Lone Star Stomach Bitters – New Orleans

30 May 2015

Here is another super bitters that made an exciting appearance at the recent American Glass Gallery Auction 14 by John Pastor. Let’s do a little digging on the J. Dreyfus (Crescent Moon and Star) bitters bottle, as the auction house calls it, from New Orleans. We will actually find out that it is a Lone Star Stomach Bitters bottle. With that name it wants to be a Texas bottle! The word “Bitters” is not embossed on the bottle.

Read: Crescent Bitters from Crescent City

“J. DREYFUS – NEW ORLEANS” – (Crescent Moon and Star) Bitters Bottle, America, 1872 – 1884. Golden honey coloration, square with beveled corners, applied sloping collar – smooth base, ht. 9 5/8″; (1/3 of the lip has a crack and iridescent bruise; some minor exterior wear, faint interior haze). An unlisted bitters, dug in the “Crescent City” more than 30 years ago, and still unique today! We found reference in the 1872 Times-Picayune of N.O, for Jos. Dreyfus being awarded for his Lone Star Bitters. A great bottle with very crude, wavy glass, nice with the crescent moon and star. – American Glass Gallery – Auction 14

Mouth detail: 1/3 of the lip has a crack and iridescent bruise; some minor exterior wear, faint interior haze. – American Glass Gallery – Auction 14

John says that the bottle is unlisted but it is partially listed in Bitters Bottles, possible incorrectly under “D” as:

D 113  J. DREYFUS CELEBRATED LONE STAR STOMACH BITTERS
New Orleans, Louisiana

John also references in his auction listing that the bottle was “dug in the “Crescent City” more than 30 years ago, and still unique today! We found reference in the 1872 Times-Picayune of N.O, for Jos. Dreyfus being awarded for his Lone Star Bitters.” Here below is the reference John is speaking about.

Dreyfus awarded for Lone Star Bitters – The Times Picayune, Friday, May 17, 1872

As far as I can tell, the bottle is unique though it was auctioned off by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, auctioneers, previously. Here is the picture and write-up they used below. Same bottle. Evans adds, “Provenance: Property of a Rockbridge Co., VA private collector”.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA MEDICINE BOTTLE, amber, square form, embossed with “J. DREYFUS”, crescent moon above a five-point star, and “NEW ORLEANS” on three panels, applied slanting collar mouth, embossed five-point star under base. Circa 1870. 9 1/2″ H. Literature: Parallels Ring – For Bitters Only, p. 174, D-113, “J. Dreyfus Celebrated Lone Star Stomach Bitters”. Provenance: Property of a Rockbridge Co., VA private collector. – live auctioneers.com (Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates)

The great surprise, at least for me was finding this black and white label proof for J. Dreyfus, Lone Star Stomach Bitters with a five-pointed star on crescent moon. There are notations in pencil in the margins and it is mounted on an irregularly shaped card. How cool is that?

New Orleans, Louisiana. Ca. 1870-80’s, 170mm tall black and white proof. Five-pointed star on crescent moon. Notations in pencil in the margins. Mounted on an irregularly shaped card. Rare Bitters label proof from New Orleans. – Icollector.com

New Orleans

New Orleans is nicknamed The Crescent City, and a crescent, or crescent and star, is used to represent the city officially – notably in its police department. The origin is the crescent shape of the old city, hugging the East Bank of the Mississippi River. The historical crescent, which includes the French Quarter and was one of the few places where settlement was possible before the construction of the levee system, did not flood during Hurricane Katrina. The choice of the star and crescent symbol is a relic of the krewes, many of which adopted “Oriental” costume and rituals. – Marianne Dow

Joseph Dreyfus

Joseph Dreyfus was a life-long liquor man born Westhouse, Department du Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France on 18 April 1826. He arrived in America on 17 May 1848 and next appears in New Orleans which makes sense with his French ancestry. He was primarily a wholesale liquor dealer and liquor importer but he also made cordials and of course his prized bitters. We can date his bitters from 1870 – 1872 or so.

A passport application in 1890 notes uninterrupted living in New Orleans and Kansas City, Missouri from 1848 to 1890. Dreyfus actually died in Kansas City, Missouri on 8 May 1915. He had been widowed many years and had been living with his daughter Blanche Jones, at least since 1888. Court cases against him during this period may have influenced his move to Kansas City.

