SOME ADDITIONAL J.F. CUTTER STUFF

Here are a few pages that appeared in San Francisco and Sacramento papers that the reader might find interesting.   Warren F.,  in his constant research,  has located a wealth of interesting "whiskey information".  He has been kind enough to pass it along.

John F. Cutter felt it necessary to have this article published in a California paper on Sep. 2, 1872.   




The J.F.Cutter 'Star in Shield'  trademark was awarded by the patent office in early 1871.    (see previous posting on J.F. trademark Aug. 9, 2009 - preview of ABA lot 92) 


Interestingly,   John F. Cutter (Martin and Henarie)? also had registered the brand in California in April of 1870.

This is the earliest ad I have seen for J.F. Cutter Extra.   Feb. thru May 9th, of 1871.


Ad refers to the product being "put up in large bottles".   This is referring to a fifth size container,  instead of the formerly popular and more standard 'sixth'.  

This three part article was published in the San Francisco Daily Call in August of 1875.   

A.P. Hotaling's reply to a card "signed by E. Martin & Co."    This is three years after  J. F. Cutter voiced his piece above,  so this is not replying directly to John F's statements.    His comments on John F. Cutter are interesting.



His dislike of Mr. D.V.B. Henarie,  E. Martin's  managing partner,  is quite evident.

A.P.Hotaling's Trade Marks

There has been quite a bit of interest in the Cutter OK and A No1 whiskey bottles lately, so I figured that some of his information should be shared with some of you who may not be familiar with it will understand what it entailed. A.P. Hotaling trademarked the familiar bottles on 24 March 1881.

Some of the following pictures will show the labels, bottle embossing, and paper wrappers that covered the bottles. The entire pages are too many to include, but the highlights are shown below.
The bottles also wore the familiar red diamond shaped neck label with standing man slaying the dragon and "Death To Imitators" imprinted upon it. This label remained in continuous use from it's trademarked introduction in 1875 until the Co divested itself of the Cutter brand in 1904.

Whether Hotaling actually produced the Pure Old Rye bottle trademarked with the OK and A No1 remains a mystery, as no bottles, or shards of same, have come to light. Hopefully, a digger will turn up some supporting evidence to indicate that the bottle was a production item.

WHISKY WAR!!

As many are well aware of, A.P.Hotaling suffered through 14 years of proceedings to insure that the rogue E. Martin would forever be banned from bottling his poor quality whisky under the J.H. Cutter banner. Hotaling was, of course, the Sole Pacific Coast Agent for the brand, and had been since 1866, yet Martin refused to acknowledge this fact. It wasn't until 1884 that the case was resolved and Martin was forever refused the right to bottle any products carrying the J.H.Cutter name. He carried on with his lesser quality and still excellent selling J.F. Cutter Old Bourbon.

The following clipping explains the situation as it was early in the protracted case.

History rewritten?

It has long been stated, whether truthfully, or not, that U.S. Grant had a propensity for whiskey, notably Kentucky Bourbon. Did he imbibe in the famous J.H. Cutter brand? Or, is this a blatant attempt by A.P. Hotaling to "bend fact" in advertising his wares? No matter the facts, this "article" from the June 6th, 1878 San Francisco Commercial Herald makes for some interesting reading.

Brass signs

I know that this is a bit off topic, but sometimes we collect things that aren't related to applied top fifths or flasks. The subject of these two signs is the brand that the A.P.Hotaling Co chose as it's flagship brand after divesting itself of the J.H.Cutter whiskies. Although only sold in paper labeled bottles, the Old Kirk Whiskey was a popular product, earning another fortune for Hotaling's heirs.

I found these privy dug pieces while rummaging around in the garage getting my duck hunting gear gathered up. They aren't good enough to come inside, so they stay in the garage, along with old barrel ends and boxes. Eventually, I'll get around to polishing them up and hang 'em up on the outside of the garage.

More Old Kirk

Following the A.P. Hotaling Co's sale of the J.H.Cutter Agency to Sherwood and Sherwood, they offered Old Kirk Whiskey as their proprietary brand. To my knowledge, no embossed bottles were blown, so the product came in paper labeled bottles, only. Since Old Kirk was sold until the advent of prohibition, and post-earthquake and fire, many examples of their advertising survives to this day. Many of these pieces are made from brass, a metal that easily last through burial in a privy or trash pit. Below are a few of the Old Kirk items in my collection.

OLD KIRK WINDOW

This article submitted by follower -- "CASTLE"

The Window

This window was made in San Francisco and is signed Moretti and Sammann 233-10st SF

Atillio Moretti had a long career in San Francisco as an artist, fresco painter, and interior decorator.

Detlef Sammann was a prominent artist who decorated several rooms in the White House during President Harrison's administration. He was an academic painter in the California Impressionist style and exhibited at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

Included in their stained glass commissions is the window over the entrance to the Stanford Memorial Chapel.

