New and Shotworthy

I had to wait until the auction closed to talk about this one, mainly to see if anyone had any interest in bidding on it. Sadly no-one did, because I had high hopes of finding a good home for the dozen or so glasses that have been murdered by USPS over the years. I haven’t had the heart to throw them away, which is sad, sad, very sad. But who knows, flattened and crushed could be the next big thing in the pre-pro collecting world. You read it here first!

Death by USPS

The saddest of these broken goods were a minty Beaver Run from O’Keefe and a similarly minty Harvest Home Rye from Hayner, both valuable (and rare) glasses in any condition.

Here’s the road-kill “shot glass” that was listed by kansascrazysales for $50 (or best offer):

It’s a metal shot-glass size cup from M. Wollstein Mercantile Co. of Kansas City, MO. Here’s one from the database to show you what the non-flattened version looks like:

There are at least five variants of this cup that I’m aware of and, because they’re metal and fairly resilient compared with the glasses, they’re not uncommon. This particular version shows up for sale about once every 18 months or so, with an average sale price of $20.

The rare flattened version was, according to the seller, dug out of the ground by a metal detectorist. You have to admire the sales pitch:

“For sale is an ultra-rare, 100% authentic pre-Prohibition aluminum advertising shot glass from the famous Kansas City mail-order liquor dealer:

M. WOLLSTEIN MERCANTILE CO.
MAIL ORDER LIQUOR HOUSE
KANSAS CITY MO.

This is the real deal – circa 1905–1916, made of lightweight aluminum with crisp raised (embossed) lettering inside a shield cartouche. These were given away as premiums by big mail-order whiskey houses right before National Prohibition killed the legal liquor business.

Condition notes:
Recovered with a metal detector (dug relic).
Completely flattened / pancaked (no longer holds 3-D shape)
Lettering is sharp and readable – displays beautifully flat
Nice even silver-gray patina
No polishing or alteration – exactly as it came out of the ground
Even in this flattened state, it is still one of the scarcest Kansas City pre-Pro advertising shot glasses known“

Someone should make him an offer, really…

In case anyone is interested, 133 shot-glass auctions closed in the past 28 days. Sixty-four of these closed without a buyer (including the flat one above); average price of glasses that sold was $32.46.

Few will have missed the large collection of pre-pro glasses listed this past Summer by eBay seller visitoursite*yeoldebrew.com. The owner of the site in question is Scott Bristoll, who is located in the Cincinnati area. I’ve been visiting his site for many years and purchased a beautiful reverse-on-glass Philadelphia distillery sign from him several years ago. It remains as one of my favorite non-shot glass collectibles, along with the paperweights (see previous post). And barrel stencils. Ummm……

When a collection like this pops up on eBay, one naturally wonders who the owner is – or was. Collections are assembled and then disassembled via eBay on a regular basis, either because a collector’s interests have moved on, they need funds to address a personal crisis, or they’re being sold off as a part of an estate. So who did this one belong to? Someone we knew, perhaps?

The listing contained sufficient rare offerings that it proved relatively easy to identify them as having been purchased ten or twelve years ago by eBay bidder s1c2o3o4t5e6r7. He later changed his handle to whatchagot513, but the person behind both IDs was John Richards, familiarly known as “Scooter”.

I had a few email exchanges with Scooter re his collecting interests, but can’t say that I knew him well. He was, well, let’s say an “exuberant” collector who would bid on anything pre-pro regardless of final bid price or what he was bidding on. He would get into serious bidding wars on common glasses, even if had 4 or 5 already. For a while, he was suctioning up every pre-pro glass that listed on eBay.

I hadn’t heard from Scooter in some time, so when his glasses started showing up on eBay, I messaged Scott to see if he’d acquired the collection. Sadly, it appears that he’s handling the glasses on the behalf of Scooter’s estate…

Some of Scooter’s more interesting acquisitions are shown below.

I recently had occasion to drop by Jack Sullivan’s blog Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men! on blogspot.com and was sad to see that the latest post was Jack’s obituary. Jack died on August 16, 2025 at 90 years of age.

I first met Jack over two decades ago when I drove down to the Alexandria, VA area from Philadelphia to attend a local bottle show. The show was ridiculously tiny – ten or so tables in total (if memory serves correctly). There was only one shot glass on offer, which I bought, and then got chatting with the dealer, who turned out to be Jack Sullivan.

