BITTERS BOTTLES
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"Pineapple
Bitters" - These familiar shaped bottles are very popular with
collectors for obvious reasons and this is an exceptional example. This is
the earlier example made from the same mold that was used for either the W &
Co / N.Y. or the J. C. & Co examples (or both?) except with
the embossing "slugged out" or more accurately stated, with no engraved
plate inserted in place of the blank mold plate. (The oval plate covering the engraving is clearly
evident in real life on the bottle but only vaguely visible in the enlarged image to the right.)
This example is a light to medium golden amber with a beautiful brilliance to
the glass. The base has a large (1.5" in diameter) and
quite distinct pontil scar - a circular "disk" pontil scar which is an unusual
pontil style for these bottles...and unusual on American manufactured bottles
for that matter. Click
base view to view this light but
distinct pontil
scar. (For more information on the disk pontil, see my other,
comprehensive Historic Bottle Website pontil scars page at this link:
http://www.sha.org/bottle/pontil_scars.htm#Sand Pontil ) The bottle is almost 9" tall, bubbles here and there in the glass,
has a crudely applied double ring type finish (the finish found on the earlier
bottles - click upper neck view
to see such), and is ca. 1850s. The condition of this example is
essentially perfect as it never appears to have been buried and exhibits a bit
of high point wear on the base. There are a few very short in-making stress lines in
the lip where the finishing glass was applied (common on these early bottles) but they are
very hard
to see. An exceptional specimen and the equal of the almost identical example (same
color and plate area though with a blowpipe pontil scar) sold in early 2010 at American Bottle Auctions
for over a $1200 (with commission). Bottle acquired for and pictured on the
Historic Bottle Website.
$795
MOULTON'S
OLOROSO BITTERS / TRADE / (Pineapple motif) / MARK - (Keeping with the
pineapple theme...) These large, heavy
glass and very esthetically pleasing bottles have always been a favorite of mine
and this example is an exceptional specimen. Deep blue aqua in color with
fluted shoulders, neck, and lower body, 11" tall, with a crudely applied
two-part "mineral" finish or lip. Listed as Ring & Ham M-146 these bottles
were apparently from Troy, NY and features the neat, boldly embossed pineapple.
This example is in essentially perfect condition with no chips, cracks,
staining, or anything detrimental with very
distinct embossing. (There
is a very small open bubble near the pineapple which is also very shallow but
does have a bit of dirt in it making it show on the close-up image.) The
glass is wavy and bubbly making this simply a very pretty bottle. Not
commonly seen in the past, the Moulton's seem to be even more rarely offered
now. SOLD!
S.
T. / DRAKE'S / 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - Reverse says PATENTED
/ 1862 on two different roof panels. This is another four-log version of one of
the most famous and popular of the bitters bottles but in a beautiful light yellow gold
color - a color that is significantly lighter than the other 4 log listed (sold
section below) and a great window bottle. The images here are quite accurate, though for a comparison of the
color versus a medium amber 6 log example click on the two bottle images
thumbnail to see a much larger version. The offered example has a crudely applied long tapered collar (i.e.
"oil" finish), almost 10" tall, smooth base (two dots), ca.
1875-1885. The embossing is distinct on this example - click
close-up to
see a close-up of the upper half of this bottle which also shows the color well. The condition
is essentially mint with no
chips, cracks, staining, dings, or flea bites; just a couple very small,
extremely shallow "onion skin" open bubbles on a couple corners is all I can find.
The potstone visible in the upper front panel in the "two bottle" image has no
"issues" involved with it (i.e., no cracks or fissures). Bottle was likely never buried given the wear on the base. This really is
a very nice light golden yellow (but not quite pure yellow) example that is somewhat hard to
capture in the images. A great "window bottle" color. $295
KING
SOLOMON'S BITTERS - SEATTLE, WASH. - This is embossed on the two narrower sides of
this rectangular bottle. Medium amber, tooled double collar
("brandy finish"), smooth base (embossed
S. G. CO. which likely indicates a rarely seen product of the Seattle Glass
Company of Renton, WA.), 8" tall,
ca. 1905-1907 (likely business dates of Seattle Glass). Click
HERE to view a picture of
the reverse side of the bottle. To my knowledge, this and it's slightly smaller
brother (example sold earlier; see below) are the only embossed bitters bottles
from the Northwest with the city of origin embossed on it. A fairly rare
bottle, this example is essentially mint - no problems (e.g., chips, dings, flea
bites, staining) that I can find at all.
