The transposed London Jockey Club Huose (Club House) Gin

Posted on 30 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Extreme “London Jockey Clubhuose Gin” with mis-spelled CLUBHUOSE!

The transposed London Jockey Club Huose (Club House) Gin

30 October 2012

LONDON JOCKEY CLUB HUOSE GIN

Michael & Janet George (New Boston, New Hampshire)

Apple-Touch-IconAMichael George has this extraordinary example of a London Jockey Club House Gin where ‘HOUSE’ is misspelled as “HUOSE”. The ‘U’ and ‘O’ are transposed. The bottle is in a gorgeous Stoddard color with tons of character. This bottle is for sale, at least it was at the Yankee Bottle Show in Keene, New Hampshire earlier this month and previously at the FOHBC 2012 Reno Expo this past July. Wow is all I can say.

As an aside, Michael George is the Show Chairman for the upcoming FOHBC 2013 National Antique Bottle Show – Manchester, New Hampshire

Read More: London Jockey Club House Gin

Read More: Heinle’s Jockey Club Root Beer – Jockey & Horse Label

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The Bodeker Brothers brand – killer bitters from Richmond!!

Posted on 29 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

C 221 – CONSTITUTION BITTERS – Tom Leveille: The one shown above was dug in downtown Richmond, in the early 90’s by a man named Ronnie Lewis.

Incoming Peachridge Glass facebook picture (above) and question from Tom Leveille.

The Bodeker Brothers brand – killer bitters from Richmond!!

Are you familiar with this bitters?

TOM LEVEILLE (NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA)
29 October 2012 (R•020214)

Apple-Touch-IconAI like it when I get these types of questions because it allows me the opportunity to go back and look more closely at a brand and my collection. It seems like Phase I of my journey was acquisition and phase II is learning. How fun.

So now we look at the Bodeker Brothers from Richmond, Virginia and their various medicines and bitters products, one being a strap sided flask. We also get a dose of woman suffrage.

AUGUST AND HENRY BODEKER

AUGUST BODEKER (1819-1884)

At age seventeen, the eldest of five brothers, August Bodeker emigrated from Hanover, Germany to Richmond, Virginia in 1836. Together with his brother Henry, he started the “A. Bodeker Apothecary” on Main Street in 1846. By 1860, August Bodeker – meanwhile married to suffragette Anna Whitehead – owned two slaves, property in Henrico County and a drug company worth $40,000. During the war, August sold drugs to most of Richmond’s 44 hospitals, among them Phoebe Pember’s and Sally Tompkins’ private hospitals. Virginia Historical Society, Richmond

HENRY BODEKER (? – 1890)

Henry Bodeker was August Bodeker’s younger brother and part owner of the business. As the Bodeker Drug Company was urgently needed for the production of all kinds of medicine, Henry did not take up arms during the Civil War. His son George H. Bodeker, however, served as a private in Captain Joseph K. Lee’s Co. B, 1st Virginia Volunteers, until he offered his services as a secret detective to the Provost Marshall’s Office in 1862, “being familiar with the German language.” Virginia Historical Society, Richmond

[Both above from The Germans of Charleston, Richmond and New Orleans During the Civil War – by Andrea Mehrlander]

Civil War Citizens: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in America’s Bloodiest – edited by Susannah Ural

Harrisonburg Daily News, Harrisonburg, Virginia (Tuesday, March 18, 1913):

In 1856 Mr. Hoppe married Miss Elsie Bodeker, daughter of Dr. Henry Bodeker, Surgeon in the German navy, and Sophia Epmier, also a sister of Hon. Augustus Bodeker of the well known Bodeker family of Richmond. After the death of his wife, he retired from active business, and made his home with his only daughter, Mrs. Geo. E. Shuey.

ANNA WHITEHEAD BODEKER

“The Age of Iron: Man as He Expects to Be” – Currier & Ives c 1869 – Library of Congress

Anna Whitehead Bodeker (1826–1904)

Born Anna Whitehead in New Jersey on about July 26, 1826, she was married at age eighteen to Augustus Bodeker, a German immigrant who worked as a clerk and druggist in Richmond. They had three children and remained in Richmond during the Civil War. Inspired by her reading of newspapers and other accounts of the activities of the National Woman Suffrage Association, she arranged for suffrage advocate Pauline Wright Davis to speak in Richmond early in 1870. The event and Bodeker’s sponsorship of it attracted the attention of national newspapers, and in March of that year she published a two-part article entitled “Defence of Woman Suffrage” in one of the city’s most influential newspapers.