Select Listings:

1826: Joseph Dreyfus born in France on 18 April 1826 – United States Federal Census ranges and Find a Grave Index

1848: Joseph Dreyfus emigrates to Unites States – United States Federal Census – US Passport Application

1860: Joseph Dreyfus, age 33, Agent, born in France abt 1827, home in 1860, New Orleans, Ward 2, Louisiana, wife Elizabeth, children, Florence and Rose – United States Federal Census

1861: Aaron Dreyfus & Co. (Aaron & George Dreyfus), importers wines and liquors, 29 Tchoupitoulas, d. 375 St. Charles. Joseph Dreyfus, 61 Customhouse – New Orleans City Directory

1866: Joseph Dreyfus, canal c. Camp, d, 302 Magazine – New Orleans City Directory

1870-1871: Joseph Dreyfus, Wholesale Liquor Dealer, 33 Bienville, r 106 Constance – New Orleans City Directory

1872: Dreyfus awarded for Lone Star Bitters (see notice above) – The Times Picayune, Friday, May 17, 1872

1876: Joseph Dreyfus, syrups and cordials and liquors, manufacturer, 33 Bienville, r 321 Josephine, 4th dist. – New Orleans City Directory

1877: Joseph Dreyfus, Wholesale Wines and Liquors, 66 and 68 Commons – New Orleans City Directory

1878-1879: Joseph Dreyfus & Co., (Joseph Dreyfus and Cornelius Gumbel) syrups, cordials and liquors, 64 to 68 Commons – New Orleans City Directory

1880: Joseph Dreyfus, age 53, Liquor Merchant, born in France, home in 1880, New Orleans, Louisiana, wife Babette, children, Antoinette, Emma and Blanche – United States Federal Census

1885: Dreyfus Court Case: The opinion of the Court was delivered by MANNING, J. The suit is for the recovery of two thousand nine hundred and fifteen dollars for ice furnished the defendant, whose defence s that he bought the ice from one Joseph Dreyfus and owes the plaintiff nothing. The defendant is an ice dealer in Morgan City. Dreyfus was a wholesale dealer in liquors and cigars in New Orleans, was the personal friend if Ermann, and the medium through whom Ermann’s drafts, cheques, etc. were collected. Ermann’s funds were left with Dreyfus, and he drew on Dreyfus whenever there was occasion. Dreyfus failed in October 1883. The ice was furnished in September and October, the last shipment being on the 19th. several days before Dreyfus’ failure. – Louisiana Reports

1888: Gumbel vs. Dreyfus: It appears by the record that a number of creditors of Joseph Dreyfus brought several actions at law against him as a citizen of Louisiana in the Circuit Court of the United States for that district, the plaintiffs being citizens of other states, in which writs of attachment were issued and levied upon the stock of goods belonging to him contained in a store and warehouse, No. 33 Tchoupitoulas Street, in the City of New Orleans. In these actions, judgments were rendered in favor of the several plaintiffs, and proceedings were had in them whereby the attached property in the hands of the marshal was sold, and the proceeds brought into the court for distribution. Pending these proceedings, and before an actual sale under the order of the court, Cornelius Gumbel, a citizen of Louisiana, the present plaintiff in error, filed a petition, called, according to the practice in that state, a “petition of intervention and third opposition.” In that petition he shows that on October 27, 1883, he instituted a suit in the civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans against Joseph Dreyfus, and obtained therein a writ of attachment, which he alleges was executed by a seizure of the defendant’s property, being the same as that levied on by the marshal in the actions in the circuit court; that subsequently judgment was rendered in his favor for the amount of his claim and interest, on which a writ of fi. fa. was issued to the sheriff of said civil district court directing the seizure and sale of the same property to satisfy his judgment; that the sheriff was obstructed in the execution of said writs, and the petitioner prevented from realizing the fruits thereof by the fact that the property subject to his attachment is in the actual custody of the marshal of the United States. The petition particularly sets out the facts constituting a conflict of jurisdiction to be that, on the morning of the twenty-ninth of October, 1883, when it was claimed that the sheriff had made his levy under the petitioner’s writ of attachment, he found at the store, claiming to exercise rights of possession and control, deputy marshals of the circuit court in charge as keepers, and in execution of writs of attachment issued from that court; that… Read More

1888: A. H. Dreyfus & Co. (Alphonse H. Dreyfus) Liquors, Joseph Dreyfus (in town), 28 & 30 e. 3rd – Kansas City Missouri City Directory

1890: Joseph Dreyfus, passport application, living in Kansas City, Missouri

1897: A. H. Dreyfus & Co. (Alphonse H. Dreyfus) Liquors, Joseph Dreyfus, Sales, 545 Walnut – Kansas City Missouri City Directory

1900: Joseph Dreyfus, age 75, Wholesale Liquor Dealer, born in France, home in 1900, Kansas City Ward 8, Jackson County, Missouri, widowed, parents born in France, father-in-law, (living with his daughter Blanche and husband) – United States Federal Census

1910: Joseph Dreyfus, age 84, Dealer Wholesale Liquor, born in France, home in 1910, Kansas City, Ward 4, Jackson County, Missouri, widowed, parents born in France, father-in-law, (living with his daughter Blanche and husband) – United States Federal Census

1915: Joseph Dreyfus death in Kansas City, Missouri on 8 May 1915. His children were Florence Dreyfus Meyer (1857 – 1893), Rosa Dreyfus Gumbel (1858 – 1920), Antoinette Dreyfus Stiebel (1862 – 1916), Alphonse Henry Dreyfus (1864 – 1939) and Blanche Dreyfus Jones (1871 – 1952)  – Find a Grave Index