On March 17, Glass Works Auctions conducted its 101st absentee, phone, and Internet auction. The 402-lot auction grossed $427,000.
The top lot of the auction was item 36, a “Chalmer's Catawba Wine Bitters Sutter's Old Mill” bottle, which had a closing bid of $24,150. "It was part of the Curt Paget collection, which made up the first 48 lots of the auction," said Jim Hagenbuch, the company’s founder. "Curt Paget was an early collector from California, and many of his bottles were from California proprietors," explained Hagenbuch.
Lot 37, also from the Paget collection, was an “Old Man's Stomach Bitters - Marcus Sass” in amber. It sold for $10,925. "One of the rarest of all California bitters bottles," said Hagenbuch, adding, "(It was) a record price for a square amber bitters sold at auction."
Lot 145, a “Brown's Celebrated Indian Herb Bitters” in a rare yellow green citron color, hammered for $14,950. "Color remains king in antique bottles," said Hagenbuch. "If it was in it's normal amber color, it probably would have sold for around $700.”
Another rare color bitters bottle was lot 148. Embossed “Constitution Bitters, Seward & Bentley, Buffalo, N.Y.,” it sold to a Texas collector for $13,800. "This one was fresh to the market," stated Hagenbuch. "It was brought to us at the Oakland, N.J., bottle show, by a fellow whose father bought it in Buffalo, N.Y., in the 1960s."
Of interest to both American and English collectors alike was lot 294, a circa 1650-1660 English “Shaft and Globe” form wine bottle in yellowish olive green, which sold to an American collector for $13,800. "A strong price, possibly a record for this bottle," said Hagenbuch. "Despite the weakness of the American dollar against the English pound, American collectors still are the most aggressive."
The companies next absentee, phone, and Internet auction is scheduled for June.
For more information, call 609-483-2683 or email glswrk@enter.net.