Bodeker corresponded with other national advocates of woman suffrage and persuaded a federal judge to allow his courtroom to be used for another public address in favor of woman suffrage. The judge and his wife also attended the meeting at which Bodeker and other supporters of the cause founded the Virginia Woman Suffrage Association in May 1870 and elected delegates to a convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association. As president of the Virginia association, the first of its kind in the state, Bodeker arranged for Susan B. Anthony to speak in the federal courthouse in Richmond in December 1870. By then a well-known advocate of woman suffrage, Bodeker persuaded a member of the House of Delegates to introduce a resolution to grant the vote to women—the legislators never voted on it—and in 1871 attempted to vote in the general election in Richmond but was not permitted to do so. Instead of placing a ballot in the box, she placed in it a slip of paper on which she had written, “By the Constitution of the Untied States, I Mrs. A. Whitehead Bodeker, have a right to give my vote at this election, and in vindication of it drop this note in the ballot-box, November 7th, 1871.”

In spite of Bodeker’s work and of being acknowledged as a brilliant and effective organizer, the cause of woman suffrage failed to attract widespread support during the years immediately after the Civil War, and the Virginia Woman Suffrage Association faded into obscurity after less than a decade. Bodeker, too, disappeared from public view and died in October 1904. [The Library of Virginia]

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listings in Bitters Bottles are noted below:

CONSTITUTION BITTERS

C 221  CONSTITUTION BITTERS, Circa 1875 – 1885
CONSTITUTION / BITTERS // f // BODEKER BROS. / PROPRIETORS / RICHMOND VA // f //
7 x 2 1/4 (5) 3/8
Square, Amber, NSC, Applied mouth, Extremely rare
Bodeker Bros 1414 E. Main Street, Richmond, Virginia

C 221 – CONSTITUTION BITTERS – 6 7/8″h, Extremely rare, one of only a very few known examples – Meyer Collection

Detail C 221 – CONSTITUTION BITTERS  – Meyer Collection

Back panels C 221 – CONSTITUTION BITTERS  – Meyer Collection

BODEKER’S CONSTITUTION BITTERS

B 131  BODEKER’S CONSTITUTION BITTERS, Circa 1880 – 1895
BODEKER’S / CONSTITUTION BITTERS / RICHMOND, VA. // f // f // f //
7 7/8 x 2 1/4 (5 3/4) 3/8
Square, Amber, LTC, Tooled lip, 1 sp, Very rare

B 131.5 BODEKER’S CONSTITUTION BITTERS – American, ca. 1880 – 1895, medium golden amber, 6 1/8″h, smooth base, tooled mouth, about perfect. Extremely rare, possibly even unique in this smaller and unlisted size. – Meyer Collection

B 131.5 BODEKER’S CONSTITUTION BITTERS – Meyer Collection

BODEKER’S CONSTITUTION BITTERS

B 132  BODEKER’S CONSTITUTION BITTERS, Circa 1880 – 1895
BODEKER’S / CONSTITUTION BITTERS / RICHMOND, VA. // motif anchor //
6 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 1 5/8 (3 5/8) 1/4
Flask strap sided, Amber, DC, Tooled lip, Extremely rare

BODEKER BROS

Embossed on Front Body: “BODEKER BROS., RICHMOND, VA.”. Applied Top, Dates to the 1890’s, measures 5 1/8 in. tall, 1 5/8 in. across, 7/8 in. from front to back – eBay

Left: Aqua 4.3″ bottle embossed: horizontal: BODEKER BROS / RICHMOND, VA
bottom: (smudge, possibly a pontil scar of some kind?) Right: Aqua 7.0″ bottle (with cracks) embossed:
horizontal: BODEKER BROS / RICHMOND, VA – Chosi Virginia Drugstore Bottles

Bodeker Drug Co. bottles (and many others) found at dig site – Archaeological Data Recovery Investigation of the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail Site – Richmond, Virginia

Front BodekerBrothers trade card. – Chosi Virginia Drugstore Bottles

Back BodekerBrothers trade card. – Chosi Virginia Drugstore Bottles

Writing tablet book for the The Bodeker Drug Co. / Richmond, Va. – Chosi Virginia Drugstore Bottles

This is a cork-screw bottle opener. It is marked on both sides with BODEKER DRUG COMPANY – Chosi Virginia Drugstore Bottles

bodecker1869richmond

Early A. Bodecker & Bro. Druggist advertisement – 1869 Richmond City Directory

This is a 9″ long metal ice pick from the Bodeker Drug Company. It is marked as follows: front: COMPLEMENTS OF / BODEKER DRUG CO. / RICHMOND, VA. back: WE APPRRECIATE / YOUR BUSINESS – Chosi Virginia Drugstore Bottles

