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How to Identify Antique Gin Bottles

Gin is one of the world's oldest liquors, having been distilled from juniper berries in ancient Greece. Italian monks in the 11th century added juniper berries to distilled spirits and the current concoction was born. Gin was particularly popular in England, where at one point it outsold beer by a margin of six to one. Antique gin bottles from the 1800s and 1900s are highly collectible; most common are the "case gin" bottles with four straight sides and a square bottom that easily fit into wooden packing crates. Case gin bottles are typically olive green, with rarer varieties either clear, amber or cobalt blue.

Things You'll Need

Internet access
Digital camera

Instructions

- 1
  Familiarize yourself with antique gin bottles. Visit the website Antique Bottles and go to the "gin" page for dozens of links and resources. Scour auction sites like eBay as well as specialty auction houses like American Bottle Auctions (see Resources, below). Check out their listings, most of them with photos, and see if you can find your bottle.
- 2
  Join a club like the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (see Resources, below). Subscribe to the group's bimonthly magazine, Bottles and Extras, and check out the directory of bottle collectors. If there's one near you, contact him and see if you can meet, or at least exchange emails and develop a relationship. Fellow collectors can almost always either identify your antique gin bottle themselves or steer you to someone who can. All you need is a digital camera to take a picture of your bottle and Internet access to send it.
- 3
  Pick up a reference book like Kovels' Bottles Price List, by Ralph and Terry Kovel (Random House Reference, 13th edition, 2006). Kovel is one of the most respected names in antique circles, publishing a wide assortment of price guides. This book is a 272-page paperback with more than 350 photos and 12,000 listings.
- 4
  Contact a bottle appraiser (several are listed on the Antique Bottles website under "appraisals") and send him a detailed description of your antique gin bottle and some digital photos.

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