The Older Jack Daniel's Jugs and Bottles

The Jack Daniel's Distillery went dry in 1910, 10 years before national prohibition. Lem Motlow (then owner of the company) moved the distilling operation to Birmingham, Alabama so he could continue business. It was operated from 1913 till 1915 at 2431 Sec. Avenue. Unfortunately he couldn't achieve the quality they had in Lynchburg.
The facility in Birmingham closed in 1915, after Alabama went bone dry because of prohibition. Mr. Lem Motlow then took the stock and moved to St. Louis. That facility closed in 1918. In the period between 1913 and 1915 (so only two years) they made several Jack Daniel's and Lem Motlow bottles in a rectangular kind of shape.
Because these bottles are made in just a few years they became very rare and wanted by today's Jack Daniel's collectors.

Clear glass, rectangular cork finished quart, 11" high. Embossed vertically;"Jack Daniel Distilling Co. Birmingham Ala. From the Jack Daniel's distilling company embossed bottle there are 3 different sizes. The big one (Quart) sells for $ 1995.00 at Sully's. This is a perfect bottle but $ 1995,00 ??

Birmingham Alabama letter head

Below you can see a nice letter head from those days. Nice detail is the printing mistake of the city the distillery is located in. Not Cullman, Alabama but Birmingham, Alabama. If anybody know why this is let me (us) know please. It could be that they planned to go to Cullman instead of Birmingham but I am not sure off course...
Funny is the way this Gentleman writes, words like "Labols", "Laboles", "two me". Is this old spelling? It is not signed by this Gentleman. Keep in mind this piece of paper is almost 100 years old... Some "silverfish" have eaten the left top side of the paper, they feed on non-food items such as paper.

On the original letter head (that is hanging in my display) is a big scratch that I have removed in this picture. It is a sort of "carbon copy" kind of scratch...

This bottle is embossed not with the words Jack Daniel's like on other Alabama bottles but with "Motlow Distilling Co."! This makes it even more rare! I think Mr Motlow has put his own whiskey inside these bottles, so this probleby will be one of the first Motlow bottles ever made!
This bottle sells for $ 1000.00 at Sully's store in Lynchburg, TN.

I tried to clean up the bottle a little but the stain is etched on the bottle tru the years. Though...still a tru collectable! Size? I guess half pint...

(these 2 bottles are a part of the D. Cauwels collection © )

The pictures above are showing us a half and a quart (!) pint Motlow Alabama bottle. Especially that little one is exceptional rare...

This is the Quart size Motlow bottle

Old Time Grocery Jack Daniels Price List 1910

This is a price list for Old Time Grocery Co. 109 Second Ave N. Nashville Tennessee. Measures approx. 6 x 9 1/4 inches. The front page is an order form and the date is191_ They had to leave a space blank to be filled in at the time it was used. So this is from between 1910 and 1919, 90 years old piece of paper!). When opened up there are prices for Old Time White Corn Whiskey and Jack Daniels No.7 Old Time Sour Mash Whiskey. 1 gallon of Jack Daniel's would cost you only 4 bucks ! If you still had that gallon it would sell for 6.000 times as much, easy!

If your are interested in old Jack Daniel's bottles you should go to The Opry Hotel in Nashville, TN. Inside this HUGE hotel they bild a Jack Daniel's Saloon. Inside this saloon they got a lot of real old bottles that where made by the Jack Daniel's distillery. Some are still full and real rare! Here are some pictures I took while I was there. They open at 17.00, so if you want to see the bottles good, go before 17.00 and you got all the time to look at them and take pictures! Check out the pictures I took at my last vacation by using this link The Opry Hotel, Nashville