Historical Flask

[fsperry]

Here are pics of a bottle that a friend of mine recently purchased at a yard sale for FIVE STINKING DOLLARS ! I am sure it is an historical flask and it is approx. 6" tall, but cannot stand alone because of the crudely formed, pontilled bottom. Anyone have any info I can pass on to him ? Thanks.

Three post combined into one - Admin

 

[BRIAN S.]

Hi fsperry,
Looks like the real deal to me from your pics. GII 60 Eagle / Oak tree maybe ? I don't have my McKearins book with me.
I'd say 250.00 - 375.00 price range if mint/near mint. Not a bad buy at 5.00 ! []
Brian

 

[Oldtimer]

It does look old. Wear marks and all.

I love hearing about these finds![]

 

[medbottle]

Wow...great find! Here is the scoop from the "bible" of flask collecting (McKearin & Wilsons wonderful tome). Being about 6" tall, I believe you have the 1/2 pint...this bottle also comes in a pint. The tree is generally referred to as the "Charter Oak". The McKearin # is GII-60 and is listed as comparatively scarce (75-150 specimens known, when the book was published in 1978) The pint is considered extremely rare. The maker is unkown, once again at the time of publication. I don't know if any info on the maker has popped up in the past 26 years. According to "The Auction Price Report" by William Brown, 1997 edition, several aqua examples sold in 1996 for $258.00, $330.00, and $412.50, with the first two examples having some light spotty stain. However, your friend's bottle appears to be colorless, which is usually considered a rare "color" for historical flasks. Take a good close look to see if there is any hint of color...I think a truely colorless example would sell for more that an aqua, although the heavy stain might cause it to drop back below that...its enough to drive ya nuts. In any event, a really nice early flask with a great design. Congrats.

 

[fsperry]

Thanks everyone for your all your help,,,,,,,,,it is greatly appreciated. I also love to hear about all the "lucky" finds that people come across, but I wish that sometimes I could stumble into a few of them ! I would have to look again at the bottle to see if it truly colorless, but I believe it to have just a hint of aqua and maybe not classified as clear. I will relay this info to my friend,,,,,,,,,,thanks again.

Fred S. Perry

 

[deepwoods]

Hey Fred - Good lookin out! As I always say you just never know - a couple of yrs ago I picked up a very rare pontiled med -Dr. Jaynes Life Preservative - for a couple bucks at a yard sale. Worth in the 800 to a grand range! Beautiful flask!