I am no expert on buying bottles, but I get alot of questions from people about buying milk bottles. I decided to share some of my thoughts on some well-known reproduction milk bottles as well as what I look for in a milk bottle.
REPRODUCTIONS: Reproductions plague any hobby since there are some very unscrupulous people out there who are trying to make a buck. While some newer bottles were probably made by reputable companies for display/decorative purposes only, there are some dishonest people out there who buy them and then try to pass them off as original and old. I think the most common reproduction bottles out there today are the cobalt blue and pink colored glass Brookfield Babyface and Liberty Dairy Bottles. I see these all the time online and I think if I see one more I am going to gag. Actually, the only time I want to really gag is when I see a description like "Nice old blue babyface milk bottle". These bottles have been made in dark and light blue, pink, green and clear glass. Most of the time they do not have a capseat. The capseat is the ridge around the inside of the lip of the bottle where a cardboard plug cap would rest. There are some that are coming out now that do have the capseat so beware of new looking glass. The originals of these bottles were clear heavy glass with a capseat. A clear glass bottle that looks brand new, is lightweight and has bubbles in the glass is always suspicious. On a pyro (painted label bottle), if you can scratch the paint off easily with your fingernail, walk the other way. The old glass bottles were very heavy. Here is a picture of a cobalt blue Babyface bottle and Liberty Dairy Bottle from Buffalo, NY:
Some other reproduction bottles that have recently come to my attention on Ebay are the O'Fallons Hopalong Cassidy creamtop, the Null's Chocolate Eyes babyface and the Thatcher embossed bottle with the man milking the cow. I have seen the fake Thatcher bottle in many colors, amber, blue, green, pink and clear. In fact, you can buy these at most "Dollar Stores or Dollar Depots". Unless you want to get stuck with a fake bottle, know what you are buying. I have stolen---yes stolen--all these photographs from Ebay auctions and if you want to sue me - go ahead. Shame on you people for selling fakes and trying to pass them off as real!
It should be noted the O'Fallon's Hoppy bottle, is a newer reproduction. These new reproductions are being done by professional silk screen artists aided by computer generated graphics and copiers. The bottles are then being placed in an annealing oven to bake the paint in place. These paint jobs do not scratch off even with a knife. Some of these rip-off artists are clever enough to have purchased old original blank bottles to apply the silk screen. Other pyro bottles that are commonly reproduced are the Disney and War Slogan bottles. You have to be careful with purchasing Disney and War Slogan bottles since these higher-end bottles are reproduced and more and more are popping up everyday.
The Thatcher bottles have been around since 1964 and even the ones with "Made in Italy, 1964, by Crownford China Co." embossed on the base are sometimes tried to be passed off as real because of the older date on the side.
For more detailed information on known reproductions I would visit John Tutton's website. The pictures take awhile to load but are well worth the wait. There is a link to his site on my main home page.
TIPS FOR BUYING BOTTLES ONLINE: Buying bottles online can be very fun and also very tricky. You have to be careful. What you see is not always what you get. As someone that sells online, I can say that pictures don't always reflect the true colors and also usually do not show casewear or dings that are common in used milk bottles. If you are buying a bottle online, and the person selling doesn't give a very good description, I ask alot of questions. For example, a seller lists a bottle and says "bottle is in good condition - no chips or cracks". Well, I would ask if the bottle has any casewear and if the pyro (painted label) is good. Casewear is almost always present in old used bottles. It could be minimal or very bad. Normal casewear would be tiny pin-size dings, scratches or marks on the glass. Usually, when you fill your bottle with white bottle fill, you can hardly see casewear unless you look very close and so long as it is not very bad. This was caused by the bottles rattling around in the old metal cases. This is an important question to ask if you are buying a bottle that you aren't holding in your hand to inspect close-up. If a seller describes a bottle as "mint" - it had better be flawless.
Another thing to ask if this is not mentioned "does the bottle come with bottle fill?". I get alot of e-mail from people who thank me for leaving the bottle fill in the bottles I send them. I find this kind of strange but sellers will take a picture of their bottle with white bottle fill inside and then dump it out and send an empty bottle, much to the disappointment of the buyer. Alot of sellers will say "bottle shipped filled" or "bottle shipped empty" but I think this is an important question for you to ask if the seller doesn't say one way or the other. Frankly, I have always viewed "bottle shipped empty" as a cheapskate seller. However, I was told that some sellers had problems with shipping bottles with fill and having the fill fall out in shipping. My remedy to this is that I put a small piece of white cotton batting (the kind you buy in the craft store to fill stuffed animals or pillows) in the top of the bottle and the fill has never come out insofar as I know. That is my remedy for the cheapskates...ha...ha...
WHAT I LOOK FOR: I like the pyro (painted label) bottles. The better the picture or the more color on it the better I like it.
BOTTOM LINE: My bottom line is to ask alot of questions, like the ones mentioned above. Also, if you think a bottle looks suspicious, either stay away from it or get someone you know to take a look at it. Remember, if you can scratch that paint off with your fingernail - keep on walking!
A special "thanks" goes out to Ralph Riovo who sells the bottle fill on my site. He provided me some of the technical information for this page and is always on the lookout for reproductions!
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