Antique Old Overholt Rye Whiskey Bottle 6 Year Broad Ford PA Pennsyalvia Labeled For Sale

A beautiful survivor from the waning years of pre-war American whiskey culture — right before postwar modernism flattened label art into something far less soulful. This one still has the swagger: embossed glass, paper neck label, original cork, federal warnings, and that bold machine-age typography that looks halfway between Art Deco and a locomotive nameplate.

Bottle appears to date to roughly the late 1930s to mid-1940s, most likely around 1938–1946.

• Amber whiskey bottle
• Approx. 11\" tall
• Embossed:
  “A. Overholt Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.”
• Original front and rear labels
• Original neck age strip:
  “This Whiskey Is 6 Years Old”
• Original cork still present
• 4/5 Quart
• 100 Proof
• “Bottled In Bond”
• Distilled by A. Overholt & Co., Inc.
• Broad Ford, PA, U.S.A.
• Distributed by National Distillers Products Corp., New York

Condition looks excellent overall:

• Strong embossing
• Rich amber glass
• Very clean surface
• Labels show honest age toning but remain highly displayable
• No major tears apparent
• Cork surviving is a huge plus
• No chips or cracks visible

Frankly, this thing looks like it sat untouched on a tavern shelf while FDR was still explaining radios to people.

Several clues narrow the period pretty tightly:

That corporate name was heavily used during the 1930s–1940s.

The Bottled-in-Bond Act dates back to 1897, but the graphic styling and bottle form here are distinctly prewar / wartime era.

That measurement was standard before metric conversion and remained common into the 1970s, but paired with the typography and federal warning text, this screams WWII-era American liquor packaging.

The rear embossing:

“Federal law foroffers sale or reuse of this bottle”

became common after repeal and especially into the late 1930s.

The “D” mark is for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company.
Plant/date coding strongly supports a late 1930s or 1940s manufacture.

Old Overholt is one of the oldest continuously produced whiskey brands in America.

The brand traces itself to Abraham Overholt, a Pennsylvania distiller tied to the old Monongahela rye tradition. Western Pennsylvania rye whiskey was legendary in the 1800s — spicy, oily, robust whiskey built for miners, railroad men, industrial workers, and politicians alike.

By the time your bottle was made, American whiskey culture was rebuilding after Prohibition (1920–1933), when many distilleries died forever.

Old Overholt survived largely because larger corporate interests absorbed and preserved the brand. During the Depression and WWII years, brands like this leaned hard into:

• heritage
• age statements
• “pure” bonded whiskey claims
• patriotism
• old American craftsmanship

That stern portrait on the label is basically saying:

“This whiskey crossed the Alleghenies before your grandfather learned to shave.”

This was serious business in its day.

“Bottled in Bond” meant:

• one distillery
• one distilling season
• federally supervised aging
• minimum 4 years aged
• exactly 100 proof

In an era when whiskey adulteration was rampant, this was government-certified authenticity.

People trusted bonded whiskey the way modern buyers trust:

• “single malt”
• “organic”
• “small batch”
• “non-GMO”
• “AI-free handcrafted artisanal blockchain bourbon”

Same marketing instinct. Different century.

Broad Ford was a small distilling community in Fayette County, Pennsylvania — deep in coal, coke, steel, and rail country.

During the era your bottle was made:

• coal smoke filled the valleys
• freight trains dominated commerce
• union battles shaped politics
• radios became household technology
• WWII rationing changed consumer goods
• whiskey remained one of America’s major social lubricants

Pennsylvania rye was nationally respected long before Kentucky bourbon conquered the marketing wars.

This label is fantastic.

You’ve got:

• Deco industrial typography
• Bank-note style engraving
• Treasury-style borders
• Patriarch portraiture
• Bonded whiskey legalese
• Neck age strip intact

Even the printer line:

“Hamilton Bank Note – New York”

adds collectibility. Bank note companies specialized in anti-counterfeit printing and ornate engraved designs used for currency, stock certificates, liquor labels, and stamps.