UNCLE MARB’S O.B. (not G.B.) BITTERS

UNCLE MARB’S O.B. BITTERS – Dennis Eastley

Got a tip from Dale Mlasko about an extremely rare Uncle Marb’s Bitters coffin flask. Dale was reminded of the flask after reading Two XR Tombstone Flasks containing Bitters (uh Whiskey). The Carlyn Ring and W.C Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is minimal but includes:

U3  UNCLE MARB’S OLD BOURBON BITTERS

UNCLE MARB’S ( au ) / G.B. (should be O.B.) / BITTERS // c //
7 1/8 x 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 (5 1/8)
Flask – coffin, Amber, ARM, Appplied mopith, Extremely rare
From a collection known to have existed in 1928.

This is a rare bird and I expect a unique example but we will see. I can find no information online on Uncle Marb so a little looking and thinking about the “G.B.” is appropriate. G.B. can mean a lot of things including Green Bay (possibly), Game Boy (can’t be that), Great Britain (doubt it), Great Barrington, MA (probably not), Gigabyte (nope), German Baptist (odd) or a persons initials. What do you think?

UPDATE (thanks to Marianne Dow):

(Marianne Dow) Uncle Marb’s Old Bourbon Bitters — so it’s not GB but OB — according to this link to the INDEX of a book on the website of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey – title of book may be Bottled in Illinois —http://isas.illinois.edu/bottlebook-index-full.pdf

(Marianne Dow) Bottled in Illinois: Embossed Bottles and Bottled Products of Early Illinois Merchants from Chicago. www.isas.illinois.edu
‎”Bottled in Illinois: Embossed Bottles and Bottled Products of Early Illinois Merchants from Chicago to Cairo, 1840-1880″

I am also intriqued by the Ring and Ham statement in Bitters Bottles…

“From a collection known to have existed in 1928.”

A real mystery here. Thanks to Dennis Eastley for providing the nice pictures.

“I got it at the Canyonville show and the history is murky. I was told that it came from a collector in Nevada City but when I contacted him he did not remember the flask.
So the history is in a dead end alley.”

Dennis Eastley

UNCLE MARB’S O.B. BITTERS – Dennis Eastley

UNCLE MARB’S O.B. BITTERS – Dennis Eastley