Dating

Determining bottle age using seam lines:

Mold marks or seam lines can help determine the age of a bottle. Usually the closer the seam lines are to the top of the bottle the newer the bottle is. There are times that seam lines are polished off and so this method of determining a bottles age isn't absolute.

* Bottles dating pre-1860 have mold marks that end low on the neck or shoulders of the bottle.
* Bottles made through the 1880's seam lines generally end just below the lip, and easier to see that the tip was applied separately.
* After the 1880's full sized molds included most of the top of the bottle. Usually the seams extend within a 1/4 inch of the top.
* Machine made bottles from 1903 and on, have seam lines all the way to the top. Machine made bottles often have one or more seams circling the top of the bottle.

If your bottle has these words embossed it was made between 1932 - 1964

"Federal Law Prohibits Sale or Reuse of this Bottle"

These words were required on liquor bottles after prohibition was lifted.

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