People who collect bottles are often drawn to them for their beauty and history, and also because they’re small and don’t take up as much space as some other collectibles.
At Holabird Western Americana’s four-day “Raise a Glass to Yesteryear” sale August 24-27, bidders were eager to acquire the bottles offered in Day 3’s auction. Collectors had more than 100 bottles to choose from, including the top lot: an aqua soda bottle, circa 1870-1890, from James Talbot, one of the pioneering soda water manufacturers in Nevada, that sold for $3,750. It’s considered one of the rarest and best looking Western aqua sodas.
Courtesy of Holabird Americana
Soda bottles, created to hold soda water, date back to the late 1600s. In 1832, the first carbonated water was introduced, and bottles were designed to withstand the pressure of the carbonated beverage.
Over 40 other soda bottles were offered in the sale, including a rare emerald green beauty, circa 1861 to 1867, by W.S. Wright that might be the only known whole emerald example that sold for $2,375; a trio of Indian Territory black embossed soda bottles consisting of an aqua sulphur Springs Bottling Works crown top, a Weleetka Bottling works clear/stained crowntop, and a Ravia Bottling Works Hutch, that may be a varnished clear to light aqua, that sold for $2,125; and an extremely rare aqua soda bottle, circa 1899 to 1906, by Elko Bottling Works that fetched $1,875.
Courtesy Holabird Americana
Courtesy Holabird Americana
Beer, liquor, wine and spirit bottles are also popular categories. Until the late 1800s, beer was sold in kegs and had to be consumed in a short time period before it would go bad. When the process of pasteurization was introduced in 1876, beer was bottled and sold along the railway system. Liquor was one of the first reasons bottles were used, starting in the early 16th century, and there are a significant number of different designs and styles made throughout the years. The most collectible liquor and spirits bottles are those made before 1919 when Prohibition started.
Courtesy Holabird Americana
Among the beer and liquor bottles collectors clamored for in the Holabird sale were a lot of six different aqua and clear Anchor Steam beer bottles, including five from the Oklahoma Territory, that sold for $2,000, double the high estimate of $1,000; a trio of rare Quaker City gilt monogram whiskey bottles, including a bar back bottle and two decanters, circa 1890 to 1910, from Sam Barets Importing Co., Denver, Colorado, that sold for $1,188; and a rare amber tooled top fifth Wm. Provis/Fine Liquors/Grass Valley bottle that brought $938, more than double its high estimate of $400.
Courtesy Holabird Americana
Other top sellers in the auction included a rare clear pocket flask bottle with a metal screw cap, circa 1905, from Washington Bar that fetched $3,375; a collection of nine Oklahoma-embossed milk bottles that brought $3,250, thousands more than the high estimate of $200; and a trio of clear Colorado seltzer bottles that sold for $2,125, also soaring above the high estimate of $600.
Courtesy of Holabird Americana
Courtesy of Holabird Americana
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