How rare is it?

After reading a comment made on the Wonser's posting, I thought I would examine the topic of rarity ratings. I decided to go back and post ratings that have been used in two well received published bitters bottle books that were published almost 30 years apart. Here are the ratings for the year 1969.

Extremely rare 1 - 10

Very rare 11 - 30

Rare 31 - 60

Very Scarce 61 - 100

Scarce 101 - 150

Common over - 150

Next are the ratings for the year 1998.

Extremely rare 1 - 5

Very rare 6 - 15

Rare 16 - 35

Very Scarce 36 - 75

Scarce 76 - 150

Common more than 150

It has now been an additional 12 years since the last publication for ratings.

How have our bottles stood the test of time?

Alex Von Humboldts Stomach Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating V R currently with 13 known it now would be considered very rare by both book ratings.

Dr. Boerhaave's Stomach Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating E R, currently with 11 known it now would be considered very rare by both book ratings.

California Wine Bitters M. Keller Los Angeles 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating V R, I believe the number in existance now would be considered very rare by both book ratings.

Cassin's Grape Brandy Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating V R, currently with 1 known (un-repaired) it now would be considered extemely rare by both book ratings. However counting the other 6 repaired examples puts it back to the original ratings.

Cassin,s Grape Brandy Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating V R, currently with 19 known it would now be considered very rare and rare by both book ratings. However counting another 4 damaged examples doesn't change the ratings.

Chalmer's Catawba Wine Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating V R, currenly I know of 9 examples, this would make the book ratings still correct respectively.

Lacour's Bitters Sarsapariphere 1969 rating S, 1998 rating R, currently there are 23 V1, 11 V2 & 39 V3. So variant 1 bottles would be considered very rare under the 1969 ratings. Variant 2 bottles would be considered very rare by both book ratings. Variant 3 bottles would be considered very scarce under the 1998 ratings.

G. A. Simon's Medicated Aromatic Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating E R, currently 3 known, one example repaired. Would still be considered extemely rare under both book ratings.

Dr. Wonser's U. S. A. Indian Root Bitters 1969 rating E R, 1998 rating VR-R, currently the number of examples known would be considered rare and very scarce by both book ratings respectively.

Of course adding different criteria will of course change the ratings even more; such as color, but I thought the results were interesting to compare.