Bottle ID and value

[SteveDodds]

I picked this up today at a flea market. On the bottom it says 1625. Than it says 1949. It has a capital G inside a square on the bottom. On the top it says 4/5 quart and federal law prohibits sale or reuse of this bottle.

[Skrimpy]

I say after 1900. Probably not worth that much. I have one just like that but without the "Federal law..." embossing.

[quaidmon]

I found this a couple weeks ago but it is just 6 1/4 inches tall.

[unclenutsy]

I dug one just like it..Some sort of Peppersauce I think? Not worth much but still cool looking bottle.

[quaidmon]

Yeah I think its somekind of hot sauce bottle too. It was found on top of the ground in a bottle dump I found.

[Joe(TX)]

............I thought that the Federal logo would date it back to the 1930's??.......Joe

[Harry Pristis]

............I thought that the Federal logo would date it back to the 1930's??.......Joe

You are correct, Joe. The "Federal Law. . ." embossment was required on spirits bottles after Prohibition ended -- that is, after 1934. It is one of the "no earlier than" benchmarks that every bottle collector should remember.

What are the chances that a distinctive bottle shape like this one was used for spirits AND for peppersauce -- slim to none, I'd say. There is a much, much higher probability that the unembossed smaller version was a pre-Prohibition (pre-1918) container for the same spirits.

The problem with these machine-made bottles is that they are not old enough to have much collector interest; therefore, they don't get included into guides and reference books. I have just thumbed through two such books (Revi and Zumwalt) hoping that this bottle form was earlier hand-finished -- no such luck.

My guess is that these are wine (or liqueur) bottles, distinctive in form as a marketing ploy. The smaller bottles are (I'm guessing) a quarter-bottle -- 6 to 6.5 oz. -- (known as a "split"). Measure the volume and let us know.

[crazyjarhead]

That's a wierd looking bottle