c1900.
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Dr. Weare Gall Cure tin. Galls are sores on the shoulders and backs of horses from the wear and tear of harness and saddles. Ointment tins to treat galls are probably the most common veterinary remedy found by collectors today. However, few have the fancy detailed graphic image of this example.
production of Dr. Weare medicines, renaming the company the Dr. Weare Medicine Company. By 1908, Earnest Gazley had taken over sole control of the company. With his death in 1915, Glenn and Carl Gazley continued to sell Dr. Weare remedies and other general store merchandise under the name of Gazley Mfg. Company. The Galzeys’ may have sold the Dr. Weare name and formulas to The Brooks Company of Attica, New York, for the Rothman collection has a receipt from that company dated 1922 describing the company as Manufacturing Chemists and selling Dr. Weare Veterinary medicines. It is possible that the Brooks company was just a New York distributor for the Gazley’s. So ends the history of Dr. Weare Medicines. For the collector today, bottles of Dr. Weare’s medicine are the hardest of all his remedies to find. Boxes of medicine including his Heave Remedy, Worm Expeller, and Poultry Powder show up from time to time. However, only Dr. Weare’s Colic Cure bottles are known to exist at this time. If you have a bottle with a Dr. Weare embossing or label, you have a real rarity in your collection. I would be interested in documenting any Dr. Weare items that readers have in their collection. Please contact me at petvet@mindspring.com. Thanks for help with this article go to: Fairport Historical Museum Oceania County Historical Society Ken Opengart, DVM
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Youʼre Going to Do Do What to the What, What? The DHU DHU FEEDER from India aka, the Pregnant Torpedo by Charles S. Harris, Ooltewah, Tennessee
One June, Teresa and I were at the big annual East Tennessee Antique and Bottle Show in Knoxville where we have found a few very respectable baby bottles for our collection. One of our favorite dealers is Roy and Maureen Paget along with their friend, Andrea Smith, from England. They always bring some super bottles and gowiths with them to entice us and some of the other collectors. At this show Andrea unwrapped this double-ended bottle and laid it out on their table. Both Teresa and I looked at each other while simultaneously pointing at this ugly bottle. We both came out with the same comment which sounded like a slightly out of synch broken record — a pregnant torpedo?! We both immediately reached for it — Teresa was closer than me. For $50 we couldn’t resist it and it was quickly rewrapped and put on our tab.
Not only was it an ugly bottle, but it even had an ugly sounding name — The DHU DHU FEEDER. It weighs in at hefty 12-ounces of greenish-gray glass with a few large and hundreds of pinpoint-sized air bubbles in abundance throughout the glass. On the left side is a scale with eight large and seven small hash marks (unnumbered) and marked TABLESPOONS. The long neck has very definite stretch marks, terminating in a raised ring that will accept a pull-on nipple. The tail-end terminates with a pooched-in and out button that took some sort of a valve to allow air into the bottle. The bottom is somewhat flat in an attempt to keep it from rolling over onto its pregnant sides. It also appears to have been blown into a two-piece (top and bottom) carved wooden mold, for little flats can be seen all over the surface. The lip is also formed from a separate two-piece mold
that is rotated 90 degrees from the body. When we asked Maureen where it came from, she told us a little about its background. It was found in an old orphanage that was abandoned before 1920 in Goa, an East India English Colony.
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UNUSUAL BOTTLES by Bryan Grapentine
Photos by Larry Grapentine Over the past 31 years I have collected bottles in most all the categories except embalming bottles. It is always fun and exciting to find a bottle that is somehow different or unusual compared to others in its category, or a bottle that is just extraordinarily beautiful. Common bottles in a rare or unusual color are often inexpensive and fun to collect. These unusual bottles can add much interest to a collection. In this article I will present the most unusual bottles in my general collection from various categories. MINERAL WATER [Figure 1] These bottles are unusual for the lettering, color, and size. Both bottoms are solid, not indented. Varennes is a small town about 25 miles from Montreal along the St. Lawrence River. A few of these bottles were found while the St. Lawrence seaway was being constructed. The large bottle is the only colored, quart size, round bottom soda bottle known. The medium blue color may be unique for this type of bottle. ACL CROWN TOP BOTTLE [Figure 2, first bottle] In 1961 it was reported that 240 of these bottles was made by Canada Dry for a barbecue at the Texas White House of Honorable Vice President Lyndon Johnson. 45 of these bottles were salvaged from a trash dump and approximately 55 went home with the guests. Four color ACL bottles are not common.
appeared in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector magazine some years ago. CROWN TOP EMBOSSED SODA [Figure 2, fourth bottle] This bottle has a most unusual, possibly unique, pink color for a soda bottle. Approximately 30 of these pink, machine made, bottles were made in three designs by Wheaton Glass for the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1953-1954. These experimental bottles never went into production. The product did not look good in pink bottles The bottom has 44 raised dots in three circles. Notice the unusual serrated embossing below the lip. The swirl design was used later for ACL clear glass Pepsi bottles. COCA–COLA [Figure 3, first bottle] This aqua 6 ½” ten pin shape bottle is from Washington, N.C. COCA-COLA is in block letters and Indian Rock Ginger Ale is in script on the shoulder. Coke collectors love this bottle even though it may have contained both Coca-Cola and ginger ale. EMBOSSED MILK [Figure 3, second bottle] This experimental Borden’s Royal Ruby quart is the only known red milk bottle. It was made by Anchor Hocking in 1950 but never put into production. Embossed under the neck ring is; FILL TO
Bottles and Extras ARROW ON FLANGE. Fewer than a dozen of these beautiful bottles were made. ACL MILK [Figure 3, third bottle] This square quart is unusual because it pictures three calendar months on each of its four sides, each in a different identified color. This salesman’s sample has the following identifying lettering around the shoulder The Owens-Illinois Duraglas HANDI-SQUARE American Favorite Dairy Container. Below this is: 1948 DESK CALENDAR ACL COLOR SAMPLES. This may be the only 13 color milk bottle ever manufactured. Likely, no other ACL bottle of any category came in 13 colors. BEER [Figure 3, fourth bottle] This is only red glass ACL bottle that I know of. It was an experimental 12-ounce bottle made by the Anchor Glass Co. for the Latrobe Brewing Co., Latrobe, Pa, in the 1950s. Only a few of these ROLLING ROCK bottles exist. The company is still in business making beer. SAMPLE [Figure 4, first bottle] This 3 ½” tooled top bottle is embossed: THE CROWN CORK & SEAL CO. BALTIMORE, U.S.A. The glass is a light sun colored amethyst and was probably made for salesmen to demonstrate the new (at the time) metal crown soda cap. WHISKEY [Figure 4, second bottle] This beautiful deep teal colored pint flask has a token glued in a recessed circle. The
BLOB TOP SODA [Figure 2, second bottle] This beautiful smooth base blue ten pin shape bottle is embossed vertically around the bottle: POLK & Co./ BARNUMS/BUILDING/BALTO in big letters. Apparently the Barnums building was the Barnum and Bailey Circus headquarters. This bottle has a nice blue color, unusual lettering and is rarely offered for sale. HUTCHINSON SODA [Figure 2, third bottle] This is the only known American Hutchinson bottle with Japanese characters. This Fresno, California bottle is not particularly rare but is considered desirable. An article on the bottler Morimoto,
Figure 1: Quart and pint Varennes Seltzer
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Figure 2: ACL Crown Top, Blob Top Soda, Hutchinson Soda, Crown Top Embossed Soda Figure 3: Coca-Cola, Embossed Milk, ACL Milk, Beer
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Figure 4: Sample, Whiskey Flask, Mini-Jug, Poison
Figure 5: Food, Counter Jar, Patent Medicine, Bitters
Figure 6: Ink, Target Ball, Cologne, Go-With
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Bottles and Extras token reads: ELK POOL HALL ELKO, NEV. Under the screw-on cap is a cork stopper with a silver button on top. The bottle is unlisted in THE NEVADA BOTTLE BOOK. MINI-JUG [Figure 4, third item] Stoneware mini-jugs for vinegar and whiskey are rather common, but I have never seen another handled glass mini. This one came from a Heckler auction and reads: THE CAMPUS/GOSSLER BROS/ COLUMBUS AVE/& 104 TH ST./N.Y. Common quart bottles are known from the same company in a similar amber color. POISON [Figure 4, fourth bottle] Most poison bottles have some identifying embossing such as quilting, cross hatching, skull and cross bones, and skull figurals. This cobalt bottle embossed THE/J F HARTZ & CO/LIMITED/TORONTO uses tiny hearts on three sides to identify the bottle as a poison. This may be a unique design element for a poison bottle. FOOD [Figure 5, first bottle] This 9 ½” bottle strongly resembles a milk bottle. It even has a cap seat as does a milk bottle. Color is a light amethyst. The lettering is bold and extensive: ONE QUART/ PROPERTY OF/J.H.HEINZ CO./ PITTSBURGH,U.S.A./TO BE USED ONLY/FOR GROCERS BOTTLING/ HEINZ BARREL VINEGARS. The reverse reads: WHEN EMPTY/WASH CLEAN/AND/RETURN TO GROCER/ ANY PERSON MISUSING /THIS BOTTLE WILL/BE PROSECUTED. The base has the Heinz number 180. The bottle is not listed in KETCHUP,PICKLES, SAUCES 19TH CENTURY FOOD IN GLASS has a neatly made tooled top. I’m guessing the bottle pre-dates 1920. COUNTER JAR [Figure 5, second bottle] This attractive medium green glass tea jar is interesting for many reasons. Is there another master tea jar? How many
Spring 2006 jar lids have a jeweled crown on top of an outside fitting lid? Each side of the jar is different. Front has the company name and address. Right side pictures of an elephant loaded with boxes of tea. The back shows the Acker company logo and the left side pictures the tea plant. The 8 ¼” jar would hold a lot of loose tea for a wealthy family or upscale tea house. PATENT MEDICINE [Figure 5, third bottle] An interesting story about the origin of Hobo medicine was written by Dr. Richard Cannon in ANTIQUE BOTTLE & GLASS COLLECTOR a few years ago and is available on the AB&GC website. A Mr. Horton of Singer, LA suffered from an extreme case of Bright’s disease and the best doctors in the South could not cure him and pronounced his case hopeless. A fortunate encounter with a hobo passing through town led to a cure. The hobo prepared a cure from some herbs found in the nearby woods. Mr. Horton went on to prepare and sell the medicine to cure kidney and bladder problems. In the article, Dr. Cannon shows a clear ABM bottle, the bottle pictured here is an ABM medium cobalt with a crude irregular textured surface. Could this bottle be a reproduction? BITTERS [Figure 5, fourth bottle] This is an unusual looking bitters – 14 ¼” tall, 8-sided cone shape bottle. It is a shape that will tip over easily and not survive unbroken well in the ground. Only two or three undamaged specimens of this Western (San Francisco) pontilled bottle exist. This was one of the first bottles made for a Western city. Jeff Wichman in his book ANTIQUE WESTERN BITTERS BOTTLES dates this bottle 1857 to 1863. INK [Figure 6, first bottle] This deep green aqua bottle is listed in Covil’s as #193 and was made in New York. The top ball holds about a 1 ½ ounces of ink. The lower ball is solid glass. With the loose fitting stopper the bottle weighs 23 ounces and will
53 not tip over easily. The base has a pontil mark. On first view many collectors would not guess that this is an ink bottle. TARGET BALL [Figure 6, second item] Two of these 1878 – 1889 target balls were dug in 2003 in an old town Sacramento Privy 8-9 feet down. The ball has LIDDLE & KAEDING AGENTS SAN FRANCISCO embossed on both front and back. Liddle & Kaeding were importers and manufacturers of fine guns, rifles, pistols and fishing rods. In addition, they were dealers in cutlery, fencing foils, masks, gloves, metallic cartridges, baseballs, cricket balls and bats as well as hunting clothes. This is the only known target ball made on the West Coast. This target ball was featured in an article in Ralph Finch’s ON TARGET magazine in the summer of 2003. COLOGNE [Figure 6, third bottle] This corset-waist form bottle may have been made at the Sandwich glass works. It has the unusual property of changing color depending on the lighting source. With back, or window, lighting the bottle appears green but with front lighting it is a medium blue. GO-WITH [Figure 6, Seven-Up glass] This soda glass is unusual because of its three-color ACL, 1931 date and much product lettering. The fine print reads: “Drink after eating- before retiring- on arising.” Below the words LEMON SODA in fine script, is the following message: “An anti-acid Beverage for Home or Hospital. The alka-lime reaction adds to the alkalinity. Of the blood. No drink is so acceptable to The ladies. As a mixer it is especially Desirable. Takes the “ouch” out of grouch.” The author may be contacted at bpgrapentine@att.net
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Another Glass Cap and Jar Inspired by William B. Fenn by Barry L. Bernas
Easy to Open, Easy to Close Between April 2nd, 1904 and April 16th, 1906, William Beach Fenn submitted eight requests to patent a closing device for jars, cans and what he described as other vessels. During the same period, he asked the United States Patent Office to register his ideas for a sealing ring to be used on jars and a machine to exhaust air from preserving vessels among other things. Seven of the eight applications for a closure dealt with a gasket or cap made of some kind of fibrous material that was positioned between the inner or outer top part of the container and the inner or outer skirt of the cover. Likewise, each concept used a combination of projections, threads or lugs somewhere on the container’s finish or cap as a means to hold the composition sealing device in place. One of these ideas, number 802,383, used a cap “…composed of fibrous material saturated with a preservative material consisting of paraffin or other material …” It was threaded on its inner skirt to seal along the jar’s threaded outer finish. Not surprising, this innovation was granted a patent on October 24th, 1905.1 By itself, this model of cover seemed to be just another adaptation of patents 802,381; 843,670 and 843,740. It was that but it may have been more. The principle of a threaded area on the outer finish of a jar with a liner in between it and the thread on the inner skirt of a cap has been seen before. Specifically, it was on the closure conceived by William B. Fenn and patented on May 3 rd, 1904.2 I think Mr. Fenn used the protection afforded by patent 802,383 to his benefit once more. This time, his technique of a composition gasket instead of a rubber tube was employed by the Illinois Glass Company on their replica of the SIMPLEX in a diamond embossed packing vessel which they called the Sunshine jar. Glass Cap The all glass cap that I think went with the Sunshine jar from Illinois Glass is
Figure 1 pictured in Figure 1. The depiction appears to match the advertisements for this container contained in the 1908 and 1911 product catalogs from the Illinois Glass Company. The cap in Figure 1 has a domed crown motif. Being 15/16th of an inch tall, it has fourteen inverted, tear drop shaped grippers around its outer skirt. Near the bottom edge on the same wall, there is a 1/8th inch in height, semicircular band. The cover’s top surface has a one tiered circular design without any markings on it. On the sealer’s inner surface, a 3/16th inch wide, flat, circular ledge begins at the inner skirt. At its innermost point, a 1 / 16 th inch in length vertical drop occurs. This results in a 1 ½ inches in diameter circular area which can have a flat, concave or convex surface and can be embossed (I.G.Co/I.G.CO. in a diamond) or be unembossed. See Figure 2 below for the marked version.
