The Vegas show is a little different from others I've attended. Most clubs have juried exhibits put together by club members - a spectacular display of bottles or a collection of relics from a single company, for example. There were no exhibits at this show, just sales tables. Plus, the Vegas show was conspicuous for all the gambling-related collectibles, such a poker chips and dice. There were also countless ashtrays in every shape and size.
Then there were dealers selling "wild west" collectibles - saddles and holsters and spurs (left). I have difficulty imagining anything like that showing up at the Bucks-Mont Bottle show that I attend just to the north of Philly!
Barely 10 mins into my solo glass quest,
still basking in the knowledge that I was free from any serious competition, I
saw the flash of greenbacks and there was Ed Sipos making a deal on a
salt-glazed beer mug. Damn and blast!
But if truth be told, there was precious little glass worth hunting. So far as I
know, Ed didn't come away with anything -- at least nothing that he'd admit to
finding. Dick Bales, who entered with the noon crowd came up empty also. Not
that there weren't any glasses to hunt. I counted perhaps 40 or 45 shots in
total, some of which are shown in the photos below.
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A small gaggle of shots for sale, but unfortunately nothing worth writing home about. |
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The table below displays several shot glasses, including a couple from Philadelphia (note also the Bouquet back-bar, top shelf at right) and a gilded highball sans gold rim. |
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What
surprised me most was the remarkable amount of east-coast material on offer. I found
more Philadelphia collectibles at this one show than in all my years of searching
back home. For example, I found two Rosskam, Gerstley, Co. Keystone Monogram barrel
shots (see photo above) and a Martindale Dirigo Rye. I found pristine tip trays from
Huey and Christ - including one that I'd never seen before today. 
Huey and Christ didn't produce
shots so far as I know, but they were prominent Philly dealers that survived up
until Prohibition.
I also found a wonderful Bouquet Whiskey back-bar from Humphrey & Martin
(photo above) -
tempting but a little steep at $450.
There were many California glasses for sale, but the majority were Cutter Whiskeys from Martin &
Co. I counted at least 8 of them and ended up buying one in minty-mint condition
(see below) to upgrade my own faded glass. There were also a couple of overpriced Jesse Moore's and
a worn Los Angeles Wine Co. glass.
I did manage to add a couple of glasses to my collection. One was a Gilt Edge from San Francisco - a little faded and scuffed but the price was right. I also bought a Polo Club bitters. It's a stemmed glass and hence not my favorite quarry, but I had to have something special to show for having traveled 2500 miles across the country and then driven ten hours through the mountains and desert.
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