Old "Figment" Revisited

While perusing SF directories I saw this ad by Kirkpatrick and McCue in the Langley's 1874 Directory. Again, they advertise the fact that they are the agents for the "Celebrated Signet Whiskey". We do know that the bottle was trademarked as embossed, but were any actually blown? Until concrete evidence proves otherwise it is safe to assume that none were and "Old Figment" will remain just that, fodder for the bottle collector's imagination.

OLF "FIGMENT

Downieville Show

My first Downieville experience was great! A beautiful mountain town, great company, some awesome bottles, and a memorable experience. A BIG THANK YOU to the D-Ville crew for putting together a killer BBQ & Show. These are 2 pics I snapped of some nice fifths that showed up at the D-Ville BBQ on Friday evening. Does anyone else have any pictures or want to do a write up on the show?

"Orange Peel" effect on whiskey bases

The recent post on the possibly pontilled Hassmers and it's appearance made me think of other bottles with the same effect. You can't put photos in responses, so I have to make another post on this thing. This first mold Circle Cutter has the same look, with bumps and sand grain like appearance to the base. I'm certain that this look is only the result of hot glass contacting a only partially heated or "cold" mold. The entire bottle is also wrinkled and hammered to the hilt.

Four Stars

Here is my run of what I believe to be all early versions of the ever popular Star in Shield Cutter.

The first is the earliest "Barrel Top" , and next to it is the "Pointed A" which I believe is the second variant. Third is the "Flat Topped A" and finally the "Curved R" " X Base" type. Sorry for the technical terms...I am not totally up on my Thomas numbers...

Am I missing any in the family tree?

Dale M.

You be the judge

True to his word, Andy V. had his friend shoot photos of his Hassmer. I received them this morning.

The base style of both Andy's, as well as my glop and tool top, are all what Thomas termed style one "1870 - 1890 / Majority of older whiskies". The texture of the base on my glop fairly smooth,

whereas Andy's has the texture of an orange.

One thing is for sure though; whomever applied the tops on both sure didn't skimp on the amount of glass used. Take a look at that spillover!

Anyway; Pontiled or not?

What say ye?

Hassmer revisited

Andy V. mentioned the possibility of an oddball Hassmer variant with either a sticky ball or graphite pontil scar on the base. His comment got me curious. As I mentioned before, it's obvious that both the tooled and applied top examples in my collection originated in the same mold. The font, spacing, etc. etc. etc. are identical when compared with photo overlays and caliper measurements.

The mold was modified to improve the finished product by the addition of a couple of air vents on the reverse shoulder, but that's the only thing I noticed. Until Andy mentioned the base on his.

Although the bases proper on my two are identical, a mold number was added when the venting was done as the glassworks transitioned from glop to tool tops.

I sure would like to see a photo of Andy's.