Figure 2
The top picture shows the outside of the glass cap while the bottom has an inside look. The 1908 product catalog from the Illinois Glass Company provided the data for how this cover sealed. Of note, it wasn’t on the jar’s shoulder. Here is how the drafter of the brochure described the firm’s Sunshine Preserve Jar. “The closure of the jar is effected {sic affected} by screwing the glass cap down over a muslin disc, which has been treated with a special wax preparation suited to the contents…”3 Once again, William B. Fenn’s idea of using a packing ring, this time made out of a composition material, between the threaded outer finish of the container and the threaded inner skirt of the sealer was in production.4 Container Since the screw cap for the Sunshine jar is a good match for an earlier Fenn patented sealer, 5 would the jar have the same qualities as well? Finish Figure 3 has a picture of the finish on what I believe is a Sunshine jar.
Figure 3 The threaded region is canted inward from the neck to the lip. On this seamless surface is a continuous thread that increases in outward diameter as it descends before merging into the top of the neck. The vertical neck protrudes from the finish, giving it a reinforced appearance. In all aspects, the finish on the Sunshine jar matches that seen on another Fenn conceived container - the SIMPLEX in a diamond embossed model.6 Looking closer at this region, the 5/8th inch finish has remarkably standard measurements on the three examples I
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Company to his older concept with a patented new twist? The likelihood of this situation happening by chance appears to me to be remote. The line up of these two events seems too natural to be anything other than a plan being executed. But then again, who knows for sure. I wish I knew the answers to these questions and others that come to mind.
examined. On the 7/16th inch in length, seamless and slanting threaded area, there was a 1/8th inch wide continuous thread on each model.7 The neck is 3/16th of an inch long, vertical by design, with side seams on it. The outer diameter of this part ranged from 2 to 2 1/8th inches. Body and Base The overall height (minus a screw cap) of the three Sunshine jars I’ve inspected was a consistent 5 1/4th inches. One of the three models had no discernable shoulder parting line. The other two had one so a 1 th /4 inch shoulder could be computed on them. Each specimen had a post bottom mold base configuration. Since this style of under side had the bottom parting line on the bearing surface, a measurement for either a body or base length couldn’t be calculated. On the front of every model was a plate mold impression with an outer diameter of between 1 7/ 8 th and 1 15/ 16 th inches. All three examples had a valve mark and number within it on underneath side of the base. The circular depression was 1 or 1 1/8th inches in diameter. The numeral inside was a 10 in a block font. Their standard volumetric measurements were ten fluid ounces at the shoulder parting line and twelve when filled to capacity. Of note, the write-up for this vessel in the Illinois Glass Company catalog for 1911 indicated their Sunshine jar had a 10-ounce capacity.8 The design and cylindrical shape of what I maintain is the Sunshine jar aligns with an earlier Fenn developed container - the SIMPLEX in a diamond marked model. The only difference between the two is the base style. On the SIMPLEX embossed example, the majority of the samples (37 of 39) I closely looked at had a cup bottom mold type of base. However, the three versions discussed in this article came with the post bottom variety. In response to my earlier posed question “…would the jar (Sunshine) have the same qualities as well?” - I would say it does with one exception. Catalog Depiction and Production Model As I said previously, a Sunshine jar appeared in the 1908 and 1911 catalogs from the Illinois Glass Company. Figure 4 shows an extract of it from the latter edition on the top. Under it is a photograph of one of my three samples that I opine is the production model for the electrotype on the
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Sunshine
Figure 4 top. Their profiles speak for themselves. I’m convinced the pictured model is an actual example of the advertised Sunshine jar. What do you think? Coincidence or a Planned Action After factory employees from the Perfection Glass Company reduced their output for the SIMPLEX in a diamond marked screw cap and packing jar, hands from the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company took up the slack and started producing both around 1906. Based on a Hazel-Atlas advertisement and product catalog; both items continued to be turned out by HazelAtlas workers until at least 1908.9 Was it a coincidence that the Illinois Glass Company managers brought out their “knock off” Sunshine container in the same year that Hazel-Atlas officials dropped their SIMPLEX version? Or was there prior coordination between both firms? Did William B. Fenn have a plan to capitalize on his lost May 3 rd , 1904 patent by introducing officers at the Illinois Glass
Findings In my opinion, the cover and container described in this article comprise the actual model of a Sunshine jar marketed by the Illinois Glass Company. It was the one which took its heritage from the May 3rd, 1904 and October 24 th , 1905 patents granted to William B. Fenn. If you have any information you want to share about the Illinois Glass Company’s Sunshine jar or would like to discuss my findings in greater detail, please don’t hesitate to contact me. BLB Endnotes 1 Fruit Jar Patents Volume III 1900-1942, compiled by Dick Roller, Phoenix Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1996, pgs. 180-182; 184186 and 188-190. Although the top part of the finish has a grooved portion for the containers depicted in the patent application, the underlying principle seen on patent number 802,381 remains true for 802,383 as well. This salient concept has the outer finish on the jar and the inner skirt of the cover achieving a seal by means of a gasket in between made of composition material. The other five patent references are as follows. United States Patent Office. William B. Fenn, of Sheepshead Bay, New York. Closure Device for Glass Jars and Other Vessels. No. 810, 736. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan. 23, 1906. Application filed December 23, 1904, Serial No. 238,052; United States Patent Office. William B. Fenn, of Sheepshead Bay, New York. Closure Device for Bottles, Jars, and Other Vessels. No. 816,720. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented April 3, 1906. Application filed June 19, 1905. Serial No. 265,946; United States Patent Office. William B. Fenn, of Sheepshead Bay, New York. Closure Device for Jars, Bottles, and Similar Vessels. No. 831,271. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 18, 1906. Application filed December 15, 1905, Serial No. 291,861; United States Patent Office. William B. Continued on Page 57
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The Bethesda Spring Water Bottle Story by Howard Dean
On June 8, 2003, I first saw the S-8-A* quart Bethesda Spring bottle! Until that day, I didn’t realize that there was really one of these bottles known to collectors. The owner, Gerry Strubel, a good friend and fellow collector, said, “I’m going to sell this and if you want it, you can have it.” Well, of course I wanted it! I have never seen a Saratoga that I didn’t want, but the price scared me! I guess I said something like, “I’d really love it, but let me think about it and discuss it with Lillian (my wife).” This all took place at our annual spring meeting of the Saratoga Type Mineral Water Bottle Collectors Society, which was the day before the Saratoga Bottle Show, so I had time to be excited, and then not so excited! It was a long restless night, too. I did have Lillian’s okay to buy it, “If you can’t live without it.” The next morning, I saw Gerry at the show and told him I would take it. Well, the look on his face said it all and I felt an
immediate relief! His answer was, “Howard, I just gave it to Jim to auction off. I really didn’t think that you wanted it!” As I said, it was a feeling of relief and also sadness, but that didn’t last very long because in a few minutes here came Gerry with the bottle and it was handed to me with the words, “Jim says if you really want it, it’s okay by me.” That’s how I acquired this rare aqua quart Bethesda bottle. Bethesda Spring is located in Waukesha, Wisconsin and, as with many mineral springs, was known to, and used by, the local residents. The first known use by others was in 1834 when a group of U.S. Topographical Bureau workers became sick and were directed to the spring. There is a very good article in the Antique Bottle and Glass Collector issue of June, 1990 written by John M. Schoenknecht, that gives the history of this
spring along with many photographs to illustrate the article. I will not attempt to rewrite this story except to quote a little from his text: “ — the water was bottled in ceramic jugs as well as wooden barrels. Glass blob top bottles were added at a later date. The author had never seen an embossed “Saratoga” or “Hutch” type of bottle from Bethesda. The labeled bottle featured an angel hovering over the spring. The word Bethesda signifies the house of mercy and was the name of a pool at Jerusalem (John V 2-4).” Some of this spring water was shipped to New York state (and other places) for resale in draught or in bottles. I have a two-gallon ceramic jug made by the West Troy Pottery Company with Bethesda Water in blue around the jug. We know that in 1886, C.H. Bosworth of Troy was selling this water. This Saratoga bottle came from
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a person from Troy. The bottle is from a retooled mold of an S-17-A Crystal Spring bottle which was owned by C.R. Brown from about 187089. Brown sold the Crystal Spring to another Crystal Spring Company, but apparently kept the mold. Then he had the word “Crystal” peened out and replaced with “Bethesda.” This is plainly visible on the bottle. In 1984 or 1985 the owner of this bottle got in touch with Bernie Puckhaber, the Saratoga collector who started our Saratoga Collectors Club about this same time. Bernie referred the owner to Gerry who went to Troy and bought the bottle. He had it cleaned by Wilber Grill in 1985 and in his collection until June of 2003. Up to this time, it is the only specimen known to exist. This does not seem possible, but until another one shows up, this is it, and I feel my responsibility and am proud to be the present guardian of such a rare piece. There is no known pint bottle although there was one advertised as such. The original Bethesda Water received many awards. In recent years, the resurgence in bottled water once again opened a big market, and in 1986, the firm bottled more than 400,000 gallons a month. The Bethesda Spring continues to flow clear and clean at the same rate it did when it was first discovered. I highly recommend that those interested in this spring’s history read the article previously mentioned by John M. Schoenknecht. Howard J. Dean
Reference: Tuckers Collectors Guide to the Saratoga Type Mineral Water Bottles, Published by Donald & Lois Tucker, Inc., 1986. March 1, 2005 - Now for the rest of the story. Since I had John Schoenknecht’s address, I decided to contact him and send him a copy of this article. This I did, and his response was: “I was surprised and pleased to receive your letter today. I’m glad you enjoyed the article I wrote so long ago. It inspired me to write a book! I am enclosing a copy of it for you. — As you can tell, I GREATLY expanded the article on Bethesda. I even traveled to Paris and met Dunbar ’s great great grandson there!” Imagine my surprise to receive the book, “The Great Waukesha Springs Era 1868-1918” by John M. Schoenknecht, a beautiful softcover, 322-page history of the Waukesha, Wisconsin springs. Now I can really recommend this book to all who are interested isn’t it amazing what comes out of the woodwork if you look? Thanks, John, for a good job for our hobby.
57 Another Glass Cap and Jar Inspired by William B. Fenn Continued from Page 55. Fenn, of Columbus, Ohio. Closing Device for Vessels. No. 843,670. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 12, 1907. Application filed March 28, 1906, Serial No. 308,383 and United States Patent Office. William B. Fenn, of Columbus, Ohio. Ring for Sealing Jars and the Like. No. 843,740. Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 12, 1907. Application filed April 16, 1906. Serial No. 311,904. 2 This sealing technique was used on the all grass screw cap which sealed the SIMPLEX in a diamond and FLACCUS BROS. STEERS HEAD FRUIT JAR (smooth lip) embossed packers’ ware. However, just after the patent was issued to Mr. Fenn, he lost the rights to it to the Republic Glass Manufacturing Company of Moosic, Pennsylvania. This circumstance probably convinced William B. Fenn to modify his original idea, gain a new patent for the revamped concept and seek revenue from it by having another glass making firm produce and market it. 3 Illinois Glass Company catalog dated 1908, pg. 303. This information was graciously provided to me by Bill Lindsey of Klamath Falls, Oregon. 4 The first use was on the SIMPLEX in a diamond packers’ container which was made to the specifications of a May 3, 1904 patent. The next was also on a jar used by packers. It was patented on October 24, 1905. 5 The one made to the May 3, 1904 patent. 6 Although not believed to be of Fenn design, the smooth lipped jar used by the Flaccus Brothers of Wheeling, West Virginia, the one marked on the front with the inscription FLACCUS BROS. STEERS HEAD FRUIT JAR, also had the same kind of finish construction. 7 The thread wasn’t fully formed on all of my examples. Only one had a thread of the semicircular shape throughout. On the other two, the semicircular style of thread stopped at about one and one-fifth turns. At this point, the bottom one-fourth piece of the thread became flat while the remaining topside one-fourth part was still quarter-circular. This configuration was maintained until the modified thread merged into the top of the neck. 8 Illinois Glass Company catalog dated 1911, pg. 218. Perhaps, the number 10 on the under side of the base was a reference to the jar’s capacity. 9 Perfection Glass Company, One of Many Glass Houses in Washington, Pennsylvania, Barry L. Bernas, 239 Ridge Avenue, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 17325, 2005, pgs. 32-46.
