Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

May 2016 bring us all a year of peace, health, and happiness…and a couple of corkscrews!

Best Six (Wish list) for 2016…

I will preface this by saying, if anything, I wish for each of us a year of peace, compassion, and health.

And, of course a year of good corkscrewing.

That said, for several years now, I have put out a best 6 wish list; in essence, the corkscrews that I hope will find their way into the collection in the coming year.

In 2015, I published my wish list, and it looked something like this:

1. Frary Sullivan Bar Screw
2. A new discovery from the Back of O’Leary
3. Frary with Can Opener Handle
4. Jenner Patent
5. Philos Blake Patent
6. Sperry Patent

And, as it happens, it didn’t happen.  

I did indeed pick up a few pieces from the Back of O’Leary, and I was quite pleased with what ultimately made the best 6 for 2015, but given that I didn’t quite add the Frary Sullivan, Frary with Can Opener Handle, Jenner Patent, Sperry Patent, nor the Philos Blake, let’s try that again…

So, here is my Best Six Wish List for 2016…

1. Frary Sullivan Bar Screw
2. A new discovery from the Back of O’Leary
3. Frary with Can Opener Handle
4. Jenner Patent
5. Philos Blake Patent
6. Sperry Patent

That would be quite a best 6 for 2016!!!

Let the hunt begin!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Panopepton

From an 1899 edition of The Lancet:

PANOPETON

PANOPEPTON

is an edible substance of prime lean beef and best wheat flour, thoroughly cooked, properly digested, sterilised, and concentrated in vacuo, and preserved in a sound sherry.

PANOPEPTON

is the food par excellence for invalids; in all acute diseases, fevers, &c.; in convalescence, for the large class of persons who, from feebleness or deranged digestion, or antipathy to ordinary foods, require a fluid, agreeable, and quickly assimilable food.

PANOPEPTON

proves an effective resource against sleeplessness when this is due to excessive fatigue, stress of mental work, or malnutrition.

PANOPEPTON

is at once a grateful stimulant and food.

PANOPEPTON

should not be mixed with milk or any other food, but should be taken pure or with plain, iced, or aerated water. For an adult, the usual portion should be a dessertspoonful to a tablespoonful several times a day and at bed time.

Converse-ly…

The other day, Don Bull sent out an email explaining that he would be adding cork pullers and cork retrievers to his for sale site.  And, within the description he mentioned the Bottle King, a pre-patent Converse, and several others.

As I tend to focus on American corkscrews, the Bottle King (that would be Kahlen and Jordan’s patent) and the “Converse Patent (including pre-patent & advertising)” were of particular interest.

The morning the pages went live, I ran into the house–having been outside splitting firewood–opened up the macbook, and took a gander.

Fortunately, I have the Bottleking already–having acquired that this year in a trade with Barry.  And, as fortune would have it, I already have the “Pre-patent Converse.”  I picked that one up on eBay several years ago, and actually picked up a second one not too long ago–which promptly made its way into J.M.’s collection, as he was looking for it.

So, I scrolled right past those two, and several others until I saw a couple of Converse cork pullers with advertising.

As many of you know, I have a small collection of Converses.  And, so I fired off an email to Don, expressing my interest.

I also went through the other pages as well, but those three were the ones.

A bit later that morning, I received an email explaining that I was not the first one in.  And, I wasn’t even the second one in?

Really?

Nope!

TC apparently was Johnny on the spot, and expressed his interest in two of the pieces I wanted.  And, TWJ, actually beat me by a minute as well!

Well, at least I got one–of course it wasn’t an example that has advertising, but it is pretty cool.

Having read Don’s email again, I fired off an email to TC, simply asking “Really?”

And, being the good friend that Tommy is, he sent off an email to Don saying that the two advertising Converse belong in my collection.

Thanks TC.  You rock!

So, there are two more Converse with advertising heading to the island!

One with advertising on the sheath for Houlihan Bros.

The second, has advertising across the wooden handle.

Soon, these will be added to the list of known advertisements on the Converse website.

ALAMEDA COMPANY, WINE AND BRANDIES, 104 TREMONT STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

C.H. RITTER, SOLE PROP’RS, DETROIT, MICH, WESTMINSTER RYE WHISKEY

COMPLIMENTS OF FRIEDMAN, KEILER & CO., DISTILLERS OF BROOK HILL

CW GRIFFING, WHOLE SALE LIQUOR DEALER, FARRELL, P.A.

ELMORE BOURBON, ARTHUR LEHMANN & CO PEORIA, ILL

FRANK RIPLEY WHISKEY BEST FOR FAMILY USE, L. HEINEMAN JAMESTOWN N.Y.

HOLIHAN BROS, WHOLESALERS TO THE PEOPLE, LAWRENCE, MASS

LEHMANN’S RYE – ARTHUR LEHMANN & CO. – PEORIA, ILL.

