Recent Acquisition- B&G

The Canyonville, Oregon show had a wide variety of nice glass. I was fortunate to pick up this great example of a B&G San Francisco soda. This is one of those rare combinations of great condition ( never cleaned) and no wear on the lettering. The glass is pretty clean with the exception of some stain, but no etching or pitting. Combined with a huge top, and pristine pontil, this was a great find for me. This is a classic Gold Rush soda that is getting very hard to find in this condition.

soda bottoms

Mikes post on the trade mark painting of soda bottoms got me thinking about the early pontiled sodas sent west and refilled by whatever soda works could get their hands on the empties. Some sodas seem to lose their paint and their graphite on the bases being buried for 150 yrs while others can retain both their graphite and the paint. My experience with bottles dug in the gold country indicates a better survival rate of intact painted examples. Here are some from my collection. Cal 49er

Chase & Co's ad in SF Directory

The firm of Chase & Co placed a two page spread in LeCount and Strong's 1854 Directory of San Francisco. Frederick G. Chase opened his soda water manufactury in San Francisco, on Broadway near Kearny St in 1853. Later that same year he expanded his operations to include Stockton and Marysville. A.W.Cudworth was a partner in Chase & Co and assumed ownership in 1856 after buying out Chase.

As we all know, there were two different Chase & Co bottles. The green face plate embossed CHASE & Co/MINERAL WATER/SAN FRANCISCO/CAL. and the highly desired 3 cities version, CHASE & Co/MINERAL WATER/SAN FRANCISCO/STOCKTON/MARYSVILLE.