3 Jamica Gingers

[diginit]

OK. I'm board and am posting 3 of my 140 or so favorite bottles. I sold a duplicate of the Hostetters of these a few years ago on ebay to a collector in pittsburg who later mentioned he had never seen one before. Still haven't found much info on any of these.
Little help?

 

[diginit]

This one shows the color better. These are tough to photograph.

 

[idigjars]

James a nice trio. Thanks for sharing the pics. Paul

 

[tigue710]

Wow, never saw the Hostetters before, very cool!

 

[GuntherHess]

Still haven't found much info on any of these.
Little help?

What kind of info are you looking for?
The Hostetter's is also found with a flat applied lip.

 

[Lordbud]

The Hostetter's (and Mitchell's) are both blown in San Francisco, and were made for sale in the west, despite
the city of Pittsburg being embossed in the glass. The Mitchell's is made from the same mold with the Hostetter's
slugged out. The applied lip examples are more desirable. One of the CALDIGRs likely could fill in some more info.

The Langley & Michaels jake is maybe western-blown although the embossing doesn't look western to my eyes.

There are several collectors of western jakes here in California, myself having a modest selection of perhaps
30 varieties/variants which is dwarfed by the other jake collections I've heard about.

 

[idigjars]

Here's a link for a labeled Sanfords Jamaica Ginger if anybody is interested. It ends in 4 days and the current bid is $0.99. It's not shaped like yours but if you collect them you might want this. Just trying to help. Good luck. Paul

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320205993783&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

 

[GuntherHess]

I'm guessing the gingers were so prevalent around SF because of that being the main sailing port in and out of the west coast? Ginger being a treatment for sea sickness.

It surprises me to hear the Hostetter's would have been blown out west but I guess they were sold there so why not. I've heard some of his bitters were blown out there. Are there any bottom marks that indicate the western glass works similar to the McC & Co marks for Pittsburgh?

 

[Lordbud]

Jamaica Ginger had a very high alcohol content estimated between 70 - 80%, so that alone probably made it a popular
"medicine". Here is a picture of a quite rare Donald McMillan jake, sold on ebay last year, dug in Hawaii of all places.
McMillan perhaps more famous for the McMillan & Kester jamaica ginger bottles made from the 1860s until close to 1900.
Nope I didn't win this one, but I saved the pic from ebay.

 

[GuntherHess]

I currently list 39 different jakes. I'm sure there are quite a lot more out there.