Great example all round. $120
D'ARTAGNAN
TO-NI-TA BITTERS - This bottle is embossed around the shoulder with
TRADE "TO-NI-TA" MARK - LORENTZ MED. CO. It has about
100% of the front label and 95% of the rear label, as one can see in the images
(click to enlarge). The front label says "D'ARTAGNAN TON-NI-TA BITTERS
Contains Alcohol 23 per cent, Guaranteed by the Erie Distilling Co. under the
National Pure Food and Drugs Act, June 30, 1906. ERIE DISTILLING CO.,
BUFFALO, N.Y." The rear label notes what the product was good for
treating (readable in enlarged photo). Not sure what the connection was
between the Erie Distilling Co. and the Lorentz Medicine Co., but the other
couple examples I've seen or read about have essentially the same embossing and
labeling. These bottles are actually listed in Ring & Ham as T46L
and the company (Erie Distilling) noted as in business from 1897 to 1919.
This particular bottle dates from 1906 to maybe 1912 or 1913 when the "Guaranteed
by..." type language pretty much disappeared from medicine labels.
Bottle has at least 95% of the contents and is securely corked and label sealed.
Condition is mint...nice item. SOLD!
DAMIANA
BITTERS / BAJA CALIFORNIA - This is embossed vertically on two sides of
this tall "fifth" or "sixth" sized Western Bitters bottles from San Francisco,
CA. 11 1/4" tall, tooled "brandy" finish (with some of the original foil
wrapper still remaining), bluish aqua in color, ca. 1890s. Click
Baja California embossed side to
see such. A nice example of an unusual shaped bitters that began
production in the 1870s and continued until about the turn-of-the-century.
This is the variant without "Lewis Hess - Manfr'r" on the shoulder and the last
of the three molds to be used. This bitters (and the Damiana herb in
general) was thought to be a sexual stimulant... Condition is about mint
with just a few light scratches and no chips, cracks, or staining. Has a
bit of body crudeness in the form of bubbles - including some neat teardrop ones
- and stretch marks. $50
S.
O. RICHARDSON'S - BITTERS -
SOUTH /READING - MASS.
- All this is embossed on four sides of this early (1840s or early 1850s)
bitters bottle from New England. This one is classified as R57 by
Ring & Ham. The product was apparently quite popular and made for an
extended period - from 1840 to at least the early 1900s with this bottle being,
of course, at the early end of that range. It is 6.25" tall, rectangular
in cross-section with very side beveled corners, has an applied flared bead type
finish (or want of a better term) that was wrapped crudely around point the
blow-
pipe
was cracked off (the cracked-off surface is still quite apparently on the inside
of the neck), and has a very nice blowpipe pontil scar on the base.
Click on the image to the right to view a close-up of the blowpipe pontiled base
showing the mold seam dissecting the base - a certain indication of production
in a true two-piece mold. The color is a nice greenish aqua, glass being
quite crude with ample pebbly roughness and whittle to the surface and many
bubbles of varying size scattered throughout. Condition is about mint with
no chips, cracks or staining; the only issue is a very, very, very minute nick
on the edge of the lip rim which looks to me (under a glass) to be possibly
in-making (i.e., a tiny bubble pop). This is indeed a very nice example
which should please the most discriminating collectors.
$120
S. T. / DRAKES
/ 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - This mold variation of the
ubiquitous Drake's Bitters has the
PATENTED / 1862 embossed totally on one (the center) roof panel on the
reverse. This example is almost 10" tall, crudely applied "oil" type
finish or lip (aka "long tapered collar), smooth base (embossed dot in the
center), and dates from the heyday of the 6-log Plantations - 1865 to the mid to
late 1870s. The glass is medium to dark chocolate-ish amber.
It is
essentially pristine with no chips, cracks, or other post-production damage
(besides a touch of base wear and one tiny scratch on one label panel)...and no
staining to my eye, even under a bright lamp. There is also some
crudeness to the bottle - befitting its early manufacture and the embossing is
better than average; see the close-up image enlargement. This is one of those
darker but interesting colors that helps set off the moderate to lighter colored
Plantations. A solid beautiful, crisply
molded, and essentially mint example.
SOLD!
DR.
