Glass Works Auctions' October 27th Online Auction Featured Antique Bottles, Historical Flasks, More

By Author: Jim Hagenbuch
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A circa 1862-1875 “S.T. Drake’s 1860 Plantation X Bitters” bottle sold for $19,890; a circa 1865-1875 “Old Dr. Townsend’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters” bottle realized $16,380; and a circa 1840-1860 “Green’s Aqua Mixture Jackson Mississippi” bottle garnered $8,775 in Glass Works Auctions’ online-only Premier Auction #187 held Monday, October 27th.

The auction featured 272 lots of various antique bottles, historical flasks and early American blown glass. There were 147 winning bidders, with all online traffic driven through the Glass Works Auctions website (glassworksauctions.com). Overall, the sale grossed $372,000. Phone and absentee bids were accepted. All prices in this report include a 17 percent buyer’s premium.

The “S.T. Drake’s 1860 Plantation X Bitters” (Ring/Ham, D-108, “Patented 1862”) was the first bottle up for bid and the top achiever of the auction. It was a visually clean, near perfect example with a very bold impression. Even the typically weak “S.T. Drake” stood out.

It was the color, though, that captivated bidders. “All Drake’s collectors know that ...
... the green coloration is the rarest and most sought after of all Drake’s bottles,” said James Hagenbuch, the owner of Glass Works Auctions. “It has that highly desirable lighter density of color, so light you can read a paper through it. This was a truly exceptional example in a real dazzling green color.”

The circa 1865-1875 “Old Dr. Townsend’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters” bottle (Ring/Ham, T-51) was of yellow amber chestnut form, 8 ¾ inches tall, with an open pontil and an applied ring mouth and handle. It was in perfect condition. Applied handled bottles like this one were a popular form of packaging used by many whiskey companies in the 1870s.

The circa 1840-1860 “Green’s Aqua Mixture Jackson Mississippi” bottle was a bluish aqua color. The bottle is very rare. This very one was sold at auction in 1992 through the Harmer Rooke Gallery in New York for $990. Their auction sticker is still on the base of the bottle.

A circa 1865-1875 “Old Sachem Bitters and Wigwam Tonic” bottle (N.Y., Ring/Ham, O-46), 9 ½ inches tall, with a smoky moss green barrel, smooth base and applied mouth, was nearly perfect and commanded $15,210. Old Sachem Bitters barrels are known for their wide array of colors. Of those, ones in shades of deep green are the rarest and most desirable.

A circa 1866-1875 “The Fish Bitters – W.W. Ware / Patented 1866” medium lime green bottle in the shape of a fish with an applied aqua glass lip, was reeled in for $5,850. “The bottle was very rare and in a desirable color, as pure green as any we’ve sold,” Mr. Hagenbuch said, “and the applied aqua mouth was unique.”

A circa 1877-1895 target ball “From / J. Palmer Oneil / & Co. / Pittsburgh” (Penn.), yellow amber in color, 2 ½ inches in diameter, a rare Pittsburgh ball in perfect condition, hit $4,095.

A New England circa 1840-1860 “Howard’s / Vegetable – Cancer. and / Canker, Syrup” bottle (Odell, pg. 118), in an “old” yellowish amber color, 7 ¼ inches tall, with an open pontil and applied mouth, breezed to $5,850. It was an exceptional example. It’s also rarely offered at auction, especially with the more desirable open pontil.

A circa 1840-1860 “Dr. Perkins / Syrup, Albany” (N.Y.) medium blue green bottle with an unusual square iron pontil, topped out at $9,360. This was a big, impressive-looking medicine bottle in pristine condition and one that’s rarely offered for sale. It featured nice whittle marks and “seedy” glass.

A circa 1865-1875 “Saratoga Seltzer Spring Co. (motif of bubbling bottle) / Saratoga, N.Y. – SSS” (in script) olive green pint bottle rang up $3,802. The bottle was in fine condition save for some dried base contents. It was rated as number 7 in Bernard Puckhaber’s 1973 list of the “Ten Most Wanted Saratogas.”

A circa 1835-1840 American Eagle pale vaseline color pint bottle, depicting an eagle with a serpent in its beak (referred to as the “Snake of Corruption” and believed to have been made for William Henry Harrison’s presidential campaign of either 1836 or 1840) soared to $11,700. The historically important flask was rated #29 in McKearin’s American Glass top 40 historical flasks.

A circa 1842-1855 free blown “Lily Pad” sided bowl from Redford Glass Works (Redford, N.Y.), American Glass (plate 6, #1), bluish aquamarine in color, the rim 7 ½ inches in diameter and the base 3 ½ inches in diameter, one of only a handful known, chalked up $7,020. This example was owned by the late Malcolm Polis, a renowned collector of early American glass.

A British circa 1711 black glass onion form wine bottle (reading “M / I.S. / 1711” on an applied seal), deep yellowish olive green in color, found a new owner for $4,095. This exact bottle was pictured in Burton’s, Vol. 2, page 559, with the caption, “The pyramidal lettering may suggest a tavern seal.” It was sold at Sotheby’s in London in 1987 for £1,100.

Glass Works Auctions’ next big online-only auction event is Premier Catalog Auction #188, slated for Monday, November 17th. It will feature 125 choice examples from the Richard and Elma Watson Collection. The sale opens for bidding November 10th at glassworksauctions.com.

To learn more, please visit www.glswrk-auction.com.

About Glass Works Auctions:
Glass Works Auctions has offices and a gallery in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. The firm is always accepting quality bottles and related items for future auctions. To inquire about consigning a single piece or an entire collection, you may call them at 215-679-5849; or, you can send an email to info@glswrk-auction.com. To learn more, you may visit www.glswrk-auction.com. Updates are posted often.