Bob Ferraro Passes

It is with great sadness that I wanted to announce the passing of Bob Ferraro today.

Bob was a legend in the collecting hobby and a pioneer in western bottle collecting.

He will be missed.

Dale Mlasko

 

Bob & Connie Ferraro

WELCOME TO THE 2017 SANTA ROSA

ANTIQUE BOTTLE & COLLECTIBLES SHOW

Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building 
Across from the Sonoma County Fairgrounds

Saturday, May 6th. - 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission: $3.00
Dealer Set-up, early entry $10, Saturday 9-10 a.m.

Sunday, May 2nd. - 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Admisson: FREE

 

 

ADVERTISING - ANTIQUES - BOTTLES - COINS - DOLLS - TOKENS - BREWING - POST CARDS SONOMA COUNTY HISTORY - POTTERYVINTAGE MEMORABILIA - EPHEMERA - SALOON ITEMS - MARBLES - POTTERY - GLASSWARE -  TINS - ETC.

 

This years show will be held with two other big events at the same location.

"Farmers Market” Saturday
&
The HUGE 40/8 "Flea Market” Sunday!

For the first time ever we've combined our show with one of the biggest collector Flea Mkts. in Northern California, the 40/8. This mkt draws hundreds of people to the venue.

  

 FREE APPRAISALS - WE BUY - SELL - TRADE

 

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There seems to be some sort of communication breakdown and these two great shows wound up being held on the same weekend. 

Pretty hard to attend both shows as they are hundreds of miles apart

Without your support our western bottle shows will be a thing of the past...... - rs -

 

 

Just Dug

From Charles Festersen

For some time now I have recognized that certain master inks and the Lacuor's bitters share some design similarities. However, last week was the first time I placed some side by side for comparison. Clearly there are significant differences yet, they seem to share a design theme. For me the comparison begs two questions. Which came first? And, was Louis Lacour's lighthouse design as original and unusual as I thought? In any case, I feel the photo I have included is visually appealing, and I hope, of at least passing interest to collectors

Dr. Boerhaave's Stomach Bitters

The number of western made 1860's decade bitters bottles can almost be counted on both hands (aproximately 13 embossed on glass brands). Out of almost 100 brands manufactured for the western market, this is a pretty exclusive group. Most collectors would be pretty excited to have an example from this group.

Of those 13 brands of bitters bottles, approximately 4 are known in a square shaped container. This Boerhaave's example is in company with the Rosenbaums Bitters, Alex Von Humboldts Bitters and the G. A. Simon's Bitters as the only square shaped bitters made during the 1860's, (there are of course the Dr. Renz's Bitters and the E. G. Lyon's bottle but these continued into the 1870's decade).

Now that is an exclusive group! This particular example has some wonderful glass characteristics, the surface of the glass is whittled, which is not normally seen on these bottles, the old amber coloration varies in shades from the bottom half of the bottle being darker while the upper half is much lighter, with the neck and top being a darker shade again due to glass thickness. The embossing is quite bold, with the letters themselves being gloppy in appearance (my term used to describe the peaks and valleys of the letters due to the glass not forming evenly in the cavaties). There are currently 11 examples in western collections, 4 are a dark green coloration, 5 are various shades of amber, 1 is a light green color and 1 is a yellow olive coloration.

The firm of Siegfried Wertheimber and Louis Waterman were the manufacturers and proprietors of this bitters. It was first advertised on March 7th, 1868 with the principle depot being at 311 Commercial St, San Francisco, by June of 1868 the firm was advertising this product from their 219 Commercial St, S. F. address. Dr. Boerhaave's Bitters was also being advertised thru the Portland Morning Oregonian newspaper from May 15th, 1868 thru January 28th, 1869, Millard and Van Schuyver were the agents for Oregon. The Los Angeles Star newspaper ran an advertisement for the Boerhaave's Bitters placed by a local druggist for several mos. in 1868 as well.

Wertheimber & Waterman also marketed a cordial called The Splendid and another bitters called Boonekamp and Maag-Bitters, these two products continued to be advertised without the Boerhaave's bitters throughout 1869 in a Sacramento newspaper. At the 1868 San Francisco Mechanics Institute Fair, Wertheimber & Waterman displayed two kegs of their Boonekamp and Maag-Bitters along with a case of their Dr. Boerhaave's Stomach Bitters.

