General Scotts Artillery Bitters

Genl Scotts Artillery Bitters

New York

S 78

Amber Figural Cannon

Provenance: Sandor P. Fuss Collection, ex Charles Gardner, Skinner, Don Keating, Carlyn Ring, Jim Hagenbuch Collections

Standing at a little over a foot tall, the General Scotts Artillery Bitters bottle is one of the top figural bitters in a field of many including Indian maidens, barrels, log cabins, grapes, banjos, George Washington, a lighthouse, gazebo, ear of corn, horseshoe, and a pig to name a few. The form is considered a cannon though it also has the appearance of a torchière. The bottle is embossed with an important historical name and New York. Oddly, the proprietor and glasshouse is unknown.

The bottle form is a cylinder that tapers up with a donut pedestal and ring on the bottom area of the bottle. There are two rings on the shoulder with a very decorative bowl mouth that has been sheared and ground. There are two knobs on the sides of the bottle. The embossed copy on the top face of the bottle reads, ‘GENL SCOTTS’ in an arch (1st line) over two horizontal lines reading ‘NEW YORK’ (2nd line), and ‘ARTILLERY BITTERS’ (3rd line). On the reverse shoulder area is an embossed arching downwards horizontal banner. It is presumed that a paper label would have been placed here and/or the reverse side. The base is smooth.

For several months in 1968 Robert Hinely was digging a large dump on Duley Street in Savannah, Georgia. On Oct. 5, while digging in an area where an abandoned railroad track crossed over a marshy fill he unearthed a case of twelve Scotts Artillery Bitters bottles. All had various degrees of damage, many being in pieces.

Jim Hagenbuch

There are at least four (4) examples of the General Scotts Artillery Bitters in collections with the signature, undamaged example residing in our museum.

Our museum example is perfect and has been owned by many prominent collectors over the years including Charles Gardner in the 1970s. The Gardner collection including this bottle was auctioned by Skinner’s Auction Gallery in 1975 and Robert Skinner obtained the bottle. The back page of the auction book is pictured above. In 1978, Skinner auctioned the bottle again and it went to Don Keating in Rochester, New York. In 1983, the bottle went from Keating to Carlyn Ring, author of the book For Bitters Only. Jim Hagenbuch in East Greenville, Pennsylvania purchased the bottle in 1995 when the Ring collection was sold. It was lot #1 and is pictured below with a Seaworth Bitters figural lighthouse. Eventually, Don Keating purchased the bottle again and held it until the private sale to Sandor P. Fuss in Denver, Colorado.

The subject specimen is featured and pictured in numerous books including American Bottles & Flasks by McKearin and Wilson and Bitters Bottles by Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham. It is also the same bottle that was featured in the famous Carlyn Ring Collection: First Offering Sale in 1995 conducted by Jim Hagenbuch of Glass Works Auctions.

As noted previously, we do not know the proprietor but must look at New York first as it is embossed on the bottle. The A. M. Bininger figural cannon, also pictured, is basically the same mold. It is also embossed “N.Y.”

General Winfield Scott

Winfield Scott (June 13, 1786 – May 29, 1866) was a United States Army general and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852.

Known as “Old Fuss and Feathers” for his insistence on proper military etiquette, and as the “Grand Old Man of the Army” for his many years of service. Scott served on active duty as a general longer than any other man in American history and many historians rate him the best American commander of his time. Over the course of his forty-seven-year career, he commanded forces in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and, briefly, the American Civil War, conceiving the Union strategy known as the Anaconda Plan that would be used to defeat the Confederacy. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army for twenty years, longer than any other holder of the office.

A national hero after the Mexican-American War, he served as military governor of Mexico City. Such was his stature that, in 1852, the United States Whig Party passed over its own incumbent President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, to nominate Scott in the United States presidential election. Scott lost to Democrat Franklin Pierce in the general election, but remained a popular national figure, receiving a brevet promotion in 1856 to the rank of lieutenant general, becoming the first American since George Washington to hold that rank.

The Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

S 78 GENL SCOTTS ( au ) / NEW YORK / ARTILLERY / BITTERS // c //
12 3/8 x 2 ½ (10)
Cannon, Amber, SM, Ground lip, Extremely rare
Winfield Scott, known as Old Fuss and Feathers was the commanding General of the U.S. Army from 1841 until age forced his retirement in 1861

Primary Image: Genl Scotts’s Artillery Bitters imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to Bitters Bottles by Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham. Use of General Scotts Artillery Bitters illustration courtesy Bill Ham.

Support Image: General Winfield Scott portrait, Robert Walter Weir, ca. 1855 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Support Image: Portrait Lieut. Gen. Winfield Scott: General in Chief of the U.S. Army, E.B. & E.C. Kellogg, Hartford, Connecticut; George Whiting, New York: 1855, Hand-colored lithograph.

Support Image: Left: General Scotts Artillery Bitters. Right: A. M. Bininger & Co. 19 Broad St. N.Y. figural cannon – Dave Kyle collection.

Support Image: Auction Lot 44: “GENL SCOTTS / NEW YORK / ARTILLERY / BITTERS”, (Ring/Ham, S-78), American, ca. 1865 – 1870, yellowish amber figural cannon, 12 1/8”h, smooth base, sheared and ground lip. The entire base below the lower ring the neck and mouth are replacements from other Scott’s Artillery bottles. Also some minor inside stain. For several months in 1968 Robert Hinely was digging a large dump on Duley Street in Savannah, Georgia. On Oct. 5, while digging in an area where an abandoned railroad track crossed over a marshy fill he unearthed a case of twelve Scotts Artillery Bitters bottles. All had various degrees of damage, many being in pieces. This bottle was assembled from three of those bottles. Today, only four examples of the Scott’s Artillery Bitters are know to exist, two are reassembled examples and a third, also from that dig has a sizable ‘V’ shaped chip off the side of the lip. The fourth bottle, originally in the Charles Gardner Collection is the only known perfect example. In 1997 we auctioned the example with the large ‘V’ shaped chip out of the lip for $6,300.00! Sidney Genius Collection. – Glass Works Auctions ‘Early June’ Potpourri Auction #131

Support: Reference to General Scotts Artillery Bitters – The Ultimate Cannon Barrel Figural at Peachridge Glass.com

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