What is it?

[downsouthdiggers]

I picked this bottle up today @ a little thrift shop. She had 2, but I only got 1 bc I didnt know any specs on it and I didnt wanna screw myself, not to mention with there being NO bottle collectors here she told me I have a pretty good chance of the other one still being there when I go back. I thought it was a fruit-smack "Kool-aid" bottle, but this just doesn't scream pre-1927 to me. . .its about 4oz and has no markings so there was probably a label at some time. . .any ideas?

 

[swizzle]

My guess is a pepper sauce. Do I win? []

 

[downsouthdiggers]

idk, every one like it ive found online (since its really hard to give a description) has said they were TOLD it was kool-aid. . .it just doesn't seem right. . .this lady had some nice bottles, but had some expensive prices on the only 2 w/ paper labels (wanting $20/each and said it was 1/2 of what she's seen them sell online for. . .for gnat and mosquito repellant) but she also had some cheaper ones (vintage coke, sprite, pepsi, 7up all in mint condition, some still w/ soda inside for $2).

I paid $2.50 for this one, she wanted $3 but I offered $5 for the pair and then only bought 1 bc the other had a crack on the neck, lol.

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Nathan and Billie,

I don't think its Kool-Aid, as Kool-Aid always came in those paper packages. It's predecessor, Fruit Smack was sold in bottles, but there were issues with leakage apparently.

"Kool-Aid was originally marketed as Fruit Smack from 1918 until 1927 by its original inventor, Edwin Perkins, who came up with the powdered concoction in his mother's kitchen in Nebraska with his wife Kitty - it is now owned by Kraft Foods and manufactured in Mexico" From.

"Hastings Inventor Edwin Perkins had problems marketing his Fruit Smack, a liquid drink concentrate. Packaged in bottles, the product was expensive to ship and often broke in transit, so to solve these problems Perkins developed a way to dehydrate the concentrate. Wildly successful, the Perkins Product Company moved to Chicago in 1931. Today Kraft Foods Company continues to manufacture Kool-Aid, a favorite of children for generations." From.

idk, every one like it ive found online (since its really hard to give a description) has said they were TOLD it was kool-aid. . .it just doesn't seem right

Good instincts, there's a thousand and one stories in the naked city and a fair percentage of them are just that; stories. I've dug a couple of those guys, but consider them "leavers," as they were always un-embossed. They do rate well on the funky glass container chart. I'd guess an oil.

 

[blobbottlebob]

As a weird aside, there are kool aid glass bottels but they are acl. I have one somewhere (but acl makes it later than the 20s). And it doesn't look like that bottle you have pictured.

 

[downsouthdiggers]

I decided to give it to my 5 year old to go into our collection. . .I told her it was one of merlins potion bottles. . .she was excited, so I am happy. Thanks

 

[jays emporium]

I often dig that type of bottle in 1930's dumps and usually leave them behind. I've been told they contained olive oil.

 

[msleonas]

I have found several of them. They all have had a thick oil substance stuck in the bottom.

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Bob,

Here's one of the Kool Aid ACL's:

Licensed by Perkins.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Thanks Surface. That's the one except mine is from Sheboygan, Wis.