There has been quite a bit of interest in the Cutter OK and A No1 whiskey bottles lately, so I figured that some of his information should be shared with some of you who may not be familiar with it will understand what it entailed. A.P. Hotaling trademarked the familiar bottles on 24 March 1881.
Some of the following pictures will show the labels, bottle embossing, and paper wrappers that covered the bottles. The entire pages are too many to include, but the highlights are shown below.
The bottles also wore the familiar red diamond shaped neck label with standing man slaying the dragon and "Death To Imitators" imprinted upon it. This label remained in continuous use from it's trademarked introduction in 1875 until the Co divested itself of the Cutter brand in 1904.
Whether Hotaling actually produced the Pure Old Rye bottle trademarked with the OK and A No1 remains a mystery, as no bottles, or shards of same, have come to light. Hopefully, a digger will turn up some supporting evidence to indicate that the bottle was a production item.
This Cutter Hotaling Rye bottle is just about as mysterious as our friend Old Figment ! As prolific as Hotaling's bottles are, it's amazing one hasnt surfaced. Goes to show you that there still could be other, yet to be discovered, Western fifths out there somewhere.......
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, AP, and probably a few flasks, too. I still have dreams of a crown shoulder Hotaling flask, or better yet, an open face one. OK, maybe an "Old Figment" pint to go along with them.
ReplyDeleteI have one of the back-bar blown glass decanters. Lettering is incised in a double circle with gold. It is missing the stopper. I can't draw the circles, but....
ReplyDelete"OLD KIRK
A. P. HOTALING
WHISKEY"
I would entertain offers on it. I am getting too old to keep all this "stuff". And there's no one in my family who cares about the stuff I've collected. Contact me at "powelllapowell@aol.com.