Cannon’s and McKeever’s Bitters – The Royal American Couple

Cannon’s and McKeever’s Bitters – Meyer Collection

Cannon’s and McKeever’s Bitters – The Royal American Couple

27 April 2011 (Rª051814)

Apple-Touch-IconAWith the Royal Wedding in the news, I am reminded of one of my royal couples, the handsome Cannon’s Dyspeptic Bitters and the beautiful McKeever’s Army Bitters. Cannons, Drums, Cannon Balls, and Swords adorn these magnificent early American Bitters paying homage to the Civil War. The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

C 33  CANNON’S DYSPEPTIC BITTERS, Circa 1853 – 1880, 
Cannon’s Non-Alcoholic Bitters, The Great Dyspepsia Remedy, W. M. Cannon & Co., 925 LA. Ave. N.W. Washington D.C.
Prepared only by the W. M. Cannon, Proprietary Medicine Company, No. 925 Louisiana Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C., 
10 x 2 7/8 (6 1/4) 1/2, 
Square with embossed cannons, Amber, LTC, Applied mouth, Extremely rare, 
The Charleston Mercury: The best bitters for Southern climates. The ad mentions Cannon’s Compound Vegetable or Blood Purifying Bitters. Newspaper advertisement 1853: Purifies the blood and nearly resembles saliva in decomposing food. Identity questionable. It may well be the cannon bottle, label example of which remains undiscovered.
C33_CannonsDyspeptic_Meyer

Cannons Dyspeptic Bitters – Meyer Collection

C33_Cannon_RH

Cannons Dyspeptic Bitters – Bitters Bottles Supplement

M 58  McKEEVER’S ARMY BITTERS, Circa 1865 – 1875
// u // McKEEVER’S ARMY //  BITTERS //
10 1/2 x 3 3/8 (4)
Round drum, Amber, LTC, Applied mouth, Scarce
M58_McKeever'sBitters_Meyer

McKeever’s Army Bitters – Meyer Collection

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Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour

The Vatican and Villanova University have teamed-up to produce a spectacular virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel.

I can’t help to wonder if this type of animation might be possible once the FOHBC Virtual Museum gets up and running.

Click picture for Tour.

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Capital Bitters – Washington, D.C.

Capitol Bitters

Capital Bitters – Fuss Collection

Capital Bitters – Washington, D.C.

27 April 2011 (R•053017)

Apple-Touch-IconABoy is this bottle rare. I thought I had it pretty much under control with what was out there in the Bitters World until Sandor Fuss (was in Denver to see his collection for the 3rd time last week) showed me his Capital Bitters. I had never seen a picture before nor noticed the listing in the Ring/Ham Bitters Bottles Books. This is an extremely important bitters in shape, rarity, embossing and condition.

Capital Bitters – Sandor P. Fuss collection.

C 39  CAPITAL ( au ) / motif Capitol of U.S. / BITTERS COMPANY ( cd ) WASHINGTON, D.C. // motif framed oval // 10 ½ x 2 ¾  Round with 2 layer pedestal, Amber, LTCR, Extremely rare. Body convex from base up 3 ½ inches then concave to neck.

R/H Drawing

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The West Region Bulletin – April 2011

West Region Bulletin

 Dave Maryo, FOHBC Western Director and Dar Furda, Contributing Editor put together a rather nice digital newsletter. West Region Bulletin April 1 2011.

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Australian Bottle Collectables Review

This gallery contains 7 photos.

I am on the mailing list for ABCR Auctions which is conducting an auction now. ABCR is headed up by Travis Dunn. Travis is based out of Victoria, Australia. Travis got me thinking about some of the Austrailian Bitters we … Continue reading

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Happy Easter – CD 700 Egg Insulators

CD 700 Unmarked Insulator Eggs

From Pole Top Discoveries recently completed Auction 64.

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FOHBC EXPO 2012 In Reno!

Reno Flyer

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S.F. Gaslight Ammonia now Greer’s Washing Ammonia?

This gallery contains 2 photos.

S.F. Gaslight Ammonia now Greer’s Washing Ammonia? 23 April 2011 On my visit to see the Robert Frank Collection late last year in Lompoc, California I was drawn to this beautiful, light canary yellow bottle in one of his display … Continue reading

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Harrison's Columbian Ink

While visiting with the prominent collector Sandor Fuss this past week in Denver, I again was struck by the beauty, size and color of the famous Harrison’s Columbia Ink. This big ink would dominate any other display setting but somehow fits in with the rest of Sandor’s extraordinary collection of the Best of the Best Historical Flasks and Bitters Bottles. I had the opportunity to inspect this ink at the Bottles and More (BAM) Roger Long Auction when I visited Rod Walck in PA some time back.

Harrison's Columbian Ink - Fuss Collection

The Harrison’s Columbian Ink bottle is considered by many to be the top ink for good reason. Until you’ve actually seen one of these huge gallon master inks and held it in your hands, you don’t really get the overall spectacular impression that you do seeing it pictured.

These rarely come up for sale. The last one of note in an auction was probably the Glass Works Auction of the Beka and Bob Mebane Collection in 2002 and 2003. It was listed as follows:

GW Mebane Lot 179

HARRISONS – COLUMBIAN – INK, (C-763), American, ca. 1845 – 1860, 12-sided, 10 1/2″ (gallon size), open pontil, tooled expanded mouth, perfect. When the premier ink collection of author Bill Covill was auctioned in 1980, the ink was featured on the front cover of the auction catalog. It sold for $8,000, by far the highest price piece in the auction. In 1992 it resurfaced again, this time in the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors auction in Toledo, Ohio. Selling for $34,000. It was again the highest price item in the auction.

It is not known what Sandor paid for his exquisite example, though I suspect it far surpasses the prices noted above.

Posted on by Ferdinand Meyer V | 1 Comment

Two Sexy Ladies – Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters

Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters – Frank Collection

Two Sexy Ladies – Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters

23 April 2011

Botero-Our Lady of Columbia

Apple-Touch-IconAOn a trip out west to visit the prominent collector Robert Frank late last year, I was able to see and hold two of my most favorite Bitters bottles which are pictured at the top of the post. The Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters are voluptuously formed bottles with sensitive and exaggerated curves just like a paintings by the Columbian figurative artist, Fernando Botero. His paintings and sculptures are united by their proportionally exaggerated shapes.

These bottles are sculptures and goddesses in the Antique Bottle world and should be revered.

CassinsRun_BBAccording to noted researcher Warren Friedrich, the C78 & 79 Cassin’s variants are in his opinion, the quintessential western bitters bottle. The C79 mold variant is the earlier of the two and would be considered extremely rare in its rating; as there are only 7 existing examples in any condition, four in an amber coloration, two in yellow olive color and one in yellow green (or lime).

The C78 is the mold variant (see below) that is often seen in various bottle books. Approximately 20 some examples exist in collections presently. The most commonly seen examples are in medium to light greens, followed by various amber hues; with black glass (either dark green or dark amber) being extremely rare and aqua color variations being very rare with at least four examples known.

C78_Cassin'samber_BBS

Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters (C 78) – Bitters Bottles Supplement

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