Prohibition 1935

VINTAGE BOTTLE - PROHIBITION 1935

Beautiful patterned vintage bottle from the USA prohibition period
Excellent vintage condition with clear and distinct marking/numbered D-10 / 66-53 / 16 (see last paragraph for meaning)

Height/Tall: 24 cm
Base: 14.5 cm x 6.5 cm

FREE DELIVERY anywhere, worldwide
(considering the shipping logistic/cost of volume/weight/secure packaging)

Note: this product is featured in the following categories:
Gifts - Vintage Treasures

ABOUT Bottles marked "Federal Law Forbids…"
It is not uncommon to come across screw-top liquor bottles from the 20th century that are boldly embossed on their shoulders or bases with the above text. After Prohibition was repealed on December 5, 1933, US laws once again allowed the legal manufacture and sale of alcoholic drink. Liquor was legal but producing it was subject to greater Federal control.

One law required that alcoholic bottles must be embossed with the text, “FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR REUSE OF THIS BOTTLE” This law went into effect in 1935 and was repealed on December 1, 1964. The reason for this legislation is fairly obvious: after over a decade of Prohibition, law enforcement was well aware of the illegal trade in alcohol (bootlegging) and wanted to prevent the refilling of bottles by black market businesses.

Jack Sullivan, in an article called (Nasty Words” and Nifty Whiskeys) suggests that one unintended impact of this legislation was to “discourage distillers from putting their legitimate products in “fancy” containers as many had done prior to Prohibition.” Unfortunately, he provides no proof of this. It seems to me that there was simply a change in bottle styles thanks to the automated bottling machine and mass production techniques. The new distinguishing features in packaging came in the form of colorful labels with pictures and graphics.

As you can see in this document, the repeal of the legislation did not require that this marking of bottles cease immediately. Rather, it was simply no longer required. As you might expect, bottlers did not cease production on that very day. In fact, Bill Lindsey has documented one such FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS… bottle that he has accurately dated to 1974.

If you come across such a bottle, you can date it in this time period. Such bottles do not yet hold much interest or value to collectors. However, if you come across one with good labels that have attractive graphics and it is in perfect condition, hold on to it. These are the collectibles of tomorrow.

A direct quote from the regulations: “There shall be blown legibly either in the bottom or in the body of each liquor bottle the permit number of the manufacturer, the year of manufacture (which shall be indicated by the last two numerals), and a symbol and number assigned by the Commissioner to represent the name of the bottler procuring the same.”

For the bottle above, D-[10] indicates the Distiller. The 66-53 marking indicates the date of the bottle, which was also required by law. The year of manufacture would be 1953, presumably 66 is the permit number and 16 is the identifying number of the bottler.