Why then would I have this interest in slugplates? Gotta blame a certain Mr. Eastley on this one. When I purchased a chunk of his fifth collection a few years ago he really had some killer slugs. I mean the air vented amber ones didn't do much for me, but the non vented ones - they were nice!
Had to sell a good portion of that collection, just to finance the bottles that I kept. Spiral neck - gone! red Whiskey Merch. - gone! Durham- history... can't even remember what they looked like. Sold about 30 of those bottles, and I am haunted by only one... R.T.Carroll(t-10). A damn slugplate. It was light yellow, whittled and dead mint! I knew it was rare, but... what a freakin idiot! I believe Fred Kille picked it up from me, we know that collection is a black hole. Sorry Fred, you know I'm kidding. At least you don't have to deal with seller's remorse. Maybe I can still stop in and see the bottle when I am in town??
The R.T. Caroll bottle your refering to I believe was the example found in Eureka California in the early 80s. The city was replacing a section of sidewalk downtown. The bottle was found less than a foot under a rotten plank walkway with more modern concrete on top of it. A worker marched this stellar 5th into a nearby antique shop on his lunch break and sold it to the dealer.
ReplyDeleteLove those "black hole" collections. I still have the three Sacramento "Sluggers" in a box somewhere around here.
ReplyDelete... Kinda brings a tear to one's eye .., Many Thanks from Texas !!!
ReplyDeleteSoleagent -
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that you do not find any whiskeys or bitters in Utah after about 1876. What events occured that stopped the flow of western bottles into Utah. Did the church put a ban on spirits? I can't believe that just all of a sudden the demand for alcoholic beverages stopped. And what about all those suffering souls that needed 3 wine glasses of bitters a day to heal what ailed them? Did all the bourbon drinkers move to Nevada?
What gives -
g.o.
Too bad ole R.T Carroll didnt put out a bitters. Then, I'm sure that long lost fifth would've been in the photo on the table w/ the Renz's ! Sole Agent,,, you gotta shake that Bitters habit !! Those darn things have tore-up many a mighty fine fifth collection........
ReplyDeleteAP
I purchased the Anderson collection that contained some "heavy" slugplates. In addition to a killer chocolate Bonanza, there was a pure yellow R.T. Carrol. It was beyond crude, and whittled. Bill had purchased it from a collector in Redding, Cal. and I still regret letting it go! It resides in Toulumne Cal. today. Sounds like a twin to Sole Agent's bottle that he also regrets letting go. Mine went for 5 figures, but I would buy it back in a hot second if I had the chance...it was THAT sweet.
ReplyDeleteI remember selling Bill a few "Heavy Sluggers". He surely did have a nice buncha "fifthicals". We used to converse at least weekly, but I haven't spoken to him but a few times since he turned "hermit" down in NM.
ReplyDeleteMiller
ReplyDeleteThat Bonanza used to be mine. It was found along the Sacto River nr Rio Vista. I sold it to the collector in Redding for peanuts shortly after I dug my own Bonanza. The Carroll you speak of was also mine. It was found in Hollister many yrs ago, and you're right... it is one sweet bottle. You forgot to mention the killer big swirl on the front ! As of today, there are only 7 of those known, and only 9 Bonanzas (4 of which have significant damage).
AP
You are right...the huge swirl in the face just made a spectacular bottle even more spectacular-er. The Bonanza is a gem. Nice character, and super strike. Why do most dark chocolate bottles have very bold embossing? Anyone figure that one out?
ReplyDeleteHey G.O.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Church had any say in the matter. I think it became less expensive to ship on the U.P. out of Omaha than to ship from San Francisco on the C.P. Those "Big Four Bastards" were always jacking the freight rates when they thought they could make more money. Early mining in Utah kinda slowed down in the mid to late 1870's as well. Then the big 1880's boom at Park City and the Tintic District ushered in the the second phase. Park City is loaded with 1880's and '90s stuff. It is the same stuff they find in Leadville and other Colorado towns. The bitters are all those white milk glass Hartwigs etc. No embossed fifths at all. There have been a few Peruvians found, so I guess there is at least 1 western bitters from the 80's.
Sole Agent
ReplyDeleteSeems the R.R. turned out to be a double edge sword for Utah bottle diggers !!
Right on with that A.P. The railroad brought the first big rush of "gentiles" - silver miners - after the transcontinental r.r. started running. To put a little religion to it, *CPRR 3 verse 12: The "Big Four" will giveth, and the then the Four shall taketh away.
ReplyDeleteJust think of all those 80s and 90s fifths and flasks that could have, should have been sold in Utah. Tragic!!
The CP and it's successor, the SP, weren't referred to as "the Octupus" for nothing. They held control of all lands from 1/2 mile to several miles on both sides of their R/W. The SP had it's "tentacles" in nearly every aspect of business in the latter decades of the 19th C. Being "the only game in town", they were able to set their rates to whatever they pleased, customers be damned. If you wanted your goods shipped faster by rail you paid the price. Bottled goods by the carload went in an easterly direction from SF towards whatever mining district had the biggest demand for the products. When the demand declined, the flow ceased.
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