And then there were three

A couple of weeks ago, I received a phone call from a fellow collector. He follows the tool top site regularly, and especially enjoys the occasional detective work that appears. In the course of conversation, he casually tossed a "cookie" my way. "#719 in Bob's last book", you know "Daniel Schaeffers Log Cabin Whiskey" he said. How many are floating around these days and has anyone ever figured out where it's from, or who sold it? I had to plead ignorance. Bob noted having seen the first one in 1986, just prior to publishing the second in the western whiskey series, and stated that it was an amber fifth with an inside thread closure. It looked western, and the bottle was in a western collection. Unfortunately, no label and no IT stopper, and so the mystery remained.


I'd seen one example in a large collection in Northern Cal. and one other offered for sale over the years. And that's it. No new ones had been rumored to have surfaced since the 4th edition was published, and no, we'd never figured out anything in regards to provenance. The bottle has remained a black hole since first being reported back in 1987.


I've got a surprise for you, he said. I've found another. One difference though, between this one and the other two, a big difference, he said! Remnants of a badly tattered and decomposed label remained on the reverse and the correct embossed matching Riley Patent ebonite stopper was in place. What faint traces of the label listing the dealer, which were legible, matched the stopper! Mystery solved. Western indeed, but not S.F.; instead, Los Angeles.

I'll meet you at the show in Antioch on Friday, he said. The week before the show drug along for me like a kid waiting for Christmas. Around two in the afternoon my pal waltzed in with a smile on his face and a bottle in a sock in his hand. Take a look~ And out came Log Cabin example #3. Sure enough, boldly embossed on the IT stopper (one which I'd never seen before) was "Goldschmidt Bros / Sole Agents / Los Angeles".

A little "digging" revealed the following: Goldschmidt Bros. entered the western whiskey market in 1897, initially opening the doors at 1813 N Main. For reasons unknown, they moved a few doors down, to 635 N Main that same year. They remained at this address for a couple of years until 1899. A historical gap exists for a couple of years, but then directory records show them moving again in 1902 to 310 N Los Angeles St. where they stayed until 1915. They relocated yet again in either late 1915 or early 1916 to 923 Lyon, where they lived out their existence, closing the doors in 1917. Directories listed them variously as wine growers, liquor wholesalers and wine and liquor retailers. Brand names, included Daniel Schaeffers Log Cabin and Tom Howe Whiskey, Sunset wines and brandies, Pony Bourbon and Rye, and Marigold Rye. A newspaper clipping from 1905 fills in a few more blanks about the company;

Who would have thought that this was actually one of the comparatively few brands from So. Cal.? The bottle has a smooth base with no kickup and is void of any base markings. It is extensively air vented at the shoulders and has quite a bit of character. Based on it's appearance, I'd date it to the era when Goldschmidt was located at 635 N Main. And so, another long standing mystery is cleared up.