CC JEROMES NATIONAL BITTERS UPDATE

[druggistnut]

As many of you know, there are only three of these elusive bitters bottles known. There are two of the triangular shaped, deep amethyst variety. One that was glued back together sold for almost 12K and the other one, with a chip and crack, sold for almost 17K. The square, intact (some call it coffin-shaped) variant sold for either 150 or 175K.
There has never been any information on the location of the business, or about the person who put the bitters out. It had been rumored that they were in business only one year-1865.

Thanks to the help of our own Marjorie, I was able to track down Dr Jerome. The link takes you to Peachridgeglass, run by Ferdinand Meyer.
Funny thing, the obit notice puts Jerome in Chicago in the 1880's, but the IRS document reflects him being in Port Huron. Perhaps he continued to run his business concerns in Michigan, while living in the Windy City.
Next on my list is to track down a business address.
Bill

http://www.peachridgeglass.com/2012/10/heatley-on-the-hunt-with-c-c-jerome/

 

[druggistnut]

Forgot to add- if you click on the IRS sheets, they will enlarge, then you can enlarge them again.
Bill

 

[Steve/sewell]

Neat article Bill thanks for posting it. You could call that shape of bottle a corner hutch type. I hope you find one of the bottles yourself!![8D]......Then there would be 4 of them[]

 

[botlguy]

Just curious Bill, when and where did those bottles sell? I tend to keep pretty good track of Bitters bottles sales and I don't remember hearing about those.

 

[druggistnut]

Jim,
The two damaged (triangular ones) sold in an auction- I will try to find it for you, but I believe it is listed on Ferdinands site, on earlier postings regarding the Jeromes. The new owner of both is cited in the article Meyer wrote up on them, and his name is credited on the pics.
The square, or cabin shape, was a private sale, I think it was last year. The bottle went from an owner in Ohio (he had gotten it from Chris Batdorf, years ago, for about 13K), to the new owner in Colorado. The owners name is also credited on the pic of that one.
Bill

 

[druggistnut]

Read this, Jim.
http://www.peachridgeglass.com/2011/06/national-bitters-c-c-jerome-co-detroit/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=national-bitters-c-c-jerome-co-detroit

I know the other one sold at auction, too. I am trying to track it down.
Bill

 

[druggistnut]

C.C. Jerome National Bitters from Detroit
Posted on 4 July 2011 by Ferdinand Meyer V

Another very exciting email from noted Michigan collector Jeff “scharno†Scharnowske…

OK, now for something more up your alley, Ferd. Here are the only two known examples of the triangular shaped C.C. Jerome National Bitters from Detroit. These two and the coffin shaped example that Sandor purchased recently are the only known Jerome bitters. You might as well report on your website that I was the fool who paid $11,500 (plus the premium) for the cracked example from ABA’s most recent auction. I just had to bring this bottle back to Michigan, since my collection is mainly Michigan bottles.

[Editor Note: Fool One Day...Brilliant the Next!]

The example on the left is from ABA’s auction and is a dark black amethyst color. The example on the right is the one that came out of the Detroit River 35+ years ago, with a small hole in one base corner. It broke into about 6 pieces when they tried to tumble it in the ’70′s and Spangler put it back together. It is a medium plum or strawberry puce color and they complement each other nicely.

Note the stretched out neck on the lighter color example, it was stretched out when the glass was still warm and they were applying the lip. By examining details of the embossing, you can see that the two bottles were definitely made in the same mold. Why is this bottle so rare, when they evidently made at least two batches of them, in 2 different colors? We may never know.

Jeff “scharno†Scharnowske

***See previous PRG Post on the C.C Jerome

 

[mctaggart67]

Dr. Jerome was in London, Ontario circa 1866-67. He was making bitters there and ran into some trouble with Her Majesty's revenue collectors, since bitters makers had to pay excise tax. Jerome wasn't doing this. I can't put my hands on the notes I made from the period newspaper article right now, but I'll have a look for it.

 

[druggistnut]

Glen,
That is very interesting. One of those tax sheets (1866) shows him in London.
I'd be very interested in hearing what you found.
Bill