Posted in Apothecary, Bitters, Civil War, Collectors & Collections, Druggist & Drugstore, eBay, Ephemera, History, Medicines & Cures, Questions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Emerson’s Excelsior Botanic Bitters – Augusta, Maine

Posted on 28 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Full front image: Vintage EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters Blood Purifier – Circa 1890’s – eBay

EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters

28 October 2012

A Tonic that Promotes Digestion, Improves the Appetite, Invigorates the Nervous System and Purifies the Blood.

 E.  H.   B U R N S,

AUGUSTA, MAINE

Apple-Touch-IconAI have taken a renewed and heightened interest in labeled bottles of late following posts from John Hinkle, Jack Stecher, John Panella and many others. These folks love their labeled bottles. With this said, I post about a bottle now on eBay called an Emerson’s Excelsior Botonic Bitters. This bottle is an excellent example that has a really nice label and applied top that prompts closer inspection. The photographs are also rather nice. The eBay listing is as follows:

Vintage EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR BOTANIC BITTERS Blood Purifier – Circa 1890’s See Listing

9-1/8″ Tall Emerson’s Excelsior Botanic Bitters Bottle. A tonic that Promotes Digestion, Improves the Appetite, Invigorates the Nervous System and Purifies the Blood. Prepared and sold by E.H. Burns – Augusta, Maine – Price 50 cents. Label is all intact. No chips or cracks, some haze in a few spots, overall a great looking bottle. Circa 1880’s or ’90’s. Aqua blue.

pahaskabooks 100%

Getting red flags on this label and applications. Red comments below.

Look at this fantastic EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters bottle label. E. H. Burns, Augusta, Maine. Unused, VF – Current Eric Jackson Auction 

Bottle laying on back: Vintage EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters Blood Purifier – Circa 1890’s – eBay

Applied top image: Vintage EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters Blood Purifier – Circa 1890’s – eBay

Bottom image: Vintage EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters Blood Purifier – Circa 1890’s – eBay

EMERSON’S EXCELSIOR Botanic Bitters – This 12.5″ “ladies leg” bottles has a full label that has faded over the years. Manufactured in Augusta, Maine this bottle is near mint with no condition problems. – past eBay sale

Here’s some more Emerson’s Excelsior examples (bigger red flag) – Brian Wolff

Posted in Bitters, eBay, Medicines & Cures | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont

Posted on 27 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Hi Ferdinand,

Here is a little teaser for those who might be heading to next summer’s FOHBC event in Manchester, New Hampshire. We shot these images this fall while visiting the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont (just south of Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain). True, these two towns are about three hours apart. However, if you a collector and you find yourself in the area, this is a museum well worth visiting. Plan on spending at least one day here in order to fully take in all it has to offer.

Steve Ketcham

Antique Bottles, Advertising & Stoneware
steve@antiquebottledepot.com
www.antiquebottledepot.com

Fantastic metal, three-dimensional apothecary trade sign seen in the Shelburne Museum folk art exhibit.

Multiple cases of flasks, bitters, patent medicines and all manner of apothecary glassware are found in this apothecary shop exhibit. An outstanding country store exhibit is found in an adjacent room.

Apothecary Shop. Amazing cobalt blue, glass labeled apothecary jars.

Hand-painted advertising sign for Kendall’s Spavin Cure as seen in the Shelburne Museum folk art exhibit.

There were five display cases of glass canes in this exhibit!

More canes!

Have you ever wondered why all those glass canes were made? They clearly could not serve the traditional purpose. The paragraph below this photo offers one explanation. It reads, “This photograph of Libbey Glass worker Louis J. Loetz was taken in 1898 at the Labor Day parade. According to the Toledo Blade, ‘The Libbey Glass Works band was resplendent, the glass workers followed the band and made a splendid showing. Each man wore a red hat, blue shirt and white pantaloons. They carried canes made of glass with the national colors blown in.'”