In a notice placed in the San Francisco Daily Examiner newspaper, the firm of Wertheimber & Waterman dissolved their partnership on September 25th, 1869. Siegfried Wertheimber having sold his entire interest in the business to Phillip Wertheimber and the firm continued as before under the name of Wertheimber & Waterman. [see post of September 21, 2009 for additional information on Dr. Boerhaave's Bitters.]

This is a re-post from a earlier article written by Warren Friedrich - rs -

Chico Bottle Show

March 10th & 11th   (Friday & Saturday) Chico, California –

51st Annual Antique Bottle, Jar, Insulator & Collectable Show & Sale, Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, Chico, California, Friday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, $5 for early lookers

Admission, Saturday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Free Admission,

Contact Randy Taylor, P.O. Box 1065, Chico, California 95927, 530.518.7369, rtjarguy@aol.com

Chico is one of my favorite shows, see you there - rs -

Eastern/Western Rosenbaums

Here is a nice looking large size Rosenbaums that should be eastern because of the dot on the base and the tapered top. I have a hard time believing that all dot based large size Rosenbaums are eastern blown. The color and character is spot on for early western glass and doesn't the top remind you of a Simons or Von Humodlts ?


.

St. Clair's Hair Lotion Again

Here is 2 Different St. Clair's Hair Lotions, the darker one is what I have seen as Typical, the Lighter color ones I have not seen a lot of, its also got a nice Benicia Effect to it, is Cruder, The lighter one is 1/8" taller, Embossing Looks the same on both, Kind of like the one Lou posted, His looks like an Applied Top, these both are Tool Tops.

St. Clair's Hair Lotion

1872 advertisement

Howard St. Clair Chemist Boston, Mass.

 

Western ? Blown in the east and distributed in the west? Well?...... - rs -

Hey Rick:

Hope all is well your way. The rain here has been unbelievable. Here’s a pic of the only Western version of this bottle that I’ve seen.

Lou

WOW! What an incredible example of the St. Clair's
Thanks Lou

Just wondering if anyone has heard about any dates for a Reno, NV Show ?

Update: The Santa Rosa Antique Bottle & Collectibles show will be held on May 6th & 7th,  2017. The first weekend in May will now continue to be our annual date. Our venue had a change in staff who inadvertently sold our original 2017 date we had booked a year in advance.  Unknown to us, we had flyers printed with the wrong dates and distributed at the Downieville show.  With much apology from the Hall director, we were asked what they could do to make up for their screw-up. Finally they granted us the show date we’ve always wanted and always denied due to the other huge event at the venue.

 The 40/8 Flea Market is attended by hundreds if not thousands of people and is also on this first weekend. It’s not to be confused with the regular weekly flea mkt. we’ve held our show with in the past. This is one of the biggest annual flea markets in Northern California with loads of antiques & collectibles. It’s draws a large amount of both collectors and dealers from all over. Then on Saturday it’s the “Farmers” Mkt.” which will also be just outside our show doors.  This is an unbelievable venue for a bottle show, we will have lots of visitors. 

It was with much discussion among club members and voted upon to select this date.  As we look around there’s fewer bottle collectors as the years go by. Attendance at shows is down and 2nd  days are often a little to quiet. It’s important to get the general public exposed to the hobby and generate new collectors. Holding shows with like events is a benefit for dealer sales and a great way to generate new collectors.

Dealer & Show info at: http://www.oldwestbottles.com/Santa_Rosa_Show.php

Follow the “Northwestern Bottle Collectors Association” at: https://www.facebook.com/NBCA1965/ on Facebook!

If You Didn't Know.....

American Bottle Auctions – Auction 63 is Now Open for Bidding!

