Yemassee Pure Rye Whiskey

Bateman & Switzer

The document is a letter from Dan Sullivan on his letterhead, to Bateman & Switzer, a Great Falls, Montana business that provided Wine, Liquor, Cigars and Billiard supplies to a great deal of Montana saloons and bars. The letter is dated July 9, 1904. The little vignette in the upper left hand corner is fascinating to me.

The bottle itself is a dug bottle from Unionville, a small mining community near Helena. It was given to me by a fellow here in town - a patron, actually. I used this bottle in November of 2011, and posted it HERE.

A month ago, I removed the Last Chance Whiskey label that was affixed to the bottle, and glued a good copy of a Yemassee label which I obtained from a bottle collector in Bozeman. I then had a Vietnam veteran friend of mine take a photograph of the bottle with whiskey in it. I worked from his photograph with his permission. I was told yesterday of a different Bateman & Switzer label with a different Indian depicted. I love these labels! 

A Thank You Returns

I've been 'under the gun' to get art work completed for the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale which opens on the 15th of March in Great Falls, but I also owed a Thank You to a patron. I completed a Harley motorcycle image for her in January, and simply had not had the chance to thank her for her purchase.

Yesterday, I received the card back as NOT DELIVERABLE. If I could show you the entire address line, which I won't, it can clearly be read by anyone who can actually READ. I suspect a machine could not read it, so therefore it was kicked back to me. I'm not at all happy.

It is now going back to the post office, and I will get an explanation for this 'human' error, because I can't accept this ridiculous rejection.

U. S. Licensed Trader, Browning, Montana

This illustration is from a letter to Judge Charles N. Pray who was the U. S. Representative from Montana, 1907 to 1913. Charlie thanked the Judge belatedly for a box of books the judge had given to Charlie, but the box contained no information about who or where they came from. Charlie did not discover the fact the judge had sent it until 1914. I greatly admired Charlie's control of the English language, and this is not a 'finished' piece of art. The image below is a scan from the Russell Museum book of Charlie's illustrated letters.

A Topical Trifecta

A year ago about this time, I posted a scan of a billhead from Marshall-Wells that involved my remake of a vintage travel poster. You can look at it here. I had intended to take it to the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale to hang in my room, but the art and the artist (me) got involved in a bit of a birthday surprise. So, it hung on the wall during the show last year, and I got good reactions to the subject - which involved fishing. That meant that although the piece sold BEFORE I got it to the show, it was just one less piece of art that I had hanging on my wall that I could sell.

I am in a similar situation this year, however, this is at the framers right now, and I intend to hang it in the Lobby Show, that way more eyes will see it, and hopefully it will find a home. I had a LOT of fun with this one. The entire piece is out of my head with a little help from Google.

The reason I titled it A Topical Trifecta is because it involves three very popular topics for collectors, and I enjoy putting them together in one place. And yes, I have fly fished in Glacier National Park, and I didn't go through an entrance to get there and do that.

Boxcar Rocky

Recently I acquired a couple of pieces of Great Northern letterhead, and although this one is dated 1902, Rocky the Mountain Goat had not yet made his official appearance. He's headed to the framers so that he can make his appearance at the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale during Western Art Week. The Railroad of my youth.

Sody-Licious Too!

Back in 2009 when I was just getting my feet wet with this old paper business, I found two sheet of this letterhead in a large Priority Mail envelope filled with paper from a business in Spokane, Washington, called Northwest Chemical and School Supply. I began researching the company using the fabulous web resource called Google.

I found a gentleman in California who collects this type of bottle. It is called an ACL, which stands for Applied Color Label. These bottles are usually only one applied color, but some may have multiple colors. I had not seen what the bottle looked like, so I contacted the gentleman to see if he could supply an image. My request was answered in short order. Although I offered to pay for the photograph, he agreed to give me several photos in exchange for a scan of the letterhead that led me to him.

I had intended to portray the reverse side of the bottle on the second sheet of letterhead, but after considering my options, I decided to portray the front side as I had back in 2009. 

No matter how small or intricate the subject, you always discover something different the second time you approach it. This was no exception. My first attempt, I really abused the paper. This time I did not, and I'm happier with the color this time around as well.

And for the record, the reverse side has the following: "Famous Brands of Kittitas County and Sody-Licious Beverage Company".