Antique Bottles, Collecting or Bootlegging

Collecting antique bottles might be a little more difficult than you thought depending on where you live. Several states and counties have laws concerning items for sale or trade that contain alcohol. According to this article, a Tennessee man was recently arrested for bootlegging because he sold a collectible signed Jack Daniels bottle without a license.

The man, Randy Piper, was released on a $25,000 bond. He was indicted on four counts of illegally possessing and selling liquor. Over two-thousand bottles were confiscated from his collection and are valued at nearly one million dollars. The value collections like this truly hold can be hard to determine and Piper and his lawyer are still in the discovery phase, but one early 20th century bottle is known to be worth $12,000 alone.

The worst part is that the police were going to pour his entire collection down the drain before they decided to keep it for a museum. Can you believe that here in America they can just take a person's belongings like this for no good reason? I think it is outrageous. If his collection is so dangerous and illegal they shouldn't be allowed to keep it for themselves and profit from outdated laws.

Due to the confusion these laws cause, online auction sites like eBay have policies about how an antique collectible containing alcohol like Piper's can be listed. The seller must note eBay's official policy on the auction stating:

• The value of the item is in the collectible container, not its contents. Bottles of wine are *not* permitted because their value is often based on the wine, not the bottle.


• The container has not been opened and any incidental contents are not intended for consumption.


• The item is not available at any retail outlet, and the container has a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of the alcohol in the container.


• The bidder must be at least 21 years of age and by placing a bid, you are stating that you are over the age of 21 and assuming all risks.


• Both the buyers and the sellers ensure that the sale complies with all applicable laws and shipping regulations.

One way to avoid the confusion is to collect empty bottles exclusively. iTaggit user TheHammondHouse has an empty bottle of Dr. Thacher's Liver and Blood Syrup from the 1900's worth around $25.00. Prices of bottles can range from less than a dollar to well over $500.00 and several different kinds are widely available. You can choose soda bottles, household products, medicine and even poison bottles for your collection. I personally find the poison bottles most interesting because of color and detail but any bottle has the potential to be interesting. I'd be interested to know if any of my readers has a particularly interesting or valuable bottle.

To find antique bottles, check the web, your local antique dealer, or you can even dig for them like the people in the video below. I can't imagine digging through decades of "out house dirt" for any collectible but if someone else is willing to do it, then good for them! I'd love to hear from anyone who has experienced one of these digs to see if it really as bad as I think.

That is all I have to say for now about antique bottles but remember, whatever you do, be careful... who knows what crazy law they'll come after you with.