AMERICAN BOTTLE AUCTION PREVIEW LOT 98

Just a quick mention of Lot #98 the Old Bourbon Castle Whiskey(t-22). This appears to be a decent example of this bottle, this bottle is often found with a very strong strike and good whittle. Again, check out the video and description on the American Bottle Auction site (see our links).

Just as a correction to the printed catalog, it is listed as an "A.T." or an applied top. I see that the catalog is using the initials a.t. or t.t. -- tooled top. Over the years collectors have identified these as T.T.T. or transitional tooled tops. The Auction has corrected the 'top description' on the web site description.

This bottle is found with a true applied glob top, but they are not common.

I'm not trying to nit-pik the Auction, but I want everyone to be aware of differences. I wish the true glob Castle(t-22) had as good of a strike as the "transitional". The Auction price estimates are certainly in line with the historical price the "transitional" has sold for. I guess you could expect to pay more for a true glob top.

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.

A Western 5th Dig

It was almost 20 years ago when I dug this bottle. It
came from an area where I had accessed all but one
70s house on the entire block (14 yards) over a two
year period. The one place I tried for over a year to
get into sat in the middle of the block, it was a
large two story Italianate rental. Each time I asked
it was the same story from the renters; "You'll have
to talk to the property management Co." I was hoping
over time I'd get a loose tenant permission but it
wasn't happening and my patience was running out.
Being in this yard was key because it contained
access to a back property line for a house facing the
opposite direction and two side properties only
accessible from this one yard and all from the 1870s.
Back in those days there were so many un-dug yards
and permissions so easy to get that rarely would I go
far out of my way for a permission. With fewer &
fewer places left to search I ended up one day going
in to see the owner of the management company and ask
about a little recreational privy digging. The owner
turned out to be totally cool guy and the bonus was
he liked bottles. Permission was granted so we
started in. We dug there for a full week and got 7
holes for three different properties. After a couple
of days it started feeling like a job where we'd
arrive by 8 in the morning and work all day for an
entire week. On the last day my buddy Jack was in a
hole digging and I was on top being rather bored by
not doing anything. I decided I'd take my 8' probe
and shove it down all my 6' probe holes I made
angling under the back property earlier. On about the
third shot it was; snap, pop, pow, a deep one under
the back neighbors fence where the trash started at a
little over 6'. There was an area between the fence
and a slab just wide enough to pull a bucket through
but it was also 8' deep and 6' under to the goods. My
friend Jack asked: "How in the hell are we going to
dig that one?" and I said "Just as long as you can
pull buckets we're going to get er done". Down we
went 8' and then started going under. At about 3' in
I hit a big clunk, it was a very nice crude old
circle Cutter in a deep amber color with a huge top,
first bottle.

The hole ended up producing 20 whole
embossed early 70s 5ths and 29 early blob sodas.
There were dozens of busted 5ths and sodas in the
hole. It almost appeared that the guy that consumed
the stuff was mixing the soda with the bourbon. The
hole ended up producing 14 circle Cutters, 1 John
Gold Dust, 2 Mid Crown Cutters, 2 Shoulder Crown
Cutters & 1 S.H.M. What a friggin great hole it was.

Intrigued by the volume and quality of the bottles I
researched the property and found out the town Judge
had resided here some 110 years earlier. Out of the
14 circle Cutters 9 were dead mint. They ranged in
colors from light amber to dark and one was olive. I
sold the olive one like a dumb shit because I was
digging so many bottles back in those days it felt
like it would last forever.

A friend of mine
purchased the olive colored bottle and recently
brought it to me to run on eBay for him. It's
currently listed and ends on 8/12 if you'd like to
have a better look at it, item #270438875628.

She's a beauty!

http://www.oldwestbottles.com/

Another Crown...........

How many curved R circle Cutters are out there, over 400 ??? I know Ken dug a pit with a large number of applied Circles, but I don't know how old they were.

