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The Ultimate Collector's Side (Prohibition Warning): > Features a bold, incredibly rare warning stamp from the United States Bureau of Prohibition citing "Art. 69 of Regulation 3." It explicitly details the federal requirement to obliterate the markings upon emptying. This side is also stamped with the highly collectible industrial terms "COLOGNE SPIRITS."
"Cologne Spirits"
Don't let the name fool you—this didn't hold perfume. "Cologne spirits" is an old-school distilling term for the absolute highest grade of high-proof, highly rectified, completely odorless ethyl alcohol. It was pure enough to be used as a base for fine perfumes, cosmetics, medicines, and extracts. Because it had zero distinct odor or flavor, it was also the ultimate prize for bootleggers looking to make illegal bathtub gin.
CAUTION: Art. 69 of Regulation 3 of the United States Bureau of Prohibition requires that you must efface and obliterate all marks, brands, or stamps on the container at time of emptying this package.
The Bureau of Prohibition only existed from 1927 to 1933 as an independent arm of the U.S. Treasury (this is the agency Eliot Ness and the "Untouchables" worked for).
The law required users to destroy the markings on empty crates so that bootleggers couldn't steal old boxes, refill them with toxic moonshine, and pass it off as safe, legal government alcohol. The person who emptied this 80+ years ago forgot to scratch off the marking