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Iʼll take Patent Potpourri for a Thousand, Alex by Joe Terry A visitor to the Oak Hill Cemetery, Upper Sandusky’s grand encampment of the departed, will undoubtedly be impressed with the number of stone markers dotting the landscape. Among the numerous tombstones populating the area is one boldly carved with the name Brinkerhoff. Many a man would pass it by like any other and pay it little heed. In death, this man’s accomplishments faded with his passing, but his legacy in some small ways have carried over to the present. Alexander “Alex” W. Brinkerhoff was born in the Quaker State on March 24, 1821. One of eight children born to Hezekiah and Jane Brinkerhoff, he was just a teen before he ever saw Ohio. In 1834, the family arrived in Wyandot County, a wilderness still frequented by wolves, bears and Native Americans. The Brinkerhoffs traveled as far as Seneca County, settling near the town of McCutchensville, straddling the border between the aforementioned counties. Hezekiah brought his family here to farm the rich soil. There were the usual difficulties hindering that goal – trees. These needed to be felled, and so his sons set to work, axes ringing throughout the miasmic forest. This occupation was to be a turning point for Alex, though he likely had little appreciation for it at the time. A solitary malaria-infested mosquito took his health out from under him. He grew dreadfully ill and progressively enfeebled until he was unable to assist in even the slightest chore. In the rather harsh environs of Northwest Ohio, his condition quickly became a burden on his family. With little else to do, Alex took to reading, strengthening his mind if not his body. Kindly neighbors brought him books, which he avidly studied. By the time of his recovery his family had pawned him off onto a local millwright. A year and a half
into his apprenticeship a relapse of the disease nearly killed him. After a slow recovery, he took a position with a store in Greenville, Ohio, where he learned the basics of the retail trade. In 1845, he returned home and re-entered the cabinet trade. He continued to spend his free time reading. This self education proved itself worthwhile, for in the fall of that year, he was given a teaching position in the local school. The next year, intent on furthering his abilities, he entered Ohio Wesleyan. His high hopes were dashed; two months into his studies his health again failed him. In due course he recuperated, so much so that in 1848 he married Painesville native Martha Hall. Not long after that he was again restricted ill to his bed. His recuperation was slow, and when he was finally on his feet, he joined as a partner in a mercantile in the nearby town of Sycamore. His stay was more than just a retail adventure. He made many friends, not unusual considering having the advantage of his knowledge. He offered all comers what assistance he could with the information that he had acquired over the years. One such fellow was Philip Perdew (Perdue). Philip was in the business of making lye, indispensable in soap manufacture. Lye was processed from wood ashes, and there were plenty of trees in the area. Mr. Perdew complained of the effort it took to make each day’s product. The two gentlemen discussed the matter, with Alex making a few suggestions. These were drawn out, and Alex put his cabinet working skills to good use. He, coupled with the renderings of a local tinsmith, put together a contraption that did six times the work as the old method. It was such an improvement that the two decided to apply for a patent, which was duly granted on
May 20, 1856. It also happened to be the earliest one granted to a county resident. It was about this time that Alex moved his family to Upper Sandusky. It was a logical move, as town size was equal with its recognition. For someone intent on selling a new product, this identification could be vital to his success. Mr. Perdew is not mentioned in the venture, leaving us to assume that he sold his interest in the device to Mr. Brinkerhoff. This start generated a lifelong curiosity in inventing for Alex. Little is known of his sales of this device, but he supplemented it with other mechanisms. He received a patent in 1859; for a corn planter, one in 1861; for improvements in the shoes for the device, and then four more in 1862. The quartet was granted consecutively, being numbers 36,333 through 36,336. The first was for a corn husker, a device he would reinvent several times over his life. The second was a joint venture between himself and Tiffin resident A.T. Barnes. It was for a fruit gatherer, a jawed mechanism
Alexander W. Brinkerhoff circa 1884
Bottles and Extras with a long cloth tunnel that directed the fruit to a basket on the ground. The third was for another version of the corn planter, showing further refinements. The forth, another joint venture, was a field roller. His partner in this invention was A.J. Failor of Upper Sandusky. This impressive list of patents needed capitol to help transform them from mere ideas to working machines. To this end, Alex partnered with an existing agricultural implement manufacturer, F. F. Fowler and Company. The “company” consisted of Thomas E. Beery and E.R. Wood. Together they set out to market the Brinkerhoff line of goods. Alex found the overall partnership odious and unfruitful. He and Mr. Beery left, forming their own partnership, which thrived. The old firm, now Fowler and Wicks, grew envious and sued. Brinkerhoff and Beery apparently came out the winners and carried on a nice business selling the patented corn husker. Their partnership was mutually dissolved in 1868, when Mr. Beery invested in the newly formed Wyandot County Bank. The 1860s were difficult times for Alex, for he lost his wife and one son to illness. He remarried, determined to carry on family and business. Alex was now selling his inventions as sole proprietor. He developed another tool, added to the list in 1867. This was for a one piece metal clothes pin. No report exits to say whether the item caught on or not. Mr. Beery was one of the witnesses for the device, so it seems possible it was at least manufactured. In 1872, he received a reissue on one of his earlier cornhusker patents, protecting his rights to it for many more years. He also received a patent on yet another variation on the husker. With their sales he was making a fair amount of money, enough to expand his business interests into other fields. It is interesting to note that ten year later, in 1882, he patented yet another variant on the husker, this time for one that would adjust to the user’s grip (see illustrations and photo, this page). The Brinkerhoffs (Alex and son, Milford H.) added a retail business of selling organs and sewing machines. Down the road, they also opened a queensware store in Upper Sandusky, adding a line of cutlery a few years later. Alex had now gone from an agrarian lifestyle, to a manufacturing one, to a business one. The retail life had its advantages and drawbacks. A downside was all of the writing he had to do. He grew especially frustrated with ink, or rather the
Spring 2006 lack of it. Standard inkwells of the day made it nearly impossible to get at the last little bit left in the bottom. They also were prone to tipping, and in the winter, freezing and cracking. Alex approached the dilemma as he had many others, and in doing so found a solution to his problems. He realized that a well within a well was what was needed to always have ink available. He designed an inkwell to fit his needs, and put the idea on paper, sending it in like so many others before. The government granted him a patent on May 7, 1872. The well had several distinct features, including the depression just below the opening, as well as the sloped opening itself, which allowed the excess ink to run back into the well. These wells were manufactured in several different sizes, numbered on the base, and are generally found in clear flint glass. The base is marked “A.W. Brinkerhoff Pat’d May 7, 1872", though the author has heard of one embossed “Pat Applied For,” indicating usage prior to the patent. A little insight into their manufacture was offered by Alex himself in 1873, when he was granted a patent on a special tool used in their manufacture. “In the manufacture of these inkstands an iron mold is used. Into this mold soft glass is put. A plunger is then forced centrally into the mold, having on its lower end a point to form the well “a”. When the plunger is withdrawn, the glass being hot and heavy about the shoulder “b” of the well, it has a tendency to run and close the well. The above described is at once put into the closing well and forced down to the shoulder “g” of the iron, which reopens and chills the glass and leaves the well permanent. The point “h” is sufficiently long to form the well, and its shoulder, coming in contact with the glass, prevents the point from penetrating too deeply. If, however, it is desired to make a hole entirely through the leg, the point “h” will be made sufficiently long to secure this end.
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Patent #36,333, from 1862
Patent #125,931, from 1872
Patent #253,970, from 1882, for an adjustable husker, as shown below. The value of the tool can be measured thusly: in 1858, in Wyandot County alone, there were 14,462 acres under cultivation of corn, producing 388,487 bushels.
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Above: Illustration from the May 7, 1872 inkwell patent. Below: Illustration coming from the 1873 tool patent.
Spring 2006 The glass is first discharged from the mold with the upper part in the shape like a tumbler, when the top is drawn together in an arching form and gradually pressed down…” For an interested researcher, this provides a clue as to who made the inkwells, as in the 1870s, there would have been a limited number of glass houses using plunger molds. If pressed on the point, the author would suggest perhaps Ravenna, Ohio, though obviously other places would as readily qualify. Today the inkwells, while neither common nor rare, command a strong collector’s base, and fetch from $40-60 in prime condition. Even as the inkwells charm today’s collectors, Alex’s 1876 patent intrigues even more. On March 14, he was granted one for a fruit jar closure. The concept was fairly simple, consisting of a three prong wire assembly holding a lid in place over the mouth of the jar. Perhaps buoyed by the success of his inkwell, Alex put his jar into production. It was made perchance by the same, as of yet unidentified, glass factory that made the wells. Typically, a “private mold” fruit jar was made in one or two sizes, due to the cost of having a mold cut, as well as the actual cost of manufacturing the jars, lids, and closures. Present day information on the jars is vague, but there seems to be a wide range in size; 1-gallon, 3-quart, 2-quart, 1-quart, pint and even a small jelly glass. Even within the various sizes, there seems to have been some variations, from the numbers embossed on the jars (which serve an as yet unidentified purpose), to the lids, which have been found in both glass and metal. All variations are rare, indicating that few of any size were likely
Left: Side view of the inwell. Right: A photo of the base of the inkwell. Note Alex’s name and the patent date.
Bottles and Extras ever produced. The author has seen a facsimile of a salesman’s card (see header card in title page and close-up below) for the Brinkerhoff jars, but it sheds little light on the matter. The illustration on the card shows a fruit jar embossed with “The Ohio Fruit Jar Company of Upper Sandusky, Ohio.” Additionally, the jars carried the patent date and “A.W. Brinkerhoff”, and some seem to have names. “Ohio” and/or “Eureka” is embossed on certain jars. All in all, it is a wonder; with the cost of cutting all of that into the molds, that he didn’t go bankrupt. Oh, wait – he did! Up until 1877, the Brinkerhoff family was in fairly good financial condition. Recall that in addition to selling musical instruments they had added queensware and cutlery to their repertoire. In 1877, Alex suffered another physical collapse, taking him away from the business completely. A run on the banks that year tumbled his trade into a tailspin from which it didn’t recover. He filed for bankruptcy protection to the tune of $16,000, a hefty sum for that time and place. While some of this was undoubtedly his retail business, one must wonder if some of his problems were the result of overextending himself on manufacturing his jars.
Jar from the salesman’s card, as seen in the header of the title page. Facsimile provided by FABC member, Tom Caniff.
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Spring 2006 He did not let this setback deter him, and he sat down to figure new ways of supporting his family. It was perhaps the time spent just sitting that inspired him. His idea was to be another turning point in his life, though few thought it likely to last. His adopted profession, unusual at best, was not something you would expect from a man of his training, or rather the lack thereof. But nothing was ever typical with Alex. His new job was that of traveling “physician.” He became a practitioner of piles, a hero to all who suffered hemorrhoids. There are no real indicators as to why he chose this line of work, other than the possibility that it was a problem close to his...uhm, heart. If so, he likely found the treatments of the day somewhat barbaric. To this end (or his own) he investigated alternative healing. In the long run, what he developed actually surpassed that of regular medical training. He received his first patent for this in 1880, for an improved speculum. This device was actually similar to existing designs that had not been patented. This proved to be an undoing later in the decade when the Brinkerhoffs lost a lawsuit over “infringement” of the design. Still, what Alex was trying to do was make the whole procedure, already embarrassing, into something a little more refined and comfortable. He also developed an ointment, perhaps the real heart of his treatment. It was a mixture of carbolic acid specially mixed into a vasoline or sperm oil base. This mixture was injected directly into the sac of the hemorrhoid. For the lay person out there, carbolic acid is very toxic, and was used primarily as an antiseptic. In this case the compound stayed where it was injected, causing the tissue to die and slough off. The ointment had to reach its objective by some means, and these were developed
Above, the Ohio Fruit Jar jelly glass and lid from the salesman’s card and an example of the actual lid, on left.
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A three-quart “Eureka” jar.
A “honey” jar. Both jars from the collection of Richard and Patty Elwood, members of the FABC.
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by Mr. Brinkerhoff over the course of his practice. In 1882, he received a patent for a needle, and later for an ointment injector. He even developed a special table, which collapsed for easy travel. When unfolded the table was bent at a right angle, allowing access to the patient’s affected area with greater ease. His last patent was granted after he died, in 1888. It was for a syringe, specifically devised to meet his needs. In 1884, he was portrayed in the local history as a successful man, weighing in then at 275 pounds. His practice was said to have been going on for over six years, with a personal performance of over 80,000 operations. That is an unbelievable number, so let’s break it down to more workable figures. In six years there are 72 months. That means he would have had to do 1,111 operations a month. Divide that by 30, and
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you get 37 a day! If he put in a ten hour day, he would have been performing one operation every 16 minutes, assuming he was doing them on Sundays as well. By the end of his life he was reported to have accomplished 100,000 of the procedures! Mr. Brinkerhoff made many opponents in the regular medical profession, who proclaimed him nothing more than a talented fakir. It would seem that not everyone felt that way, and many of the standard practitioners adopted his methods, as attested by this newspaper advertisement, taken from a Toledo, Ohio newspaper (see illustration on the left). Alexander W. Brinkerhoff died in Upper Sandusky on March 13, 1887. He was remembered locally; for his kindness, his enterprise and his amazing creativity. The local paper said, among its two columns devoted to him, “The Lamp of a Useful and Busy Life is Extinguished.” Many professionals released a sigh of relief, feeling time had caught up with “yet another quack”. Ironically, since his ideas and inventions found their way into the regular medical field, this would seem a distinct case of profession envy. His obituary listed him as owner of over thirty inventions, but the author could only find listings for two dozen patents, perhaps meaning that a few didn’t gain official recognition. Very few people can claim the variety that occurred during his life. He was truly a man limited only by his imagination.
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Patent list 14925 23869 32819 36333 36334 36335 36336 67100 125931 126514 145619 174769 224991 236211 239929 241288 253970 268996 271028 275983 277213 283199 286381 383940
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Time in a Bottle By Ed Faulkner
First place in the FOHBC Writerʼs Contest 2005, Best Original Fiction Originally appeard in The Digger, newsletter of The Richmond Area Bottle Collectors Association Vol. 34, No. 10, November 2004 I had originally planned to follow the route of Lee’s retreat from Petersburg to Appomattax in the spring of 1965, exactly 100 years after the final events of the Civil War. As it turned out, I was more than a couple of years late when I set out in the fall of 1967 to trace several days of the route on a Saturday afternoon. It was getting late in the day and starting to rain when I pulled off the road to read a state marker relating to the retreat. It was a somewhat isolated part of Ameilia County and I had about decided to call it a day after this stop. When I got back in the car, however, my old Mercury flooded on me and wouldn’t start. This had happened before and a short wait was all that was usually necessary for it to go again. I decided to get out and see if there was a phone nearby to call my wife and tell her that I would be a bit late. There was a little path going off from the road and I could smell wood smoke, so I wandered that way to see if there was someone with a phone. About a hundred yards from the road was a small cabin, rustic but nicely kept up. Beside the cabin was an elderly black man hoeing weeds in a small garden. As I got closer, my hopes for calling home faded, as I could see no utility lines of any type coming into the clearing. The closest thing to transportation was an old mule in a leanto on the edge of the clearing. I would have just returned to my car to wait, but the man had already seen me and was waiting for me to approach. I introduced myself and passed the time of day for a few minutes since the car usually took a half-hour before it would start again. When asked how long he had lived there,
he responded that he and his wife had been there “since the end of the war.” From his age, I judged that he was referring to World War II, but I didn’t inquire further. The weather and crops were about our only common ground for conversation, but we were enjoying each other’s company when his wife came to the door and told the old man to invite “the company” inside out of the mist and cold. I went inside into a crowded but inviting room and was quickly seated in front of the fireplace with a hot cup of tea in my hand. I couldn’t help but notice that one wall of the cabin was covered in shelves holding a wide assortment of crocks, bottles and other containers filled with what appeared to be dried plants of some sort. The man explained that his wife was known in the area as being knowledgeable with her home grown herbs and natural remedies. I was told that “even some of the soldiers came to my wife on the sly because they didn’t trust the army doctors.” It was probably the change of temperature from outside to inside that set off my allergies with a sneezing fit for several minutes. The old lady immediately started mixing a pinch from a couple of jars into a bit of hot water. She put a couple of drops in the last of my tea and told me to drink it up. Thinking that a couple of drops could do no harm and not wanting to offend my hosts, I did as I was told. I was amazed as I immediately felt relief. Beaming with pleasure, the woman poured the rest of the tea into a small bottle and told me to take two drops in tea whenever I had an attack. Offers of payment were politely refused, and I left for my car, thanking them again for
their hospitality. I turned to wave as I reached the edge of the clearing and could barely make out the couple in the doorway through the mist and failing light. The car started immediately and I returned home, not thinking of the couple until my next allergy attack a few days later. I put a couple of drops in some tea and sure enough, go tthe same immediate relief. I hoarded the little bit of liquid very carefully after that. About six months later, after using up all of the bottle’s contents, I returned to the spot to see if I could get some more. I was determined that they would take some sort of payment this time. When I got to the clearing, there was nothing there! I searched around and found a few heavily weathered hearth stones where the fireplace had been. I drove to the Amelia courthouse and did see some research that a black woman who was well-known for her medicinal abilities had lived with her husband in that spot for a few years immediately after the Civil War. Looking at land records, no one had lived on those acres since then. So, what really happened? I don’t know. It could have been a dream, I guess. I might have dozed off in the car waiting for it to start, but I don’t think so. Besides, how do I explain the little pontiled medicine bottle, now empty, that sits on my desk? If you liked this tale, perhaps I can put into words my sighting of the mounted Confederate Calveryman in full uniform, and THAT actually happened!
