Month: June 2025

How many cats make up a litter? ChatGPT says one is sufficient (a “singleton litter”), but 3-5 is more usual.

The Black Cat Whiskey above is one of pre-pro’s most desirable glasses, in part because the label is a transfer rather than the usual white-frosted variety, but also because the famous kitty is so endearing.

Ullman, Einstein & Co. of Cleveland OH left us with many different glasses, including 7 cats (two of them highballs) that I know of. Black Cat Whiskey was their flagship brand apparently, given that the image of a cat sidling up to a bottle of the product appears top and center of their letter- and bill-heads.

“Black Cat Rare Old Whiskey” glasses show up for sale every two years so, so they’re not that common. Prior to the litter above showing up on eBay, the last to stroll by was in 2022. The first of the trio shown listed for sale on April 1 of this year and was offered by cajunmill66. I watched the auction with interest given that these glasses attract considerable interest, not only from pre-pro collectors, but also from anyone with a more general interest in cat collectibles. The highest I’ve seen one of these glasses sell for is $861 and that was a decade ago. The April glass sold for $300. I dutifully logged it into the database and didn’t think too much more about it until May 7, when the same seller listed a second one for sale. One person owning two of these glasses? That was quite a find if they were acquired at the same time. Kitty #2 sold for $305.

I figured that was the end of the tail, er, tale, until four days ago, when a third such glass listed, same seller. The auction is still live with price as of writing standing at $21.50. If you fancy adopting, this may be your chance.

I’ll update the post with a hammer price when it sells.

Once upon a time, the appearance of a pre-pro glass from Denver, CO on eBay was a guarantee of a no-holds-barred bidding war and a 3-figure payoff for the seller.

Why? Back in the day, CO was a sparsely populated state. The US Census for 1900 shows the city’s population to be less than 140,000, so there were relatively few working saloons and liquor dealers, let alone dealers who were handing out shot glasses and other freebies to encourage their patrons to consider a return visit.

By 1920, the city population had almost doubled, driven by mining interests, industrialization, and investment in its transportation infrastructure, but the number of documented shot glasses from the CO in general and Denver in particular remains paltry. By way of example, Barb Edmonson was only able to track down 6 CO glasses for inclusion in HSG and OASG.

The database here at pre-pro.com records a total of 23 CO glasses as of writing but, while this is a definite improvement, their rarity still makes CO one of the States that are most desirable for any serious Western-glass collector.

The sales database contains 43 unique examples of Denver glasses as of a few weeks ago. CO glasses show up for sale infrequently, none of which could be considered “common.”

Enter sanjuanslim, who maintains an eBay store named “The Mine Shop” that specializes in Western antiques. The seller has assembled or acquired a collection of CO glasses and has been dribbling them out on eBay over the past couple of weeks. So far, around 28 glasses have listed, including several that I’ve not seen before. All have been selling for bargain-basement prices, so if you have an interest in CO, then this would be a good chance to add to the collection. A few choice offerings are shown below.

A previously unlisted glass from Sam Barets & Co., of Denver, CO. It sold for $69.72.

An “Evergood” from the Pleus Miles Merchantile Co. I’ve seen a handful of these glasses previously: this one sold for $106.26.

An “Old Forest Grove”, from A. Friedman & Co. An unlisted glass and the auction has yet to close.

“Compliments of The Levy & Lewin Merchantile Co.” A handful of these glasses have listed over the years. The highest price realized was $262.87; this example sold for $31.02.

A previously unlisted glass from Phil. Lewin, featuring a crude liquor jug with grain stalks in the background. A true steal at $34.33!

A classic from Sunnyside Liquor Co. that sold for $74.19. This is one of the more “common” Denver glasses (if such a term can be applied here) that had fetched $228.75 in previous years.

eBay currently has a couple of interesting collections on offer that I’ll highlight in a second post, but first I wanted to thank Ed Sipos (azsaloon on eBay) for giving me a heads up on a rare enamel transfer glass that he’d picked up in a “best offer” back in August of last year.

The original listing page is no longer available, but here’s a snibbet:

The glass was listed by collectiblesbytim and was among 25 or so glasses that the seller dropped into the ‘Bay in the recent months.

These enamel transfer glasses are super-rare and super-desirable to hardcore collectors. I’ve seen the Old Blackthorn only four times now and have yet to add one to my own collection. The example in the database is (was ?) owned by Kevin Wade, plus I’ve seen 3 more offered on eBay (including the one featured here).

The end-of-auction page showed that Ed picked it up for $99.99 or less, which is fifteen-fold less than a previous example sold for in open auction. Nice find and thanks to Ed for getting in touch!

In the past 28 days, 196 pre-pro glasses have listed on eBay. Of these, 133 failed to attract a bidder, but the average price of the glasses that did sell was $53.94.