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THE
NOBLE CATCHER BOTTLE
....At
any rate, this bottle probably represents the
biggest
mystery I've encountered in my 25 years
collecting
sports antiques!...
-Carlton
Hendricks
I found this figural bottle of a baseball catcher
in a Roseville CA antiques mall. My best guess is it was a c1880 Cyrus Noble Whiskey back bar bottle. I’ve done pretty much everything possible to research it but haven’t come up with concrete evidence…Nevertheless the strongest evidence clearly indicates it is very rare….That is…I’ve showed it to the most
knowledgeable baseball and bottle collectors and almost no one has seen it
before…At any rate, this bottle probably represents the
biggest mystery I've encountered in my 25 years collecting
sports antiques!....Here’s whole the story.....
On Sunday afternoon Feb. 12th 2012. I was planning to meet up with friends
shortly at a nearby movie theater. It was suppose to just be a quick run thru the antiques mall then off to see Safe House….but
I was brought to a halt when I spotted this…I had to gather my senses to determine if it was truly as rare as it seemed….I thought I may have seen it somewhere but wasn’t sure…I tried googling it on my smart phone and got essentially nothing…a good sign…It was seriously priced and I hated to make a quick decision…but I couldn’t keep my friends waiting at the theater…and I sensed not to think about it and come back later…Good thing since it would have been gone!…as you’ll see in the third page of the link
on the right to Antique-Botttles.net…I examined it from every angle and sought input from the leading bottle collecting community
on the internet.
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Below
are some of the comments culled from
3
pages of discussion
My apologies sir, but we have no company
historian or archivist. In the 15 years that I've worked for Haas Brothers, I have not heard of a 19th century decanter for Cyrus Noble. We did a successful ceramic decanter program in the 1970's, but in the 19th century I'm only aware of a shot-glass series. I'm sorry I can't give a definitive answer, but as far as I've ever heard, this wouldn't be a decanter produced by/for Cyrus Noble Bourbon.
Thank you for your inquiry,
Jake Lustig
National Sales Manager
Haas Brothers | Since 1851
San Francisco, California
*****
I would look under tobacco card era players. Maybe an obscure player or is this a representative player bottle , noble simply meaning honorable, brave and true. It looks quite
Victorian!
Forum
Member, CreekWalker
*****
I am
truly intrigued and mesmerized to see what comes of this....Jim
Forum
Member EPackage
*****
Really great stuff and I'm fascinated. Thanks for all the research. I'm not a sports person but the bottle aspect has me.
You must realize that Cyrus Noble, patina and glass making are all only partly connected though. The frosting shouldn't be confused with patina if that's what it is. Without actually holding it it's difficult for me to say of it's acid wash, powder blast or naturally occurring. Cyrus Noble in the earliest days probably didn't use glass and the commemoratives most likely didn't start until the time Jim Beam and others did, say 50's and 60's for the most part.
I think the French connection as Surface tended to agree with, can't be ignored. You mention Mexico also which was another big contributor to new glass looking old.
Everything I'm saying is speculation and theory but with a trace of glass knowledge.
I look forward to more and thanks for the lively and great post to talk about!
Forum
Moderator -CowsEatMaize
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9/15/12
-
ADDENDA -
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At
Least One Example With Baseball Cap Top
Established And Located |
I
was tipped off by Jim/epackage of Antique-bottles.net
that there was a collector who was the king of figural
bottle collectors named Michael E. Anderson, and that he
might be able to I.D. or otherwise elaborate on my Noble
Catcher.
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7/29/12
- Carlton, I spoke with the Godfather of all figural bottles and he tells me that your Noble Catcher is a French bottle, he has one along with the Pitcher too. I think I have his email address here somewhere, I'll find it for you if you would like to contact him...Jim |
Michael,
who by the way...will soon be publishing an authoritative
book on figural bottles...was kind  enough to email me
photos of his pair of Noble Catcher AND a Noble Pitcher.
Michael also snail mailed me a photocopy of a c1901
catalog of the North Wheeling Glass Co. Although my Noble
Catcher isn't in the catalog, a pair of figural bottles of
American Indians is and Michael feels certain the baseball
players were made by the same company. To make a long
story short he believes the Noble baseball bottles were
produced prior to 1901 and that they were likely blown in
France and imported.
Michael
also knows of a pair of the baseball players in a
collection which, at least the catcher, has
it's original baseball cap shaped top...and he will be sending a
photocopy of an auction catalog that pictures it!!!
Moreover
Michael also believes there is another pair of the
baseball players in another collection which
also have their tops/baseball caps!!...It's all very exciting news and
We'll keep you posted what I learn! -Carlton
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