Fake paper label beer bottles

[dean_3326]

Hello everyone,
I am new and have little knowledge of bottles so please bear with me, I am interested in collecting some paper label beer bottles, I have several now but some of the bottles I see on ebay make me wonder if someone has just put a old set of labels on a new bottle, is this a common practice? Most folks are honest but untill I get a little more educated as to how to tell if it is genuine or not I am at their mercy. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Dean

 

[madman]

hey dean im sure they do anything to make a buck, if the labels are super new looking i wouldnt buy them, they should have ware but i guess the can fake that too, youll learn, also what era of beers do you collect mike

 

[dean_3326]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the reply, I mostly like the 50s and some early 60s. I saw this Lone Star Bottle on ebay, it looked to good to be true, figured someone just put on a new label. Plus the way the aution was written made me wonder too.
It said
"Here is a very nice Lone Star Beer i.r.t.p. labeled bottle. Its in great condition and complete with the neck label"
He did not say it was original.
Dean

 

[thturk]

Sometimes the maker's mark on the bottom of the bottles are a better indication of age than the label. There is a web site http://myinsulators.com that has a lot of good information on maker's marks.

Trish

 

[whiskeyman]

DEAN...Welcome to the Forum !!
There's hundreds of beer,medicine,drug store, and whiskey lables listed in lots on Ebay all the time. I'm sure folks buy them and place them on bottles. I know a couple that do: they place them on "appropriate" bottles from that Era and think nothing about it. If asked, they will answer the labels aren't original to the bottles, otherwise they say zilch.

I'm not familiar with the Lone Star beer, but will say> this last two weeks I have bought at the Flea 2 1930's-40's original labeled beer bottles...one still filled and capped. They were the real thing...
Both labels were intact but they did show obvious age and wear....which like MIKE & TRISH said is the best indicator of age / authenticity.
It's possible the Lone Star is the real thing...hard to tell without actually seeing it...but if it was cheap enough I'd have bought it. If I found upon receipt it was not original - I would contact the seller and demand a refund. If that wasn't forthcoming, I'd then NEG him and explain tactfully why.
"If something looks too good to be true- it usually is."
But then again: you're looking to build a collection of labeled beers and want the best possible labels. If you fear bidding/buying because they look too good - You'll be a long long time building your collection. There's risk in collecting almost anything...don't let that risk take the fun out of collecting.
Good luck with your collection.

 

[dean_3326]

Thanks everyone,
very good advice and information, I appreciate it.
Dean

 

[Calbottlegirl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Lj2wL4eOI

Yee Haw

 

[splante]

yes if they look new then most likely fakes or NOS (new old stock) . NOS come up all the time as people find a box of old labels in old warehouses or wherever. As whiskeyman said the sellar should tellyou if NOS or not.

 

[bne74honda]

Never rely on beer labels. About 35 yrs ago my mother was making candles at home and many were the old Canadian stubby bottles. She was able to buy a large quantity of real brewery labels for them but didn't use them all.....so...I have a bag full of these old labels and they are 100% real and undamaged. It would be no stretch for me to label some old beers I have lying around and you could only tell they were not legitimate by the glue used to apply the label - and good luck doing that!

Always study the bottle and know what you're getting.

Brian

 

[epackage]

All but one is original, but since they're in my personal collection I do not care, trying to find Half Gallon paper labels from the 1920-30 era is next to impossible for small time bottlers. I found the labels on Ebay and glued them on myself using automobile headliner glue, the bottles are the correct bottles with the correct stoppers. So to me it's no different if I glued them on the bottle or they did it at the factory because it's just a matter of whose hand applied the label and nothing else...[]


I do need a Root Beer and a Cherry label to complete the set as far as I know, so collect what you like, just don't pay alot of money for labeled bottles unless you're 100% sure of that bottles history...Jim