This was around the time when I was gathering information on whiskey brands, liquor dealers, distilleries – anything related to the pre-pro whiskey industry – with a view to building databases that could be used to research the origins of shot glasses. I’d already acquired the copyright to HSG and OASG from Barb Edmonson, Howard Currier had donated his brand database that he’d compiled using Bob Snyder’s Whiskey Brands, and I’d also purchased all of Bob’s research material, including government warehouse transaction copies that I used to form the beginnings of the distillery database. What was missing was copies of city business directories that Barb E. had used to research glasses in HSG and OASG. When I contacted her to find out what had happened to them, she thought that she’d donated them to Mark Pickvet (author of Shot Glasses: An American Tradition). When I wrote to him asking whether he still had them, he failed to respond, so the trail was dead.

To my surprise, Jack revealed that he’d bought the city directories from Barb E to support his research on whiskey dealers for the many articles that he’d published in various bottle and club magazines over the years. Even better, he was happy to donate them to the cause! Some time later, I drove back down to Alexandria to pick them up and the City database was born.

I stayed in touch with Jack over the years and frequently ran into him at local and national bottle shows. He also “nipped” (his term for copy and pasting) many shot glass photos from the website to illustrate his articles that appear in Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men! and his other blog Memories and Miscellany (originally named Bottles, Booze, and Backstories), which I was more than happy to contribute given his kind donation of the directories.

Not only was Jack a prolific writer, he had wide-ranging collecting interests. He is perhaps best known for his jug collection, which he eventually donated to a museum. In more recent years, he moved on to whiskey-related paperweights, much to my chagrin. Paperweights had been a side-interest of mine for some time, but now was regularly losing out to Jack when they showed up on eBay.

Jack will be missed, but he turned ownership of his articles and blogs over to the FOHBC so they’ll remain available to us indefinitely.

How many cats make up a litter? ChatGPT says one is sufficient (a “singleton litter”), but 3-5 is more usual.

The Black Cat Whiskey above is one of pre-pro’s most desirable glasses, in part because the label is a transfer rather than the usual white-frosted variety, but also because the famous kitty is so endearing.

Ullman, Einstein & Co. of Cleveland OH left us with many different glasses, including 7 cats (two of them highballs) that I know of. Black Cat Whiskey was their flagship brand apparently, given that the image of a cat sidling up to a bottle of the product appears top and center of their letter- and bill-heads.

“Black Cat Rare Old Whiskey” glasses show up for sale every two years so, so they’re not that common. Prior to the litter above showing up on eBay, the last to stroll by was in 2022. The first of the trio shown listed for sale on April 1 of this year and was offered by cajunmill66. I watched the auction with interest given that these glasses attract considerable interest, not only from pre-pro collectors, but also from anyone with a more general interest in cat collectibles. The highest I’ve seen one of these glasses sell for is $861 and that was a decade ago. The April glass sold for $300. I dutifully logged it into the database and didn’t think too much more about it until May 7, when the same seller listed a second one for sale. One person owning two of these glasses? That was quite a find if they were acquired at the same time. Kitty #2 sold for $305.

I figured that was the end of the tail, er, tale, until four days ago, when a third such glass listed, same seller. The auction is still live with price as of writing standing at $21.50. If you fancy adopting, this may be your chance.

I’ll update the post with a hammer price when it sells.

Once upon a time, the appearance of a pre-pro glass from Denver, CO on eBay was a guarantee of a no-holds-barred bidding war and a 3-figure payoff for the seller.

Why? Back in the day, CO was a sparsely populated state. The US Census for 1900 shows the city’s population to be less than 140,000, so there were relatively few working saloons and liquor dealers, let alone dealers who were handing out shot glasses and other freebies to encourage their patrons to consider a return visit.

By 1920, the city population had almost doubled, driven by mining interests, industrialization, and investment in its transportation infrastructure, but the number of documented shot glasses from the CO in general and Denver in particular remains paltry. By way of example, Barb Edmonson was only able to track down 6 CO glasses for inclusion in HSG and OASG.

The database here at pre-pro.com records a total of 23 CO glasses as of writing but, while this is a definite improvement, their rarity still makes CO one of the States that are most desirable for any serious Western-glass collector.