Posted in Advice, Apothecary, Druggist & Drugstore, Early American Glass, FOHBC News, Folk Art, Glass Companies & Works, History, Museums, Whimsies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Looking at Daly’s Aromatic Valley Whisky…with Sandy

Posted on 26 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Northeast in crosshairs of ‘superstorm’ Sandy

Looking at Daly’s Aromatic Valley Whisky…with Sandy

26 October 2012

Apple-Touch-IconAI sit in my room with my grandson Nicolas at a resort on the seventh floor of a beach-front condominium on the outer banks of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina writing this post. Elizabeth is home with the dogs and horse events. The satellite dish must have blown off the roof so I just switched to my AT&T satellite Internet service. I am here for a beach wedding today (that would have occurred where the volleyball net area is in the picture above) that will be moved inside because of an unvited guest named Sandy. My balcony door overlooking the beach is open. The winds are strong and the waves are crashing loud.

I still have bottles on my mind though and wanted to get some information on the three bottles pictured above. I was asked to photograph the bottles at the Reno Expo. I was led to believe that these were important bottles and a great grouping. They sure looked eastern to me. Why were they at Reno? I have lost my notes and memory for this picture and would like to know more including who owns these bottles so I can give credit. Last night I posted the picture and question to facebook on Early American Glass asking if anyone recognized the bottles? This quickly prompted a response from Michael George and Jeff Noordsy (of course) noting that these were William Daly bottles.

WILLIAM H. DALY  – NEW YORK

Hopping on the Internet, I was able to pull some more information. If you all can supply more pictures and support information for this post, I will gladly add. From what I found so far, this certainly was a popular New York brand with advertisements in Texas, Louisiana and California. These are sexy, well designed bottles. I also thought it was interesting that one of the cylinder bottles pictured below was found in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Make sure you read the testimonials. They are outlandish.

DALY’S VALLEY AROMATIC WHISKEY (or Whisky)

By the time of the Civil War, ads in the Galveston Weekly News touted Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters; or Dr. Leroy’s French Specific for All Affections of the Urinary Organs, and those Affections Only; or Daly’s Aromatic Valley Whiskey for Medicinal Purposes; or Brown’s Bronchial Troches; or Sanford’s Family Blood Purifying Pills; or Old Sachem Bitters and Wigwam Tonic. Texans imbibed gallons of the tonics and ate tons of the pills, as ads for these and other nostrums appeared again and again in newspapers throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century.

TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Advertisement at bottom right for Daly’s Aromatic Valley Whiskey (see below) – The Daily Texan (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 29, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 9, 1859

State Assayer’s Office, 32 Somerset Street, Boston, April 17, 1858.

Mr. W. H. Daly – Sir: – I have made a chemical analysis of your “Old Valley Whiskey”, and find it pure, fine, and full flavored Rye Whiskey, containing no injurious matters of any kind. I would recommend it as suitable for Medicinal and general public purposes.

Charles T. Jackson, State Assayer

Link Back – Updated information by Rick Simi at Western Bitters News

Advertisement for Daly’s Aromatic Valley Whiskey (see above) – The Daily Texan (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 29, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 9, 1859

Advertisement in Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 19, Number 2852, 17 May 1860 — Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

“WILLIAM H. DALY NEW YORK” WHISKEY-TYPE BOTTLE, bright forest green, cylindrical, early smooth base, 10 3/16″H x 3 3/16″D, crudely applied square collar, American, 1865-1875, rare. This unusually formed whiskey cylinder is a beautiful bottle with good color, lots of crudity and a wonderful applied square collar. – sold by Jeff & Holly Noordsy

Embossed WILLIAM H. DALY NEW YORK. There is no other text. It has a 2″ x 1/4″ embossed rectangle on text line before the William H Daley New York text. I’ve seen an similar looking bottle on eBay but the text read JOHN T. AND WILLIAM H. DALY NEW YORK. Mine does not have (John T. and). It only says William H Daley New York on it. Found in Lake Tahoe, Nevada – Instappraisal

A Gold Rush Grouping – From left to right: Three Line Turner Brothers w/ smooth base Forest Lawn JVC w/pontil base, First variant Drakes Plantation without embossing and John T. & William H. Daly New York (Daly’s Aromatic Valley Whiskey) – The Rush for Silver and Gold

Picture sent to me by Brian Wolff. Brian said he found on antique-bottles.net

RARE John T & William H DALY whiskey bottle – sold on eBay

Daly_GW97

“WM. H. DALY – SOLE / IMPORTER – NEW YORK”, (Denzin, DAL-34), New York, ca. 1855 – 1870, medium olive green bulbous form, 9 1/2″h, pontil scarred base, applied double collar mouth. A rare bottle in an attractive form with plenty of glass whittle and loaded with seed bubbles. Here’s one that stands out in any whiskey collection! – Glass Works Auctions – Auction #97

