Quite a Difference in Color on these Two Partially Whole Examples

A couple diggers from Sacramento, Bob Leonard and his friend Rick have found the hole they were looking for, well kind of. Over the last week the two have pulled out a half-dozen examples of the elusive Bryant’s Bitters cone, a bottle that has sold for over $70,000. The bottles have appeared in less than perfect condition, to say the least.  Although some have been only parts of bases, they have managed to find a beautiful emerald green example with about a half-inch of much of the base missing. Not exactly the Holy Grail but it’s a good start. “Poor Rick,” Bob starts out, “he dug the almost whole one from the top down.  It looked about perfect until he got to the bottom.”  What Rick discovered at the end of the rainbow, or Bryant’s Bitters, was the base was partially broken off.  “I thought we had a whole one,” said Rick, “maybe next time,” he laments, eyeing the still beautiful and nearly whole example.

This isn’t the first time the pair has experienced the excitement of finding arguably the rarest and most desirable western bottle known.  Back in the 1970’s, they discovered one of the only whole known examples.  “We had it in a safe-deposit box and one of the owners took it and we haven’t’ seen it since,” says Bob dryly.  If redemption is to be had, the time is now.  “We are still looking and even if we don’t find another one, this one is still a gorgeous bottle and can be made to be very presentable,” Bob points out.  Presentable indeed.  The color is unlike any of the Bryant’s we’ve seen.  It’s a little lighter and a different shade of green.  Whereas the few examples known are an olive green, this one leans much more towards the emerald shade.  It’s a beautiful bottle by any collector’s standard.

So, what is one to do with a bottle that has part of the base missing?  Well, since they have the bases of a number of others, it won’t be a huge deal to combine the half-inch or so needed to complete the necessary merging of the two.  Since the bottom is largely hard to see sitting on a shelf, the variance in hue won’t be much affected.

“Hey, its a Bryant’s cone and you don’t find these ever,” Rick points out.  No truer words have been spoken.  Made around 1859, in the minds of the Bryant’s Bitters folks, this oddly shaped container just wasn’t going to work. It was too gangly and most likely fell over more often than not.  They quickly switched to another popular bottle with the same embossing but in a completely different shape, a six-sided lady’s leg highly desired by collectors today.  The cone shape was scrapped and after a very short production run, were discarded and left for collectors to drool over a hundred years later.  But so few were made that even pieces are tough to find.  To pull out as many incredibly rare bottles is virtually unheard of in the bottle world.  It would be like finding a half-dozen copies of the Declaration of Independence in a drawer.  It just doesn’t happen.

So what’s next?  “We’ll be putting it up for sale after the repair,” says Bob.  We aren’t quite sure how or where but it will be going to a good home,” says Bob surveying the various pieces.  What kind of value are we looking at?  Well it’s know that an example with a replaced top, in other words the bottle was there and an original top was placed on the body sold for $30,000 privately.  Another example sold in our auction for around $10,000, that was the same bottle years later.  Another we heard of changed hands in the $15,000 range and there were other sales of repaired examples.  The rare color could make it a bigger prize for the pair of diggers.  “You don’t see that color in this bottle,” Bob points out correctly.  It’s not one we’ve seen before and is really very beautiful.  It also gives us more information on the bottle itself.  It is believed they made only one batch, but with this color variant one would have to believe that they made more.  It’s possible they made quite a few but destroyed them after deciding to go with a new shape.  Regardless, it’s an exciting time for Bob and Rick, two diggers with a lot of passion and dedication.  “We’ve been digging for nearly forty years,” Bob says.  “That’s a lot of dirt,” he laughs.  Not many bottle diggers can say they’ve found a Bryant’s cone.  Not to mention with 30 years in between the digs.  That’s a lot of time.         �

Alas, a complete example will emerge from the wreckage. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes.