Wormser Bros. Vertical Embossed Flasks Pre 1872?

I have always been attracted to the earlier Western flasks. Some of the earliest are the Wormser Bros. flasks from San Francisco. The horizontal embossed Wormser is supposedly as early as 1865(?), and the "Fine old Cognac" about 1872. The more commonly seen vertically embossed flask is listed in Thomas' book as being manufactured from 1867-1872. I believe thay may have been that early, however I also think they were made for much longer...perhaps as late as 1878! The company was sold to Richard Braeg ,Albert Dallemand ,and E. Frank.in 1872, but I believe these flasks continued to be produced during the time between that time, and when Jaines Walker joined the firm in the late 1870s. The horizontal embossed flask, and the Fine old Cognac were not being produced after 1872 in my opinion, but the vertical Wormser exhibits charactaristics of being very early ( large tops,dark chocolate/olive, olive green, to yellow green) They also have strong crudity. I have also seen examples which seem to have extremely bold embossing, and tiny applied tops. These are in plain amber, and sometimes off shades of amber. Interestingly, the earlier examples have typically weaker embossing than later blown specimens, which should be the other way around. If the mold was reworked in the mid 1870s, they cut the letters exactly the same,or the glassblowers in the early part of the run had TB, or COPD,as I have compared them. I would be interested to know others' views on the length of the vertical Wormser run. You do not find them in my neck of the woods, or at least did not before 1989 when I dug in Oregon.

Did Holt Glass Works even exist ??

I'm pretty sure it did, but who founded it and how long it existed needs to be more clearly defined. A while back I tried to research Holt Glass Works and came up with rather inconclusive findings. I started my research by reviewing the Berkeley 1892,1894, and 1897 city directories and did not find ANY glass works in the business section, and furthermore I could not find anyone with the last name of "Holt" living in or doing business in Berkeley during those years. Next, I investigated the 1900 census and found a William Holt (born in England) living in Berkeley with an occupation of "glass dealer". After reviewing city directories and census records, I decided to investigate the 1901 Sanborn Map of West Berkeley to see if I could find any clues and located a vacant glass works on the corner of 2nd and Addison Street. Could that be Holt Glass works ??????? Unknown.

I then turned my attention to 19th century Bay Area newspapers and found the following:

March 23 1885 - Campbell Glass Works of Berkeley about to begin producing glass by May 1st.

May 22 1885 - J. Campbell & Co. (proprietors of Campbell Glass Works) dissolved and J.H. Campbell to continue business in his own name.

January 15 1887 - O'Neil Flint Glass Works of West Berkeley burned and planned to be rebuilt.

November 7 1895 - Vacant glass works in Berkeley.

March 26 1896 - Glass works in West Berkeley to be re-opened or re-built.

1902 - Vacant glass works in West Berkeley on 2nd and Addison Street.


My theory is that the English emigrant William Holt re-opened one of the above vacant glass works between 1896 and 1901. I'm even open to the possibility of Holt Glass Works never existing or being named something else since the phrase "Holt Glass Works" or even "Holt Glass" did now show up in ANY documentation (newspapers, municipal reports, books. ect) published between 1885 and 1922.

Maybe a much more thorough investigation of Campbell and O'Neil glass works could shed light on the true history of Holt Glass Works.

Has anyone researched the years of all the western companies that put out bottles with that base embossed H ?



??????

If it looks like a duck~

You've heard the saying, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a ... duck.

And so if a glop top has a star on the base and those funky little curved legged "R"s it must be a San Francisco blown bottle, right? So, how come this whittled to death glop top Spruance with the star and the R is a blood red bottle that is now commonly referred to as a "German connection fifth"?

I don't profess to know, but have compared this one that just came in, along with two others in my collection and all bear identical anomalies. All have the star base and identical "R"s. The "hitch"  in the R isn't as overstated as say, a globby J.F. star shield, but it's there just the same. There is a substantial difference in height in one of them (one is an inch shorter than the other two, and no - it's not been chopped and re-glopped) and there's also a radical difference in color between all three (ranging from a dense oxblood red to a bloody orange depending on the bottle) but therein ends the dis-similarities.

It's obvious that they all came out of the same mold, although different glassblowers blew and finished them using noticably different batches of cullet.


German or S.F.? Comments? Quack, quack?

I've just omitted the lousiest photo from this post and I will post comparative photos tomorrow, showing smooth based and star based straight amber embossing comparisons. I'm not trying to prove or disprove anything, but do want to give everyone an opportunity to weigh in on this issue.

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Comparative Photos:
As promised last evening, note the "R"s in the following photos.

Early Smooth Base glop - straight amber      

                                                            Livingston Gaines - glop

                                                                                           Star Base glop - straight amber

I highlighted the curved "R"s with the red arrow. But, if you look elsewhere in the embossing on the straight amber Spruance glop tops, you'll notice a totally different style of R as mentioned last night. This plot really is getting thick!

Western Flasks- Top 10

For many years there has been the ever evolving, and controversial "Top 25" for Western Whiskeys. There has even been a recent survey to try and rank the "Top 25" Western bitters. These rankings show collector opinion as to the "weight" of one bottle against another. It sometimes translates to monetary value, but most often is a subjective opinion as to what bottle someone would want to have in their collections compared to others. It is general, and not specific to a particular example. I have seen some lesser ranked whiskeys with spectacular color, and character, and a number 1 ranked example that I did not find attractive at all.

So...here is my opinion of the top 10 Western Flasks. There are fewer early flasks than cylinders, or bitters, so a "top 25" would not work in my view.It also does not include two notable flasks: the A.M. Smith Salt Lake City, and the Dr. Hausman's Bitters. These are hard for me to rank as my desire for each is not at cardiac rising levels, though they are unique in undamaged condition. Remember, this is MY opinion only, and is the product of many years of collecting Western flasks, and having great friends and mentors like Ralph Van Brocklin, Jon Lawson, Dennis Eastley, and Bill Anderson. I would appreciate your opinion as to your "top 10". I would like to conduct an actual survey for other collector's opinions. There are not alot of us passionate for the flasks, and most whiskey collectors have a few, usually to pair up with a cylinder. I love the early open face glob flasks the most, and my list does not include any slug plate examples even though they are usually very rare. let me know what you think.

1) N. Grange (either variant)

2) Wormser Bros. (horizontal embossing)

3) J. Angeli San Francisco

4) Old Bourbon Castle Whiskey

5) J. H. Cutter (crown on shoulder)

6) Jesse Moore

7) Wormser Bros. Fine old Cognac

8) Miller's Extra (small design)

9) AAA Old Valley

10) J.F. Cutter Star in Shield

Greenish Jesse Moore Fifth!?!?

Other than a repaired top and a flash/crack in the base, the color is superior to just about any Jesse I've ever seen....

Lighter Jesse

I acquired this very light non vented Jesse Moore fifth a few months ago from the original "finder". It needed a light cleaning as it had laid face down in an ashy layer for 120 years or so. The photo does not show just how yellow this one is, but I have not had a lighter example in my collection. These just do not seem to come in nicer colors very often, though I heard of a nice green toned example that walked in to the Vegas show. Not sure if it found a new home or not, but this one is happy with his friends on the shelf!

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.