Posted in Bottle Shows, Early American Glass, History, Medicines & Cures, News, Questions, Spirits, Whiskey | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Saint George the Dragon Slayer – Not only on Hostetter’s

Posted on 25 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Saint George the Dragon Slayer – Not only on Hostetter’s

25 October 2012 (R•051015)

Apple-Touch-IconAThe recent post of a picture of a Hostetter’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters and a New Factory Smoking Tobacco can (see below) by Steve Ketcham has prompted some dialogue across the Internet that wanted to be corralled into a post. Specifically today,  I wanted to look at Saint George the dragon slayer, the related iconography and where else the famous imagery occurs. We all know it did not start with Hostetter’s.

The Hostetter’s Bitters has been in our collection for years. We found this tobacco tin at Heckler’s this fall. Compare the Hostetter logo to the logo on the tobacco tin. The two are remarkably similar – Steve Ketcham

To do so, each day they offer the dragon at first a sheep, and if no sheep can be found, then a maiden must go instead of the sheep. The victim is chosen by drawing lots. One day, this happens to be the princess. The monarch begs for her life to be spared, but to no avail. She is offered to the dragon, but there appears Saint George on his travels. He faces the dragon, protects himself with the sign of the Cross, slays the dragon, and rescues the princess.

Saint George

Saint George (c. 275/281 – 23 April 303) was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a soldier in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic (Western and Eastern Rites), Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox churches. He is immortalized in the tale of Saint George and the Dragon and is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. His memorial is celebrated on 23 April, and he is regarded as one of the most prominent military saints.

Many Patronages of Saint George exist around the world, including: Georgia, England, Egypt, Bulgaria, Aragon, Catalonia, Romania, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iraq, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia, as well as the cities of Genoa, Amersfoort, Beirut, Botoşani, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Timişoara, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Kragujevac, Kumanovo, Ljubljana, Pérouges, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Lviv, Barcelona, Moscow and Victoria, as well as of the Scout Movement and a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.

Saint George and the Dragon

Eastern Orthodox depictions of Saint George slaying a dragon often include the image of the young maiden who looks on from a distance. The standard iconographic interpretation of the image icon is that the dragon represents both Satan (Rev. 12:3) and the Roman Empire. The young maiden is none other than the wife of Diocletian, Alexandra. Thus, the image as interpreted through the language of Byzantine Iconography, is an image of the martyrdom of the saint.

The episode of Saint George and the Dragon was a legend brought back with the Crusaders and retold with the courtly appurtenances belonging to the genre of Romance. The earliest known depiction of the legend is from early eleventh-century Cappadocia (in the iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church, George had been depicted as a soldier since at least the seventh century); the earliest known surviving narrative text is an eleventh-century Georgian text.

In the fully developed Western version, which developed as part of the Golden Legend, a dragon or crocodile makes its nest at the spring that provides water for the city of “Silene” (perhaps modern Cyrene in Libya or the city of Lydda in the Holy Land, depending on the source). Consequently, the citizens have to dislodge the dragon from its nest for a time, to collect water. To do so, each day they offer the dragon at first a sheep, and if no sheep can be found, then a maiden must go instead of the sheep. The victim is chosen by drawing lots. One day, this happens to be the princess. The monarch begs for her life to be spared, but to no avail. She is offered to the dragon, but there appears Saint George on his travels. He faces the dragon, protects himself with the sign of the Cross, slays the dragon, and rescues the princess. The citizens abandon their ancestral paganism and convert to Christianity.

The dragon motif was first combined with the standardised Passio Georgii in Vincent of Beauvais’ encyclopaedic Speculum Historiale and then in Jacobus de Voragine’s “Golden Legend”, which guaranteed its popularity in the later Middle Ages as a literary and pictorial subject.

The parallels with Perseus and Andromeda are inescapable. In the allegorical reading, the dragon embodies a suppressed pagan cult. The story has other roots that predate Christianity. Examples such as Sabazios, the sky father, who was usually depicted riding on horseback, and Zeus’s defeat of Typhon the Titan in Greek mythology, along with examples from Germanic and Vedic traditions, have led a number of historians, such as Loomis, to suggest that George is a Christianized version of older deities in Indo-European culture.

In the medieval romances, the lance with which St George slew the dragon was called Ascalon, named after the city of Ashkelon in the Levant. [source Wikipedia]

HomeBitters_Detail_10r

Saint George slaying the Dragon in Home Stomach Bitters advertising.

