Cyndy Forbes (Ms. Bill Ham)
Don Dwyer
Jeff Wichmann
Bruce Silva
Charlie Holt & Wife
Cherry Simi
Rick Pisano & Steve Mello
Randy & Pam Selenak
Warren Friedrich & Bill Taylor
John Ronald
Rick Lindgren
Randy Haumann
Kim & Judy Bakke
John Hiscox
Max Bell
Bill Taylor, Big Wallet & Roger Terry
Richard Graf & Wife
Bill Ham
Three Wise Men
Fish for BreakfastJerry Forbes took some nice photographs from our porch this morning before breakfast of some of his bottles. The two (2) Wormser Bros belong to Jeff Wichmann. The Dr. Bell’s is ringing its way to Peach Ridge. Enjoy! Downieville is such a neat little town. All through the morning, the little Volunteer Fire Station has been using their sirens to commemorate 911 moments.
You all..check this out!!! Ooops master blaster Jeff Wichmann just walked in the door, party at our house in Downieville….This looks like a Clevenger Brothers, Wheaton, NJ…
Hi,
I have The Father of His Country/ Bust of Washington- Gen. Taylor Never Surrenders/ Bust of Taylor Historical Flask. The same one that is listed in the link I have attached. Mine however is in near MINT Condition. I was just wondering if you or if you knew of someone who would be interested in purchasing this. I can send you pictures, just want to see if if anyone is interested in it. I look forward to your response.
http://www.fohbc.org/2011/06/the-father-of-his-country-bust-of-washington/
A bottle collectors paradise!
Today is the day (10 September 2011) for the Downieville, California annual Antique Bottles and Collectibles Show “Bottlemania! A Blast of Glass from the Past”. The show is being held in the Downieville School Gym at 130 School Street. It opens at 8:00 am for a $10 early looker fee and is free to the public from 10 am to 3 pm.
I flew in yesterday about noon. It is about 3 1/2 hours from Houston to Reno. Got my luggage, rental car and headed into the beautiful Tahoe National Forrest. Downieville (read more) has to be one of the most pisturesque, quaint and charming little towns that I have ever been too. This place is so beautiful. Downieville sits at an elevation of 3,888 feet and the 2010 United States census reported Downieville’s population was just 282! Now it is filled to the brim with bottle people! Oh la la…
Jerry Forbes rented us a house right on the confluence of the Downie River and North Fork of the Yuba River. I left my window open last night and listened to crickets and rushing water. Even yesterday afternoon provided for some great side bottle ‘look-sees’ within the confines of our house with bottle friends.
Last night was the famous BBQ dinner at Rick Simi’s house and the wine tasting event hosted by Will Clark of 49er Wines. He featured wines from the California gold country. The tasting started at 5:00 pm until they started serving the BBQ dinner around 7:00 pm. Big turnout, glad to see my western friends. I took a few pictures last night. I will get some good bottle shots today and post later.
Incoming email and pics from Western Collector Mike McKillop…those Bay Rums are killer! Read more on Western Bitters News
Hi Ferdinand,
I thought you might like to see some of my western green curved R bitters. I believe that the 1870’s was the golden age of western glass making, and nothing shows that better than western curved R bottles. Curved R bottles were only made at the S.F. & Pacific Glass Works, when C. Newman owned the company during the 1870’s. No other glass company used that style of R in their molds. TRUE WESTERN GLASS……I threw in another pic of two western bay rums with curved R’s.
Thanks Mike McKillop
Mike Dolcini sent me this interesting email that got me thinking too about bug bottles. Lets get some good pictures. I agree with Mike, the Lyon’s Powders are deceivingly named, sexy bottles.
Lyon's Powders - Dolcini Collection
Hi Ferd,
How many other “Buggers” are out there these days? Once there were only a handful but today these little gems are becoming increasingly popular and difficult to come by.
Another weakness of mine are insect poison bottles, especially Lyon’s Powders in unusual colors. This little run of OP examples displays only a fraction of the myriad colors that these little beauties were blown in. It is obvious that no attempt was made at the time to exact any uniform color to the product container and they were blown from whatever glass happened to be in the batch at the time they were needed. That’s a good thing as far as I am concerned because it allows collectors to search for a large array of colors and hues, some subtle and others more pronounced. The “hunt” continues.
