Best Of The West Live Auction
November 13, 2026 5:30 PM PT
Golden Gate Bottle Auctions is proud to present the Best of the West Live Auction, featuring 72 exceptional lots from the Jeff Wichmann Collection. This special auction showcases an outstanding selection of rare Western bottles, along with four exceptional insulators. Jeff's longstanding passion for Western bottles and his contributions to the collecting community are reflected in this remarkable collection.
The auction will take place Friday, November 13, 2026, at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn, California, in conjunction with the 49er Bottle Show. Live bidding begins at 5:30 PM Pacific.
Absentee bids will be updated periodically in the online catalog. Please note that online bidding will not be available before or during the live auction on November 13.
→ Register For The Live Auction
The auction will take place Friday, November 13, 2026, at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn, California, in conjunction with the 49er Bottle Show. Live bidding begins at 5:30 PM Pacific.
Absentee bids will be updated periodically in the online catalog. Please note that online bidding will not be available before or during the live auction on November 13.
→ Register For The Live Auction
Chicago Lager Beer
Circa 1888–1895, applied top. The Chicago Brewery was one of San Francisco's longer-lived breweries, remaining in operation from at least the 1870s into the 1890s. This bottle dates from the later years of the applied–top era and features bold block-letter embossing characteristic of the period. While not as early or rare as some Western quart beers, nice examples are surprisingly difficult to find and remain desirable representatives of San Francisco's brewing history.
Description & Condition: Amber. Light interior brush marks and scattered exterior scuffs.
Min. Bid $50 - Est. $100–$200
Beer Steam Bottling Co. WM. Goeppert & Son San Francisco
Circa 1882–1885, applied top, quart. William Goeppert & Son was operated by William Goeppert and his son George during the early to mid–1880s. At the 1883 Mechanics' Institute Fair, Goeppert & Son received an award for the best California–made beer for their Bavaria and Felsen Beer products. By March of 1885, the firm was no longer listed, and George partnered with Fred Haussler to form the Bavaria & Felsen Beer Steam Bottling Company. As is the case with most applied top Western quart beers of the 1880s, examples are scarce today, with only about 20 or fewer known. These bottles are found with either a banded champagne top or the more widely encountered tapered top, as seen on this example. There is also an extremely rare aqua variant known, produced with the champagne top and a slightly different embossing pattern.
Description & Condition: Amber color with essentially no wear. 1/4" and 1/16" checks in the body, a 1/2" check in the neck, and a couple of bruises in the neck below the top. Despite these issues, it remains in better condition than most early beer examples.
Min. Bid $1,000 - Est. $2,000–$4,000
A&R Postel
Circa 1885–1887, applied top, quart. There are two early Western beers bearing the Postel name: the C.D. Postel with the sheaf of wheat and this A. & R. Postel featuring the embossed bear. Both are difficult to acquire, but the A. & R. is the rarer of the two and is highly coveted for its outstanding embossing pattern featuring a large bear. This example is a beautiful citron yellow, possibly the only known early Western beer in this color. Found in the bay near Port Chicago, California, this is an extremely rare bottle that would stand out in any collection of early Western beers.
Description & Condition: Bright citron yellow. Substantial exterior wear, likely from prolonged exposure in a watery environment such as San Francisco Bay. Minor 1/8" flake to the edge of the base and a 1/8" partially radiating potstone in the side shoulder. Professionally cleaned.
Min. Bid $5,000 - Est. $10,000–$20,000
H. Metzler San Francisco
Circa 1885–1887, applied top, quart. An extremely rare beer featuring a fantastic embossed eagle perched atop a barrel. Herman Metzler was listed as an agent for the San Francisco Stock Brewery in 1885, and by 1887 was operating as a beer bottler under his own name. This is another of the coveted Western quart beers from the mid to late 1880s that is seldom offered for sale, with only about seven examples known. As is often the case with these early beers, most known examples exhibit condition issues ranging from lip chips and bruises to more significant damage, making high-grade examples particularly difficult to acquire. Considered by many collectors to be the best-looking and most desirable of all the early Western beers.
Description & Condition: Dark amber color. Surface bruise approximately 3/4" wide extending from the top down into the neck, a 1/4" bruise on the edge of the base, and a potstone with an associated 1/4" check in the shoulder. Regardless, a very difficult bottle to acquire and in better condition than most known examples.
Min. Bid $2,000 - Est. $4,000–$8,000