Look at Cody’s new Scroll Flask

Posted on 3 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Look at Cody’s New Scroll Flask

Hi Ferdinand,

Cody Zeleny here, just wanted to share a unique flask I acquired. I believe the flask to be a GIX-14, but as you can see, has quite an odd feature. The lip treatment is something I have only seen on a few New England flasks! It is tooled and pinched in and is quite odd. The flask for a pint is quite plump, and I have included a picture of it compared to a normal scroll flask. Just wanted to share.

Also I have included a picture of a part of my collection. As an insulator collector, I had built a large back lighted cabinet for my collection. Well a few days ago I was bored so I emptied out the insulators and put some flasks in. I was pleased to see how great they looked.

Anyways,

Take care,

Cody Zeleny

Cody, your flask, shelves and pictures are ‘off the chart’ great. Thanks for sharing! Read More: Who doesn’t love Scroll Flasks?

Posted in Collectors & Collections, Display, Flasks, Historical Flasks | Tagged Cody Zeleny, Flask, GIX-14, photography, Scroll, shelves | Leave a comment

Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic and the Mad Chinaman

Posted on 3 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic Trade Card – Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History

Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic and the Mad Chinaman

I do not know what would possess a merchant or doctor to opt for putting a mean Oriental midget, chop sticks, a rat and a cat eating a rat on any advertising to market their product. This totally escapes me. Another great reason to collect trade cards and to be part of this great hobby. Where else would you see stuff like this?

Frank Fleury, M. D.

Dr. Frank Fleury was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania on 28 September 1841. He was the son of Jacob and Margaret (Hamilton) Fleury. He served three years at the drug business of Carter & Brothers in Erie, Pennsylvania before moving westward. In 1865, Dr. Fleury established himself in the drug business in Springfield, Illinois, which he conducted for some years. He was located at 505 Washington Street, on the north side of the square. He was noted as having a fine store that carried a large stock of drugs and toilet goods, and having an extensive trade. His prescription business was a special feature of the house and was noted as being exceptionally large.

In 1881, Dr. Fleury began the manufacture of the “Wa-Hoo Tonic” and won a wide reputation for this medicine. Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic was made at the Fleury Medicine Company in Springfield, Illinois where he was chief proprietor. They manufactured several valuable medicinal remedies of tried and valuable merit among them are “Indian Herbs of Joy“, a remedy for diseases, arising from impurities of the blood of which four thousand bottles were sold in Springfield, and Fleury’s Tasteless Cascarine, a remedy for biliousness, headache and torpid liver. Later studies actually said this concoction was put up in a small wooden cylinder, which contained 45 grains of yellowish-white powder. Examination proved it to be subnitrate of bismuth and calomel, triturated through powdered cane sugar. Dr. Fleury also manufactured DuFay’s Magic Fluids which was noted as selling ten thousand bottles at one time.

Dr. Fluery was married on June 25, 1868 to Miss Annie M. Herndon, of Springfield and they became the parents of one daughter. Dr. Fleury died on August 28, 1910 in Springfield.

I could find images for two trade cards that are represented in this post. A third trade card was described as a rectangular card, horizontal display, showing a little girl holding a large bowl in her lap with “Fleury’s/ Wa-Hoo/ Tonic” across the front; she holds her spoon up at begging dog to her right, as if scolding; back is vertical, details uses for this “great blood purifier & system renovator”. It is held at the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

I could find no pictures of bottles of this brand.

Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic ingredients – Kansas State Board of Health, Biennial Report, Volume 4 – 1909

Full page advertisement for Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic within Kramer’s general business directory : containing an accurately selected and classified list of the leading manufacturers, jobbers, wholesale and retail dealers, professional and business men of Northern Indiana (1885)

Frank Fleury Obituary – Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 3 – Munsell Publishing Company, 1912

Fleury’s Wa-Hoo Tonic Trade Card – Florida University Libraries

References: History of Sangamon County, Illinois: Together with Sketches of Its Cities … By Inter-state Publishing Company (Chicago, Ill.)

Posted in Advertising, Druggist & Drugstore, Ephemera, Liquor Merchant, Medicines & Cures, Remedy, Tonics, Trade Cards | Tagged Annie M. Herndon, Chinaman, DuFay's Magic Fluids, Fleury, Fleury Medicine Company, Fleury's Tasteless Cascarine, Frank Fleury, illinois, Indian Herbs of Joy, M.D., Meadville, Pennsylvania, Springfield, Wa-Hoo Tonic | Leave a comment

Francis Newbery & Sons Brain Salt – London

Posted on 3 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Francis Newbery & Sons, London

Cruising around the Internet and world wide web, I jump across the pond today to look at F. Newbery & Sons Brain Salt from London. Yes you heard me right, Brain Salt. Certain words do not sound right together. In Houston there is a Thai restaurant next to a donut shop. The sign on the street says Thai Food & Donuts. Kind of like that. When I think of brain salt I think of putting salt on slugs. All bad kids heard of that right? Well salt on a brain? Doesn’t paint a very good picture.