How about starting a series of posts with digging photos of 5ths in 'the layer'..................

2009 Pomona National Show

Hi All, I personally had a Great time at the National Show. Good Job LA Club. I sold very well, bought some fun stuff for the collection and a few trinkets for resale. I had a Good Time. It was Great to see a lot of my friends that I don't normally get to see unless I travel North. I also got to hang out with all my down on the border Dago buddies. I enjoyed the Displays, I know my buddy Terry put in a lot of work on his demi jon display, he won an award, that was pretty Kool, the Rest In Pieces display was Great again, I enjoyed it at the Dago Show in June, looked like they added some great criers to it this time. I should have added the Jewel Bitters I dug to it, top was half gone. The only real downers to the show for me was...my feet hurt from standing on the concrete for 2 days and it was freaken Hot the first day. I also heard more glass breaking than I have heard at all the shows I have gone to put together, it sounded like a war a couple of times. I saw a lot of Great Glass for sale, this year I was on a low budget so I didn't spend much. I saw a Mid Crown E. Martin Cutter that was probably the best one I have ever seen, very crude, and a top of the shelf Miller's Flask (Large Circle) design, also just hammered. Both sold in a private sale at the show, both very impressive. One of my friends who wishes to remain nameless picked up a nice green IXL, good color and some good crudeness to the glass. As I read in a previous post, the fifths were present, I saw some nice globby fifths and some tough toolies too. The trouble is I have seen some of these Whiskies at shows for a long time with the same high prices on them, guess what, they ain't selling, lower the prices maybe? I know to make a few hard sells I dropped my duckets so I could fill me wallet, I was successful. On Los Angeles or Hell A as we like to call it, No Big Deal My Man, you drive like there is No Tomorrow, Watch what colors you are wearing, Don't dress like a gangster, and NO EYE CONTACT. Yeah the trip home back to the border was good, hardly any traffic, we made good time, the only thing that bothered me was when we were passing through San Berdoo and Riverskid or Riverside, you could not see a 1/2 mile off the side of the freeway cause of the mustard gray smog that is always present. Baaaahhhhhhh. See you in Auburn in December. By the way I am always looking for colored Jamaica Gingers and any Wild Western Hall bottles, and of course San Diego Bottles :c) Dr.Barnes

Mini National Show Report

I'll leave the 'Official Report' on the National Show to our Blog Master....But here's a quick rundown and analysis from a dealer/buyer in the field....

There were some great displays at the show: George Washington Historical flasks, unembossed colored Western bottles, hutch sodas from the various U.S. States, Demijohns and Carboys, Indian wicker-wrapped bottles, and a "crier" display that I took part in (along with some key pieces of glass from Super-digger/collectors, Lawson & Quinn).



Here's a quick rundown of just a handful of the whiskies I saw offered up for sale. I am going to do my best to indicate what the following bottles were listed for, and if I happened to notice them sell, what they sold for. I will ask you all to not take the following information as 100% fact, but simply one man's account of just some of the whiskey offerings at the Pomona Show:

(9) J.F. Cutter Star-Shield Fifths:
$2,250 -- Green-yellow, Variant 3 or 4, flash in top, smoothed-out open bubble on front
$450 -- Olive, excellent charcter and large top, Variant 3, (SOLD for $450)
$375 -- Olive-amber, Variant 3, (SOLD for $350)
$375 -- Apricot-red-amber, Variant 3, (SOLD for $350)
$350 -- Olive-amber, Variant 3, (SOLD for $350)
$350 -- Light Old-amber, Variant 4, TRADED for a medium-amber J. Moore w/ a repaired top.
$275 -- Variant 4, amber, no sale data
$250 -- Variant 4, amber, no sale data
$235 -- Variant 4, amber, no slae data
(4) Aqua Gold Dust Fifths:
$2,250
$2,000
$1850
$1,775
All appeared to be damage free, fairly decent to good examples, but I didn't notice any of them actually selling.
(3) Choice Old Cabinet Fifths:
$2,750 (dark amber)
$2,200 (light amber)
$2,200 (killer yellow one with minor flash in base)
I did not see any of them sell.
(3) Tea Kettle Ffiths:
$2,100 (Killer example with solid strike in yellow coloration)
$1,600 (nice dark-amber example with excellent strike and huge top) -- ended up selling/part of a multi-bottle trade.
$1,250 (dark-amber example with average strike)
(4) AAA Old Valley Flasks:
$2,500: Light orange-yellow, typical weak strike for such a light color
$1,800: Medium old-amber, good character, mint
$1,600: Medium old-amber, good character, near mint, ice-pick crush on inside of lip
$12,50: amber with suspicious indentation on base
(2) Renz's Blackberry Brandy Fifths:
$4,000 (Yellow)
$3,000 (amber)
(1) Lilienthal Banded Distillers: $375 (1/2 Pint flask, light orange colroation, crude tooled-top)
(1) Lilienthal Banded: $1,400 (amber w/ flake, smooth chip on base)
(1) Lilienthal Coffin Distillers: $3,500 (Pint, amber, sparkle-matic glass)
(1) Durham Whiskey: $825 (Eastern variant w/ foot, whittle w/ typical scratching and wear)
(1) J.H. Cutter Mid-Crown E. Martin Fifth: $850 (Medium-amber, good whittle)
(1) J.H. Cutter Shoulder Crown E. Martin Fifth: $1,600 (amber)
(1) J.H. Cutter Shoulder Crown E. Martin Fifth (no embossing on reverse): $3,500 (amber)
(1) J.H. Cutter Shoulder Crown Hotaling Fifth: $2,200 (amber, very minor inside lip bruise)
(1) J.H. Cutter Shoulder Crown Hotaling Flask: $7,000 (light amber, good strike)]
(1) O.K. Old Castle Fifth: $900 (Medium amber, crisp strike, good character)
(1) OPS: $1450 (light orange-amber, crude transitional tooled-top, unimproveable strike)

Once again, these are just a few of my simple observations from the show. I can think of about two to three times this many whiskies that I saw for sale, but I am not going to beat a dead horse here. To be honest, I can't really remember what they were all priced for, what the full damage-inspection report is, and which ones traveled back home with the dealer or with a proud new owner. To put it simply, it seemd that about upwards of 85% or more of the whiskies did not sell. Many of these were familiar bottles with the same price tags, with a few fresh ones still managing to surface.

I did see two J.F. Star Shield flasks and a Miller's flask....all three had damage or repairs...so I really don't care to go into detail on what they were priced for or what the degree of damage(s) were....

If you didn't go, I believe you certainly missed out! I can understand the Early Bird fee seemed a bit steep to some (plus travel & lodging arrangements)....but this kind of show only comes around every two years....and who knows when the next one will be staged in SoCal?? I hope to see those of you who didn't attend the Pomona show at the Downieville, Santa Rosa, or the Auburn show(s)!

MORRISON BARREL TAG?

Here is an interesting piece that John O'Neill found while browsing the isles at the National. I tried to get a couple of quick picts of it, but it will have to be cleaned up a bit to get a full look at the lettering. That crown is interesting! The 1866 date that is visible relates to a brand that Morrison registered with the State of California on Sep. 10th, 1866. Simply called OLD BOURBON - FROM DUNHAM'S DISTILLERY - LOUISVILLE, KY

There 614 Front Street is his earlier address, moved in 1870 I believe. If you look closely you can make out something about "STATE" and "SACRAMENTO" around the top. Need to look at this again.

Here is Morrison's application filed with the State of California

in 1866 for Dunham's.

Lots of swirls and twirls around Morrison's signature, always

wondered if this document is in ol' Jno. C's handwriting. The signature appears to be from the same person that penned the

application.