A great embossing of St. George slaying a dragon on a SINGLE STROKE ANTISEPTIC – Brad Seigler (at the 2012 Houston Bottle Show)

SINGLE STROKE ANTISEPTIC THE GREATEST GERM DESTROYER OF ALL MANUFACTURED BY THE WALKER CHEMICAL COMPANY DALLAS TEXAS. Both one of a kind. The company was only in business for one year. The bottles are from two different molds. The graphic is of the myth of St. George who cured a village of illness by slaying a dragon – Brad Seigler

Portion of advertisement for HOSTETTER’S CELEBRATED STOMACH BITTERS in Harper’s Weekly, May 9, 1863

Victorian Advertising Trade Card showing Saint George and the Dragon – eBay

(top) Advertising cover for St. George Underwear, sent in 1931 by Schofield Woollen Co. at Oshawa, Canada.(bottom left) St. George slaying the Dragon, semi-postal stamp printed by photogravure, and issued by Belgium on June 25, 1944, (bottom right) Germany 1961 St. George Killing the Dragon

(top) St George & Dragon on Reverse on 1823 Gold Two Pound Coin (bottom) Queen Victoria Jubilee Crown. 1887 St George Slaying the Dragon.

1921 Ad – Hostetter Stomach Bitters – 60 Water Street Pittsburgh, PA – eBay

Two examples of Hostetter’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters bar signs. You can see St. George and the Dragon in both examples

OK, it’s most likely NOT a Bitters, but does anyone have any information about what this bottle might have contained? The embossed scene on the bottle is reminiscent of the Hostetter’s label, showing St George slaying the dragon. In this case it appears to be a snake. It is trade marked, but not in the CA State Archives book of applications. To the best of my knowledge, they are only dug in the West. I have dug amber examples, here locally, and found a aqua specimen at a show. – Mike Dolcini (Western Bitters News)

St George’s Hall – The stained glass window showing George slaying the dragon.

There are many beer brands with St. George and the Dragon. This is my favorite. St. George Brewery – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Posted in Advertising, Art & Architecture, Bitters, Breweriana, Collectors & Collections, Currency, Ephemera, History, Postage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

John Panella and his special Dr. DeGurley’s Herb Bitters

Posted on 25 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

The extremely rare, DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS – Panella Collection. You can see the broken and missing piece of glass that included the DR DEGURLEY’S wording.

John Panella and his special Dr. Degurley’s Herb Bitters

The extremely rare, Dr. DeGurley’s Herb Bitters – Baltimore

25 October 2012 (R•052915)

Apple-Touch-IconAPeachridge Glass and the bottle and glass collecting community would like to thank John Panella for opening up and sharing this wonderful story wrapped around his extraordinary amber Dr. Degurley’s Herb Bitters. To my knowledge, this is only the second example to show up. Most advanced bitters collectors concur that there is only one unique, complete example in yellow olive (pictured below), embedded in an Eastern collection, that I wish to keep anonymous.

Froggy, if you are reading this, doesn’t this remind you of the partial CALIFORNIA BITTERS from the Feldmann Collection? Read: California Bitters / Manufactured only by / J. G. Frisch San Francisco

John Panella – New York, NY

Ferdinand:

From 1988 till 1998 I was an active seller in the New York City, 26th Street & 6th Avenue Antique Flea Market on Sundays. I sold locally obtained antique bottles and go withs. During that era, I attended most of local bottle shows in the tri-state area. The Long Island Bottle Club had inspired me to dig in Brooklyn as they were doing at that time. I was a lousy digger. I excavated privies on Wycoff Street and Atlantic Avenue with limited success. I did purchase bottles from Jack Fortemyer who lived in Brooklyn and was a member of that club way more successfully. I had fun and learned how to see them on Sundays in New York City.

During that era, I drove to, I believe it was, Vineland, New Jersey every year for a bottle tabletop antique show they held at the local firehouse. Dana Charlton-Zarro remembers with detail, the names of the people who were at that show. I remember no one really. I do remember one year after a line outside for early admission, getting in to see diggers that had a table in a corner. They had brisk sales. It was newly excavated stuff. I purchased this bottle from that table. Between you and me, I paid $xxx for it. I did tell the other collectors $20 but now what does it matter? I loved the shape and iridescence of the bottle. It was broken and glued together with a shard missing with the name on it. The price was right. At the time I considered it not worth much because it was broken. I loved the embossing of the house on it and wanted it for my display. I do remember the seller telling me “please take it, it’s an unlisted bitters bottle”. A real crier…, he didn’t want to look at it anymore. Still beautiful to me, I purchased it. Dana seems to know these diggers so I suggest you contact her about the names. The bottle sat on a display in my home until my wife complained “why do I keep a broken bottle around?” I didn’t want to sell it, so I found a place of honor for it in my garage. This was the era before easy online communication.

