J. Boardman & Co. – New York – Mineral Waters

21 October 2013

“J. Boardman & Co. / New York – Mineral Waters / B / This Bottle / Is Never Sold”, America, 1850 – 1860. Medium pink with a slight salmon tone, cylindrical, squat soda form, applied sloping collared mouth – iron pontil scar, ht. 7 1/4″; (professionally cleaned with some overall light exterior wear remaining, but no other form of damage). Fresh to the market, a recent lucky find near Wilmington, NC. Exceptional color, one of only a handful known to exist in this exciting pink coloration. – American Glass Gallery Auction 11

Over the last decade or so, I have only seen two examples that came out of the ground in New York City (and heard of a third from a reliable source). The one in my picture (pictured below) is more of a champagne than pink; a headless companion was found on the same site with a bit more pink. Truly beautiful examples throughout this post – and with the different tones and hues would make a great color run.

Andy Goldfrank

John Pastor has this beautiful pink toned, J. Boardman Mineral Water in his current American Glass Gallery Auction 11 that closes next Tuesday night, 29 October (pictured above). I posted the image over on the Peachridge Glass (PRG) facebook page and it quickly drew a lot of comments and some other great examples out for viewing.

Will trade this puce J. Boardman & Co. for a cobalt blue R. Robinson from Wilmington, NC if anyone is interested?? Chris Whitehurst (Posted on FOHBC web site) – PRG Daily Dose 03 April 2013

The bottle in the auction looked familiar to me as it has been on PRG Daily Dose before sitting in a window (see above).

Picture of two J. Boardman Mineral Waters from left to right. positions 1 and 3 (center). Attached is a picture from the Manhattan Well Diggers article about Robert Biro’s collection. In the picture is a green and puce Boardman. – Richard Kramerich

I hope to spend a little time later today trying to find a blue and green example, if they exist. I also hope to find out a little about Boardman. So far, I can place John Boardman in New York City at 368 and 890 Broadway selling mineral waters in 1848 – 1857 (see listings below).

Andy Goldfrank comments, “according to an article in Historical Archaeology on the Five Points from when the United States built a new U.S. Courthouse in the 1990s, Boardman was listed in the New York City directories from 1846 to 1858. Directories were Doggett (1846-1858), Doggett & Rode (1851-1852), Rode (1852-1855) and Wilson (1855-1858). The article is entitled “Good for What Ails You: Medicinal Use at Five Points” by Michael C. Bonasera and Leslie Raymer, Vol. 35, No. 3 (2001); it is available on JSTOR and the Society for Historical Archaeology website.”

I would also like to find out why the auction example was found in Wilmington, North Carolina.

John Boardman & Co., mineral waters listing – 1848 Doggett’s New York City Directory

John Boardman, mineral waters listing – 1857 New York City Directory (note address change)

Tim Henson posted this killer rosey puce J. Boardman example from a previous American Bottle Auction.

Tim Henson “Now this amazing purple (J. Boardman) one that was also sold by American Bottle Auctions some years back is incredible too. It’s the only one I’ve seen myself. What a beauty!” 

J. Boardman – Over the last decade or so, I have only seen two examples that came out of the ground in New York City (and heard of a third from a reliable source). The one in my picture (cropped above) is more of a champagne than pink; a headless companion was found on the same site with a bit more pink. Truly beautiful examples throughout this post — and with the different tones and hues would make a great color run. – Andy Goldfrank

Read More: Jacob Youngblood and the Bernhard Soda Water Apparatus