Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters – Frank Collection
Two Sexy Ladies – Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters
23 April 2011
Botero-Our Lady of Columbia
On a trip out west to visit the prominent collector Robert Frank late last year, I was able to see and hold two of my most favorite Bitters bottles which are pictured at the top of the post. The Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters are voluptuously formed bottles with sensitive and exaggerated curves just like a paintings by the Columbian figurative artist, Fernando Botero. His paintings and sculptures are united by their proportionally exaggerated shapes.
These bottles are sculptures and goddesses in the Antique Bottle world and should be revered.
According to noted researcher Warren Friedrich, the C78 & 79 Cassin’s variants are in his opinion, the quintessential western bitters bottle. The C79 mold variant is the earlier of the two and would be considered extremely rare in its rating; as there are only 7 existing examples in any condition, four in an amber coloration, two in yellow olive color and one in yellow green (or lime).
The C78 is the mold variant (see below) that is often seen in various bottle books. Approximately 20 some examples exist in collections presently. The most commonly seen examples are in medium to light greens, followed by various amber hues; with black glass (either dark green or dark amber) being extremely rare and aqua color variations being very rare with at least four examples known.
Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters (C 78) – Bitters Bottles Supplement
These gorgeous bitters are considered by many to be the top western bottle of any kind. The rich history, and beauty of these “sculptures” places them in the top few bottles of all time in my opinion. I am fortunate to have two examples in my collection…a pretty emerald green, and a black glass. They would be comparitively easy to assemble a “color run” if they survived in any large numbers, but these delicate bottles have a very low survival rate. I personally have dug almost a dozen Cassin’s, but all were smashed, or fell apart in my hands!
After reading Dale’s comment, currently I can think of five collectors who have 2 examples each of the Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters. Three of those collectors have both variants.