Posted 7 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
At a normally junk flea the other day (I almost didn't go, actually,) I espied a table with some labeled screw-top bottles. While those are generally too new for my interests (and they were mostly 1940s junk) to the side of the table I espied this cute little sampler.
Upon seeing it, I picked it up and was very pleasantly surprised to notice the engraved and stamped label that suggested Pre-Prohibition make. The tooled blob atop it basically guaranteed the age for this American bottle. Inspection of the base showed the early 1900s Illinois Glass Co. mark that further guaranteed its age.
The vendor at the moment was a little girl, so I leaned forward and gently said, "Excuse me, miss: How much is this one?"
"One dollar," she replied.
So that sealed the deal on this century-old bottle.
Research has turned up other whiskeys that The William Edwards Company of Cleveland, Ohio, put out, though on no site or directory could I find this specific whiskey they put out: Cabinet Brand Pure Rye Whiskey.
The William Edwards Company was a major 1800s and 1900s grocer that had its own line of whiskies. Interestingly, I couldn't find another labeled whiskey by them-- only shot-glasses and stoneware bottles!
The company's name-changes are as follows:
Edwards, Townsend & Co., 1874-1886; William Edwards & Co., 1888-1905; and The William Edwards Co., 1906-1919.
As such, we know this bottle is c. 1906 (back label has 'The' in their name).
The label came from a standard plate. The William Edwards Co. had their brand, Cabinet Brand, stamped on a standard label other companies would have also had the rights to use (though with a different stamp).
A great $1 find.
Almost lost the bottle, too. The mirrors in the back of the cabinet you see the bottle in... tipped over and sent this bottle and many other rare labeled bottles (including two from the 1840s) crashing to the floor and atop my metal tool-box.
Amazingly, only one bottle MAY have suffered damage-- a minor (tiny) lip-chip that I don't remember having noticed before.
The noise was deafening and I was absolutely horrified to see my prized collection laying in a big heap!
Nice collection SpiritBear! :^)
Amazing story, I did not think there such an item as a dollar bottle anymore. I have dropped many bottles over the years and some like yours come away with little or no damage, I had them break in two or shatter into a million pieces, all depends on how they fall, I guess. Nice assortment of paper labeled bottles. Thanks for sharing
billretirecoll, thank you. Almost lost most of it yesterday. LOL. Thanks for commenting.
bottle-bud, plenty of dollar-bottles, but they're usually not worth that. This one is a very good dollar-bottle. I praised God that none were broken, cracked, chipped, or flashed. The quality and thickness of glass has a lot to do with it, too. Thanks for commenting.