Rosenbaum’s Bitters

Rosenbaums Bitters

N. B. Jacobs & Co.

San Francisco

R 93

Napoleon Bonaparte Jacobs, San Francisco, California

Yellow-Amber Square

Provenance: Richard T. Siri Collection

Our museum example of Rosenbaum’s Bitters is quite extraordinary. The square bottle is embossed on three of the four side panels with ROSENBAUMS BITTERS (side 1), N. B. JACOBS & CO. (side 2), and SAN FRANCISCO (side 3). The fourth side panel on the reverse is blank and is where a label would have gone. No examples with labels are extant. The bottle is crude and full of glass character in an outstanding golden yellow-amber color. The bottle has a long tapered collar applied mouth.

N. B. Jacobs & Co. and Dr. Rosenbaum’s Celebrated Stomach Bitters is referenced in quite a few newspapers during a ten-year period. In an 1858 Sonoma County Journal advertisement, it is noted that the bitters are manufactured by Dr. Rosenbaum who is also the proprietor located on South Front Street in Philadelphia. In the same advertisement, N. B. Jacobs & Company were listed as the General Agents for the Pacific Coast.

This bottle was probably blown first at an eastern glasshouse and then the mold was taken to San Francisco where more bottles were blown at the Pacific Glass Works. Bottles dug from the early 1860s site in San Francisco have characteristics of bottles blown at eastern glasshouses and bottles from the late 1860s sites have characteristics of western blown bottles. The large variant Rosenbaum’s Bitters without the center dot in the base usually has a tapered collar mouth with a lower ring. These bottles are considered to have been blown at the Pacific Glass Works.

There are somewhere near twenty complete examples of the variant 1 Rosenbaum’s Bitters in collections in colors such as grass green, olive green, apple green, amber, dark amber, olive amber, yellow-green, yellow-olive amber, and pink puce.

Napoleon Bonaparte Jacobs arrived in San Francisco from Virginia in November 1854. Like many before him, he struck out for riches in the goldfields. With modest success, he eventually returned and started N. B. Jacobs & Co. in 1858, located at 137 Clay Street. He stated advertising Rosenbaum’s Bitters that same year.

See an example of a N. B. Jacobs – San Francisco bottle in the Virtual Museum.

There are two variants of the Rosenbaum’s Bitters. Variant 1 (R 93) is a larger bottle with a smaller serifed copy while Variant 2 (R 94) is a smaller bottle with a larger sans-serif copy. Variant 1 also has a left slanted ampersand. The Variant 1 western blown bottles are reported with a dot embossed on the base.

The Carlyn Ring and Bill Ham listings in Bitters Bottles Supplement is as follows:

R 93 ROSENBAUMS / BITTERS // SAN FRANCISCO // f // N. B. JACOBS & CO //
9 7/8 x 2 ¾ (7 1/8) 5/16
Square, LTCR and LTC, Applied mouth, Amber, Yellow-olive, and Green, Rare; Light blue-green and Claret, Extremely rare; Light puce, Extremely rare.
Ampersand slants left.
This bottle was probably blown first in an Eastern glass house and then the mold was taken to San Francisco where more bottles were blown at the Pacific Glass Works. Bottles dug from the early 1860s site in San Francisco have characteristics of bottles blown at eastern glasshouses and bottles from the late 1860s sites have characteristics of Western blown bottles.

R 94 ROSENBAUM’S / BITTERS // SAN FRANCISCO // f // N. B. JACOBS & CO //
9 x 2 ½ (7 1/8) 5/16
Square, Amber, Puce, Medium green, and Olive amber. LTCR and LTC, Applied mouth, Very rare.
This bottle was probably western blown. R 94 is rarer than R 93. The R 94 mold was altered to make the H 70 Dr. Hauseman’s German Bitters mold.
See R 91 L … Rosenbaum’s Bitters
See O 8 Carlos O’Donell’s Bitters

Primary Image: Rosenbaum’s Bitters imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Read More: Looking again at Rosenbaum’s Bitters at Peachridge Glass

Support: Reference to Bitters Bottles Supplement by Carlyn Ring and Bill Ham

Support: Reference to Early Glassworks of California by Warren B. Friedrich

Support: Reference to Western Bottle News

Support Image: Auction Lot #16: ROSENBAUM’S BITTERS SAN FRANCISCO N.B. JACOBS & CO. Applied top in a striated puce color. 1860-69. This is the larger of the Rosenbaum bitters, as they also come in a smaller size as seen in the next lots. The range of colors these bottles come in is truly amazing and this one is a great example of that. A plum or apricot red color, this has an added bonus of striations of a deeper puce swirling through the bottle. Unfortunately, this has a resin repair in the top, seems like it’s always the best ones. A very tough color in a hard-to-find western bitters, this would have been the cream of the crop. Still displays beautifully, with lots of overall crudity and character. We’ve included a black light shot of the resin repair. Grades a 9. – Jeff Wichmann, American Bottle Auctions, Auction 70, Part 1 of the Don Dwyer Collection

Support Image: Auction Lot #17: ROSENBAUMS BITTERS N.B. JACOBS & CO SAN FRANCISCO in medium yellow green. Radiating potstone near the letter “N.” Smaller variant, 1868-81. A nice crude example in a medium green color. We’ve examined the V shaped flaw in the lip under a high resolution loupe. It appears to have an exact match of patina and texture as the rest of the top. We believe it is an in-making flaw. Grades an 8.5 not counting the stone. – Jeff Wichmann, American Bottle Auctions, Auction 70, Part 1 of the Don Dwyer Collection

Support Image: Auction Lot #18: ROSENBAUM’S BITTERS N.B. JACOBS & CO SAN FRANCISCO. Applied top in bright yellow-green with a hint of amber. 1868-81. Another green smaller variant, this example has some typical crudity and overall is in great shape. There is a radiating potstone in the “N,” as shown but is otherwise a fine addition to any collection, grades an 8.5 – Jeff Wichmann, American Bottle Auctions, Auction 70, Part 1 of the Don Dwyer Collection

Support Image: Auction Lot 15: ROSENBAUM’S BITTERS SAN FRANCISCO N.B. JACOBS & CO. Applied top in a light bright teal color. 1860-69. This is the larger of the Rosenbaum bitters, as they also come in a smaller size as seen in the next lots. The range of colors these bottles come in is truly amazing and this one is a great example of that. A pastel bluish-green that frankly we don’t remember seeing before. We have looked this bottle over ten times and on the last try we found an area 1/4″ in diameter which is a resin repair on the lip. For pure interest the bottle is crudely made with even some stringy glass stuck to the neck. A very nice example of what a rare colored old bottle is supposed to look like. We will safely call this a 9 not considering the repaired lip – Jeff Wichmann, American Bottle Auctions, Auction #70, Don Dwyer 2

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