The quality of the photo isn’t the best, but these bottles, and others, sit in one of the only windows in the house that retain shelves. Stained glass tends to wash out the color but these are pretty close. No two are alike despite what the photo might indicate.
Mike
email from Dennis Bray to Jerry Forbes and myself. I thought I could do a few plugs here….
Hi Jerry & Ferdinand:
Hope you guys are doing well. I was just wondering if either of you were going to the Downieville (see Downieville Antique Bottles & Collectibles Show) show this weekend?
Also, I sold my western soda collection (see picture below) yesterday. Sort of going through buyers remorse. Oh well, guess I’m really committed to EC&M insulators now! (see Dennis Bray’s EC&M Insulators)
Hope to see you both soon, take care,
Denny
Western Soda Bottles - Ex Bray
ABA Lots 89 and 91 - Wormser Bros San Francisco
I am keeping a close eye on this extraordinary Wormser Bros. San Francisco barrel on Jeff Wichmann’s American Bottle Auctions Auction 53. There are actually two (2) Wormser’s which I have pictured below with ABA’s descriptions. Check those belly-buttons out!
Lot 89…WORMSER BROS. SAN FRANCISCO. Barrel bitters. Circa 1869. Applied top. Smooth base. Here’s an early western bitters that also has the name as the prominent liquor manufacturer. The photograph in the catalog was taken before it was cleaned so you can see it was in really good shape after we removed dirt and other residue still intact after the 40 years or so after they were found. These were considered extremely rare until a cache were found in Nevada approximately seven years ago. Since then, they may pop up here and there but nothing really to speak of until now. This and seven other amber examples were found on the Oregon coast many years ago. We were contacted by the granddaughter recently who decided to part with them. Of the examples we purchased, there were eight intact and a few others in need of restoration. We will try and fill you in on the rest of the information as we go along. Possibly the only Wormser barrel in green, you are bidding on something very special in beautiful condition, the whittle is as about as good as it gets. The streaming video shows the bottle in a bit more of yellow hue than we’d like so we ask you to go by the still pictures. Also, we mention the cleaning in the catalog and as we point out in the video, it was lightly cleaned on the inside with a minor hand cleaning on the exterior by Lou Lambert. On even the closest inspection, there is no sign of any exterior cleaning. Grades a 9.8. Note: We’ve changed some pictures as we felt the others were flat, these give the bottle a more realistic look closer to the real patina of the glass.
Lot 91…WORMSER BROS. SAN FRANCISCO. Barrel bitters. Circa 1867-1871. Applied top. Smooth base. Here we have another of the examples recently secured by us from the granddaughter of the gentlemen who found them near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon approximately 40 years ago. This is not the example pictured in the catalog as explained in the video. This and another seven examples were found in various condition and colors. At least four need fairly significant restoration. This example has a small flake under one of the upper ribs with a potstone near a lower rib along with a small scuff mark. Generally a very presentable example, this was one of the darker ones found and is presented fifth to the right in the group picture. Other than the aforementioned distractions, it is a very presentable example and worthy of any collection. We will grade this one an 8.5.
Wormser Bros. San Francisco Color Run - Courtesy ABA
Wormser Bros. San Francisco - ABA Lot 89
Wormser Bros. San Francisco - ABA Lot 89 Detail
With at least five (5) bottle auctions happening now (read September Auction Round-Up) including American Bottle Auctions, Glass Works, Heckler, North American Glass and the upcoming Pole Top/Glass Discoveries it is easy to lose sight of the big Thomas McCandless Collection coming up in three (3) sessions. Norman C. Heckler & Company has quite a bit of information on their web site about this historic collection.
I had always heard that John Hinkel collected labeled inks. It wasn’t until I saw his phenomenal display at the FOHBC Memphis 2011 Show and Sale did I really understand that This Guy Collects labeled inks! With close to 1,500 hundred examples, John certainly has an impressive collection. As I sort through his wonderful photography, I hope to break this down into a number of posts to eventually help me write a Feature Story for the FOHBC web site. These first pictures give you and idea of the depth of his collection.
