Molly Higgins' 'Jim Beam Figural Bottles: An Unauthorized Collector's Guide, Second Edition' (Schiffer Publishing, 2005 $29.95 158 pp.) is the apparent source.

What were these sellers drinking to think their collectors' edition whiskey bottles were worth this much? The answer turned out to be not what they were drinking but what they were reading. What surprised me were several opening bid requests of $89.99, $45, and $24.99. The reason is simple - fewer were made and saved. 1 pricing factor, i.e., the first item in a series always seems to command the highest resale price. The high price for the former is best explained by the No. In fairness, I must report that a 1955 Executive #1 bottle already had reached $65 in a continuing auction, and one Executive decanter style bottle sold for $36.

When these few bidders satisfy their needs, there may be no market at all. This clearly indicates the buyer's market is extremely small. Seven listings received one bid, and six listings received two bids. Opening bid requests ranged from $7.99 to $45. Of the listings, 21 failed to attract a bid. The small number of listings indicates that most individuals who own these bottles understand there is virtually no market for most of them. I did an advanced eBay search for 'Jim Beam Executive' and found 36 listings covering a four-week period. Today, crossover collectors, e.g., automobile, golf, etc., buy collectors' edition whiskey bottles more often than collectors of the bottles themselves. Most distillers returned to the basic bottle package. By the late 1970s the market was saturated. Several distilleries offered miniature series. The early 1970s was the golden age of collectors' edition whiskey bottles.

More than 100 other distilleries followed suit. The Jim Beam Distillery offered its first set of novelty (collectors' edition) bottles during the 1953 Christmas season. For this reason, drinking the contents is not a valid method to remove the liquor from the bottles at this point. Besides the issue of evaporation, the liquor contents have been known to eat through the ceramics. Also, the ceramic bottle manufacturers and liquor distillers did not intend for the liquor to remain in the bottles.

Jim beam collectors bottles value