How valuable is this FDR bottle?
Q. I have had the bottle in the enclosed photograph since my aunt passed away in 2001. She had the bottle in her cupboard for at least 20 years. I would like to learn more about the bottle. The side of the bottle with the relief image of FDR is stamped January 30, 1832 Franklin Delano Roosevelt April 12, 1945. The back of the bottle reads, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt 32nd President 1933-1945.” The bottom of the bottle is stamped “Wheaton, N. J.” and the number 3 and “First Edition” on the margins. Does this piece have any value?
A. T. C. Wheaton and Company of Millville, New Jersey was a relative late comer to the glass industries of “South Jersey,” and was founded in 1888 by Doctor Theodore Wheaton.
Initially, Dr. Wheaton wanted to be a sailor, but on his first voyage he found that a tendency toward seesickness made this inadvisable. As a result, he apprenticed himself to a pharmacist/physician in South Seaville, N.J.
In 1872, Wheaton enrolled in the Philadelphia School of Pharmacy and Science where he received his Ph.G. (Graduate in Pharmacy) in 1876. In 1879, he received his M.D. from the Medical College of the University of Pennsylvania.
He and his wife moved to Millville in 1883, and opened a pharmacy and general store, but Wheaton was not satisfied. The most successful business in Millville at the time was the Whitall Tatum glassworks, and Wheaton observed the success of this company making bottles and glass tubing (among other things).
He decided to open his own small glass works making bottles and glass tubing. The company was very successful, and eventually, it and its associated companies became the second largest employer in all South Jersey. Automation came to Wheaton in 1938, but they did maintain a hand blown shop making such things as electronics and precision laboratory glassware. In more modern times, the company split apart and exists under several names — including Wheaton Industries.
The piece in today’s question is from Wheaton’s presidential bottles collection; it is machine made and came in at least two sizes and a variety of colors. In the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Wheaton went into the making of reproduction glass bottles in a big way and current collectors can find reproductions of ink bottles, poison bottles, bitters bottles (such as Dr. Fisch’s Bitters shaped like a fish), medicine bottles, and a variety of others.
Current collectors can find bottles commemorating such luminaries of the past as Mark Twain, Pocahontas, Helen Keller, John Paul Jones, Thomas A. Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Douglas MacArthur and Alexander Graham Bell among many others. It is safe to say that with the great variety of reproduction bottles, they were a mainstay with gift shops (including those found at historic sites), and flea markets.
As for their Presidential bottles grouping, we checked what was out there for sale and found everyone from Martin Van Buren, to John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln, John Adams and Harry Truman. We suspect there are Wheaton presidential bottles featuring the other presidents out there as well.
As for the value, it is modest to say the very least. Examples with their original boxes are more desired, but unboxed FDR bottles sell in the $10 to $25 range at retail.
Ÿ Contact Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson at Treasures in Your Attic, P.O. Box 18350, Knoxville, TN 37928.