Dairy collectibles include milk bottles, bottle caps, milk cans, wooden crates, signs, trays, ice cream containers, clocks and calendars. Milk bottles had the company names embossed or painted on them. The manufacturer’s name was also carved into the early wooden milk crates that carried the product in it.
Dairy signs were made out of cardboard or tin and often featured children or families. By the early 1900’s, advertising messages included how drinking milk was healthy for everyone, such as “Milk Belongs in Every Meal”, “Milk Builds Great Athletes” and “No One Ever Outgrows the Need for Milk”.
1880 Horse Drawn Dairy Delivery
Some of the earliest dairy collectibles are from the small dairies in the late 1800’s that were local. Originally, milk was scooped directly from the farmer’s churn into jugs that customers would leave on their doorsteps. The milk was delivered by horse-drawn carriages. By the early 1900’s, small town dairies were virtually everywhere and the farmers competed against each other as they packaged and sold their milk in bottles that had their names on them. In the larger cities, dairies competed against both large dairies and the smaller mom-and-pop ones.
Milk Bottles In High Demand
Milk Bottles Created in 1884 by a New York Pharmacist
Inventions such as milk bottles, milking machines, pasteurization equipment and refrigerated tanks helped make milk healthier and easier to get to people in all cities. It’s not known for certain when the first milk bottle was introduced. Crockery type jars were originally used in the late 1870’s. One of the first glass milk bottles was developed in 1884 by a New York pharmacist, Dr. Thatcher. Thatcher’s “Common Sense Milk Bottle” had caps that were sealed with a waxed paper disk and protected the milk from germs. Thatcher realized that the contaminated milk had been causing many juvenile deaths after watching milkmen ride up to homes and dip milk from dirty cans and pour it into customer’s jugs. Thatcher’s milk bottles were embossed with an image of a farmer milking a cow and stated “Absolutely Pure Bottled Milk”. Originals of these are very hard to find and considered valuable.
1940′s Milk Bottles Waterloo Milk Company
Milk bottles are the biggest overall single category of dairy collectibles. Many antique advertising collectors are interested in the early milk bottles that were used for home deliveries and have embossments or “pyroglazed” paintings with the names of the dairies on them. The dairies wanted their company names on the bottles so they would get returned to them and reused. Milk bottles were mostly round through the 1950’s, then square shape became more popular. Otherwise, bottles tend to look very similar with clear glass and either a short or medium length neck. They also had a rounded collar but not a wide mouth to make pouring easy. The value of the bottles depend on the condition, the size, the dairy, the image and message, and the paint color.
As manufacturers improved making milk bottles they found it was less expensive to change from embossed labels to applied colored labels know as ACL’s. Bottles with ACL’s and ones that used embossed slug plates are often considered valuable. By the 1960’s, glass milk bottles were replaced with paper cartons and plastic milk containers that were less expensive to make but preserved the milk’s freshness.
Today, when collectors want to show their antique milk bottles they are often filled up with white sand or small white styrofoam pellets to make them look like they have milk.
Pictured here is a beautiful stoneware beer stein from the William J. Lemp Brewing Company which was formerly based in Saint Louis, Missouri before prohibition. The Lemp brewery produced the famous brand of Falstaff which later was sold throughout the United States in many brewery locations. This particular stoneware stein has a pewter lid and…
Here is a beautiful tin spice bin from the Morey Mills Coffee Company which was based in Denver, Colorado in the early 1900’s when this bin was made. This particular bin would have been placed in a smaller general store where customers would scoop out the amount of spices they wanted when making their purchase.…
Here is a special 1898 dated calendar from the Frank Ruhstaller Brewing company whose brewery was one of the larger brewers in the West at one time. The Brewery was famous for their Gilt Edge Steam style beer. Of course they made other beers at that time too. This calendar is stunning with the colors…
Here is a beautiful tobacco general store era counter bin made of tin from the Scotten, Dillon and Company, producers of fine tobacco smoking products, formerly based in Detroit, Michigan. This tin showcases an awesome looking native American Indian character, tied to the name Ojibwa indigenous tribe located around the Great Lakes region of the…
Featured is a beautiful metal serving tray from the Robert Portner Brewery which was based in Alexandria, Virginia just outside Washington, D.C. prior to prohibition. Like many pre-prohibition trays, the Fortner brewery incorporated a beautiful scene of their massive brewery complex, but also snuck in a bottle of Hofbrau while advertising by name that brand…
Here is a beautiful curved metal corner sign advertising lager beer from the Joseph Fallert Brewery which was in Brooklyn, New York just outside Manhattan in the late 1800’s and early 1900 era prior to prohibition. Pre-Pro corner signs are extremely rare, and one of the most desirable brewery advertising items for collectors today.
Here is a beautiful stoneware or pottery like coffee pot advertising the Meyer Brothers flagship brand of coffee, the Wide Awake Owl Brand. Typically the company used an owl as their logo on most of their advertising with large wide awake looking eyes! However, this particular fine china style coffee pot simply added their company…
Here is a beautiful metal curved corner sign from the D. Emil Klein Cigar Company, for their flagship brand of cigars, Lawrence Barrett. Considered a mild havana style cigar, this was a huge regional seller in the 1900 timeframe. Lawrence Barrett was a well known 1800’s era American stage actor in the theater.
Featured is a nice tin sign from the Hyde Park Brewing Co. which was formally in the north side of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. This Hyde Park sign incorporated the breweries famous shield logo image. Circa 1940.
Here is a beautiful stoneware beer mug from the Decatur, Illinois Brewing Company from the pre-prohibition era. Unfortunately this brewery did not survive the start of prohibition.