The sales database contains 43 unique examples of Denver glasses as of a few weeks ago. CO glasses show up for sale infrequently, none of which could be considered “common.”

Enter sanjuanslim, who maintains an eBay store named “The Mine Shop” that specializes in Western antiques. The seller has assembled or acquired a collection of CO glasses and has been dribbling them out on eBay over the past couple of weeks. So far, around 28 glasses have listed, including several that I’ve not seen before. All have been selling for bargain-basement prices, so if you have an interest in CO, then this would be a good chance to add to the collection. A few choice offerings are shown below.

A previously unlisted glass from Sam Barets & Co., of Denver, CO. It sold for $69.72.

An “Evergood” from the Pleus Miles Merchantile Co. I’ve seen a handful of these glasses previously: this one sold for $106.26.

An “Old Forest Grove”, from A. Friedman & Co. An unlisted glass and the auction has yet to close.

“Compliments of The Levy & Lewin Merchantile Co.” A handful of these glasses have listed over the years. The highest price realized was $262.87; this example sold for $31.02.

A previously unlisted glass from Phil. Lewin, featuring a crude liquor jug with grain stalks in the background. A true steal at $34.33!

A classic from Sunnyside Liquor Co. that sold for $74.19. This is one of the more “common” Denver glasses (if such a term can be applied here) that had fetched $228.75 in previous years.

eBay currently has a couple of interesting collections on offer that I’ll highlight in a second post, but first I wanted to thank Ed Sipos (azsaloon on eBay) for giving me a heads up on a rare enamel transfer glass that he’d picked up in a “best offer” back in August of last year.

The original listing page is no longer available, but here’s a snibbet:

The glass was listed by collectiblesbytim and was among 25 or so glasses that the seller dropped into the ‘Bay in the recent months.

These enamel transfer glasses are super-rare and super-desirable to hardcore collectors. I’ve seen the Old Blackthorn only four times now and have yet to add one to my own collection. The example in the database is (was ?) owned by Kevin Wade, plus I’ve seen 3 more offered on eBay (including the one featured here).

The end-of-auction page showed that Ed picked it up for $99.99 or less, which is fifteen-fold less than a previous example sold for in open auction. Nice find and thanks to Ed for getting in touch!

In the past 28 days, 196 pre-pro glasses have listed on eBay. Of these, 133 failed to attract a bidder, but the average price of the glasses that did sell was $53.94.

eBay is fairly quiet at the moment (161 auctions closed in the past 28 days, 96 closed with no bids, average price of the glasses that sold was $35.99), but here’s one to watch.

The Rieger “O! So Good” is among the top ten most common glasses and we see them list biweekly, but here’s a very rare paneled variant that just listed for $49.99 or Best Offer:

In the time it took to write this up, someone put in an offer and it sold. This glass turns up for sale once a decade or so, so you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested in acquiring one!

This is not about shot glasses but, given the recent flurry of Red Top Rye-related sales, it’s an amusing little tale.

Morean’s latest auction closed on February 4. There wasn’t much of interest to us here, aside from one of the Bellwood mini-mugs I mentioned a couple of months ago – this was a nice example and it sold for an impressive $176.

However, the auction also included a Red Top Rye flask. The auction listing describes it as follows: Early metal flask. Advertises Red Top Rye whose letters are outlined with intricate engraving. Red has been nicely re-pigmented. 4 x 4.5 inches. Note the “Red has been nicely re-pigmented” – meaning that the red paint is not original.

The flask shows considerable wear to the plating, with many noticeable nicks, breaks, and dings, with a characteristic flaw in the middle of the label around the “T” and “o”:

The final bid price (with premium included) was $263 (plus shipping).

Ten days later, a striking similar flask shows up for sale on eBay, listed by martin50k03 with a buy-it-now price of $895:

The listing description reads: Rare Red Top metal flask, measures 4 1/4” diameter. Good condition. No mention of a paint upgrade, but note the wear pattern around the “To” – it’s the same flask.

A day later, the price dropped to $795 and, shortly thereafter, a special offer showed up in my email inbox that brought the price down to $495:

Today is Feb. 16 – I’ll be interested to see if there’s any additional discounts, but I’m betting that they won’t bring the price below $263.

