HORSE SHOE BITTERS

HORSE SHOE MEDICINE CO

COLLINSVILLE, ILLINOIS

The following pages have been written with the hope of directing attention to one of the most insidious dangers that threatens the moral and physical welfare of the community. Intemperance – as the word is generally understood – assumes every alluring guise, and under that of medicinal “Bitters” widely advertised and commended, it has brought woe and misery to multitudes that never suspected their peril until too late.

Many of the so-called “Bitters” are simply whiskey, with scarcely the taste disguised. Though their name is legion, no statistics can ever show how many good and well-meaning persons have been dragged to the lowest depths of poverty, sorrow, suffering, and finally death by the various “Bitters” which in reality are the deadliest foe to humanity.

Book introduction for Jack’s Horseshoe National temperance society & publication house, Trenton, N.J., April 1883 - Edward Sylvester Ellis

WOW, what a great introduction to the book Jack’s Horseshoe! Looks like those temperance folks had it all figured out.

Today we will look at a wonderful figural bitters bottle that sits proudly on one of my shelves. I was reminded of the ‘horse shoe shaped’ Horse Shoe Bitters when Roy Weinacht over on the Peachridge Glass facebook page, said “same mystery when it comes to Collinsville Medicine Co. – Horse Shoe Bitters (H 189) bottled during the same period.” in reference to the mystery surrounding the Yamara Cordial Bitters from Chicago.

Basically, in both cases, you have a bottle with scarce discoverable support information. What is even cooler, is that there is a Horse Shoe Bitters square (H 190). Both examples of the horse shoe bottles are pictured below. I would speculate or maybe just guess a direct relationship as the square may have been produced by the Horse Shoe Medicine Company in St. Louis prior to their move to Collinsville, Illinois in the late 1880s. Both specimens also have the word “Patent” embossed on the bottles. There is another strong lead that puts the square, Horse Shoe Bitters in Montgomery, Alabama as a hole was dug with one complete example and 9 or 10 broken examples.

My square Horse Shoe Bitters was actually obtained at the FOHBC National 2007 Auction in Collinsville, Illinois while the figural horse shoe bottle came from the American Bottle Auctions | Grapentine III | Auction 43.

The figural horse shoe bottle is such a favorite that there are many reproductions made by Wheaton Glass Company. If you “Google” Horse Shoe Bitters you will get page after page of listings for these later reproductions.

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles for the figural horse shoe is as follows:

H 189  HORSE SHOE BITTERS

HORSE SHOE BITTERS ( au ) // f // HORSE SHOE MEDICINE CO. ( au ) /
motif horse running left with three feet off ground, ground showing /
COLLINSVILLE / ILLS. // f // // b // PATENT APPLIED FOR
8 3/4 x 4 x 2
Horseshoe, Amber & Clear, LTC, Tooled lip, 2 sp, Rare

I did confirm a listing for a Horse Shoe Bitters Company that moved from St. Louis to Collinsville, Illinois. In 1891, they were looking to expand their business.

Presumably the label panel side of the figural Horse Shoe Bitters (H 189) from American Bottle Auctions | Grapentine III | Auction 43. – Meyer Collection

The figural Horse Shoe Bitters (H 189) from American Bottle Auctions | Grapentine III | Auction 43. – Meyer Collection

The figural Horse Shoe Bitters (H 189) from the American Bottle Auctions | Grapentine III | Auction 43.- Meyer Collection

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles for the square is as follows:

H 190  HORSE SHOE BITTERS

HORSE SHOE BITTERS / PATENTED. // f // f / f //
9 x 2 3/4 (6 3/4)
Square, Amber, LTC, Applied mouth and Tooled lip, Very rare

“This bitters bottle was dug out of a old dump in Montgomery, Alabama years ago. At the time this bottle was found 9 or 10 other Horse Shoe Bitters were found all broken. Listed in the Rings Ham book on page 292 as very rare. Because we found the other broken Horse Shoe Bitters in the same dump but scattered all over the dump I believe this is a bitters that was produced in Montgomery, Alabama”

ebay comment 2008

The square Horse Shoe Bitters.  Won at the FOHBC National 2007 Auction in Collinsville, Illinois (Ex:MacKenzie) – Meyer Collection

Vintage 1970’s Wheaton Horse Shoe Bitters Medicine Reproduction, The underside marking states WHEATON, N.J. The bottle height measures 7 ¾” and 2 1/4” front to back. – ebay

Horse Shoe Bitters Company listing – Edwardsville Intelligencer November 11, 1891 (Discusing Collinsville area news)

Interesting Horse Shoe Bitters Company listing regarding a ball match (prsumably baseball or softball) Edwardsville Intelligencer October 14, 1891

I was raised in Collinsville. I’ve talked to several people involved with the historical society. Lucille Stehman from Collinsville published a book about the history of Collinsville. In it, there is a picture in her book of a baseball team from the Hardscrabble Mine. They were also known as the Horseshoe Bitters. They started playing in the late 1800′s. The field they played on was the Hardscrabble field. There also used to be a saloon in Collinsville known as Hardscrabble. Lots of Hardscrabble references there. I sometimes think that the saloon might have been the bottling location. Such an ornate and expensive bottle to manufacture, yet little information about the medicine co.

Roy Weinacht

1911 Collinsville Colts – Reference to Horseshoe Bitters (Hardscrabble Mine team) - Collinsville edited by Neal Strebel

Book introduction for JACK’S HORSESHOE National temperance society & publication house, 1883 – Edward Sylvester Ellis

Horse Shoe Bitters Bottle to be sold in Public Sale – The News, Frederic Maryland, Wednesday, November 27, 1974

Horse Shoe Bitters Bottle to be sold in Auction - Logansport Pharos Tribune Logansport Indiana September 17, 1989

Read about another bitters bottle with a horse shoe: Bitter Witch – What a great name!

Jackass Celebrated Kidney & Liver Bitters

Sacramento, California

A really cool, labeled, Jackass Bitters strap-sided flask is making an appearance at the Glass Works Auction #99 “Madness in Manchester” event that will culminate in a live auction on 20 July at the 2013 FOHBC National Antique Bottle Show. Whether this is a political statement, a reference to the jackass bitters plant or a reference to how someone acts, it is a great name and a wonderful bottle. I suspect a little of each. It is also nice to see the Carlyn Ring collection sticker on the bottle.

The Glass Works Auctions write-up is as follows for lot #45:

45. ‘Jackass / Trade (donkey) Mark / Celebrated / Kidney & Liver Bitters / J.S. Callahan & Co. / Sacramento, Cal.’, (J-2L), California, ca. 1890 – 1900, yellow amber strapsided flask, 7 1/2”h, smooth base, tooled lip, 80% original label. The bottle is in perfect condition and has most of the original contents. Quite a rarity and an interesting conversation piece! Ex. Carlyn Ring Collection.

 The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

J 2  L… Jackass Celebrated Kidney & Liver Bitters
J. S. O’Callaghan & Co.   Sacramenta, California
7 3/8 x 3 1/4 x 2 (5 1/4) 1/2
Flask-strap side, Amber, DC, Tooled lip

Jackass Bitters art above from Bitters Bottles by Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham.

J. S. O’CALLAGHAN

I see that J. S. O’Callaghan is listed as a druggist in Sacramento, California from 1890 thru 1903 where he next shows up in San Francisco directories. In 1918 he adds his son to the druggist listing. These listing go to 1945. J. S. O’Callaghan was also the state president of the California Drug Clerk’s Association.

1918 – J. S. O’Callaghan & Son, 30 Beale in the 1920 San Francisco City Directory.

Dr. Livingston’s Sure Cure advertisement – Sacramento Daily Record-Union – June 01, 1890

French Tansy Wafers advertisement – Sacramento Daily Record-Union – June 01, 1890

POLITICS

An 1837 lithograph depicting the first appearance of the Democratic donkey. – Smithsonian.com

JACKASS BITTERS (Neurolaena lobata)

Jackass Bitters is a well-respected plant that has been used widely in traditional Central American medicine. It has yellow flowers and bitter-tasting leaves which contain a potent anti-parasitic agent (sesquiterpene dialdehyde) that is active against amoebas, candida, giardia and intestinal parasites. Traditionally, the herb is taken internally as a tea or a wine or used topically to bath wounds and infections, or as a hair wash to get rid of lice.

Scientific Name(s): Neurolaena lobata (L.) R. Br. Family: Asteraceae (daises)

Common Name(s): Jackass bitters, tres puntas, Mano de lagarto, gavilana, capitana, contragavilana, inaciabi, zeb-a-pique, herbe-a-pique, cow-gall bitter

Uses of Jackass Bitters

The plant species has numerous ethnomedicinal uses. Medical literature documents in vitro and animal studies on the plant’s antibacterial, antimalarial, antiplasmodial, anthelminthic, and hypoglycemic activity, but there are no clinical trials to support its use for any indication.

Jackass Bitters Dosing

None validated by clinical data. Ethnomedicinal resources vary for dosage of an N. lobata leaf decoction in treating malaria, ranging from 3 glasses daily for 4 days to 1 glass daily before breakfast for 7 days.

Botany

The weedy herbaceous plant N. lobata grows in northwestern South America through Central America and into southern Mexico. The plant species also is found throughout the Caribbean islands. It grows 1 to 2 m tall and has alternate trilobed leaves. The yellow flowers grow in compact groups at the end of the branches. All portions of the plant have a bitter taste. When handled, the fresh leaves and stems stain the skin yellow.

History

The plant species has numerous ethnomedicinal uses. In Mesoamerica, the herb was used to treat several diseases, including cancer, diabetes, dysentery (amebiasis), and malaria. In Panama, an infusion of the leaves was used to treat diabetes, hypertension, and hepatic ailments. In the Panamanian province of Darian, it is used for malaria and as an insect repellent. In Caribbean folk medicine, the herb was used medicinally to treat skin diseases, gastric pain, ulcers, and as a general pain reliever. In Guatemala, the plant has been used to treat malaria, anemia, and nervous weakness. It also has been used as a tonic and an antipyretic.

Source: Drugs.com

N. K. Brown’s Iron & Quinine Bitters

Burlington, Vermont

“Iron is King” Brown’s Iron & Quinine Bitters is the King of Tonics!

This early bitters for dyspepsia, indigestion, general debility, fever and ague was prepared by N. K. Brown & Co. of Burlington, Vermont. Nathaniel K. Brown was the successor to Fred Smith of Montpelier, Vermont. They produced Smith’s Anodyne Cough Drops with great success. Nathaniel Brown also produced Brown’s Teething Cordial, Star Broches, Bronchial Elixir, Fluid Extract Buchu among others.

Iron & Quinine Bitters advertisement – Oxford Mirror - November 12, 1891

Along with an example from my collection, I was able to locate a great package and fully labeled Iron & Quinine Bitters bottle image from the Smithsonian’s, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Gift of Mr. James Harvey Young. These images are positioned further below. The example from my collection is the earlier bottle while the museum example is a later (1910 or so) product by the same company but from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Iron & Quinine Bitters (I 28 & I 29) Illustrations – Bitters Bottles (Carlyn Ring & W.C. Ham)

There are two listings in the Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham Bitters Bottle book:

I 28  IRON & QUININE BITTERS

IRON & QUININE / BITTERS // BURLINGTON, VT // sp // N. K. BROWN //
8 1/2 x 3 x 2 (6 3/8) 1/4
Rectangular, Aqua, NSC, Tooled lip, 4 sp, Rare

Child’s Gazetter Of Crittenden County 1882: Nathaniel K. Brown, 11 South Union Street, The drug catalogues indicate two sizes, 8 oz and 16 oz.

I 29  IRON & QUININE BITTERS

IRON & QUININE / BITTERS // BURLINGTON, VT // sp // N. K. BROWN //
7 1/8 x 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 (5 1/4) 1/8
Rectangular, Aqua and Clear, NSC, Applied mouth and Tooled lip, 4 sp, Rare

Iron & Quinine Bitters (I 29) – Meyer Collection

Most bitters collectors will immediately wonder if there is a relationship between this Vermont bitters and the Baltimore, Brown’s Iron Bitters. From the clipping below, you can see there was a problem.

