Shot of the Week



		Shot of the Week	Item number: 6204946581

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Labor Day came and went, the TV listings are full of season premieres, and we all settled into our swivel desk chairs to watch the fun on eBay. But apparently someone forgot to send the memo about Silly Season (see the previous edition of SOTW) to either the sellers or bidders because the past few weeks have been pretty tedious from a slanderous-Glass-Poobah-point-of-view (Kid? Where are you? We need you desperately!!).

Not that there weren't big bucks flying around. But before getting to the new, here's an update on the old. Remember the "fake glasses" that were the subject of so much speculation back in May? They were offered by ravman3 and I ended up buying a four of them, three at bargain prices ($6). The general concern was that the glasses all had a similarly flat "painted" look to the label. Here's the original pics and then my best shot at shot shots (ouch):

As you can see, the Old Story was in excellent condition, as was the fourth glass, a Green Brier, now in the database. The Silver Brook turned out to be patchy, which one might have surmised from the auction photo. The biggest surprise (and disappointment) was the Old Spring. It looked great in the auction photo but upon arrival, the label turned out to be worn in stripes in a very displeasing manner, almost as if it had been scraped. So the bottom line was that the glasses were not fakes but the auctions photos had managed to make some of them appear better than they were in person. Perhaps this was a consequence of them having been photographed against a white background so that there was little or no contrast to reveal the weakness in the labels. I doubt if this was intentional, but something to bear in mind for future auctions when the supporting photo is white-on-white. I still think I got a good deal overall and have no complaints to lodge against the seller.

And now on to the auction action (sorry for the incessant punnery, maybe it was something I ate)

Rich Lucchesi has been stunning the power-glass lusters with two spectacular offerings in the past few weeks. The first was previewed in the last edition of SOTW - a Custer's Reserve (below) from Herrscher-Samuel Co. of San Francisco. It had a reserve of a $300 which turned out to be a tad too steep for the regulars, and daltemm rode off into the sunset with no serious competition. As if that weren't enough for one week, Rich then put up a Tea Cup, another San-Fran glass, this time from Shea-Bocqueraz. Lakedude33 sat on it at its reserve of $300 for a while, but ultimate it fell to zgreg0hdu for $381.44. Makes glasshopper's bid of $88 and even junkmoney's $135 look pretty paltry, but at least they'll get to tell their grandkids that "Once upon a time I bid on a teacup..."!

Now this glass (left) represents a Perfect pre-pro Storm (pity I can't apply the same description to the last glass, because it would then be ... wait for it... the perfect storm in a tea cup. Groan.... ). Not only does it advertise Ethelbert whiskey from Rosskam, Gerstley & Co., of Phila - a company name that guarantees triple digits, the reverse side tells us it was issued by Greil Trading Co. of Pensacola, FL.

Pensacola + Rosskam, Gerstley & Co. = BIG bucks.

This turned out to be a classic slugging match between j.ma and cwbpe. The fun started at $49.99 and then the two contestants beat each other black, blue, green and purple all the way to $359.99.

But as I've noted before, if an auction features a glass from Pensacola, the outcome is a foregone conclusion and indeed, skotsky sauntered in in the final seconds and delivered a final coup-de-grace to both bloodied contenders. One could almost imagine him looking back over his shoulder and blowing smoke from the barrels of his sniper, then tucking the glass into a suit pocket a strolling off into the haze of a FL night. It closed at $364.99.

Here's another high-flier, although at $84 it doesn't really compare with the Ethelbert above. But for reasons I don't understand, it always sells big --- usually at around $100. It's a clunky, panelled, fused-beaded glass from a liquor dealer in Boyertown, PA. debbiedar took it home after being chased around Berks Co. by 65galaxieconvertible. By a strange co-incidence, I found one of these glasses at an antique market last weekend. It has a huge chunk out of the rim but I snagged it for $10 so can't really complain. I thought I had one of these already and bought it with the intent of passing it along, but then I discovered a hole in the database where this glass should be. Not any more.

Note that none of the regulars are featuring on the high bidder list this week. Where the heck is is everyone????

So how about a SOTW?

You probably saw this glass. The photo that accompanied the auction was not exactly compelling, which probably accounts for why it sold so low. I've "enhanced" it here by increasing the brightness so that you can see the possibilities. It has a heavier-than-usual base which makes one wonder if it's truly pre-pro, but the label is of the familiar "etched/frosted" variety. Plus it looks SO familiar. I logged it into my "Items I'm Watching" page when it first listed and then spent the next couple of days wondering where I'd seen it before. There is no city or state attribution, just that big clumsy "JGW" and a picture of a well with "ER" imprinted on it. Maybe it was from CW Wells of KC - they had a King George brand, so perhaps the ER was a reference to Queen Elizabeth???

OK, it's a stretch.

Ultimately it was Louisville collector Tony Hayes who clued me in -- and I then did what I should have done in the first place - turn to The Bible (New Testament), p. 100. And there it is - from J C Weller of Louisville! So do you get the pun - Well + ER = Weller!

"Offered is a very nice and likely rare Pre-Prohibition etched shot glass made for liquor wholesaler J. G. W. . Lettering and picture of well in center have great detail. The well has the letters "E. R." in the center and "TRADE" on the left "MARK" on the right (See photo). No edge chips.".

Mimi mimiski put in a claim early, fended off an attack by new collector rwbeem, but ultimately pushup1 walked off with it for $39.00. Not exactly a steal given the condition, but I suspect that it would've cost him a whole heckuvalot more if the FL swamp contingent had been online.

Congratulations to the winner!

A final word from junkmoney - remember the Stanton glass he won from link2mary for $57? Seemed a lot at the time, but it turns out that this particular variant is GREEN-etched! Green is rare and tran$late$ into - green! Nice going Bill!

This pre pro acid etched shot glass is 2 and 1/4th inch high. It is thin glass and the rim has 4 tiny chips or fleas on the rim that you can't see but you can feel if you run your finger nail on the rim. The printing is perfect and it says "STANTON'S PURE RYE 10 YEARS OLD" and their trade mark in a circle says "S B CO". Postage is $5.00

Note that you can browse many previous
choices for SOTW in the Archives.

last updated: October 15, 2005

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