CELEBRATED EAGLE BITTERS

LANGE & BERNECKER

ST LOUIS

(Julius Lange, Christian Knull and John L. Bernecker)

02 July 2013

A really nice square; the Celebrated Eagle Bitters, closed on American Bottle Auctions | Auction 58 (see video) this past Sunday evening. It sold for a song considering how extremely rare the bottle is. The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

C 94  CELEBRATED EAGLE BITTERS, Circa 1860’s

CELEBRATED / EAGLE BITTERS // LANGE & BERNECKER // sp // ST LOUIS //
9 x 2 3/4 (6 3/4)
Square, Amber and Olive, LTC, 4 sp, Extremely rare

The sale reminded me of my example so I pulled up my pictures for comparison (both examples are below). This prompted a search for information on Lange & Bernecker.

Location ‘birds eye view’ Lange & Bernecker – “Pictorial St. Louis 1875”

1864 – 1875 – LANGE & BERNECKER, St. Louis, MO. 1865-1873, 193 North Main (1865), 202 North Main (1866), 713 North Main (1867), 615 North Second (1870-1873)

1867 & 1868 St. Louis City Directories – Lange & Bernecker (Julius Lange, Christian Knull and John L.Bernecker), manufacturer Eagle bitters, rectifiers and dealers in wines and liquors. 713 N. Main

1872 Advertisement Dubuque Herald – Mentions Celebrated Eagle Bourbon

1873 Houston Daily Mercury – “Around Austin, a day or two ago, who should we meet upon the Avenue but Capt. R. H. Toms of that sterling liquor house Lange & Bernecker, No. 615 North Second Street, St. Louis, Mo.” … (see below) Mentions Celebrated Eagle Bourbon and Eagle Bitters.

The Eagle Bitters advertisement – Houston Daily Mercury – Houston, Texas – November 30, 1873

1885 – The industries of Saint Louis: her advantages, resources, facilities, and commercial relations as a center of trade and manufacture; (1885)

THE EXCELSIOR DISTILLING CO.

J. L, Bernecker, President; H. Dahman, Vice-President; L. F. Engel, Secretary; Re-distillers, Rectifiers for the trade and Wholesale Liquor Dealers; 615 North Second Street.

This house was founded in 1864 by J. L. Bernecker, and became, by incorporation, the
successor to that gentleman’s firm in 1S76. The company has a capital stock of $50,000,
which sum gives a fair idea of what its business is.

The Excelsior Company does an exclusively city jobbing business, and sells almost
altogether for cash, asking for itself no credit whatever. Twenty-one years honorable and
liberal transactions have grounded it well in the confidence and esteem of the trade here-
abouts.

Lange & Bernecker Wines & Liquors advertisement – Dubuque Herald, October 26, 1872

Mention of Lange & Bernecker – Houston Daily Mercury (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 42, Ed. 1 Saturday, October 25, 1873

CELEBRATED EAGLE BITTERS LANGE AND BERNECKER ST LOUIS. 9”. Ring/Ham C94. Applied top, smooth base. We know very little about these bottles although we did sell one before. This example was found in Nebraska and was held onto for a number of decades. We had it cleaned as it was a bit stained as a lot of the St. Louis bottles are. Could be the soil or the glass or both. At any rate, it came out beautifully and this one is loaded with whittle and loads of character. Open bubble as seen in the pictures and video. Here is one you are going to like. Grades a 9.6 and shines like a million dollars. – American Bottle Auctions | Auction 58

CELEBRATED EAGLE BITTERS LANGE AND BERNECKER ST LOUIS. 9”. Ring/Ham C94. Applied top, smooth base. We know very little about these bottles although we did sell one before. This example was found in Nebraska and was held onto for a number of decades. We had it cleaned as it was a bit stained as a lot of the St. Louis bottles are. Could be the soil or the glass or both. At any rate, it came out beautifully and this one is loaded with whittle and loads of character. Open bubble as seen in the pictures and video. Here is one you are going to like. Grades a 9.6 and shines like a million dollars. – American Bottle Auctions | Auction 58

Celebrated Eagle Bitters – Meyer Collection

Celebrated Eagle Bitters – Meyer Collection