Part two of the legendary Ken Fee collection of mostly Western bitters bottles will be offered in online auction #67 that begins on Friday, Feb. 14, and ends on Sunday, Feb. 23, by American Bottle Auctions (www.americanbottle.com). Part one, held in November, featured a bluish teal Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters bottle that soared to $155,000.
Almost no one had seen Ken Fee’s collection of over 300 bottles in four decades. It only came to light following his death in November of 2018. Jeff Wichmann of American Bottle Auctions has been working with the family ever since to sort through it all. Many are outstanding examples that were expected to bring anywhere from a few hundred dollars to many thousands of dollars.
Now, with part one in the books, attention will turn to the second half of Fee’s collection. Many exciting and rare Western bitters bottles will come up for bid, as will some hard-to-find bitters from the Eastern part of the country. “What people saw in part one will be repeated, with new specimens taking the place of the previous rare items,” said Wichmann.
A few of the expected top achievers will be an American Life Bitters bottle (Peiler Manufacturer, Omaha, Neb.) with applied top, a rare cabin-shaped bottle in near-perfect 9.5 condition, expected to sell for $7,000. A Wonser’s Indian Root Bitters bottle, not a super rare bottle but one that’s popular with collectors and always in high demand, should bring $10,000. A Chalmer’s Catawba Wine Bitters bottle in a beautiful blue aqua is a great specimen and one that should easily top the $10,000 mark. A Lacour’s Sarsapariphere Bitters bottle, a rare green variant in mint condition, will be estimated to sell for a minimum of $10,000, and an E.G. Lyon’s early San Francisco bitters bottle in a yellow amber color is expected to fetch $5,000 or more. A Catawba Wine Bitters bottle in a beautiful green color, with loads of whittle and crudity, in mint condition, should reach $5,000, and a Rosenbaum’s Bitters (N.B. Jacobs, San Francisco) with applied top, ca. 1864, off-green, a smaller version than the first variant, graded 9+, is estimated to go for $3,000.
American Bottle Auctions has reduced the buyer’s premium for this auction to 13 percent for everything purchased under $10,000, and a flat 10 percent for everything over that. Many of the bottles in the auction were previewed at the Roseville show in early November (in California).
Standard auction rules will apply. American Bottle Auctions does not do callbacks but, rather, has a 10-minute rule that applies to bids at the end of the auction. In essence, every bidder has a last opportunity to make a last winning bid. An online printable color catalog is available, and all of the lots will be photographed and displayed in pictures and a streaming video.
Every effort will be made to present the items as close as possible to the real bottle. Additional pictures or videos are available on request. To schedule a showroom appointment, call 800-806-7722.
For additonal information, email info@americanbottle.com or visit www.americanbottle.com.