Bound to happen. Brown’s Iron Bitters (Balto) vs. N.K. Brown’s Iron & Quinine Bitters (Burlington) from the Western Druggist, Volume 8 – 1886

Brown’s Iron & Quinine Bitters – Misdirected Phone Call. Wife accidentally listens to a call from her husband’s girl friend, front advertises Brown’s Star Troches and R-adv is for N. K. Brown’s Iron and Quinine Bitters. F, inked number on reverse.

N. K. Brown Medicine Co. product listing – The Pharmaceutical Era, Volume 27 – 1902

Iron & Quinine Bitters testimonial – Keesling’s Book of Recipes and Household Hints – 1890

Iron & Quinine Bitters (I 29) – Meyer Collection

Labeled Iron & Quinine Bitters – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Package for Iron & Quinine Bitters – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Package for Iron & Quinine Bitters – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Package for Iron & Quinine Bitters – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Iron & Quinine Bitters advertisement – Keesling’s Book of Recipes and Household Hints – 1890

19th-century illustration of Cinchona calisaya

QUININE

[Wikipedia] Quinine is an effective muscle relaxant, long used by the Quechua, who are indigenous to Peru, to halt shivering due to low temperatures. The Peruvians would mix the ground bark of cinchona trees with sweetened water to offset the bark’s bitter taste, thus producing tonic water.

Quinine has been used in unextracted form by Europeans since at least the early 17th century. It was first used to treat malaria in Rome in 1631. During the 17th century, malaria was endemic to the swamps and marshes surrounding the city of Rome. Malaria was responsible for the deaths of several popes, many cardinals and countless common Roman citizens. Most of the priests trained in Rome had seen malaria victims and were familiar with the shivering brought on by the febrile phase of the disease. The Jesuit brother Agostino Salumbrino (1561–1642), an apothecary by training who lived in Lima, observed the Quechua using the bark of the cinchona tree for that purpose. While its effect in treating malaria (and hence malaria-induced shivering) was unrelated to its effect in controlling shivering from rigors, it was still a successful medicine for malaria. At the first opportunity, Salumbrino sent a small quantity to Rome to test as a malaria treatment. In the years that followed, cinchona bark, known as Jesuit’s bark or Peruvian bark, became one of the most valuable commodities shipped from Peru to Europe. When King Charles II was cured of malaria at the end of the 17th Century with quinine, it became popular in London. It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s, when other drugs took over.

The form of quinine most effective in treating malaria was found by Charles Marie de La Condamine in 1737.[6][7] Quinine was isolated and named in 1820 by French researchers Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou. The name was derived from the original Quechua (Inca) word for the cinchona tree bark, quina or quina-quina, which means “bark of bark” or “holy bark”. Prior to 1820, the bark was first dried, ground to a fine powder, and then mixed into a liquid (commonly wine) which was then drunk. Large-scale use of quinine as a prophylaxis started around 1850.

Quinine also played a significant role in the colonization of Africa by Europeans. Quinine had been said to be the prime reason Africa ceased to be known as the “white man’s grave”. A historian has stated, “it was quinine’s efficacy that gave colonists fresh opportunities to swarm into the Gold Coast, Nigeria and other parts of west Africa”.
To maintain their monopoly on cinchona bark, Peru and surrounding countries began outlawing the export of cinchona seeds and saplings beginning in the early 19th century. The Dutch government persisted in its attempt to smuggle the seeds, and by the 1930s Dutch plantations in Java were producing 22 million pounds of cinchona bark, or 97% of the world’s quinine production. During World War II, Allied powers were cut off from their supply of quinine when the Germans conquered the Netherlands and the Japanese controlled the Philippines and Indonesia. The United States had managed to obtain four million cinchona seeds from the Philippines and began operating cinchona plantations in Costa Rica. Nonetheless, such supplies came too late; tens of thousands of US troops in Africa and the South Pacific died due to the lack of quinine.[9] Despite controlling the supply, the Japanese did not make effective use of quinine, and thousands of Japanese troops in the southwest Pacific died as a result.

Manchester, NH Seminars

I wanted to get some pictures up as quickly as I could. Returned today from Manchester with Elizabeth. The seminars, simply put, were awesome, informative and well attended. It was truly hard to select a topic each of the three hour periods. Look for more coverage in Bottles and Extras.

All photographs by Scott Selenak (FOHBC Show Photographer)

Seminar Topics and Presenters

Connecticut Glasshouse Rarities

Rick Ciralli

Rick Ciralli was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and was raised in New Britain, Connecticut. He currently resides with his family in Bristol, Connecticut and is the Vice President of Remarketing for North Mill Equipment Finance Company. In 1976, on a weekend in Vermont, he stopped at a tag sale, bought an old Seltzer water bottle with an 1870s patent date on the pewter closure and got bit bad by “the bottle bug”. After collecting in many categories in his earlier days, he has settled down to studying and collecting bottles, flasks and glass from the Connecticut Glasshouses of Pitkin, Coventry, West Willington, Westford and New London. He also has an antiques business and hobby nickname under “RCGLASS”

Rick is a past president and current member of the Somers Antique Bottle Club. He is also a past president and current Vice President of the Pitkin Glass Works, Inc., with affiliations at the Manchester, Coventry and Willington historical societies. Also a current member of the FOHBC and the Connecticut Museum of Glass in Coventry, Connecticut, Rick has done numerous presentations on Connecticut Glass in a variety of forums throughout the state and beyond. Rick was a featured speaker at the Eastfield Village workshops on Pitkin glass and was the keynote speaker for a Manchester Historical Society’s event on early glassmaking. Rick has also displayed portions of his collection at past bottle shows, club meetings and historical societies. He has also studied and consulted on New England glass at Old Sturbridge Village and on early glass in the American Decorative Arts department at the Yale Art Gallery. Rick has also written numerous articles on Connecticut glass for Antique Bottle & Glass Collector magazine, Bottles and Extra and for many clubs and organizations. He is also very connected to the bottle shows in New England and a regular at the Keene and Baltimore shows. Rick’s passion for Connecticut glass is obvious and his enthusiasm is contagious!

Last Links to the Past 20th Century South Jersey Glass

Thomas Haunton

Thomas C. Haunton has pursued career paths in two separate fields, following his favorite interests in high school, music and American history. Ironically, it was his travels as a musician that would eventually take him into the field of history, and in a strange twist, back to his southern New Jersey roots.

Tom attended the New England Conservatory of Music, and for 35 years until his recent retirement from performing, lead the active life of a professional French horn player, touring throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand as a member of the Boston Pops and numerous other performing ensembles. He serves on the music faculty of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, a position he has held since 1988.

In the early 1980s, Tom began collecting violin bottles, a decorative connection to his love of music. At the suggestion of a family friend, Tom visited the Clevenger Brothers Glass Works in Clayton, New Jersey, where he found his violin bottles and a multitude of other glass pieces. It was then that the American history bug found its way back into Tom’s life, beginning his thirty years of collecting and the study of American glass.

As a historian specializing in glass made in southern New Jersey, Tom is the author of two books; Tippecanoe and E. G. Booz Too!, a book about cabin bottles, and the first volume of a larger work entitled Last Links to the Past 20th Century South Jersey Glass, as well as over a dozen articles about glass. His Last Links to the Past book has been described as a “spectacular piece of research and writing” by Dwight Lanmon, former director of both the Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

Recognized as an authority on 20th century American Glass, Tom has appeared as a guest lecturer for historical societies and other organizations throughout the Northeastern United States and New England. He assisted with the 1987 Clevenger Brothers Glass Works The Persistence of Tradition exhibition and catalog by the Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village in Millville, New Jersey, and presented his own exhibition, The Colorful Clevengers, at the Gloucester County Historical Society in Woodbury, New Jersey in 1992, writing and designing an accompanying catalog and slideshow.

Tom appears at numerous Northeast US antique and collectible shows as the owner/operator of Jerseyana Antiques and Collectibles. He is working on the second volume of Last Links to the Past 20th Century South Jersey Glass, and writes a quarterly column, Jerseyana Corner, for Antique Bottle & Glass Collector magazine. He resides in Wilmington, Massachusetts with his wife, Robin and daughter, Aline.

Tom’s presentation is called Last Links to the Past 20th Century South Jersey Glass. Based on his two-volume work of the same title, the presentation will cover the history and production of 20th century New Jersey glassblowers such as the Clevenger brothers, Emil Larson, and others, as well as glass operations such as Beacon, Dell, Old Jersey, Downer, the WPA, and more! Can you tell the “real” from the “repro?” Find out who made those violin and Booz bottles everyone looks for, not to mention the early freeblown South Jersey and Stiegel reproductions and even paperweights!

American mold blown tableware, 1815-35: A fresh look at “Blown Three Mold”

Ian Simmonds

George and Helen McKearin’s 1941 book American Glass brought order to the two earliest categories of American molded glass: the large variety of figured and historical flasks, and the equally large and varied group of mold blown tableware. Both were first made around 1815 but while flasks were made until at least the Civil War, mold blown tableware was gradually replaced by pressed glass starting in 1828. Both categories contain great rarities and both attracted high prices from early collectors.

Ian Simmonds ‘fresh look’ at “blown three mold” will start by showing what is unique about this glass. Just like historical flasks, this glass was blown, shaped and patterned in hinged molds. However, a great many pieces of blown three mold were further shaped by hand, leading to many other forms including bowls, pitchers, tumblers and salt dishes. Next, Ian will show some of the many varieties of blown three mold and how Helen McKearin went about classifying them. Finally, he will share his new research about which pieces were made first and which came later. In particular, Ian will present the first TEN recorded examples of tableware molds that were modified, and help clean up the story of which blown three mold was made at Keene and when they made it.

Ian Simmonds is a leading researcher and dealer in early American glass. He has published many articles and given many talks including on early cut glass, blown three mold, early glassmaking inventions, and Midwestern glass. His most important rediscovery is of New York City machine cut glass of the 1850s, which is the subject of his fall 2013 article in The Corning Museum of Glass’s Journal of Glass Studies.

Ian started collecting as a child in England. His first collection was of United States postage stamps. He moved to New York in 1995 and bought his first piece of glass – a GIII-21 blown three mold dish – in 1997. Ian became a full time glass researcher/dealer at the start of 2012. Before that Ian worked at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center where he researched and designed software for use by business and IT consultants. He is joint inventor of many issued and pending software-related patents. He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Ian’s website is at www.iansimmonds.com.

New Hampshire Glass Factories and Products

Michael George

Michael George was born and raised in New Hampshire, and currently resides with his family in the countryside of New Boston. He has a bachelor’s degree in Commercial Art from Notre Dame College, and is currently employed as a Marketing Director. His passion for American glass started at an early age, as a collector of medicine bottles that were discovered at local auctions or unearthed in old dumps. Over the years, his expertise and knowledge for bottles expanded into historical flasks and early American glass wares, as he researched the production of 18th and 19th century glasshouses throughout New England.

Michael has become an avid collector and premiere antique glass dealer. In 2004, he launched a website, www.bottleshow.com, an online venue for buyers and sellers of bottles, flasks and early American glass. He has also conducted numerous lectures for historical institutions and produced formal appraisals for collectors or estate settlements, while actively coaching new collectors in the hobby. His glass articles have been published in such magazines and newsprints as Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, Bottles & More, Unravel The Gavel, and Antiques & Arts Weekly. Recently, Michael served as organizer and curator of the New Hampshire Glassmakers Exhibit at the Peterborough Historical Society. He is a member of the Federation of Historic Bottle Collectors, member of the Yankee Bottle Club, and member of the Merrimack Valley Bottle Club. He is also very active in the bottle and glass show circuit, participating in over a dozen events annually throughout the East Coast.

Mount Vernon Glass Co. – History, Products & People

Brian Wolff & Mark Yates

Brian P. Wolff is a technical data analyst for a high voltage testing and engineering firm in Central New York. He makes his home in Sherrill, New York. Brian is a current FOHBC member, has been involved in bottle collecting since 1973. His introduction into collecting began with bottle digging in Batavia, New York and the surrounding Western New York area. Immediately interested in learning more about the bottles he was finding; he volunteered his time at the Holland Land Office Museum in Batavia and as a teenager was the youngest member of the now defunct Tonanwanda Valley Glass & Bottle Collectors Association, at that time. During his high school years he spent much of his time performing historical research and trying to located more places to dig.

