"Noble Catcher" Is this a Cyrus Noble Whiskey Bottle?

[CarltonHendricks]

Surf, Thanks so much for so much...I agree it sounds like Three Sworn Enemies had something to do with a shared interest of distriuting Cyrus Noble....a fabricated mystique...very interesting....you posted a lot to take in...it's all good background that could prove helpful.

I much appreciate any and all input, observation, speculation, photos, or anything anyone cares to share. And it doesn't have to be Cyrus Noble related...if you have input regarding another product my bottle may have held....by all means post away..I will take any clues!

 

[CarltonHendricks]

I got some interesting news today on Noble Catcher....I went in the antiques mall where I got it a month ago and the dealer of the booth, named Kim, was there....As previously mentioned I often see him at the monthly Sacramento Antiques fair. Moreover I've seen him around antiques shows for about 20 years. He used to set up regularly at the now defunct P.M.A. show at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in Sam Mateo Calif. I cut my teeth in antiques at the P.M.A. show... Kim recently told me he's retired now after after selling his sporting goods business....I didn't pry into his personal business too much but as I recall...I believe he said he sold to the San Francisco Giants...and I assume that was just one of many teams he sold to and I gathered it wasn't a retail business..Kim told me he used to drive out from California to the Brimfield Antiques Fair in Brimfield MA. many times....but he can't handle all the walking now so quit going regularly....see my 16 text page 16,521 word coverage of the May 2011 Brimfield Fair here...plus 1000 photos here...

...So anyways I told him I had bought it and asked where he'd gotten it....take a guess....he got it at the last 49er bottle show in early December....the one I couldn't make cause I had to work...He said he spotted it right as the seller at the show put it out...He said as much even if I'd been there he'd have gotten it as he was right there when it came out....So the next question I asked was where was the dealer from....didn't know...he figured probably from California or Nevada...So....there goes my notion it came out of the east coast from the afore mentioned Cooperstown haul he made...

Also it turns out....he had another one once and sold it years ago...Kim felt sure it was a Cyrus Noble back bar bottle. He told me back bar bottles were not sold to the public, and as much that Cyrus Noble was the first one to use figural bottles and they were designed to stand out visually and in turn increase sales in bars...

And then....there was a little intrigue....Kim said he had told a baseball collector about the bottle who he was sure would buy it....The collector came to the mall the day after I bought it and called Kim to find out where it was....Kim expressed as much his trepidation at having to tell the collector it was already sold...Kim put it out on a Saturday and I bought next day Sunday...

 

[CarltonHendricks]

I've been very fortunate to have the assistance of Shawn England who I know from the Net54baseball.com forum...Yesterday Shawn emailed me the items below...nothing concrete except we now have documentation a Cyrus Noble distributor named Taylor and Hatch used bottles in 1885 special enough to reference as "beautiful", "exceedingly attractive" and "extensive"...in their advertising...and that they were on display in their "Clubroom"..as seen below in a print ad from the Arizona Silver Belt newspaper on Saturday March 21, 1885....and that Cyrus Noble was given top billing in their ad including a graphic of the CN Lynchburg distillery. No mention of a baseball bottle but that's fine since I'm still holding onto my latest speculation my bottle was a special Cyrus Noble back bar bottle not available to the public and produced in a relatively limited capacity.

Also Shawn sent a description of the Cyrus Noble exhibit at the 1894 California Mid Winter published in the Pacific Wine and Spirit Review

California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894
From Wikipedia
The California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, commonly referred to as the "Midwinter Exposition" or the "Midwinter Fair", was a World's Fair that operated from January 27 to July 5 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. In 1892, U.S. President Benjamin Harrison appointed M. H. de Young as a national commissioner to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition which was held in Chicago. The San Francisco fair was the brainchild of Michael H. de Young, then editor and sole proprietor of the San Francisco Chronicle. The most enduring legacies are the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum (which has since been rebuilt in a much different design) and the Park's famed Japanese Tea Garden.

