Received this nice email from Missouri collector Tim Henson today…Looks like he found a good one!
Hi Ferdinand,
Love your site and it’s so refreshing to see with all the great quality glass you have been showing. Myself, like may of the other collectors can spend alot of time viewing and reading the fantastic stories of these beautiful vessels that our ancestors made for us all to enjoy. I wanted to share with you an off color green Greeley’s barrel that I acquired through putting an ad in the local paper. I’m in southwest Missouri.
I decided one day to run an ad looking for old bottles and a gentleman called saying he had some bitters that he & his father collected back in the 60’s when they lived in the New England area. I had several people call saying they had many old bottles so I took the name and numbers of each and every person. I was quite surprised to get such a response. Over 30 calls in about 3 days. I asked a general question to them to see what all they had and drove to every place over the next couple of weeks each evening. I’d run into a Little bit of everything. A lot of slicks that were dug, Listerine bottles, Clorox, and many unembossed meds, and so on.
Then I received that call from the man with the bitters. I was excited after hearing what all he told me. He asked what all I happened to collect and I told him that I’m a figural bitters & whiskeys collector along with pontiled sodas & mineral waters. He said he had a couple of barrel shaped bitters and I could feel my heart start racing. I told him if he had what I was looking for i’d bring some recent auction catalogues as to what things were going for these days so he didn’t have to just “take me at my word” for what I felt a particular bottle is worth. Trust & friendship means so much in this hobby and the last thing I wanted was for there to be any discomfort when purchasing some bottles that had memories of him & his father. Needless to say my jaw dropped when I arrived and he showed me this Greeley’s he had in a color that was a little different than other greens I have seen. I showed him some books and guides of what things are going for these days and you can imagine how prices have increased since the 60’s & 70’s for some bottles. I made him an offer on the green Greeley’s, an amber Old Sachems, and some sodas & inks he had. He was surprised that i’d be willing to pay that for a bottle but I told him as collectors, when we see something we really want and have the funds to get it, the love for the glass takes over! In the end he was very happy and so was I.
Here is a photo of the example I got from him. Congratulations on your excellent website. A true credit to our great hobby.
All the best,
Tim Henson
Greeley's Bourbon Bitters - Henson Collection
