cannibalfromhannibal
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Well, been doin' my share of diggin' lately, just not my share of findin' until recently. Got to digging in a site that was all over the map with age and looked like a wall dump. Got to scratching around and discovered the appearance of a wall with a few bottles crushed into the wall itself. Got digging a little deeper and came up with a broken Hoss with Wm Mc C and those lovely serpentine s's in a nice light amber with a hint of olive! Then another busted Hoss, or so I thought at first. The shard had the letter "R", but was high up on the panel and wouldn't match any Hoss as it wasn't followed by an "S". As I pulled out more pieces it became clear it was something I was unfamiliar with. One piece had the letters HOFFHE...and BROTHE. Another panel was embossed...ART.../and BITTER! I kept thinking it might have read cathARTic bitters but the lettering was off. I thought maybe heART bitters but that too didn't quite seem to fit. Only after wearing my glasses did I realize the lettering I had to work with was ARI not art. I later was able to figure out it was a Hoffheimer Brothers Bavarian Bitters out of Cincinnati and St. Louis. A few minutes later I find a bitters panel and I can feel embossing on the backside panel but none on the others so I figured it was a Hoss. It was, and not an early McCully and I was singing the blues until I noticed the base embossed I G Co. So it was at least an early tool top. Then I pulled out a light cobalt blue shoulder to what I thought could be a Solomon's Bitters, since I was hitting an odd bitters grouping. Turned out to be my second broken one of these in as many years-- a "London Royal Imperial Gin"! It was all there but crushed into at least 100 pieces. But the bottle goddess was saving the best for last....