Francis Newbery and Sons Warehouse – Warehouse for Dr. Jame’s Powder – 1779 (Pharmaceutical Journal: A Weekly Record of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences)

The origin of the firm of Francis Newbery and Sons, Limited goes back to 1746 when Mr. John Newbery. “the philanthropic publisher of St. Paul’s Churchyard,” settled in London at the corner of Ludgate Hill as a publisher and patent medicine vendor. Prior to this, Mr. John Newbery had been in business at Reading. At this time the company was an agent for Hooper’s Pills and sold the famous Dr. Jame’s Fever Powder.

Francis Newbery, who, on the death of his father in 1767, left Sidney-Sussex College, Cambridge, and gave up the prospects of a medical career to carry on the business of publisher and patent medical vendor. His shop was situated on No. 45 St. Paul’s Churchyard which is illustrated above. Francis Newbery died in 1818 and his eldest son, Colonel John Newberry, succeeded him; at the death of the latter in 1854, Mr. Arthur Le Blanc Newbery and Mr. Lionel Newbery took over the business, which was removed in 1869 to 46 St. Paul’s Churchyard, again, in 1872, to Newgate Street, in 1888.

Francis Newbery and Sons Warehouse – 1903 – (Pharmaceutical Journal: A Weekly Record of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences)

Shortly after the move (in 1904) the old house turned their business into a private limited company. As time went on and competition increased it was found necessary to meet the wants of the trade to add druggist’s sundries, photographic, and perfumery departments. To such an extent have these departments grown that they now take the premier place in the firm’s illustrated catalogue and occupy a major portion of the building (see above).

Reference: Pharmaceutical Journal: A Weekly Record of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences – J. Churchill, 1906

Francis Newbery and Sons testimonial – The Lancet London: A Journal of British and Foreign Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, Physiology, Chemistry, Pharmacology, Public Health and News, Volume 1 – 1861

BRAIN SALT

F. Newbery & Sons Effervescent brain Salt

(TITLE REGISTERED) PRICE 2/9 PER BOTTLE

Cures headaches and indigestion

A POSITIVE RELIEF AND CURE FOR Brain Troubles, Headaches, Sea Sickness, Nervous Debility, Sleeplessness, Excessive Study, Mania, Over Brainwork, etc. etc.

F. NEWBERY & SONS.
1 and 3 King Edward St., London, E.C.

TRADE MARK REGISTERED IN U.S.
BY F. NEWBERY & SONS
FEB. 10, 1888

Later Brain Salt advertisement when F, Newbery was on Newgate Street

A rather well done Brain Salt bottle illustration

Newbery & Sons Brain Salt advertisement – The Twentieth Century, A Monthly Review – 1894

Other Newbery Products

Sailing Boat Pictorial F. Newberry & Sons Cherry Tooth Paste Pot Lid & Base, London c1890s – ebay

Cuticura ointment made in London, Cardiff and Liverpool, F. Newbery and Sons January 1899.

Posted in Advertising, Druggist & Drugstore, History, Medicines & Cures, Salt | Tagged Arthur Le Blanc Newbery, Brain Salt, Cambridge, Colonel John Newberry, Dr. Jame’s Fever Powder, Francis Newbery, Francis Newbery & Sons, Hooper’s Pills, John Newbery, Lionel Newbery, London, Sidney-Sussex College | Leave a comment

P. Guillaume’s Mineral Water Bottle Mystery

Posted on 3 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

P. GUILLAUME’S MINERAL WATER

POPE VALLEY, NAPA CO. CAL.

Here is a puzzler for the Western collectors. I bet someone out there can provide information on this bottle. This is when I miss ole’ Michael Dolcini the most.

[e-mail #1] I have a bottle that even Jeff Wichmann at American Bottle Auctions could not identify. I have spent countless hours on the Internet trying to find out any information on this bottle, but I have found out absolutely nothing, this is why I am emailing you in desperation. Please help me! The bottle I am speaking of is 8 inches tall it has a crown top, aqua in color, the seam does not continue to the top, but ends approx. below the top, is approx. 2 3/8″ in diameter, has an uneven bottom. The label on it is heavily embossed on the glass : P. Guillaume’s MINERAL WATER POPE VALLEY, NAPA CO. CAL. Please contact me as I could find nothing about this bottle and you are my last hope.

Thank You Very Much, Albert Richenberger

[e-mail #2] Here are the pictures you requested. I purchased the bottle from a lady that told me her late husband dug it up at Gold City, Nevada. Gold City is approx. 5 miles from Virginia City, Nevada. Thank You for your help I really appreciate it. If you need other pictures I will take them.

Thanks again, Albert Richenberger

PS If you are going to the Reno bottle show I will be there helping a friend Mike Gerth who is going to display there I would like to meet you. I also will have the bottle there. Thanks again!

