# St. Louis Beer



## Wilkie (Aug 11, 2008)

Here is an unusual shaped blob top beer that I hope someone can help me with.  
 It is embossed on the front:
*COLUMBIA / WEISS BEER / BREWERY / ST. LOUIS, MO.* 
 The back of it is embossed:
*THIS BOTTLE / IS / NEVER SOLD*
 It has the original porcelin stopper.  
 Any information on this one is appreciated, scarcity? value? age? shape? 

 Thanks.


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## poisons4me (Aug 11, 2008)

The slender, medium amber weiss beer bottle style pictured to the right - without a distinct shoulder/neck break - is embossed inside of round plate with _COLUMBIA / WEISS BEER / BREWERY / ST. LOUIS, MO._   On the reverse it is embossed _THIS BOTTLE / IS / NEVER SOLD_ along with _I. G. Co. 30A_ at the heel.  The heel lettering indicates that this bottle was made by the _Illinois Glass Company_ who offered mold number 30A from at least 1903 (but not as early as 1899) to 1911 giving a high probability dating range for when this bottle (IGCo. 1899, 1903, 1906, 1908, 1911).  Click on the following link to see the actual listing for this mold number (30A) in the 1906 _Illinois Glass Company_ catalog - IGCo. 1906 catalog - pages 258-259; mold 30A is in the lower left hand corner.  Appropriately enough, IGCo. called this style the "St. Louis Weiss Beer."  Other available styles nominally intended for weiss beer are also shown on these catalog pages.  This bottle has a tooled blob finish and was blown in a cup base mold with multiple shoulder air venting.  It also has the original porcelain lightning stopper in place which is marked with the brewery name on top.  Click on the following links to view more pictures of this bottle: base view; close-up of the shoulder, neck, and finish/closure; reverse view; close-up of the reverse showing the noted embossing, including the noted mold number (bottom of picture).  A check of Bull, et. al. (1984) indicates that the _Columbia Weiss Beer Brewery_ operated under that name from 1898 to 1909, consistent with the likely manufacturing based date range estimate and the IGCo. catalogs


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## Wilkie (Aug 11, 2008)

Thanks for that information Rick.  I appreciate it.  I hope someone is familiar with Missouri beers and can shed some light on the value.  Thanks again.


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## appliedlips (Aug 11, 2008)

Tim,

      That bottle is fairly available and would say it's worth around $20 with bail and stopper.I have seen Weiss beers in these shapes from cities in the midwest and upper midwest but not many outside of that area.Weiss is German for White, and these  beers were a lighter lager,popular in the the late 1800's.Up until that time brewers were brewing more heavy European ales & porters.


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## Wilkie (Aug 11, 2008)

I just found one on sale for 50 dollars at www.historicbottles.com and also a listing on Kovels online, 1996, with a value of 65 dollars.  (I know, Kovels, right.....)  Anyway, thanks for the input.  Either way, as a collector of California bottles, this one is available to trade if anyone is interested.


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Aug 12, 2008)

nice beer wilkie, i like that it still has the wire and the stopper intact. i dont dig them like that exept for a spot a mile or two from you, but the ground is too hard this time of year for any good digging, when it starts raining we will have to go, granted they dont build houses there before


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