The New York Times
February 9, 1995.
Business, p. D4.
The Listerine Bottle Hunt
$1, 000 for a Strong Taste of Americana
[Photo] A Listerine bottle dating back to the turn of the
century drew a $1,000 contest prize.
By Andrea Adelson
A well-preserved Listerine bottle has made a 32-year-old
carpenter $1,000 richer, giving him first prize in a
national hunt for the oldest known Listerine container.
The contest began last summer when the mouthwash, first
offered in bottles as an antiseptic in 1881, was repackaged
in plastic containers.
The winner, Michael A. Peden of upstate Willsboro, N.Y.,
acquired the bottle when he bought the attic castoffs of a
local collector for less than $l eight years ago. The
bottle was produced between 1895 and 1906.
Mr. Peden began collecting bottles from riverbanks and ash
pits as a teen-ager, but the most he previously had been
paid for one was $5. "I wouldn't have believed it would be
as important as it is, until now," he said yesterday.
The National Bottle Museum, which judged the 6,500
Listerine entries, donated the bottle last month to the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American
History.
Two runners-up, Duane Dimock of San Diego and Laurie Gibson
of Moline, Ill., each received $500.
The contest was sponsored by Listerine's maker, the
Warner-Lambert Company of Morris Plains, N.J., to mark the
passing of glass containers that are now part of Americana,
said E. Peter Wolf, a company spokesman. "People recognize
it as the oldest consumer product that essentially in look
and formulation has remained constant," he said.
Last year, the company, which also makes prescription drugs
and other consumer goods, sold $356 million worth of
Listerine the leading mouthwash in the country. The
familiar khaki-colored wrapper no longer covers bottles of
the original amber-colored liquid, and mint-tasting
variations of the mouthwash, in blue and green, have been
added.
Janet A. Rutland, director of the Bottle Museum, in upstate
Ballston Spa, N.Y., said the winning entry was a common
bottle that typically was worth less than $10. "Its value
is in the history it represents," she said.
Mr. Peden's bottle was selected primarily because of an
unusual two-part rear label that had product claims that
others did not, she said. It will not set any price
records, however. A signed pre-Revolutionary War flask was
sold in September 1993 for $66,000.
END
February 9, 1995.
Business, p. D4.
The Listerine Bottle Hunt
$1, 000 for a Strong Taste of Americana
[Photo] A Listerine bottle dating back to the turn of the
century drew a $1,000 contest prize.
By Andrea Adelson
A well-preserved Listerine bottle has made a 32-year-old
carpenter $1,000 richer, giving him first prize in a
national hunt for the oldest known Listerine container.
The contest began last summer when the mouthwash, first
offered in bottles as an antiseptic in 1881, was repackaged
in plastic containers.
The winner, Michael A. Peden of upstate Willsboro, N.Y.,
acquired the bottle when he bought the attic castoffs of a
local collector for less than $l eight years ago. The
bottle was produced between 1895 and 1906.
Mr. Peden began collecting bottles from riverbanks and ash
pits as a teen-ager, but the most he previously had been
paid for one was $5. "I wouldn't have believed it would be
as important as it is, until now," he said yesterday.
The National Bottle Museum, which judged the 6,500
Listerine entries, donated the bottle last month to the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American
History.
Two runners-up, Duane Dimock of San Diego and Laurie Gibson
of Moline, Ill., each received $500.
The contest was sponsored by Listerine's maker, the
Warner-Lambert Company of Morris Plains, N.J., to mark the
passing of glass containers that are now part of Americana,
said E. Peter Wolf, a company spokesman. "People recognize
it as the oldest consumer product that essentially in look
and formulation has remained constant," he said.
Last year, the company, which also makes prescription drugs
and other consumer goods, sold $356 million worth of
Listerine the leading mouthwash in the country. The
familiar khaki-colored wrapper no longer covers bottles of
the original amber-colored liquid, and mint-tasting
variations of the mouthwash, in blue and green, have been
added.
Janet A. Rutland, director of the Bottle Museum, in upstate
Ballston Spa, N.Y., said the winning entry was a common
bottle that typically was worth less than $10. "Its value
is in the history it represents," she said.
Mr. Peden's bottle was selected primarily because of an
unusual two-part rear label that had product claims that
others did not, she said. It will not set any price
records, however. A signed pre-Revolutionary War flask was
sold in September 1993 for $66,000.
END