Brian enjoys collecting pontiled (NY) medicines, Saratoga type mineral waters and other early New York State bottles. His collecting took a brief hiatus in the 80’s while moving about the state with work and raising a family. His affection for bottles, glass and historical research was rekindled when he relocated, in 1988, to the town in which the Mount Vernon Glass Company had operated. Brian has been excavating at Mount Vernon for a number of years and has spent a tremendous number of hours researching and gathering shards for identification; logging 28 visits to the site just last year alone. He has dedicated the last three years exclusively to researching the history, people and products in an effort to shed new light on this factory.

His presentation on the Mount Vernon Glass Co. will briefly touch on other early Central New York glass houses and will provide information on key people and a historic timeline of the Mt. Vernon/Granger operation. We will walk in the footsteps of pioneer researcher Harry Hall White and rediscover the evidence he found in the 1920’s. Flasks, medicine and utility bottles, blown three mold patterns and other item will be discussed, confirmed and New Discoveries will be revealed!

Additional commentary will also be provided by Mark Yates, collector, researcher and enthusiast of early Central New York glass. Mark brings a wealth of knowledge on early CNY bottles and has been collaborating with Brian, for the last four years, with shard identification and additional research.

Early 20th Century Milk Marketing In New England

Jim George

Jim George was born in Nashua, New Hampshire and raised in Milford, New Hampshire, where he currently lives with his family. Jim’s dad, Ernie George, was an avid milk bottle collector and dairy agent for the UNH Cooperative Extension for over 30 years, as well as the co-author of the first New Hampshire milk bottle book “Milk Bottle Collector’s Guide to New Hampshire and Vermont Dairies” with A. B. “Jerry” Jerard. After Ernie’s passing in 1998, Jim has carried on the milk bottle tradition as a passionate collector and dealer of all things “dairy related”. He spent several years working with a New Hampshire team of milk bottle collectors to publish a new reference book “New Hampshire Milk Bottles”, authored by Richard Clark, Jr, now in its Second Edition. Jim has travelled around New Hampshire giving milk bottle talks and lectures to various organizations and historical societies.

Jim currently works as an Antique Sales Associate at the New Hampshire Antique Co-op in Milford, New Hampshire, as well as being self-employed as an antique dealer and mobile disc jockey. He is also the current treasurer of the Merrimack Valley Antique Bottle Club, host club for this year’s FOHBC National Antique Bottle Show.

Markings & Seals Embossed on Milk Bottles

Al Morin

Al Morin, Merrimack Valley Bottle Club member, longtime member “The Milk Route” National Association Milk Bottle Collectors, and 40 year glass enthusiast who has spoken about milks and a variety of glass topics at clubs in Massachusetts and West Virginia. Al is a longstanding supporter of the West Virginia Museum of American Glass in Weston, West Virginia.

He will speak about “Markings & Seals Embossed on Milk Bottles” and will also answer collectors questions on the subject. This should interest all bottle collectors, as there are many embossings found on milk bottles from all over the United States.

Mineral Waters from Yankee Country

George Waddy

George Waddy has been collecting Saratoga-type mineral water bottles since the late 1960′s. He has been a member of the Hudson Valley and Genessee Valley Bottle Clubs, and is past president of the Saratoga-type Bottle Collectors Society. He has presented seminars at two previous national shows and at numerous historical and museum societies across New York. He has also written over 200 articles on collecting bottles in various hobby magazines, including a column on “Saratogas” in the Bottle and Glass Collector magazine through the late 1960′s to the early 2000′s. The seminar will include information on identifying the forms and ages of various Saratoga bottles, as well as illustrations of “color-runs” and actual examples of the range of colors and rarities available in these popular Northeastern bottles. Some folky stories about interesting mineral water finds in his 40+ years of collecting will add some variety to the program!  Research materials will also be suggested and a brief hand-out with key information to assist both newer and advanced collectors will be available.

Uncovering Demijohns

David Hoover

David Hoover lives in Michigan with his wife of 38 years, Shirley and their four cats. He retired in 2012 after more than forty years working in the communication technology field.

He has had an interest in bottles for many years. However, he only became a serious collector after finding an early Hutchison bottle in the Tattabawassee River in eastern Michigan. When he saw a demijohn at an antique show, he was hooked. “I have no idea why that particular style intrigued me, but it did.” David said. In addition to demijohns, David also collects early blown glass.

He has been collecting and studying demijohns and related go withs for over 15 years. His collection spans all types, colors and sizes from many different countries. He displayed some of his collection at the 2005 FOHBC National Antique Bottle Show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He regularly sells at bottle shows in the Midwest and at National Shows.

David is an FOHBC member and a regular contributor to Antique Bottles & Glass Collector magazine and is responsible for the Heard it Through the Grapevine monthly column.

The Winners – Manchester Display Photo Gallery

Displays & Displayers + Awards

Pushing out some pictures of the two displays that won awards at the FOHBC 2013 National Antique Bottle Show in Manchester, New Hampshire. Awards were announced this past Sunday afternoon near the conclusion of the show.

Congratulations are in order to Michael George and his Stoddard Glass Factory exhibit which won the “People’s Favorite Award”. This fantastic display anchored one of the three rooms used for the exhibitors and their material.

The second award was won by Ken Previtali and his incredible, jaw dropping, Ginger Ale Display. This exhibit won the prestigous “Most Educational Award”.

Look for more coverage of the other wonderful displays, an article in Bottles and Extras and videos of the displayers and their displays by Alan DeMaison.

All photographs by Scott Selenak (FOHBC Show Photographer)

Michael George

Stoddard Glass Factory Production

** Peoples Favorite Award **

Ken Previtali

Ginger Ale Bottles / Go Withs

** Most Educational Award **

More pictures from the FOHBC 2013 National Antique Bottle Show in Manchester, New Hampshire. Display awards were announced this past Sunday afternoon near the conclusion of the show.

Congratulations are in order to Michael George and his Stoddard Glass Factory exhibit which won the “People’s Favorite Award”. This fantastic display anchored one of the three rooms used for the exhibitors and their material.

The second award was won by Ken Previtali and his incredible, jaw dropping, Ginger Ale Display. This exhibit won the prestigous “Most Educational Award”.

Look for more coverage of the other wonderful displays, an article in Bottles and Extras and videos of the displayers and their displays by Alan DeMaison.

All photographs by Scott Selenak (FOHBC Show Photographer)

Michael George

Stoddard Glass Factory Production

** Peoples Favorite Award **

Read More: The Winners – Manchester Display Photo Gallery

Ken Previtale

Ginger Ale

** Most Educational Award **

Read More: The Winners – Manchester Display Photo Gallery

Tom Marshall

Early New England Inkwells

Mark Newton

Lyndeborough Glass

Paul Richards

Stoddard Glass Fragments

Bobby Hilton

Cone Inks

Dale Murschell

Wistarburgh Glass

Jeff & Holly Noordsy

Utilitarian Vessels from New England and New York State

Bob Kennerknecht

Sunburst Flasks

Dave Olson

Bonney Inks

Rob Girouard

Striped Sandwich Glass

Dave Waris

Moxie Bottles

Kevin Kyle

New Jersey Sodas

Dennis Gionet

Manchester Bottles

Mark Yates

Mount Vernon Glass

Jim & Karen Gray

Stoneware Jugs

Jim Bender

Reproductions

Dick Watson

FOHBC 

Walters & Co. Baltimore bottle – Roberge Collection (photo by Scott Selenak at the FOHBC 2013 National Antique Bottle Show)

William T. Walters and his Museum Bottle

WALTERS & Co BALTIMORE

I have this great, 6-sided bottle I picked up from Michael George back in 2010 embossed with “BALTIMORE” and “WALTERS & CO.” It doesn’t have the word “BITTERS” on it but I have a feeling it might have been? The bottle is oddly shaped and reminds me of the my similar Wheeler’s Berlin Bitters from Baltimore that is pictured below. This bottle also has the word “Baltimore” embossed on a panel. Maybe the Walters and Wheelers were both produced at the Baltimore Glass Works? All we need to do now is find a labeled example.

Anyway, an example of the Walters showed up at the FOHBC 2013 National Antique Bottle Show in Manchester, New Hampshire this past weekend on the sales table of Evelyn and Clark Roberge. I also had my example with me. It was fun to compare both bottles and to do a little research on the name. I had heard that the name “Walters” was associated to The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. How can that be?

My thanks goes to Evelyn for allowing me to use their bottle pictures and the illustration  image of the Walters & Co. building.

William T. Walters in 1883 by French artist Léon Bonnat.

William Thompson Walters

William Thompson Walters was born on 23 May 1819 in the small mining town of Liverpool, Pennsylvania. The first of eight children, William was brought up with little education and little chance at commercial success. In search of a better life, William, at 21 years of age, moved to the economically booming center of Baltimore in 1841. He was educated as a civil engineer, worked as a grain merchant and in 1847 established himself in Baltimore as a liquor wholesaler. He eventually became interested in the coal and iron industry, and while in charge of a smelting establishment in Pennsylvania produced the first iron manufactured from mineral coal in the United States. His primary wealth came through investments in East Coast railroads. At age 26, he married Ellen Harper; together the couple had three children: William, Jr., who died in early childhood; Henry, born in 1848; and Jennie, born in 1853.

He was educated as a civil engineer, worked as a grain merchant and in 1847 established himself in Baltimore as a liquor wholesaler.

Stereoview card depicting the Baltimore County country home of William T. Walters and family

he and his wife started acquiring European works of art

Following the lead of other prosperous Baltimoreans, William moved his wife and children from the crowded downtown area to the fashionable, park-like setting of 65 Mount Vernon Place (now 5 West Mount Vernon Place). At the dawn of the Civil War, William, who had mixed loyalties, thought it best to take his family away from the United States. They arrived in Paris in the summer of 1861. During this time, he and his wife started acquiring European works of art. From artists, dealers and exhibitions throughout France, Switzerland, Italy and England, William and Ellen began building the collection that would become the Walters Art Gallery.

William and Henry Walters, the Reticent Collectors – By William R. Johnston

Sadly, tragedy struck the Walters family shortly after they arrived in Europe. While on a trip to London in November 1862, Ellen contracted pneumonia and died quickly, at the age of 40. William, perhaps to console himself, turned to collecting with even more vigor. At the end of the war, in 1865, he returned to Baltimore with his children. In the spring of 1874, in his first attempt to bring art to the public, William opened his house to visitors every Wednesday in April and May, charging a 50-cent admission fee, which he donated to the Baltimore Association for the Improvement in the Condition of the Poor. These openings became an annual event in 1878 and were eagerly anticipated by Baltimore’s residents.

Exterior and interior Walters Art Museum (formerly Walters Art Gallery) – Baltimore, Maryland

When William died in 1894, he bequeathed his collection to his son. Henry Walters would not only follow in his father’s footsteps in business – investing and managing railroads – but would carry on the family interest in art as well. He greatly expanded the scope of acquisitions, including his astounding purchase of the contents of a palace in Rome that contained over 1,700 pieces. This acquisition added Roman and Etruscan antiquities, early Italian paintings, and Renaissance and Baroque works of art to his holdings. Although he spent little time in his native city, Henry continued the work his father had begun by opening his collection to the public. In 1900, he bought three houses on Charles Street adjoining a property he already owned. Henry had the site transformed into a palazzo-like building, which opened to the public in 1909. He died in 1931, bequeathing the building and its contents to the mayor and city council of Baltimore “for the benefit of the public. The Walters Art Gallery, now the Walters Art Museum, opened its doors for the first time as a public institution on November 3, 1934.

Reference and Read: The History of the Walters Art Museum

Walters & Co. Baltimore – Roberge Collection

The bottle specifications are as follows:

L…WALTERS & Co // sp // BALTIMORE // sp //
9 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 (6 1/2) 3 1/2
Two Short Panels and Two Large Panels
DLTC, Applied mouth, pontil mark, Extremely rare
Lettering reads reversed and shoulder to base

Meyer Example

Walters & Co. Baltimore bottle – Meyer Collection

Note Mike George received: Mike, I am not sure if the bottle was dug. I found this bottle in a little out of the way shop, about 1/2 mile off the main road in Franklin County, Virginia, known as the Moon Shine Capitol of the World. I went to see the lady about buying some old country store items she had told me about. When I got there she had not had time to get the items out of storage due to her mother getting sick that week. She did have an assortment of bottles set out and I went thru them and pick out what I thought were some interesting bottles.

