Sold for A$820
Convict ginger beer engraved J. Garfield in script. (New South Wales) Ginger Beer Convict Cork stoppered convict ginger beer. Salt Glaze. Engraved stamp. 10 oz. 182 mm. 1830s-1840s
Excellent. 7 x 4 mm chip to left rear shoulder is almost certainly a kiln kiss type mark. 8 x 6 mm flake to left base edge, worn flake or making mark next to this as well. Crude base edge has a spot of wear or two and possible small flakes. Crudely made all over. Has a few small nicks to the shiny glaze. Fantastic condition, one of the best examples of a convict we have handled. Likely a Fowler made piece. NOW, the stamp of J. Garfield is inscribed in the glaze, not impressed! This item is from a deceased estate, it belonged to an excavator driver who operated out of central Sydney for over 50 years. He used to put bottles aside when he found them to take home, this was his prized possession which he kept until the end, having dispersed the rest of his collection prior. However, we did not see this come out the ground, and so cannot guarantee that this has not been engraved in recent years. There are pros and cons that need to be considered as a potential buyer. This has been shown around to prominent collectors,an article has been written in the Australian Bottle & Collectables Review and it has been discussed in great detail on one of the Facebook groups, please discuss ths amongst fellow collectors! As far as research goes, The Eliza of London in Campbell Street was transferred from William Garfield to Jeremiah Garfield in October 1835 (William was known to have had his name stamped on convict ginger beers, so this is a positive sign). In June 1837 there was mention of Garfield, Ginger Beer Brewery, Pitt Street, no initial was attached to this snippet in an early newspaper though - but it remains a very interesting fact, linked to the below reference. In December 1838, Jeremiah Garfield of the Albion Wine Vaults had his publican license removed from Pitt to Parramatta Street. This pretty much links Jeremiah to the Ginger Beer Brewery region of Pitt St. In February 1839, the Albion Wine Vaults in Parramatta Street transferred from Jeremy Garfield to Francis O’Meara, this seems to have been the end of Jeremy/Jeremiah’s business operations. On Monday, 15th August, Jeremiah Garfield passed away in his 56th year, his funeral was held on Thursday August 18th, 1842 with the procession leaving from his residence in Elizabeth Street South. So, for this to be an original piece, as in the stamp scratched in upon firing, it needs to fit certain criteria. It needs to date prior to February 1839? Having shown some experts, the general consensus is that this is a Fowler made piece. Fowler started in 1838, so it does fit there. On the negative side, no other convict era ginger beer has a stamp that is simply scratched into the glaze. There are a couple of pigsnout gins of a similar era that were dived in Sydney Harbour that had hotel names scratched into the glass, so this was a practice that was used at the time on glass in the same city. The other points which need to be questioned is why would anyone deface what is otherwise one of the best looking examples of a Fowler made convict era ginger beer that I’ve seen. Also, if scratched into the glaze in recent times, why would you scratch J Garfield in when there is no previous examples known with this initial? It is interesting to note that the style of writing is synonymous with writing that was utilised in the early to mid 1800s. Another very interesting point is tht Jeremiah Garfield was listed as a silversmith when he first came to Australia - silversmiths would have had a range of engraving tools fortheir profession. This one will divide opinion amongst learned collectors, being sold as it is, feel free to complete more research on this item and for a personal viewing, please contact Travis. Grade: 8.5 Estimate: $1500 - 2000
