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.

T-46 Variant 4

Here are two Star Shield Cutters that do not garner as much respect as their earlier versions. Produced in the late 1870s to early 80s, these fifths are pretty tough to find in any color but "old amber". I have not seen this bottle in a super dark chocolate come to think of it. Occasionally they can be found in green tones, but very ocasionally.

IT'S ALMOST SHOW TIME !!!

With the Reno show just around the corner, don't forget about being a part of the "Star Shield Cutter Showdown" at this years show. We're a little over 3/4 full with space available for about 10 more bottles. I know some of you guys that haven't already registered have these bottles and it would be great if you could be a part of this epic event. Displays like this attract a lot of attention from both advanced and novice collectors in addition to drawing new blood. Participation is key in our hobby if we want the interest to continue.

Contact me at lou@oldwestbottles.com if you'd like to display your bottle(s) and check out our "shows" link at: http://www.oldwestbottles.com/ for more informatiom. This promises to be one of the best Western whiskey displays of Cutters ever assembled, hope to see you there!

AMERICAN BOTTLE AUCTION LOT # 78

J. F. Cutter  Star in Shield  (t-46 Variant B)  or  Flat "A" Variant.

The description has been changed on this bottle.  The catalog description is not accurate!   Check out the ABA website for the new description.  A thin crack was discovered to the right of the embossing.   Check out the video for a good look.   Not sure about the still photos on the website,  there are two different bottles photographed..??  I don't think the bottle shown on the right is anywhere in this auction.

AMERICAN BOTTLE AUCTIONS LOT # 90

J.F. Cutter (t-46 Variant C)  or the one with the star on the base.

This J.F. variant  is interesting in that it comes in a very nice range of color for a late 1870's/early 1880's fifth.   From very dark amber through light yellow amber,  and sometimes in this nice greenish yellow amber.  Is that yellowish green amber or greenish yellow amber,  ???  I don't know!   It is so hard to tell how green a fifth is without comparing it to other green fifths you are familiar with.   The comparison made with an amber fifth is an good indication that the bottle does have a strong greenish color.  Also the bottle looks to be in great condition.  Some light whittle, with some nice glass texture noticeable below the embossing. 


In viewing bottles over the past 30 years,  it seems to me that the older, Variant A star in shield Cutters,(pointed A) are the ones that are sometimes seen in the best "green" coloration.   These Variant C bottles seem to fall just a click or two short on the *GreenOmeter*

I believe the estimate on this bottle is quite low.   A green Variant A would probably fetch triple the estimate on this bottle.  The Variant C bottles, in all colors, seem to lag behind the Var. A's and B's.  of course the B's don't come in 'great colors'.

All hypothetical comparisons aside, this is a nice bottle.   I hope the buyer will bring it to the J.F. Cutter Shoot-out at the Reno Show in July.  It will hold it's own for sure.   

WILD JF CUTTER EXAMPLE ALMOST SURFACES DURING FRENZY...

Two of this year's green additions that qualified to be on my 'wailing wall'...

I dug the broken greenish var 4 JF last wknd not realizing there was a JF frenzy going on at same time here on the blog. Reading all the JF posts on Mon. I thought I'd post some pics of this wild light olive-amber "super crier" var. 4 star-base JF CUTTER. Anyone that collects Cutters knows how hard it is to find this 'last of the JF run' in any good colors. The majority are usually an orange amber coloration, with a few seen in old amber or dark olive amber.

The Three Horsemen: Star-base/curved R (crier) ; Flat-top A (mint); Fat-boy, (mint)

Someone call the bottle Dr. ..... the patient needs saving !

After a little gluing here and there, I thru it up on my shelf with a flat-A and a Fat-boy to see how it would've held-up in a roll-call line-up of JF's. As you can see, it would've smoked them all !! Bad-boy didnt stand a chance of surviving though.... The neck was in the privy, and when it came out was the topic of much oohing and awing and was agreed by all to be from a Cutter, most likely an earlier Circle Cutter ...and that was that. Well, two hours and a filled-in hole later, I open-up a little 2' trash pit 8 feet in front of where the privy was, and low and behold out from the trash pit rolls the body of the bottle the killer neck goes on. Turned-out we were half right , it was a Cutter, but not a Circle ! That's two broken killer greenish Cutters for me this yr. The 'wailing wall' is lookin good, but I'm due to dig one that's not gonna play Humpy Dumpy with me, as I'm startin to run low on glue !
AP

MIA JF Cutters

Found these in the closet today, trying to make room for more stuff, trying to find the stuff I stuffed in there last time, its a black hole. Had a box full of pieces somewhere around here? Dr.Barnes

It's SHOWDOWN Time!

