Buffalo Co-Operative Brewing Co.

I picked up a nice little Williamson roundlet corkscrew yesterday on our second favorite auction site.

And, while there is some finish loss on the bottle, it has a pretty cool advertising place for Buffalo Co-Operative Brewing Co.

This badge reads:

SPECIAL BREW

EXTRA 6

BUFFALO CO-OPERATIVE

BREWING CO.

 

And, while not described in the listing, there is a hole in the top for a stanhope.  We can (stan) hope that it is still present.

I will provide updates on the stanhope or not stanhope when it arrives in a couple of days.

A neat little addition to the collection.

On another corkscrew note, I am awaiting a second shipment of corkscrew stands so we can continue filling the various corkscrew cases that are now housed in the corkscrew room.

More pictures to follow, as the corkscrews get put in place…

Of course,  with the various cases, it is clear that I need more corkscrews.  Feel free to send pictures of corkscrews you have for trade!!!

 

Van Zandt Re-Vizited

While the deal for the Van Zandt patented cork pull was struck last week, the agreed upon price and subsequent payment needed to be completed through the U.S. Postal Service with a USPS Postal Order.  And, with holidays and Sundays, and then the lovely and I heading off  for a get away, the Van Zandt didn’t make it into my hands until yesterday.

Opening up the package, and looking at the piece, I am beyond pleased.  The mechanism works just as Van Zandt describes in his patent description, and oddly enough, functions very much like the Call’s Ideal that made my best 6 for last year.

I haven’t tried to clean the piece up (yet) but as mentioned the other day, this should make the best 6, and perhaps the best cork puller / corkscrew

of the year.

I have done a bit of research into Van Zandt, and have yet to unearth anything other than the patent.  The hunt will continue, as will the hunt for antique corkscrews.

Stay tuned!

 

a little luck…

The lovely and I are back from our Vermont (or rather New York) adventure, but with no corkscrew finds from the trip.

I mean, we did find corkscrews, and we certainly used corkscrews, but those that we did find were of the more common variety.  And, those that we used, were those found in a kitchen drawer at the farm house we rented for the weekend.

As it happened, as we started off on our journey, we wanted to verify the address of the place we had rented.  And, while our initial search was Vermont, and we thought we had settled on Essex, VT, for some reason in AirBnB’s infinite wisdom, they put up a property in Essex, NY.

It was charming, allowed pets, and we booked it.  But, we didn’t notice it was Essex, NY until we had begun the journey.

New York it is.

Just on the other side of Lake Champlain, the farm house was a great place with a great location.   The owners, not ironically, farmers left several of their products for us upon our arrival, and we even managed to find yet another farmer/rancher who had grass fed / organic beef.

And, yes… they had filet mignon.

Over the few days traipsing up to Lake Placid and down to Lake George, we hit various antique shops, but as previously mentioned, nothing really worth picking up.

That said, I believe our luck is about to change, as on one of our morning runs, we did find something worth picking up.

The “lucky” horseshoe came home with us.

And, with lady luck winking up at us, who knows what corkscrews we might find next!

Stay tuned

Best 1 of 6 of 2018…

It is early in the year, and there is much hunting and collecting to take place, but over the last couple of days a deal was struck for a cork puller that easily will make the best six of 2018.

If over the next 12 months, I manage to find 6 pieces that are rarer, and it doesn’t make the list, well…that would be a good problem to have.

As mentioned in the past, I spend lots of time looking at O’Leary’s tome on American patented corkscrews.  And, while I haven’t memorized every patent drawing in the back of his book, there are some that I indeed have.   Still, only going by a patent drawing isn’t really enough.  From drawing to manufacture things can change.  So, it really really really helps, when suddenly you are presented with a previously yet discovered cork puller that is clearly marked with a patent date.

The question of who?, what? when?,  is that really what it was intended for?, is answered pretty quickly with a quick  glance in the back of O’Leary.  This, of course, is often followed by visit to google patents.

Now, this very well may exist within another collector’s collection, but given it isn’t in O’Leary (at least the front) and given that it has yet to appear in any of the patent updates, I will say “new discovery.”   If it has been previously found, I will happily say, “it is a rare thing.”

