Rare amber Van Vliet jar
30 bids pushed the closing price on an amber Van Vliet jar to $21,978.98 – this ebay bottle auction closed July 19th. You have to love it when a person lists something as rare as this with the description “”brown glass” – obviously it was found by someone who knows nothing of bottles and jars. Guess they got a surprise at that closing price!
Check out this auction yourself at ebay.com
EG Booz Old Cabin Whiskey
I stumbled upon a straight roof Clevenger EG Booz bottle on ebay this week – this is a classic Clevenger piece that is fairly faithful to the original and looks genuinely old. The experienced collector, however, knows to look for the details that distinguish it from the originals.
Do you have an original EG Booz bottle? It might just be one of the 31 different reproduction molds documented by Tom Haunton in Tippecanoe and E.G. Booz Too! – A book about cabin bottles Tom’s book (available now only on CD) describes each in detail and the book is richly illustrated throughout. He even went to the effort of assigning a McKearin classification number to each mold. Continue reading…
Bottleauction.com FOHBC auction
This 75-lot “hidden” auction closes August 7, 2008. Top bids from this online bidding process will go up against the live auction called by Norm Heckler at the FOHBC International Show in York, PA August 8-10
Delmarva Glass and Bottle auction – April 28th.
Closes Monday April 28th, 2008 at 11:00 PM EDT
Great bottles and glass: black glass, Pittsburgh pieces, New England glass and more.
Heckler auction – March 12, 2008
Absentee Auction 85 – Closed March 12, 2008
Lots of great historical flasks, glass and other quality wares.
Naval Deck Sweeper and Naval Boarding Weapon
A good story can always sell an object.
Several bottles appeared on ebay this week described as 18th century “Naval Deck Sweepers” and “Naval Boarding Weapons.” What a lovely and charming story filled with illusions of military battles, gunsmoke, sea journeys and explosives. Most bottle collectors would instantly recognize the freeblown form as what we collectively and quaintly call “Persian Saddle Flasks” or “Mexican tourist trade glass.” No matter what euphemism by which you choose to call them, it is commonly accepted knowledge that such freeblown pieces with exaggerated crudeness in manufacture and intentional ‘coarse’ glass containing significant bubbles and impurities are the work of 20th century glass manufacturers. Such glass has been around for decades, and may have been blown in Mexico, South America, Europe or the mid-East.
While it is not uncommon to find such bottles at any bottle show in the range of $35, it is quite shocking to see that numerous bidders have signed on to the battle and run up the bidding in excess of $500.
P.T. Barnum would not be the least bit surprised.
Update:
Here is another page showing photographs of the Naval deck Sweeper bottles in question.
Sarsaparilla bottles
If you are a collector of sarsaparilla bottles, do take a look at the Glassworks Summer Cleanup auction. They have dozens of examples in this auction. Otherwise it is a lot of common or damaged items but likely something for everyone. The auction closes July 31st.
Phoenix Bitters
2006-06-26 15:24:05
There are a nice mint pair of Phoenix Bitters on ebay this week: one in olive green and one in olive amber. It is curious that both examples of this relatively scarce American bottle currently reside in New Zealand. They are listed as auctions 102251042235 and 102251043301. The olive amber example closed at $1026.51; the olive green at $861.51. These prices are somewhat lower than these bottles have commanded in the past few years.
Essential Ebay links
ebay has gotten so large that it can often be difficult to find what you need when you need it! Here is our short list of essential commonly-used links. Are we missing any? Let us know.
my.ebay.com bet you didn’ t know it was that easy to get to this essential location!
Masury's Sarsaparilla Cathartic
Masury’s Sarsaparilla Cathartic with an iron pontil in a deep blue color…impressive! Ever seen one before? On ebay at auction # 6287151045. The bidding held around $13,000 to within a few hours of closing and the usual last minute bids drove the price up to $17,455, somewhat less than we thought it would bring.
Another recent big winner was a olive green sealed snuff jar with seal marked Gordon & Emmott London with flared lip. Just 17 bids brought the hammer price to $5,617.99