Old Kirk and The San Francisco Earthquake

As of Friday April the 20th 1906, San Francisco was still on fire. The Great Earthquake had happened two days earlier, but the Fire (or fires) that devastated the city were still well underway.

This is the story of a single building, but one of vital importance to the delicate Western palette: AP Hotaling & Co.'s warehouse at 451 Jackson Street the largest depository of whiskey on the West Coast. Hotaling's warehouse was threatened on the very first day of the fire. This particular blaze was one of the many inspired by rampant and ill-advised dynamiting.

The warehouse was threatened and saved three times. Once by a brave fireman who hacked off smoldering roof cornices. The second savior was a single length of hose from a Navy fireboat off the Embarcadero that pumped sea water eleven blocks to the warehouse. The final salvation was a bucket brigade that slopped a compote of sewage and salt water seepage from the adjacent construction site. The evil-smelling stuff made a steam that was suffocating as it evaporated on the roasting woodwork. But that muck did the trick. The opposite side of Jackson was completely destroyed — but on this Friday, April 20th — Hotaling's Whiskey was saved. Every other stock of whiskey in the city had been destroyed, but Hotaling's — by the grace of God, man, sewage, and the Navy — had been spared.

The burning of San Francisco was greeted by a good many clergyman as divine retribution for its wicked, wicked ways. The fact that houses of worship were incinerated right along with everything else — and that Hotaling's whiskey warehouse was spared — inspired an immortal piece of doggerel by poet and wit Charles Kellogg Field:

'If, as they say, God spanked the town
For being over frisky,
Why did He burn the churches down
And save Hotaling's whiskey?'"

That last line originally read "and saved Old Kirk's Whiskey", since that was the bottling name of the liquor — but somebody at Hotaling's wisely changed the last line of the verse for advertising purposes — and it stuck.

Castle

George Parker and Cutter whiskey

This the trademark applied for by Hardy and Moorman, where George Parker was made agent for J.H.Cutter whiskey. His signature is seen as the representative of Hardy and Moorman. This is a very early trade mark, No 23, and is dated May 12, 1864, but the application was completed, signed, and witnessed 5 days prior to that. This claim is for casks, corks and packages; there were no embossed bottles known to have been made at this time. The file contained no samples of packaging, labels, etc.

Kangaroo revisited

After the fourteen year litigation between E. Martin and himself over the rights to J.H.Cutter Whiskey, old A. P. Hotaling took nothing to chance and thoroughly trademarked his products, regardless of their location around the globe. In this instance, he established the claim of trademarks for his Kangaroo Whiskey in the provincial offices of New South Wales, Australia.

Hotaling's New Offices

This article is nothing more than an excuse to advertize J.H.Cutter Whiskies and the A.P.Hotaling Co's edifices. Today's media operates in much the same way, pandering to those whose favors keep them in business.

Hotaling vs Martin Case

It took over 12 long years for this case to wind through the Superior Court of the County of San Francisco. Judge Hunt's final word did not come until late 1883, but his decision was determined and noted by the Courts early in 1882. This secured A. P. Hotaling's sole selling agency for the J.H. Cutter brand of whiskey and all rights and privileges accorded by this agreement. This clipping explains, in legal jargon, the outcome of Hunt's findings. The scrapbook that this article came from was the personal assemblage of someone unknown who must have been close to Hotaling, or perhaps was an employee of his firm. It is full of references to Hotaling's business interests and chronicles the J. H. Cutter "story", through news clippings, for some 20 years.

Hotaling and "Old Crow"

Due to the sad fact that photos cannot be included in comments following other discussions, this subject will be continued in this post.

The A. P. Hotaling Co was an agent for W.A.Gaines, of Woodford Co, Kentucky, during the first two decades of the 20th Century. As another commentor stated, the "Old Crow" brand was, and still is I might add, immensely popular "back in the day". Bottlers for the brand were numerous, but no "Sole Agency" was determined by the distillery. This example is a labeled bottle from the year 1914, and represents Hotaling's "Old Crow" connection.

Another Cutter container

This one is really off topic, what with it not even being close to globby, but it is kinda neat. How many wicker covered flasks with "name tags" have y'all seen? The little "tag" is nickel plated brass.

The Davy Crocket Saloon, with Isaac Marks as the proprietor, was located at 842 Market St for a bit over 2 yrs, 1901-03. In 1904 it had moved to 620 Turk St, and Marks had returned to his partnership with Adler.

Cutter Whiskey Advertising Pieces

This advertising piece was purchased at the Auburn Bottle Show 12/08 advertising J.H. Cutter Whiskies Superior to them all. The A. P. Hotaling Company Sole Agent and I found the twin piece on e-bay in a group of paper items in March of this year. I think they both originated from the Oregon/Washington area. 7inches x 3.10 inches each.

