Food & Drink
Claim a Piece of the Old West in Pendleton Whiskey’s Online Auction
Live out your cowboy dreams by snagging frontier-era barware and contemporary heirlooms
In the American West of the 1800s, whiskey was the drink of choice. That tradition endures, as does the craftsmanship of the vessels made to serve it. For proof, browse the catalog from Pendleton Whisky’s Heritage Collection auction, which brings together antique barware and Western-era collectibles with contemporary heirlooms, with bidding open through the end of the month.
The whisky brand is named for the town of Pendleton, Oregon, which is home to a historic, week-long annual rodeo and Western heritage festival every second week of September. Its auction is also a collaboration with textile company Pendleton Woolen Mills, and all proceeds go to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Among the items up for sale are a set of Frontier-era pewter drinking classes, a nineteenth-century drinking horn, and a bespoke decanter created for the occasion by celebrated silversmith Beau Compton. “Many years ago, a mentor of mine introduced me to 1800s Tiffany’s silver. The craftsmanship at the time was unparalleled, and it continues to be remarkable at today’s standards,” Compton says. That legacy informed his approach to the decanter, from its intricate scrollwork to its potential for a life beyond its buyer. “When I make an heirloom piece, I want the individual to pass it down to the next generation and beyond,” he says.
See Compton’s decanter and other auction items below.
Arizona-based silversmith Beau Compton used heavy sterling silver to craft this heirloom decanter. Overlay scrollwork frames the Pendleton Whisky horse and rider in the middle, a nod to the historic rodeo the brand is named for.
Though the artist is unknown, this flask dates back to between 1920 and 1940. Butte City, Montana, is etched on the bottom in a nod to the mining town, established in the 1860s, that was nicknamed the “richest hill on Earth” because of its extensive deposits of copper, silver, gold, and zinc. “The design and craftsmanship of this piece is so clean and detailed,” Compton says.
This Wyoming drinking cup—made from a steer horn and finished with a leather handle and cork-resin base—also dates back to the nineteenth century. Horns served as drinking vessels in the old West, as they were durable and lightweight.
An Oklahoma cattle buyer owned these stackable pewter drinking cups, which come in their original leather carrying case and date back to between 1840 and 1880—the heart of the cattle drive era.
Contemporary Montana silversmith Carol Helvey-Woolsey created this flask, featuring gold buffalo horns and turquoise with copper veining, from a single sheet of sterling silver.
Lindsey Liles joined Garden & Gun in 2020 after completing a master’s in literature in Scotland and a Fulbright grant in Brazil. The Arkansas native is G&G’s digital reporter, covering all aspects of the South, and she especially enjoys putting her biology background to use by writing about wildlife and conservation. She lives on Johns Island, South Carolina.