Responses

Material below provided by Marianne Dow

Listing for Pope Mineral Spring and Peter Guillaume – Mines and mineral resources of the counties of Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Marin, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo – Walter Wadsworth Bradley, California State Mining Bureau – 1915

Posted in Digging and Finding, Mineral Water, Questions | Tagged Albert Richenberger, california, Gold City, Jeff Wichmann, Marianne Dow, Mineral Water, Napa County, Nevada, P. Guillaume, Pope Valley | Leave a comment

Carter’s Liver Bitters and Carter’s Little Liver Pills

Posted on 2 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Carter’s Liver Bitters and Carter’s Little Liver Pills

02 June 2013

C 67 CARTER’S LIVER BITTERS, Circa 1873 – 1899

CARTER’S / LIVER BITTERS / C. M. CO. NEW YORK // c // // b // WT&CO / 1
8 1/2 x 3 1/4 x 2 (6 1/4)
Oval – Philadelphia, Amber, LTC, Tooled lip, Scarce

The Connecticut Courant (Hartford) December 28,1882

Notes: J. P. Carter & Co., 179 South Street, Wholesale Wines Liquors & Bitters in 1873

Drug Catalogs: 1883 M&R, 1885 & 1892 Goodwin, 1887 Meyer BROS & Co., 1894 M&R, 1896-97, JP&K Co., 1899 Jayne & Co., 1901-02 JP&K Co.,

Trade Cards available.

Carters Liver Bitters – Meyer Collection

Carter Medicine Company which was incorporated in 1880 by John Samuel Carter of Erie, Pennsylvania. Their most famous products were Carter’s Liver Bitters and Carter’s Little Liver Pills. Other products included Carter’s Back Ache Plasters and Carter’s Little Nerve Pill’s. John Carter died in 1884 and his son, Samuel Carter took over the business.

Sarah Bernhardt was one of the first celebrities to endorse popular products of her time and used this as a way to promote herself. In the song, ‘Tour de Force,’ Dunitz playfully rattles off many commercial products from Pears Soap to Urbana Wine, Carter Liver Bitters to Marmon cars that ‘the most famous actress the world has ever known’ endorsed in an effort to continue to fill her coffers and satisfy her unbridled spending.

Your grandparents – maybe your parents – couldn’t take a trip 50 miles from their home without seeing livid red advertisements of Carter’s Little Liver Pills painted on numerous barns and outhouses. This caused a foreigner on a visit here to opine that the American people must be the most constipated in the world.

Carter’s advertising material claims to cure all the ills of your liver by waking up “your liver bile.” But it isn’t that simple. Again their advertisements will say “Laxatives are only makeshifts.” This is the most truthful part of the ad.

Carter’s Little Liver Pills will not solve the problem of liver conditions, which are usually caused by eating foods that are too rich for the sedentary habits of the eater. They wouldn’t cure them even if Carter’s pills were Big.

For they, too, are only makeshifts.

The Drug Story

Although legal action was slow, hampered by the continued efforts of the Association, most of the patent medicine companies were either forced out of business or required to modify their extravagant claims. In many cases, the process was protracted over long periods of time and cases had to be prosecuted on an individual basis. It reportedly took the government twenty years to get the word “Liver” out of Carter’s Little Liver Pills, but in the long run, the patent medicine industry died from an overdose of government regulation.

Patent Medicine History

Carter’s Liver Bitters Trade Card – Carter Medicine Company – Daves Great Cards Galore

Carter’s Liver Bitters “Will Make You Eat” Trade Card – Wikipedia Commons

Reverse Carter’s Liver Bitters “Will Make You Eat” Trade Card – Flickr

Carter’s Little Liver Pills “A Positive Cure For Sick Headache” Trade Card

Reverse Carter’s Little Liver Pills “A Positive Cure For Sick Headache” Trade Card

Carter’s Back Ache Plasters and Carter’s Little Nerve Pill’s Trade Cards

Posted in Advertising, Bitters, Ephemera, History, Medicines & Cures, Trade Cards | Tagged Carter Medicine Company, Carter's Little Liver Pills, Carter's Liver Bitters, John Samuel Carter, Samuel Carter, Sarah Bernhardt | Leave a comment

Dr. Meyer, Echinacea and his Meyer’s Blood Purifier

Posted on 1 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

A quack doctor at a fair – Library of Congress

Ferdinand,

I am hoping you could help me track down an antique bottle of Dr. Meyer’s Blood Purifier Syrup manufactured in 1880 to around 1910. I was made in Pawnee City, Nebraska as far as I can tell. An ad I saw said manufactured in Kansas City. Maybe manufacturing moved later on. It is an old herbal medicine formula.

I would pay top dollar for one in great condition. A super find would be one with liquid still in it.

Can you track down an item like this or do you have one to sell me.

Thanks,

Nicholas S.

Dr. Meyer & Echinacea

It is always nice to get a request or question about a bottle I am unfamiliar with, especially when it has your own name associated with it. In this case it is ‘Meyer‘ with the ‘Meyer’s Blood Purifier‘. This prompted a search to find out more about the brand and to find out, who was Meyer?

