AMERICAN BOTTLE AUCTIONS LOT # 92

Millers Extra Old Bourbon  fifth  Thomas -51

Just a few months ago we were joking about Cerro Gordo on this blog.   Thinking of digging and camping out up there looking for one of these beauties...   the comments and joking ring kind of hollow now with the death of Mike Patterson.   Mike passed away on Sep. 24th, 2009.  He was buried in Chloride, Arizona.
The dream that Mike and Jody had to restore Cerro will have to wait for now.   Where the old townsite goes from here is unknown,  as far as digging, the town is currently completely "off limits"!

I believe there are more of these rare Miller's fifths up in that canyon.   They are probably now locked away for good.   This particular fifth was found by Mike while doing work behind one of the buildings being restored.   It is the one I referred to in blog comments back in June.  I am not sure when he found it, sometime within the past 6 years I guess.   Cerro was loaded with Miller's fifths.   The two times that I dug there in the late 1990's, we found a pile of broken examples.   No flasks!  All we found were fifths.  Always hoped to dig one up there,  kiss that goodbye!  These bottles were not distributed into very many areas.   With Cerro 'off line',  the chance of another fresh one finding it's way to market has been reduced significantly.


As far as this example,  it appears fairly typical to me.   It appears to be mint,  fairly good strike,  no whittle.  I looked at it in Auburn and could not find anything real negative to report.  Wish it had been cleaned up just a bit,  it is hard to lay down this kind of cash for a bottle that has a bunch of junk and rust around the top.  ABA has guaranteed that it is perfect!  Jeff also indicates that it is darker than other examples that he has handled.  I believe he had tried to sell the lightest example known a few years ago, so this one would appear to be darker than that one.   Actually,  it is lighter than the two examples that have graced my collection over the years.  These fifths don't have a tremendous color range,  amber, lighter amber, yellow amber.  That's about it!!  Not known in green.   I haven't seen an extremely whittled one either.  Just kind of your nice, amber, very rare fifth that happens to have a couple of "older" flask shaped brothers that, together,  make a great trio.  Also, if you are collecting E.Martin bottles,  here is your chance.   I guess it is related to the Cutter bottle line up, ?   Seriously,  this is a good example of a popular 'top 25' fifth.  Other comments?

Up the Hill to Cerro Gordo

I wrote this before and it went into cyber space somewhere? Here we go again...Some years ago, myself, Jon, and my friend Rick who lives in Lone Pine went up the hill to check out Cerro Gordo. I had never been there before and was excited to get a chance to see an early mining town somewhat intact. Rick had grown up or went to school with the owner Jody, so he thought we might be able to talk ourselves into maybe throwing some dirt. We got up there and met them and said our Hello's and were given a tour of the area, very Kool, got to look into their little museum and hike around. We asked about digging for old bottles and were told that they really didn't want anyone digging around up there. They said a guy had gotten a whiskey bottle from them, didn't really tell them much about it, she said it was a MILLER'S EXTRA Fifth, amber, and her Boy friend said that they found out later that the guy had sold it for $10,000. They were not happy about the whole deal. She also showed us where another guy had come up there and used photo's and a metal rod to poke around and found a hole behind the Blacksmith Shop and dug a bunch of Blue Sodas and some Black Ales outta there. He was nice and gave them all the Black Ales as he said they were worth money and he kept the sodas. I can't say I blame them for being a little edgy. Jody said while on the way out to feed the dogs, she found on the top of the ground an amber umbrella ink. She was cleaning it in the sink when we came up there and it sliped out of her hand in the sink and it knocked the top off, she showed it to us. The Boy Friend told us to come up the hill with him and he would show us one of his projects. We went up to where an old tractor was sitting, and saw where they had cut a big swath out of a mine tailing pile. He just pointed in there as there was a heavy over hang shadowing the swath, "That's where we are digging now" we looking in there and there was hundreds of Black Ales, Champagnes, Wines, and Whiskey necks and tops sticking out of the side of the pile. Jon and I looked at that, looked at each other, and jumped in there in complete Bottle Lust. They were yelling at us and pointing up above our heads where dirt was trickling down on us and said NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. We were completely Bummed, I was whining so bad and begging Jody to Please lets rip this place, she gave me a DR.HENLEY IXL with the top knocked off to shut me up, I have never seen that much glass ripe for picking in my life. Yeah, they were pretty much against doing any digging, too bad. It was fun though and exciting. I did see and hold a MILLER'S EXTRA Fifth that was bought at a yard sale in the area, it was said to have come from the upper part of the hills, probably the wood cutter camps in the area. It has the top replaced, but, still what a Great Bottle. I wonder what one now days would be worth? I guess as far as paying $1000.00 to dig up there, unless they move tailing piles, I will use my Silver Pick on the Internet and at the Shows. Dr.Barnes

CERRO GORDO or BUST?