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FARMER DISTILLERS OF MARYLAND by Jack Sullivan (Special to Bottles and Extras) The production of whiskey before the American Revolution was insignificant. Rum was the drink of choice for our rebellious forefathers. But rum had to be imported from the Caribbean and was expensive. What lay at hand in the U.S.A. were abundant fields of rye, wheat and corn. Recognition spread that a good way to add value to a ton of grain was to turn it into gallons of whiskey. In rural Maryland whiskey-makers tended to fall into two distinct categories: local farmers and immigrants from Europe. Operating outside the thriving distilling center of Baltimore, these entrepreneurs began by depending largely on local sales of their “Maryland Rye” and other alcoholic potables. As we will see, several succeeded in forging regional and even national reputations for their brands. The logic of a Maryland farmer becoming a distiller during the late 18th and 19th Centuries is clear. Getting a ton of corn to market was expensive and the return could be low. The same ton turned into whiskey might bring ten times the return. In nearby Virginia, Farmer George Washington understood these economic realities and set up his distillery. (See my article in the Summer 2005 issue of Bottles and Extras.). Less than a hundred miles from Mount Vernon, across the Maryland state line, two neighbors epitomized the farmerdistiller. They were Levi Price and Luther King. The Levi Price Story Levi Price was born on October 22, 1835, in Frederick County, Maryland, in what was then the Urbana District, near the present community of Hyattstown. His father was Elijah Price, a well-known farmer who himself had been born in that locale. His mother was Sarah Ann Wolfe. There is little information on Levi Price’s early life and education but he soon showed signs of being a canny businessman. An article on Price in the Sept. 30, 1904 issue of The Citizen newspaper of Frederick City, claimed that when the
distiller launched himself into business in 1858 at the age of 23, he had only 93 cents to his name. His initial enterprise was to rehabilitate an old mill where he began a small flour milling operation. Its financial success apparently allowed him to woo and win Laura Virginia McElfresh of Hyattstown. Ms. McElfresh was related to an old and distinguished Virginia family with ties to Revolutionary War stalwarts. She would bear him ten children — three sons and seven daughters. Price’s milling venture proved so successful that in 1867 he had the financial strength to build a three story high distillery at the point where Bennett Creek crosses Green Valley Road. He seems to have succeeded rapidly in the whiskey trade. The 1904 newspaper states: “Levi Price has undoubtedly engaged in a business which he is well suited for, and long years of experience and an accurate knowledge of grain has helped make him what he is.” His picture, taken at the peak of his success, shows a steely-eyed resolve [Figure 1]. Success Comes to Levi In 1879 Price built the Green Valley
Figure 1: Levi Price - from The Citizen newspaper of Sept. 30, 1904 Flouring Mills and began manufacturing a product he called “Fine Family Flour,” a product that commanded a substantial regional market. For a time he operated a general merchandise store in nearby Clarksburg [Figure 2]. He also bought up surrounding fields, no doubt to produce sufficient grain to supply his distillery and mill. Eventually he owned 525 acres of prime farm land. But it was whiskey that made Levi rich. His principal brand, called “Pure Rye Double Copper Distilled Whiskey,” not only was popular locally but had a regional and eventually a national reputation. Price’s profitability may have resulted from some innovations he made in the
Figure 2: Price’s Clarksburg Store
(Courtesy of the Montgomery County Historical Society - MCHS)
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Figure 3: Price’s Distillery Road sign. distilling process itself. He recognized that any form of adulteration led to objectionable tastes common in the newly made, “raw” whiskey of his day. By using care in the cleanliness of his process and perhaps a “secret” additive or two, he apparently was able to manufacture a product that had the taste and smoothness of an aged whiskey while being newly distilled. By eliminating most of the aging process, he saved money and was able to sell his whiskey for less than the competition. In 1878, as sales rose and the production of his Maryland rye at an all-time high, Price talked the county into constructing a road that ever since has borne the name of his manufactory [Figure 3]. The road ran north to Ijamsville, Md., where a railroad station was located and south to Damascus in Montgomery County. There it linked with other roads that led to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Buyers from as far north
Figure 5: The Levi Price house. as New York City could take the B&O (now CSX) train to Ijamsville or Monrovia Md. and reach the farm distillery by horse and buggy. To cater to these travelers, Price converted a cottage that stood near the distillery on Green Valley Road into the distillery office and an overnight guest house. By the time the whiskey had been tasted and business transacted, it often was too late for buyers to return to the evening train. They were offered a place to stay at the rear of the cottage. They also ate at the Price family table. The cottage [Figure 4], which dates from the 1860s, still stands. It is known widely as “Thistle Hill” — perhaps because
Figure 4: The Thistle Cottage.
of its stained glass windows — and is on the Maryland historical register. It features an overly wide front door that may have been constructed to accommodate the barrels of whiskey being rolled in and out. It currently is being restored as part of a new housing development called “Distillery Manor.” Near the cottage are the ruins of a barn that was used to house the horses needed to transport the whiskey barrels to the railroad stations. Still standing is Levi Price’s house [Figure 5], a large frame structure on the bluff overlooking the creek. Slave quarters made of field stone loom behind. The house has had a number of owners since Price’s death and was restored once before in the 1970s. As is evident from the photo, it undergoing restoration again. The Levi Price house also is on the Maryland historical register. Enter Reuben Lichtenstein Although Price is reported to have invested heavily in his children’s education (the equivalent of $300,000 today), perhaps compensating for his own lack of formal schooling, none of his children appear to have involved themselves in the distillery operations. Preceded in death by his wife in 1902, Price died in 1909 at the age of 74. None of his progeny were willing or able to continue the business and it appears to have been sold quickly to another party Reuben Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein was not a farmer-distiller. Born in 1838 in Wolfernheim, Germany, Lichtenstein came to the U.S. at the age of
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Figure 6: The Lichtenstein-Price logo (From Barbara Edmondson’s Historic Shotglasses.)
14, settling in Virginia. He joined the Confederate cause and served as an infantryman in the 19th Virginia, part of General Pickett’s Division in the Army Corps headed by General Longstreet. It nay be assumed that Reuben first saw Maryland when the South invaded that state in 1863. He likely was a survivor of Pickett’s ill-fated charge at Gettysburg. After the war Lichtenstein moved to Cumberland, Md., married a local girl named Sarah Hirsch in 1868, and opened a liquor business that he headed the rest of his life. Like many other liquor distributors and dealers, he seems to have hankered to own a distillery. When the Price operation came on the market shortly after Levi’s death, Lichtenstein purchased it. He also bought the Levi Price house, which he quickly resold. He directed the distillery from afar, living in Cumberland throughout his life. He hired a foreman, James Patrick Brown, known as “Gee,” to handle day-to-day operations. Brown (1881-1930) continued to run the operation until the onset of Prohibition, living in the Thistle Cottage. Lichtenstein also is reported to have rebuilt and expanded the distillery. His marketing materials [Figure 6] named “Levi Price Pure Rye” as his flagship brand and cited it as the product of the Lichtenstein Co., Distillers, Cumberland. Shown here is a paper labeled Levi Price quart brand whiskey that bears Lichtenstein’s name [Figure 7]. The label claims that the distillery was founded in 1840. This clearly is a fabrication since Price would only have been five-years-old in that year. The bottle resides in the collection of Maryland whiskey guru, Jim Bready. Production always was small relative to the large Baltimore distilleries that could process up to 1,000 bushels of corn mash daily. By contrast the Price/Lichtenstein operation could only handle 35 bushels daily.
The Fate of the Distillery: Two Versions Although Reuben died at the age of 77 in 1916, before the onset of Prohibition, one or more of his five sons kept the operation going for the next four years. Here the picture grows murky about the fate of the distillery. Some locals say the family sold off its stored whiskey in the 1920s and ultimately the distillery was torn down. A far more interesting fate is the one most widely believed in the area. When Prohibition ended, the story goes, the Lichtensteins attempted to put the distillery back in operation. The move enraged “Drys” in nearby Hyattstown, already smarting from Repeal. They set a wagon full of straw on fire in front of the Thistle Cottage and rolled it downhill into the distillery. It burned to the ground. That is the account believed by local historian Edward Lee Knowles, who himself was a subsequent owner of the Levi Price house. To a reporter in 1978, he showed how the ground around the distillery site was full of charred wood, indicating a fire. This version also appears
Figure 7: A quart bottle of Levi Price Pure Rye Whiskey
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Figure 8: Luther King (Courtesy of MCHS) in a publication of the Friends of Historic Hyattstown. Called “Hyattstown Trails,” it recounts the same fiery fate of the distillery. But even Knowles admitted that his search of local newspapers of that time revealed no mention of the distillery burning. Was it hushed up? And so the mystery continues. Luther Green King About three miles southeast from the Levi Price site, just inside the Montgomery County line, is the site where Luther Green King, our second farmerdistiller, cooked up his Maryland rye. Luther King [Figure 8] was the son of John Duckett King, an early settler and large landowner in northern Montgomery County. The family gave its name to the community of King’s Valley and to Kingstead Road. John King, born in 1798, and his wife, Jemina Miles, had 13 children, most of whom lived to maturity and had large families of their own. Maryland historians assert that more than 10,000 people living today can trace their ancestry to this couple. Born in 1825, Luther King was the fifth of John and Jemina’s sons. Upon his father’s death in 1858, Luther inherited an equal share in the estate’s 217 acres, enough to begin a small farm. John King’s will also remanded to Luther and his brothers ownership of two slaves. Distilling may have been a natural step
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67 of his own, called the Kings Valley Band. It included at least six other members of the King family. A photo of the band taken in the early 1900s [Figure 10], shows Luther, back row, fifth from left, clearly its oldest member.
Figure 9: King’s Distillery (Courtesy of MCHS) for Luther since he had manpower at his disposal and could easily buy rye grain from nearby growers. Thus he built the only distillery ever known to exist in Montgomery County. The site was near Clarksburg on Burnt Hill Road just off Price Distillery Road. “Trouble Enough Indeed” The distillery [Figure 9] was a three story structure, with an office for making sales and a loading dock where horse-drawn wagons could carry away barrels of whiskey. It was a modest operation, probably worked in close conjunction with farming interests. The clientele likely was a local one. Collectors of Maryland whiskeys aver that they do not know of a labeled King-made whiskey bottle or jug. This suggests that Luther sold his stock to saloon-keepers who doled it out a drink at a time or filled containers brought in by their customers. Nonetheless, Maryland rye was the drink of choice for most of King’s neighbors and trade probably was brisk. From time to time, King may even have found himself in competition with his close neighbor, Levi Price. For much of his distilling career, King lived in a small log cabin near the business. His house was three bays by one bay with a small front porch and a foundation of local fieldstone. As he prospered financially, he built a much larger structure, a log house he named “Trouble Enough Indeed.” We can speculate that this was a reference to the frequency with which Luther King was a widower. After his first wife, Tabitha
Browning, whom he married in 1848, died, he married Mary Howe in 1873. With her death a few years later, he married again in 1899 when he was 74. Wife No. 3 was a much younger woman and his great-niece, Mary L. King. It was for her he built the new house. Despite the difference in ages, Luther and Mary had one child. Besides whiskey, the great passion in Luther King’s life was music. He lived at a time when every community prided itself on its brass band. Nearby Hyattstown bragged that its ensemble was “not to be excelled by any band in the county.” As a younger man, Luther had learned to play the trombone and was a member of the Clarksburg Band. Subsequently he formed a musical group
Luther King’s Legacy The spacious new home was not the only sign of King’s growing prosperity. He was also buying land for farming purposes and came to own 176 acres, 70 of it fertile farm land. His wealth, however, primarily was generated by the distillery. At his death in 1909, King left a substantial estate. The principal item was 49,000 gallons of whiskey in bond — worth a fortune — representing five years of product (1904-1909). Also in his estate were 19 new whiskey barrels, 50 bushels of malt, and 90 bushels of rye. He left “Trouble Enough Indeed” to his widow, Mary, who later remarried. He willed the land on which the distillery sat to his brother John and the distillery itself to his grandson, John R. Lewis. With Luther King’s passing, whiskey production appears to have ceased almost immediately. We can speculate that the grandson was unwilling or unable to continue the operation. Today the distillery site is covered over with scrub trees, vines and weeds, at the southeastern edge of Little Bennett Regional Park. The only indication that it ever existed is a historical marker erected beside Burnt Hill Road [Figure 11], not far from the intersection of Price Distillery Road.
Figure 10: King’s Valley Band (Courtesy of MCHS)
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Figure 11: The Distillery site today. A German Farmer-Distiller: Melky Miller Both Levi Price and Luther King were from Yankee stock whose families had been in the United States for generations. Our third farmer distiller was the native-born son of a family that settled in rural Maryland during the 1830s, part of a great wave of German immigrants looking for good land and opportunity. His name, like his brand, was Melky Miller. Melky Miller was born either “Melchior” or “Melchoir” Mueller — his baptismal certificate gives the first spelling and his tombstone the second — in the mid 1830s. His father was Johannes Mueller, a German immigrant and farmer who arrived in the U.S. in the early 1830s. Soon after, Johannes married Christina Schwalb, the daughter of another German immigrant family, in Elk Lick Township at Somerset County, Pa. Melky was their firstborn, with a given natal year of 1833. In 1938 the family moved to Accident, Maryland, in what is now Garrett County (it then was part of Allegany County). The Muellers were industrious people and good farmers. They prospered. It is not clear when the family Anglicized its name to Miller; the practice was a common one particularly for immigrants seeking to assimilate into American society. The town the family chose — Accident — is located near Deep Creek Lake the northern part of the county. According to historians the town can trace its unusual name to the year 1750, when King George II of England paid a debt to a colonist named George Deakins by giving him 600 acres of land in Western Maryland. Deakins sent out two parties of surveyors — each without the knowledge of the other — to find and survey the best land in that vicinity. When the surveyors reported back they found to their surprise that each party had marked off the same oak tree as
Figure 12: A street in Accident, Maryland, circa 1860. a starting point and chosen an identical 600 acres. Satisfied that this land was prime, Deakin claimed it for himself as “The Accident Tract.” The name stuck with the small town (pop. 353) that grew up on it, a place of muddy streets and ramshackle buildings in the 1800s [Figure 12]. Little is known about the early life of Melky Miller. He clearly had experience of farming and at his death owned a large farm that stayed in his family for generations. He married a woman, Barbara, ten years his junior, fathered a family, and might have gone through life unremarked had he not in 1875, when he was about 42, opened a distillery in Accident. He had an evident genius for business and soon built Melky Miller’s Maryland Rye Whiskey into a highly respected local and regional brand. By the 1890s he had expanded this operations to the nearby town of Westernport Md., where he warehoused his liquor. As he took his family into the business, distillery name was changed to “M. J. Millers Sons, Distillers.” [Figure 13]. Although his production was even smaller than Levi Price — only 29 bushels of grain processed daily according to federal records — the quality of his whiskey was high. The firm also was noted for the artistic design of both the jugs and the bottles in which it marketed its products. Figures 14 and 15 show two of the fancy paper labels he and his sons employed to market their product. The first
Figure 13: The Melky Miller logo (Edmondson)
Figure 14: Label of Melky Miller’s Maryland Rye
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Figure 16: Melky Miller ceramic jug. advertises “Melky Miller Maryland Rye Whiskey” and features a fancy scrolled signature. The second depicts the word “rye” on a shield set amidst stalks of rye grain but is stated to be a blend — not pure Maryland rye. Miller also sold his whiskey in attractive gallon sized stoneware jugs [Figure 16]. Barbara Miller died in 1913 when she was 72, two years before Melky passed away in 1915 at the age of 82. They are buried in the cemetery next to Zion Lutheran Church in Accident. Their sons continued to operate the Melky Miller
Figure 15: Label of Melky Miller’s Rye, a blend.