Part One is Underway. The first of our two-part Madruga/O’Neill western auction is open for viewing and bidding starts today! Part one is open for bidding up until Sunday February 19th and part two will start on March 1 and end on March 19th. We’ve extended the bidding period for both parts of the auction so that everyone will have enough time to check it out. If you have any questions please let us know and we’ll be happy to answer them or simply email us and request extra photos or even a video and we can get them to you right away. Requested catalogs are being printed and will be in the mail tomorrow. Thank you for taking the time to check the auction out. We truly have the best customers in the world!

 

Auction 63 from American Bottle Auctions has some of the most incredible western bottles seen at auction in quite a while. There are offerings from most all category's of western blown bottles and it is well worth your time to take a look. - rs -

http://www.americanbottle.com/

CONNELL'S MOONPLANT !

 

 

Now here’s a bottle that has always intrigued me. Just the name alone is strange, CONNELL’S BRAHMINICAL MOONPLANT EAST INDIAN REMEDIES, and the embossing with a pair of feet with stars surrounding them about takes the cake as far as interesting and quirky embossing goes in my book.

 

And how about the lettering font on this bottle!

The R in “BRAHMINICAL” is your basic straight leg R, however, the R in “REMEDIES” and “TRADEMARK” are the curved leg R associated with western glass houses. Could be the mold for this bottle was reworked and the “EAST INDIAN REMEDIES” and “TRADEMARK” added at a later date however I do not have any concrete proof that this was the case.

Was this a bitters, well it certainly was supposed to cure the same ailments as bitters, The definition of BRAHMINICAL is:  A member of a cultural and social elite, especially of that formed by descendants of old New England families. Hmm... Trying to find the definition of MOONPLANT led me to moonbeam (nickname for California's governor ) and moonflower which is defined as: Any of several unrelated vines which bloom at night. Even the name of this product has me baffled; was it an extract of some sort of climbing vine that was intended to be used by wealthy Boston socialites in the moonlight? 
 
I have heard that there are two variants of this bottle, one an eastern made product and the other western manufactured. What’s the difference?

The earliest and one of the only advertisements that I could find for the Moonplant was listed in the May 1873 Sacramento Daily Union and was repeated for a week or so, that’s it.

 

Thanks to Jeff Wichmann for the pictures

From Eric McGuire

 

Rick,

Please accept this as an answer to some of the Moonplant questions. 

I see two questions within this post. The first is, are there two different variants of the Moonplant bottle. The answer is yes, there are, but not as you might expect. The earliest variant has no signature embossed on the base. It is true that this version was only made in San Francisco, however, Connell's signature was soon added to the base so the later variants made in San Francisco will also have this feature.

When Connell moved to Boston, by the Spring of 1874, he took the Moonplant bottle mold with him, and the bottles blown there are virtually identical to those made in San Francisco. The only difference then became the color of the glass, which is not a rock solid differentiator. It is true that the New England versions I have seen do have a bit more red in the amber color but we all know that each batch of glass can vary somewhat, leaving positive identification out the window. So, only those specimens without the cursive signature on the base can be positively identified as a western made bottle. There are still a good number of olive amber specimens known that were very likely blown in the west and have the magic feel of western glass.

The other question is, why the feet? Connell spent an amount of time in the Indian subcontinent. While there he developed his moonplant medicine and also picked up some knowledge of Buddhism. He created sort of a radical mysticism based upon this religion and in his advertising literature Connell used the two feet surrounded by ten stars that he claimed was a symbol found at the  entrance of the Gates of Haimagaree. I don't believe this is an actual physical place but part of a Buddhist story. See the advertisement page from his brochure and the use of the two feet.

After Connell ended up in a legal battle over a trade mark dispute in Australia, which was centered around the use of an elephant, he decided to move to San Francisco in 1872 where he fully developed his Moonplant medicine. His first agent in San Francisco was the Murphy Bros., which didn't last very long. Most interesting is his second agent, J.F. Snow, who was a cleaner and dyer of gloves and other fine leather goods. After Connell left San Francisco, if you recall, Snow even entered the patent medicine business with his "Victory", which was a hair coloring product. There is lots more on Connell, but this answers just a couple of questions.

Eric

 

 



So...What are these?

There seems to be a lot of terminology as to bottle types in the early ads. Are these still gin, and champagne?