 

[epackage]

I like your bottle but like you said nothing concrete yet, I hope you can find something solid...Jim

 

[CarltonHendricks]

ORIGINAL: epackage

I like your bottle but like you said nothing concrete yet, I hope you can find something solid...Jim

Thanks Jim, What I'd like to find is lots of old photos of saloons in the old west from about 1880 to 1920 to see if I could find my bottle on a back bar...I found some interesting looking books on amazon but too pricey

1. Saloons of the Old West by Richard Erdoes (Hardcover - Feb 11, 1997) 5 new from $50.00 27 used from $11.95 (4)Sell this back for an Amazon.com Gift Card
Books: See all 27 items
2. Hoist a Cold One!: Historic Bars of the Southwest by Melody Groves (Paperback - Jul 15, 2011) Buy new: $24.95 $18.96 20 new from $16.58 6 used from $15.35
3. The Saloon on the Rocky Mountain Mining Frontier by Elliott West (Paperback - Sep 28, 1996)
4 new from $22.00 15 used from $4.60
4. Vintage Old Town Saloon Metal Bar Sign
Buy new: $18.95
5. Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons that Made Texas Famous (Clayton Wheat Williams Texas Life Series) by Richard F. Selcer, David Bowser, Nancy Hamilton and Chuck Parsons (Hardcover - Aug 31, 2004)

http://www.sportsantiques.com/viennabbbronze.htm
I once spotted a very rare c1880 Vienna bronze of a baseball batter and catcher in a photo in a book on Victorian homes in New York City, link above

 

[CarltonHendricks]

Well as a last ditch effort I sent my Noble Catcher baseball bottle to Audio Archaeology International in Brussels to see if they could read any conversations imbedded in the bottles surface. AAI is the world’s leading forensic audio laboratory that has pioneered the field of reconstruction of embedded audio in inanimate objects. Moreover AAI has the world’s largest archeological audio library and specializes in identifying and matching voices of historical persons….

Forensic audio evalauation of Noble Catcher bottle surface

They explained to me the surface molecules of the bottle hold literally thousands of audio renderings that can be reconstructed, as long as the surface stays intact, i.e. unbroken, and that it never diminishes…so that the audio they retrieve is as fresh today as it was the day the sound was initiated. Because of the capability of today’s super computers AAI is able to sort and cross reference billions of audio “strikes†as they call them. Moreover theanalyses are quite intensive and involve a multiple refining process to eliminate non-descript sounds and the reassembling of verbiage until a final set of key conversations can be determined.

Wyatt Earp

In the case of my bottle what they’ve found so far is they are able to identify the location of several key conversations as having taken place in the western hemisphere. The location is somewhat limited and is determined by evaluating a gravitational pull of key syllables. However, what is very exciting is thru the vast AAI library their computers are able to access in zillionths of a second; they were able to positively identify the voice of the famed gunslinger and lawman Wyatt Earp. Until the complete evaluation is finalized by AAI I cannot discuss the full details of the conversation more than to report it is definitely the voice of Wyatt Earp and based on background noise, appears to have taken place in a saloon. They expect it will take another month before the final report is complete. I will try to remember to post it here as soon as I’ve received it….Oh and by the way….one more thing I should mention….you’ve been had…this is a hoax!!

So anyways…all kidding aside….I haven’t found any new positive evidence that I.D.’s my bottle, although I’ll mention I showed it to Corey Lieby who is one of the top sports memorabilia dealers in the world and he’s never seen it.

I now have the bottle featured near the top of my home page www.SportsAntiques.com . I’ve referenced Antique-Bottles.net as the leading bottle community and placed a prominent link to this thread.

 

[epackage]

It's too bad the people at Noble don't have any sort of searchable archives, but I look forward to the day the Pitcher & Catcher can finally tell us their stories...

 

[surfaceone]

Thanks for the story, Carlton,

Was looking through your site, at your kind invitation, and wanted to say how much I liked that Grant's Pass Barney Oldfield poster, and the great groove skate reunion groove:

I read through the thread the other day to see if I could see something previously missed, but alas, I'm still stumped. Darn those "three sworn enemies."

Thanks for the nice plug for the the gang at A-BN. Thought you might get a kick outta this Sports Soda Thread from a while back.

From.

 

[epackage]

I have a few Sports related collectibles lying around including some nice photos of the Harlem Magicains at Guantanamo Bay back in 1963, They were clasified and taken by the Navy and I was lucky enough to come across them at a garage sale of a retired officer who was there...

There are also 2 photo's with Ray Robinson the boxer who played with the Magicians when he had free time, and also a few original Programs...

 

[epackage]

...