McMissing & Kester jake on the bay

[Lordbud]

Does the embossed Donald McMillan jake (without Kester) pre-date or post-date the Mc & K jakes?

 

[Lordbud]

It would make sense that the 'new' McMillan & Kester horizontal mold wasn't created until the old vertically embossed mold wore out. So the idea that an example exists with both sides fully embossed -- one horizontal/one vertical -- seems a bit far-fetched.[8|]

However examples embossed with both the worn out vertical mold and the new horizontal most certainly exist.

 

[Lordbud]

This baby closed at the minimum bid of $9.99, the guy bidding on it must have really wanted it because he made two consecutive higher "minimum" bids...it's not really much to look at although it is fire aqua and likely a scarce variant.

 

[ilovejake24]

Hey Jason,
I would venture to guess that the Donald McMillan jake Post-Dates the McMillan and Kester varients. My logic behind this is that it one has a tooled top, and two has the late 1880's early 1890's shape and glass. Just my opinion though. What do you think?

 

[Lordbud]

What you say makes sense. I am surprised there don't seem to be more Donald McMillan jakes floating around.

 

[onekick1]

Lordbud,
In 1865 Donald McMillan & Levi Kester (i.e. McMillan & Kester) bought out the San Francisco syrup & cordial manufactory of the Turner Bros. M & K retained sole agency of the Turner's products (essence Jamaica Ginger, Turner's Forest Wine Bitters etc.) and marketed those products along with other products that they manufactured. (McMillan & Kester essence of Jamaica Ginger etc).
In 1881 Levi Kester died and Donald McMillan took the reins of the company and turned it into the biggest producer of syrups & related products on the west coast. I am leaning towards the Donald McMillan bottle as after the 1881 death of Kester, making it a later bottle that the McMillan & Kester bottle.
Hope this helps -
Rick