I would have sold the Baltimore bottle for about $25 dollars the next day if someone had of asked me. It turned out to be my dumb luck on me buying the bottles, because if she had the items I went there to buy, I would not have looked at the bottles. Of the hundred or so bottles that were out, most of them were plain soda or unmarked bottles.

I also got about 1/2 dozen emails after the bottle was sold telling me that I had just sold a $10,000 dollar bottle. That may be so but that’s the way this business works, I was happy with what I got and I am sure that you are happy. The lady that sold me the bottle was the unlucky one. However I plan to go back and see her again. I intend to spend a good portion of the funds with her, so she will get some of it back. Thanks, Cecil

W. T. Walters & Co. Importers & Dealers in Liquors advertisement – Baltimore City Directory 1855/1856.

Gerald Dexter proudly holds his labeled Missiquoi Mineral Water bottle

When I get back after a big bottle show like the 2013 Manchester National, I have to sift through my mind and Iphone pictures as so many folks stop by my table with bottles they are excited about. Many want to share the bottle (possibly put up on Peachridge) or get more information. In this case I am honestly not so sure. I have posted some of my pictures from Gerald Dexter below which prompted an online search for Missisquoi Springs from Sheldon, Vermont. I want to be a little more educated as I have seen some of these embossed bottles in auctions.

Detail of fully labeled Missiquoi Mineral Water bottle – Gerald Dexter

There is also a bit of a coincidence here as I wrote earlier in the day on the Constitution Bitters that is in the form of a Gazebo. If you look at the label on Gerald’s bottle there is a Gazebo. Little things that fire you up.

People ask me about Peachridge all the time and thank me for the work. I tell them, even if there was no audience, I would still do this for myself. I know so little but learn a little more each day in a hobby I so dearly love.

Fully labeled Missiquoi Mineral Water bottle – Gerald Dexter

A neat old photograph of a photograph of Missisquoi Spring in Sheldon, Vermont – Gerald Dexter

A photograph of a photograph of shorter, labeled Missisquoi Spring bottles – Gerald Dexter

? What I found ?

First I wanted to find out what Missisquoi means and about Sheldon, Vermont. Wow, now we have Colonel Elisha Sheldon.

Sheldon, Vermont

“This is a good township of land, productive of wool, grain and other northern commodities. The River Missisco passes through the town, and Black Creek, a branch of that river, gives Sheldon ample water power. The village is a thriving place, both in its manufactures and trade . . . The settlement of Sheldon was commenced about the year 1790 by Colonel Elisha Sheldon, and Samuel B. Sheldon, emigrants from Salisbury, Connecticut. The settlement advanced with considerable rapidity, and the town was soon organized.”

Gazetteer of Vermont, Hayward, 1840.

Missisquoi

The Missisquoi derives its name from the Indian words Missi meaning much, and Kiscoo waterfowl, from the great number of cranes, herons and ducks, that frequented, and still frequent, this stream and its branches every season.

Mineral Springs

In Sheldon, the following are the principal mineral springs: “The Missisquoi,” 8 or 10 different springs within an area of half an acre; proprietor, C. Bainbridge SMITH, Esq., New York City. “The Sheldon;” proprietors, Sheldon Spring Co., S. S. F. CARLISLE, agent. “The Central;” proprietors, Green & Co. “The Vermont;” proprietors, SAXE & Co.

The analysis of the Missisquoi A spring, ( he only one much used) is given, so far as published already.

The ingredients are combined in the water forming: Sulphate of Potash, Carbonate of Magnesia, Chloride of Sodium, Carbonate of Lime, Sulphate of Soda, Carbonate of Ammonia, Silicate of Soda, Protoxide of Iron, Crenate of Soda, Silicic Acid, Carbonate of Soda, Crenic Acid, &c.

Of the “Central” analyzed by F. F. MAYER, a prominent chemist of New York City, the following is the statement of the properties contained as a bi-carbonate: sulphate of lime, carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, carbonate of iron, carbonate of soda, carbonate of potassa; chloride of calcium, sillicic acid, allumnis and phosphoric acid, organic matter, carbonic acid, fluorine, manganese, baryta.

Of the “Vermont,” analyzed by Henry KRAFT, a distinguished chemist of New York, the properties so far as discovered, are: Chloride of sodium, chloride of calcium, carbonate of soda, carbonate of magnesia, carbonate of iron, carbonate of manganese, phosphoric acid, silicate of alumina, sulphate of lime, carbonic acid, organic matter. In the sediment of the spring are found: Silica, alumina, calcium, magnesia, manganese, peroxide of iron, protoxide of iron, chlorine, fluoric acid, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid. The phosphoric acid, present in the “Vermont” and also in the “Central” is claimed to be an element of special medicinal value.

Of these different springs, only the “Vermont” is new. This was discovered in 1867. The others have been known and used, more or less, for 50 years.

They are located, with the exception of the “Central” quite near the banks of the “Missisquoi river, and are included within a distance of about 3 miles. They lie mainly to the north of the village; the farthest being about 2 1/2 miles distant from it. The “Central” is in the village. In connection with the “Sheldon” there is an elegantly furnished bathing-house.

There are a number of other Mineral springs in different parts of the town, and in fact there is quite a strong impregnation of iron in very many of the springs and wells, in common family use, but none have been used medicinally, to any extent, except the above named. The water from each of these is bottled and sent to all parts of the country.

The shipments of the “Missisquoi” particularly, have been very large-amounting, in 1868, to 14,792 boxes of 24 qt. bottles each.

Of the “Vermont” during the months of August, September, October and November, 1888, there were 1650 cases of 24 quart bottles each.

The specialty claimed for the waters of these springs is as a remedy for cancer, scrofula and other diseases of the blood, and many of the cases of benefit are very remarkable.

In consequence of the celebrity which these springs have reached within the few years past, SHELDON has acquired considerable importance as a summer resort.

From History of the Town of Sheldon by Dr. H. B. WHITNEY.

Great advertising for Missisquoi Spring Water showing the Missiquoi Springs Hotel in Franklin County, Vermont

Very quickly I was led to a comprehensive article on Vermont Mineral Water bottles by Don Fritschel. This brought me up to speed pretty quickly. Read: Mineral Waters of the Green Mountain State. There was even a Missisquoi Springs Hotel.

A little more history at A Walking History of Middlebury by Glenn M. Andres

Missisquoi A Springs bottle from a past Heckler Auction.

Next I found a picture of a Missisquoi A Springs from a past Heckler auction. That’s it. This is where I have seen the big “A” on a bottle before, actually quite a few times at auctions and shows. I just never stopped and thought about it.

This was still in the top fill dirt, or ash I should say. An olive green quart MISSISQUOI MINERAL water. Man I was pumped! The ash was loaded with whole perfect large bottles, just stacked like pancakes. I couldn’t believe how many bottles were just crammed in on top of eachother without being damaged. – PrivyMaster.org

Next a Missisquoi A Springs that was dug pictured on PrivyMaster.org. Now I am reminded of a cool web site that I had forgotten about.

So now, the next time I see Gerald, I can at least carry on a decent conversation. I learn something new each day about our bottles.

Wyoming Cordial – Wyoming Remedies

The Great Life Preserving Tonic and Blood Purifier

C. H. Nearing and Mr. Wakefield of Homer, were in the place Monday selling patent medicines, salves, etc.

Here is another bottle that a person at the Manchester National wanted me to photograph. My apologies, as I misplaced the name and my memory of the gentleman who prized this bottle. As a scroll through my show shots, I thought I would spent some special time looking at the Wyoming Cordial prepared only by C. H. Nearing, Homer, NY. No, not a western bottle, just a western name.

A quick search online shows a wonderful example previously sold by Jeff and Holly Noordsy. Apparently the bottle is rare though these are two different examples. The label and graphics are truly spectacular.

RARE HOMER, NY WYOMING CORDIAL WITH ORIGINAL GRAPHIC LABEL – MINT, LABELED “WYOMING CORDIAL / PREPARED ONLY BY C. H. NEARING, HOMER, N.Y.”, aquamarine, rectangular, smooth base, 9 1/8″H x 2 7/8″W x 1 3/4″D, applied square collar, a mint, attic-found bottle that retains some contents residue. American, 1870-1880, rare. It is this bottle’s wonderfully graphic label that truly puts it “over the top.” – Jeff and Holly Noordsy

What little I could find is positioned below. The four advertisement clippings below were provided by Brian Wolff. Much to my surprise and pleasure, Mark Yates provided a motherlode of material for Homer Nearing. Please read further below.

Clipping under Glen Haven, NY for C. H. Nearing in the Courtland Evening Standard, Friday, January 28, 1894

A Cyclone

The Wyoming Medicines are Sweeping Over Fulton Co., Like a Cyclone. The Sale of Wyoming Cordial in This City Already Exceeds That of Any Other Remedy.

Two testimonials for Wyoming Cordial. One from Vermont (1896) and one from New York (1900)

Wyoming Cordial advertisement

1904, Mexico, New York testimonial advertisement for Wyoming Cordial

HORTON WHO?

by Mark Yates

Horton Nearing and his top hast pitching his Wyoming Cordial

I first learned about Horton Nearing about 4 years ago when I met Sylvia. I was following a lead someone gave me about a rare spring water bottle and arranged to meet Sylvia at her home in Pompey. What a wonderful surprise it was! Sylvia lives in the original house on the her family homestead, one of the original 100 acre land grants known as the Military Tract given to veterans after the Revolutionary War. The house is furnished with heirloom treasures handed down over the 200 years; however the real treasure is Sylvia. She was the Pompey historian for many, many years and her knowledge of local history is legendary. She shared with me her family history, gave me research ideas and the time just flew by.

Obviously, the subject of bottles soon came up and that brings us to Horton Nearing. Horton was a medicine man “back in the day” prior to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 which nearly killed the patent medicine industry. Not much is known about Horton, but I will share what little there is. He was born in 1852 and grew up on the family property in Pompey and died in 1918. He was Sylvia’s grandmother’s brother on the father’s side. He had a wicked, mischievous sense of humor and was well loved and known as an “honest” medicine man in an era of unscrupulous con men. He may have been a carpenter for a while and it is not known if he went to college to learn medicine or chemistry.

Sylvia does have his ledger (see picture below) which has many handwritten notes and recipes for different medicines from the 1890s. His medicines were put up in rectangular bottles with ornate paper labels. Unfortunately, label only bottles do not survive the test of time well and only a few examples are known. One of the bottles was on ebay several years ago that had beautiful depiction of an Indian princess and advertised WYOMING CORDIAL which was bottled in Homer, NY. He also made WYOMING CATARRH CURE and WYOMING COUGH SYRUP

Example of the ledger that Sylvia had which has many handwritten notes and recipes for different medicines from the 1890s. His medicines were put up in rectangular bottles with ornate paper labels.

I read a letter from Horton written in 1892 while he was visiting in Pittston, PA describing his fascination with the beauty and history of the Wyoming Valley and the story of the great Indian massacre of settlers there in 1778. This apparently had a profound effect on him and most likely led to his decision to name his medicines. Sylvia still has a scrap book with some of these original labels and coupons as well as some wonderful photos showing a very dapper, bearded man with a top hat holding a bottle of the Wyoming Cordial. These photos were the originals used to advertise the medicine. Sylvia clearly enjoyed telling me about Horton, and in dramatic fashion she saved the best for last… She brought out to show me his mortar and pestle used to mix the medicine as well as the wonderful top hat Horton was wearing when he posed for the photos over 110 years ago. It almost felt as if he was there in the room with us.

Sylvia still has a scrap book with some of these original labels and coupons as well as some wonderful photos showing a very dapper, bearded man with a top hat holding a bottle of the Wyoming Cordial. These photos were the originals used to advertise the medicine.

