Kitsap Tonic Bitters, Portland Oregon

[EWB]

Does anyone know about this bitters? The only information I find online is that a collector once purchased a label only.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Welcome to the forum! Unfortunately that looks to me like it's (at best) a genuine label which was relatively recently stuck onto a blank bottle, or (at worst) a fake label stuck onto a genuine blank bottle. I searched the name and I'm assuming that you're the one who posted about it elsewhere, saying you've had it for over 30 years? The listing from the Kingston museum saying the label was purchased prior to 1995 lines up with that. It's very rare that one unused label appears on the market by itself, usually dozens or more appear on the market all at once, and some end up on bottles. A label which has been on a bottle for over 100 years will almost never look as crisp as yours, exposure to the elements will have made the paper begin to degrade and become discoloured.

 

[EWB]

I want to thank you for this information. I'm sorry for my delayed reply as I read it when you posted it and then a bunch of other things took over my life (almost all good, but just time consuming). Where is the Kingston museum located? We have a Kingston here in WA State, but there are others such as in Ontario. I agree that if exposed to the elements paper labels would not be close to being crisp and would be stained and chipped and acid degraded. But it seems to me that a certain ratio of old bottles were not exposed to elements outside or inside (except in abandoned homes with doors and windows non-existent). As an antiquarian bookseller, I know that paper, depending on exposure, and depending on what kind of paper, can remain almost as clean and supple as the day the book was printed and bound. But label paper would not be of this quality I wouldn't imagine. Putting a loup on the label does't yet tell me much as I would have to re-explore inked type imprinting on paper.