“So, what did you find Josef?”  You are asking yourself

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you, the 1867 James D. Van Zandt patent for an Improved Cork Pull.

Marked “PATENT JULY 30, 1867,” within short order, I found the patent drawing on page 181 of O’Leary.

 

And, after checking on Google Patents, found even more…

Van Zandt’s patent description explains:

“The operation is as follows:  The cork-drawer being in the position indicated in Fig. I, it is forced down into the centre of the cork until the swing-bar has been pushed beyond the bottom of the cork, when, on drawing up the cork-drawer, the friction of the cork on the sliding prong d causes it to descend, b which the swing-bar is placed in a right-angled position to the prongs, and the cork follows the instrument as it is drawn out of the bottle.  The cork being drawn, it is easily disengaged from the prongs by sliding back the prong d by means of the thumb-piee and drawing it off, when the cork-drawer is again ready for use.”

The Improved Cork Pull will arrive in a couple of days, and I will add better pictures when it does.   Definitely a Best 6 candidate!  And, a fantastic addition to the collection.

In the meantime, the lovely and I are heading to Vermont for a quick getaway tomorrow… could the best 2 or 3 of 6 of 2018 be found in our adventures?

Stay tuned…

 

Miller’s Game Cock Rye

Over the weekend, the lovely personal personal trainer and I were on the mainland running errands and working on the house there.  And, with a little extra time between construction projects, the lovely suggested I hit up a local auction and see if there was anything worth picking up.

So, I hopped in the truck and headed over.  Skipping looking at the catalog, I sauntered over to the various tables and looked into several box lots, a few cases, etc., but didn’t really see anything that we HAD to have.  And, there were no corkscrews present.

During my examination of the upcoming lots, the auction was taking place.  And, I would glance over at the upcoming lots, to see if there was anything soon to be put up for bid.  A few paintings, some local advertising pieces…

Still no corkscrews.

Then, for some reason the auctioneer’s voice caught my ear, and he started talking glowingly about an advertising sign, 24 inches in diameter with an advertisement for Miller’s Game Cock Rye.

From my vantage point, I could only see the side of the sign and not the graphic, but it was getting a fair amount of attention from the bidders; with the ending bid at $ 155.00.

With the auction lot over, the runner with sign in hand started heading towards the purchased lots holding area, which required passing by me.  This allowed me a quick glance at the sign, which was brilliant.

And, at the bottom of the sign was pictured an antique corkscrew.

Apparently there was a corkscrew present!

A really neat piece, and it was very cool to see it.

Of course, I would have preferred finding an actual antique corkscrew (or two) in one of those box lots.

Maybe next time!

Wishlist for 2018

There are actually a lot of things that are on my wishlist for 2018: peace, understanding, love, good health, etc., but there are also a few corkscrews that I would like to add to the collection.

Over the last couple of years, I have published the corkscrew wishlist, with hopes that someone might say, “Hey, I have one of those.  Let’s make a deal.”

Here are the wish lists from a few previous years.  And, given that we publish our best sixes each year, I have limited it to six each year…

2014:

1. Trunk Patent
2. Folding Hicks & Reynolds
3. Frary with Can Opener handle
4. Jenner Patent
5. Philos Blake (how can we have a dog named Philos, and not have the corkscrew)
6. Sperry Patent

I did end up acquiring both the Trunk and the folding Hicks and Reynolds in 2014, and so the wishlist was updated with a few others that I would love to add to the collection.

2015:

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

But remained the same in 2016

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

And, while there were new discoveries from the back of O’Leary, and few that didn’t appear in O’Leary, the Frary Sullivan, Frary with can opener, Jenner, Philos Blake, and the Sperry remain illusive.

So… they are still on the list.  Yes, the list from 2017, and now the wish list for 2018!

2018 Wishlist:

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

But, what corkscrews are on your wish list?  What corkscrews do you most hope to find this year?

Feel free to respond with what you really want to add to your collection this year (email me if you are so inclined)

And, I will gladly post them on the bloggy blog, and perhaps someone will respond to your list with: “Hey, I have one of those. Let’s make a deal.”