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How to Collect Old Milk Bottles

Collectors of old milk bottles may wish to specialize in one geographical area or in one theme, such as milk bottles with war slogans. This is because there were thousands of dairies producing glass milk bottles in the United States between the 1880s, when the first glass milk bottles came on the market, and the 1960s, when home milk delivery began to decline. California alone had more than 2,000 dairies.

There are two main styles of milk bottles. Bottles produced from the 1880s through the 1930s were round and embossed with cows, barns and other designs in addition to the dairy name. Square bottles came on the market in the 1940s. Producers switched to using painted labels to identify the dairy instead of embossing the bottles.

Colored glass milk bottles are rare. Consumers preferred a clear bottle to see the quality and freshness of the milk inside.

Although the early bottles are frequently collected due to their embossing, the value of milk bottles varies according to the current popularity of a particular decade, such as homeowners wanting to decorate in 1950s style, or a particular theme such World War II slogans.

Instructions

- 1
  Choose an area to specialize in when collecting glass milk bottles. You might decide to collect only embossed bottles, only tall-neck bottles, or only bottles from particular dairies.
- 2
  Look for old milk bottles in a variety of places, such as flea markets, antique shops, thrift stores, auctions, milk-bottle conventions and the classified section of trade publications.
- 3
  Join the National Association of Milk Bottle Collectors to stay current on industry news and events, meet other collectors and possibly buy or trade old milk bottles.
- 4
  Learn how to grade old milk bottles. The grades are Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Fair and Poor. The amount of staining, chips, cracks, case wear and fading determine the grade.
- 5
  Recognize the different types of old milk bottles. There are several types, including pyroglazed (or painted), embossed, round, square and amber.
- 6
  Decide whether to collect just one size of milk bottle or several of them. The sizes are gallon, half-gallon, quart, pint, half-pint and gill. Additionally, some dairies produced milk bottles that do not fit any of these sizes. If you only have a small space to display collectibles, you may want to start with the smaller sizes.
- 7
  Recognize the more common styles of old milk bottles: Tall Neck, Squat, Toothache, War Slogan, Baby Face, Cop the Cream and Creamer. Creamers are a popular collectible, especially those that were in restaurants and diners.
- 8
  Learn how to recognize reproduction milk bottles. Just as with any collectible, there are fakes on the market.

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