Now that's what I'm talkin about Kentucky Gem, "stellar"!!! What a friggin Nice J.F.!!! It looks whittled as all heck too. I've seen more nice Star Shields on this blog lately than I have in many years of collecting. Seeing bottles like these on a monitor is one thing but to actually see some of them up close in person would be just awesome. Hey all you J.F. Star Shield guys that are coming to Downieville, we might want to have a J.F. "Shootout" or a least see some of that stuff. Or better yet since some of the top guns from the West can't make D-ville but will be in Auburn, lets shoot it out there. Take your best shot son, anyone up for a showdown???
http://www.oldwestbottles.com/

"To be, or not to be" (a fat boy that is)

Dug September 1971; area of Bridgeport, Ca. It came in a collection a few years ago along with a lot of other pretty strong western glops.

Funny thing; the collection was in the home of heavy smokers. The bottle shelves were next to the kitchen, where a steady diet of fried foods was constantly being prepared. Adjacent to the displays was a wood stove that belched soot into the room. My hands literally stuck to the bottles as I picked them up and judging color was a crapshoot at best. I assumed that the bottle was a standard run of the mill amber. Imagine my delight when it emerged from its warm water bath of sudsey ammonia. Best described as loads of green at the shoulder and a strong transformation to old amber at the base. It's got a smooth base, a big top and the tip of the A in Extra is pointy.

But the big question is... fat boy or not?

ANOTHER FAT BOY

---well not quite, certainly not just your avg. "fatty".

"Castle" sent me this photo of his green var-1 J.F. Cutter(t-46). This infamous bottle is the one that was dug in Austin, Nv. in the mid 1990's. "Infamous" only to me, I missed out on it and have wanted a green fat boy ever since. Have not seen another.

AMERICAN BOTTLE AUCTION PREVIEW LOT 92

Here is a quick mention of an interesting fifth in American Bottle Auctions upcoming auction.

Lot #92 is a bottle that blog readers have commented on several times, the "fat boy" J.F. Cutter or as it is identified in Thomas as the 'variant 1' J.F. Star in Shield.

This appears to be a good example of this variant, with that monster barrel top and overall crudeness you could expect on a very early fifth. I had hoped to get a good look at the bottle in Pomona, but it was not part of the group that was there to be viewed. Look at the video at the auction site (see link in Our Favorite Sites) to see if the damage near the lip is significant in your collecting viewpoint. I think the written and verbal description from the auction house gives you a good idea of the basic desirability of the var. 1 J.F.'s. They are sometimes very crudely made, and even to someone that handles many whiskey bottles each year, the overall look of this bottle makes it appear to be much older (60's)? than other applied top fifths.

Darker amber is typical for this fifth, recently I have seen at least one in a bit lighter shade of old amber. Green examples are known, but are extremely rare.

Attached a couple of pages of patent information, the J.F. Cutter Star in Shield design was registered in California in Apr. of 1870. The application to the U.S. Patent Office was submitted in Jan. of 1871 and claims the trademark had been in use for 6 months.

JUST SOME NICE BOTTLES

Here is a great run of J.F. Cutter(t-46) fifths that Richard Siri sent in for us to take a look at. That big top or 'fat boy' variant 1 is lighter amber than you usually see them. The greenish ones just speak for themselves!

Some smokin' Wormser Bros. Verticals (tf-63). You don't see them in that light green color very often.

I have been slow to get to some of the great photos 'Millers Extra' has sent me. I have been a little busy this month and have been a bit derelict in my posting.

He calls this one "just another Cutter". Well not quite!!

J.H.Cutter Crown Shoulder(tf-10) in dark, chocolate amber and super whittled. Just a beautiful bottle.