Spring 2006 distillery until 1919 when Prohibition closed their doors, never to reopen. Foundation stones for the distillery warehouses can still be seen just off Miller Road (named for Melky) in Accident. His spacious home and farm have been in the family for many years and a recent resident was a great-grandson, William Aiken. The American farmer-distiller clearly was a creature of the 18 th and 19 th Centuries. Even if the Price and King families had been interested in continuing to make whiskey after the deaths of their founders, production would have been short-lived through the coming of Prohibition. That event effectively terminated both the Melky Miller and Lichtenstein/Price distilleries. All were small operations and the Dry Years spelled their complete demise. In their place, U.S. and Canadian whiskey syndicates formed and created the system of a few large producers that have dominated the American whiskey trade for the past 70 years. Material for this article was gathered from a number of sources. The Montgomery County Historical Society was very helpful in providing information on Luther King and Levi Price. Jim Bready graciously gave me permission to photograph Price and Miller whiskey bottles in his collection. Portions of this article previously appeared in the Pontil of the Potomac Bottle Club, Jim Sears, editor.
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A CANADIAN ODDITY – from the Bryan Grapentine collection I learned of the existence of a Hutchinson soda with a crown top 14-16 years ago from a Canadian collector. I had never seen one and was looking to buy one during that period of time. The long sought after bottle showed up recently on Ebay for sale by a Winnipeg, Manitoba collector. The crown top bottle [above, right] is 1/8" shorter than the standard hutch. Both bottles have identical embossing – BLACKWOODS/ANY ONE FILLING BUYING/SELLING OR DESTROYING/THIS BOTTLE WILL BE/PROSECUTED/ WINNIPEG. The crowntop bottle must have been used for a short period of time when soda bottlers were switching from the Hutchison to crowntop bottles. It was probably much cheaper and faster to rework the Hutchinson mold to a crowntop than to build a complete new crowntop soda bottle mold. I do not know of any United States bottles made this way. If any reader knows of one, please send me an E-mail at bpgrapentine@att.net.
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The First American Soda Fountains by Donald Yates
As many may know, the greatest soda fountain development occurred in New York City. Americans and Europeans had a great passion and thirst for mineral water. At these great springs, spas were built, where one could drink and bathe in the mineral water. Europe had world famous springs in England, France, and Germany. In the United States, thousands of springs had developed along with spas that were noted for their medicinal and healing attributes. Saratoga Springs in Upstate New York had several artesian geysers which are naturally effervescent, or bubbly. These are similar to Old Faithful Geyser, except they are continuous and never take a break. The next phase was to produce an artificial soda water. Top scientists from many nations were trying to produce carbonated soda water, which would imitate the natural mineral waters and still be safe and palatable - and profitable. The first attempt at making soda water was done by a Mr. Thurneisser in 1560; later by a Mr. Hoffman in 1685; and by a Mr. Geoffroy in 1724. Their success was not remarkable. In 1630, Mr. Von Helmont first explained carbonic acid gas. Dr. Black, in 1757, isolated carbonic acid from all other gasses and called it “Fixed Air.” Mr. Lavosier, from France, identified carbonic acid and stated that it was composed of carbon and oxygen. In 1750, progress was made, and a Mr. Venel produced carbonic acid by combining Muriatic Acid in a solution of carbonate of soda. In 1772, Dr. Joseph Priestly first recognized that it was this carbonic acid gas that impregnated soda water. The first carbonation patent in the U.S. was granted to Simmons and Rundell of Charleston, S.C., in 1810. Water The manufacture of soda water requires a pure source of water, since it will become a beverage. The water must be selected with great care and purified with equal thoroughness. The ideal water source is from a deep, cool, sparkling well, in a good
location, without contamination. Cool spring water could also be used as a source of soda water, but it must be filtered to achieve an acceptable degree of purity. Spring Water As rain water falls on the earth’s surface, it begins to absorb the soluble particles it finds there, and gradually becomes more and more contaminated as it percolates through the different layers of the ground. It dissolves mineral compounds found locally. Due to these dissolved compounds, this water is called “Natural Mineral Water.” Croton Water The main city well water supplying New York City was croton water. Unfortunately in the late 1800s, it became contaminated and unfit for human consumption. One of the identified organisms identified under a microscope was called epithelia. These are very common in hydrant drinking waters and can cause serious diseases, including typhoid fever, scarlatina, (Scarlet Fever) and dyptheria. The bacteria found could also cause serious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and anthrax. The spores of anthrax consists of small spheres, which cannot be killed with common antiseptics. Croton water must be boiled to purify it. Early experimentation had shown that carbonic acid destroyed these bacteria, resulting in a great benefit. Common filtration materials included sand, charcoal, and sea sponges. Charcoal was special, because when properly used it renders pure water even purer, and also in an un-pure water, renders the harmful portions of organic matter harmless through oxidation. Carbonic Acid Gas Carbonic acid gas is the most important ingredient in the manufacture of soda water, besides pure water. All effervescent drinks’ refreshing attributes, their sparking, prickling and excellent taste, depend upon the carbonic acid gas incorporated within them. Carbonic acid gas must be perfectly
Bottles and Extras pure, free from air, and should not contain any disagreeable odors, such as sulfur compounds. An ideal gas pressure for glass bottles is 45 pounds per square inch (PSI). Higher pressures present no advantage, and are dangerous to the apparatus and to the bottles. Siphons are pressurized to 130 PSI. Carbonic acid gas was obtained by combining ground marble dust with sulfuric acid. The gas is then collected and purified by passing it up through a column of water. Chemical purification, such as bicarbonate of soda, is also very effective. American Gas Generators The machinery consists of a vertical carbonate feeding generator, in which the gas is produced under moderate pressure, a large round cylindrical iron gasometer, in which the gas is received, and a beverage carbonating compressor, which pushes the carbonic acid gas and the liquid into a condenser, where they are thoroughly mixed. From the condenser, the carbonate is drawn to furnish the bottling machines or siphon fillers. Steam power was desired to operate the carbonating compressor. The Matthews Generator This machinery consisted of two horizontal acid feeding generators to produce the gas, three stationary fountains and a force pump for injecting the fountains with liquid, where they were charged with carbonic acid gas. Its operation was almost continuous, because each generator
1880 Liquid Cargonator
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operated independently of the other. The generators and fountains were made of gun metal iron and tested to 500 PSI. Puffer’s Generator This gas generator consisted of two generators and three cylinders with two sediment traps, two gas domes, two automatic valves, one patent regulating valve and a double acting pressure pump. Each valve could be set to take the gas from the generator, which is charged to 200 PSI. This is the proper pressure for charging soda water fountains. The Tuft’s Generator The Tuft gas generator consists of two generators with three purifiers, at the side, an equalizing valve, three cylinders with water gages, a pressure gauge, and an injection pump. Gas is developed in the normal manner in one of the generators, and the desired volume of water was pumped into the cylinders. The equalizing valve of the first generator was set at the proper pressure by means of a pressure gauge. The Lippincott Generator The Lippincott equipment consisted of two generators at each end and three stationary fountains constructed of copper. The generator was acid-proof by means of a lead lining. The fountains were sanitary with a tin lining. The purifiers were controlled at the sides of the generators. The agitators were operated with wheel cranks manually, and also used to start the agitators before shifting the belt for automatic operation. There was a gas bell on top of the generator into which the gas rose and to which the pipes and safety relief valves were attached. This precluded the blocking
of the pipes by the foaming of the carbonate. The acid valve was raised and locked by a wheel and screw conveniently located near the operator. Bottling Remember, these are the processes and equipment used in the late 1880s. The process of bottling carbonated beverages was almost universally performed by the means of a bottling apparatus, which rendered their manufacture more profitable. The filling machine may have been conveniently located near the bottling machine. The length of soda pipe only had to be increased. This connecting pipe was best manufactured from pure tin, for sanitary considerations. On American bottling machines, a flexible rubber hose was attached to the unit. This hose was of high quality to withstand bottling pressure. American Filling Machines The Matthews filling machine was used for bottling with corks. It had a syrup gauge attached to the cork gauge which allowed
Illustration showing the general arrangement of carbonic machinery.
all of the corks to be driven in uniformly, and to the proper depth, into the neck of each bottle. When the cork was well in, the bottling ledge was raised enough to permit the cork to be properly secured with the cork swing fastener. Syrup Tanks Syrup tanks were the necessary reservoir units of the bottling machine. They contained the ready-made and flavored syrup, which fed the syrup pump and was intended for flavoring the carbonated water. It was required, where different beverages by several continuous bottling processes were being produced, to have each kind of flavored syrup in a separate syrup tank, which could be immediately connected with the syrup gauge and bottling machine. The tanks were usually constructed of tin lined copper. Typical 1880 Bottling After the bottling machine was properly charged, the syrup was ready, and the bottling machine was in order. Also the corks had previously been well prepared according to the instructions: “Place the bottle in the filler rack and press down the foot pedal until the filling head is firmly on the mouth of the bottle… “With your right hand, raise the hand lever, and grab a cork with your left hand, and place it evenly in the cylinder. Drive the cork about half-way through the filling head and hold it there in order to close the mouth of the cylinder tightly. “With your left hand on the syrup gauge lever, make a single stroke, holding open until the bottle fills, thus injecting the required amount of syrup into the glass
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Illustration of an early bottle washing room. bottle and allowing it to be filled with soda pop.” The syrup gauge was pre-set to exactly the required amount of syrup. Then the gauge lever was pushed back and the cork was driven into the bottle with the hand lever. Directions continued: “Release the foot pedal sufficiently, allowing the bottling cylinder to rise, meanwhile holding down the cork with your hand, put the wire bail securely over the cork. “Remove your foot from the pedal and you can remove your filled bottle from the filling machine.” Apparently, this required great coordination as well as skill. American Soda Fountains Where large stationary counters were established, soda fountains were directly connected with the required generating equipment. It was highly recommended that a special carbonating unit be installed with two stationary fountains containing agitators. Dispensing fountains were quite adapted for populous places of resort, in the main thoroughfare, or where traffic was great. Ideal locations included major cities, sea shores, amusement parks, and railway stations. Summer boardwalks were also ideal.
The demand for soda water was great during the summer. Some of the most delicious drinks were supplied by means of these fountains and repeat customers resulted in large profits. Since the demand for non-intoxicating drinks was so much on the increase, the opportunity offered itself to any one who owned a shop or drug store and were in the position for doing a counter trade to give the experiment a trial. It was one of the most beneficial additions to an existing business – such as an apothecary’s or confectioner’s, hotel or café – being ornamental and at the same time - profitable. The experiment entailed no risk beyond the purchase of the apparatus, because soft drinks were not subjected to excise tax. Portable Fountains Where a portable cylinder, instead of a stationary carbonating apparatus, was employed, it was attached by its connections to the draught machine. This made it ready for use, remaining in its position until empty, when a full one was transposed. These portable cylinders would be strongly fabricated, and in all cases tested to twice the working pressure. The American Soda Fountain Company In 1891, Tuft’s Arctic Soda Fountain
Bottles and Extras
Lippincott Soda Fountain Company consolidated with A. D. Puffer and Sons of Boston, John Matthews of New York and Charles Lippincott of Philadelphia to form THE AMERICAN SODA FOUNTAIN COMPANY. James W. Tufts was president. During the Centennial Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876, on display were the latest inventions, gadgets and machinery. A Corliss Steam Engine was there, huffing, puffing, and larger than a residential home. If one carefully looked around, he would also have discovered a Tufts Artic Soda Fountain. James Tufts and Charles Lippincott had paid $50,000 for the exclusive rights to sell soda pop and ice cream sodas and displayed an ornate, thirty-foot high soda fountain. The fountain was fabricated from different colored marble, and had elaborate spigots, a hanging chandelier and hanging ferns. More about the Matthews and Tufts soda fountains will be continued in future articles. References Book: A Treatise on Beverages, by Charles Herman Sulz; New York; Charles H. Sulz Publishers – 1888. Druggists Circular; New York; June 1902. PINEHURST BEGINNINGS by Audrey Moriarity – 1979.
Bottles and Extras
Spring 2006
Liquid Carbonic Acid Co. fountain as shown in a company advertisement.
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Decorating on the tins we collect There are may claims with regard to tin decoration — who did what first and when. The calendar below is a compilation of some of these dates with an indication of what was done or at least what was claimed to have been accomplished. Initially three different techniques (*1; *2; *3) were used to decorate on tin with seemingly an overlapping of processes.
1810 Use of Containers for Packing/ Preserving of Food: A British patent was given in this year for preserving foods in glass, pottery, tin, and other metal containers. 1812 U.S. Manufacturing: Thomas Kennett established a plant in New York where he hermetically sealed seafood, vegetables, fruits, and meats in glass containers. 1825 Use of Tin Containers: In this year Mr. Kennett applied for a patent for the use of tin containers for the preservation of food. 1825 Patent for the Tin Can: In this year the first tin can patent was granted in the United States. It was issued to Allen Taylor for a machine-stamped tin with extension edges. Obviously there was no tin decoration at this time. 1856 *1. Transfer Printing Patent: The first transfer printing patent was granted in England though its use was not primarily on metals. Transfer printing was really the first successful technique for printing in color on tin. 1862 Use of Transfer Printing: At the Great Exhibition in 1862 F. A. Appel was awarded a medal for varnished metal plates decorated through a transfer printing process. 1864 *2. Direct Tin Printing: In this year a patent was granted in England to W. E. Gedge which was assigned by Mr. Gedge to the Neath Tin Plate Decorating Co. The patent encompassed a method of direct tin printing. There were difficulties in printing more than one color under the direct process as the metal blank had to match on
each pass on which another color was added (unless the first color was only a solid background). 1868 Benjamin George Patent: The first biscuit tin using the Benjamin George patent appeared in this year through a transfer method. The Benjamin George patent can be found on many early British biscuit and tea tins. The transfer process used a lithographic press. Two additional transfer patents were granted to Mr. George in the early 1870s. During this period Benjamin George continually improved the transfer method of tin decorating — both in time and quality, but more importantly in cost. He was paid approximately three pounds for every 100 flat sheets which were then configured by another organization. 1868 Norton Brothers: Edward Norton began the manufacture of tin cans in this year. The Norton brothers were the motivating force in eventually consolidating many small tin makers into the American Can Co. 1869 Somers Brothers: This company began in metal decoration during this year. 1871 Thomas Davidson & Company: This Canadian company seems to have been formed in this year though Mr. Davidson was stamping tin ware in some form in the 1860s. It primarily produced stencil tins in its early years. 1875 *3. Offset Lithography: The first two offset lithography patents in England were granted in this year to Barclay & Fry in the name of the company and in Mr. Barclay’s name. It was much better than transfer printing for tin decorating and soon became the preferred avenue. Evidently there had been prior use of offset lethography on metal in Europe. (There is literature which indicates that Barclay & Fry patented the offset press in 1870.) 1875 Tapered Can: In this year Arthur A. Libby and William J. Wilson created the tapered can which was used for canning of corned beef for Underwood. 1877 Offset Lithography Sale: The
Bottles and Extras process was sold in 1877 to Bryant & May by Barclay & Fry after Mr. Barclay’s death. Most collectors are familiar primarily with the early Bryant & May match and vesta tins. Printing was normally done on a flat bed press. 1879 Lithography and the Somers Brothers: Probably the patent most seen on early tins is the 1879 Somers patent. It was granted in this year for a unique process for lithography on tin containers. 1880 MacDonald Manufacturing Company: This corporation was the other early major tin decorator in Canada. Mr. MacDonald seems to have been in a similar activity before the formation of this business. 1890 Sprinkler Tins: Somers Brothers created a tin container for Mennen for the delivery of powder in a misting manner. 1900 Sanitary Can: This can was produced for the first time in Europe. 1900 Tindeco: This company was formed in Baltimore. 1901 New Companies: The giant American Can Co. had its beginnings in this year. It was also the first year for Cincinnati based Heeking Can. 1914 Continuous Ovens: This year signified a major change in the manufacture of tin cans. This manner of using continuous ovens to dry the inked tin added significant speed to the lithographic process for decoration of flats used for both signs, tin cans and other metallic advertising.