Snakeroot has been long known by the Plains Indians as a cure for snake bite

Echinacea is a genus, or group of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The nine species it contains are commonly called coneflowers. They are endemic to eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. They have large, showy heads of composite flowers, blooming from early to late summer. The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἐχῖνος (echino), meaning “sea urchin,” due to the spiny central disk. Some species are used in herbal medicines and some are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. A few species are of conservation concern. [Wikipedia]

Native american tribes, including presumably the Sioux and Pawnee of Nebraska, generally shared their knowledge of Echinacea’s (also known as Kansas Snakeroot) healing properties with the European settlers, who quickly adopted the plant. Snakeroot has been long known by the Plains Indians as a cure for snake bite.

To prove the efficacy of echinacea, he offered to let himself be bitten by a rattlesnake in the presence of doctors and to treat himself only with echinacea.

Sometime in the early 1870s, Dr. H. C. F. Meyer, a German physician from Pawnee, Nebraska, concocted a patented herbal medicine made with Echinacea. He named it “Meyer’s Blood Purifier” and claimed it as a cure-all for a variety of ailments, including everything from snakebite to typhoid fever. Meyer also called Echinacea “Black Sampson, the Slayer of All Ailments”. Believe it or not, another name used was ‘Nigger Head of the West”.

He believed so strongly in the healing properties of Echinacea that in 1887, he tried to promote it to two prominent physicians of the time: Dr. John Uri Lloyd (a professor at the Eclectic Medical Institute and Cincinnati and later president of the American Pharmaceutical Association) (see article below) and Dr. John King (author of King’s American Dispensatory). To prove the efficacy of Echinacea, he offered to let himself be bitten by a rattlesnake in the presence of doctors and to treat himself only with Echinacea. The doctors declined his offer, surmising that he was a quack.

After Meyer’s persistence, Dr. King finally was persuaded to give Echinacea a try. Although he didn’t opt for the snakebite experiment, Dr. King did try Echinacea and became convinced of the herb’s healing properties. Dr. King reversed his previously negative opinion on Echinacea, proclaiming the herb useful for treating many illnesses, including the infectious diseases, that were so devastating at that time – diphtheria, scarlet fever, influenza, meningitis, measles, and chicken pox. With that, Meyer was off to the races and the business of ‘snake oil medicine’ got its credibility and start.

In 1910, the American Medical Association (AMA) declared Echinacea a “useless quack remedy” though many continued to use it. Echinacea then fell into disfavor among Americans in 1930, but became popular in Germany where the herb was widely documented. Dr. Gerhard Madaus of Germany developed a juice concoction made of Echinacea purpurea. This became the most “frequently prescribed Echinacea preparation worldwide”. In the 1980’s, Echinacea made a comeback in the United States and took its place as one of “America’s best-selling herb extracts”.

Discovery of Echinecea article – Homoeopathic News, 1888

Testimonial of all the ailments Dr. Meyer’s concoction cured – Homoeopathic News, 1888

History of Echinacea Angustifola by John Uri Lloyd – Midland Druggist – 1903

History of Echinacea Angustifola by John Uri Lloyd – Midland Druggist – 1903

The Early Snake Oil Medicines

The Meyer’s Blood Purifier was one of the first widely sold ‘snake oil patent medicines”. Many imitations would follow all telling the same folkloric tale of Indian herbal wisdom.

One can almost imagine the pioneering con-artist Meyer,taking his wagon of wares from town to town throughout the west, claiming his tincture of Echinacea was a secret remedy given to him by the Plains Indians. His carnival act on the back of his wagon included teasing rattlesnakes until they struck him (he’d secretly defanged them) then he’d rub Echinacea on the bite as proof of efficacy before offering the mesmerized audience bottles for sale.

Read: Snake Oil: A Guide for Connoisseurs

Pure Rattlesnake Oil bottle

Clark Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment

Clark Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment – Etsy

Dr. Jake Dawson’s Snake Oil bottle 39c

Dr. Crooks Snake Oil

Posted in History, Medicines & Cures, Questions, Remedy, Scams & Frauds | Tagged American Medical Association, Asteraceae, coneflower, Dr. John King, Dr. John Uri Lloyd, Dr. Meyer, Echinacea, Gerhard Madaus, German, H. C. F. Meyer, Kansas Snakeroot, Meyer's Blood Purifier, nebraska, Pawnee, rattlesnake, Sioux, snake, snake oil | Leave a comment

Mailbox Letters – June 2013

Posted on 1 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Please feel free to send any antique bottle or glass questions to ferdinand@peachridgeglass.com. The information will be posted if relevant or of interest to the readers. I will try to answer or wait for another reader to respond. Quality images are very important. Thanks! If you want to see previous questions,go to “Mailbox Letters” in “Categories” on the right column of each page.

Meyer’s Blood Purifier bottle wanted

Ferdinand,

I am hoping you could help me track down an antique bottle of Dr. Meyer’s Blood Purifier Syrup manufactured in 1880 to around 1910. I was made in Pawnee City, Nebraska as far as I can tell. An ad I saw said manufactured in Kansas City. Maybe manufacturing moved later on. It is an old herbal medicine formula.

I would pay top dollar for one in great condition. A super find would be one with liquid still in it.

Can you track down an item like this or do you have one to sell me.

