When he was 17 (in the summer of 1874) Andrew Clemens advertised his sand bottles in the North Iowa Times, McGregor, Iowa. Andrew returned to McGregor to live year-round after a fire at the State School for the Deaf destroyed the dorm where he had lived. Andrew had been offered a job as a teacher there, but declined the offer. Clemens showed his work at the Saint Paul Dime Museum in 1889. He earned an invitation to demonstrate his work at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition, which he declined due to his failing health. His artwork sold for $5–7 at the time. In 2004, a Clemens' sand art glass bottle sold for $12,075 at auction. At another auction, a pair of his bottles were estimated to sell for $25,000-$35,000 but failed to sell. At auction in 2012, a Clemens sand bottle from the Paul Brenner Iowa Collection sold for $45,000 plus buyer's premium in Des Moines, Iowa. A floral and patriotic eagle sand bottle by Clemens made for Mrs. Eliza B. Lewis sold for $132,000 including buyer's premium in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 6, 2018. A new record for a Clemens sand bottle was set on November 23, 2020, when a presentation bottle dedicated to Dr. Prosper Harvey Ellsworth sold for $275,000 in Skinner's online American furniture and decorative arts auction.