More Hotaling Cutter advertising

This little 1890s embossed tin piece was a Pacific Sheet Metal Works Litho, SF, product. Unlike many other tin and paper advertising signs, it did not suffer destruction during the fire that followed the earthquake of 18 April, 1906. Despite it's being nailed inside a building to keep out rainwater for 80 years it's in amazingly nice condition. The colors are bright, with minimal rust. The hand holding the bottle is actually three dimensional, which gives the effect of the hand coming out of the background. I have never seen, or heard of, another sign like this one and was very fortunate to have the opportunity to own it.

Hotaling advertising

Though not directly advertising Cutter Whiskey, this is a related sign because it was given out by the A.P.Hotaling Co, of Seattle, Wash. This embossed carboard piece dates from around 1890, a few months after Washington became a state. At that time, the lovely girls associated with later advertising had not reached their epitome, so this young lady is rather "owlish" in appearance. Women were just beginning to be the subjects of commercial advertising and the models hadn't developed to the point reached a decade later. Nevertheless, this is another sole surviving piece of Hotaling's ventures into the Pacific Northwest.

Vintage advertisement

All of us that collect the older whiskies also appreciate the signs that were used by the dealers and agents to advertise their products. One of my favorites is the A. P. Hotaling Co, the largest wholesale liquor dealer in the West during the latter half of the 19th Century. Everyone is familiar with the many and varied bottles he produced to contain his goods, but not all are aware of his advertising. One of the earliest "Cutter" signs is this hand made piece from one of his Northwest agencies. It sits in the original frame and has painted on the back the address of the saloon it was sent to in Mt.Vernon, WT. It is printed on tin, and has the grain and vignettes done on gold lettering. The brands that he wanted to promote are lettered in gold with "gold" "sprinkles" added to the two at top and bottom, and "silver" on the side brands. J.H.Cutter, with the logo barrel ends is in the center. In the corners are the agencies that he had opened at the time. Clockwise from the top left are, San Francisco, Cal, Spokane Falls, W.T., Seattle W.T. and Portland, O.

Hotaling's Kangaroo Whiskey-Part 2

By 1883 Hotaling's successful ventures in Australia led him to trademark a brand of whiskey especially for the Colonies. This time, he chose Sydney, New South Wales, and the Barron, Moxham Co as his agents. The new brand was to be known as Kangaroo Whiskey, and featured a boldly embossed "Roo" on the bottle's face. The bottles were blown in San Francisco, filled at Hotaling's Jackson Street warehouse and shipped to NSW.

To date, the Kangaroo bottles remain extremely rare, with only a handful coming to light, and only one actually making it to the US. I "discovered" the existense of this bottle quite by accident. A number of years ago, while going through some early papers, I came across one of Hotaling's circulars that advertised this product. WHOA!! That started the ball rolling, and after many phone calls and letters back and forth to Aussie collectors I finally tracked the bottle down. The problem was that the owner was a notorous "flip-flopper", a guy who played me like a fish. He found the bottle while diving in Sydney harbor, so really had no idea of it's value or history. Well, no sooner did I explain the entire story to him and express my desire to purchase the bottle from him, he got a big case of the "gimmies". At first he wanted $1500AUS, but that changed almost immediately after he talked to some of his buddies. Suddenly, the price jumped to $7000AUS, which I agreed on. Maybe I sounded a bit too eager, so he backed off again. Somehow, he got wind of Glass Works Auctions and the big bucks that Yanks were paying for bottles, and he contacted them. When the bottle finally came up I was so disgusted with the entire proceedings that I could care less about bidding on it. The bottle sold for a very high price and now resides in Ken Schwartz' collection.

Included below are some of the advertisements and information for the Kangaroo Whiskey. As far as how many were actually blown, I have no idea. All records have been lost, so the numbers will never be known, but they could be substantial. In my searches, 6 examples have turned up. There is one "mint" bottle and 4 with some sort of "minor" damage in Australia. All came from Sydney area tips. Ken's Kangaroo, and those other 5, represents the entire known population of this most desired Western Whisky.

Hotaling's Kangaroo Whiskey

It is widely known that A.P.Hotaling had many interests worldwide including holdings in the Australian Colonies beginning in the late 1860s. His first introduction of the J.H.Cutter Whiskies in that area was in 1871, when he began shipping cases of the product to the White Hart Hotel in Melbourne. Henry Edwards, proprietor of that establishment, served as his agent in the Victoria area of South Australia. It is claimed that he shipped as many as 1500 cases of Cutter Whiskey per month to that establishment, but to my knowledge very few bottles have been recovered there. It is likely that any old dumps, or "tips" as they are called there, have long been covered by subsequent construction and expansion of that city.
Included here are two newspaper "announcements", heralding the arrival of the famous Cutter Whiskies to Australia. These were clipped from the Melbourne Argus, the prominent Victoria newspaper of the early 1870s.