Thanks,

Nicholas Schnell

Read: Dr. Meyer, Echinacea and his Meyer’s Blood Purifier

Come Across Four Glass Insulators

Hi, my name is Erika Abreu and I have come across 4 insulators and
would like to sell them, I have no idea to who to sell them to and for
how much. Here’s a pictures of all four. Please get back to me.

Surging ebay Prices

Ferd, have you noticed how Coke and Pepsi bottle prices have suddenly surged on Ebay? About 5-6 weeks ago, a Middle Eastern oil-rich sheik from Qatar entered the Coke and Pepsi market buying everything in sight. Savvy Ebayers quickly seized the opportunity to list many common, scarce and rare bottles with opening bids starting at significant price levels. I’ve seen listing prices as low as $300 and as high as $12,000. For the first few weeks, everything sold. The buyer has apparently now reached a saturation point and has become a bit more selective with his purchases but he is still actively buying. It’s been a real treat to see so many rare bottles listed, many of which I never knew even existed! It makes it tough on domestic collectors but apparently once a particular example is acquired, there’s no further interest in obtaining a second. I will wait to see if this makes the whole market change upward; I’m not sure that it will. Tom Lines

Posted in eBay, Insulators, Mailbox Letters, Medicines & Cures, Questions | Tagged Letters, mailbox | Leave a comment

Daily Dose – June 2013

Posted on 1 June 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

J u n e 2 0 1 3

Some ramblings and thoughts.

Sunday, 30 June 2013

Been offline for a few days. A few words of wisdom. You can take this to the bank.

“DO NOT SPILL CEREAL ON YOUR LAPTOP.”

I am now a citron Drake’s down in cash with a new Macbook and lots of other stuff I wanted. I’m happy though. Just poorer.

Thursday, 27 June 2013

Velma Craft Scams Still Occurring

FYI:

You may want to warn your members or readers an additional warning regarding one Alias Velma Craft. She has now branched out into the token world and is doing the same type of scams using a paypal account. She offers items; uses paypal; sends a fake tracking number; and then never sends any merchandise because she obviously is only using pictures of things she has chosen on the internet. The screen name she is using is velvel76@aol.com. Just got burned by her and have reported her to aol and filed a police report on her. She may also have an accomplice named Chris Sadler email poormancollectibles@gmail.com doing the same thing. Just thought I would give you a head’s up.

Regards,

Tom Rhodes

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Getting in a gold mine of information on old Texas bottles. Sorting thru it now. Look for posts on the Cat and Dog Hospital bottle, Prices Patent Texas Tonic (Medicine or Bitters as the ads say), Simmons American Heppattic Bitters, Crow’s Alligator Oil, Heidelberg Phosphine Bitters, Texas Blood Purifier Bitters, Stresau Bitters and more.

Monday, 24 June 2013

Off to Motor City, Motown or Detroit here shortly. Another Monday. Reminder that the Glass Works Auction 98 closes tonight.

Larry Marshall send in more Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial pictures and collateral from his collection. Post updated.

Hope to post the FOHBC 2013 Antique Bottle Show Seminar schedule sometime later today.

Sunday, 23 June 2013

Super hot here in Houston. We need some rain. Going to cook a few steaks outside here in a little while. Watching this SLOOP – STAR, (GX-8), flask at Glass Works Auction 98 “Summer Sizzler”. Closes tomorrow night.

SLOOP – STAR, (GX-8), Bridgeton Glass Works, Bridgeton, New Jersey, ca. 1825 – 1840, deep sapphire blue half-pint, tubular open pontil, sheared and tooled lip. A tiny potstone just below the sheared lip has a 1/8” cooling fissure in it, otherwise perfect. Thought to be one of only three known examples and the first one to be offered for sale since the Blaske auction in 1983. Boldly embossed and with only very slight wear. According to one of the very few who have seen all three, this one has the deepest color.

Friday, 21 June 2013

Really like some of these tough-to-find Bitters trade cards that Joe Gourd submitted. Many I have not seen before.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Seems like Velma Craft (obvious alias) is still at it with the e-mail bottle scams. Watch out for Umbrella Inks, a green OK Plantation and now this green flask being offered for sale. The photoshop work is quite messy but I still worry about someone getting hooked. Make no mistake, this is a scam on a national level. Received from Greg Bair:

GREETINGS,

I Just found this bottle in a old house that i’m restoring in the crawl space. DOES it have any value and if so do u know anyone that would be interested in buying it thanks!!!

Velma Craft

Subject: Color change

The Seeliger Theory

I propose an idea that may or may not be true. I believe that possibly the color bottles like puce etc. did not exist when they were originally made. They may have been normal amber glass and contained various amounts of Manganese, Selenium and other elements that were present in the glass manufacture.

Through the years these elements have undergone changes most notably the purple from Manganese that we are aware of. When bottles are radiated today we see some unusual colors.
I believe that possibly the manganese present in amber glass has undergone a purple-ing that makes the amber color a purplish tint which we see as puce? Could other bottles change colors over time? I know that window glass cuts down most of the ultraviolet light and the purple color change is slow, but cut glass left on a table in a sunlight room for 50 years get a hazy color.

