C.C. Jerome National Bitters Pair – Scharnowske Collection

C.C. Jerome National Bitters from Detroit

04 July 2011 (R•090518)

Another very exciting email from noted Michigan collector Jeff “scharno” Scharnowske…

OK, now for something more up your alley, Ferd. Here are the only two known examples (pictured above) of the triangular shaped C.C. Jerome National Bitters from Detroit. These two and the coffin shaped example that Sandor purchased recently are the only known Jerome bitters. You might as well report on your website that I was the fool who paid $11,500 (plus the premium) for the cracked example from ABA’s most recent auction. I just had to bring this bottle back to Michigan, since my collection is mainly Michigan bottles.

[Editor Note: Fool One Day…Brilliant the Next!]

The example on the left is from American Bottle Auctions and is a dark black amethyst color. The example on the right is the one that came out of the Detroit River 35+ years ago, with a small hole in one base corner. It broke into about 6 pieces when they tried to tumble it in the ’70’s and Spangler put it back together. It is a medium plum or strawberry puce color and they complement each other nicely.

Note the stretched out neck on the lighter color example, it was stretched out when the glass was still warm and they were applying the lip. By examining details of the embossing, you can see that the two bottles were definitely made in the same mold. Why is this bottle so rare, when they evidently made at least two batches of them, in two different colors? We may never know.

Jeff “scharno” Scharnowske

Read previous PRG Post on the C.C  Jerome National Bitters