HENLEY'S / WILD GRAPE ROOT / IXL (in an oval) / BITTERS - These large
(at least a quart in capacity) Western bitters bottles are quite popular with
collectors since they are...large...and have some great embossing. A very
popular product, these bottles are found all over the West (in all kinds of
colors) from the mining camps of Utah, Nevada, and Montana to the big cities of
the day - San Francisco, Portland, Sacramento. This example is over 12"
tall, a typical pale blue-aqua color, the usual moderately domed base, and a
crudely applied "champagne" style
banded finish. This example probably dates from the mid-1880s I would
estimate since it fairly crude (stretch marks, bubbles) and is not air vented
but does not have the distinctive curved "R" of the earlier molds. The
condition of this example is about mint with no chips, cracks, staining, or
repairs...only a few scratches/scuffs here and there. The embossing is
somewhat light but distinct; click on
embossing close-up to see
such. As the image shows, the lightest of the embossing is the IXL and
oval, though even that part of the embossing is certainly easily read as is the
rest of the embossing. Call it moderately bold for this particular mold
which had thinner engraved lettering than the previous ones. All around a
typically decent example. $175
HIGHLAND
BITTERS / AND / SCOTCH TONIC - This product from the South (Memphis, TN.
I believe) was a wannabe competitor to the much more popular Old Sachem's
bitters during the same era, i.e., late 1850s to 1870s. There are probably
scores of Old Sachem's around for every example of the Highland
Bitters barrels today. Even better, this extremely rare and likely
pre-Civil War variant of the Highland's has a very distinct, reddish IRON
PONTIL! (Click on the thumbnails above to see larger examples of
the images.) This prime specimen is a beautiful deep golden amber (the
embossing close-
up
above shows the color well), has a crudely applied thick banded collar, has an
incredible
hammered whittled appearance, and is essentially in mint - never buried -
condition with just the faintest of scuff marks on the back...and one value
affecting issue. The left side of the lip (looking straight on at the
bottle) has a relatively small - and pretty well done - repaired chip off the
bottom side of the lip. It is somewhat of an upside down "V" shape with
very little of the chip actually touching the rim of the lip.
Specifically, the repair is 7/8" wide at the widest (the lower outside edge of
the lip) tapering to about 1/4" right at the base of the lip (at the start of
the neck) and 1/4" at the upper outside edge of the lip. The upper part of
the chip only encroaches into the top rim of the lip about 2 mm and is very hard
to see there due to the good match of the resin. Click
close-up of the lip to see this repair, which doesn't show up very much as
the resin matches the bottle color well. There are no cracks or
continuation into the body related to this chip; it is just a discrete chip on
the underside of the lip. Given the beauty of this bottle it is easy to
see why someone took the time to have the chip repaired as it displays
essentially mint. Click
close-up image of the lip and neck looking on from the repair side which
shows how well done this repair is looking straight on at it. Great
item...how many pontiled Highland barrels have you seen? This is
the only one I've ever seen - for sale or otherwise - but priced recognizing the
repair. SOLD!
OLD
SACHEM / BITTERS / AND / WIGWAM TONIC - Offered here is
a nice
example of this classic and ever popular bottle. 9 1/4" tall,
usual conformation (10 rings above and below the embossing), smooth base,
applied blocky flared lip. Color is a light to medium orange-ish amber
which is very pleasing in the window and only just a shade less "rich" than the
example that sold earlier (listing moved below). There are also some scattered bubbles
in the glass and a little body crudeness. Click
embossing close-up to see a
close-up of the embossing and a better look at color and color density of the
glass. Condition is about mint with what appears to be a 1/4" open bubble
along the base edge on the back; click
open bubble close-up to see
such. The lip is just about perfect with the tiniest little flea-bite;
click lip close-up to see
such though the small nick is too small to be picked up in the photo and is very
hard to see in real life. The lip close-up also shows the great spill-over from the
application of the glass to form the lip (i.e. finish). There is
some natural wear to the base (shows a bit in the base image) and a little bit
on the high points on the side opposite the embossing. Nice example
that isn't absolutely perfect, but darn close...and priced accordingly.
SOLD!
S. T. / DRAKES
/ 1860 / PLANTATION / X / BITTERS - This mold variation of the
ubiquitous Drake's Bitters has the
PATENTED / 1862 embossed totally on one (the center) roof panel on the reverse.
This example shares the same general dimensions as the example above - almost
10" tall, crudely applied "oil" type finish or lip (aka "long
tapered collar), smooth base (no embossing at
all on this one), and dates from the heyday of the 6-log Plantations - 1865 to
the mid to late 1870s.
This example is, however, a medium dark chocolate amber; the comparison image
shows the color difference with the golden amber example above. Click
close-up of the upper half of this bottle to see such. This example is
essentially mint with no chips, cracks, or other post-production damage; just a
few spots of very faint inside content haze visible under a very bright light
and a few wisps on the back outside panel. There is also some nice body
crudeness in the way of wavy glass and bubbles. This is one of those
darker but interesting colors that helps set off the moderate to lighter colored
Plantations - as the image shows. A beautiful, dark-ish, crisply
molded example. SOLD!
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Page Last Updated: 9/2/10