Bear Grass

Here is one of the strongest embossed examples of the Bear Grass that I have ever seen. These are pretty tough to find as it is, with  maybe 12-15 in collections. For some reason these bottles are usually fairly light in the embossing pattern. They

come in this lighter orange amber in most instances, but one was dug broken several years ago in Idaho with strong olive tone. I have also heard that a mint example in an olive color was in a well known collection in Washington many years ago, but it is not known where this bottle now resides.
 Of the 7 Bear Grass fifths I have handled, all but two had relatively weak embossing. These are very underrated in my opinion as they have it all...except whittle effect. The base exhibits a large "X" identical to the Fleckenstein & Mayer fifth. I believe the amber Bear Grass was produced about 1884. I have not heard of any examples being dug since the Idaho pit with 5 found.

Back to the jungle with my buddy Jessie.

This place is a tough nut to crack but every once in a while we do get lucky. This pit produced more liquor bottles only this time it was of a mixed age.

These guys drank the good stuff, the pieces have been something else.

 

Lots of roots in this one and about 20 or so bottles dating from the late 1870s to about1900.

United We Stand

Just sent in from an anonymous digger on the West Coast. Looks like a nice light old amber United We Stand with a big top. How many examples of these are known ?

Just In

From anonymous diggers:

Gold Dust, pre-1874 ?

Is the John Van Bergen gold dust 5th earlier than 1874 ? John Van Bergen did not advertise his Gold Dust agency until September of 1873, but I always though they were in the 1871 or 1872 range. Wilson states in his book that Barkhouse Brothers were not formed until 1874. Take a look at the two below ads, both before 1874, and the city directory listings. This new evidence points towards the John Van Bergen bottle being either 1872 or 1873 at the absolute oldest. The last pit to produce any Gold Dusts also contained Empire sodas, Bay Cities, and a blue Ghirardelli soda as well as a early variant circle Cutter and a busted OK Castle Fifth.

What do you guys who have seen horses in the ground think ?

September 1873 Ad

September 1872 Ad

1872 Directory

1871 Directory

How about this, would have made a great looking embossed 5th:

This blog is a tremendous asset to the hobby, glad to see it back. And while I’m at it, a couple of stray horses recently stopped by for a drink..........

It is still here !

Yes, you are seeing the old whiskey blog.