Most Valuable Antique Bottles, Ranked

Many old bottles are just pretty and decorative, but some do have real value.

Most Valuable Antique Bottles, Ranked

You can find old bottles just about anywhere. They are sold in flea markets, found in old barns and sometimes even dug up from backyards intact.

While most are just pretty and decorative, some do have real value. From little-known brands that no longer exist to the biggest soda maker in the world, these are the most valuable antique bottles sold in recent years.

15. Pontil Bitters Barrel Bottle

Value: $2,247.88

Bottom line: This amber bottle dates back to the 1860s and is a definite holy grail item for bottle collectors.

It reads, "That's the stuff" and and appears to have once held a medicinal liquid.

14. Three Violets Rye Whisky Bottle

Value: $2,302.77

Bottom line: According to the eBay listing, this bottle dates back to the 19th century.

The rye inside was likely a special blend to the Savoy Hotel in Price, Utah, that was torn down sometime in the 1960s to make way for a parking lot.

13. Doc Stork Milk Bottle

Value: $2,500

Bottom line: This rare gallon milk bottle dates back to the early 1900s and is from the Ashland Sanitary Milk Company in Ashland, Kentucky.

There are other items found online from this company that are less expensive and in smaller sizes, like the one-quart bottle.

12. Piper Cub Milk Bottle

Value: $2,500

Bottom line: Kyle's Superior Dairy of Pennsylvania made these and other bottles while in existence. The Piper Cub milk bottles are the most expensive collector's items from the dairy.

If you want something from this particular brand, you can find bottles without the Piper Cub graphic for $30 to $50.

11. Dunbar's Wormwood Cordial Bottle

Value: $2,735

Bottom line: This bottle dates back to about 1860 to 1880. The cordial was used for digestive ailments and was said to have a bitter taste.

Wormwood is also used in absinthe, which was banned in the U.S. in 1912 due to its alleged hallucinogenic properties. The ban was lifted in 2007.

10. 19th-Century Gold Poison Bottle

Value: $2,999

Bottom line: Medicine bottles with "poison" (today, addictive and/or deadly substances) were made differently, so they could not be mistaken for any other type of bottle and were sometime produced in bold colors.

While this one is clear, the skull and bones emblem lets everyone know what's inside.

9. 1858 Mason Jar

Value: $3,850

Bottom line: This blue-tinted mason jar used for canning brought in big money on eBay.

It reads, "Mason's 2 Patent Nov 30th 1858." It's liner says, "Consolidated Fruit Jar Co. New York."

8. Allens Red Tame Cherry Bottle

Value: $4,600

Bottom line: This bottle was made in the 1890s and finding one with its label and cap intact is quite rare.

This soda was non-carbonated and made from fresh cherries and cherry leaves in Fostoria, Ohio.

Allen's Red Tame Cherry also made soda glasses, which go for a lot less money, should you wish to buy something with this branding.

7. Mobiloil A Motor Oil Bottles With Rack

Value: $7,130

Bottom line: How cute is this little set dating back to 1911? The bottles in the rack were never used (a rarity) and have their original caps intact.

The set sold on Oct. 17, 2015.

6. Crockett's Amygdalin Hair Lotion by R.H. Hall

Value: $7,347.97

Bottom line: In the 1860s (long before the FDA existed), R.H.Hall began his hair tonic business in Nashua, New Hampshire, and claimed his "secret formula" came from a destitute Italian sailor.

He not only sold the tonic, but trading cards and key chains to push his brand.

5. California Grapine Bottle

Value: $12,650

Bottom line: The value of this long-defunct soda bottle went through the roof in 2015.

It dates to the 1910s with an intact and clear label. California Grapine was made by the William Beatty Company in Los Angeles.

There are sometimes glasses and labels that come up for sale and are more accessible to collectors.

4. Coke Christmas Bottle

Value: $10,000 to $25,000

Bottom line: During the 1920s, this bottle design was submitted to higher ups at Coca-Cola, who requested prototypes of an easy to hold bottle.

The visible and embossed horizontal band in the center made for an easier grip.

3. Coke Display Bottle

Value: $84,000

Bottom line: Made by the Metropolitan Art Glass Company, this oversized display is over 100 years old and has all its original leaded glass intact, despite having some minor cracks.

It is still very much in working order and sold in 2019.

2. Modified Coke Bottle

Value: $108,000

Bottom line: Also sold at auction in 2019, this bottle was a modification of the one produced by Earl Dean in 1915.

With a middle as wide as its base making it less curvy, it's the only test bottle that still exists today.

1. Prototype Coke Bottle

Value: $250,000

Bottom line: In 1915, Coke announced a competition for the design of its bottles, when its co-founder, Benjamin Thomas, suggested the need for a bottle that was different than any on the market.

Enter Earl R. Dean of the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, who found a sketch of a cocoa pod in a local library and designed a prototype based on that.

Dean's bottle was never mass produced — its bottom was smaller than the middle — but with a few tweaks, his design became the bottle (and brand) we know and love today.