Fast-forward 25 years. Now in 2009, I retired from my 45-year sales stint in the airline industry. I worked for many carriers but had longtime employment with AeroMexico and British Airways. Collecting bottles was a hobby, not so much a business for me. Upon retirement, I took it upon myself to restore to original shape, the childhood home that I grew up in, located in Jamaica Estates, Queens, New York. When my mom passed in 2009, I inherited this home that I lived in from age 11. Since I am an only child and there are no other siblings, I inherited the home in its entirety. It was a 3-year passion for me. I restored everything. Rebuilding, refinishing, no replacing, most of the home to its original specs using only parts MADE IN AMERICA. It was not cheap or easy. On October 8th of this year, my wife Marrianne and I moved in. We moved everything ourselves piece by piece over this period. It was my retirement plan.

A few days ago I remembered this bottle on display in the garage of my last home, took it outside and photographed it. I was thinking one if the collectors on the site could identify it. I used my iPhone and put it on the facebook bottle collectors website. Now it had come back to life. After comments back and forth, Brian Shultis nailed it as a Dr. Degurley’s Herb Biters from Baltimore with the concurrence of Chris Rowell. I must thank both of these guys profusely. I offered to trade it for something with Chris and last night was up all night thinking, why are you trading this bottle? I knew Chris was the king of diggers in Baltimore and asked him if he was interested? I was thinking to myself all night what a stupid move that was but I did want to share my find with him. Today I messaged him saying I wished to keep the bottle. He was so gracious and understanding. I really give him credit for not holding me to my offer. What a nice person he is! I was willing to trade it for a KNICKERBOCKER 1848 iron pontiled soda water bottle from 18th Street in the city. All night, I thought what a foolish and compulsive move that was on my part. Chris, as I said, was very understanding. I give him great credit! I could not have done this alone. I credit the following collectors for their guidance and advice: Dana Charlton-Zarro, Michael George, Steven James Anderson, Rick Ciralli, Woody Douglas, Tom Marshall, John Tague, Dennis Smith, Tom Doligale, Mark Woodall, Jim Schmidt, Ed Nikes, Peter Marston, Brian Wolff, Ricks Bottle Room (Rick DeMarsh), John April and of course you Ferdinand. Without you, I would not know most of these people. Your driving influence in the FOHBC has inspired me. Not only am I communicating with all of the above names on this one find but many, many more on other topics. Your push to get the old timers online is working. It will take time but thanks to you now, I have a BOTTLE FAMILY. This hobby is really fun and educational and now I have an iPhone, which makes it all a pleasure, addicting and exciting.

If you need any more information, do not hesitate to contact me. I must add that, thru the years, I have befriended Jim Hagenbuch (Glass Works Auctions) both with my bottle hobby and professionally with the airlines. We have communicated for years. He has also been a big key player in my bottle addiction and appreciation of history thru glass.

With warmest personal regards,

John Panella

The Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

D 39  DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS
DR DEGURLEY’S / HERB BITTERS // sp // MANUFACTURED / BALTIMORE MD. // motif 5 story house //
10 1/4 x 2 3/5 (6 3/4) 1/4 (with 16 dots)
Square, Yellow olive, LTC, Applied mouth, Extremely rare
Resembles Edward Wilder Bottle (see below)
D39_Decurley's_BBS

DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS – Bitters Bottles Supplement

Read More: Edward Wilder and his Building Bottles

The amber DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS – Panella Collection. If you look closely, you can see the embossed building. Look at the crazy, big fat applied mouth!

Color plate scan from the Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham Bitters Bottle book.

