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ANOTHER "GREAT BOTTLE DIGGING STORY" FROM THE PAGES OF

ANTIQUE BOTTLE AND GLASS COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTING HOBBY

antique bottle Lucky digger finds Antique Berkshire Bitters Bottle! privy digging

"You're going to dig a pig bitters out of that hole," Mike's wife announced. as she surveyed the privy we were about to dig; Mike and Roy had been joking about digging a pig all day yesterday after we located two holes in the gravel parking lot.

Within a few minutes of digging with the backhoe in a promising area, we found a large wood lined privy. It's diameter was more than five feet and it probed quite deep.. After the backhoe had dug to its maximum depth, we began the arduous process of removing the dirt by hand. The hole was pontil age. Like most privies, it had been cleaned and there were few artifacts in the center. The bottles we did find were mostly against the wall and near the bottom about sixteen feet deep. The best find was a "Titcomb's" umbrella ink. There were a few sodas, some medicines including a couple of pontiled Turner's Balsams, a few pontiled puffs and other miscellaneous bottles as well as a yellow ware chamber pot. (left)-Ted looks into a privy uncovered behind the big wood line hole.

Ten hours later, from the bottom of the hole Roy exclaimed, "You guys aren't gonna believe this!", "What is it? A pig?", we mockingly chorused.

As Anthony Amann surveyed the streets of the city known as "Porkopolis", he marveled at the immense pork packing establishments, where an estimated half million hogs would be processed this year. Of those, about 40,000 would come by canal and railroad, and the rest by turnpike, walking themselves squealing and grunting to the slaughter houses which lined the streets of Sausage Row. In 1810 Richard Fosdick perfected a method of using rock salt to keep meat from spoiling in this temperate climate, and within five years Cincinnati was exporting large quantities of pork, ham, bacon and lard. Today the city was a model of processing efficiency where a squealing pig was transformed within a few minutes to a well cleaned animal hanging up to cool in a store-room. Shortly thereafter it was cut up and packed in barrels for market.

As one visitor had noted, "It was Cincinnati which originated and perfected the system which packs fifteen bushels of corn into a pig, and packs that pig into a barrel, and sends him over the mountains and over the ocean to feed mankind."

Anthony, like many a visitor, dealt daily with the difficulty of walking through the streets in competition with nearly wall-to-wall hogs. He couldn't decide which was worse: dodging the herds of hogs or suffering the smells which hung in

the air even on the coldest days. Walking downtown, he was nearly trampled on in the area around the largest slaughterhouse which took up nearly two acres of ground. The establishment consisted of four story brick buildings, where up to 4,000 hogs at a time were driven up an inclined ramp to the fourth floor where they were processed at a rate of three hogs per minute. The hogs, hanging from overhead hooks on rail conveyors, worked their way down to the first floor where they were finally packed into barrels. Anthony was certain he did not want to work on the assembly-line scalding, picking, scraping, or washing hog carcasses all day.

Mike Summit's wife; Sher, looks at the amber pig bitters she predicted would be dug. The bottle is embossed "Berkshire Bitters" on one side, and "Amann & Co / Cincinnati, O." on other side.

Bumper crops of corn grown for feeding the hogs attracted distilling companies. At times the price of whisky depended upon the price of corn and the demand for corn to fatten the pigs. Pork by-products supported a whole range of businesses. The hooves became glue. The skins were sent to tanneries to make leather. Pig fat, tallow, was used for candles and for making soap. Anthony was impressed by the success story of William Proctor and James Gamble, of how they had started their soap and candle business on borrowed money and savings; of how they had sold their horses and their wagons and even the carriages to rent a small shop at Sixth and Main Streets; and how without wagons, their first deliveries were made to grocery stores in wheelbarrows. But now some years later the firm of Proctor and

Gamble was busy night and day making soap and candles of hog fat, and just three years ago they had built their first new factory next to the Miami-Erie Canal on Western Row. The site was closer to the slaughterhouses, their source of raw materials. When they found a use for a by-product of the candle making process, "red oil", they used it to make laundry soap. Another by-product, glycerin, was being investigated as a raw material for other new products, including medicines, antifreeze and even explosives.

From the sidewalk outside a cooper's shop he watched as barrels to hold pork or whisky were made. Canal boats full of lumber waited in line to dock and along the shore

great barrels of salt from West Virginia were unloaded while simultaneously barrels of processed pork were being loaded for markets as far away as New Orleans and Europe. Cincinnati ham had even been served in the White House.

Passing the boat works, he saw skeletons of half-finished barges and boats silhouetted against sparkling river water, while behind him chimneys belched great white clouds signaling the production of furniture, clothing, shoes, boots, soap, lard oil, leather and whisky.

Cincinnati was the biggest city in the west. Just last year the total German population topped 30,000, and the Irish were gaining rapidly. Because the city was so appealing to immigrants, it was losing its American character. Local papers and many signs were printed in German. Sausage vendors walked the streets during the days and German or Irish music rang out from the saloons at night. Everywhere were signs of progress and a promise of wealth for the fortunate. Every German family, despite the squalid conditions many recent immigrants were forced to endure, dreamed of owning their own two or three story brick home. For many the dream was not out of reach.

"So much opportunity," Anthony thought, "Someday I'll own one of these companies." He soon found himself a position as a clerk on Pearl Street. It was there that he learned the basics of business and through the years 1856-1857 he applied himself industriously, ever mindful of his ambition to soon open his own business. He had recently written to his brother Daniel about coming to Cincinnati to help start a fledgling enterprise. He would need both Daniel's knowledge as well as his money

to get the business started.

