Breweries and Bottles

The following article was give to me by Warren Friedrich at
2nd annual bottle camp event last weekend. It is taken from the San Francisco Call edition of July 20, 1890. It serves as further proof of the confirmation that many of the beer bottles of that era were being manufactured in Germany, but if tariffs increased would provide local manufacture with a competitive edge. Warren further indicates the proposition must have been unsuccessful, as no future articles have been found that would indicate this venture moved forward.

Buffalo Brewery Bottle In Aqua Brings $432.

This bottle recently sold on e-bay for $432. and was found in Pennsylvania, which is a long way from home. It also has what appears to be an applied top very similar to a Boca Beer. Normally Ambers Buffalo Brewing Bottles sell for $10-$20 but I have never seen this variant in aqua and apparently neither did the purchaser, who paid a premium but ended up with a unique bottle. I have not posted in quite a while, but Warren Friedrich gave me some new information on the German Beer Bottles at Lou & Leisa Lamberts Bottle Camp which was a great event and I will post it tomorrow.

Charlotte & Don Smith Buffalo Brewery Auction

This is the Buffalo Calendar Gypsy Girl which closed at $10,020. with buyers premium and I am happy with my purchase.

This Indian Die Cut brought $13,200 with buyers premium and was a unique piece.

The Buffalo Stained Glass Window was a real art piece and brought $16,800 with buyers premium. I was the underbidder, but I just couldn't pull the trigger with my other purchase, and will probably regret it down the road, but hey there is only so much wall space in the house.

Buffalo Calendar from 1901 brought $18,000 with buyers premium. Congratulations to a certain unnamed tooth extractor on a great purchase.

The Buffalo Reverse Glass sign from early 1900's brought $22,500 with buyers premium and was the highest price realized from the auction.

You rarely get the opportunity to purchase quality brewery items for your collection. But when the prices are on the higher side its difficult to pull the trigger. A unique collection built over a lifetime of Buffalo Brewery memorabilia was recently auctioned by Witherells Auction in Sacramento, CA - also the home of the Buffalo Brewing Company. Prices were very strong, and althought I bid on a number of items, I was only successful on the Gypsy Girl 1902 Calendar, which will go on the wall next to my others. Lets take a quick look at some of the high dollar items. I know all of the items are shown in the Witherells Book "The Best of the West".

Good western brewery advertising has really seemed to hold its value, and has the added benefit of looking like art hanging in your home. I always have company stop and ask about each piece, its history, value, and place of origin, and its a real conversation starter. All of the items totaled in excess of $150,000 not including buyers premium of the 70 some items.

Pacific Brewery

Since John's post showing Buffalo Brewing Co's beer service at the 1894 Mid-Winter Fair in San Francisco touched on Sacramento's best known brewery, I thought that it would be a good time to discuss another lesser known brewery from our capital city.

The Pacific Brewery was first opened at the northwest corner 9th and P Sts in 1858 by J.B.Kohler, G. Ochs, and P. Lorenz. Kohler died in 1859 and Lorenz in 1862. Ochs operated the brewery by himself until it was purchased by L. Knauer and Son in 1869. The father died in 1881, leaving his son, Fred, to operate the business. F.C. Knauer was an astute businessman and expanded the brewery, improved the machinery and hired more workmen. He did an extensive business around the Sacramento area, providing barrel goods to his customers. The brewery ran successfully until 1898, at which time it closed it's doors for good. Why it closed we'll never really know, but it was probably due to the efforts of competitors and the fact that they produced no bottled beer. By that time, beer in bottles was popular and Buffalo was at the forefront of this consumer demand. Many other local bottlers were agents for other breweries throughout the West and across the US.


Pacific Brewery advertising and ephemera remains non-existent, with only a single advertising sign and a handful of glasses surviving. This circa 1890s piece is unique and thankfully graces our wall. It retains both tin bands but has no date, other than a pencil name at the bottom, 502 O'Farrell, '89. The subject of three lovely young women recalls the sirens of Greek mythology who attempted to lure Odysseus onto the rocks with their melodious song.

Mid Winter Fair Served Buffalo Brewery Lager Beer

This photo is of the San Francisco Fire Patrol with their wagons at the Mid Winter Fair, Held in 1894 in San Francisco. The sign on the building to the left in the photo clearly displays the well known Sacramento Brewery and proves this was a national event and Buffalo Brew would have been served from the barrels to the glass, for immediate consumption by the patron. Just a nice image that I fetl was worth sharing.

Reno Brewing Company Sign

This sign was found by Ted and Richard Siri in Nevada some years ago. They tell me everytime they went to Nevada they stopped by a store to purchase drinks and food, and on the ice-box was this sign nailed to it. They tried for sometime to be able to purchase the sign, but no luck then one day, they offered the women who owned the establishment an offer she could not turn down, someone had made her an offer and richard said he would double it and he did - he owed her something like $180.00. The sign is a great remainder of Western Brewing History, and I am proud to hang it in my collection. The Brewery was established in 1903 and ceased operations in prohibition. I would date the sign as somewhere in the 1903-1910 range. It is the only existing sign I have seen in this style and I love the Sierra Beer gold lettering.

Philadelphia Labeled Bottle

This is an interesting bottle in that it just emphasizes that the brewers and bottlers utilized whatever was at hand to put their product into. This is the Deucher and Kalban who bottled Philadelphia Lager while at 245 Second Street, San Francisco, CA in the mid 1880's. This specimen was found in the foothills of the gold county years ago, but I though it might ve of interest to those who have not previously seen it. An early survivor in fairly good condition.