Shot of the Week



		Shot Shot of of the the Week Week Week	Item number: 6244450985 Item number: 6244931736

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Has this been a weird week week week or what what what????

For starters, eBay is still having problems with its search routines. The site often gets a little loopy but their web-wonks usually manage to correct the problem within a day or so. But we're now in the second or third week of random search returns. If you haven't noticed, then maybe it's a browser-specific problem, but if I search on "etched widgets" (for example), I may get 15 pages of results with page 7 showing listings ending out to 3 days 11 hours. When I'm done with page 7 and click onto page 8, instead of picking up at 3 days 11 hours 31 minutes, I'm suddenly out at day 6, hour 18 !!

I keep thinking about all those rare CA picture glasses that I'm missing as a result. No doubt they'll show up on nuffbarn's bidding history, selling for $9.99 a piece.

This turned out to be a week/month of double trouble wherever I looked.

Before getting into specifics, we have a bona fide candidate for a Golden Hayner award. The glittering prize goes to lucky101blue for winning the Old I. W. Harper glass shown at right. True, this is a nice glass when found in good condition, and true, this is a heavy version of a more typically fluted glass, but they're so common that they seldom make $20. The lucky winner took it home for $42.55 - about double the previous record!

While I typically try and keep oldwhiskey off the stage in SOTW, yours truly has been all over the map this past month and surely qualifies for every award we have going -- especially the MMTS. There were days when I hardly dared open my e-mail to see what kind of damage had been done the day before. True, there have been a couple of couples that are SOTW material (more on this later), but SO much junk as well. And that doesn't include the bids on eBay... :D

But here's an interesting nugget. Maybe you saw this "Full Dress" glass?

It's in truly awful condition but this is one I hadn't seen before. I often buy unusual glasses just so that I can document them for the database, so I put in a low bid. I ended up beating out Kevin Roach by 50 cents to win it for $10.50, so the damage was not too great. Where does it come from? No idea.

A couple of days later, I was filing some "captured" photos and ran across an old nickel-and-brass corkscrew bearing the same image as on the junky shot. Turns out that both come from Straus, Gunst & Co. of Richmond, VA. You may have noticed that prices on VA glasses have been driven through the roof in the past year by a dealer (figscollectibles on eBay) who is buying for a VA client, but the condition on this glass is so poor that it's only worth the $10 or so that I paid for it.

But the lesson is that you never know with these orphan glasses. Although they may not list a city and state, they could turn out to be something interesting.

See this crappy old thimble?

What do you think it's worth on a good day? $5, $10? Nope.

$130.50.

Hmmmmm.....

OK, so onto serious business.

It's a well-documented and scientifically proven fact that the human brain is highly susceptible to coincidence, but it seems that everywhere I looked these past few weeks I was seeing double.

I know we seem to go through periods when rare glasses will show multiple times and from multiple sellers within the space of a few days, and then we have periods when a very common glass fails to show for months, but remember in the last SOTW I noted the five enamels that showed up in close succession? Then there were seven American Navy's -- and now we have a quintuplet of doubles. Maybe I just need new specs....

First, there was the new Todd's Tonic variant. Todd was a saloon and hotel-keeper from Lancaster PA and he left us with hundreds of the more common "Todd's Tonic" glass to remember him by. Probably everyone has one in their collection, but tonic glasses don't really have the appeal of shots and the value of these glasses is correspondingly low. But I was interested to note an new version that showed up recently and added it to the watch list for later reference. The seller was from IN.

Within two days, a second of the same showed up, this time from OH. Now is that a coincidence or what?

Then there were the two Davis & Drake glasses that sold as one lot. There are many Davis & Drake variants, almost all of them highly detailed and desirable. They typically have "Every Time We Drink Things Look Different" on one side and something additional on the obverse. These were inscribed "Drink The Owl". Two gorgeous glasses and essentially mint.

There was heavy competition for these two glasses although, somewhat surprisingly, not from the usual suspects.

But whenever I see two glasses in wrapper-mint condition sell in the same auction, I figure that someone somewhere unearthed a cache and they were placed them on the market in an estate sale. That means there's probably several more waiting in the wings and, sure enough, there's a third Owl twit-twooing through a seven-day listing as I write. Most likely they'll be worth less than $20 apiece by the time they've all seen the light of day.

A second Boston double closed within the past week, this time a pair of Walsh Sphinx Rye glasses.

Again, these are detailed, gorgeous, and essentially mint (and did I mention they were gorgeous?). This is the same liquor dealer that gave us the familiar Walsh's Special No4 glass that, coincidentally, features a pair of bottles.

Unlike the two D&D Owls, the Sphinx is actually a listed glass, but this is the first time I've seen one in vitro, so to speak. bluroc inflicted severe financial pain on this one (thanks Kevin!): I'll be really upset if a gross of these glasses show up on eBay over the next few months.

Oh, and as if this weren't enough, remember the super-rare Jas E Pepper glass that I featured on the last SOTW? The one that bluroc won? Well a pair of them showed up last week. blexbrew walked off with them, unchallenged, for $9.99!

I case I just made you choke on your coffee, one was badly worn and the had a large crack down the backside (would that be a butt-crack??!)...

So how about a SSOOTTWW??

These were ringers - almost too obvious - a pair of cute little kitties with expensive pedigrees. I think this brings the litter to 5 (i.e. the number oldwhiskey has drooled over on eBay), but who can resist that smirky smile? Rare and Old indeed - they're from Ullman Bros & Co. of Cleveland, OH.

It's always intriguing to see how the bidding fares on two identical and rare glasses running concurrently. Is it better to bid on the first or the second? What's the best strategy? Bid high on number one, higher on number two? I could almost hear the glass-cogs creaking round.

Bob Ford unleashed the hounds on the first one, and then everyone and their sister were after the cat. Ultimately Clint Baker stomped on Arky Joe and wrestled it into a carrier for $364. I hear both sustained nasty bites that required tetanus shots. And not from the cat, either....

Kitty #2 was now looking even better even though it appeared to be an old stray. This time the cat fight was between Arky Joe and junkmoney, but again lakerdude33 got bitten in the final round and the kitty is off to FL for $331.99.

Congratulations to both winners!

And please guys, don't forget to get them neutered.....

"You are bidding on the following glass: Black cat rare and old whiskey shot glass. It stands 2 5/8" tall. The etching is in very good condition and there are no chips or flakes on it. It is the old thin glass."
"You are bidding on a very old shot glass for BLACK CAT WHISKEY. Sorry do not know any info on them, but judging by the glass, I would say it was made many years ago. Decal shows some minor wear, but is in very good condition, glass does have a few nics on the upper rim. Glass measures approximately 2 1/4 inches tall X 1 3/4 inches across."

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Last updated: Saturday March 04, 2006
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