In an ebay auction that just ended a green colored Hall’s Sarsaparilla - Shepardson & Gates Proprietors S.F. topped out at an incredible 1275.00.Described as:
"This bottle measures 9 ½ inches. Embossed on it is- Hall’s Sarsaparilla Shepardson & Gates Proprietors S.F. This bottle was dug many years ago at an old mining camp in California. It is a very crudely made bottle. It is in excellent condition no chips or cracks. There are some spots of mineral oxidation on the inside and outside of bottle. There are some surface scratches on the back panel. In the photos of the top it appears there is a chip on the rim, it is actually a flaw in the manufacturing of the bottle. It is not a chip."
"This bottle measures 9 ½ inches. Embossed on it is- Hall’s Sarsaparilla Shepardson & Gates Proprietors S.F. This bottle was dug many years ago at an old mining camp in California. It is a very crudely made bottle. It is in excellent condition no chips or cracks. There are some spots of mineral oxidation on the inside and outside of bottle. There are some surface scratches on the back panel. In the photos of the top it appears there is a chip on the rim, it is actually a flaw in the manufacturing of the bottle. It is not a chip."
At first I was surprised at the final sale price of the Hall’s but taking into consideration today’s volatile economy nothing should surprise me. It’s just had to imagine a small western 
medicine bringing that kind of money.
medicine bringing that kind of money. 
That bottle was sumethin special, a superb piece of Western medicine bottle glass. It don't get any better than that, crudity, color, condition & rarity.
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The winner, I believe ME, got a bargain on a key piece for any Western Med collection. This is the older much rarer variant of the Halls Sarsaparilla bottle, and is normally seen in a boring pale aqua. More importantly, this example, with its very Western, almost Lacour's-ish green color, is an anomaly and probably unique. Brought to us by our favorite color blind crew at the San Franicisco Glass Works, who sometimes appear to have been under orders to crank-out glass as fast as possible for thirsty and sick miners in the West !
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GP & AP,
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the Hall's was that rare. I knew the color was special. The Western Bitters News will be paying closer attention to these western meds in the future.
rs
hey buddy, trippy color. what date are you guys nailing on this example ?
ReplyDeleteThat's the much rarer and I believe the older of the two variants, the other is J.R. Gates. I've never seen one in this color, AP is correct in saying their usually a boring pale aqua. We just dug the more often seen bottle in a spectacular blue color from a late 70s pit, I think the oldest variant is mid to early 70s. The winning bidder was lucky to get this incredible bottle at a fairly good price. He was also lucky another Northern Cal Western med collector wasn't a little more flush when the hammer droped.
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Beautiful color, reminds me of the green Lyon's jakes.
ReplyDeleteJ.R. Gates worked for R. Hall in his Warehouse. In late 1869, J.R. Gates took the business over. Shepardson bought in a partnership with Gates, which lasted a little over 1 year. In 1871 J.R. Gates was the sole owner of the business. R. Hall had disappeared from SF. I am not sure what happened to Shepardson? Their history is pretty scattered. Gates took over R. Hall, Patents, Properties and Products. The Shepardson & Gates meds are in my opinion Scarce as they were only around for a little over a year. I am still trying to find some advertising like tradecards ect. for J.R. Gates, who went on in the Druggist Business till a little after the Turn of the Century. Interest side note.....I found the Obituary for R. Hall's wife in the mid 1880's. She ran a Confectionary Store. The Obituary says she died of an overdose of Night Weed (Jimson Weed) and Moriphine. A toxic mix. I wonder if she was R. Hall's best customer? If anyone has any other info on R. Hall, Shepardson, or J.R. Gates, I sure would like to hear from you. Dr. Barnes
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