Virginia Dare Orange Bitters Bottle

I've found a few of these bottles online, but only one gave an age, and it said 1890-1930, so not much help. Does anyone know how old it probably is?

In September, one sold for $19.50 on eBay in an auction with four bids. Does that sound like an anomaly, or likely to be repeated?

Thanks!

 

The company started in 1923

I'd say the bottle looks thirties or later

 

Hi Pat,
I had a good laugh this morning. I found a Virginia Dare wine bottle hidden in my Gram's laundry hamper in the mid 1940s. She would have an occasional beer but never anything stronger like wine! I think she hid it from my grandfather. Thanks for the memory.
greg

 

Terry beat me to 1923 as when the company was founded. Here is the website of the company today with it's history, 2nd paragraph from the bottom.

http://www.virginiadare.com/About-Us/The-Virginia-Dare-Story.aspx

--- Susan

 

Just saying but . . . do you think it might have been used by "Gram" as a "sprinkler" bottle for dampening clothes before ironing them way back when? Was there a "sprinkler top" in that hamper or otherwise about the premises?

 

Hi,
I remember the top was still sealed. When my Gram used a "sprinkler" it was a catsup bottle, I still have the top to it. I think it was in there to hide it from her husband.
greg

 

Oh, I remember using a sprinkler bottle when ironing! It may even be packed somewhere in my mom's stuff.

Thanks for the info, Terry and Susan. Much appreciated!

I was on the Virginia Dare website before I posted and totally missed that they had info on the company history. Duh!

 

Having never used bitters in my life, orange or otherwise, I had to look up the recipes for drinks made with same.

My tongue may never uncurl!!!!

 

Bitters are actually pretty tasty, if used correctly. They're awesome when sprinkled on fresh grapefruit. They aren't meant to be drunk as is, just used in drips and drops like Vietnamese fish sauce is in cooking. You don't want to drink that straight either and definitely don't want to know how it's made. The bitters process is doubtless a bit more appetizing.

 

My sure-fire cure for hiccups when I was tending bar was biting into a lemon wedge soaked with bitters and coated with sugar - not particularly pleasant, but always worked...

~Cheryl

 

Sounds like a version of Turlington's Balsam which, when I had a cough, was dripped onto a teaspoon of sugar. Darn stuff paralyzed the throat, and tasted as if they had rung out and then reduced a giant tree into an itty bitty bottle.

 

I had a waitress help me out (back in college) with that same cure, Cheryl!

The only drink I've had with bitters in it (that I know of) was my late FIL's "cold remedy." Orange juice with a strong pour of rye whiskey and a splash of Angostura (sp?) bitters. Not sure whether it was the OJ or the whiskey, but it always did the trick!

 

just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down..........la la la !!!