Since meeting with Sylvia, I did some searching and learned that he lived in Cortland during the late 1880s and in East Aurora in 1916 and found newspaper ads for his Wyoming Cordial in central NY papers from 1893 to 1904, but none after that. Perhaps the Pure Food and Drug Act ruined his business after all.

Nearing’s original mortar and pestle used to mix the medicine as well as the wonderful top hat Horton was wearing when he posed for the photos.

Saint Jacob’s Bitters in a dark red amber – Forbes Collection

My friend and table mate Jerry Forbes (Carmel, California) scored a nice, whittled, Saint Jacob’s Bitters at the FOHBC Manchester National a couple of weekends ago. I kind of wish I picked it up myself as it was quite an example. The bottle listing in Ring and Ham says amber but as you can see from Jerry’s example and mine below, you can get some variance in the color range.

The listing in Bitters Bottles Supplement by Carlyn Ring and Bill Ham is as follows:

S 13  SAINT JACOB’S BITTERS

SAINT JACOB’S BITTER’S // f // f // f // // b // KYGW CO // b // McC
L … Celebrated St. Jacob’s Bitters, St. Jacob’s Bitters Co., Cincinnati, Ohio
8 3/4 x 2 3/4 (6 1/2) 3/8
Square, Amber, LTC, Tooled lip and Applied mouth, Rare
Trade Mark December, 1882

The key to looking at the Ring and Ham listing is the label information. Someone out there has a labeled example noting the St. Jacob’s Bitters Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. I looked for directory listings and advertising and came up short. It is also interesting to note the Kentucky Glass Works (KYGW CO) embossing on the base.

Frank Wicker notes the following:

There is very little information about this bitters bottle. It’s from the St. Jacob’s Bitters Co. Cincinnati, Ohio. This bitters was trademarked in December of 1882. The photo below of this square amber SAINT JACOB’S BITTERS is a unlisted variant. The bottle has an unmarked base and is not embossed with KYGW Co. or MC C.

Frank Wicker - BottlePickers.com

Saint Jacob’s Bitters in amber – Wicker Collection

Celebrated Saint Jacob’s Bitters Patent Listing - Congressional Serial Set – 1883

Saint Jacob’s Bitters Company Patent Listing – Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents – 1884

Kentucky Glass Works embossing on a Saint Jacob’s Bitters base – History of Drug Containers and Their Labels

Saint Jacob’s Bitters in yellow – Meyer Collection

Saint Jacob’s Bitters in yellow – Meyer Collection

Saint Jacob’s Bitters in amber – historical ebay

Saint Jacob

St Jacob, first bishop of Nisibis, took part in the Council of Nicaea. He was renowned in the Syriac Church for his learning and holiness, and for building a basilica and founding the theological school of Nisibis. His relics are preserved at Edessa. Jacob died at Nisibis in 338. His Feast Day is July 15.

[Wikipedia] Jacob of Nisibis, died c. AD 338, is a Syriac saint. He was the second bishop of Nisibis,spiritual father of the renowned Syriac writer Ephrem the Syrian, and celebrated ascetic. Jacob was appointed bishop, in 308, of the Christian community of Nisibis in Mesopotamia (modern Nusaybin, located near the Turkey/Syria border). Jacob of Nisibis, also known as James of Nisibis and as Jacob of Nusaybin, is recorded as a signatory at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. He was the first Christian to search for the Ark of Noah, which he claimed to find a piece of on a mountain, Mount Judi (Turkish Cudi Dağı), 70 miles (110 km) from Nisibis.

He founded the basilica and theological School of Nisibis after the model of the school of Diodorus of Tarsus in Antioch. It was not until the 10th century that the “Persian Sage” who had been incorrectly identified with Jacob of Nisibis was finally identified with Aphrahat. Jacob was the teacher and spiritual director of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, a great ascetic, teacher and hymn writer who combatted Arianism.

Much of Jacob’s public ministry, like that of other Syrian ascetics, can be seen as socially cohensive in the context of the Late Roman East. In the face of the withdrawal of wealthy landowners to the large cities, holy men such as Jacob acted as impartial and necessary arbiters in disputes between peasant farmers and within the smaller towns.

Saint Jacob of Nisibis’s relics are in the church he founded in Nisibis. He is commemorated in the Coptic Synaxarion on the 18th day of Month of Tobi (usually 26 January). In the Roman Catholic Church he is commemorated on 15 July.

Hello Ferdinand:

My brother-in-law recently came for a visit and while here I showed him some of our more interesting sodas. Of course, I rattled on and gave him a brief dissertation. He later wrote this thoughtful email and I wanted to share it with you because of the included quote from an article by David Mamet. The quote is, as you will see, a lead paragraph from a recent article in The Smithsonian. I thought it was an apt description of the devotion that so many of us feel toward the objects that we collect. Not sure if Mamet’s paragraph would be appropriate for our use but it does seem to capture our “zealotry” and “fanaticism.”

Randee (Kaiser)

*PRG added the imagery.

The devotion that so many of us feel toward the objects that we collect

Hi Sue:

I came across the quote I wanted to show Randee. When the Russians launched Sputnik, the media went into a panic and tried to rile everybody up. From The Nation of November 23rd, 1957, p. 381… “each week a publisher must look for new ways to build circulation in a culture screaming with huckster’s calls. It is all right for journalists to be constantly racing press deadlines, but when they begin to share their professional headaches with the readers, they give the nation a continuous case of ideological jitters”. It can’t be said any better to explain the decrepit news media of today. And this is from 1957.

This morning I was reading an article by David Mamet in the April 2013 issue of The Smithsonian. I thought about Randee telling me the history of glass bottles and the talks he gives to groups. Here is what David Mamet said at the beginning of the article.

“When they were young, I took my two eldest daughters browsing on London’s Portobello Road. Down in the basement stalls, we found a fellow selling empty jam jars. These when full, had held Dundee marmalade. They were now empty, and their apparent similarities fell before his lecture on the evolution of the jar.

We were talked through the early Victorian birth of the great potteries, through the difference in tint from clay mined in the north and in the south; he explained how subtle changes in the lip of the jar were due to increased automation, and he taught us to date the jars by judging the smoothness of the glaze, and the brightness of the ink. It was the best learning experience we three had shared. It has not been surpassed, and, for 25 years, has informed and been the basis of my opinion on education: One may need a special disposition to see the world in a grain of sand, but there was the world on offer in an empty jar of jam to any who gave the enthusiast the first moment of attention.

The antique stalls on Portobello Road, the tables at the flea market and the swap meet, the driveway at the lawn sale are a university in the rough. One will not be harassed there by the schoolmaster, but may be fortunate enough to encounter the zealot, fanatic or fellow lovelorn devotee of the comic book, penknife, cowboy boot, model train and so forth through the very catalogue of the stuff of life.”

And reading this I thought of Randee and Sue and was proud to have spent time listening to you both talk about soda bottles.

Best Regards, Larry Ault

Randee Kaiser – FOHBC Midwest Region Director

Randee Kaiser is a retired health care professional who, along with his wife Susan, is a twenty-five year collector of applied color label soda bottles. Kaiser is an active collector who attends a number of bottle shows and other related events each year. He holds membership in several historical organizations and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC). The Federation is a national, non-profit organization supporting the collectors of historical bottles, flasks, jars and related items. Many of the organization’s members provide educational programs for interested historical societies, museum groups and other organizations.

Randee is also one of the two co-chairs for the FOHBC 2014 National Antique Bottle Show in Lexington, Kentucky. When I asked Randee for something more than his posted bio he responded…

“Sue and I collect painted label sodas mainly from the 30s thru early 50’s with subject rather than script labeling. We have concentrated on Missouri sodas for about 25 years but still find an occasional treasure that we did not know existed. These account for about 30% of the collection with the remainder being rare, unusual bottles with unique artwork. I also collect embossed sodas from my home town of Webb City, Missouri, including hutchinson, slug plates, straight-side embossed and fancy embossed.  Although a small town, Webb City had three sodas companies from the late 1800s to the 1930s.”

Aerial view showing my downtown Houston Studio (bordered in red) at Crawford and Commerce Streets. Yellow dashes indicate Buffalo and White Oak Bayou path access.

I can only imagine what must be beneath the soil, along the banks, beneath the criss-crossing Interstate Highway overpasses, under the office towers and parking lots and beneath the bayou when I take my frequent runs or when I walk the dogs.

My paths take me along the sleepy Buffalo Bayou that leads to the Houston Ship Channel and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. Long forgotten railroad bridges are covered up by a web of Interstate Highway overpasses.

The Paths

I started a series of posts a few months ago (see below links) to sort through some local material that I have mentally and digitally gathered over time and to inspire myself to look closer at the history beneath my feet and all around me here in downtown Houston. My studio offices here at FMG Design are so close to Buffalo Bayou and Allen’s Landing where Houston got its start. I can only imagine what must be beneath the soil, along the banks, beneath the criss-crossing Interstate Highway overpasses, under the office towers and parking lots and beneath the bayou when I take my frequent runs or when I walk the dogs.

Read: Allen’s Landing – Houston (not everything is new here) – Part I

Read: What was here, Early Houston Advertisements – Part II

Read: What was here, Early Houston Advertisements – Part IIA

Newer areas of path development along the Sabine Street Bridge and Buffalo Bayou.

You can see my studio offices in the red rectangle in the top aerial plan and the early photograph below of the Eller Wagon Works bulding. My particular studio office is beyond the three corner windows in front of the people posing. I use the yellow dashed connector paths in the map above to avoid the roadways and to hug the bayous.

Eller Wagon Works Building – FMG Design studio – Corner of Crawford and Commerce Streets, Houston, Texas

Inspirational E-mail

A couple of years ago I received this really neat e-mail from Floyd Boyett (read below) that got me thinking. I mean, why was this killer Best Bitters in America from Kalamazoo, Michigan found in the mud of Galveston Bay?

Read: Is the Best Bitters in America the Best Bitters in America?

Best Bitters in America – Meyer Collection

Ferdinand,

I started collection bottles as a young family man in 1969 while living in Houston, Texas. While participation in on of the earliest Gulf Coast Bottle and Jar Club shows a young black fellow came in with a box of bottles. I was one of the first to see the bottles as they came out of his box. Among the bottles that he had found in the mud of Galveston Bay was two badly broken Best Bitters in America and one near mint example. I bought the good one as fast as I could get my money out and have kept it in a sock and metal box ever since. I have never seen one come up for sale. How many do you know about? Thanks for posting the info on this great bottle.

My main interest was in cures and I got to visit with Dr. Sam Greer and Bill Agee many times.

Floyd Boyett
Lumberton, Texas

Buffalo Bayou An Echo of Houston’s Wilderness Beginnings – G&HJ Railroad – a short line with a long history by Louis F. Aulbach

The Original Plan of Houston

The G&HJ railroad bridge over Buffalo Bayou as depicted on the Wood map of 1869 – Buffalo Bayou – An Echo of Houston’s Wilderness Beginnings by Louis F. Aulbach

“Houston, where 17 railroads meet the sea” used to be the slogan of the Houston Chamber of Commerce.

Houston Street Map – 1869

Main Street & Texas Avenue

A giant old counter balance used for a railroad draw bridge. Path is on the right under the freeways. The Buffalo Bayou is on the left.

Workers posting at Locomotive wreck at 4C Mill

Old warehouses and industrial buildings once lined Buffalo Bayou. I can see the old foundations covered in brush like an old Mayan city. Some of the buildings have been converted to contemporary lofts.

Houston Skyline, from Old MKT Railroad Trestle over White Oak Bayou, near Studemont & I-10, Houston, Texas

Developed path from Allen’s Landing up to Main Street. We almost purchased one of the historic buildings in the upper right for FMG Design. Parking was a problem.

The paths overlook raw banks along Buffalo Bayou. There are so many clues as to what was on the banks before. You have to wonder about all of the bottles that were thrown in the bayou during the early Houston boom days.

Allen’s Landing now

Two guys fish beneath the Jensen Street bridge.

The gorgeous Houston skyline.

I imagine that there are crates of long forgotten Lacour’s, Cassin’s and Bryant’s Stomach Bitters covered in dirt and dust.

