Mills’ Bitters

Mills’ Bitters

A. M. Gilman

Sole Proprietor

M 93

Abijah Mack Gilman, San Francisco, California

Yellow-Amber Figural Lady’s Leg

Provenance: Richard T. Siri Collection

Mills’ Bitters is one of the few figural lady’s leg bottles produced for the western market. The bitters were sold for only a few years which makes them very rare to collectors.

Standing about 11 ¼ inches tall, the cylinder bottle is embossed on the side in three lines, starting at the base, ‘MILLS’ BITTERS’ (1st line), ‘A. M. GILMAN’ (2nd line, no letter space between the ‘M.’ and ‘G’) and ‘SOLE PROPRIETOR.’ The lady’s leg neck has an applied ring mouth. The yellow-amber bottle has a smooth base.

Abijah Mack Gilman was born in Canada to American parents and came to California in the early 1850s. His brother was a dentist, Dr. Samuel Meigs Mills, who was also born in Canada.

The first listing for A.M. Gilman is in the 1854 San Francisco City Directory, where he is listed at 106 Battery Street, San Francisco. By 1855, Gilman is located at 82 Front Street under the banner, A. M. Gilman & Co. The 1860 United States Federal Census indicates, ‘E M Gelman (sic), age 32, birth abt 1828 in New York, home in San Francisco District 4, occupation: Liquor Dealer, Real Estate Value: $25,000, Personal Estate Value: $25,000. Apparently, he was doing very well in business.

There was advertising in San Francisco for a Mill’s Celebrated Wine Bitters in 1855 put out by Mills & Vantine, who were importers and dealers in wines, liquors, and cigars located at 64 Front Street. The partners were Luther R. Mills and James Vantine. This could have established the Mills’ Bitters name with the buying public in San Francisco.

See the museum example of Mills’ Seltzer Springs in the Soda Water Gallery.

For some unknown reason, A. M. Gilman failed in his liquor dealing business in 1862 and shuffled around for a decade, and resurfaced in business again in 1872 as A. M. Gilman, importer and dealer in wholesale wines and liquors, 308 California Street. He was living at the Occidental Hotel. Actually, in a number of directory listings over the years, Gilman is residing at hotels which leads us to believe that he was living alone, or at least did not have a family and children. Gilman even ran a Billiard Hall at the Lick House in 1876, which was known as the finest hotel west of the Mississippi.

In 1878, A. M. Gilman was advertising his Mill’s Celebrated Aromatic Stomach Bitters. This is when we see both newspaper advertising, directory listings, and the advertising postal cover below, all promoting his bitters.

It is not known where the Mill’s Bitters bottles were made. It most likely was not the San Francisco & Pacific Glass Works, as some of the glass house characteristics are missing. A number of Mills’ Bitters have been found in Arizona and when they are found, they are almost always stained and need cleaning. By 1880, P. J. Cassin purchased the rights to the brand and had a sample made reading ‘Mills Bitters, P. J. Cassin, Sole Proprietor.’ A. M. Gilman would depart the scene. A. M. Gilman died on March 29, 1881, at his brother’s house in Oakland, California.

The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:

M 93 MILLS’ BITTERS / A. M. GILMAN / SOLE PROPRIETOR // c //
11 ¼ x 3 ¼ (6 ¼)
Round lady’s leg, Amber, ARM, Applied mouth, Very rare
San Francisco liquor merchant around 1876
Several examples dug in Tuscon, Arizona

There are two other Mill’s Bitters lady’s legs related to our subject example. One is a smaller (M 94), 7-inch tall example with the same embossed copy. No whole specimen is known to date. The third is the P. J. Cassin (M 92) example which is 5 5/8 inches tall. Both are illustrated above.

See our museum example of Cassin’s Grape Brandy Bitters.

Some other Mill’s Bitters

Interestingly enough, there were other Mill’s Bitters being advertised and sold such as in 1854 in Keytesville, Missouri. This Mill’s Bitters was put out by J. J. Mills who said he had been selling his bitters for a few years and it was the “Great Missouri Remedy.” Also, in 1855, Dr. Mill’s Aromatic Stomach Bitters was showing up in advertising in various newspapers around the country, leading back to Lyons & Co. in Nashville, Tennessee. There was also a Mill’s Superior Wine Bitters being advertised in 1853 and a Mill’s Aromatic Stomach Bitters put out by William O. Mills in New York.

In the Houston Weekly Telegraph on Tuesday, April 10, 1860, there is a notice that reads, “Just received, 150 Cases Mills Bitters.” The merchant was H. J. Trube at the corner of Franklin and Travis Streets in downtown Houston. Obviously, someone was making and distributing Mills Bitters on a broad basis in the mid to late 1850s. It is quite possible that A. M. Gilman was the agent of one of these bitters.

Primary Image: The Mills’ Bitters bottle imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to Bitters Bottles by Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham. Use of Mills’ Bitters illustrations courtesy Bill Ham.

Support Images: Courtesy American Bottle Auctions and Glass Works Auctions.

Support Image: Auction Lot 57: MILLS’ BITTERS A.M. GILMAN SOLE PROPRIETOR. Applied top. Ladies leg in amber. M 93. 1874 only. One of the few lady’s leg bitters made for a western concern, these are a San Francisco bitters but a number of them have been found in Tucson which led some to think it was made for an Arizona concern. The company owned by Gilman was eventually purchased by the P.J. Cassin company. They produced a sample size bottle with their name on it which is very rare. We’ve seen one. These are usually in very poor condition, so this is about as good as they get. For some reason they are often in need of a cleaning. It might be that a lot of them were found in Tucson and their sandy soil affected the glass. Nobody knows but it is a great fairly early western bitters produced for one year only. This one is in overall nice condition and whether it was cleaned or not, it would have only been done on the exterior. The interior has an extremely light haze, which tells us no one ever bothered cleaning it. One of the nicer examples we have seen and grades an 8.5. – Jeff Wichmann, American Bottle Auctions, Auction 70, Part 1 of the Don Dwyer Collection

Read More: Mills’ Bitters – A. M. Gilman – Sole Proprietor

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