I just noticed an auction listing on ebay for a wine bottle with an applied seal impressed with the words
S. Larnac.
The description of this wine bottle includes"I’ve often suspected these were a Western product because of where their found and some recent research may confirm that".The description includes"In 1868, Wine merchant Adrien Chauche of San Francisco filed a trade mark for the "LARNAC" wine label pictured. The date of this filing is very close to the context the bottle was found in, late 60s. The few of these I know of were all found in Northern California". The description concludes with: "Likely a product of the “San Francisco Glass Works. While not 100% certain this is a Western wine, the research certainly seems convincing".
I was interested in this bottle and did a little research on the San Francisco Glass Works and the Larnac trade mark.
The San Francisco Glass Works ( Newman & Brannan) was destroyed by fire on July 23, 1868. It was not rebuilt and back in operation until September 23, 1870.
According to the California State Archives S. Lognac and S. Larnac are attributed to the Bordeaux region of France.
The Larnac label
Reproduced below is the trade mark for the Larnac label filed on November 28, 1868, over four months after the SF Glass Works was destroyed.
The above trade mark is for the label - not the bottle
Western or ? You be the judge
Thanks to:
The California State Archives
Bruce Silva
Dale Mlasko
Early Western Glassworks - Warren B. Friedrich