Iron Pontiled Hostetters? (ended)

RIBottleguy · Aug 14, 2012

I saw this poorly listed black glass Dr. J. Hostetter's Stomach Bitters on ebay last week, and I drilled a hole through my computer screen trying to see if the base was iron pontiled. It ended up selling for around $550 (almost won it), but that's the price of a smooth based one. Did someone get a killer deal?

I'll let the experts decide here:

tigue710 · Aug 14, 2012

no pontil, just stain. Looks almost as if it was cleaned and the base was covered in the process although these are not often found sick.

KentOhio · Aug 15, 2012

I saw that too and I was pretty sure it looked like an iron pontil.

baltbottles · Aug 15, 2012

Looks like crud on the base to me, the black glass ones are not known to come iron pontiled.

Chris

cowseatmaize · Aug 15, 2012

Since it's over can you share the list? I can't find it.

RIBottleguy · Aug 15, 2012

Here it is:

Ebay

epackage · Aug 15, 2012

I need to take a better look at these in the future, I was under the impression that they were mostly $10-20 bottles so I never bothered to look at them closely. I'm guessing the color is what makes this more valuable?

cowseatmaize · Aug 15, 2012

no pontil, just stain. Looks almost as if it was cleaned and the base was covered in the process although these are not often found sick.

Looking at this, I think I'd agree with that. I don't know why you'd cover the base before a tumble but it could have been a true faking attempt also.
Nothing is better than in person but at this point I'm for smooth base. Then again, maybe a tumbler did cover an IP?[8|][8|][8|][8|][8|][8|]

CALDIGR2 · Aug 15, 2012

No IP. Like Chris said, the green ones aren't pontilled, only the big early ambers come occasionally with IP.

RIBottleguy · Aug 15, 2012

Jim,
Most Hostetters are common, but the early ones can be worth some dough. Most of the examples made in the 1860-70s period by the L&W company are valuable in colors besides the normal amber. Light green and black glass examples fetch a couple hundred, and pontiled examples (extremely rare) sell for a few thousand.

Iron Pontiled Hostetters? (ended)

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