This research is provided courtesy of “Past Times - a newsletter for collectors of antique advertising,” Volume I, Number 6 (1992), American Antique Advertising Association.
Bottles and Extras
Companies that specialized in Chromo-Lithographic printing on metal advertising items 1887-1901 The Tuscarora Advertising Company (Coshocton, Ohio) 1888-1901 The Standard Advertising Company (Coshocton, Ohio) 1901-1905 The Meek and Beach Company (Coshocton, Ohio). This firm, in 1901, purchased both the Tuscarora Advertising Company and the Standard Advertising Company. 1901-1909 The Meek Company (Coshocton, Ohio) 1901-present The H. D. Beach Company (Coshocton, Ohio) 1909-1950 American Art Works (Coshocton, Ohio). This firm was formerly called the Meek Company. 1890-1935 Charles W. Shonk Manufacturing & Lithograph Company (Chicago, Illinois) 1890-1970 Kaufmann & Strauss (New York City) 1901-present American Can Company 1930-1950 American Colortype Company (Newark, New Jersey). Advertising printed by this firm is marked “A.C.Co.” This research is provided courtesy of “The Illustrated Guide to the Collectibles of CocaCola” by Cecil Munsey, Hawthorn Books, Inc. - Publishers, New York, 1970.
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Something for Nothing by Cecil Munsey
As a boy living at York Beach, Maine I heard tales of people getting rich from finding a lump of ambergris – a natural digestive bile produced by sperm whales and occasionally vomited up by the creatures, usually out to sea. You see, ambergris was – and is – used in perfumes, medicines and flavorings (except in the United States, where it is banned under endangered species legislation). Of course I daily walked the shore of York Beach dreaming that I would find a chunk of ambergris. And later I combed the beaches in Florida where we moved and lived for a year or so. I studied and learned that ambergris, in fresh form, is soft and foul smelling, often studded with bits and pieces of beak from giant squid – a primary prey of sperm whales. But if it remains afloat and intact long enough, sun and salt water transform it into clean, waxy, compact substance with a sweet, alluring smell. As one would expect, I never found any ambergris but I wallowed in the dreams of the riches I would have when I found my piece of whale vomit as I beach combed for those several years. I look back and recall the hundreds of pieces of beach glass (chunks broken glass that had been tumbled smooth by the ocean waves), seashells, and the occasional glass bottles that I found. Not knowing that there was value in old bottles, I focused on the sea glass and seashells. Today, all I have left from those youthful times is a conch shell
I took away from the creature living in it. I turned the shell into a horn by cutting off the tip, so that it could be played like a trumpet and as an adult I turned it into a lamp that is still shining here in my office as I write this. Recently, in my seventh decade, I visited Australia on a vacation. Besides their summer being more hot and humid than I can ever remember (their summer is our winter), I experienced many interesting things. I came across some of those old bottles I have come to appreciate since those beachcombing days of my youth. AND I finally came across a lump of ambergris. Yes, I did. On the local television news one evening there was a story about Leon Wright and his wife who recently were strolling along the beach around Streaky Bay in South Australia when they happened upon a large, strange lump of unidentifiable stuff. Being prudent folk, the couple poked the lump, frowned intently and left it right where it was. Two weeks later, while taking another walk along the same stretch of beach, they came upon the lump again. This time Mrs. Wright persuaded her husband to take it home. They showed it to a local marine ecologist named Ken Jury. Ken’s verdict was swift and certain: The lump was a rare bit of recovered ambergris. The Wrights quickly cashed in upon their beach treasure, converting their 32 1/2-pound lump of ambergris into $295,000.
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Classified Ads FOR SALE For Sale: 1) Greenhut Bitters, Prepared by S. Greenhut, Cleveland, O., lt. inside shoulder stain, exceptional (Ring), amber, $165. 2) Drake’s’ Bitters, 4 log, bright yellow amber, $135. 3) Drake’s 4 log, tiny lip flake, nice amber, reverse label, brown but legible, $150. 4) Old Homestead Wild Cherry Bitters, Patent, med. amber, NM, $395. 5) Holtzermann’s Patent, Stomach Bitters, orange amber, NM, $265. 6) Sunburst flask, GVIII-29, lt. teal, lt. wear, $345. 7) John Clarke, New York (shoulder), quart, dark olive amber, C4-A1, $150. 8) Midwestern Club, 8 3/8 in., aqua, o.p., swirled left, $195. 9) Seal, J.W.C., H. Rickets & Co. Glass Works, Bristol, sand pontil, Ca. 1835, $200. Contact: JIM SCHARNAGEL, 3601 Laura Lane, Gainesville, GA 30506; Ph: (770) 5365690. For Sale: Mining artifacts including miner’s candlesticks, dynamite boxes and blasting cap tins. Colorado mining town memorabilia. Also selling ore cars, ore buckets, underground mining rock drills. Contact: STEVE RUSH, 5611 County Road 1, Montrose, CO 81401; Ph: (970) 626-5611; E-mail: nevmith@ridgewayco.net. For Sale: Hutchs: Alabama - 2; Arkansas - 1; Colorado - 2; Idaho - 3; Illinois - 2; Maine - 1; Maryland -1; Minnesota - 2; New Hampshire - 1; New Jersey - 3; New York - 8; Ohio - 7; Pennsylvania - 18; South Dakota - 1; Washington - 3; Wisconsin - 4; Australia - 6. Send one self-addressed stamped envelope for each list to: ZANG WOOD, 1612 Camino Rio, Farmington, NM 87401; Ph: (505) 327-1316. For Sale: Hutch sodas and beer cans. SASE with two stamps gets list. Contact: LES WHITMAN, 212 Skyline Blvd., Oroville, CA 95966; Ph: (530) 589-0259 or (530) 532-6377 10am-4pm days; E-mail: oldstuffantiques@netzero.net. For Sale: 1) Fruit jar, pint, Lockport Mason, blue-aqua, w/cover, perf., $8. 2) Milk, pint, Highland/Dairy/Products/ Co., clear, lt. stain, no damage, $4. 3)Soda, blue-green, J.McLaughlin, 7” tall, smooth base, VNM, $15. 4) HSGS map of MT Whitney, Cal., 1956, showing the location of three dumps, $5. Contact: WILLIAM HERBOLSHEIMER, 6 Beach Cluster, Doylestown, PA 18901-2134; Ph: (215) 340-7156.
For Sale: Trade cards - 1880s - Inman Line Royal Mail Steamers. 1) S.S.’s City Brooklyn. 2) City Chester $25 @ New York Beaches. 3) Manhattan Beach. 4) Rockaway Beach $25 @ Brown Suit Santa, Reindeer, sleigh - Owen Seibert Woolen Mills Ads. 5) Taking Off. 6) One leg in Chimney $35. 7) Dr. Jaynes Medicine ads, Oxford & Oxford Furnace, N.J. $25. 8) Great Union Pacific Tea Co.,
$9. 9) Rising Sun Stove Polish $10-25 Others: Easton, Pa. - Oxford, Oxford Furnace, Washington, Newark, Philipsburg, Newton, N.J., Swap for early military relics, Fla./Ga. bottles, jugs, tokens, postcards, steroviews, older souvenirs. Contact: RALPH KEIFFER, Box 1325, Macclenny, FL 32063; Ph: (904) 259-7775.
Special Offer - National Show 2005 Souvenir Items Souvenir T-Shirt - Sizes: L, XL and XXL (Limited quantities available) EXPO Souvenir Program - This 72-page guide includes several outstanding research articles on Michigan bottles and glassworks not found elsewhere! EXPO Auction Catalog - in fullcolor. Includes a listing of prices realized. Add this catalog to your reference library.
All three for $20.00 Postage Paid! Also available, a small quantity of XL Polo shirts in ʻstoneʼ color for $30.00 Postpaid. And finally - personal-size hot/cold stainless beverage containers for travel (with logo) for $12.00 Postpaid.
To order, please contact: John Pastor 7288 Thorncrest Dr. SE, Ada, MI 49301 Ph: (616) 285-7604 E-mail: jpastor2000@sbcglobal.net
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Classified Ads BOOKS / PERIODICALS KETCHUP, PICKLES, SAUCES 19th Century Food in Glass 498 pages of pictures & research of glass containers the early food industry utilized. Smyth Bound - $25.00 to: MARK WEST PUBLISHERS PO BOX 1914 SANDPOINT, ID 83864
FOR SALE: CD-rom for computer users. Contents: almost 200 pages of inventory / research for Dr. Hatchett’s Drug Store Museum of Lumpkin, Georgia. Patent medicines & other drug store products 1870s to 1950s. Research on products, history, composition of medicines, company histories, medical uses, costs of products, etc. Products can be searched by their names or manufacturers. Price: $12.00 for mailing to U.S. addresses. Order from Stewart County Historical Commission, P.O. Box 818,
Lumpkin, GA 31515 or contact: ALLEN VEGOTSKY, 2215 Greencrest Dr., Atlanta, GA 30346-2629; PH: (770) 2701034; E-mail: Vegotsky@earthlink.net. FOR SALE: A limited number of 2002, 2003 and 2004 Federation Auction catalogues with prices-realized lists are available at $5.00 each plus $2.00 postage. Full color and beautifully photographed they make a handy reference! Contact JOHN PASTOR, 7288 Thorncrest Drive SE, Ada, MI 49301; Phone: (616) 285-7604 or RALPH VAN BROCKLIN, 1021 W Oakland Avenue, #109, Johnson City, TN 37604; Phone: (423) 913-1378. FOR SALE: A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO ARIZONA BOTTLE & STONEWARE - A HISTORY OF MERCHANT CONTAINERS IN ARIZONA 124 pages of very detailed sketches of bottles and stoneware from the state of Arizona (1999) Spiral bound, $25.00. Contact: MICHAEL MILLER, Miller Antiques, 9214 W. Gary Road, Peoria, AZ 85345,
INSURANCE for Bottles
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PH: (623) 486-3123 or by E-mail: gramike@earthlink.net. FOR SALE: THE PILL ROLLERS, Third Edition, C.G. & L.C. Richardson. This is the only comprehensive book on apothecary antiques available to collectors with a serious interest in pharmaceutical antiques and collectibles. The book has 185 pages with 800 items illustrated. A separate price guide is included with the book price. The glossary includes information to help identify pharmaceutical artifacts including an extensive listing of names to help identify drug jar and apothecary bottle inscriptions. The price is $37.50, including shipping, and can be ordered from: CHARLES RICHARDSON, 1176 South Dogwood Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. FOR SALE: Two books on whiskey jugs by Bottles and Extras writer Jack Sullivan. THE AMERICAN WHISKEY JUG features 200 richly
2001 EDITION ... “The Fruit Jar Collectorʼs Bible”
RedBook
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Reflects Recent Price Influences of Auctions and the Internet, as well as Current Price Trends Soft Cover, 432 Pages Over 10,000 Entries $35 US - $40 Non-US - Post Paid Order from Author : DOUGLAS M. LEYBOURNE, JR. P.0. BOX 5417 - NORTH MUSKEGAN, MI 49445
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Classified Ads
FOR SALE: Can you tell the “Real” from the “Repro”? Now you can with Tippecanoe & E. G. Booz Too! A book about cabin bottles, by Thomas C. Haunton. Detailed info on 57 different bottles, with new “McKearin” numbers, over 140 photos, and new information on E. G. Booz - the man! A price guide and free CD with 200 color photos are also included. Send $32.95 postpaid to: TOM HAUNTON, 48 Hancock Ave. #1, Medford, MA 02155-5621. E-mail: tchaunton@comcast.net
FOR SALE: GEORGIA CROWN TOP BOTTLE BOOK. 260 pages with over 1400 bottles. Includes Georgia Bottling Works, 263 different Script straight-sided Coca-Cola bottles from Georgia, 236 different Georgia Chero-Cola bottles. Many others also listed. All Color! $39.95 + $3.95 Shipping. Send to: Georgia Soda Bottle Book, 1211 St. Andrews Drive, Douglas, GA 31533. FOR SALE: Two books on whiskey jugs by Bottles and Extras writer Jack Sullivan. THE AMERICAN WHISKEY JUG features 200 richly illustrated pages with index. $20 plus $5 postage. THE WHISKEY CERAMICS OF SCOTLAND, IRELAND and ENGLAND features 100 pages with index. $10 plus $3 postage. Or buy both for $25 plus $5 postage. Contact: JACK SULLIVAN, 4300 Ivanhoe Pl., Alexandria, VA 22304; PH: (703) 370-3039; E-mail: jack.sullivan9@verizon.net. FOR SALE: COLLECTING APPLIED COLOR LABEL BOTTLES, Third Edition (2002). 1200 full-color photographs with over 1600 ACL soda bottles listed and over 1650 prices realized in an easy to read format. $45 includes postage Contact: KATHY HOPSON-SATHE, 414 Molly Springs Road, Hot Springs, AR 71913; E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com. FOR SALE: 1) 4 TH EDITION BOTTLES: IDENTIFICATION & PRICE GUIDE - Comprehensive Updated Pricing Guide / three new chapters: Cobalt Blue Bottles, Violin Bottles and Museum & Research Resources. Expanded & updated chapters: Determining Bottle Values, Trademark Identification, Dealer/Club Guide / Glossary / Auction Houses, Bibliography. 300 b/w photos – 16 page color section 57 Pricing Chapters $21.00 (includes shipping/handling). 2) Warman’s
Bottlefield Guide, 1st Edition, by Michael Polak - Values & Identification 511 pages - all color photographs - $15.00 (includes shipping/handling). Check or money order to: MIKE POLAK, P.O. Box 30328, Long Beach, CA 90853; PH: (562) 4389209; E-mail: bottleking@earthlink.net.
FOR SALE: Now, finally available! BIG BOB BEST BITTERS is a comprehensive price guide for collectors of bitters bottles reporting auction prices realized for the last 17 years. This printing contains nearly 4000 accurately described bitters in a convenient, easy to read format. Listing bottle description and condition, Ring/Ham number, sale date and realized auction prices, this reference is a musthave for the collector or dealer of bitters bottles. To encourage your attendence at bottle shows, the price is an affordable $10. Price postage paid is $15. Send check or money order with your mailing instructions to: BOB STRICKHART, 3 Harvest Drive, Pennington, New Jersey 08534. FOR SALE: The American Poison Bottle Book, presented by the Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association, full-color poison bottle work book. Updated
information on sizes, colors and new listings. Contains the Kuhn ID system and is dedicated to him. $50 + $4.95 s/ h. Printing limited so get yours now! Check to: JOAN CABANISS, 312 Summer Lane, Huddleston, VA 24104. FOR SALE: Out of print books / prices reduced. 1) Bitters Bottles by Watson HB $35.00. 2) Supplement to Bitters $25.00. 3) Fruit Jars by Toulouse HB $55.00. 4) Grand Old American Bottles by Freeman. $35.00. 5) American Bottles and Flasks by Mck and Wilson, HB $80.00. 6) Bottle Flasks and Dr Dyott $25.00. 7) Treasury American Bottles, Ketcham $20.00. 8) Tempo, Glass Folks of South Jersey, by Horner $15.00. 9) Coca Cola Four Vols., by Goldstein $40.00. 10) Downeast Glassman, 16 issues published by Noel Thomas, lot $25.00. Also: whiskey labels, pack of 16 - all different, $2.00 ea., include one first class stamp. Red Book Fruit Jars, No. 2, 3, 7 & 9 - call for prices on Red Books. Postage extra on books. SAM FUSS, 232 Harmony Rd., Mickleton, NJ 08056; Ph: (856) 423-5038; E-mail: quarrylane@sectorsystems.com.
