Its got me so excited to find out exactly the whats about it. I only picked it up when I was cleaning up debris because I thought it was neat looking and come to find out boom!!!!! This is where im at.
That is one sweet bottle. I have a hutch bottle which picture's two hands shaking, this is the now the second bottle that I've seen now with that. congrats on your new find
Surf the embossing A & Co is in the pennant passing through the shield. Look at the first picture in the post you can make the letters out there. He cleaned the bottle so good you cant see them now.[8D] Nice flask and very original. Probably an 1865 to 1875 made flask like the rest of the Clasped Hands charted flasks. We need to know the size I am assuming it is pint sized judging from the finger in the bottle picture. If the flask is pint sized then it is either a GXII-21 or GXII-22. The flask is attributed to the Adams & Co. Pittsburgh Pennsylvania by Stephen Van Rensselaer.As others have already stated in this post the top is different then most if not all of the other Clasped Hands/Shield Flasks in the GXII group which usually sport the single ring top making the flask very desirable. Although common by comparison to other historical flasks these clasped hands/ Shield flasks are still very collectable as really they were a celebration of the saving of the Union after the Civil war. I see these flasks really coming into their own in the next 20 years as the older 1820 to 1850 historical flasks become more scarce and out of the price range of a lot of collectors.
Hey there Steve, I'm glad you chimed in on this. Check out the number and placement of the vertical and horizontal lines in the shield on the UNION side. They don't match up with a 21 or 22. The "placard" on the eagle side is unlike a 21 or 22 also. I'd think it is more like the GXII-1, possibly a GXII-1a if you will.