Several weeks ago, this bottle popped up on ebay, which I am sure was a surprise to many collectors. It is quite rare; only a single damaged example has turned up on the antique bottle auction circuit in the past 15+ years which speaks for itself. You’ll find it listed as G52 in Ring / Ham’s Bitters Bottles.

Over 30 bids ended with a closing price of $4100. My congratulations to the buyer; it was a steal.

It was ebay auction #190597109823 if you want to check it out.

Of possible interest to US collectors are a series of fruit jars including a midget Mason’s and the very rare quart and half gallon Sydney “Dingo” Fruit Jars (Lots 188 – 190).

A few Warner’s are on offer, including a nice green London example (Lots 268 – 270). We have a nice selection of ribbed poisons (Lots 320 – 323) with some other poisons available from Lots 330 through to 335. Once again we have a fine selection of pot lids, including one of the finest lids available in Australia (Lots 336 – 382). A superb fully labelled Hartwig bitters is available as Lot 390. Possibly some of the finest lots on offer are the final two lots of the auction, Lots 410 and 411. These are early applied seal wine bottles in a huge magnum size. Lot 410 is embossed on the seal: J. Bell. This is not listed in any of the English seal books, it is possibly of American origin?

There is a huge number of items on offer, why not have a look when you get some time, you may well find something that will slot nicely into your collection.

Catalogue viewing now at: http://www.rtam.com/abcr/cgi-bin/CATALL.CGI

I received an ebay Saved Search email in my inbox the other day with a tiny thumbnail of a labeled bottle. The photo jumped right out at me: first of all, the photo was brilliantly clear and captivating, but the bottle just sold itself with its full color graphical label. You can see that bottle on ebay – it is auction #250869094366.

One great graphical label!

One might point out that this bottle is offered as a Buy It Now for a flat rate and is discussed here on a web site supposedly about auctions. If you have been paying close attention on ebay in recent years, the trend is very much away from auctions and has shifted to fixed pricing for many items. Some say the era of the online auction has peaked. I do not believe that entirely, but I can tell you in my spot check this week, the antique bottle pre-1900 category on ebay has just 30 percent as auctions. The remaining 70 percent are fixed price listings.

But I digress. When looking at labeled bottles, look for those in great condition. Damaged or worn labels are simply not as visually appealing and are never going to be worth what their crisp, clean counterpart will. Also consider the believable factor when looking at a label-only bottle. There are plenty of antique bottles out there which have been enhanced or augmented with labels. Some fit the bottle, others simply leave big questions as to their authenticity. One great example is the Hollis labels from a Boston, Massachusetts area company. A big cache of labels from this company were discovered in the past 20 years and have dispersed across the US. Many of these labels now reside attached to antique glass. While it can be argued that such labels do not detract from the value of the bottle itself, they do not necessarily increase value either.

Beware also of fraudulent or outright reproduction labels. I am aware of at least one person who is making high quality replica labels (the ebay seller goes by various names on ebay along the lines of “Granny Fark,” “BaxterCo” and others) and is attaching them to bottles of all different ages. The labels are also methodically yellowed and worn to look old. The seller does state that the labels are new, but you know as well as I do that such items find their way into the collecting world and their original story is lost. Sooner or later, they will be back on the market and pitched as authentically old.

Yep, that is the story behind this recently discovered gem. You see the KELLYS OLD CABIN BITTERS around in amber often enough, but not olive green. Darn…wish I had been watching ebay that week, because I would have bid!

Kelly's Bitters, recently liberated from storage

And here is the color:

Woosh! olive green

The Warner empire did eventually spread world-wide so you will find examples of the Warner bottles from Australia, Germany and Canada. Back on June 17, a rare Warner’s Save Cure Frankfurt A/M sold on ebay, closing at $2753. I doubt it is a record price for a Warner bottle but it ranks up there in the auction records. It is thought to be one of three examples known to exist. Yes, indeed, true rarity does impact value and is not diluted by all the claims to rarity so frequently found on ebay! (I just ebay’s Antique-Before-1900 category and found over 13% of the listings included the word rare)

This is a perfect bottle in great condition and bold embossing. The “A/M” embossing stands for “Am Main” or to Frankfurt’s location on the Main River.

Incidentally, there is a truly great web site devoted to H.H. Warner and his bottles. Be sure to check out Steve Jackson’s The Warner’s Safe Blog I always enjoy reading Steve’s postings.

There are a few more enameled cobalt ribbed poison bottles to follow up from the Chloroform and Cannabis example that they had in Auction 4. Of particular interest to US collectors is an octagonal X. Bazin pot lid from Philadelphia. New England collectors should take note of the Willington Glassworks pickle that was found in Australia. Although this example is water-worn, it has a great appearance and has a ground pontil.