I wonder if all the unusual colors are brought about because bottles are sitting in cases exposed to small amounts of ultraviolet light and other wavelengths of energy; that is messing with the outer shell of electrons in the transition elements.

This may be an unusual idea and may be treason or at least sedition to the bottle world but I wonder if the radiating some collectors do to enhance color is just speeding up the process?

Since I have been studying color I am finding unusual activity in the colors that we don’t see with the naked eye. I have yet to do some real tests on unusual colors but this could be something we could see in one of my wavelength graphs.

Your thoughts on this would be appreciated

Michael Seeliger

Read: Color Measurement – Latest from Michael Seeliger

Read: What is Puce or ‘Pooce’ as some call it?

Monday, 17 June 2013

Lots of scams circulating today. Here is the green OK Plantation (swiped from ebay)…

[To Ferdinand Meyer] I PURCHASED THIS FROM A CONSTRUCTION WORKER OVER THE WEEKEND WHO SAID HE WAS TEARING DOWN A HOUSE AND FOUND IT DOES IT HAVE ANY VALUE AND DO U KNOW WHERE I COULD SELL IT

Velma Craft

[To Ed Gray] I recently acquired this at auction does it have any value? and do u know anyone interested in it

Velma Craft

[To Dale Mlasko] I PICKED THIS UP OVER THE WEEKEND TRYING TO FIND OUT ABOUT IT DOES IT HAVE ANY VALUE AND IF SO WHERE COULD I SELL IT THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Velma Craft

[To Steve Ketcham] PICKED THIS UP OVER THE WEEKEND I DONT KNOW ALOT ABOUT BOTTLES IS THIS A COMMON ONE AND DOES IT HAVE ANY VALUE AND IF SO DO U KNOW ANYONE INTERESTED IN IT

Velma Craft

[From Lucy Faulkner] Scam alert: We just got an email with a picture of a J. P. W. Seaton / Louisville, Ky. umbrella asking if it was worth anything and if we knew anyone who would want it. She supposely found it in an attic! Something didn’t look right, so I checked several websites. The picture was copied directly from Antique Bottles (Reggie’s site). I asked for more pictures. We will see what happens. Same Velma Craft

Sunday, 16 June 2013

Such a fun day. Rushed one of my dogs (Sadie) to the 24-hour vet for emergency treatment as she had gotten in an altercation with a raccoon yesterday. As Elizabeth is out of town at a horse event, I left the other five dogs here. Well we have two younger new additions and they ate the TV remote and broke a Doyle’s Hop bitters. Like I said, a fun day.

Just finished and dispatched a post on Dr. D. Jayne’s Family Medicines. Just absolutely love the graphics that were part of his marketing machine.

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Lots of people freakin’ about this repo business. I can understand that but we need to be sane. As I responded to a collector friend this morning:

Repros have been around for thousands of years. Just in the last century there have been tons of repros that are even collectible such as Clevenger, Wheaton, EG Booz, Suffolk Life Preserver Pigs etc. We need to address this on a number of fronts:

Study the Situation
Educate Ourselves
Inform or collector population
Mark the Repros (deboss on base)
Buy from Reputation
Know the Provenance

The FOHBC also discussed this the other night on our monthly cc. I would not overreact or cause yourself too much stress.

Ferd;

The consensus seem to be that:

1) the seller is having these made either one at a time or in small quantities
2) he must be selling them at or near cost.

Check out the attached photo (pickles at the top of today’s post). I found it buried in the Dog River / Sekela website. There’s profit to be had in volume…

Bruce Silva

Friday, 14 June 2013

Had a FED Board meeting conference call last night. One of the topics was reproductions. As I thought, there is not much we can do as far as stopping a person from reproducing a bottle but we should encourage a mark, such as a debossing (not embossing) to distinguish the reproduction from the original. If the original intent is not fraud and is being noted and sold as a reproduction, this is legit. As long as we have an original desirable item, there will be a person who wants to reproduce it. Of course it is the scammer and next generation(s) buyer that we should be concerned about.

Read: Will the real Drake’s Please Stand Up?

Corn for the World Historical Flasks post updated with two flasks from the Glass Works Auctions | Auction #98.

Wednesday, 12 June 2013

I really like locating, cleaning up and studying art used in various advertising pieces for the bottles we collect. Here are three pieces related to the Lippman Brothers. Read: Lippman’s Great German Bitters – Savannah, Georgia

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Dana Charlton-Zarro posted this picture of one of Charlie Gardner’s windows. “Miniscule part of another great collection: one window of Charlie Gardner’s upstairs bottle room, 1969.”

Down Memory Lane, 1997 at the Keene (or Saratoga?) Show: Shirley & Kris Kernozicky showing a photo from Joe’s photo album to Norm Heckler, Jr. – Dana Charlton-Zarro

Monday, 10 June 2013

Bennet’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters post updated with the following information from Eric McGuire.

