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gracecollector
Well-known member
I'm leaving at 5pm to buy a bottle. It's for one of my player collections. Quite rare, unusual history. Good back story to it. Can anyone guess what bottle I'm going to buy?
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I'm off to buy a bottle - UPDATE - bottle in hand
- Thread starter gracecollector
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Tomlinson21RB
Active member
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
World series champagne bottle?
gracecollector said:
World series champagne bottle?
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
this one? Circa 1900 Cap Anson Brand Ginger Beer Bottle
this one? Circa 1900 Cap Anson Brand Ginger Beer Bottle
MojoDan
Active member
- Aug 22, 2008
- 30,348
- 1
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
I'm going along with Mox's guess...how much do those run?
I'm going along with Mox's guess...how much do those run?
thegreathambino
New member
- Jan 17, 2009
- 5,853
- 0
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
umm... Glass Coke bottle w/ Final Stadium @ Yankee Stadium Logo. I have 1 of those. Sealed, hopefully that will be either:
A) worths something 1 day
B) can help me during my future days in a possible bar fight
umm... Glass Coke bottle w/ Final Stadium @ Yankee Stadium Logo. I have 1 of those. Sealed, hopefully that will be either:
A) worths something 1 day
B) can help me during my future days in a possible bar fight
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
i think around 1k
MojoDan said:
i think around 1k
- Thread starter
- #7
gracecollector
Well-known member
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
Great guess! Here's a photo of the one I'm picking up tonight.
I've got 4 confirmed major auction house sales in the past 10 years, all between $500-$960 dollars. I'm paying $230 for this one.
The story behind the bottle is that Cap Anson went into a partnership to bottle and sell Ginger Beer around 1898. There was a flaw in the recipe (over carbonated) and most the bottles literally exploded in cellars. Very few bottles survive and most all have damage. The bottle shown in the top picture of Mox's post was from the legendary Barry Harper collection.
In Anson's biography, he relates the tale:
"As a bottler of ginger beer I achieved at another time great distinction
and there are some men in the country right now who have a very vivid
remembrance of the beverage that I was unfortunate enough to put upon
the market. My experience as a ginger beer manufacturer was laughable,
to say the least of it, though I confess that I did not appreciate the
fact at the time as much as did some of my friends and acquaintances.
During several of my visits to Canada in search both of players and
pleasure I had made the acquaintance of a Mr. William Burrill, who at
that time conducted a clothing store at London, Canada, and who had
treated both myself and Mrs. Anson with great kindness. This gentleman
finally went "down the toboggan slide" in a business way and at last
turned up in Chicago with a very little money and a formula for making
and bottling ginger beer. He needed, according to his own estimate,
about $500 more capital than he was possessed of and wished me to join
him in manufacturing it. He was a nice fellow, I was anxious to help him
along, and, besides that, viewed from a business standpoint, it looked
like a good thing, and as I was never averse to taking a chance when
there was a good thing in sight I concluded to join him in the venture.
The $500 that I was originally required to invest grew into $1,500,
however, before we got the thing on the market, and then the sales
started off in lively fashion, and so, not long afterwards, did the
ginger beer.
There was a flaw in the formula somewhere, just what it was I never have
been able to ascertain, but--well, there was something the matter with
it. It wouldn't stay corked, that was its worst feature, but would go
off at all times of the day and night and in the most unexpected
fashion. If the cork would hold, the bottle wouldn't, and as a result
there would be an explosion that would sound like the discharge of a
small cannon. Sometimes only one bottle out of a dozen would explode,
and then again the whole dozen would go off with a sound like that made
by a whole regiment firing by platoons. It was by long odds the
liveliest ginger-beer that had ever been placed upon the market. There
was entirely too much life in it. That was the trouble. Sitting among a
lot of fancy glassware on a back bar it looked as innocent of evil as a
newborn babe, but, presto change! and a moment afterwards it was its
Satanic Majesty on a rampage, and that back bar with its glassware
looked as if it had been struck by a Kansas cyclone.
Complaints began to pour in to the factory from all kinds and classes of
customers, and I began to be afraid to walk the streets for fear
that some one would accuse me of having bottled dynamite instead of
ginger-beer.
I sold a case of it to a friend of mine who kept a noted sporting resort
on South Clark street, Chicago. It was harmless enough when I sold it to
him. It was young then, and its propensity for mischief had not been
fully developed. It developed later. One evening when all was quiet
there was an explosion in the cellar. It sounded like the muffled report
of a dynamite cartridge. The billiard players dropped their cues and
some of them started for the door. A second explosion followed and the
**** porters' hair stood fairly on end and their faces became as near
like chalk as a black man's can.