J.F. CUTTER (STAR IN SHIELD)

Thought I would try to editorialize about a fifth that is more mainstream, one that most collectors own or have owned. Most long time collectors have had numerous examples of this bottle, and there are many of us that are currently trying to collect groupings or 'runs' of this bottle. The good ol' Star n Shield Cutter. There is that name again, Cutter! Some readers of this blog profess that they might not be interested in Cutters! Stop reading now!! If you are that jaded, my sympathy goes out to you. There are going to be many, many posts about Cutters. More is known about Cutter, Hotaling, Martin, Hardy, Moorman, and all the other names and bottles associated with these names than just about any other aspect of early whiskey collecting. If you read enough about them, hey, maybe you'll develop a fondness for some of them. After all, it was Hotaling that started this party with the first embossed fifth. E. Martin was right behind him with his first fifth the J.F.Cutter(t-46). I am working on a post that lays out the time line of Cutter bottles, for now we will just jump into discussion about the J.F.(t-46).
This embossing pattern was used for a very long time, maybe the longest of any western glob top fifth. First used in 1870, it was still being used into the early to mid 1880's. There are 4 variants now recognized for the J.F.(t-46).

The first variant or the first bottle used is definitely the 'pointed A' example that has the big stove-pipe top and unusually short neck. The top is similar to the first Hotaling bottle (t-49). That's not a coincidence, the colors are the same too. It starts out being a littledifficult for collectors to sort this "variant 1" out, but after you have seen a couple of them and compared them, it is a no brainer. Some of the variant 1's are very whittled and crude. Super nice, with strong, sharp embossing. I used to think that most of them were that way, but I have seen a few duds. The colors that this bottle is found in are dark olive amber, dark choc. amber, and green. Just like the Hotaling(t-49). I would venture a guess that these bottles were blown at the Pacific Glass Works. I think the Hotaling(t-49) almost certainly was blown at Pacific, just because it is in service exactly during the "burn-down period (1868-70)" of S.F. Glass Works. In my simplistic thinking, the glass colors match so closely with this J.F.(t-46var.1) they are being made at the same place.
Digging in Utah has produced some interesting information, or conclusions about dates of distribution of bottles. Digging some of the early mining districts, particularly the famous mines in these districts, has provided clues to the actual dates certain bottles were used. The dates that mines were in operation and that miners occupied boarding houses for these mines is documented quite precisely in the early Utah Mining Gazette and S.L. Tribune. If you know that a certain mine was active for just 6 months in 1870, the bottles you find there can be dated with some precision. Privies and dumps can be used for an unknown amount of time, throw backs make it even more confusing. There have been 40 to 50 examples of glob top J.F.'s found in Utah, only 1 of which was this earliest variant. It was found near Ophir, Utah, in a small district called Lion Hill. The pocket mines of silver chloride at Lion Hill were shallow and worked out quickly in 1870-71.
Most of the 'variant 1' examples have come from the San Francisco bay area. Probably 25-30 known in dark amber shades, I only know of a couple in green. A digger in Austin, Nevada about 15 years ago dug a very nice, and very green example. I tried to get it from him, but no way -no how. Then he shows up at the Downieville Show with it and for whatever reason I hesitated. That one got sold, leaving me standing around like a penny waiting for change, and still looking for a green one.

J.F.Cutter(t-46var.2) examples have been found through out Nevada, California, northern Utah, and probably Oregon. This is the embossing pattern with the "flat-topped" A's, as opposed to the pointed A's. Different mold, but used approx. the same time as the variant 3's (1871-75). Possibly the brand's sales had grown to such a degree that molds were being used at both glass works. The "flat A" bottles are found along side the "pointed A" variant, in fact the variant 3 or "pointed A" bottles seem to have even a longer period of usage (1871-77), so it is not a replacement mold. Colors of this variant-2 seem to tend more to the medium amber, orange amber shades. I have not seen a green example of the variant 2. Not near as much color range as the variant 3 bottles. I would say usually not as much whittle and crudity either. Rated as common, probably 50+ examples known.