WANTED Wanted: 1) Cobalt blue, iron-pontiled sodas in good to excellant condition. Especially tapored tops. 2) Kansas City, Missouri bitters or sodas - Hutchs and blob-tops. Especially Kump or McQueens. 3) Colored iron pontiled St. Louis sodas. 4) L. Block and Block & Branden sodas from Leavenworth, Kansas or Branden & Kirrmeyer ales and beers. Contact: SAM LAWSON, Ph: (816) 7466136, E-mail: sdlll6508@aol.com. Wanted: Moulton items! I collect bottles and related items with my name on them and am interested in purchasing anything which I do not have. Contact: TOM G. MOULTON, 1911 Preservation Dr., Plant City, FL 33566-0945; Ph: (813) 754-1396; or E-mail: corkscru1@aol.com. Wanted: Paying $3000 for Ball BBGMCo fruit jar, Redbook 9 #195. Need other scarce Ball jars and go-withs too. Love to chat with other fruit jar collectors. Always have a sales table at the Muncie, Ind., jar shows. Contact: JOE COULSON, Ph: (317) 915-0665.
EBay ID “leaderjar.” www.leaderjar.com.
Website:
Wanted: Glass industry emphemera, especially bottle-blowing machine pictures, patents, catalogs and price lists. Pictures of bottle blowing machines, especially those by Owens, Lynch, Miller and O’Neill, and Hartford-Empire. I am also interested in pamphlets and catalogs from these companies. I am interested in talking to others about machine-made bottles. Contact: GEORGE L. MILLER, 8 Eighth Ave., Roebling, NJ 08554; Ph: (609) 499-4148 or E-mail: bottlemachine.glm@verison.net. Wanted: WESTERN WHISKIES Always interested in your western fifths, flasks and advertising. Individual bottles or whole collections. Top prices paid for top examples. Contact: DENNY BRAY, California. Call (559) 582-7011 on weekends or (510) 537-5241 weeknights. 2211 Chardonnay, Hanford, CA 93230; E-mail: dennis.bray@acgon.org.
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Spring 2006
Classified Ads
Wanted: J.J. Butler, Cinct., Ohio cone ink, horizontal embossing; Square Butler, 1 1/4” wide with sharply sloping shoulders; Dr. C. Fuller ’s Female Specific or Indian Regulator and Mother’s Relief, Jametown, N.Y.; Dr. Kilmer’s Wild Indian Female Cancer Injection; Wood’s Female Medicine, Wood Drug Co., Bristol, Tenn., rect., clear; other scarce female medines. Contact: JIM SCHARNAGEL, 3601 Laura Lane, Gainesville, GA 30506; Ph: (770) 536-5690. Wanted: Canadian Ginger Beers, sodas, glass beers and others. Also interested in bottles from Alaska. Have some nice items for trade also. Contact: ERIC BOURDON, 1301-1305 W. 12th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. CANADA, E-mail: 5150@telus.net. Wanted: R.F. Rakes, Rocky Mount, Virgina, whiskey jugs, 1/2 gal. and gallon, and shot glass. Contact: DAVID KYLE RAKES, 11210 Windsong Ct., Clermont, FL 34715; Ph: (352) 3944257; E-mail: barakes@juno.com. Wanted: WESTERN WHISKEY BOTTLES, SHOT GLASSES, ADVERTISING & all go-withs wanted. Also have some high end whiskies for sale or trade. After the Reno show, give me a call & stop by to visit a great 45 years whiskey collection housed in a 1200 sq. ft. room. It’s worth the trip. Contact: KEN SWARTZ, Box 990956, Redding, CA 96099; Ph: (530) 3655046. Wanted: Rare and unusual Dr. Kilmer bottles and advertising. Absolute highest prices paid for any and all items I don’t have. Call me first and let me know what you’ve got! Contact: TERRY MCMURRAY, P.O. Box 393, Kirkwood, NY 13795; Ph: (607) 775-5972. Wanted: Labeled medicine, whiskey and others from Michigan. Also seeking any bottle from Plymouth, Ausable, Osconda, Clifton, Lanse and Eagle River, Michigan. Also want John Dennen bottle from Escanaba, Michigan. Contact: DAN ARGENTATI, 60695 Trebor, South Lyon, MI 48178; Ph: (246) 437-6104; E-mail: dargentati@comcast.net. Wanted: Great figural bottles, unique top-shelf bitters bottle colors and variations. Please call me. Contact:
FERDINAND MEYER V, 101 Crawford St., Studio 1A, Houston, TX 77002; Ph: (713) 222-7979; E-mail: fm@fmgdesign.com.
Wanted: Vermont pharmacist bottles from the towns that I do not have. Others considered. Contact: GARY CUSHMAN, P.O. Box 272, Chelsea, VT 05038-0272; E-mail: nebreweriana@charter.net. Wanted: Florida blob-top & Hutchinsonstyle bottles. Any condition. Highest prices paid for ones I need. Contact: CHRIS HODER, 4911 30th St. Ct. E., Bradenton, FL 34203; Ph: (863) 5281216; E-mail: ckhoder@verizon.net. Wanted: Western Whiskies. Santa Barbara Drug Store, “Columbia Drug Co.,” Santa Barbara. $200 for Deceut bottle, any size. Contact: DEREK ABRAMS, 129 E. El Camino, Santa Maria, CA 93454; Ph: (805) 963-2279, E-mail: taps60@cox.net. Wanted: Hutchinsons: New Mexico, Old Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Salvador, Spain - other foreign contries. Contact: ZANG WOOD, 1612 Camino Rio, Farmington, NM 87401; Ph: (505) 327-1316. Wanted: 1) The River Swamp Chill & Fever Cure, Augusta, Ga., amber, 6 1/4”. 2) Lewis Bear Poison Drug Company, Pensacola, Fla., clear, 4 1/8”. 3) 1981 Coach “Bear” Bryant Coke bottle (no tail scroll), 10-ounce, green glass, unauthorized bootleg bottle. Contact: TOM LAMBERTH, 711 Black Creek Lodge Rd., Freeport, FL 32439, Ph: (850) 835-4255; E-mail: t_wlam@cox.net.
Wanted: Bottles and beer cans of the 1930s - 1950s. Will trade. Contact: LES WHITMAN, 212 Skyline Blvd., Oroville, CA 95966; Ph: (530) 589-0259 or (530) 532-6377 10am-4pm days; E-mail: oldstuffantiques@netzerio.net. Wanted: Ammonia, food product, soda, beer, whiskey cylinders, quart & 1/2gallon jugs with McL on bottom, or what have you. A Los Angeles glass house. Wilmington, Ca. flask from the Hermitage Bar, pint or 1/2-pint. A copy of “Impressed in Time” Colorado Beverages by Preble. Local, McLaughlin, Hall bottles. Contact; DAVID HALL, 1224 McDonald Ave., Wilmington, CA 90744; Ph: (310) 8346368; E-mail: dcorridor@msn.com. Wanted: Information about Pennsylvania bottle. I have a Goodyear Club Whiskey bottle from Austin, Pa. No embossing, blown in a 3-piece mold, cork top, free of all chips & cracks. Full paper label - with following: “Goodyear Club / 12 Year Old / Whiskey / Pure Rye / Purest and Best / E.F. McCann / Austin, Pa.” Goodyear timbered this area. Anyone have this bottle? Contact: CHARLES TESAURO, 34 Park Rd., Emporium, PA 15834; Ph: (814) 4861422. Wanted: Castle Whiskey #143 in Bob Barnett’s Western Whiskey Bottles #4. Embossing reads “The Chevalier Co., Castle Whiskey, San Francisco, Cal.” Please contact: BEN KUTZKEY, 163 Shepard Ln., Bishop, CA 93514-2133; Ph: (760) 873-6635; E-mail: bkutzkey@aol.com.
Wanted: Any Rockford, Illinois bottle beers, sodas, druggists, milks, or misc. Especially looking for Thomas (Thos.) Noonan blob beer, could be aqua or amber. Contact: JEFF DAHLBERG, Rockford, IL, Ph: (815) 963-5477 or E-mail: jmdjdahlberg@aol.com.
Wanted: FOR COLLECTION BOOK: 1858 & 1862 Hostetter & Smith Bitters Co. Almanacs. Top price paid for good condition. Contact: DOUG SHILSON, 3308-32 Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55406-2015; E-mail: bittersdug@aol.com.
Wanted: Embossed (not etched) advertising medicine DOSE (shot) glasses that advertise drug stores or pharmacies. My goal is to collect one from each U.S. state, but I am not even halfway there. Please contact: TRACY GERKEN, 1131 Kings Cross, Brunswick, GA 31525; Ph: (912) 269-2074 or E-mail: lgerken@bellsouth.net.
Wanted: Florida & Southeastern U.S. bottles, jugs, postcards, stereoviews, photographs, tokens, early souvenirs, fancy petal/paneled pottery, wax seal fruit jars, civil war & earlier U.S. military relics, wooten wells, Texas mineral water Hutch, Scruggs & Scruggs Silver Eagle Sour Mash, Texas whiskey. Contact: RALPH KEIFFER, P.O. Box 1325, MacClenny, FL 32063; Ph: 904) 259-7775
Bottles and Extras
Spring 2006
81
Classified Ads
Wanted: H.L. Jackson strap-sided flask, Blackstone, Va. Any size wanted. Plus any slug-plate Virginia sodas. Contact: BRUCE WADFORD, 362 Dobbins Rd., Blackstone, VA 23824; Ph: (434) 6768942; E-mail: mlwbwad@meckcom.net.
Wanted: Any thing with the word “beer” on it. All breweriana from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin only. Contact: ROBERT E. JAEGER, 1380 W Wisconsin Ave., Apt. 232, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin 53066; Ph: (262) 560-1948.
Wanted: TOP DOLLAR PAID for Western Whiskey Items: Cylinders, Flasks, Shot Glasses, Jugs and any Western Whiskey Advertising. We also collect: Inks; Oregon Seltzer bottles; The Dalles, Oregon items; Dufur, Oregon items and Dr. Vanderpool’s medicines & trade cards. Contact: JIM & JULIE DENNIS, P.O. Box 185, Dufur, OR 97021; Ph: (541) 467-2760 or E-mail: jmdennis@hotmail.com.
Free For Sale Ads and Wanted Ads are a benefit of membershiop
SEND YOURS TODAY!
SHOPS AND SERVICES JAR DOCTOR (for all your cleaning supplies) 2006 shows: Muncie, Indiana - Columbus, Ohio Baltimore, Maryland - St. Joseph, Missouri - Bloomington, Minnesota Mansfield, Ohio - Shupp’s Grove (Adamstown) Pa. - Reno, Nevada - Tulsa, Oklahoma - Richmond, Virginia - Keene, New Hampshire - Springfield, Ohio Auburn, Ohio Keep wathing JarDoctor.com for updates (should be updated soon). For more information, contact: R. Wayne Lowry, the Jar Doctor: (816) 318-0161, Fax: (816) 318-0162 E-mail: JarDoctor@aol.com
SPRING STEEL PROBES
Montana Sodas - Embossed - ACL - Paper Label -
Poison Bottles Especially Cleo Cola Billings, Mont.
Joan C. Cabaniss jjcab@b2xonlinel.com (540) 297-4498 312 Summer Lane Huddleston, VA 24104
est. 1979
R.J. Reid 1102 East Babcock St. Bozeman, MT 59715 (406) 587-9602 rjkreid@mcn.net
Full Colour BBR
The world’s first full color bottle magazine simply got BETTER and BIGGER PACKED FULL of all the information you need on the UK & worldwide scene Well-researched articles & All the latest finds Upcoming sales & Full show calendar “the classified ads alone make a subscription worthwhile, but the color pictures make it absolutely ESSENTIAL. Heck, what
1 year Air Mail subscription still just $20 - 2 years $40 Personal Check, MasterCard/Visa, even $ bills!
BBR, Elsecar Heritage Centre, Barnsley, 2, Yorkshire, S74 8HJ, England Tel: 011-44-1226-745156; Fax: 011-44-1226-361561
Length 36” to 48” Diameter 1/4” to 5/16” “T” Handle 1” Dia. x 12” and Ring 4” above tip, both welded. $37.50 includes S/H $3 Extra for Rush Shipping Cashier Check or M.O. R. L. Wilcox 7422 Park Drive Mechanicsville, VA 23111 Phone: (804) 746-9854 or E-mail: Wilcox7422@aol.com
Churchillʼs Antique Bottle Cleaning Service Introductory Offer: Will clean one bottle at no charge ! (minus postage) Try me fee free! Less than 10 bottles: $15 each. 10-14: $12.50 each. More than 15: $10.00 each.
MARK CHURCHILL
PO Box 7023 Grand Rapids, MI 49510
(616) 248-3808 E-mail: mdiscoidalis@netzero.net
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Bottles and Extras
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FOHBC SHO-BIZ FOHBC Sho-Biz is published in the interest of the hobby. Federation affiliated clubs are noted. Information on up-coming collecting events is welcome, but space is limited. Please send at least four months in advance, including telephone number, to: FOHBC Sho-Biz, c/o Kathy Hopson-Sathe, 414 Molly Springs Rd., Hot Springs, AR 71913, or E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com. Show schedules are subject to change. Please call ahead before traveling long distances. All listings published here will also be published on the web site at http://www.fohbc.com.
