# South Carolina Dispensary



## Carolina_Bottle_Nut (Apr 29, 2004)

I wish I had a better picture of this bottle. No matter what I try It's hard to get the embossing to show up. Anyway I Know a little about this bottle (called a jojo flask) I have tried e-mailing my local bottle club and even someone who claims to want to buy these bottles but have gotten no respones. My bottle differs from the other bottles I have seen on line, in that the embossing is more crude and not as defined. I was wondering if anyone could help with a date or value. Its the SCD monogram and has E.P JR&CO embossed on the bottom. The bottle has lots of bubbles and also little raised bumps of glass. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




 Thanks[](C_B_N)-Laura



 I'll try and get some better pictures and post them later[]


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## Harry Pristis (Apr 29, 2004)

Hello, Laura . . .

 The South Carolina Dispensary was a state monopoly of the liquor business from 1893 to 1907.  It was a crashing failure which produced violence and corruption in the state.

 The Jo-Jo (caps and hyphen) flask is the most common Dispensary bottle.  The half pint with the monogram SCD is the most common Jo-Jo flask.  All Jo-Jo flasks have vent marks ("raised bumps") from mold vents.  These flasks may be clear or have a blue or green tint.  There are no amber Jo-Jo flasks.

 The earlier Jo-Jo flasks have an embossed palm tree instead of a monogram.  These are somewhat less common.

 There were a handful of glass-houses that provided bottles to the Dispensary.  "E.P. Jr & CO." represents E. Packham, Jr. and Company of Baltimore, MD.  In my pic, the monogrammed bottle is marked "P. BROS." which represents Packham Brothers Glass Company, also of Baltimore.  The tree flask does not have a maker's mark.  Each maker used its own mold, so there are slight variations not only in color but in embossing.  

 Check eBay "completed items" for current values.

 ----------------------Harry Pristis


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## Carolina_Bottle_Nut (Apr 30, 2004)

Just wanted to thank you for your informative post. I look forward to reading more of them. []


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## Harry Pristis (May 1, 2004)

Here is another Dispensary bottle, a quart.  It is the only quart I've ever recovered.

 This bottle, like yours, has the embossed "E P JR & CO" for E. Packham, Jr. & Company of Baltimore.

 I recommend the book, THE SOUTH CAROLINA DISPENSARY: A Bottle Collector's Atlas and History of the System, by Phillip Kenneth Huggins (1971).  It is not only a good bottle book, it is a good read.

 ---------------Harry Pristis


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