Every time I run on this path I look across Buffalo Bayou and see the growth of plants, bushes and trees in from of old warehouse foundation. During the winter, I can see two locked steel doors. I imagine that there are crates of long forgotten Lacour’s, Cassin’s and Bryant’s Stomach Bitters covered in dirt and dust. Man I would like to get in there.

F L O R I D A   W A T E R

M U R R A Y   &   L A N M A N

One of my earliest bottle purchases occurred with Pacific Glass Auctions (now American Bottle Auctions) back in November 2002 for an unmarked, 9″ tall, blue bottle (left below) that I just liked. The teal green bottle (on right) followed shortly thereafter on ebay. These bottles stand together on some corner shelf watching my Bitters bottles.

Of course I am talking about Florida Water perfume or cologne bottles (center below). No you don’t drink it, but I suppose you could since the labels say 75% alcohol. Wow.

Last night I came across a spectacular trade card with a parrot, flowers and a fountain surrounding a Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water bottle (see below). This got me thinking about my lonesome bottles and the story behind them. I was particularly interested in the art used on the labels and advertising which is the secondary focus of this post. When looking at the art, look at the common ‘Fountain’ in each piece usually surrounded by flowers, a maiden or female and the product.

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front) – Dave’s Great Cards

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (back) – Dave’s Great Cards

According to Wikipedia, Florida Water is an American version of Eau de Cologne, or Cologne Water. It has the same citrus basis as Cologne Water, but shifts the emphasis to sweet orange (rather than the lemon and neroli of the original Cologne Water), and adds spicy notes including lavender and clove. The name “Florida Water” refers to the fabled Fountain of Youth, which was said to be located in Florida, as well as the “flowery” nature of the scent.

The Lanman & Kemp firm began in the 1830′s and flourished for the rest of the century. They were wholesale druggists, and manufactured some toiletries as well. During the Civil War tax period their private die stamps were used on perfumes and the like. The one-cent stamp was issued from March of 1864 until June 5, 1883. 1,732,040 were printed on silk paper and another 2,813,190 on pink and watermarked papers. This one was printed on silk paper. – rdhinstl.com

According to the current trademark holders, Lanman & Kemp Barclay & company, Florida Water was introduced by the New York City perfumer (and founder of the original company) Robert I. Murray, in 1808. In 1835 Murray was joined by David Trumbull Lanman and the firm became Murray & Lanman, then David T. Lanman and Co., and in 1861 became Lanman & Kemp.

The company states that their product, now sold under the Murray & Lanman brand, still uses the original 1808 formula, and that the current label is also a slightly modified version of the 1808 original.

Florida Water was regarded a unisex cologne, suitable for men and women alike. Victorian etiquette manuals warned young ladies against the “offensive” impression made by a strong perfume, but Florida Water and Eau de Cologne were recommended as appropriate for all, along with sachets for scenting the linen and fresh flowers in the corsage. Large quantities were also used by barbershops as cologne and aftershave. In the 1880s and 1890s Murray & Lanman Florida Water was advertised as “The Richest of all Perfumes” and “The most Popular Perfume in the World”.

Like other colognes of the era, Florida Water was valued for its refreshing and tonic nature as well as its scent, and could be used as a skin toner or as what we would now call a “body splash”. It was also used as a toilet water (eau de toilette), by adding it to the bath or wash-water.

Many baseball teams (particularly it seems in the South) use Florida Water as a refresher during the hot summer baseball months by filling a small lunch sized ice chest with water and ice and a few caps of Florida Water. They then soak rags in the tonic and wipe their pulse points and necks with the soaked rags, providing a very cooling effect to the skin and body.

Read: Murray and Lanman Florida Water

Read: Rose Water – Lime Juice – Olive Oil whats-it-hold bottles!

G A L LE R Y

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front) – Etsy

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card

1900 Advertisement for Florida Water by Murray & Lanman

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Label

Florida Water magazine advertisement, 1904

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front & back) – AntiqueBottles.com

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front & back) – AntiqueBottles.com

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front & back) – AntiqueBottles.com

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front & back) – AntiqueBottles.com

Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Card (front & back) – AntiqueBottles.com

Two Murray & Lanman’s Florida Water Advertising Trade Cards

Two Murray & Lanman’s Advertising Trade Cards

A smiling Bill Ham at the recent FOHBC 2013 National Antique Bottle Show in Manchester, New Hampshire

Cataloging of Bitters Bottles – Bill Ham

Cataloging of bitters by the various authors has been an ongoing and evolving process. Each new publication has added and increased the information. The additional information in each publication has provided new and additional information. Each new publication is also somewhat reflective of the changes in collector interest, and the interests of the author.

FOR BITTERS ONLY – Carlyn Ring – 1980

When Carlyn Ring updated the material and published FOR BITTERS ONLY, in 1980, on page 9, she described the colors of bitters as:

amber,

green,

aqua,

clear,

milk glass,

amethyst,

or cobalt.

She further stated:

1. “amber was used to describe brown colors of: citron, citron brown, yellow amber, green amber, yellow green amber, olive amber, red amber, puce, light amber, dark amber, root beer, and claret’, and,

2. green includes apple green, blue green Lockport green, yellow green, clear green, pale green, dark olive green, deep blue green, kelly, light green, olive amber, olive yellow, smokey green, vivid green and yellow olive”.

When I updated the cataloging and published BITTERS BOTTLES, in 1998, on page 18, the color description was changed to: “Bitters are available in many colors, hues, and tones. For the purposes of this book, colors familiar to contemporary major bottle houses and collectors have been used”, and a list of colors are listed, with additional information. For example,”the first name of a color of multiple word description is presented in initial cap, others are in lower case: Yellow olive, Milk glass.”

Bitters Bottles – Carlyn Ring – W. C. Ham – 1998

In the 1998 publishing of BITTERS BOTTLES the listing were also expanded to include “tooled lip” or “applied mouth” top finishing of the bottles.

Additional information was included where available to indicate where a bitters was from, and in cases of some of the more rare brands where examples were found.

The information that was available at the time was used. Since that time, more vast amounts of information has become available including through the contemporary research techniques, the Internet, and auction price guide summaries.

When publishing the BITTERS BOTTLES SUPPLEMENT in 2004, many previously unlisted bottles were added, as well as correcting data and adding additional information on previously recorded brands.

Bitters Bottles Supplement – Carlyn Ring – W. C. Ham – 2002

The cataloging of bitters bottles, and brands and collecting information on bitters has continued since the 2004 publication. There are still examples of known brands and uncataloged brands out there which are unknown to collectors.

More: Carlyn Ring – An Interview with Martha Stewart

Bill continues the very tedious and exacting process of recording all new information on bitters bottles and brands in anticipation of another Bitters Bottle Supplement in coming years. I actually have a digital draft here on my laptop. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Bill who has been instrumental in my path and passion to collect bitters bottles and the stories behind them.

HISTORICAL BITTERS BOOKS

BITTERS BOTTLES – J.H. Thompson – 1947 (Meyer Library)

BITTERS BOTTLES by Richard Watson – 1965 (Meyer Library)

IT’S A BITTERS! by Art and Jewel Umberger – 1967 (Meyer Library)

Supplement to BITTERS BOTTLES by Richard Watson – 1968 (Meyer Library)

IT’S A BITTERS – VOL. II – Art and Jewel Umberger – 1969 (Meyer Library)

WESTERN BITTERS by Bill & Betty Wilson – 1969 (Meyer Library)

Antique Western Bitters Bottles – Jeff Wichmann – 1999 – (Meyer Collection)

Confederate soldier poses with a liquor bottle (Hostetters?) and glass. Note Richmond Depot issue Army shoes. Probably a novelty photo. From the Estate of Capt. Plunkett, Army of North Virginia.

People | Drinking Gallery VI

Presenting the Sixth Gallery of vintage pictures of “People Drinking” This is a continuation of:

 Photographs of People Drinking - Part I

Photographs and Images of People Drinking - Part II.

Photographs and Images of People Drinking – Part III

Photographs and Images of People Drinking – Part IV (Brewing)

Photographs and Images of People Drinking – Part V

It’s time again to post some pictures that have piled up in my digital drinking file. I like studying these pictures. If you have any candidates for inclusion in future galleries, please forward. Thanks.

Two society girls working it after church I guess

A nice glass of milk being served to these miners. I wonder what they are thinking?

Photo postcard of men smoking and drinking around the picnic table at mom’s house?

Two men smoking long china pipes and drinking beer. Dog looks pretty content too.

Photograph of young men with bottles drinking

Original cabinet photo showing a handsome young wine or beer merchant with bottles of wine or beer. There are two different types of bottles sitting on the table.

Three gentleman, a fiddle and a Drake’s Plantation Bitters

ca. 1860-90, [tintype portrait of of either a young photographer, pharmacist, or chemist with a scale, various bottles and chemicals. Another person in the foreground is turned away from the camera, admiring photos displayed in the case]

Actress Maureen O’Sullivan drinking milk on a movie set

Drinking from the Fountain of Youth portrait photograph

Whiskey, beer, wine, cigars…bliss. Notice the jug in the odd position.

Welcoming in the day

Like Father – Like Son

Three gentlemen drinking beer. I wonder what brand? Hard to tell.

Drinking chimpanzee (or early man) talking a milk break

Happy Hour special drinks have been around for some time.

Edwardian people taking tea in the open

c1905 photo an oasis in the Badlands. Oglala man (Red Hawk) on horse drinking.

“Fertility” Henry and Nicolas Etiévant Evreinov (France), 1929.

Lykons, Pa. Dr. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters Great Rare Color Clean

Up for auction: Lykons, Pa. Dr. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters Great Rare Color Clean Bitters is free of chips cracks or dinks. Has small lip nip from pulling cork, mentioned for accuracy and does not distract from display. Ask questions…..bid with confidence No reserve….goodluck – privvydigger (100% positive) See Listing

Dr. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters

S 174 – Dr. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters in a golden amber – Meyer Collection

Currently on ebay there is a nice example of a Dr. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters (listing at top). Yet another Indian name for a bitters product. The color of the ebay example reminded me of my example which is pictured below. There are actually two molds for the name.

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listings in Bitters Bottles Supplement is as follows:

S 174  DR. STANLEY’S SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN BITTERS

DR. STANLEY’S / SOUTH AMERICAN / INDIAN BITTERS // f // f // f // // b / 400L…A. G. S. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters, Prepared only by Dr. A. G. Stanley, Pharmaceutical Chemist, 280 Main Street, Lykens, Pennsylvania, USA
9 x 2 5/8 (6 3/8) 3/8
Square, Amber and Aqua, LTC, Tooled lip, Scarce
There are also amber examples with no base embossing.

Dr. Alfred Stanley was born in Salisbury, England in 1845. He learned the drug business working at several firms in London. In 1869, Dr. Stanley emigrated to the United States, landing in New York and then moving on to Philadelphia where he worked for Ellis & Co. In 1871 he moved to Lykens, Pennsylvania establishing a drug business on West Main Street.

Dr. Stanley put out a number of medicinal products from his drugstore including the South American Indian Bitters. He continued in business until 1904 when he sold his business to Dr. W. H. Uhler. Dr. Stanley died in 1917. Uhler continued producing the bitters until at least 1906 because they are labeled examples with the wording Guaranteed by A. G. Stanley under The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906.

Two examples S 174.5 – DR. STANLEY’S SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN BITTERS. American, 1880-1890. Height 8 ¾ in. Color amber. Square. RH #S 174.5 – BottlePickers.com

S 174.5  DR. STANLEY’S SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN BITTERS

DR. STANLEY’S / SOUTH AMERICAN / INDIAN BITTERS // f // f // f // // b / W.T.CO. USA
8 3/4 x 2 5/8 (6 3/8) 3/8
Square, Amber, LTC, Tooled lip, Scarce
This bottle varies from S 174 in that it is more square shouldered, slightly shorter, and there are slight variations in the embossing pattern.

Timeline

Alfred G. Stanley was born on January 24, 1845 in Salisbury, England.

Stanley attended the College of Salisbury. He would learn the drug business with Roberts & Son, who he spent four and one half years with. Then he went to London and worked for the well known firm Peter Boully, retail druggists of London.

