1868 Bissell's Tonic Bitters Peoria, IL

Hi,

I dabble a little in vintage bottles (generally more graphic-design soda bottles than older medicine), but recently acquired an old amber-colored "Bissell's Tonic Bitters, Patented Jany 21, 1868", from Peoria, ILL. I gather from the following recently-concluded Ebay listing that it's actually worth something:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAP...EGLd0L55Po5G1dBtYeX6k%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Mine is reasonably clean, with some white film on all inside faces, no chips or cracks, and does not appear to have been buried or in the ground at any point (no dirt). Before I put it on Ebay and have to deal with their egregious fees, I thought I'd come here to gauge any interest.

One pic of mine is attached. I'd be glad to send more images if you'd like. Thanks for your time!

Bill Bogan
Lafayette, IN

Nothing personal Bill, but we have had some members burned here recently for this same exact type of thing, a new mmeber looking to sell a really good bottle instead of using E-Bay or an auction site. This isn't to say you're not a sincere honest guy, but I have to question why you would offer it here to people you've never had interaction with as opposed to selling it thru E-Bay or auction and getting the largest bottle buying audience to bid on it.

I don't see a way to assure a buyer here that all things are legit unless you agree on a price and then list it as a "Buy It Now" for that person to purchase it. Sorry for being so blunt but I really like and respect the other members here, and I don't want to see them get burned....

Jim

The total cost to you would be about 13% which isn't out of whack in my personal opinion, it's the cost of doing business and reaching a worldwide audience...

Jim,

No offense taken. I guess it's a combination of two things.

One, I've had several less-than-satisfactory transactions through Ebay over the years, and just wanted to explore another option. I can assure you I'm not out to scam anybody (I have a 100% positive 1563 rating over there - "wwbogan"), and would assume that any prospective buyer on this site who's taken the time to get established in the community you have here wouldn't be looking to scam either.

Two, I don't mean to quibble, but I think Ebay fees (which now tally against the S&H too) and PayPal fees are closer to 20% by the time you finish if you go the Fixed-price route (not quite so bad in a straight auction with Buy-it-Now, but we all know you don't get nearly the level of hits if you put a fair price as your start bid). So, if this thing is really worth the price in the auction I linked to, that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 I have to fork over to them just for setting up the cyber-infrastructure.

Thanks for the frank advice - if the broad view here is that I need to just bite the bullet and go Ebay, I will. If not, I'd be happy to hear from anybody interested.

Thanks!
Bill

You'll get a better price on eBay than here, I think. Also, the bottle has been buried... That white stain on the outside is caused by minerals in the soil reacting with the glass.

Jim,

Let me also put you on the spot for a minute, since you said "really good bottle"... what would you give as a value for this one? Just curious if the seller in that auction realized a fair price, since I also deal quite a bit in other collectibles (e.g. stamps), and am quite used to Ebay auctions closing for 10% or less of "catalog value".

Thanks again!
Bill

Thanks Wheelah. To me, it looks like 90%+ of the stain is on the inside, but there may be a bit on one outside face. Maybe it was on the ground for a while?? How does that generally affect value?

ORIGINAL: bogan99

Jim,

No offense taken. I guess it's a combination of two things.



Two, I don't mean to quibble, but I think Ebay fees (which now tally against the S&H too) and PayPal fees are closer to 20% by the time you finish if you go the Fixed-price route (not quite so bad in a straight auction with Buy-it-Now, but we all know you don't get nearly the level of hits if you put a fair price as your start bid).

Click to expand...

I recently sold 3 bottles on E-Bay, both 7 day and 30 day BIN, the average cost to me after "every fee" was 12-14% and no higher....I can assure this is the case. I appreciate your looking to gauge interest and I wish you the best. I hope whatever happens it works out well for you and hopefully we will see you here for a long time to come...[]

ORIGINAL: bogan99

Jim,

Let me also put you on the spot for a minute, since you said "really good bottle"... what would you give as a value for this one? Just curious if the seller in that auction realized a fair price, since I also deal quite a bit in other collectibles (e.g. stamps), and am quite used to Ebay auctions closing for 10% or less of "catalog value".

Thanks again!
Bill

Click to expand...

I do not know the bottle well enough to give you a value Bill, if it's as yellow as it looks compared to the darker amber of the one on E-Bay then I'd say it might draw a higher bid than that amber example. 152 people saw the E-Bay example so I would have to figure that it is the fair market value for that bottle. Bitters are very sought after and if your's is a hard color to find it could do really well, especially if the staining inside is cleaned up...

These members here are ones looking for bitters and would know more about it than I would..You could PM oir E-mail them for their input.[]

2MUCHSTUFF: Doyles in strange colors and crazy BITTERS

ANDY VOLKERTS: Cure bottles, especially western in location of bottle name or company

BITTERS R SWEET: Bitters. Barrels, Cabins,Figurals, hard to get squares, pictoral gins, figural whiskeys. anything crude. Have many to trade!

BOTTLECHASER62: Bitters

BRIAN S: Drake's Plantation Bitters(unusual colors and rare molds), Drake's go withs, and Tennessee Bitters

CHUCK1188: Bitters

CHUCKNORRIS: BIM sample bitters and whiskys I don't have for my collection - many duplicates for sale or trade

CORDILLERAN: Bitters

ILOVEJAKE24: Western made Jamaica Ginger's, Western Bitters

RRAACK: Barrel Bitters - Sachem's - Greeley's Bourbon (not amber)

WESTERNBITTERSNUT: Early Western bitters such as Lacour's, Cassin's. Wonser's, etc/

ORIGINAL: epackage

ORIGINAL: bogan99

Jim,

Let me also put you on the spot for a minute, since you said "really good bottle"... what would you give as a value for this one? Just curious if the seller in that auction realized a fair price, since I also deal quite a bit in other collectibles (e.g. stamps), and am quite used to Ebay auctions closing for 10% or less of "catalog value".

Thanks again!
Bill

Click to expand...

I do not know the bottle well enough to give you a value Bill, if it's as yellow as it looks compared to the darker amber of the one on E-Bay then I'd say it might draw a higher bid than that amber example. 152 people saw the E-Bay example so I would have to figure that it is the fair market value for that bottle. Bitters are very sought after and if your's is a hard color to find it could do really well, especially if the staining inside is cleaned up...

Click to expand...

I'd wondered about the color when I saw the listing. It definitely doesn't look dark amber to me, but not really yellow either; I'd go with more of a warm orange.

Should I clean the staining (how?), or leave it to somebody who knows what they're doing?

Thanks!