Jurors debating the merits of these great bottles
Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters ‘Showdown’
08 April 2011
This was fun, my first ‘showdown’ that I have ever attended. As reported by Rick Simi on his Western Bitters Blog Western Bitters News.
On Saturday December 4th the 49er Historical Bottle Club held their annual bottle and antique show. After a brisk Friday afternoon dealer setup Saturday’s attendance was steady and most of the dealer’s I talked with reported strong sales all day long. It was great to see all the fellow bottle collectors and I visited with collectors from Northern California, Southern California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Wisconsin and many other regions.
Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root Bitters Color Run
One of the highlights of Saturday’s show was the Dr. Henley’s Wild Grape Root IXL Bitters “showdown” that was conceived and overseen by western collector “The California Kid”. I am not positive, but I believe, there were over a dozen entries of IXL’s in the circle and non circle variants. The varied and stunning colors that the IXL is known to come in made for a very colorful display.
After the three judges conferred, they awarded first place in the non circle category to collector Richard Siri for beautiful amber colored IXL. Richard also received first place in the circle IXL category with a drop dead deep blue aqua Henley’s – a clean sweep of the showdown for the Santa Rosa collector.
Thanks to all that participated in the showdown and to the Auburn club for an entertaining and well run showdown. I have heard rumors that next year’s showdown will be Phoenix western fifths and flasks. Excellent!
Richard Siri’s Winning Bottles
I was asked to be one of the 3 judges for this first annual event at the 49er Historical Bottle Associations show in Auburn, CA. The number of Henley’s IXL Bitters examples was truly incredible and very difficult to judge. Two of my favorites exhibited at this showdown were 2 very light pastel green coloration examples. Simply spectacular!