The proprietor started down cellar to investigate. He had gotten half
way down when there came a third explosion.
He came back again more hastily than he had gone down, and ordered one
of the porters to ascertain the cause of the trouble.
The porter was a brave man, and he refused to do it.
I did not blame him when I heard of it.
In the meantime the rest of the ginger-beer bottles had caught the
contagion and the fusillade became fast and furious, and it did not stop
until the billiard-room and the last bottle of ginger beer were both
empty.
After silence had reigned for some time and it had become apparent that
danger was all past, my friend the proprietor grew courageous again and,
lamp in hand, he visited the cellar to investigate.
Where the case of ginger beer had set there was a mass of wreckage.
Broken glass was everywhere, while the flooring, ceiling and walls were
strained in a hundred different places. As he emerged from the cellar
with a look of supreme disgust on his countenance, he was surrounded by
an anxious group who asked as one man:
"What's the matter down there, Louis?"
"It's that ginger beer of Anson's," was the reply.
Then there was another explosion, this time one of laughter.
"Anson's ginger-beer" was getting a reputation, but it was not exactly
the sort of a reputation that I wanted it to have. I was willing to
close out the business even at a sacrifice, and this I did.
I saved more in proportion of my money than my customers did of the
ginger beer I had sold them. This was one consolation."
MojoDan said:
Great guess! Here's a photo of the one I'm picking up tonight.
I've got 4 confirmed major auction house sales in the past 10 years, all between $500-$960 dollars. I'm paying $230 for this one.
The story behind the bottle is that Cap Anson went into a partnership to bottle and sell Ginger Beer around 1898. There was a flaw in the recipe (over carbonated) and most the bottles literally exploded in cellars. Very few bottles survive and most all have damage. The bottle shown in the top picture of Mox's post was from the legendary Barry Harper collection.
In Anson's biography, he relates the tale:
"As a bottler of ginger beer I achieved at another time great distinction
and there are some men in the country right now who have a very vivid
remembrance of the beverage that I was unfortunate enough to put upon
the market. My experience as a ginger beer manufacturer was laughable,
to say the least of it, though I confess that I did not appreciate the
fact at the time as much as did some of my friends and acquaintances.
During several of my visits to Canada in search both of players and
pleasure I had made the acquaintance of a Mr. William Burrill, who at
that time conducted a clothing store at London, Canada, and who had
treated both myself and Mrs. Anson with great kindness. This gentleman
finally went "down the toboggan slide" in a business way and at last
turned up in Chicago with a very little money and a formula for making
and bottling ginger beer. He needed, according to his own estimate,
about $500 more capital than he was possessed of and wished me to join
him in manufacturing it. He was a nice fellow, I was anxious to help him
along, and, besides that, viewed from a business standpoint, it looked
like a good thing, and as I was never averse to taking a chance when
there was a good thing in sight I concluded to join him in the venture.
The $500 that I was originally required to invest grew into $1,500,
however, before we got the thing on the market, and then the sales
started off in lively fashion, and so, not long afterwards, did the
ginger beer.
There was a flaw in the formula somewhere, just what it was I never have
been able to ascertain, but--well, there was something the matter with
it. It wouldn't stay corked, that was its worst feature, but would go
off at all times of the day and night and in the most unexpected
fashion. If the cork would hold, the bottle wouldn't, and as a result
there would be an explosion that would sound like the discharge of a
small cannon. Sometimes only one bottle out of a dozen would explode,
and then again the whole dozen would go off with a sound like that made
by a whole regiment firing by platoons. It was by long odds the
liveliest ginger-beer that had ever been placed upon the market. There
was entirely too much life in it. That was the trouble. Sitting among a
lot of fancy glassware on a back bar it looked as innocent of evil as a
newborn babe, but, presto change! and a moment afterwards it was its
Satanic Majesty on a rampage, and that back bar with its glassware
looked as if it had been struck by a Kansas cyclone.
Complaints began to pour in to the factory from all kinds and classes of
customers, and I began to be afraid to walk the streets for fear
that some one would accuse me of having bottled dynamite instead of
ginger-beer.
I sold a case of it to a friend of mine who kept a noted sporting resort
on South Clark street, Chicago. It was harmless enough when I sold it to
him. It was young then, and its propensity for mischief had not been
fully developed. It developed later. One evening when all was quiet
there was an explosion in the cellar. It sounded like the muffled report
of a dynamite cartridge. The billiard players dropped their cues and
some of them started for the door. A second explosion followed and the
**** porters' hair stood fairly on end and their faces became as near
like chalk as a black man's can.
The proprietor started down cellar to investigate. He had gotten half
way down when there came a third explosion.