I really liked the post about the possible chance to dig Cerro Gordo. I mean really! I liked the idea so much that I spent last night thinking about all of the ramifications of digging at this old mining town. First off I know nothing about Cerro Gordo except what I have heard through the rumor mill. I see by a comment to the post that one person says it has been dug - well duh - any place that has a way into it and was populated before 1890 has been dug, but that doesn't mean it has "all" been dug.

So... it looks like the ante is $1000 just for the opportunity to dig and then anything you dig the owner gets half of. Hmm... I live up in the Northern California gold country and it appears that its a all day drive for me to get to the "diggings". That means its a all day drive to get home.

All day drive equals about $100 in gas, food etc. That's $1000 buy in ,$200 gas food etc. so I am in $1200 before I find a place to stay, buy food for the time I am at the diggings etc. I guess if I was going to go all the way to Cerro Gordo to dig I would stay a minimum of 3 days or so, possibly more. That's probably another $500 out of pocket at today's prices.

Well , here I am at the diggings and only into the trip $1700 or $1800, but feeling good about my chances of bagging a Miller's fifth or flask and if I am really lucky a Clubhouse! Oh! are we digging trash layers or will we be digging some privy's? Don't know - never been here.

Trash layers are cool - you can dig em by yourself. Now if I get into a hole over, say 6 feet deep, I am going to need a partner to pull buckets etc. Wait, that means another $1000 buy in for my partner and the good old owner gets half of my partners share?

I never was that good at math but I reckon that if the owner gets half of my partners share then my share is now worth one quarter?

Just for grins lets say we dig a Miller's fifth, that's my partner, and I, and our 1/2 partner the owner. What's a Miller's going for today? I had heard through the grapevine that AP had a Miller's for sale at $10,000. Sounds like a fair price for that rare of a bottle

Ok -Ok we have the dug Miller's, I want to put it in my collection, but, I have to buy out my partners. Well that's $5000 to the land owner, $2500 to my digging partner, and my $1000 buy in, another, say $1000 in expenses and we have a $10,000 bottle that I just dug and paid $9500 for. I told you my math skills were weak, but I am pretty sure this all adds up. - Wow if I pony up another $500 I could buy AP's Miller's and not even break a sweat.

Of course there is the glory of digging a very rare and important bottle, but for me I don't believe the glory is worth $9500.

Boy - I don't even want to think about the numbers if you sold your share of the dug Miller's.

Oh, lets do think about it - $10,000 bottle, half to property owner, one quarter to your partner, $1000 buy in. If my math is correct my share of the Miller's would be $1500?

Friggin' peanuts!

God forbid you dig 3 Miller's. Lets do the math - 3 Miller's = $30,00. Owners share $15,000, partners share $$7500, My share $7500 minus the $1000 buy in =$6500. $6500 crap! I just dug 3 Miller's and have to pay $3500 to keep one - is this funky or what?

Y'all have fun digging Cerro Gordo

CERRO GORDO

Step right up gents, place your bet. Don't be shy. Place your bet. Three card monte... faro... go ahead buck that tiger. You can be a winner... Place your bet, lay down that long pouch boys! Just a thousand, you can dig that much gold, err- glass in a good afternoon. There are Millers to be found, maybe a Clubhouse for sure.

Cerro Gordo is the new game in town. For one thousand dollars up front, you can have a chance to dig Cerro. Then you have to split what you find with the land owner. The remaining 1/2 you can keep after you share it with the other gamers. Sound interesting?

I am being very facetious here. The plan is being worked up and is not quite finalized. I don't know if the 1000.00 is for each participant, or the deposit for the entire dig. I have a feeling it is for each digger. This information was emailed to me from Fred Holabird Americana. I know he has been working with the current land owner, Mike Patterson, to possibly help Mike find a buyer for the property. Mike and his wife, Jody Stewart, worked very hard to reconstruct and refurbish some of the landmark buildings in town and actually had advertised Cerro Gordo as an "authentic ghost town bed and breakfast". They were starting to hold activities, mineral, and mining workshops in Cerro Gordo. Most unfortunately Jody became ill, and passed away in Dec. 2001.

I had dinner with Mike and Jody in 1997 on a digging trip to Cerro. They treated me and my party like we were kings! We had brought sleeping bags, etc for a camp out, but Jody and Mike would have none of that. They put us up for a couple of nights in one of the bunkhouses they were refurbishing. Mike stopped in and had a couple of beers with us and gave us the detailed history of the town and the surrounding area. He knows his stuff, mining and construction! On our last night in town, Jody was our cook and server as they joined us for dinner at the American Hotel - Cerro Gordo.

So I really can't, and should not, bad mouth this digging plan too hard. In a perfect world, Mike would be able to raise funds to continue Jody's and his dream, and diggers would have a chance to find some nice bottles. Maybe this will work. I hope so for Mike Patterson's sake. If someone buys the property, I think the digging would be history.