J.F.Cutter(t-46var.3) examples have been found in generally the same areas as variant 2 bottles. As mentioned, they actually seem to be in service for a bit longer than the flat "A" variant. This bottle comes in a spectacular range of color. With the exception of aqua, literally every color that you have ever seen an embossed western glob is documented in this bottle. If a collector is so inclined, it wouldn't surprise me to have 10 or more different color hues represented with this variant 3. Some spectacularly whittled examples have been seen, and also many examples are known with a somewhat large tapered top. The bottle has to be considered very common, probably over 150 known examples by my guess. Still, with many collectors striving to put together runs of color and variety, the nicer examples are not that easy to locate. If you are trying to purchase a very green example of this fifth, good luck with that. You are probably going to pay the ordinary J.F Cutter rate (x 10).

I have noticed that certain glob fifths have an abundance of color range, the max. color era seems to be 1872-74, others not as much. Think of bottles that touch into this era; Teakettle(t-167), J.H. Cutter, Circle(t-43), J.F. Cutter(t-46var.3), others. The argument could be made that there were so many examples blown of the these common bottles that I just mentioned, that certainly there will be more colors found. Less common, but equal in colors, Blakes-Pond,Reynolds(t-114), Taylor-Virginia N.(t-151), Gold Dust(t-154), J.Moore(t-90), and of course the big kahuna, Clubhouse(t-119). I have always given special homage to a western glob fifth or flask that is found in what I consider the three base line whiskey colors; dark amber, yellow amber, green amber. Go for that triple on the early fifths and flasks, it really is a great look! If you can nail a trifecta on the (t-119), well, game over--you win! I have digressed .... sorry.

I know there is confusion on the first three J.F. Cutter variants. I am just listing them as they are listed in Thomas' book Whiskey Bottles of the Old West, to avoid possibly even more confusion. The variant 1, "old stove pipe", and variant 3 "pointed A" are the same mold. The variant 2, "flat A" is a completely different mold. Maybe variants 3 & 2 should have been switched in sequence. Maybe the variant 1 is just a J.F. with nice big top, in your thinking. However you want to collect them, I am just trying to help identify them for you.

The J.F.Cutter(t-46var.4) is not confusing. This is the last of the J.F.'s. Probably blown from around 1877 to 1884, give or take a year on each side. We don't find the variant 4's in Utah. The early mining period in Utah was from 1868 to approx. 1875-1876. As popular as J.F. Cutter Extra was in Utah, if the variant 4's were in service prior to 1876 we would be finding them. This bottle is easily identified by the "curved leg R's", the design on the base, and it is a more slender bottle than the other 3 variants. It appears to have a longer neck. I don't know what the standard was in filling these bottles with bourbon, half way up the neck, to the applied top, somewhere in between?. Maybe they actually measured the liquid in ounces (25.6 ounces = 1/5 gallon), I kinda doubt that. I haven't put it to the test, but I believe that the variant-4 J.F.'s probably hold an ounce or two less than the first three variants.
These variant-4's have been found widely distributed through out the west, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona. Probably other states. Just not in Utah. This variant comes in some super colors, for a later 70's -80's bottle. There are a few green amber and greenish amber examples around. I have seen yellow amber examples, dark amber ones, all the colors that the variant 3 is found, except for maybe that light "apple green" color that the v-3 is known in. There are a lot of these variant-4's around, guessing again probably 150+. Generally speaking the variant 4 sells at a price slightly lower than the others, unless we're talking greenish hues. I don't know why this var-4 has a bit of a stigma attached, maybe because collectors and diggers think it is a newer bottle. Not that much newer!!Thomas indicates that the "older bottles do not have the design on the base", ... true enough... and "only the older, crude examples come with the glob top" .... not quite accurate, all four variants are seen with a glob top.... I have not seen a J.F. Cutter(t-46) with a tool or transitional top that I can remember.
So there is the J.F. Cutter fifth info. I will post some more pictures as they come in, also some ads and other information in another post or two. Go out and dig a whittled, green variant-1. I'll give it 5 star write-up!!!


Here is a photo of the "elusive one".
Lou Lambert sent this in, calls it lime green. Nearly transparent, with a slight green tint. I have seen two broken ones this color over the past 30+ years. Blackie Owen dug one in Alta, Utah and had it glued together. I guess you could say it is one click further along on the "green-o-meter" scale than the normal "apple green" or whatever adjective "green" you want to call a green J.F. We need to develop a color coding system for these bottles. This same color is found in large circle Millers. I've never seen a whole one, just a couple of broken examples dug here in Utah. SICK!



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