Shot of the Week

Each edition of SOTW will begin with some stats on sales in the past 28 days to give us all a sense of where the hobby is going. In the past four weeks, 155 pre-pro glass listings ended, 53 closed with no bidder, average price of the glasses that sold was $101.82. 12 glasses sold for >$100, 4 sold for >$1,000.

This is definitely turning out to be one of the weirdest years in living memory, at least in terms of eBay action. Or should I say "ebay action", given that our favorite [?] website has come over all touchy-feely on us and dropped the capital "B" from its logo. If you have any doubt, take a look at the stats above. First, you'll note the unusually large number of listings closed without a buyer. The majority of these were listings offered by melbamorning, who currently has around 20 pre-pro glasses on perpetual relist because the prices on even mundane glasses are stratospheric.

Case in point, Here's a two-city Detrick in not very good condition that's currently offered for a $117 buy-it-now. Whoa! In good condition, they currently retail for $13.90, so this one's far from a bargain and the price explains why it's relisted at least 19 times during the past couple of years. Please (PLEASE) - someone buy it - I'm really getting sick of relogging it into the database every few weeks!

The stats above also include four - yes FOUR, as in one, two, three, FOUR - glasses selling for >$1,000, which is a first. Okay, now I'm really confused.

No matter, more on these in a moment. Most of the remaining 98 listings featured ho-hum, run-of-the-mill Hayners, Kellerstrasses, O! So Goods, Fultons, and other common glasses.

The glass at right caught my eye because it's an uncommon variant of a fairly common R W Wright glass. The more common form reads "COMPLIMENTS OF" on the top line, but I don't recall having seen this one before. Knowing the Poobah's luck, the top line has simply worn off, but putting $30 on it didn't seem like too much of a gamble. Baltimore glasses are usually grabbed by charliedomsug, but apparently he either missed this one or already has it, and oldwhiskey was able to snag it to add to the pre-pro.com shot database for $22.50.

The Club House above (left) listed in a two-for-one deal with a junky embossed Calvert, with opening bid of $0.99. The Poobah looked and yawned and forgot about it until it closed with no bidders on 10/16. Why is it that sometimes we can't be bothered to bid on a cheapo glass? It's pre-pro, probably from Shaughnessy of St. Louis, but .... It relisted immediately, this time with an opening bid of $0.50. I figured I had to dial at least $10 into the snipeomatic this time around, but dammit, someone else had the same idea and it turned into a two-way bidding contest that finished at a giddy $1.75! Whew. This is all terribly tedious, I know, but three or four days later USPS left a note in my PO box telling me that I had to sign for a package. After dutifully waiting in line, I discovered that the seller had mailed the Club House and the Calvert First Class in a plain brown box but had written my address on a self-adhesive label that had "Priority" in the faintest blue text in the background, and I ended up paying the $2.21 difference. Still, $5 and change for a pre-pro glass can't be grumbled about. Well, maybe, grumble, grumble.

The James Clark Distilling Braddock Pure Rye (middle), is a relatively common Cumberland glass and a Truog to boot. The price on this one just keeps climbing - the latest example was felled for $141.33.

And talking about the up-and-up, the Pirate Club is another favorite and rarer, so it's not surprising Arky Joe had to shell out $239.16 for it, clubbing xxxtruk and rwbeem half to death with his e-baseball bat in the process.

But the big story of the past few weeks revolved around ebay seller donnas1nat, who hails from Hammond, LA of all places. Donna ran two series of three-day auctions featuring a handful of some of the rarest (and certainly most valuable) glasses to show up on ebay in the past ten years. The three top glasses were all applied-label. Barb Edmonson refers to these as label-under-glass, but they're actually some kind of early plastic adhered to the side of a glass and then trimmed along the seam in gold.


F.O.E for $1,701.99	Old Blackthorn for $1,475.00	Kellerstrass for $1,326.66

The first series of glasses included an F.O.E and Old Blackthorn, both from James Thompson & Bro. of Louisville, KY. Both glasses in excellent condition so a fight was inevitable, but the ensuing bidding war that followed was something to behold. coyoterancher71 laid an early claim to it and ultimately won it, but not before bluroc and lakerdude33 had pushed the price up above $1,700! The Old Blackthorn is perhaps a rarer glass, and triggered a four-way showdown between bluroc, rwbeem, oldwhiskey, and rbra72. Roger Roy (rbra72) ultimately was left in winning position at a cool $1,475.

The second batch of glasses included a Kellerstrass Rye - not is pristine condition, but this is the first time I've seen this glass in vitro, although it is listed in Historic Shot Glasses (p. 96; Barb Edmonson valued it at $100-$135 back in 1992!). This auction ended in a two-way snipeoff between Kurt Hultzman (xxxtruk) and your truly, with oldwhiskey winning it for $1,326.66.

I queried the seller about the origins of such a rare group of glasses, and she volunteered only that she was selling them "on behalf of a collector". A collector who is significantly financially better off now compared with a few weeks ago, as is ebay and Paypal, God bless 'em.

The Poobah was still reeling from these auctions when two days later an e-mail from a Portland, OR native dropped into his inbox. Attached was a picture of yet another applied label glass, this time one from Fleckenstein Mayer Co. The owner, who described himself as a "standard broke student", wanted advice on how to clean it to remove adhesive from the label so that he might sell it.

Given how tricky cleaning such glasses can be (alcohol or other spirits-based cleaners can damage the superficial colored print layer), I advised leaving that to a potential buyer, but he successfully gave it a bath and listed it on ebay with an opening bid of around $750 (if this aging brain remembers correctly) and a $1,700 "bin or best offer".

The Poobah hmmed and harrrred over this one - he's not the greatest fan of these plastic labels but then again, it is a rare glass. Eventually he passed and wished the owner luck.

It sold a few hours later to xxxtruk, who welcomed the opportunity of the $1,700 bin.

Alrighty, that's quite enough excitement for one day, what about a SOTW?

The Poobah is a sucker for dumb animals so this one should come as no surprise. Yet another fab glass from the donnas1nat cattery - a beautiful Black Kitty that is one of the most desirable pre-pro glasses. Arky Joe had to fend off a competing bid from bluroc, but ultimately was proud to be able save it from a WA pound for $456.00. And best of all, it's already neutered so there won't be any additional vet bills!! Yay!!!

"No reserve!

Priced to sell !

Vintage Black Cat Whiskey

Shot Glass

Very Good to Excellent Condition"