He came back again more hastily than he had gone down, and ordered one
of the porters to ascertain the cause of the trouble.
The porter was a brave man, and he refused to do it.
I did not blame him when I heard of it.
In the meantime the rest of the ginger-beer bottles had caught the
contagion and the fusillade became fast and furious, and it did not stop
until the billiard-room and the last bottle of ginger beer were both
empty.
After silence had reigned for some time and it had become apparent that
danger was all past, my friend the proprietor grew courageous again and,
lamp in hand, he visited the cellar to investigate.
Where the case of ginger beer had set there was a mass of wreckage.
Broken glass was everywhere, while the flooring, ceiling and walls were
strained in a hundred different places. As he emerged from the cellar
with a look of supreme disgust on his countenance, he was surrounded by
an anxious group who asked as one man:
"What's the matter down there, Louis?"
"It's that ginger beer of Anson's," was the reply.
Then there was another explosion, this time one of laughter.
"Anson's ginger-beer" was getting a reputation, but it was not exactly
the sort of a reputation that I wanted it to have. I was willing to
close out the business even at a sacrifice, and this I did.
I saved more in proportion of my money than my customers did of the
ginger beer I had sold them. This was one consolation."
MojoDan
Active member
- Aug 22, 2008
- 30,348
- 1
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
I'd love to have a site for Walter Johnson like yours of Anson one day...
I'd love to have a site for Walter Johnson like yours of Anson one day...
ChasHawk
New member
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
Absolutely classic story, and a must have for your collection.
Absolutely classic story, and a must have for your collection.
- Thread starter
- #10
gracecollector
Well-known member
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
The bottle is in hand. Pretty cool 110 year old collectible. The antiques dealer I bought it from lived on the Southside of Chicago. He had purchased a bottle collection from a city worker who worked at excavating sites for new buildings. Said he collected stuff from his digs, so this bottle had been buried for some time. Pretty remarkable it survived at all. Literally a piece of Chicago history!
The bottle is in hand. Pretty cool 110 year old collectible. The antiques dealer I bought it from lived on the Southside of Chicago. He had purchased a bottle collection from a city worker who worked at excavating sites for new buildings. Said he collected stuff from his digs, so this bottle had been buried for some time. Pretty remarkable it survived at all. Literally a piece of Chicago history!
predatorkj
Active member
- Aug 7, 2008
- 11,871
- 2
Awesome stuff!Way better than any cards.
So...is there anything left in the bottle?If not...do you plan to empty the contents or better yet try them out for yourself?I only ask because I'd imagine that it could still go off if there was anything left in it?Be bad if it went off and shattered all over.
So...is there anything left in the bottle?If not...do you plan to empty the contents or better yet try them out for yourself?I only ask because I'd imagine that it could still go off if there was anything left in it?Be bad if it went off and shattered all over.
BunchOBull
Active member
This is awesome...it would be an accomplishment to acquire something of this stature for a modern collection...but for a pre-war collection...wow, astronomical.
pujolsthomefan33
Active member
WOW--very nice!!!
- Thread starter
- #15
gracecollector
Well-known member
predatorkj said:
Nothing left. The bottles were originally corked and as you can see, the cork is gone. The bottle itself is cracked in multiple spots near the neck, but it is still held together - none of the cracks go completely through. Pretty amazing since it is an excavated bottle. Not as nice as the Harper bottle, but this one does have the imprint section all intact, which is nice for display. Considering I've never seen one of these sell for under $500, I think I got a great deal. Anson stuff is astronomically high, so it was something I could afford.
I've never had a Ginger Beer, may have to try one now if I can find one!
darrend505
New member
- Aug 9, 2008
- 9,478
- 0
Very cool peice! Ginger beer is ok. Tastes kind of bitter to me.
Mighty Bombjack
Active member
- Aug 7, 2008
- 6,115
- 12
A very cool and unique item.
I read the article about your book pickup awhile ago, and it still makes me drool.
I read the article about your book pickup awhile ago, and it still makes me drool.
MaineMule
Active member
GREAT pickup!!!
I have an original Ted's Root Beer (for Ted Williams of course) bottle safely stored away (not filled though). Need to find it and get it photographed.
I have an original Ted's Root Beer (for Ted Williams of course) bottle safely stored away (not filled though). Need to find it and get it photographed.
HawaiianLance
New member
- Aug 7, 2008
- 714
- 0
Re: I'm off to buy a bottle
:shock:
Nice. Really nice and an awesome p/u for the Anson Collection.
Great background btw Brad!
gracecollector said:
:shock:
Nice. Really nice and an awesome p/u for the Anson Collection.
Great background btw Brad!
