They ain't The Fish or Doctor Fisch's bitters bottles but... by Cecil Munsey COPYRIGHTED © 1970 & 1992 Even before the art of glass blowing was discovered in about 100 B.C., artisans working with glass produced figural bottles. One of the earliest known bottles shaped like a fish was unearthed at Tell-El-Amarna, Egypt. Evidence indicates that this pre-blown bottle was buried between 1350 and 1375 B.C.

Throughout glass manufacturing history glassblowers have produced, and still do produce, fish-shaped bottles. In America perhaps the most popular of all fish-shaped bottles are ones patented in 1866 by W.H. Ware. These two 11 1/2" tall fish bottles were used for "DOCTOR FISCH'S BITTERS" and "THE FISH BITTERS." While both bottles are mostly found in shades of amber, the latter is found in other colors which are considered rare.

in 1922, 56 years after W.H. Ware brought his fish bottles to market, Eli Lilly & Company brought their version to market. Indeed, it was an inspiration of one of Ware's fish-shaped bottles, found in an antiques shop, that caused the Eli Lilly & Company one(s) to be produced.

In 1921, the Eli Lilly firm was using over 100 different bottles to contain its pharmaceutical products. It was suggested by Eli Lilly's wife, who had really taken a fancy to to the then recently discovered fish-shaped bitters bottle of the 1860s, that the old bottle be used as a model to manufacture a fish bottle for their "Lilly's pure Lofoten Cod Liver Oil." The suggestion was taken and over an 11- year period (1922-1933), four basic sizes of the Eli Lilly Cod Liver Oil Fish bottle were produced and distributed.

The four fish-shaped bottles produced for Eli Lilly & Company were made of amber glass and measure 3", 6 1/4", 8 1/4", and 9 3/4". The first of the four to be made for the pharmaceutical firm was the 8 1/4" one; it was produced in 1922. The 3" miniature fish bottle was first produced in 1924 and never actually contained a product; it was used as a salesman's sample. The 9 3/4" bottle was also introduced in 1924. The 6 1/4" bottles was first manufactured in 1927. Between 1930 and 1933 at least two of the three largest of the Lilly fish bottles were produced with screw-on caps as a closure. The originals were all corksealed bottles.

The three largest of the Lilly fish bottles were manufactured by the Fairmont Glass Company if Indianapolis, Indiana. The miniature or salesman's sample bottle was manufactured by the T.C. Wheaton Company (now the Wheaton Glass Company) of Millville, New Jersey.

An early 1923 advertisement by Eli Lilly & Company which ran in a number of the trade journals of the time, called the new fish-shaped bottle a "Cod Bottle." The advertisement offered druggists, "Very attractive selling helps bearing your business card printed in type to match the text will be supplied for counter distribution, enclosing with packages, statements etc." The advertisements also mentions that the wholesale price of the 8 1/4" pint bottles filled with cod liver oil was $6.10 per dozen.

While the Lilly "Cod Bottles" were discontinued in 1933, the original molds of the three largest sizes were retained by the Fairmont Glass Company and ended up in the possession of Cedric C. Rau whose family owned and operated the Fairmont Glass Company.

Well, as the title of this piece maintains: they are collectible and always will be because of their fish shape. In the early 1970s the Eli Lilly "Cod Bottles" were selling for not much more than they are today:

Cod Bottle Year First 1972 1992 Size Manufactured Value Value

8 1/4" 1922 $20 $25 9 3/4" 1924 $12 $25 3" 1924 $100 $150 6 1/4" 1927 $15 $25

Prices for the fish-shaped bottles blown in the molds developed in the 1920s and 1930s for the Eli Lilly firm are not especially high for a number of reasons. Many thousands of the original bottles were manufactured and marketed by Eli Lilly & Company. As early as 1970 Cedric C. Rau had the 6 1/4" bottle reproduced by the Imperial Glass Company in Bellaire, Ohio.

Sometime around 1980, after the first attempt at reproducing the 6 1/4" bottle, the other sizes (except for the 3" miniature salesman's sample) were reproduced by the Glass Containers Corporation which said they were "...pleased to present you with this unique series of bottles, made from the original molds, as a reminder that glass has wit as well as utility, and that the shape things are in has always mattered." The number of reproduced bottles in either run is not known. That has served to help keep the value of the reproduction Cod Bottles down to next to nothing -- I purchased two sets for $10 in 1989.

Collectors should note that the trick to identifying the bottles reproduced in the original molds seems to be in the closure area. The reproduction bottles have hand finished lips and in most cases the lip is flat instead of rounded as in the originals which were made by the Owens automatic blowing machine. The Owens machine produced a seam all the way to the top of the bottle's mouth as is common in completely machine-made bottles. This may be the only case where the machine-made bottle is more valuable than the hand-finished one!

It doesn't seem to matter much today whether or not a particular Eli Lilly & Company fish bottle is original or one of the reproductions. The value of either type seems to be insignificant enough so as not to bother collectors who buy them one way or the other. Perhaps, after 100+ years more attention will be paid to the originals and reproductions and their very slight differences. It may very well be the same scenario as with the famous E.G. Booz cabin-shaped whiskey bottle. That bottle has been reproduced so many times that obtaining an original is expensive and chancey at best. Only expert bottle collectors can tell the difference in the earliest of reproductions of cabin bottle. And sometimes they make mistakes.

Once again, "they ain't The Fish or Doctor Fisch's bitters bottles but...."