Red Jacket Bitters Bottle Info

It would be very informative if he took another digital of the label. I think all facets of a find should be photographed if going to publicly display them. Probably could help positively ID the bottle then.

I didn’t find it with the label. I did, however, find a pic of the label that would have been on this particular bottle on the interwebs from the Library of Congress’ website.... ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1568536651.322023.webp
 

Congratulations on making the banner! That's a very cool bottle.

It does make me wonder yet again how items make their way to the banner. I'm not suggesting your bottle doesn't belong up top. I'm just not sure how the process works. It seems arbitrary.

Your thread remained in relative obscurity with only a handful of posts over the last month or so. I know it was posted in the Bottles & Glass forum so it doesn't see the same traffic as say, the Today's Finds forum but it appears that you made the banner with very little feedback from the community.

But aside from all of that, is this a rare, valuable specimen? I didn't get that vibe from most of the posts on this thread. What would be the value on this piece? How many other examples are out there? I don't know much about bottle collecting and I'm curious. Thanks!

Awesome to see some glass make banner again, and this one was deserving! The bottle is certainly special, it's got age (1866 to probably no later than 1875, awesome age for any bottle), it's got character (beautiful haze/straw marks), it's in beautiful condition, and it seemed that no one in the forum had ever seen/known about this particular variant until now. Not to mention the great story. I'd have a heart attack and just quit if I saw this on the gravel, haha
 

It does make me wonder yet again how items make their way to the banner. I'm not suggesting your bottle doesn't belong up top. I'm just not sure how the process works. It seems arbitrary.

What a lovely bottle! Thanks to the finder for posting it, that thing is gooooorgeous, congratulations.

Doubter in MD, the only thing I've learned about the banner 'system' is that there is no system. Be careful questioning 'why' something is on the banner, could get you a slap on the wrist. I have seen the rarest of the rare get glazed over, and the mildly interesting land up top. No sense in trying to piece it together, it's obviously only up to a select few to decide what goes up and why. It's part of the reason I'm no longer a charter member.
 

Hey yo Brad! You should go get some bottles with Billy, it's a lot of fun.

I watch you dudes every Wednesday. Keep the amazing finds coming! Cheers from Canada,


NJ
 

joke PATERSON NJ BOTTLES WANTED ....bottles got rare after Paterson colt started production there
 

joke PATERSON NJ BOTTLES WANTED ....bottles got rare after Paterson colt started production there
They weren't rare then, they became rare and desirable by some of us 100 years after that... Hoping to find myself an affordable Paterson Colt someday for my collection.
 

Congratulations on a great 'eyeball find' and on achieving your first Tnet BANNER! :occasion14:

It always amazes me when bottles of this size survive after likely having been buried for 150+ years!

Dave
 

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There's a different varient on ebay with the product name embossed, but no address or city.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dark-Amber...769561?hash=item1cdc47ae99:g:s0IAAOSwOFFdtjZb

Just spotted another, this one like yours, on Glassworks Auctions current sale. Lot 114.

https://www.absenteeauctions.com/glassworks_catalog_4/cgi-bin/SHOWITEM.CGI

Thanks for that link! I am curious to see what it brings. The only difference is that the base of my bottle is marked A & Co so there must have been a couple of different makers of that bottle.
 

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...The only difference is that the base of my bottle is marked A & Co so there must have been a couple of different makers of that bottle.

If you look closely at the pictures of the bases, all three are embossed "A & Co." on the base. Hagenbuch made a typo in his written description of the embossing.
 

I see it now. I wonder why that one has a 5 on the base but it’s not on the one I found? This is why bottles are so confusing to me. You found an example that is exactly like mine in every way except for mine missing a number on the base. Why would a maker have small variations of the same mold and would that little difference change the rarity from one bottle to the other?
 

...would that little difference change the rarity from one bottle to the other?

It may be incredibly rare, but that doesn't always translate to valuable. The mold numbers rarely make a difference, however different glasshouse markings like the "A & Co." in your case can become the focus of a collection. And regardless of rarity, unless somebody else is wanting/needing that particular glasshouse marking for their collection, monetary value is not necessarily going up for that reason alone. There are collectors of Hostetter's Bitters that try to get every mold varient, every glasshouse and every color out there simply because that brand was so prolific, so it becomes a challenge of sorts to have them all.
 

I see it now. I wonder why that one has a 5 on the base but it’s not on the one I found? This is why bottles are so confusing to me. You found an example that is exactly like mine in every way except for mine missing a number on the base. Why would a maker have small variations of the same mold and would that little difference change the rarity from one bottle to the other?
Numbers like that are often mold or batch numbers, batch numbers were used because they got paid by the piece back in the day, so if you were a good blower with a good team you didn't want the bottles you were responsible for creating being credited to the guy on the other side of the building who only produced 1/2 as many bottles as your crew...
 

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