Pacific Congress Waters – Frank Collection

PACIFIC CONGRESS WATER SPRINGS SARATOGA (Motif of Running Dear)

During my trip late last year to see the Robert Frank Collection in Lompoc, California, I noticed three gorgeous Mineral Water bottles in a line with the Running Deer embossing. This was a stopper. Had to get a picture. These are killer bottles!

I have been contacted by a prominent collector in the West who notes that he has the beginnings of an incredible color run of the rarest colors of the Pacific Congress Springs, Saratoga, California pints with the running deer.

He notes that he may have two (2) for sale. The first is a deeper yellow olive amber (pictured below), and the other is a deep turquoise, or teal coloration (pictured below). He notes that they will be listed for sale on his website sometime soon. He further states, the more common, and beautiful yellow lime color would be easier to find, and when added to these two are a great “run”. Wow..this is really tempting!

Jeff Wichmann, chief of American Bottle Auctions has had a number of the Running Deers show up at various times in his auctions. Just go to his website Auction Section and search for Pacific Congress Running Deer.

PACIFIC CONGRESS WATER SPRINGS SARATOGA CALIFORNIA, SAGES PACIFIC CONGRESS SPRINGS on reverse. Example is more of a pastel green with the Sage’s name on reverse shoulder. Sage owned the springs for a period of time and had a few bottles produced with his name on them from 1870-75. These are found in Tucker M-34. – American Bottle Auctions

As a follow up…Dale Mlasko adds “Hi Ferdinand, Here is a photo (see below) of the olive Pacific Congress Springs. I can account for 4 known examples in this color, and 3 that are undamaged. This one has a lot of bubbles, and is just a beauty. Will send a photo of the teal specimen in the next day or two. This is the “non Sage’s” version which are the earliest with the deer. Prior to the 1998 “big dig”, there were perhaps a dozen of any color of the running deer known. In that dig, about 30 were found, with maybe 3 or 4 being undamaged. They were mostly shades of the yellow lime green which is the most prevalent. There were also 4 of the ice blue version without the deer and a blob soda type top, and two pure cobalt blue without the deer.I believe 3 or 4 in jet black without the deer came out also. While rare, the black examples cannot show even a tiny bit of light through the glass! For Western glass, it is hard to find pieces with more going for them then these beautiful Saratoga types!”

Dale also added the pictures of the teal example added below.

Pacific Congress – Mlasko Collection

Pacific Congress Detail – Mlasko Collection

Teal Pacific Congress – Mlasko Collection

Teal Pacific Congress – Mlasko Collection

Pacific Congress Waters in Color – Mlasko Collection

“PACIFIC CONGRESS WATER SPRINGS SARATOGA” / (motif of a running deer) / “CALIFORNIA – SAGE’S / PACIFIC CONGRESS / SPRINGS”, (M-34), California, ca. 1870 – 1880, bright yellowish lime green pint, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth, near perfect condition. A rare bottle, and of the few we’ve seen this one is probably the nicest! – Glass Works Auction #97