# Jacobs Cabin Tonic Bitters



## Steve/sewell (Feb 18, 2010)

This is the next best thing as far as reproduction and originals in comparison.
 The Clevenger versions of famous bottles they copied are slopply made.
 Wheatons are odd sized and look new most of the time using bright unrealistic colors.
 The Historical Bottle Collector Guilds bottles on the other hand are a true carefull work of art.
 Their bottles were reproduced as exact replicas with purposley placed chemicals built in the glass mixture
 that when they were viewed under an Ultra-violet light they would glow.There bottoms were also stamped with the dates of manufacture in bold deep font and serial numbers inscribed also to further protect the originals and their selves from unauthorized reproduction.

  In 1972 the Historical Bottle Collector's Guild was formed by the Glass Containers Division of Owens-Illinois. Together with some of the most renowned bottle collectors and Glass historians an advisory board was formed and plans were made to issue a small number of reproductions of scarce  original bottles. Members of the committie included,The Director Phillip Williams,assisted by the following S. A. Smith early collector,The late Charles B. Gardner reknowned American Early glass collector,American Glass historian and Author of many books on the subject Cecil Munsey,The late Dr. Julian H. Toulouse a collector,and George Mckearin one of the finest and most knowlegable glass historians in the United States.

 The reproductions by the Historical Bottle Collectors Guild put out by the Owens-Illinois Inc. Works, were very accurate with the molds being made from the original bottles, there were four bottles commisioned by the Guild they are all marked on the base with the logo of Owens-Illinois an I within an O. The original plan called for 3500 of each, in which they originaly  sold for $27.50 in 1971. The four bottles are two flasks and two bottles,the Concentric Ring-Eagle Canteen Flask GII-76, Jacobâ€™s Cabin Tonic Bitters GII-6, Columbia-Eagle Flask GI-117A, and the Star Whiskey Bottle in Slug plate. Also put out by the Owens-Illinois in 1929 was the A.Yoerger & Br., Alton, IL soda bottle with blob top, 600 were made.

  L. A. McCullough replaced Mr. Smith as the director and  saw the first of the Guilds work come to production.The first bottle the Concentric Ring-Eagle Canteen Flask GII-76 called for 3500 flasks to be produced.The end result was quite different however as only 675 were produced.It was determined that limiting the number of flasks would keep the value up as time went on.All four of the bottles were produced with chemicals that when viewed under a black light would litterally show their true colors making them easily disernable from their original rare counterparts.

 The Jacobs bottle was the Guilds second venture.An origial Jacobs Cabin Bitters Bottle was used to make an exact replica of the original bottle.The bottle is 7 and 5/8ths inche's tall and  3 and 7/8s inche's wide.There were two difference's between the original bottles and the Guilds.On the original bottle the lip was laid on after the bottle was blown in a treadle mold.The Guilds  bottle was blown in a two piece mold with the lip being part of the mold and the apostrophe between the B and the S in the word Jacobs on the roof and the right hand side being somewhat weak in impression on both words.On the front roof the following embosing in three rows JACOB'S,CABIN TONIC,BITTERS.With rows of shingles surrounding the words.On the right hand side the same embossing JACOB'S,CABIN TONIC,BITTERS.The left hand side of the bottle reads in two rows LABORATORY,PHILADELPHIA.The back side of the roof has four rows of large shingles with no embossing.The front of the bottle is a cabin designed exactly as the Booz bottle original with two small second floor windows and  a large double door on the left facing you and to it's right a larger rectangular shaped window. The rear of the cabin is plain where a paper label was affixed.Only 3 or 4 originals exist today making it one of the rarest collectable bottles. A total of 790 bottles were produced.Of  these, 750 have regular serial numbers engraved on them 1-750.There were 15 Artist Proof Bottles (AP) and are marked AP-1 through AP-15 and there were 20 presentation bottles made marked B1-B20.All of these markings were located on the base on a large concave circle with a large O I symbol (Owens Illinois) and the date 1974 deeply impressed into the glass base.The base also has a large 5/8ths sized pontil mark.Lastly to protect collectors who already had original bottles the Guild decided to use a chemical (Samaruium Oxide) added to the batch so just like the Concentric ring flask the Jacobs bottle would glow a distinct bright orange when viewed under a black light.

 My bottle is marked with the serial number 524 and is very heavy with thick glass on the lower part of the Cabin
 The color is clear with a hint of very pale silver in the thicker portions of the bottle.

 In closing this is a nice bottle and has a good historical background associated with it.If you cant have an original this is the next best thing.The Clevengers purposley designed their copies of original valuable collectable bottles soley based on deception and profit.The Guilds bottle's were designed never to fool someone as to it being portrayed as an original but just so the collector could appreciate the originals for what they were .One day I aspire to own an original Jacobs bottle. Hopefully I will see the chance become a reality before I move on nto the big house.


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## Steve/sewell (Feb 18, 2010)

The right hand side embossed JACOB'S,CABIN TONIC,BITTERS.


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## Steve/sewell (Feb 18, 2010)

The left hand side of the bottle embosed LABORATORY,PHILADELPHIA.


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## Steve/sewell (Feb 18, 2010)

A view of the top of the bottle.


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## Steve/sewell (Feb 18, 2010)

The base is marked with the letters OI,(Owens Illinois) the date 1974 in large font,a rough 5/8ths inch pontil and the serial number 524 stamped all within a large 2 and a half inch circular mark.If anyone else here at the forum has one please post it along with the serial number.I would like to see how many of these bottles are collected by our membership along with being able to track the serial numbers.


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## CALDIGR2 (Feb 18, 2010)

That's what I call INFORMATION. Thanks for putting that on the forum; there are many things that not all of us are aware of.


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## RED Matthews (Feb 18, 2010)

Steve,  I have to go back and reread this.  Are these pictures of the one you want to find? 
 RED Matthews


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## Steve/sewell (Feb 18, 2010)

Red, this is not an original it is the one produced by the Bottle Guild.My point of this post is showing how this bottle was created by the Guild not to deceive 
 but to show exactly how the real bottle looked in color, design and size.There are however key markings on these bottles so they could never be passed off as being the real McCoy to an unsuspecting potential buyer.The original Whitney glass works produced version of which there are only 4 known recently sold for 38 thousand in a glass auction last year.The Concentric Ring flask bottle briefly mentioned was also copied by the bottle Guild.If you were to find an original of one of these you might be talking 6 figures easily to purchase it.The Bottle Gulid selected these 4 bottles to copy because of there unique design and there rarity in the collecting world .I hope this explains it a little better


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## jays emporium (Feb 19, 2010)

Jacob's Cabin Tonic Bitters Bottle[/align]Here is one of those for sale.


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## abistu (Jun 11, 2017)

I've got a couple of these bottles from my parents estate. The Jacobs cabin bottle is etched #391. I also have a Concentric Ring Eagle Flask. I realize these are reproductions of originals but new to this. How would I find the value of these bottles and where would be the best place to market them?


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