Once upon a time, I used to live in the Northeast – the Philadelphia area to be precise. The opportunities for pre-pro glass hunting in the Northeast are almost limitless. Adamstown is within an hour’s drive – imagine a 3- or 4-mile highway with antique malls spaced evenly along the way – that’s Adamstown. One the the larger malls is run by Renningers, who have outlets in Adamstown, Kutztown, PA., and also in FL. The two PA locations each host traveling extravaganzas three or four times a year, and I used eagerly await each of these, especially in Fall when the rich scents of decaying leaves, crushed grass, mud, and waffle cakes were on the air. Adamstown also hosted a bottle show that attracted several vendors that were familiar names on eBay. The Baltimore Bottle Show, which is probably the biggest in the country, is a 75 min drive South. I usually came away with at least a couple of new pre-pro glasses for my collection from each scavenging event.

Then I moved to the Atlanta area and how times have changed. Yes, there are antique malls in the South, but “antique” has a different meaning here. Wandering through an Atlanta area antique mall is a trip down memory lane, because much of what is on offer dates back to my childhood. Pre-pro glasses do occasionally show up, but they’re usually the more common ones. The few bottle shows in the area are usually tiny and rarely offer shot glasses for sale. After attending the local show for a couple of years, I stopped making the effort because it wasn’t worth the 45 minute drive.

However, I recently happened to stumble across a flyer for the Rome Bottle and Advertising show that was due to take place only a few days hence. Rome is about 80 mins away, but I thought why not – maybe the show has improved significantly since I was last there.

Google maps view

The show was held in the local VFW hall which, on first sight, reminded me of a line from the movie “Battle of Britain.” Michael Caine’s character has just been informed by a maintenance officer that his squadron is being relocated to a flying club’s airfield as a result of German bombing. The maintenance officer remarks that “It’s not a bad little field“, prompting Michael Caine to reply “I’ve seen it. Damp tents and a nasty little shack full of dead flies.“

To be fair, the VFW hall was a perfectly fine location and just the right size for the show. It was also busy, which is always good to see, even though few of the attendees were youngsters (meaning anyone under 65 years of age). I included some general overview pics below, in case you’re interested. The main problem with the show was that there was a preponderance of Coke and other soda bottles – not surprising given that it’s an Atlanta area show and Atlanta is home to the Coca-Cola megacorp.

There were exactly two shot glasses. One was a very common “O! So Good” from Kansas City, the other a “DRS Dist. Inc” tonic from Memphis with a $50 price tag. I passed on both.

I’ll probably not be back to this show for another decade or so, sad to say.

Highball glasses glasses occupy a special place in the collecting world. If we were to consult Google maps, we’d find it just North of Contempt and about 5 miles West of Indifference. Highballs just don’t have the the same cuteness factor that the shots do and, from a practical point of view, they’re way too tall to fit in a shot glass display case. Even sideways.

Beer collectors, on the other hand, have no problem turning their basement over to acres of custom-built shelving to accommodate the larger glasses, but highballs are not beers and if one were to show up on a basement shelf, it probably would be as a result of mistaken identification.

So, whereas a Red Top Rye shot glass can command prices in excess of $1,000 (as noted in my previous post), Red Top Rye highballs have trouble making $50, let alone $500 or more. As always, there are exceptions. I have seen a Red Top highball featuring a colored top sell for $271 almost a decade ago, but when the owner put it back on eBay several years later, he lost $100 on the deal.

Sold for $271 in 2015

The Red Top Highball listed by union_razor recently does not feature a red top but, rather, a white-frosted label with measles. Expectations were not high. It listed with an opening bid of $9.95. Two collectors held their noses and entered bids and it closed a week later at $20.50. Whoop-de-do.

Sold for $20.50 in 2024

Here’s one to watch. I’m sure I’ve highlighted Casper glasses before because they used to trigger ferocious bidding wars back in the day, even when the glass involved was one of the common variants. I almost missed the example shown below because the listing photos and are poor, but it’s a one-of-a kind (so far as I know – I haven’t see one before) red etched variant.

The label is worn to the point where the trademark diamond (image at right) is unrecognizable, so this would be considered a placeholder glass at best, yet the bidding is already up to $56 with more than 4 days to go until the auction’s close. This one will be interesting to keep an eye on.