The Confederation… of Toilet Hole Adventurists of the Southern States

Never cleaned, but very faintly embossed PATENT on the shoulder, this is one of my last two early scar pontil PATENT bottles. Nice color. In one photograph it is placed between a couple bottles from my collection to give you some color perspective. Not one I’m willing to give away on EBAY. Click once to enlarge, 1 or 2 more times to supersize depending on browser.

$165.00 plus $8.50 shipping

(cash or check only, please contact me at [email protected] to arrange delivery - insurance extra if desired)

This killer midwest ale is in fantastic shape for a dug bottle. It still has the original cork inside and some dirt that will wash out. Aside from some minor usage scuffs it’s perfect and retains most of it’s original “from the glasshouse” patina. It features a big, deep, full iron pontil (not the refired type) and appears to be a 2 part, not 3 part mold (also unusual). Deep olive green and chunky all-over whittle. A nice inexpensive pontiled ale to help make a row without breaking the bank. If it had anything embossed on it, it would be quite expensive. Though unembossed, have you ever seen another? And in near original condition to boot?

$100.00 plus 10.00 shipping

(cash or check only, please contact me at [email protected] to arrange delivery)

In fact, you’ll never see another, because the bottle doesn’t exist. It’s a fantasy bottle which I made out of an 1840′s Federal Hill soda mold that had its top knocked off, fitted with a new top and neck, joined at the neck for greater height. Then I had an idea. What if Wm. Russell, who did bottle during this period, had a brief run with this slug mold? It was the only bottle in my collection with embossing strong enough to make a good impression and fit in this slug (but I had to shorten it to just “Russell”) AND, who bottled in this period, but also through the 50′s.

A credible fake, with resin embossing, this bottle was held in hand at the Mobile show for several minutes by a veteran dealer who did not pick up on the alteration until told. And he was wearing his glasses at the time. That’s all I’m going to say about it.

$58.00 plus $8.75 shipping

(cash or check only, please contact me at [email protected] to arrange delivery)

As I recall, I paid over $75.00 for this one uncleaned, and then cleaned it, and it came out nice, but I didn’t try to buff out the one deep scratch on the side. An earlier example (1860′s) with some wrinkles in the lip, as opposed to the later ones (70′s) with lips as smooth as a baby’s butt. A few of these have come to light in the past two years making them seem less scarce.

I’m willing to take a loss on this one and sell it for $75.00 (meaning the cleaning is free) and even include shipping to most locations. Insurance extra if desired.

$67.50 plus $7.50 shipping

(cash or check only, please contact me at [email protected] to arrange delivery)

Another early one, Paul (or Paris?) Keach went to a yellow green torpedo probably around 1845 through 1847 when he suddenly dropped out and his mold was used to create the RUSSELL torpedo (around 1847). The vast majority of whole KEACH’s are yellow green in color, and all known examples are in torpedo form.

These exotic yellows, deep clarets, topaz and apricot puces, I believe, pre-date 1845 and were blown right alongside SUTTON’S open pontiled deep puce soda, some looking from the same batch of glass, maybe a little later than the open pontiled deep claret lager it is next to in a couple pics (RANDALL era, late 30′s). I believe they finished these torpedos in a clamp between 1840 and 1845 at Federal Hill, whereas the open pontiled RANDALL (and a few other super rare open pontiled ones) pre-date 1841.

This repair utilized a matching top and neck joined at the shoulder area. The top was a hair darker and the join line can be detected in certain lighting, but in other display situations, it is hard to detect at all. A few beers on a hazy afternoon and you’d hardly know it was altered, at far less than a tenth of what a perfect example would fetch at auction.

SOLD

Offered here is a very early BOYD torpedo blown at the Federal Hill Glassworks in Baltimore. BIG and IMPRESSIVE, in an extremely rare yellow topaz coloration, the digger found an exact top match and I joined the two pieces at the neck just above the shoulder. Look closely in the pictures to see the join line, which appears (razor thin) in certain lighting angles, then disappears at other angles and lighting, especially looking down upon it.

BOYD was in business from 1842 to 1851, and this is one of his early examples, blown the same years that his open pontiled soda was produced. For regular sodas, 1840-45 are open pontil years, and in 46 and 47 we start seeing scar pontils, whereas for Baltimore-made torpedos, the open pontil predates 1840 or 41. Between 41 and 45 they were finished in a “clamp” at Federal Hill, or so it seems from all available evidence. This one, I believe, predates, 1845.

Think about that as you consider this item, and imagine what an open-pontiled yellow topaz ROUSSEL PATENT soda would go for in this type of repair condition. It won’t be here for too long as it will be headed out to American Bottle Auction if it doesn’t sell here at this price.

SOLD

Though his late lager is as common as dirt, this slug plate porter mold is borderline rare for McLaughlin, especially in this extra nice condition. No damage, full iron pontil. Nicely cleaned by me - no stain, scratches or distractions at all, nice bubbles, rich color, get it while it’s here.

SOLD

I think there was a damaged one on Ebay with a BUY IT NOW about double what I’m asking here. Lightly cleaned, deep blood amber, there was a tiny sliver off the edge of lip before cleaning, too small to call a chip, and it’s hard to find at all now. About Perfect.

SOLD

This stately porter has class for an unembossed bottle. It is hammered with whittle, and features a single taper top, in that light to medium yellow green coloration that most of the Baltimore torpedos were blown in. This example also has clusters of unmelted sand dripping down the neck and into the shoulder. It was fairly scratched, but cleaned up to a nice shaded color, a little less yellow green and a hair more blue green than later examples-especially where it lightens up in the upper shoulder. (click images twice to super-size)

This example also had an inch long edge of lip chip, which I repaired. Some of the chipping discoloration appears through and beneath the epoxy. Not perfect, but a big improvement. Rare pontil treatment, with iron oxides over a ring of glass chunks-literally an iron over scar pontil treatment. An early example, dating to the 1840′s, though the mold continued well into the 1850′s. This is a Baltimore glass house product, though unmarked — probably Federal Hill. It is the same mold as several dug in Baltimore, though none with this pontil style.

When I held them up, side by side, accounting for the slight under-blow at the shoulder (to push down for the slight neck bulge), general crudity, mold age and a reworked base cup (plus the fact that one was moderately cleaned and the other not) when you compare the mold seams and how they line up … it’s close.

I’m leaning toward an almost intentional mold copy or a modified original … matches the high shoulder mold with a re-worked base cup. A stretch, but with Baltimore almost anything is possible.

English porters tend to have the more rounded shoulder and lower horizontal mold seam (shorter cup) in my experience. That’s why I call the Federal Hill mold the “high-shoulder” mold, as it has a short shoulder and higher horizontal cup seam than normal.

That general shape and even the lip could go either way between being a somewhat odd English porter or a very Baltimore looking reworked high shoulder mold or mold copy.

Probably something to ponder over until another bottle draws some connection.