Bottles and Bottle Labels

»None: bottle may be free blown, in which case it has a very uneven shape and dates before 1860. Or the bottle may have a nice even shape, but was spun in the mold to smooth out the seams; a practice common around 1900-1920.

»Blown in mold: side seams run from base and end below the top of lip, which is the result of Blowing In Mold (BIM). Can usually tell that lip is crude and was applied by hand.

»3 piece mold: Bottom half (from base to shoulder) has no seams, then there is a seam near the shoulder that runs completely around the circumference of the bottle. From this shoulder seam are two side seams that run up the neck and end below the top of the lip. 3PM was primarily in use from 1840-70. Can usually tell that lip is crude and was applied by hand.

»Automatic bottle maker: if the side seams run thru the top of the lip, then the bottle is ABM (made by an Automatic Bottle Machine). The first ABM bottles started appearing in 1905, and by 1920 most bottles were being made by this method.

»Open pontilled: (which is a depression in the base) usually date before 1860.

»Iron pontilled: usually date 1845-1870.

»Smooth: usually date 1870 or later. If there are LETTERS there, it can’t be pontilled!

»Matthews gravitating stopper: date after 1864.

»Codd stopper: date after 1873 when Hiram Codd invented this bottle.

»Hutchinson blob top: date after 1879.

»Lightning stopper: date after 1880.

»Crown Top: date after 1892 (when crown top was invented).

»Screw Top: usually date after 1920.

»Applied lip: date before 1900.

»Tooled lip: date after about 1890.

»Other: If your bottle is embossed “Federal Law Prohibits …”, then your bottle dates between 1933 (end of Prohibition) and 1970.

There are many different ways that vintage labels survive. State alcohol boards would keep them in file folders for approval processes. Drinkers might soak the labels off bottles they drank. You can tell if they are “soakers” as they will often be rippled from the water used to free them from the bottle. And there have always been label collectors. They would write the breweries or label companies, asking for obsolete labels or samples. We’ve found these paper “time capsules” with all correspondence intact. They usually include polite and hand-written stationery from both parties, and are DATED, which helps greatly in determining the era. Or scrapbook pages filled with old labels. Don’t bother trying to remove them however. Leave that to us pros. With patience and time, it can be done!

1860’s-1900: These are usually ornate, with script fonts and colorful graphics, Brewers usually had more generic names for their beer, like PILSENER,EXPORT,BOCK/PORTER or BOTTLE BEER. They may say CITY BREWERY as they may have been the only brewer in their town.

1908-1914:  Might have MADE UNDER THE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT JUNE 30TH 1906 and then a serial number.

1912: Around this time, labels would start to have contents and alcohol content printed on their labels.

1908-1920: (Early prohibition era) Some states started Prohibition (no alcohol allowed) as early as 1908.By 1916, 25 states had joined in prohibiting alcoholic beverages. They may say CEREAL BEVERAGE or BREW or may state “Contains less then 1/2 of %1 alcohol”

1918-2: WWI era labels would say (in states that were allowed to still sell beer) 2.75% alcohol.

1920-1933:-If breweries wanted to stay in business, they branched out to selling ice, dry goods and non-alcoholic or near beers. They might end with an “O” Schlitz had Famo, Keeley had Graino, Pablo was brewed by Pabst,etc. Or, they may say BREW instead of beer.

1928-1933: L permit labels-As Prohibition was nearing an end, breweries would use and L permit label. It would have the letter L followed by a number.

1933-36: U-permit labels-These would have the letter U followed by a number.

1933-1950: IRTP labels-If your label has TAX PAID AT THE RATE REQUIRED BY INTERNAL LAW or INTERNAL REVENUE TAX PAID, it was bottled during this time.

1950-1980’s ERA: No special wording was required during this time. Brewers started to use their zip codes around 1965 and IPC (those vertical striped price squares) began in 1973 or so. After 1989, Government warnings were printed on labels.

If you have a collection of labels, a single bottle you’ve found while remodeling the bathroom, or an old jar full of bottle caps, we are the guys that would love to hear about it. Our collections are built around folks like you that find and preserve brewing history!