Dr. Stanley moved to America in 1869 and for a short time he lived in New York. He would move to Philadelphia were he would work for Ellis Sons & Co.

In 1871 Dr. Stanley relocated to the corner of Main St. and Market St. in Lykens, Pennsylvania. Here he would open up his own drug business and general supply of all kinds of drugs. He acquired a reputation of being one of the most reliable druggist in the county along with the surrounding counties.

Dr. A. G. Stanley, listed as a Warden, Christ Church, Lykens, 1872

In 1873, Stanley was listed as one of the original Directors of the Gratz Driving Park and Horticultural Society. He was also the president of this long lived organization that is now known as the Gratz Fair Association.

Dr. Stanley was President of Lykens Agricultural Society for three years.

Stanley was a collector of rare stuffed birds from various parts of the world, which he had in his possession.

Dr. Stanley was married in 1873 to Mary Spoeri in Lyken’s. They would have six children (Frederick A. Stanley, Chas J. Stanley, Wellington S. Stanley, Kate M. Stanley, Ray S. Stanley, Mabel B. Stanley. His son Frederick would became a druggist and work with him.

Dr. Stanley put out a number of medicinal products from his drugstore including the South American Indian Bitters, which was produced from 1878 to 1906.

Advertisement: “Itch, Prairie Mange, and Scratches of every kind cured in 30 minutes by Woolford’s Sanitary Lotion. Use no other. This never fails. Sold by A. G. STANLEY, Druggist, Lykens.

Dose Glass: Compliments / of / Dr. A. G.Stanley / Druggist / Lykens, PA

The American Journal of Pharmacy listed Dr. Stanley in the graduating class of 1880 from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.

Posing on Lykens Resevoir in 1887. Dr. Stanley is sitting on the far right. From Lykens-Williams Valley history – directory and pictorial review. Embracing the entire Lykens and Williams Valley, in the effort to preserve the past and perpetuate the present. (1922) – Barrett, J. Allen

On May 25, 1904, Mr. Swab married Kate A. M. Stanley, daughter of Dr. A. G. Stanley, of Lykens, Pa., and they had one daughter, Arlene May.

Dr. Stanley continued in business until 1904 when he sold his business to Dr. W. H. Uhler. Uhler continued producing the bitters until at least 1906 because they are labeled examples with the wording Guaranteed by A. G. Stanley under The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906.

Dr. Alfred Stanley died in 1917.

*Select references by Frank Wicker at BottlePickers.com

Listing for A. G. Stanley (advertisement below) – 1902 Greater Harrisburg Area Polk Directory

Dr. Stanley’s South American Indian Bitters advertisement – 1902 Greater Harrisburg Area Polk Directory – BottlePickers.com

“DR. STANLEY’S / SOUTH AMERICAN / INDIAN BITTERS”, (S-174), Pennsylvania, ca. 1880 – 1890, medium amber, 8 3/4”h, “W.T. & CO. / U.S.A.” on smooth base, tooled lip. Pristine perfect condition, one of the nicer ones. – Glass Works Auctions

DR. STANLEY’S / SOUTH AMERICAN / INDIAN BITTERS, 9″h. aqua and amber, smooth base, square – WeLoveOldBottles.com

Two examples – DR. STANLEY’S SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN BITTERS. American, 1880-1890. Height 8 ¾ in. Color amber. Square. RH #S 174.5 – BottlePickers.com

The Folksy Girl on a Bicycle Historical Flask

[Updated 14 August 2013]

I am very fond of Folk art and especially enjoy seeing art and illustrations on antique bottles like the Travellers Bitters and Pikes Peak Flasks. Yesterday, I was really intrigued by the “girl on a bicycle” strap-sided historical flask image that Cody Zelany included as one of his pictures of recent finds. Cody commented:

Lastly, I have to credit this one to my dad. While in Pennsylvania, we stopped at an old church converted to an antique shop. As I walked in, I knew in my heart that there was probably nothing to be found, as it was mostly crafts and things that don’t interest us. As I walked ahead my dad asked to see something in a case, and I figured it was most likely a piece of advertising or maybe a fruit jar of some sorts. As I turned around in his hands was a flask. As he handed it over to me I was instantly interested. Turns out it was a GXIII-3 Woman on Bicycle / Eagle. To me this is what the hobby is about, great glass and great memories”.

Read: Patience Paying Off – Three Amazing Finds

Girl on a Bicycle – Eagle historical flask previously sold by Heckler. Ex: Judge E. S. MacKenzie

I wanted to see if any other examples were nested online and found a wonderful example previously sold by Jeff and Holly Noordsy and an example sold by Norman C. Heckler (above). The Noordsy description of the flask including front and back pictures are represented below.

GIRL ON BICYCLE – EAGLE / “A & DHC,” (McK# GXIII-3), brilliant aquamarine, smooth base, pint, applied mouth with ring, mint. Blown at the A & DH Chambers Glass House, Pittsburgh, PA, C. 1870, scarce.

This folky flask was produced shortly after the Civil War and it’s as fine an example as we’ve had the pleasure of offering. Obviously inspired by the advent of bicycling as a “sport” the piece offers the finest possible mold detailing and pleasing overall glass crudity.

Jeff and Holly Noordsy

When I posted Cody’s pictures yesterday, I wondered about the bicycle meaning and posted the question on PRG Facebook. Dana Charlton-Zarro responded with the following:

The Girl on the Bike flask is a varient of the “Not for Joe” flask, named for a song from England. BTW, it is a strap-sided flask. This is the story of the Not for Joe Flask. Read: Arthur Lloyd’s song ‘Not For Joseph’

Images from The High Wheeler Bicycle as Used on Bottles by J. Carl Sturm

American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth Wilson lists three flasks which use the high-wheeler bicycle as part of their embossed decoration. They are listed as numbers GXIII-1, 2, and 3. All three are pint flasks. GXIII-1 has a small picture of a girl riding a high-wheeler. Above her head is a banner which says, “NOT FOR JOE.” The reverse of this flask is blank. I believe there is an amber variant and at least two in pale green with all others being aqua in the GXIII-1 flask. 

J. Carl Sturm

I was also able to find a wonderful article by past FOHBC Board Member, J. Carl Sturm called The High Wheeler Bicycle as Used on Bottles. This really was fascinating to read and helped answer many of my questions. Next I was led to a neat book called Glasshouses and Glass Manufacturers of the Pittsburgh Region: 1795 – 1910 by Jay Hawkins. There was a reference to the GXIII-3 flask and the A. D. & H. C. embossing (see b/w images above).

UPDATE: 13 August, 4:00 pm CST

Hi Ferd,

Enjoyed your article on The Not for Joe flask. In reading the article, I noticed that amber and several light green examples are the only colors known. Just want to bring to your reader’s attention that there is also a sapphire blue one (GXIII-2). Keep up the good work!

Mark Vuono

UPDATE: 14 August 2013, 9:15 am

Good Morning Ferdinand,

Yesterday while on Peachridge Glass, we saw your article about The Folksy, Girl on a Bicycle Historical Flask. You referenced the article The High Wheeler Bicycle as Used on Bottles by J. Carl Sturm in which he mentions: “The amber flask pictured [Figure 7] is a half-pint, the only specimen known in this size. It turned up about three years ago and is in the collection of the author”. We are happy to share that we will be offering this flask in our Premier Auction 106 which opens on November 4th. I’ve attached a photograph (see above), and the description is below.

20. “Not For Joe” And Girl On A Bicycle Pictorial Flask, America, 1860-1870. Amber, applied square collared mouth – smooth base, half pint; (some interior residue).
Unlisted but similar to GXIII-2 Currently the only known example. Fine condition. Carl Sturm collection. $3,000-6,000

Thanks for the informative (and entertaining) background information about these flasks. Kind Regards,

Nicole (Puhlick) - Norman C. Heckler & Company

Notation for A. & D. H. Chambers marking on the GXIII-3 girl riding a bicycle/eagle in Glasshouses and Glass Manufacturers of the Pittsburgh Region: 1795 – 1910 by Jay Hawkins

UPDATE: 13 August, 4:10 pm CST

Hello Ferdinand!

Thanks for posting the article about the “Girl riding bike” flasks. There is no way to absolutely prove this, but I think the chances are high that at least one (or possibly both) of the flasks without the A & D HC marking, are products of the old Louisville Glass Works, probably sometime in the late 1860s or the 1870s.

Reason: (I will copy and paste an edited portion of the text from my article about Louisville Glass Works from the Bottles and Extras, 2005): According to an article published in the COMMONER & GLASSWORKER issue of May 30, 1903 (discovered by Hemingray Glass Company researcher Bob Stahr, who kindly copied it for me), the Louisville Glass Works produced a wide variety of popular flasks and other bottles of the period during which it was in business. Information for the article seems to rely on testimony supplied by an elderly glassblower once employed at the Louisville Glass Works (although the exact period of time being referred to is not stated). Items reportedly produced include versions of the Pike’s Peak flasks, the Clasped Hands/Shield flasks, the “Not for Joe” flasks with the picture of a girl on a bicycle in amber glass, “log cabin bitters bottles” with “1862″ blown in the glass” (presumably St. Drakes Bitters bottles), and several others. Since some of these flasks (especially the Pike’s Peaks) are found in dozens of mold variants, it would be difficult or impossible to know at this late date which exact molds were used at Louisville. An exception may be the “Not for Joe” flasks. There are only three known variants, and one is marked with “A.& D.H.C.,” a Pittsburgh glasshouse. The other two are unidentified and are certainly likely to be products of the Louisville Glass Works.

David Whitten

Anyway, a cool embossing and bottle, and the story behind it.

Cody’s Flask

The extraordinary Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters – Downieville Bottle Show – 2011

Three extraordinary things: Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters, Downieville & Coco

At the 2011 Downieville Antique Bottle Show I had the fortune to see, handle and photograph one of the most extraordinary bitters squares I have ever seen, that being Roger Terry’s Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters in a killer amber coloration (see picture above). By the way, the extraordinary Downieville Bottle Show is next month, so don’t miss it. I have rented a house on the river for a week to chill out, hit the show, see my western bottle friends and run through the mountain trails with my baby and extraordinary Weimeraner, Coco. Now I just need to figure out how to get there?

Read: Bottle Still Life Shots from our Porch in Downieville

Read: Downieville Show People

Read: Some More Purdy Glass Pics from Downieville Displays

The extraordinary and historic Downieville, California: location of the 2013 Downieville Antique Bottle Show

14 September 2013 (Saturday) Downieville, California – Downieville Antique Bottles & Collectibles Show and Sale, Early Lookers: 8:00 am – 10:00 am, Admission: $10, Free Raffle Ticket included! Open 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, Free General Admission. Located in the Downieville School Gym on Hwy. 49 in the Historic Gold Rush Country, Featuring Bottles, Insulators, Gold Rush Items, Advertising, Saloon, Mining, Western Related Artifacts and Go Withs. For Show Information: Rick & Cherry Simi, 530.289.3659 email:ricksimi@att.net Online: www.oldwestbottles.com/downieville_show.php, Display Info: Warren Friedrich 530.265.5204 FOHBC Member Club

My extraordinary Weimaraner, Coco

Anyway, where was I here? Oh, how am I going to get to Downieville with Coco and some bottles? Hmm…that is the question. Certainly do not have time to drive 2033.1 miles and take off a day and a half. Guess we will fly. Do I buy her a seat or do I fly in a dog crate with her?

What prompted this post, like many of my posts, are a series of random thoughts, images and tasks that orbit in my mind. Eventually they start sticking together and forming into a post. With this, it was western bitters collector extraordinaire, Dale Mlasko (Oregon) finally landing the subject amber Von Humboldts and adding it to his collection. He also has the green example that once resided on my shelves for some time. Boy I miss that one. Anyway, Dale has both of these great bottles and sent some pictures recently which I have posted below along with some shots of the olive green example that I took.

So there you have it. The Von Humboldts reminds me of history and Downieville which reminds me of Coco. You see? Pretty simple.

