This week saw yet more yet more pre-pro goodies selling at wildly inflated prices, part of a collection being offered for sale by long-time collectors and eBay sellers itsnfs8.  Last week's pick for SOTW came from the same stable. 

But this past week's crop did contain one notable - a sleeper Truog glass that I thought would go for a song.  It's not much to look at.  In fact, it's plain ugly - the glass is crazed with microscopic stress marks and the rim has been ground to within an inch of its life.  It's a "Daily True Regulator" from Esselbruegge Merchantile Co. of St. Louis.

The same glass can be found in the pre-pro.com database.  We don't know too much about it, except that it's an old one.  Esselbruegge Merchantile Co. can be found in the "Wines & Liquors" section of city business directories from 1894-1900, but we're not sure what the "Regulator" was.  The glass in the database is a flea market find.  The flea market itself turned out to be a bust and I bought the glass for $8 because it was the only old glass to be found in the entire place.  It's in the same pitiful condition as the SOTW but I bought it because it was obviously pre-pro --  but immediately had buyer's remorse because of the sad state of the rim.  I threw it in a junk box when I got home and only pulled it out again recently to log it into the database.  As you can see from the listing page, I noted the similarities in numerals on the glass to those of the Victor Liver Syrup glasses produced by George Truog's company, but never noticed the teeny tiny GT etched in the label border down in the lower right-hand corner.  In fact, it was only the sight of the similar glass on eBay that made me go back to the junk box, pull it out, and take a closer look.  Which all goes to show you how easy it is to overlook a Truog signature, and how sharp this week's winner is when it comes to spotting old and rare glass.

This week's SOTW was picked up early by olgrandad and jumped on in the final minutes by bluroc.  He hung firm despite a frontal assault by junkmoney and he took it for $104.49. 

Congratulations Kevin!!

Now is that the prettiest little ugliest glass you ever saw or what?!

Incidentally, bluroc's collection landed on my desk in jpeg form this past week and all his glasses will also be incorporated into the database in coming weeks.  I had to sit down when viewing them - some truly stunning glasses in there.  Kevin (bluroc) is also in Howard Currier's sights for a future "Random Shots" article, so watch out for that too.