Well I'll Be...

One of my favorite movies of all time is Tombstone; the one with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, & Bill Paxton.

One of the many memorable lines, (and my favorite) went like this; Wyatt says, "Well, I'll be damned", to which Doc Holiday replied "You may indeed - if you get lucky".

I may be both~

While perusing the Reno Evening Gazzete November 12, 1887 edition, I stumbled across an advertisement on page 4 which clears up a mystery that's dogged us since John Thomas came out with his first book on western whiskies, back in the sixties.

John stated, "As far as known, nobody has found one of the Thistledew bottles with a label. This bottle is still only believed to come from the West." All but a couple of the few known Thistledew examples were recovered in Nevada, Utah and Idaho.

The advertisement spells it all out in a nice neat package. W.O.H. Martin / For Sale Wholesale & Retail / Sole Agent for Reno, Washoe County, and Lassen and Modoc Counties, California/.

Well John, you can't get much more "western" than the Silver State! Looks like Tommy Taylor has company now. Thistledew is a Nevada Whiskey.

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Just got an email from an acquaintance on Oahu. I stand corrected. At least two globby Thistledews have been dug in and around Honolulu. A little more "digging" turned up the reason;


This ad appeared on May 24,1886;

Followed by this one from the December 17, 1887 edition of the Hawaiian Gazette. Kinda gives a new meaning to crossover, eh?



















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Neat Stuff!

Here's a fresh example, dirt and all. Check out the drip on this puppy!

COMING THIS WEEKEND!

Morro Bay, California
Friday & Saturday March 23th & 24th 
 The San Luis Obispo Bottle Society’s 44th Annual Show and Sale
 Friday 1:00 pm to 6: 00 pm 
Saturday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
at the Morro Bay Veterans Hall
209 Surf Street, Morro Bay, California.

From Layer To Cabinet...

Here is a fresh find from the soils of a Northern California province.  Just a A No. 1 JH Cutter, but in an appealing yellow coloration. Any bourbons being pulled out of Nevada ?

Oregon Token Flasks

 

Four Oregon Token Flasks

By Garth Ziegenhagen

Thomas called these Newman flasks, but the real Newman flask is embossed on the

bottom with C.Newman, Pat. Oct.10th 1876. Oregon has four of these emerald green

Token flasks and two of the unlisted ones are pictured below.

The other two are the

OLD O.I.C./ RYE



from Oregon Importing Co. and 



C.J. STUBLING/THE DALLES/ OREGON.

 Both of these flasks have appeared at Oregon Bottle Showʼs in the past.

The SARATOGA LIQUOR CO/ 245 ALDER ST./ PORTLAND,ORE

was owned by Harry R. Eaton and it was difficult to find him in the directories because he

was only in business for one year in 1911.

 It seems like most of these owners that moved around

would use these token flasks because a new token would much easier and cheaper

than embossing a flask. Also the token flask is one of the prettier flasks made. The

token could be placed upside down so it could be read while drinking it. To my

knowledge only one of these Saratoga Liquor Co. flasks is known in 2012.

OAK RUN/( logo)/ BOURBON

is attributed to W.J.VAN SCHUYVER & CO

as each of his initials W.J.V.S are incised inside the same logo used on his embossed

cylinders and his Cyrus Noble shot glass on page 120 in Barbara Edmonson's book.

William Van Schuyer was a partner in a saloon in Portland in 1866 and became the sole

owner in 1877. The company stayed in business until prohibition. The date of this token

flask is probably in the early 1900s.

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Shot glasses were also produced to advertise these brands.
Here's a few examples:

Many thanks to Margie Ornduff for bringing the Van Schuyver token flask to the Feb. 2012 Aurora Show

Shots courtesy of the Ken Schwartz collection.