Bill Ham Visit – Some Extraordinary Pontiled Bottles

Bill Ham Visit – Some Extraordinary Pontiled Bottles

10 April 2011

On 06 December 2009, Elizabeth and I visited with Bill and Cindy Ham in Lakeport, California after the Auburn 49er Show. We had a nice dinner and Bill uncorked some of his recent harvest wine from his Dancing Dog vineyard. What a great evening.

We spend the later part of the evening looking at his bottles. Bill specializes in pontiled medicines, pontiled bitters with the word ‘Stomach’ and Whiskey Bottles. These are some of the legends I have heard about, many from the Carlyn Ring Collection. After spending the night, I awakened to take an early morning run in the countryside with their two dogs. Scary in the dark.

Then, morning coffee and an in depth revisit with the bottles to complete this segment of a wonderful trip. A couple of bottles I was drooling over are noted below…

C 81 BROWN & DRAKE CATAWBA BITTERS, extremely rare lady’s leg, metallic pontil mark.
B 59 DR. BELL’S GOLDEN TONIC BITTERS, extremely rare figural bell.
F 63 FOERSTER’S TEUTONIC BITTERS | CHICAGO, extremely rare chestnut flask with handle, metallic pontil mark. Only about 5 or 6 known.
T 51 OLD DR. TOWNSEND’S CELEBRATED STOMACH BITTERS, killer matching left and right handled Chestnut, rough pontil mark.
H 60 HART’S VIRGINIA AROMATIC BITTERS extremely rare, rectangular, metallic pontil.
P 108 PLANTATION BITTERS XX, extremely rare, without DRAKES.

A few pictures are below…

Bill Ham Visit

Checking some of these bad boys out

Couple of handled Old Dr.Townsend's

Old Dr. Townsend’s flanking the Foerster’s Teutonic Bitters

Row of Dr. Ham's

Some fine Dr. Ham’s Aromatic Medicating Spirit

Two great bottles

Couple of Big Boys, Bryant’s Cone & large Wynkoop’s

Ham's Whiskey's

Bill has some great Whiskey Bottles

John Moffat

John Moffat Phoenix Bitters

About Ferdinand Meyer V

Ferdinand Meyer V is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and has a BFA in Fine Art and Graphic Design from the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. Ferdinand is the founding Principal of FMG Design, a nationally recognized design consultation firm. Ferdinand is a passionate collector of American historical glass specializing in bitters bottles, color runs and related classic figural bottles. He is married to Elizabeth Jane Meyer and lives in Houston, Texas with their daughter and three wonderful grandchildren. The Meyers are also very involved in Quarter Horses, antiques and early United States postage stamps. Ferdinand is the past 6-year President of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors and is one of the founding members of the FOHBC Virtual Museum.
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