Amongst the 238 lots in the first auction, some items that may be of interest are:

Lot 107 – Miniature Pedestal Oil, a super rare piece in aqua (only one known to us in this miniature size)

Lot 107

Lot 113 – Abbey Mustard, an English item of worldwide appeal. These were exported around the world in the mid 1800′s, this example being found in Australia

Lot 140 – Rosebud Butter Jar, an unusual shaped butter jar which is an extremely rare piece for the discerning jar collector

Lot 175 – Green Warners Safe Cure, this four cities double collar type Safe Cure is distinctly green as compared to the normal amber variations, not the usual dark green of the London or Frankfurt varieties, it is somewhere in between.

Lot 197 – Jules Hauel Bears Grease, a classic piece from a famous perfumer who exported many goods right around the world. This is one of many quality potlids to be found in the sale.

Lot 197

Lot 216 – Boston Hop Bitters, an AUSTRALIAN bitters, this is one of many Australian bitters found that have US names associated with them. Thought to be so named to cater for the swelling American population at the time. A rare bottle, this has some damage but is a nice looking example.

Visit their web site or go directly to the online auction for viewing and bidding.

The highlight of the sale was undoubtedly Lot 119, a clear (amethyst tint) figural BROWN’S / CELEBRATED / INDIAN HERB BITTERS brought $20,000. Thought to be one of only 3 examples, this rare bottle was recently found at a yard sale in the Seattle, Washington area. Most are familiar with the not uncommon amber “Indian Queens” but other colors are scarcely seen.

Lot 1, a F. BROWN DRUGGIST bottle in emerald green with open pontil brought $6,000 despite cracks around the pontil scar. This bottle is noted by the auctioneer as unique. The description also states that Frederick Brown ran a drug store at the corner of Chestnut and 5th Street in Philadelphia and later became famous for his F. Brown’s Essence of Jamaica Ginger. The Jamaica Ginger bottles are quite common and known to most every bottle collector.

Lot 2 was a beautiful deep emerald green DR GUYSOTT’S – COMPOUND EXTRACT / OF YELLOW DOCK – & SARSAPARILLA in perfect condition which closed at $5,000, a strong market price indicative of the overall auction results. Recession, what recession? There seems to be no decrease in antique bottle prices, except at the very low end (below $100) of the market.

National Bitters, Lot 152

The sale included a good number of aqua pontil medicines which fared well. Also of note was the great offering of mineral waters from the Robert ‘Bob’ White Collection. A yellow olive Hanbury Smith NY (Tucker M-20-A) mineral water brought $1900, a blue green Deep Rock Spring quart (N-13-A) formerly in Norm Heckler’s collection brought $2000 and a GARDNER & LANDON / SHARON / SULPHUR WATER in olive brought $2750. Mineral water bottles, at least the good ones, are alive and well.

The sale also included six Willington, Connecticut cathedral pickle jars, included a damaged example of the large mold in the extremely rare olive amber color. Prices ranged from $2300 for an example in greenish aqua to $3500 for the aforementioned olive amber piece to $5500 for a perfect condition large mold example in cornflower blue.

Perhaps the only bargain of the day was the sparkling perfect yellow National Bitters which closed at just $2400, well under its estimate. Overall, it was however a strong sale.

Prices quoted do not include the 15% buyers premium.

The second example (auction # 320557162981), offered by a seller in Cleveland, OH, didn’t fare quite as well and brought just $2500 $3250. Although the bottle seemed just as fine as the other, sellers may have been scared off by a few negative marks on the seller’s feedback record. So goes the auction world.

For all you non-collectors out there, beware of a similar bottle marked McGiver’s American Army Bitters and is also marked Wheaton, NJ. These are found in amber as well as pale blue and green. Wheaton Glass Works produced these modern re-creations in the mid to late 20th century and they are fairly common. Their value is more in the range of $5-15

Search for McKeevers or McGivers Bitters bottles on ebay.

View this auction on ebay or search for other cornucopia-eagle flasks on ebay

Click on the thumbnails below to see full size images.

This olive green iron pontil NEPTUNE GLASS WORKS bottle got my attention.  I checked with one longtime New Jersey collector and he had never heard of it.

The reverse panel is marked CROWLYVILLE N.J.

Medicine? Whiskey?  What do you think?

It recently brought $3,049.99 on ebay.

Look at cathedral pickle bottles for sale on ebay.com

We thought, when first seeing the thumbnail image online, that it was the work of Dog River Glassworks, the now defunct manufacturer of reproduction bottles.  On examination of the photos, it quickly was apparent that this was no reproduction.  We spoke with one longtime collector who commented that he had not seen one offered for sale in over 25 years.

In this case, the clear photos which appear to show the color with precision really helped buyers overcome any doubts about that the seller might not be accurately describing the item (not intentionally but because they are not a collector)

We suspect this bottle would have sold for more if offered via one of the auction houses such as Heckler’s or American Glass Gallery.  It is a simple fact that buyers want the confidence that comes from buying from an auctioneer who describes the condition and the color with accuracy.

Louisville Eagle flask auction on ebay

Back to 2010. While most ACL soda bottles will cross the $30 mark, occasionally they bring a good bit more. Of course, as always, condition is of utmost importance, and this one is all clean, sheen and pristine. But that is about it – otherwise it is fairly plain jane, so look twice before you recycle them.

Perhaps someone can fill me in on the record price for an ACL soda?

Look to the SODA FIZZ web site for more information on the ACL soda craze.

Piedmont Pale Dry Ginger Ale bottle auction

Search for ACL soda bottles on ebay

Piedmont Ginger Ale ACL soda

Piedmont Bottling Company, Pale Dry Ginger Ale

Right now on ebay is a “dag” of a man holding a bottle of WARE’S LOTION. The bottle appears to be an oval aqua bottle with flared lip and a wrap-around label. You cannot tell if it is embossed or not. Surely it would be pontiled if from this time period. I made a quick check in the Greer catalog of pontiled medicines and find another bottle (Lot 1720) which is embossed WARE’S LOTION OR PAIN EXTRACTOR. The bottle is rectangular and has a tapered lip and is 6-1/2″ tall. It’s listed in the catalog as extremely rare. It brought $170 in the auction in 1989.

It’s an incredibly cool historical piece for the antique bottle collector. I’m tempted to bid on it myself. We’ll see.

With 3 days to go in the auction, the bidding is currently at $320 and the auction has not yet made reserve.

View this Daguerreotype auction

Man with Ware's Lotion, circa 1840

Close up view of Ware's Lotion bottle

Full view of Ware daguerreotypes

From the book, Ketchup, Pickles, Sauces by Betty Zumwalt:
E.H.V.B. stands for Elias H. Van Benschoten. He operated a dry goods store in New York at 68 Spring Street about 1842. He changed his line and began the Pickle manufacture in 1849 at 252 Front Street. After 1854 there is no mention of him. The bottle comes in two sizes and is extremely rare.

Most are indeed aqua – this green color would be easily called a rare bird.

You can buy it now on ebay for $5199 $4149 $3549.