A third item of interest to US collectors is the embossed Dr Grants Dandelion Bitters, New York. This bottle may appear to be from New York City, but in fact it is not. This is an exceptionally rare bitters bottle from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, which was produced for Shell & Zabel, a short lived company. Several companies in Australia that utilized American sounding names – you will find other bitters bottles such as New York Hop Bitters, St Louis Hop Bitters, Milwaukee Hop Bitters and even Philadelphia Hop Bitters.

The bottle is no doubt unique in the antique soda bottle world with its diagonal ribbing. What lends to the design also makes it fragile; all that ribbing is easily bruised.

This past week I noticed a nice clean example of this bottle turn up on ebay. The auction is still running today but closes soon. Current bidding is at $2100. Catch it while you can – this is a scarce bottle.

UPDATE, December 2011.

Glassworks Auctions just sold an example in remarkably mint condition for $4250. This price does not include the 15% buyers premium; apply some quick math and you get a total price of $4887.50. Here is a direct link to the auction result, although this link will probably not be valid for more than a few weeks. Lot 189, Glassworks Auction #93

Believe it or not, this is not a record price for this bottle. Chuck Moore auctioned one in the 80s or 90s which was thought to be the darkest example known and was exceptionally mint. I believe it brought around $5500. That bottle has since resold for considerably less – some believe the lip was buffed to hide a chip.

Bottles marked with “USA Hosp. Dept” or “USA Med’l Dept” are believed to have been produced during the Civil War for carrying medical liquids. Research by bottle collector and Civil War researcher Mike Russell suggests that these bottles were made at Baltimore, MD; Pittsburgh, PA and possibly St. Louis, MO glass houses.

These bottles are often found in clear and aqua but are scarce and highly prized by collectors in the many other colors in which they were made, especially cobalt blue, shades of amber, yellow, olive and other greens. The puce colored example is a rarity indeed; while it may not be unique, we do not recall seeing such an example in several major collections which have sold in the past 20 years.

It is a good example of an antique bottle that has many variations:

– a scarce/rare open pontil variant
– earlier examples in two distinct sizes
– a rare variant with the date missing
– a later tall, large size bottle found almost always in amber
– colors include emerald green, olive green, amber, tobacco amber, blue (rare), aqua, pale green

Value as always depends on condition, the depth and tone of the color and the mold variation.

Wisharts Pine Tree Cordial tax stamp

A superior example of a Wisharts Pine Tree Cordial in perfect condition

Auction 4 contains 254 lots. The theme of this auction would have to be chemist related items, we have a number of Australian branded chemist bottles, as well as a superb small collection of tooth paste and ointment lids. There are a couple of enameled cobalt chemist poison bottles which are of reasonable significance, lot 209 is a Cannabis bottle, Lot 210 is a Chloroform example.

A few other items of international interest are as follows:

Lot 70: Dark Brown Dakin Brothers of China torpedo / Hamilton bottle. Whilst it states China, these are an English bottle that are super rare, possibly a unique colour for a torpedo.

Lot 110: There are a number of baby feeder bottles in this auction, this lot is the finest of the lot. A ceramic blue and white printed baby feeder in original, undamaged condition. Most of these are repaired in one way or another.

Lot 141: Although this is an Australian bottle, this is a unique piece. Rosella banded jar, this little piece is from a large Melbourne company whose bottles are very common in general, this particular example is not. This is the first of these publicly auctioned.

Lots 145 to 147: Selection of pratt jars. These three early pieces are fine examples of early colourful Prattware.

Lot 150: Of particular interest to Fruit Jar collectors around the world will be this Orchard Fruit Jar. This is a variation that has never been seen by jar collectors that ABCR staff have spoken too.

Highlights of ABCR Antique Bottle Auction #4

Lot 198: Hallam Sydney amber chemist. ABCR has a fine selection of coloured chemist / poison bottles in this auction. This example is another bottle that has never been seen by collectors before!

Lot 218: Lazarus Bros Magpie Brand phenyle / poison bottle. Phenyles are a popular bottle in Australia, this is by far the pinnacle with the fantastic trade mark of a Magpie. This is an extremely rare bottle as well.

Lot 230: Simmons and Dwyer Tooth Paste Lid. What a classic! Known as the “Laughing Parson”, this has to be one of the finest pictorial pot lids in the world. Some viewers may recognize the resemblance to the infamous HA HA Quaker Man.

Lot 235: Unique neck sealed bottle. This embossed bottle from Bordeaux is an unusual piece with a seal on the neck of the bottle!

Lot 240: Super rare sealed gin bottle with a Polar Bear on the seal. This is attributed to Van Meerten & Zonen. One of a few beautiful gins in this auction, we also have a pinch-waisted Bols gin and a H H S & Co Imperial Gin which is an American bottle.

As per usual, there is a huge range of items on offer, the catalogue is now up for viewing at http://www.abcrauctions.com