I'm new here and excited to be on this forum. Was cleaning out an old house and found this old beer bottle. It's very interesting because it has two raised/relief faces - one on either side. It is an Anheuser-Busch amber beer bottle and I've never seen one with anyone's face on one of their bottles. (Photos , below.)
On one side, above the face, it reads:
"Anheuser-Busch
Jacksonville Brewery
20 Years - 1969 to 1989"
And below the face:
"John Wilchek
Plant Manager"
On the other side, below the face:
"Tom Walter
Brewmaster"
Around the bottom, just above the rim it says, "47 REG. U.S. PAT. & T.M. OFF. PLEASE DON'T LITTER 89".
On the very bottom, in the center, it says "47".
There are no other markings.
The Jacksonville Brewery was started in 1969 and I believe these were made to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the brewery. According to someone's father who used to work at the brewery: "Anchor Glass and Midland Container were the bottle suppliers back then. This bottle with the likeness of the plant manager and the brewmaster was a very limited production commemorating either a production milestone or an important anniversary for the brewery. Not sure which. That bottle is probably very rare since they only made enough to give to employees and maybe some distributors and vendors." I'm almost positive it was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the plant - there's no question that the plant was started in 1969 and it says right on the bottle: "Jacksonville Brewery, 20 Years - 1969 to 1989".
I wonder how rare it is. Has anyone ever seen one like it?
I would like to eventually sell it. I realize collectibles can have a very broad price range. Any idea of what it would be worth?
Interestingly, the Jacksonville Brewery just celebrated its 50th anniversary last month on November 24. I wonder if they had another special bottle?!
Thanks in advance for the help!
On one side, above the face, it reads:
"Anheuser-Busch
Jacksonville Brewery
20 Years - 1969 to 1989"
And below the face:
"John Wilchek
Plant Manager"
On the other side, below the face:
"Tom Walter
Brewmaster"
Around the bottom, just above the rim it says, "47 REG. U.S. PAT. & T.M. OFF. PLEASE DON'T LITTER 89".
On the very bottom, in the center, it says "47".
There are no other markings.
The Jacksonville Brewery was started in 1969 and I believe these were made to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the brewery. According to someone's father who used to work at the brewery: "Anchor Glass and Midland Container were the bottle suppliers back then. This bottle with the likeness of the plant manager and the brewmaster was a very limited production commemorating either a production milestone or an important anniversary for the brewery. Not sure which. That bottle is probably very rare since they only made enough to give to employees and maybe some distributors and vendors." I'm almost positive it was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the plant - there's no question that the plant was started in 1969 and it says right on the bottle: "Jacksonville Brewery, 20 Years - 1969 to 1989".
I wonder how rare it is. Has anyone ever seen one like it?
I would like to eventually sell it. I realize collectibles can have a very broad price range. Any idea of what it would be worth?
Interestingly, the Jacksonville Brewery just celebrated its 50th anniversary last month on November 24. I wonder if they had another special bottle?!
Thanks in advance for the help!