Reproductions of Antique Bottles
Although reproductions (called "repro" for short) have become collectible
themselves, noone wants to pay the price for an original and receive a repro.
You can help arm yourself against accidently buying a repro
by educating yourself.
An excellent source of info for identifying reproductions bottles is part IX
on page 678 of
McKearin's "American Bottles & Flasks and Their Ancestry".
In general, any bottle marked (typically on the base) with:
- WHEATON
- MADE IN TAIWAN
- MADE IN JAPAN
- CROWNFORD CHINA
- EMPIRE GLASS WORKS
- CLEVENGER BROTHERS GLASS WORKS
- OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE
is a reproduction bottle.
Any bottle marked on the base with an "I" within
an "O" (for Owens-Illinois) is a series of accurately reproduced bottles
put out but the Historical Bottle Collectors Guild.
One of the most common reproduction bottles is "E.G. BOOZ'S OLD CABIN
WHISKEY". Page 686-687 of McKearin's "American Bottles & Flasks and Their
Ancestry" has excellent info for identifying the repro from the original.
These bottle has faked out both novice and experienced collectors.
Some general guidelines for distinguishing repro vs. original BOOZ
bottles:
- GVII-3 Booz bottle with straight roof
- The repro has two periods under "St" in "120
WALNUT St" and no period after the word "WHISKEY" on the sloping roof.
- Repro has diagonal mold seam that runs from opposite corners to a
smooth circular depresssion about 2 inches in diamater at the center,
whereas the original has no seam on the base.
- Photo's of original Booz bottle.
Note the period is after the word whiskey, the S in whiskey is centered
directly under the C in cabin, the OO's are complete with the first O being dead
center in the neck.
- GVII-4 Booz bottle with triangular cuts at the gable ends
- Cuts at gable ends (these cut gable ends are circled in red in the
photo at top right of this page) extend through second row of shingles
on the repro. The cuts are smaller on the original and only
extend through the first row of shingles.
- Repro does not have a period after the word "WHISKEY" on the right
side of the bottle.
- Also see
How Well Do You Know Your BOOZ?
by Digger Oddell.
Other noteworthy reproduction bottles:
- Coke Hutch Reproductions.
- 1923 Hobbleskirt Cokes made in 1989.
- Amber New Bern Pepsi.
- Pig figural embossed AMERICA'S /
SUFFOLK BITTERS / LIFE PRESERVER without the "PHILBROOK & TUCKER" name.
Only the original has the "PHILBROOK & TUCKER" name.
- LANCASTER'S INDIAN VEGETABLE BITTERS / COL SAM
JOHNSON PROPRIETOR / RICHMOND VA 1852.
Comes in amethyst and amber. Fictional embossing - product
never existed be sure sounds neat, doesn't it?
-
Warner's Safe Cure
Repro
Green glass with paper label.
- FRANK'S SAFE KIDNEY LIVER CURE / SINCE 1892 WORKS WONDERS
"Nothing in this remedy will grow on anyone." with "Wheaton NJ" on the base.
This is a 1970's reproduction of the "Warner's Safe Kidney & Liver Cure"
from Rochester NY, which only worth about $20, so it's interesting they came
up with a reproduction. But sometimes these bottles come in green and cobalt
blue, nice colors that the originals didn't come in (though there are green
Warner's from places like London and Frankfurt).
-
SC DISPENSARY amber 1/2 pint flask
Repro
This bottle was distributed to commemorate South Carolina's Tricentennial
1670-1970.
To see the real thing, go here.
- SC DISPENSARY amber quart cylinder
Repro
Made in the 1970s. Height 9", quart cylinder.
There were no original cylinder quart
SC Dispensary
bottles made in amber - they only occurred in clear and aqua.
But there were some original pint and half-pint cylinder rums.
- ALBANY GLASS WORKS / {Bust of Washington} / ALBANY, NY /
{Clipper Ship}
Repro
Very close to the original GI-28 flask, even the glass and lip are crude.
But what distinguishes the original from repro is 1) original has true
pontil mark and repro has smooth circular indentation, 2) original is light
(typical of old blown glass) and repro is heavier than a normal piece
of this size, and 3) original has embossing in
serif (i.e. there
are serifs on edges of letters) while repro
has embossing in
sans serif (i.e. without the serifs on ends of letters).
- OLD HOME BITTERS / DOC DUNNING / GREENSBORO, N. CAROLINA / OLD HOME BITTERS
Pictures of Front,
Top, and
Base
Produced in the early 1970s by Doc Dunning of Greensboro for his lamp business.
Listed as O 34 in the
Ring/Ham Bitters book,
the co-author Bill Ham has acknowledged that this
is indeed a modern bottle and he will add a notice in the next addendum.
In fact, the bottle never existed before 1970.
As you can see from the pictures, the lip is oversized to accomodate insertion of a lamp.
The lip is also ground, a finish not found on old American Bitters bottles.
The base has a recessed hole in the center to easy the process of drilling out
a hole in the base to run lamp wire. Sometimes you find them fitted with a lamp
and the hole drilled out. An interesting bottle but not an antique bitters.
Pictures courtesy of Dean Marvel,
Email: marvel@mail.cei.net
- Jacob's Cabin Bitters repro can be found
here.
- ROBERTS BROS / 1863 / PHIL.
Repro
Green whiskey with embossing
in glass seal is a 1960/70s reproduction.
Links to other sites about Reproduction Bottles:
This web page hosted by
Antique Bottle Collectors Haven