The firm of Chenery, Souther & Co. was dissolved in San Francisco on August 1, 1874. Joseph N. Souther then became the sole remaining partner. Richard Chenery had a long and notable career in San Francisco, being an early pioneer. He arrived in San Francisco on the Brig Acadian on August 14, 1849. Chenery was born in Montague, Franklin County, MA in 1817 and became one of the many who rushed for California gold. His wife was the daughter of the former governor of Maine, William G. Crosby.

By 1852 he became a successful business man and was an Alderman of the City of Sacramento, California. Offered the job of Mayor, he declined. He was, however, elected Treasurer. He soon became the head of a number of successful businesses in San Francisco and in 1861 he was one of the mounted guards who escorted President Lincoln to the Capitol at the time of his inauguration. Shortly thereafter, Chenery was appointed U.S. Naval Agent for the Port of San Francisco. When his term ended in 1865 Chenery entered into partnership with Joseph N. Souther as a wholesale liquor dealer. After terminating that partnership in 1874 he invested heavily in mining but returned to the East Coast in 1880, where he remained until his death in Belfast, Maine, on July 27, 1890. Much more can be said of Chenery, but this is the short version.

Dog River Glass Company Reproductions

Looking to serve the collector, museum and living history market, we embarked on a line of mouth blown reproductions that were heretofore unavailable. Using traditional techniques and hand mixed glass, our products reflect the continuation of a trade that is disappearing from the scene. Visit Website. Thanks to Jim Bender for sending Link.

Read: Repros. A legitimate place in the hobby?

N.J. (New Jersey) Sekela (same fellow) – N.J. Sekela

Hey Ferd,
Here’s a few quick photos of some current repros made by this guy 8 or 9 years ago. I feel bad for new collectors out there.

Jim (Bender)

It’s Clevenger back from the Grave

Saturday, 08 June 2013

Red Flag alert for Drake’s Plantation Bitters and other important bottles.

“Take a trip with me into the worm hole”

Just love this grid from Jason Rinehart “Take a trip with me into the worm hole” 😉 Hope everyone having a great night…..

Friday, 07 June 2013

Looking for pictures and info on the following to accompany Bennet’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters post. Would like to develop a timeline for Henry W. Bennet, Joseph N. Souther and (Blank) Chenery.

B 74 BENNET’S WILD CHERRY STOMACH BITTERS

BENNET’S ( au ) / WILD CHERRY / STOMACH BITTERS ( ad ) // f // CHENERY, SOUTHER & CO. ( au ) / SOLE AGENTS / SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. ( ad ) // f //
9 x 3 (6 5/8) 3/8
Square, Amber, LTCR, Applied mouth, Very rare
Lettering reads base to shoulder on brand name panel, Reverse reads shoulder to base as is usual.

Thursday, 06 June 2013

Rumor has it that a Memory Bottle (see example above) has been found in the form of a Drake’s Plantation Bitters. When a piece of the plaster was removed, a ‘pinkish’ Drakes was observed. Stay tuned.

Had some fun looking at some of my Bitters trade cars with children along with other examples in my archives. Read: Young Children in Antique Trade Card Advertising

Hello Ferd,

Our Butte Montana bottle show went great. 10 more early birds than last year and close to the same attendance on Sat. and it was busy for awhile. The newspaper came in and interviewed some dealers.

Many bottles for free appraisals but nothing great that I saw but a lady says she has a GREEN Dr Fish bitters. Someone is going to go check on it, youll probably hear about it. The raffle went well and we made a little money and I won a purple insulator for my collection.

I picked up a green Jacksons Napa Soda here to add to my collection. The Kroger is the apple green one we dug last week and cleaned up nearly mint but has a lip chip. The Eureka Nevada soda only a handful known. The Casey & Cronan Eagle soda gravitating is probably rare too.

The club dig on Sunday at a ghost town was rained out about an hour into digging. Found 2 big outhouses but hardly anything but marbles. About a dozen enthusiastic diggers showed up but we didnt get to hang out long due to the rain and ice storm. Its a real tough town always some weather situation. I will find the good bottles as they are there just takes patience and many days work with shovels and track hoe! How fortunate we are that the owner has let us dig around. Now we find he has an outhouse on another piece of property. 14 by 5 feet or so! Maybe a 4 seater! Big tree roots to carefully deal with but we will get to this soon I hope.

Keep up the great work!
James (Campiglia)

Tuesday, 04 June 2013

Rattled of four posts yesyerday. Lots of incoming material and questions. Watching the great examples of a Lippman’s Great German Bitters and a Bennett’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters on ebay.

Nice e-mail from my talented bottle friend John Akers…

Ferd,

I’ve attached a cartoon you may want to use sometime. It’s not really funny but it gives the bottle collector pause for thought on how things may have happened in days gone by.

I actually drew this one just for you as I know you love Drakes. They are also my favorite as a green Drakes is second on my wish just under a Hartley’s Peruvian from Muncie.

I really wanted to have this one ready for your birthday but I’m having trouble drawing these days. While I’ll only be sixty two next month and am in excellent health it seems arthritis has decided to settle in my thumb joints of all places. Can’t hold a pencil for very long.