APRIL APRIL 1 KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN The Kalamazoo Antique Bottle Clubʼs 27th Annual Antique Bottle & Glass Show (Sat. 10 AM - 3 PM, General Adm. $3, Seniors, $2; Set-Up, 8 AM - 10 AM; Early Adm. 8 AM - 10 AM, $30) at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds, 2900 Lake Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Free appraisals, free parking, 100 tables including displays, largest annual show in Michigan. INFO: JOHN PASTOR, Show Chairman, 7288 Thorncrest Dr., SE, Ada, MI 49301; PH: (616) 285-7604; E-mail: jpastor2000@sbcglobal.net; or MARK MCNEE, PH: (269) 343-8393. ** Federation Member Club APRIL 2 MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY The South Jersey Bottle & Glass Clubʼs Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Elks Lodge of Millville, 1815 East Broad St., Millville, New Jersey. INFO: BOB TOMPKINS, 1731 Hubbard Ln., Vineland, NJ 08360; PH: (856) 691-5170 or MERRIE KERNAN, PH: (856) 451-8904. APRIL 2 SOMERSWORTH, N.H. The New England Antique Bottle Clubʼs 40th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM - 2 PM; Early Buyers 8 AM) at the Great Bay Gallery, 25 Willard Dr., Somerworth, New Hampshire. INFO: GERRY SIROIS, PH: (207) 773-0148 or JACK PELLETIER, PH: (207) 839-4389. APRIL 9 CIRENCESTER, ENGLAND The Cirencester Antique Bottle & Collectorʼs Fair (Sat. 11 AM - 3 PM; Early Buyers 9 AM) at the Bingham Hall, King Street, Cirencester, England. INFO: KEITH WAIT, 9 Purley Rd., Cirencester, Glso., GL7 1EP, England; Direct Dail: 01144-1285-652142. APRIL 9 WEST SWANZEY, N.H. The Gallery at Knotty Pineʼs 12th Annual Antique Bottle Show & Sale (Sat. 10 AM 1 PM, Early Buyers 9 AM) at the Knotty Pine Antique Market, Rt. 10, West Swanzey, New Hampshire. INFO: JOAN E. PAPPAS, PH: (603) 352-5252. APRIL 21-22 VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA Golden Gate Historical Bottle Societyʼs 40th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM – 3
PM, early admission Fri. 1 PM – 6 PM) at the Solano County Fairgrounds, McCormack Hall (across from Six Flags Marine World), Vallejo, California. INFO: GARY or DARLA ANTONE, PH: (925) 373-6758, Email: packrat49er@netscape.net. ** Federation Member Club APRIL 22 PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA The Emerald Coast Bottle Clubʼs 9th Annual Bottle Show & Sale (Sat. Show; Fri. setup 5 - 9 PM) at the Panama City Beach Recreational Complex, Highway 98, Panama City Beach, Florida. INFO: ALAN McCARTHY, Ph: (850) 769-3984, E-mail: kajacanal@knology.net or BOBBY VAUGHN, Ph: (850) 415- 5521, E-mail: deanne_vaughn@yahoo.com. ** Federation Member Club APRIL 23 ROCHESTER, NEW YORK The Genessee Valley Bottle Collectors Associationʼs 37th Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the ESL Sports Center, 2700 Brighton Henrietta Townline Road, Monroe Community College Campus, Rochester, New York. INFO: Dealer Chariman: AARON & PAM WEBER, PH: (585) 2266345, E-mail: dealerchair@gvbca.org or Exhibits: CHRIS DAVIS, PH: (315) 3314078, E-mail: exhibits@gvbca.org or Show Chair: LARRY FOX, PH: (585) 3948958, E-mail: brerfox@frontiernet.net. ** Federation Member Club
APRIL 23 HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA The Historical Bottle-Diggers of Virginiaʼs 35th Annual Antique Bottle & Collectible Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds (US Rte. 11, Exit 243 off I-81), Harrisonburg, Virginia. INFO: SONNY SMILEY, PH: (540) 434-1129 or E-mail: lithiaman1@yahoo.com. MAY MAY 5-6 GRAY, TENNESSEE The State of Franklin Antique Bottle & Collectibles Associationʼs 8th Annual Show & Sale (Fri. 12 PM - 6 PM, setup & early buyers, $10 adm.; Sat. 8 AM - 2 PM, free adm.) at the Appalachian Fairgrounds (Johnson City, Tenn. & Bristol, Tenn./Va. area), Gray, Tennessee. 200 tables available. INFO: MELISSA MILNER, PH: (423) 928-4445 or E-mail: mmilner12@chartertn.net.
** Federation Member Club
MAY 7 UTICA, NEW YORK The Mohawk Valley Antique Bottle Clubʼs 12th Annual Antique Bottle Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM - 2:30 PM) at the Herkimer County Fairgrounds, Route 5 S & Cemetery Road, Frankfort, New York (5 miles east of Utica). INFO: PETER BLEIBERG, 7 White Pine road, New Hartford, NY 13413, PH: (315) 735-5430 or E-mail: PMBleiberg@aol.com. MAY 12-13 MANSFIELD, OHIO Ohio Bottle Clubʼs 28th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 8 AM – 2 PM, early admission Fri. 2 – 6 PM) at the Richland County Fairgrounds, U. S. Rt. 30 Trimble Rd. exit, Mansfield, Ohio. INFO: RON HANDS, PH: (330) 634-1977, Email: rshands225@yahoo.com. ** Federation Member Club MAY 13 CHEHALIS, WASHINGTON The Washington Bottle Collectors Associationʼs Insulator, Antique Bottle, and Collectible Show (Sat. 9 AM – 4 PM, Adm. Donation, Set-Up 8:30 AM; Fri. SetUp, Noon – 7 PM, Early Adm. 1 PM – 7 PM, $5 Adm.) at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, Chehalis, Washington. INFO: WARREN LHOTKA, C o C h a i r , 905 24 th S., Seattle, WA 98144, PH: (206) 329-8412, E-mail: wlbottleguy@yahoo.com or ROBIN HARRISON, Co-Chair, 7048 20 th NE, Seattle, WA 98105, PH: (206) 522-2135 or E-mail: robin3250@comcast.net. MAY 19-20 MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA The Montgomery Bottle & Insulator Clubʼs 35th Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 7 AM - 3 PM. Fri. Dealer Setup 3 PM - 7 PM; Early Buyers & Non Dealers $10 plus meal) at the Garrett Coliseum, Ed Teogue Arena, Montgomery, Alabama. INFO: JAMES HOPKINS, 7366 Heathermore Loop, Montgomery, AL 36117; PH: (334) 2791202 or BETTY BRADSHER, 7360 Heathermore Loop, Montgomery, AL 36117; PH: (334) 279-0072. MAY 20 COVENTRY, CONNECTICUT Museum of Connecticut Glassʼs 2 nd Annual Bottle & Glass Show & Sale (Sat.
Bottles and Extras 9 AM – 1 PM) at the Coventry Museum grounds, Route 44 & North River Rd., Coventry, Connecticut. INFO: JAN A. RATUSHNY, P. O. Box 242, Eastford, CT 06242, PH: (860) 428-4585, Email: janratushny@aol.com. MAY 21 BRICK, NEW JERSEY Jersey Shore Bottle Clubʼs 34 th Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM – 2 PM) at the Brick Elks Lodge, 2491 Hooper Ave., Brick, New Jersey. INFO: R. PEAL, 720 Eastern La., Brick, NJ 09723, PH: (732) 267-2528, Email: manodirt@msn.com, Website: http://www.geocities.com/ dtripet2000/jsbc/jsbc.html. ** Federation Member Club MAY 21 WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA Washington County Antique Bottle Clubʼs 32nd Annual Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Alpine Star Lodge, 735 Jefferson Ave. (Exit 17, off I-70), Washington, Pennsylvania. INFO: NIGEL DUNMORE, 121 Highland Ave., Avella, PA 15312; PH: (724) 587-5217; E-mail: legin1247@msn.com. JUNE JUNE 2-3 LUMBERTON, NORTH CAROLINA The Robeson Antique Bottle Club Annual Show & Sale (Fri. 3 PM - 9 PM; Sat. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Farmerʼs Market, Exit 14 off I-95, Lumberton, North Carolina. INFO: PAUL VALENTI, 456 Boone Road, Lumberton, NC 28360; PH: (910) 7383074 or MITCHELL McCORMICK; PH: (910) 628-6245, E-mail: BRET LEE, Email: dex@intrestar.net. JUNE 3 ALTON, ENGLAND The Alton Bottle Collectorʼs Club Antique Bottle & Collectors Fair (Fri. 10:30 AM 2:30 PM; Early Buyers 9:30 AM) at the Community Center, Alton, Hants, England. INFO: MICK WELLS, 16 Moreland Close, Alton, Hants, GU34 2SA, England, Direct Dial: 011-44-1420-88773. JUNE 3-4 PORTLAND, OREGON The Oregon Bottle Collectors Association Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM - 5 PM, Early buyers 9 AM; Sun. 9 AM - 3 PM) at the National Guard Armory, 10000 NE 33rd Dr., Portland, Oregon. Sunday hours will be in conjunction with the Rose City Collectors Market. INFO: MARK JUNKER, PH: (503) 231-1235 or BILL BOGYNSKA, PH: (503) 657-1726, E-mail: billb@easystreet.com. ** Federation Member Club
Spring 2006 JULY JULY 1- 2 ELSECAR, ENGLAND BBR 16th Annual ʻSummer Nationalʼ Show (Sat 9 AM - 5 PM, Early Buyers 9 AM & Sun 9 AM - 3 PM) at the Elsecar Heritage Center, Elsecar, England. INFO: ALAN BLAKEMAN, BBR Elsecar Heritage Center, Nr. Barnsley, S. Yorks, S74 8HJ, England, PH: 011-44 1226 745156, Email: sales@onlinebbr.com. JULY 8 - 9 AUSTIN, TEXAS 37th National Insulator Assoc. Annual Convention & Sale, (Sat. 9 AM - 4 PM & Sun. 9 AM - 1:30 PM) at the Doubletree Hotel, 6505 Interstate Highway 35 North, Austin, Texas. INFO: JIM BATES, Email: batesjimir@aol.com or BOB & CAROLYN BERRY, E-mail: pyrex553@aol.com. JULY 9 MUNCIE, INDIANA The Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club Summer Show & Sale (Sun. 9 AM 3 PM, Adm. $2; Set-up, 6 AM for Displayers, 7 AM for dealers) at the Horizon Convention Center, 401 S. High Street, Muncie, Indiana. Accommodations at the Hotel Roberts across the street. Call (765) 781-7777 for reservations & mention the Show for discount. INFO: NORM BARNETT, P.O. Box 38, Flat Rock, IN 47234; PH: (812) 587-5560; E-mail: thebarnetts@mach1pc.com or DICK COLE, 2904 W. Moore Rd., Muncie, IN 47304; PH: (800) 428-5887, Ext. 117; Email: dcole@netdirect.net; Website: www.fruitjar.org. ** Federation Member Club JULY 15-16 ADAMSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA The 5th Annual Shuppʼs Grove Bottle Festival (Sat. & Sun. 6 AM - dark, Early Buyers Fri. 5 PM) at Shuppʼs Grove in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. INFO: STEVE GUION, PH: (717) 560-9480 E-mail: affinityinsurance@dejazzd.com or JERE HAMBLETON, (717) 393-5175, E-mial: jshdetector@webtv.net. JULY 22 LEADVILLE, COLORADO The Antique Bottle Collectors of Colorado Show (Sat.) at the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum Convention Center, 117 10th Street, Leadville, Colorado. INFO: JIM & BARB SUNDQUIST, PH: (303) 674-4658; E-mail: barbsund@msn.com. SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER 23 JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA Antique Bottle Collectors of North Florida 39th Annual Show & Sale, (8 AM - 3 PM, Early Buyers Fri. 6 PM - 9 PM) at the
83 Fraternal Order of Police Building, 5530 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, Florida. INFO: WAYNE HARDEN, 3867 Winter Betty Road, Jacksonville, FL 32210, PH: (904) 781-2620, E-mail: abcnf@juno.com. SEPTEMBER 24 LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS The Merrimack Valley Antique Bottle Clubʼs 32nd Annual Lowell Antique Bottle & Post Card Show with 100 dealers (Sun. 9 AM - 2 PM, $3; early buyers, 8 AM, $15) at Lowell Elks Club, 40 Old Ferry Road (Exit 32 off US Rte. 3 & follow the signs), Lowell, Massachusetts. INFO: JOHN GALLO, PH: (978) 256-2738 or GARY KOLTOOKIAN, PH: (978) 256-9561; Website: www.erols.com/choytmvbc. OCTOBER OCTOBER 7 HAMBURG, NEW YORK The Greater Buffalo Bottle Collectors Annual Show & Sale (Sat. 9 AM - 3 PM, $3 Adm.) at the Hamburg Fairgrounds Exposition Hall, Hamburg, New York. Free appraisals. For Dealer Contract & INFO: ED POTTER, Ph: (716) 674-8890 or Email: ecp103130@worldnet.att.net or PETER JABLONSKI, PH: (716) 440-7985 or E-mail: psjablon102@cs.com. NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 5 MADISON, WISCONSIN Madison Antique Bottle & Advertising Show & Sale (9 AM - 3 PM, Early Buyers 6 AM), at the Rodeway Inn, 4916 E. Broadway, Hwy. 12-18, exit 142-A), Madison, Wisconsin. INFO: BILL MITCHELL, 703 Linwood Ave, Stevens Point, WI 54481. PH: (715) 341-6860 or (727) 319-2875.
Send your showʼs information to: FOHBC Show Biz Kathy Hopson-Sathe 414 Molly Springs Road Hot Springs, AR 71913 E-mail: kathy@thesodafizz.com or use the online form at: www.fohbc.com
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Presents 40th ANNUAL
THE STATE OF FRANKLIN ANTIQUE BOTTLE & COLLECTIBLES ASSOCIATION PRESENTS ITS 8TH ANNUAL SHOW
MAY 6th, 2006 APPALACHIAN FAIRGROUNDS GRAY, TENNESSEE (Northeast Tennessee Area)
Friday, May 5th 12 PM - 6 PM Setup for Dealers Early Buyers: Adm. $10
SATURDAY, APRIL 22nd 2006 9 am to 3 pm SOLANO COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS McCormaxk Hall
VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA
Free Admission ~ Free Walk-in Appraisals Dealer Setup - Fri. 21st 11 am to 6 pm Early Bird - Fri. 1 - 6 pm $10 Adm.
For Information, Contact: Gary or Darla Antone Ph: (925) 373-6758 E-mail: PACKRAT49ER@NETSCAPE.NET
Saturday, May 6th 8 AM - 2 PM Free Admission
Fellow Collectors and Dealers: Our show will be in the Farm & Home Buliding at the Appalachian Fairgrounds in Gray, TN. We have over 200 tables available, plus unlimited room at the fairgrounds to grow. We are centrally located, close to I-81 and I-26, with reasonably priced accomodations within a few minutes. When you purchase your first table at $25, you get a meal and all the fun you can stand! This is the perfect place for northern & southern dealers to get together to sell, trade or buy; but we need YOU - the dealers & collectors, to make this show great. On eBay, you can buy and sell, but you can始t see old friends, meet new people and get a wealth of information. Don始t miss the opportunity to be part of this show. For more information, contact: Melissa Milner Phone: (423) 928-4445 or E-mail: mmilner12@chartertn.net
ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTORS OF COLORADO SHOW Antiques
Glassware
Old Bottles
Collectibles
Paper
Photo Courtesy of Chris Buys: Historic Leadville in Rare Photographs & Drawings
HISTORIC LEADVILLE JULY 22 9 AM to 4 PM $2 Adm. Dealer Setup: 6 AM
National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum Convention Center 117 10th Street
INFO: Jim & Barbara Sundquist (303) 674-4658 E-mail: barbsund@msn.com
Unusual Bottles From the Collection of Bryan Grapentine Page 50 Shield F - The Mark of Quality Page 13
Collecting...”The Ioway” Hutchinson Soda Bottles Page 44
Bottling Wisdom The Motto Jug Page 52 Brewing in Medford, Oregon Page 47
Bottles andExtras
FOHBC c/o Ralph Van Brocklin 1021 W. Oakland Avenue, Suite #109 Johnson City, TN 37604
Donnie Medlinʼs World is Pepsi Page 32
Pottery Inks Page 50
Collecting the Miniature Advertising Jugs Page 56
Western Whiskey: Saloons & Retail Merchants Page 27
PERIIODICALS
POSTAGE PAID Johnson City, Tenn. 37601