MC CORMICK’S STRAIGHT WHISKEY

If you have a Converse cork puller with different advertising, drop me a line. I would be interested in acquiring it.  And, if it is one you would rather not part with, just send pictures, I would love to add it to the list.

Thanks for the deal Don.

And, thank you Tommy!

 

Best 6 for 2015

I know that we still have a couple of weeks until the year ends, but given that several Addicts have been sending out their Best Sixes, I went back through the many many corkscrews I have acquired this year, and narrowed the list from 16, to 12, to 8, and to 7.

After thinking about the best fit in the collection, along with some pieces that I have long been after, I finally got it to 6.

I will add here, that there have been many many great corkscrews that have come my way this year, and let’s hope 2016 is similar!

And, here are the best 6 for 2015!

1 – James D. Frary nickel-plated decorative handle corkscrew with bell assist and spike, but with no hammer. This makes the 21^st variation within my collection of Frarys (see L’Africain, 2010 http://www.the-icca.net/library/Fraryations/1.html and L’Africain, 2013 http://www.the-icca.net/library/Finding_Frary/1.html )

2 – Empire corkscrew, made by the Empire Portable Forge Company of Lansingburgh, NY. Advertisements from the time, explain that Empire Forge was making Curley’s corkscrews, but clearly they adapted the design as well. Note there is no movable bell or moveable screw. Instead of utilizing that principle of Curley’s designs, the screw present on the Empire allows for the worm to be replaced. The resemblance to the Curley with the patent date, however, is remarkable. Embossed EMPIRE across the handle, with no other markings.

3 – 1933 William S. Elter’s patent (# 1,906,454) Culinary Tong; a combination tool with canning jar lift hooks, a serrated jar wrench, can opener, crown cap lifter and wire helix, marked “VISE-O-LIFT INC. PAT PEND DAYTON, OHIO U.S.A.” (See Morris, 2012 http://www.the-icca.net/library/US_Corkscrew_2012/01.html )

4 – 1882 J. Henry Zeilin patent (#254,760) Dose Cup Bottle Stopper. In his patent description he explains, “The cup may be made of metal, glass, or any other suitable material…” I think the glass cup on this one is quite suitable. Unmarked, except for a line on the glass denoting how high to fill the cup (See O’Leary, 1996, p. 63).

5 – Oversized Walker Bell. As mentioned in my 2010 Best Six, which included the oversized Williamson, at the 2010 ICCA AGM, Paul Luchsinger presented evidence that the oversized Walker and Williamson were designed to pull a cork from a demijohn of Welch’s juice—note that the bell and shaft on the Walker is one solid piece.

6 – 1914 Josephine M. Spielbauer patent (#1,116,509) Cap Remover. In doing research into Miss Josephine, little information has come to light. What we do know, is her father owned a boarding house and saloon, and perhaps an improved cap remover (with corkscrew) could prove useful in her father’s bar. Marked “Rainier BEER” and “PAT. PEND” (See O’Leary, 1996, p. 244 and Morris, 2012, http://www.the-icca.net/library/US_Corkscrew_2012/01.html )

Here is to a great year of corkscrew collecting!

Good Hunting Everyone!

Bellscrew…

Okay…  I didn’t oversleep, I was simply otherwise occupied when Don Bull’s latest corkscrew sale update went live.

So, there were a couple of corkscrews I definitely would jumped on had I been at the ready, on time, and poised to send an email at 9:30 eastern standard time.

But, I wasn’t.  It wasn’t until 11-ish that I began to peruse the corkscrews.

Unfortunately the Perille Coffee Grinder already had been sold.  I am guessing it was TC, but we haven’t discussed it yet.

Still, going through the myriad of pages of corkscrews, there were many that piqued my interest.   But in this round–so far–it was just one.

One that I think, first, is pretty darn cool.  And, second, will lend itself to researching who, where, and when.

Marked “BELLSCREW” across the handle as well as M G C, the search for information about this piece is on.

If any of you have a similar corkscrew, I would love to see a picture of it.  A prototype?  Is there another?  American?  British?  And, is M G C the name of a company or an individual’s monogram.

Thanks for the deal Don, and I will go back and revisit the pages to see what else might need to be heading to the island.

 

 

 

Holy McGill Batman

So, apparently while I do spend a bit of time teaching and researching online, I am not paying enough attention to eBay.

Not until a day after the auction ended, did I discover a McGill patent that ended for a pretty low price considering how rare they are.

Selling for just a bit over 300 dollars, it was definitely a deal.

Of course, knowing the usual suspects as I do, I was a little surprised that others really didn’t jump into the fray.

After a second look, it appears that there is a hole in handle.

And, in discussing it with TC, who had it on his radar, he explained that he couldn’t get past that–so he didn’t go for it.

Perhaps others felt similar.

Or, perhaps like me, they just missed it.

Still, a Mcgill is a Mcgill; even a hole-y unmarked one.

Someone got a nice American patented corkscrew for a pretty fair price.

Note to self:  less research, less online teaching, more eBaying!