Daniel did not disappoint him. He responded to Anthony's offer by moving to the city in mid 1858 and together they opened a cigar store at 98 East Pearl Street, only a short distance from his first clerk position. The business fared well, and in 1860 they moved their shop to 56 Broadway. With a steady income and some saving Anthony and Daniel brought property across the River in Newport. The Amann brothers having been raised in Kentucky wished to keep ties with their family and friends while they plied their luck in the city. They had important business contacts deep in the hills of Kentucky tobacco country. That year they formed a company called Amann & Brother, dealers in cigars and tobacco. Soon, seeking to expand their business, Anthony opened a another store in Covington at the corner of Riddle and Kip Streets, and for the next six years they operated successfully.

The business became a family affair. In the early 1870s, ever mindful of the opportunity to expand, Anthony and Daniel were joined by a brother, Edmund, and together they raised sufficient capital to purchase the Old Lexington Distillery No. 86 in the 8th District of Kentucky at Union Mills in Lessamine County. Amann & Company became dealers in wholesale whisky distribution with warehouses and offices at 59 East 2nd Street two blocks from the river, and only a few blocks from where Anthony had first worked on Pearl Street. Edmund and Daniel took care of the day-to-day operations while Anthony handled sales.

The parking lot around "Grammer's", located in the Over the Rhine, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cincinnati was owned by Jim Tarbell, a colorful Cincinnatian. Numerous "sinks," (sunken spots) were visible in the asphalt. Library research showed the site had been covered with wooden frame buildings in the 1950s. Some of the sinks proved to be cisterns, but most were privies.

One day while watching a parade of pigs pass his window Anthony was struck by a great marketing idea, an idea not unique to the industry but unique to the area. He thought first of Mrs. Herrmann, a friend of his, who in failing health had turned local doctors without success, and had recently begun taking patent medicines. Anthony noted that while her health did not seem better, her spirits (so to speak) were decidedly improved. Amann and Company would begin producing a medicinal bitters, a bitters bottled in a container shaped like a pig.

Further research showed that a company in Philadelphia had just introduced such a product, "Suffolk Bitters" and down home he had seen glass and pottery containers in pig shapes used to market whisky. This would be just the needed boost to the business now that still other members of the Amann family were joining the company. His thoughts when to Edwin, who began as clerk and was now secretary and treasurer. There was much preparation to be done: bottles to be designed, and ordered from the Pittsburgh, the right blend of medicinal herbs and alcohol, labels printed, advertising, and local a marketing strategy to be implemented. Yes, there was much opportunity in Porkopolis.

Author's note: The story of the Berkshire Bitters is a mixture of fact and fiction. This article is based on research, names and dates are accurate, but details were added to create the story.

Dealers from seven states participated in the 1997 show hosted by the Southwest Ohio Antique Bottle and Jar Club. The Dayton show is a small show compared to many, but it has a good reputation and was sold out weeks before the show date. Attendance was strong. This year crowded aisles made moving about the show floor difficult for the first few hours. However, one of the more interesting activities taking place that day was missed by most.

Every bottle show is plagued by the late afternoon doldrums, but for the past few years the afternoons have been enlivened by the Cincinnati diggers and their "big flip.". This is the time when the treasures stored up from several months of digging are brought out and divided up among the digging group.

John Odell (upper right corner) explains the rules before the "big flip" begins. In 45 minutes it was all over, several hundred bottles had found new homes.

This year prior to the "big flip" several unique items were offered for sale. Among them was a Berkshire Bitters, an embossed Titcomb's umbrella ink, an unlisted Hemmingray jar, and a rare Geoghegan's Cure for Scrofula.

Late afternoon, around 2:00 P.M. when the buying crowd had thinned, twelve boxes of dug bottles were laid out on the floor at the back of the room. It was then that the haggling began. The diggers, Mike Kolb, Ted Hollinger, Mike Summit, Roy Roberts and John Odell flipped coins to determine who got first pick. After the coin toss, the picking continued in order for the next few rounds. Among the items out on the floor for the picking were:

Two Pine Tree Tar Cordials, an amber pint Union Flask, two yellow-ware chamber pots, several yellow-olive Hostetter's Bitters, an unlisted Kennedy's East India Bitters embossed Cincinnati, Ohio, dozens of squat sodas, three open pontiled Turner's Balsams, a clear Bear's Oil with embossed bear, R.D. Porter's Oriental Life Balsam, numerous umbrella inks, an assortment of pontiled puffs, several good fruit jars including a Western Pride, several dozen clay marbles, a few pipes, a couple of ceramic doll's heads, and a 14 karat gold watch..

As the bottles were laid out, a small crowd of dealers gathered to watch. Those who had been present for The "big flip" in years past knew what was transpiring. As the process of dividing up the finds proceeded, items from the floor were offered to interested dealers in a loose "take or leave it" bidding system.

One dealer remarked that he appreciated the digging group waiting until late afternoon after most of the customers had left. "It would have cut into sales", he remarked.

After about thirty minutes of picking items the floor was littered with bottles which were offered to the dealers. "Your choice $2.00 for anything left on the floor!" Five or six eager participants snatched up the bargains. Five minutes later it was "$1.00 for anything on the floor." Another dozen bottles were carried off. Then it got down to the hard sell as bidding continued for everything left on the floor, about five boxes of miscellaneous embossed, unembossed, and crown top bottles. John Robb, a dealer from Columbus, Ohio, won with a $12.00 bid......

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