One Western bitters that does not seem to garner much respect is the African Stomach Bitters. This Spruance Stanley product has great heritage though and it related to (although later) the Chalmer's Catawba Wine Bitters, and also to the Mott's Wild Cherry Tonic, and the Spruance Stanley Whiskey. The African Stomach Bitters comes in at least four different versions, and it is my belief that the version showed here is the earliest with the red whittled variant being a little later (late 1880s) followed by the tooled top examples in the 1890s. These bottles come in a wide array of colors, and crude examples in a good color are especially attractive. These can still be purchased for $100- $400 depending on the obvious factors. I have always liked the name, and for some reason these are one of the most prevalent bitters found in Oregon. The example shown has a nice gold coloration with strong olive tone. The Mott's shown is the A.H. Powers variant, and shows the color in comparison to the African. For as available as the African Bitters are, you really do not see them for sale in quantities related to their numbers. Maybe others like them as well. Let's see some of your Af-reekin bitters!
Just an FYI,
ReplyDeleteI will be posting some more history on the Spruance Stanley Company on my website, and there is already some interesting stuff on Robert Chalmers posted if anyone is interested.I will also be posting some nice Western bitters for sale on the site in the next week. I will attempt to add new items on Monday's each week. oregontrailantiquebottles.com Thanks! M.E.
No "Af-reekin" Bitters here, but there is a yellow Dr. Mott's. Those are mighty hard to come by. All my diggin' years have turned up exactly two.
ReplyDeleteRe: The Dr Mott's, what do you guys think the ratio of AH Powers vs Spruance Stanley examples is? Seems like I've seen alot more of the Powers
ReplyDeleteAP
In my experience, there are roughly more Powers versions on a 2 to 1 basis. Hardly common, the Powers would be considered rare in my opinion, with the Spruance being very rare. In 30 plus years digging, the Powers example pictured is the only one I have dug....not even a piece of another one. It came from Yreka in '97. M.E.
ReplyDeleteThose Mott's surely are a rare bottle. There are two different variants of the Powers and one of the Spruance that I'm aware of. No whole Mott's ever crossed the shovel of this digger and come to think of it I don't recall any pieces either. The Powers seem to come from the Sacramento area and points North up the Valley. I've seen the Powers bottle in some spectacular light yellow colors and crude but the later Spruance bottle is usually a plain amber and more neatly made. Over the years I've seen about a dozen of the Powers and only 3-4 of the Spruance. The later in my opinion is e.r.
ReplyDeleteThat's kinda what I thought. I've dug 2 of the Powers, but not even pcs. of the Spruance. Whoever bought the Spruance that was on ebay a few mos. ago got a really good deal. Thinking back over the yrs, I've seen myself about 10 of the Powers and maybe 4 of the Spruance, which seems inline with what M.E. and G.P have seen. I vaguely remember one of the Spruances having a tooled-top.
ReplyDeleteAP
The consistency in basic amber color is interesting to me. Other than "Oldcutters" light example, I cannot recall seeing a variance from basic amber on the Powers version.G.P. has apparently seen some though. FYI, my website will soon be offering a mint Spruance square, as well as a nice Renz's, and some excellent whiskeys... M.E.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Spruance embossed Mott's might be scarcer than the Powers, it is my contention that the Sacramento bottle is the much more desirable of the two. The Spruance bottles that I have examined lacked crudity and were of an obvious later manufacture.
ReplyDeleteI also have a lebelled only Mott's that has Powers and Henderson, Sacramento, printed on it. Henderson was Powers' second business partner, joining in 1872. The interesting thing about that bottle is that the label was placed on an early Hostetter's. Why pay for a private mold when there were plenty of other empty containers to use.
I have also only seen the one light yellow Powers. It used to be mine, and I traded it to Old Cutters. The others I've seen, are almost exactly the same color, med. orange-amber. Indicates to me, a short run on these.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is my opinion that many of the Western liquor dealers that sold whiskey and bitters, also sold a Tonic, which may have been a Tonic Bitters, since most of these are in a bitters bottle form, or a hybrid whiskey fifth/bitters form. Their tonics seem to be the rarest of any of their products, as the idea appears to have been short-lived and not very successful. Some of the Western Bitters Tonics so far that I am aware of are: Mott's AH Powers, Mott's Spruance Stanley, Cartan McCarthy, Renz's, Circassion L & H. Anyone aware of any others, or possibles ?? These are sooo rare, that I feel there are several more still to be discovered.
I plan on doing a post on these when I get time to drag them out and take some pics.
AP
A.P.- I can only think of the Dr. Henry's Worlds Tonic and Blood Purifyer( mis-spelled), and the Chief Tonic S.F., Hop Cel Tonic, And I believe there are a couple more I cannot recall.
ReplyDeleteM.E.
There's also Wait's Wild Cherry Tonic, W M Johnson's Pure Herb Tonic Sure Cure For All Malarial Diseases & Goging's Wild Cherry Bitters and Iron Tonic.
ReplyDeleteThe Wait's are common, Johnson's a little scarcer and the Gogings darn hard to find. Those are post-TC bottles, for the most part. Many others put out similar products, but with paper labels only.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be "interesting" to turn up a tonic from old APH? He put out J.H. Cutter cigars and fine wines, so who knows? The search continues.
I'm sorry, I failed to mention that I was referring to the earlier era (1868-88 approx). It seems that towards the TC there certainly was a revival of the Western Tonic idea though...
ReplyDeleteAP
Looking to start a run of these bitters. Not easily found though..
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