Travellers Bitters

Travellers Bitters

1834 1870

(Embossed Figure of a Man Walking)

T 54

Amber

Provenance: Ferdinand Meyer V Collection

This rather interesting bottle presents a large figure of a man walking and at 10-½” tall, makes for a striking bottle when displayed. The rectangular form has a graceful convex soft radius on the front panel with a prominently embossed, fully dressed man with a beard and hat walking to his left on a spot of ground. He has a walking stick or a sword in one hand. The reverse panel is concave with an inset vertical panel for where a paper label might have been placed. The left convex side panel has the word ‘TRAVELLERS’ embossed shoulder to base while the right-side panel has ‘BITTERS’ embossed shoulder to base. The front and back shoulders are triangulated with soft radius sides leading into a rather long neck that cuts into the pitched shoulders. There is an applied long tapered mouth and the base is smooth. Embossed rather crudely in two stacked lines on the back shoulder panel are the dates ‘1834’ and ‘1870.’ The ‘4’ is embossed backward.

For years it was thought the embossed ‘traveler’ depicted on the front of this bottle was just a folksy image of a man walking like on the Pike’s Peak flasks (example pictured below). It was also very odd that the embossed word ‘TRAVELLERS’ was misspelled with two ‘L’s. A whole new possibility and understanding of this bottle came to light in recent years.

See our museum example of a GXI–35, Prospector And “For Pike’s Peak” Eagle And “Ceredo” historical flask.

Most collectors now believe the man on the front of the bottle is the famous Confederate General, Robert E. Lee. The bottle has three clues worth consideration.

The first clue is the hat, beard, and coat. All are identical to how Robert E. Lee appears on a number of pictures and drawings done during the Civil War. None of the men on the Pike’s Peak travelers flasks has a beard.

The second clue is on one of the side panels where the embossed word ‘TRAVELLERS’ is spelled with two ‘L’s’. This was thought to be a spelling error made by the mold maker which was not an uncommon occurrence. During the course of the Civil War, General Lee rode several horses, the last one, and his favorite was named ‘Traveller’ spelled with two ‘L’s.’ like on our bottle. Traveller was a grey American Saddlebred of 16 hands, notable for speed, strength, and courage in combat. Lee acquired him in February 1862 and rode him in many battles.

The third clue is the two dates embossed on the back shoulder panel, ‘1834’ and ‘1870’. The 1834 date seems insignificant. It was the year that Lee was assigned a position as an assistant in the chief engineer’s office in Washington, D.C. The 1870 date is of considerably more importance. That was the year Robert E. Lee died.

We do not know who the proprietor was or the city he resided, nor do we know which glass house made this very rare bottle.

The listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

T 54 motif traveling man seen in profile with cane, headed left // TRAVELLERS // sp // BITTERS // // s // f // // f // 1834 / 1870 // f //
10 ½ x 3 ½ x 2 (6 ¼)
Rectangular, Amber, LTC, Applied mouth, Very Rare
4 in 1834 is backwards.
Man on bottle resembles figures on Pike’s Peak flasks.

Primary Image: Travellers Bitters imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Secondary Image: Travellers Bitters painted sign from the Ferdinand Meyer V collection.

Support: Reference to Bitters Bottles and Bitters Bottles Supplement 2 by Carlyn Ring, Bill Ham & Ferdinand Meyer V. Use of Travellers Bitters illustration courtesy Bill Ham.

Read More: Travellers Bitters Travels from Baltimore to Carmel

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