Strange Owl.

[Macaco]

Hello All,
This is my first post on the site. I signed up today. I mostly lurk and look at bottles other people find. Looking at so many good bottles motivated me to get access to a site I dug in the past. Last week I went there with my cousin and we found some decent bottles. It seems that the ages of the stuff we dig there ranges from 1890's to about 1914.

I found three decent Owls. I don't know how to date Owls but these look like an older style. The biggest one stands 7 5/8". The middle one is 5 1/2". These two have "The Owl Drug Co" embossed on the back.

The one on the right is almost 6 1/2". It is the strange one. I can't find any images of Owl bottles online that match the shape. Two other guys who have dug many owls said they have never seen anything quite like it. If it was un-embossed I would guess it was a pepper sauce bottle. The sides are concave vertically. It does not have "The Owl Drug Co" embossed on the back. Has anyone seen an Owl bottle like this one before?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[botlguy]

There may be some on this forum who will be upset at me but your little square OWL is worth a LOT of money to a THE OWL DRUG COMPANY (TODC)) collector like myself. But,,,,,, I can't afford it. But I just got some nice traders if you're into that. That one, the smaller size, is TOUGH if not near impossible to acquire. It is hand finished / tooled, dates to 1890 - 1910ish. I say throw it on eBay and have some fun. The others are the same vintage, when they started making them by machine they went to two wings on the Owl. Those two are about $25 - $50 for the larger, $10 - $15 for the smaller. The estimates given are for clean, undamaged bottles.

As an aside, I dug the first known (to bottle collectors) little Owl Whiskey, as it was known, like yours, way back about 1971 or 72. It was a real exciting event as I remember. That bottle was ripped off a few years later.

Keep digging that area, it's a winner.

 

[botlguy]

Sent you an email.

 

[epackage]

I was gonna send Jim a PM regarding your bottle but I see he found the post before I got the chance, nice bottle....

 

[Macaco]

ORIGINAL: botlguy

There may be some on this forum who will be upset at me but your little square OWL is worth a LOT of money to a THE OWL DRUG COMPANY (TODC)) collector like myself. But,,,,,, I can't afford it. But I just got some nice traders if you're into that. That one, the smaller size, is TOUGH if not near impossible to acquire. It is hand finished / tooled, dates to 1890 - 1910ish. I say throw it on eBay and have some fun. The others are the same vintage, when they started making them by machine they went to two wings on the Owl. Those two are about $25 - $50 for the larger, $10 - $15 for the smaller. The estimates given are for clean, undamaged bottles.

As an aside, I dug the first known (to bottle collectors) little Owl Whiskey, as it was known, like yours, way back about 1971 or 72. It was a real exciting event as I remember. That bottle was ripped off a few years later.

Keep digging that area, it's a winner.

Hi Jim,

Thank you for the response. That's pretty neat. An Owl whiskey. I never would have guessed that. The biggest bottle is flawless except for a light dappling of haze inside. The middle one is pretty sick and has a tiny, hairline fracture on the back. The whiskey (that just cracks me up) is cosmetically near-perfect, no dings or scratches but it has a very light haze inside and almost imperceptible scuff marks in a couple spots. For a dug bottle it is in excellent condition.

We dug a huge hole. We were inside throwing out shovels of dirt and pulling bottles out of the banks. I climbed out of the hole to stretch my legs and noticed that little bottle, face up on the pile of dirt. I had thrown it out of the hole in a shovel full of dirt without noticing it. We're definitely going back to that spot. Getting access is a hassle but it's worth it.

I'm sorry to hear about your bottle being stolen. That's a damn shame.

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[ORE552]

Amazing...I can't imagine digging a hole and pulling these out of the ground. Keep us updated when you return to that site.

 

[cacarpetbagger]

Dig on, looks like you have a good dump to dig. Look forward to seeing what you find.

 

[Macaco]

@ORE552 and @cacarpetbagger

Thank you for the comments. I will post pics from our next dig. Which section should I post to if I'm not asking a question about bottle identity?

'Digging And Finding' section?

 

[cowseatmaize]

Which section should I post to if I'm not asking a question about bottle identity?

From what Mr Sinsley was saying you might use Prized Possessions. []
Nice group of of one wings.