The amber and yellow olive Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters – Mlasko Collection (photo by Dale Mlasko)

The Carolyn Ring and W. C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

V 31 ALEX VON HUMBOLDTS STOMACH BITTERS

ALEX VON HUMBOLDTS // f // STOMACH BITTERS // f //
Hazlett & Miller, agents for the United States
9 1/2 x 2 5/8 (7) 7/16
Square, LTC, Amber, Yellow, Green, and Yellow olive, Applied mouth, Very rare
A Western Brand.

Label: Von Humboldt’s Celebrated German Bitters will cure liver complaint, jaundice, dyspepsia, debility, chronic diarrhoea, weakness of the nerves, and all diseases arising from a disordered liver or stomach, such as acidity of the stomach, biliousness, constipation, colic, determination of the blood to the head, eructations of wind, fullness and oppression to the stomach, fluttering at the heat, headache, heartburn, loss of appetite, lowness of spirits, nausea, pain in the side and shoulder, piles, unpleasant dreams, yellowness of the skin and eyes etc.

The yellow olive Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters (ex: Grapentine, Ex: Meyer) – Mlasko Collection (photo by Ferdinand Meyer V)

The yellow olive Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters (ex: Grapentine, Ex: Meyer) – Mlasko Collection (photo by Ferdinand Meyer V)

The amber and yellow olive Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters – Mlasko Collection (photo by Dale Mlasko)

So who is Alex Von Humboldt?

A portrait of Humboldt by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, 1806

Well I think many of you might be aware of Alexander Von Humboldt from History class but I thought Roger Terry summed it up rather nicely over at Western Bitters News:

“Alexander von Humboldt was the reigning scientific mind of the early nineteenth century, a unique combination of naturalist and adventurer. With his companion, Aime Bonpland, Humboldt cut a six thousand mile swath across the New World, through what is now Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Cuba. Risking his life in treacherous terrain, he conducted the first extensive scientific explorations of the Andes and the Amazon, literally redrawing the map of the Americas and dramatically expanding our knowledge of the natural world. He brought back to Europe more than 60,000 plant specimens and a multitude of exotic New World animals, set an altitude record while climbing the volcano Chimborazo, made revolutionary discoveries regarding volcanoes and the Earth’s magnetic field, and introduced millions of Americans and Europeans to the astonishing cultures of the Aztecs and the Incas.

At the completion of his epic journey, Humboldt became one of the most celebrated men in the world, feted by Thomas Jefferson in Washington and invited to Napoleon’s coronation in Paris. His ideas revolutionized scientific research, laid the ground work for entire new fields of study, such as climatology, oceanography, and several branch’s of geography. His adventures profoundly influenced followers and students such as Charles Darwin. Today, more places and geographical features are named after Humboldt than any other historical figure, and scientists continue to build on the foundations he established.” – Gerard Helferich

Alex von Humboldt, incredible traveler, author, and father figure of science, was perhaps the most admired man of the 19th century. Fourteen towns in the United States and one in Canada are named for him. Mountains in Antarctica, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand. An ocean current off of Peru, the largest glacier in Greenland. A bay, a county, a university, a redwood forest in California. Streams, parks, city streets, even a “sea” on the moon carry his name.

The map of Northern Nevada is covered with Humboldts name; the county, a town, a canyon, a mountain range, a huge national forest. Most of the California and Nevada naming was due to the little “Pathfinder”. John C. Fremont. Fremont was an ardent Humboldt admirer, naming the river that marked the westward expansion and later the gold rush trail.

Fremont’s diary – Nov. 8th, 1845. “Crane’s Branch led into a larger stream that was one of the two forks forming a river to which I gave the name of Humboldt. I am given by Himself the honor of being the first to place his great name on the map of the continent. Both the river and mountain to which I gave his name are conspicuous; the river stretching across the Basin to the foot of the Sierra Nevada.”

Plantation owner’s daughter checks weight of cotton. Kaufman County, Texas-1936 – photo Arthur Rothstein

Where is that Dansby’s Cotton-Patch Bitters from Terrell, Texas?

16 August 2013

This is the only medicine on the market especially for our Southern diseases and we all know that diseases in a Southern climate are different from those in a Northern.

Cotton played a big role in commerce in Texas so it is not surprising that there is a fabled bitters brand called the Dansby’s Cotton-Patch Bitters put out by the Cotton Patch Bitters Company in Terrell (Kaufman County), Texas. I just can not find the bottle.

The area consisted of scattered homes and reported a population of eleven in 2000.

There is even a tiny rural settlement called Cotton Patch that is located near the junction of Farm roads 2656 and 952 about twenty-one miles west of Cuero in western DeWitt County. Several families, including the Schmidts, Gruetzmachers, Dworaxzyks, and Meinens, farmed the area around the beginning of the twentieth century. Landowner Henry Buesing donated property for a one-room school that was built in 1914. The Buesing School was shown on county highway maps in 1936, and the facility operated until 1950. By the 1960s maps depicted the village of Cotton Patch at the location of the school. The area consisted of scattered homes and reported a population of eleven in 2000. [Texas State Historical Association]

Terrell, which is the subject locale in this post began as a “depot town” along the Texas and Pacific Railroad Company’s new transcontinental line from Longview (in East Texas) to California.

“depot town” along the Texas and Pacific Railroad Company’s new transcontinental line from Longview to California.

In 1873 a consortium of landowners led by Robert A. Terrell, an early pioneer and surveyor in the area, donated 100 acres to the railroad company in exchange for a depot on the rail line. The town was organized around this original town site and another 100 acres to the north owned by Terrell and his partners.

The railroad town grew rapidly, incorporating in 1874 with Col. J. W. Elder as the first mayor. When the town re-incorporated under new Texas law in 1875, it boasted more than 1,000 residents. Churches were organized almost immediately and public schools opened ten years later. A state facility for the care of the mentally ill was established here in 1883.

Railroads again became important shapers of local history in the 1890′s, when Terrell became the headquarters of one of the nation’s most prosperous short line railroads, the Texas Midland Railroad, with Col. E.H.R. “Ned” Green as president. Read about Ned Green

Green, son of the “witch of Wall Street” Hetty Green (at the time the richest woman in America), was a colorful character, as well-known for his personal exploits as for his business acumen.

Henrietta Green aka “The Witch of Wall Street”

Green, son of the “witch of Wall Street” Hetty Green (at the time the richest woman in America) (Read about Henrietta Green), was a colorful character, as well-known for his personal exploits as for his business acumen. Ned Green made the first automobile trip in Texas, a jaunt from Terrell to Dallas, at speeds of 20-25 mph. He also suffered the first auto accident in Texas. During the Dallas trip, Green and auto company representative George Dorris were crowded off the road by a farm wagon and ended up in a ditch!

Cotton reigned as the cash crop in rural areas surrounding the town.

By 1920, the Terrell State Hospital, with 2,300 patients, was the largest facility of its kind west of the Mississippi. Terrell was the commercial center of the county, and the downtown main street was crowded every Saturday as farm families came to town to trade and visit. Cotton reigned as the cash crop in rural areas surrounding the town. During this period more cotton was shipped from Terrell than from any other single place in the world.

Cotton wagons on Moore Avenue, Terrell, Texas. Postmarked Oct. 1909

During World War II a British Flight Training School (#1 BFTS) opened at the southern edge of the city. The airfield and its buildings provided sites for post-war industries, the beginning of the industrial diversification Terrell enjoys today. [Terrell Chamber of Commerce Convention and Visitors Bureau]

Galveston Wharf, Shipping Cotton to Foreign Ports. Galveston, Texas, 1906

Moving to Terrell in 1879, he enlarged his business and is now among the most important drug men of the city.

I was able to find some material on a Dr. Robert Cosby Dansby who was a Pharamacist and a Freemason who established the R. C. Dansby Drugstore in 1878. It is here that he presumably sold his Cotton-Patch Bitters. Dr. Dansby died on Aug. 11, 1919. The article below is very important.

Leading Men of Terrell - R. C. Dansby

This gentleman is a native of Alabama, having first seen the light in Dayton, Maringo, in 1845. A son of a well-known physician of his county he had all the advantages that money and influence could procure. Before his majority he graduated at Tusealoosa, in the State University, with high honors. He selected pharmacy as his profession and has prosecuted his studies and kept constantly engaged in this business up to the present time. The war swept away a handsome patrimony, and he was thrown upon his own resources while yet a boy. In Mobile, Alabama he received his education in the drug business. In 1871 he left Alabama with his wife and child came to Texas and settled in Prairieville, where he met with almost unparalleled success. Moving to Terrell in 1879, he enlarged his business and is now among the most important drug men of the city. He is among the wide awake and most enterprising men of this day, and has an enviable future before him.

Appears in The Terrell Star, 24 December 1882, Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas

Dansby’s Cotton Patch Bitters Co. advertisement – The Standard, Vol. 8, No. 39, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 11, 1887. Clarksville, Texas. I sure would like to get my hands on that 40-column family paper on the product.

The Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham listing for this bottle in Bitters Bottles:

D 18  DANSBY’S COTTON-PATCH BITTERS

DANSBY’S / COTTON-PATCH / BITTERS // sp // f // sp //
8 1/2 x 2 3/8 (6 1/4) 1/4
Square, Amber, Tooled lip, 3 sp, Extremely rare
Trade Mark September, 1886, Robert C. Dansby, Terrell, Texas. In business since 1879.

Wagons of Cotton – Terrell, Texas

Drug Store in Terrell, Texas. One can only wonder if the Cotton Patch Bitters once graced the shelves of the store. This was the original Dansby Drug Store.

The R. C. Dansby Drug Store

Walter Dickson Adams and the Adams Drugstore – A native of Kaufman County, Walter Dickson Adams (1872-1961) came to Forney in 1887. In 1893 he purchased the F. M. Adams Drugstore, a successor of the R. C. Dansby Drugstore established in 1878. He was the town’s most prominent druggist for the next sixty-eight years. Originally on S. Bois D’Arc Street, the store was relocated to Main Street in 1901. A respected community leader, Adams was elected mayor in 1912 and held offices in state and national professional organizations. Still a thriving local business, the Adams Drugstore was moved to this site in 1976. [source research Marianne Dow]

“Line of Cotton Wagons on Tennessee Street” McKinney, Texas – Collin County Farm Museum

“Line of cotton wagons on Louisiana Street” McKinney, Texas – Collin County Farm Museum

Cotton Wagons on Spring Street – Palestine, Texas. Photograph, ca. 1890; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Anderson County Historical Commission, Palestine, Texas.

Cotton Market – Texarkana, Texas

More on Texas Bitters

Drug Store in Terrell, Texas. One can only wonder if the Cotton-Patch Bitters once graced the shelves of the store. I wonder if this was the original Dansby Drug Store?

When I posted the information about the Dansby’s Cotton-Patch Bitters from Terrell, Texas, (Read: Where is that Dansby’s Cotton-Patch Bitters from Terrell, Texas?) I came across the above picture of a Drug Store sign in Terrell on Main Street and wondered if it was the Dansby Drug Store? Marianne Dow picked up on my question, and as she has done on previous posts, put together some nice detective work to answer my question.

Some nice Detective Work on R. C. Dansby

by Marianne Dow

18 August 2013

No information on your desired bottle, but I found Dansby’s drug store.

I blew up your picture to see that the postcard shows the DeGaugh Brothers Drug Store — then a quick google confirmed it. source

Same photograph on Ancestry.com

Apparently R. C. Dansby’s Drug Store changed hands and names a few times and there was more than one location.

Refer to this Historical marker for one location – link — says:

Walter Dickson Adams and the Adams Drugstore – A native of Kaufman County, Walter Dickson Adams (1872-1961) came to Forney in 1887. In 1893 he purchased the F. M. Adams Drugstore, a successor of the R. C. Dansby Drugstore established in 1878. He was the town’s most prominent druggist for the next sixty-eight years. Originally on S. Bois D’Arc Street, the store was relocated to Main Street in 1901. A respected community leader, Adams was elected mayor in 1912 and held offices in state and national professional organizations. Still a thriving local business, the Adams Drugstore was moved to this site in 1976.

It appears one is now a quilting shop. source

The original R.C. Dansby Drug Store that was built in 1891 is now a quilt shop.

More….

J.A. DeGaugh Drug Store advertisement – The Austin Weekly Statesman. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 13, 1894