"Wines"

Here is an ad put out on 2/27/1867 in the Daily Alta that lends credence to the theory that western glass houses of the 1860s used the term "wines" to describe what we collectors now refer to as whiskey 6ths. Are we on to something?

This is interesting for 1864

From Cal49er

I was looking at some of my western manufactured wines and spices on a rainy day.   Brightened this day right up.  
MAX

Yep, that will brighten up even a snowy day. Thanks for the awesome pictures Max. - rs -

Western Unembossed Squares ?

Looking back at some of the previous pictures submitted to the WBN on a snowy Sunday and ran across this interesting one from J.F. Cutter Extra

Thanks for the picture J.F are these still sitting on your shelf? - rs -

Western Inks

From a Previous Post by Golden Plantation

Here’s grouping of some of the Western blown inks we‘ve dug in California over the years, circa 1868-74. The large master is e.r. and embossed “PACIFIC GLASS WORKS” on the base. It has an applied top that looks like a Western bitters or 5th with a pinched pour spout.

The school house with no panel embossing is the rarest of the aqua Western blown house inks. It has a steeper roof pitch and comes in deep greenish aqua like some of the early S.F. meds.

Top and base of pint size Pacific Glass Works master ink.

I thought this was an interesting and informative post for all the ink and western blown glass collectors Thanks Lou! - rs -

 

There has been some confusion on the date of the Anderson show and this year's show date is shown above. I wish someone from the Anderson Club would send out some sort of info on their upcoming show dates. The Western Bitters News, Western Whiskey Gazette, Peachridge Glass and Western Whiskies online sites all advertise upcoming bottle shows at no charge to the advertisers.
rs

From Eric McGuire

Rick,

Also, I finally located the OGW jake. Pictures are attached.

Eric

 

WOW! - First one of these I have seen. Guess I should start looking at the base of those unembossed  Jakes at the bottle shows. Thanks Eric - rs -

Here are some of the OGW marked bottles I have found over the years. I also have the usual amber square bitters and a jake, but haven't located the box they are hiding in.

I'll see if I can enlarge this picture a bit.

OGW's from Andrew Koutsoukos

 

 

 

 

Thanks Andrew for the pictures.. 

The Oakland Glass Works bottles are scarce and very interesting - rs -



Oh-GeeDub?

Dug this claret in San Jose. It is 12 inches tall with an applied top, and a faint mold line around the shoulder. There are diagonal twist marks below the shoulder indicative if a "twist". Is this an OGW?

How about them colored wines - minus that one on the left!

Paul O Burns Wine Co.



With all the discussion on the OGW wine bottles in the previous post I thought we could take a look at this unusual wine bottle in the Dwyer collection of Forbestown California.

Embossed in a applied seal: Paul O Burns Wine Co. Proprietors Yerba Buena Wine Yard San Jose Cal U.S.

This is the first one of these bottles I have ever seen and if you look on the billhead's date of October  1887 it puts it in the context of the Oakland Glass Works. Now I am not saying this is a OGW bottle but it sure is food for thought. Did you notice on the billhead that Wm. T Coleman was sole agent for Chicago etc. Where have I heard that name before?

Not only did Burns make brandy but could have been involved in the Yerba Buena Bitters brand. I have not researched if there is a connection between Burns and the manufacture of Yerba Buena Bitters and if anyone has any documentation on this - step forward!



 

Pacific Rural Press August 1900

 

I can't find anything on Burns after this news clipping

 

 

 

 

I guess this was why I couldn't find anymore info on Burns

 

 

Thanks to Don Dwyer for the bottle pictures and Bruce Silva for the news clippings

 

Paul O Burns Yerba Buena Wineyard in green
photo courtesy AP Hotaling

Yerba Buena Bitters and Paul O. Burns
 Sometime in 1869 Homer Williams and Alfred Wright who had a medical business would purchase a formula from a San Francisco doctor thought to be Dr. Joseph S. Warren. Eventually Homer Williams would be the sole owner. Then around ten years later in 1880 he would retire and sell the rights to Yerba Buena Bitters to the Paul O. Burns Wine Company. This company was from San Jose, California. This company would continue to produce the bitters until prohibition ceased the production.