Any way, I hope you get a kick out of the cartoon and want you to know I think you are doing a great job as FOHBC president.

Good health my friend!
John

See more of Johns work: Meet John Akers – A Collector and his Cartoons

Monday, 03 June 2013

Mean Oriental Midget, chopsticks, a rat, and a cat eating a rat…great way to promote your product I suppose. I wouldn’t have thought it.

Anybody need any Brain Salt today?

Sunday, 02 June 2013

Same storms passing over Peachridge now. Holding off my dog run. Had a good 1 1/2 River run with the dogs (Cooper, Sadie, Coco, Remy) yesterday. Remy (short) for Remington is our newest. Elizabeth saved her a few weeks ago when she saw some A-hole toss her out a window out in the stix and ditch it. She’s a good pup.

Love this old Bromo Seltzer photograph.

Look at this cool 1892 photograph of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, taken at Henry Clay Village (Tower Road and West 19th Street in Wilmington, Delaware) by photographer Pierre Gentieu.

One of the larger advertisements for a medicine that I have ever seen. Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound.

Saturday, 01 June 2013

Back on the saddle again. Behind with bottle work.

Electric Bitters post updated with an example of an E 33.5 ELECTRIC BRAND BITTERS. This is a later bottle, similar to E.30. Bottle sited by Bill Ham on ebay.

ABCR Auction 12 just ended Australian Eastern Standard Time.

Trade card for Dr. Petzold’s on ebay. Haven’t seen this one. Added to existing post.

Posted in Bitters, Daily Dose, Peachridge Glass, Scams & Frauds, Trade Cards | Tagged Charlie Gardner, Daily Dose, Electric Bitters, Fleury's Wa-hoo Tonic, Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, Kris Kernozicky, Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Shirley Kernozicky, Velma Craft | Leave a comment

Gary Katzen Milk Glass Collection

Posted on 30 May 2013 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Gary Katzen (center) – Baltimore Bottle Show 2012

Gary Katzen Milk Glass Collection

30 May 2013

Read Part 2: Why White? or How the %$#@! did you choose that Category?

I first met Gary Katzen online, a year ago June when he sent me some incredible pictures of milk glass bottles on his shelves (see further below). He was asking if I might be interested in one of his Bunker Hill Monument colognes as he heard I had a color run.

I immediately took an ‘online’ liking to Gary as he seemed extremely knowledgeable, personable and passionate about milk glass. He next teased me with a killer picture of a ‘Dancing Indian‘ cologne pictured above from his collection. He noted it as being the whitest of white opaque glass and attributed the piece to Stanger glass works; circa 1848-1853. Wow, what a piece!

Milk glass is an opaque or translucent, milky white or colored glass, blown or pressed into a wide variety of shapes. First made in Venice in the 16th century, colors include blue, pink, yellow, brown, black, and the white that led to its popular name.

19th-century glass makers called milky white opaque glass “opal glass“. The name milk glass is relatively recent. The white color is achieved through the addition of an opacifier, e.g. tin dioxide or bone ash.

Made into decorative dinnerware, lamps, vases, and costume jewelry, milk glass was highly popular during the fin de siecle. Pieces made for the wealthy of the Gilded Age are known for their delicacy and beauty in color and design, while Depression glass pieces of the 1930s and ’40s are less so. Perhaps one of the most famous uses of opal glass (or at least the most viewed example) was for the four faces of the information booth clock at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. [Wikipedia]

This past March I was able to meet Gary finally as my dealer table at the 2013 Baltimore Bottle Show was in close proximity to his outstanding 18th Century Milk Glass display (see above). The display also won a ‘People’s Favorite” award. I know it was my favorite.

Anyway, I had a few pictures from Gary nested away. Hope you enjoy.

Gary Katzen Milk Glass Collection

Variety of wonderful milk glass examples from the Gary Katzen Collection.

Look at those great milk glass colognes (left) and the Bunker Hill Monument examples from the Gary Katzen Collection. Two monuments are fiery opalescent (second and third from right). The 12” example on the far right is opaque.

Lion cologne. Contrary to popular belief this is not Sandwich but rather a South Jersey/Kensington PA. piece most likely produced by Solomon Stanger III at the Stanger Glass Works or another South Jersey Glass house around 1848-1860. The Free Will Glass Mfg. Co. (Williamstown Glass works) 1840-1854 listed this mold in their catalog as well. T.W Dyott listed one of these as early as 1833. There are at least four mold variants known, this example has what appears to be a slugged out Greek Key pattern on the indented side panels. – Gary Katzen Collection

This Lion cologne is pictured in McKearin’s American Glass plate 244 #13. Look at the lip (see above) – Gary Katzen

12 Sided colognes opaque and fiery opalescent 4” – 11”, Sandwich glass works ca. 1870 – Gary Katzen Collection (second from left – Jeff and Holly Noordsy listing: COLOGNE BOTTLE, fiery opalescent milk glass, 12-sided, smooth base, 7 5/8″H, tooled mouth, mint. American, probably blown at the Boston and Sandwich Glass Works, Sandwich, MA, C. 1870, ex. Charles B. Gardner collection.