When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Up for sale is a gorgeous and (I believe) extremely rare hand-blown Birmingham, Alabama milk bottleused by the Hillside Dairy. It\'s cylindrical with a so-called \"bowling pin\" form body, and typical wide neck and tooled mouth with an inset rim for a metal closure or paper cap. It\'s embossed in a round slug plate containing \"HILLSIDE / S. M&C CO. / B\'HAM, ALA.\". The underside is embossed with \"EMPIRE / 118 / PATENTED AUG. 13, 01.\" in a circle. It\'s about 7\" tall and a bit under 3\" in diameter at its widest point.
Looking at 1890s and early 1900s newspapers, I was able to find tons of advertisements and articles about the dairy, which was operated by W.M. Glass using the strictest standards of sanitation and cleanliness. As far back as 1896, he was calling his facility the \"cleanest and best\", and proudly described his use of the \"New York sanitary milk delivery system of air tight glass bottles\". Sure enough, a few years later, he was still using bottles of that type, including this one, the shape of which was patented in 1901, and which was marketed by the Empire Bottle & Supply Co. of New York City (operated 1901-1914). The embossed acronym on the bottle, based on naming conventions for similar dairies of the time, probably stands for \"Sanitary Milk & Cream Co.\". There are a couple of old tokens from the company for sale elsewhere on , too. Collect em all!!It is in excellent dug condition with minor overall case wear/shallow bruising and nicking especially around the mouth, as well as a light to moderate amount of sickness/mineral stain throughout, plus some old dirt/rust stains inside. Satisfaction guaranteed, if you\'re not in love after handling it in person I\'m happy to accept returns. Shipped via USPS at buyer\'s expense, or pickup in Northern NJ(please let me know before purchasing if you want to pick up and I\'ll disable shipping).
Please visit my \'store\' as I always have dozens of other bottles, flasks etc for sale - if you see something else you like, let me know and we can work out a deal and combine shipping! Be sure to \"follow\" or \"save\" me as a seller, that way you\'re the first to know when I add new listings :)
I am a proud member of the FOHBC (Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors), I encourage anyone unfamiliar to reach out and I\'ll be happy to share a long list of benefits/reasons why I\'m a member and why I think you should join too! It\'s a vital organization and there\'s truly no other community like it, online or offline. Visit fohbc.org