The similar EDW WILDER’S STOMACH BITTERS – Meyer Collection

NEW PHOTOGRAPHS

Latest photos, bottle color almost dark honey amber, lighter more yellow amber in areas of glass. – John Panella

Dr. DeGurley’s Herb Bitters finds a new home in a FIRST CLASS resort with many other friends. (a good ending to a long tale) – John Panella

DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS – My favorite embossed side – John Panella

Broken panel side concealing a portion of the DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS name – John Panella

DR. DEGURLEY’S HERB BITTERS – This side has the MANUFACTURED IN BALTIMORE MD typography – John Panella

NEW EXAMPLE

DeGurleysLot133_AGG14

“DR DEGURLEY’S / HERB BITTERS – MANUFACTURED / BALTIMORE. MD” – (Pictorial image of 5-story building), America, possibly Baltimore Glass Works, 1865 – 1870. Medium amber, square, semi-cabin with a beaded design along all (4) corners, applied sloping collar – smooth base, ht. 9 7/8″; (a ¼” x ½” hole in one of the bottom corners on the reverse with a 1 ¼” crack extending up the panel edge, a tiny pinhead flake at edge of lip, and some washable interior residue). R/H #D39. Extremely rare (one of only three examples known, with one of the other two being dug and badly cracked). As noted, the damage is on the back corner, the bottle displays as very near mint and would be a good candidate for a professional repair, if desired. A great rarity and a great looking pictorial bitters, strongly embossed. The bottle was found in the cupboard of an old one room farmhouse / shack, in northeastern West Virginia. – American Glass Gallery Auction 14

Posted in Bitters, Collectors & Collections, Digging and Finding, Facebook, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

FOHBC 2009 Pomona National Display Videos

Posted on 25 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

F O H B C    D I S P L A Y    S E R I E S

Alan DeMaison (FOHBC Business Manager pictured to left) has been working hard of late putting together videos of the displays from the great 2012 FOHBC Reno Expo. You can also see them on the FOHBC site.

Alan now reaches in his hat and is putting together display videos from the 2009 FOHBC National in Pomona, California.

Nevada Pottery with Bob Ferraro

Jelly Jars with Elaine DeMaison

Demijohns and Carboys with Terry Monteith

Bottle Graveyard with Lance Westfall

50 State Hutch Collection with Dick Homme

Denver Glass Factories with David Hall

Native American Covered Antique Bottles Part 1 with Richard Siri

Native American Covered Antique Bottles Part 2 with Richard Siri

Historical Flasks with Richard Tucker

Posted in Bottle Shows, Bottling Works, Club News, Collectors & Collections, Color Runs, Demijohns, Digging and Finding, Display, Early American Glass, Flasks, FOHBC News, Glass Companies & Works, Historical Flasks, Hutches, Jelly & Jam, News, Photography, Pottery | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bowls of Color at the end of Autumn

Posted on 24 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

“I was taking pics and this came down and landed in the bowl…”

RICK CIRALLI

Posting some refreshingly different utilitarian bowls in a variety of autumn colors. Kudos to Rick Ciralli, his passion for glass and for sharing these wonderful photographs of bowls that my wife likes so much. Well done Rick!

Read More: Some Early American Glass Bowls

“I think these bottle glass bowls, mostly blown in rural areas, were used by the local population of farmers and small merchants. I think the wealthy in cities and coastal regions were using flint glass and fine ceramics. Maybe a member of this page with a broader experience in antiques could comment.”

WOODY DOUGLAS

“I think Woody Douglas is on the right track with this. With all the privy digging going on finding shards of these bowls in an urban setting is a rare occurance. I have dug five domestic refuse dumps of glassblowers houses at Mt Pleasant and finding bowl shards is a common occurance. I feel these items were not highly valued outside of their community as they are not a decorative item, thus unsaleable to the general populace. This confined their use to the workers and families at a glassworks and their adjacent community. This would explain their rarity.”

RICHARD STRUNK

Posted in Blown Glass, Bowls, Collectors & Collections, Color, Color Runs, Dinnerware, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gorgeous Color Run of Unembossed Half-Pint Flasks

Posted on 23 October 2012 by Ferdinand Meyer V

S O M E     G O R G E O U S

U N E M B O S S E D     F L A S K S

“Just keep me in mind if you run across any of these that I don’t have. I’ve got a “want really bad” list for these half pints. Clear, teal, cornflower, cobalt, dark olive, pure yellow, dark red amber, peach puce, and black”

I always like to congratulate someone when I see a special photograph of a persons collection. In this case I see these four great pictures on Bottle Collectors of colored flasks from Aaron Mills. Aaron adds under one of his picture posts, “Just keep me in mind if you run across any of these that I don’t have. I’ve got a “want really bad” list for these half pints. Clear, teal, cornflower, cobalt, dark olive, pure yellow, dark red amber, peach puce, and black” – Aaron Mills

“Not only great color, Aaron, but the backdrop of the striped wall seems to accentuate the progression of the flasks! Another creative photo for some upcoming bottle calendar!”

James Becker

Posted in Collectors & Collections, Color Runs, Facebook, Flasks | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment