Posted 6 years ago
Kjane79
(69 items)
So, a couple years ago we noticed a small water leak was starting in the ceiling of our main bathroom. Since our upstairs bathroom is directly above it, we knew it must be coming from the old copper pipes and the old claw foot bathtub. After we pulled up a couple floorboards upstairs to locate the leak, I stuck my phone in the hole and snapped a couple pictures. We were completely dumbfounded when we saw there was an old whiskey bottle in there. Unfortunately, it was empty but still really cool. The red ink from the label looks almost brand new. The brand is Hiller's Old Standard whiskey and it came from a distillery that used to be in Omaha, Nebraska. The neck stamp is from 1902. And there is a warning label on the back detailing the punishment for reusing the bottle for any other liquors. This was pre prohibition, and apparently they weren't messing around. That is the extent of my bottle knowledge and research, so if anyone has any more info, I'd love to learn more! Thanks!
I'm from Omaha, originally. The Hiller Liquor Co. was a distributor of one of many products distilled by the former Pee Dee or R.P. Pepper Distillery which was located in Jefferson County (Louisville) Kentucky. It was acquired by Newcomb-Buchanan Co. in 1880, and became a part of The Anderson and Nelson Distilleries Co. In 1885, it was reorganized through financing from the UK-based Paris, Allen & Co. It was then operated as the Allen-Bradley Distilling Co. In 1901, managing partner Raymond G. Shipman (R.G. Shipman) registered the distillery with the IRS.
Hiller distributed the brand names "Guckenheimer", "Henry Hiller's Fine", "Hiller's OK Old Stock", and "Hiller's Old Standard". The Distributor was operated simply as "Henry Hiller" 1902-1910, then "Hiller Liquor Co." from 1910-1916, and again only as "Henry Hiller" in 1917. This bottle would have been from 1910-1916. Hiller Liquor Co. didn't survive the prohibition, since the distillery in KY was razed prior to 1933.
The stamp on the top, if you could read it, would narrow down its age. Looks like the plumber left something behind !
Sorry, I missed the 1902 on the neck stamp. The distillery was actually in KY. The distributor was in KY and NE.
Just to clarify, the 1902 would have been the license year of the stamp and not necessarily the year of manufacture. Since the licensing was procured by Henry Hiller, that stamp would still have been used from 1910 to 1916 when the company used the name Hiller Liquor Co. I'm pretty sure that's correct, since the name Hiller Liquor Co. was only registered from 1910 to 1916.
Very cool find :) when was your home built?
Thank you, RCassano! The date on the neck stamp makes more sense now, since my home was built in 1918. I've been having a hard time finding other bottles like this online to get a value. Just curious if I should keep it in my china hutch with my other mismatched treasures (mummified cat, antique taxidermied coot, M&Ms with Abe Vigoda's picture printed on them) that my lucky kids will someday inherit. Hehehe.