1900-1919 Promotional Whiskey Tumblers (4) made by Huntington Tumbler Co. in West Virginia

ALL FOUR INCLUDED WITH PURCHASE!!!

This collection of whiskey tumblers are promotional barware items for three separate Kentucky whiskey distilleries. All were manufactured by the Huntington Tumbler Company in West Virginia at the turn of the 20th century. Included as shown:
One: Thin-Wall Crystal Old Boone Tumbler
One: Thin-Wall Crystal I.W. Harper Tumbler
Two: Lead Glass Old Thompson Tumblers

Whiskey companies advertised on small whiskey glasses (known today as shot glasses) in the early 1900s primarily to build brand loyalty in a highly unregulated market, and to capitalize on newer, cheap mass-production.
Before National Prohibition began in 1920, the liquor landscape was entirely different than it is today. Distillers heavily relied on these branded glasses-often referred to at the time as "whiskey tasters" or "whiskey tumblers" —for several distinct strategic reasons. During that time, most whiskey was shipped from distilleries to taverns and saloons in large wooden barrel. To skim profits, some saloon keepers frequently watered down the whiskey, mixed it with cheaper industrial alcohol, or substituted premium brands with rotgut.
By providing taverns with finely etched, branded glassware, Kentucky distilleries forced a visual cue directly into the consumer's hand. If a patron whiskey brand like Old Boone or Old Thompson, seeing the name etched onto the glass gave them a psychological guarantee of authentic rye or sour mash whiskeys.
Also, a tavern could order bottles, cases, or small jugs straight from the distillery to the bar by simply ordering spirits through magazine advertisements. To incentivize these mail orders and guarantee repeat business, distilleries packed promotional self-serve liquor glasses inside the unmarked shipping boxes. Along with branded corkscrews, these thin-walled glass or crystal tumblers we’re either white-frosted or acid-etched. These promotional items were included as free gifts for home use.
The late 1890s and early 1900s saw a massive leap in mass-production glass technology.
Earlier "whiskey tasters" had to be laboriously hand-blown, making them too expensive to give away. By 1902, glass companies like the Huntington Tumbler Co. pioneered automated molding paired with automated "snow enamel etching". This combination meant thousands of delicate, thin-walled glasses could be produced and custom-branded for fractions of a cent.

ABOUT HUNTINGTON TUMBLER CO.
The Huntington Tumbler Company was a premier manufacturer of high-grade, lead-blown glassware operating in West Virginia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The factory originally opened around 1891 (final 1893) under its original name...the West Virginia Flint Bottle Company.
In 1900, German immigrant Anton Zihlman bought the bottle factory and began shifting its focus from basic utilitarian fruit jars and bottles to fine tableware. The business officially rebranded as the Huntington Tumbler Company in 1904.
Throughout the early 1900s, the company gained national and international renown for producing intricately cut, etched, and decorated barware, stemware, and tumblers. It managed to survive the early waves of the American temperance movement by expanding its product portfolio into elegant household items like vases and candlesticks. Before Prohibition swept the nation, the Huntington Tumbler Company was highly sought after by prominent pre-Prohibition distilleries and liquor wholesalers to produce branded promotional barware. Utilizing a specialized white acid-etching technique they marketed as "Snow Enamel Etching," they created high-quality corporate branding pieces.
Suffering a severe drop in orders from the economic devastation of the Great Depression, the factory closed for good in 1932.

ABOUT I.W. HARPER WHISKEY
I.W. Harper is a historic bourbon brand founded in Kentucky in 1872 by German immigrant brothers Isaac Wolfe (I.W.) Bernheim and Bernard Bernheim. The name combined Isaac's initials with "Harper," chosen because it sounded more approachable than a traditional German-Jewish surname. Originally produced in Kentucky, the brothers later purchased a large distillery in Louisville in the late 1880s, which became the historic Bernheim Distillery.
It survived Prohibition by producing medicinal whiskey. Later owned by Schenley and then United Distillers (now Diageo), the brand focused heavily on international markets (like Japan) and disappeared from the U.S. in the 1990s before returning stateside in 2015.

ABOUT OLD THOMPSON WHISKEY
Old Thompson is a famous brand of blended American whiskey historically produced by the Glenmore Distillery Company in Owensboro, Kentucky.
The physical facility was originally founded in 1849 as the R. Monarch Distillery. It was purchased by James Thompson and his brother in 1901 and renamed the Glenmore Distillery Company. The specific "Old Thompson" whiskey brand was officially introduced in 1904.
During the early 1900s, the company was one of the largest spirits producers in Kentucky. Its primary product and flagship were a premium blended whiskey named directly after the company's owners. During the Prohibition era of the late 1910s and 1920s, they used their government license to bottle and sell 100-proof aged warehouse reserves explicitly labeled "For Medicinal Purposes Only".
The facility is still open and active today. After various corporate acquisitions, the Sazerac Company purchased it in 2009. Sazerac continues to operate the historic Glenmore site as a massive, high-speed bottling plant rather than an active primary distillery.

ABOUT OLD BOONE WHISKEY
Old Boone whiskey was originally produced by the Boone Brothers Distillery in Nelson County, Kentucky. The brand was created in 1885 when Charles H. and Nicholas P. Boone purchased the old R. B.
Hayden distillery. The name honored their grandfather, Walter "Wattie" Boone, a pioneer who began commercial distilling in the region in the 1780s.
The brand operated under the Boone brothers until 1902-1903, when the distillery and the "Old Boone" brand name were sold to the firm Thixton, Millett & Co. In 1912, Thixton, Millett & Co. moved production to a modernized facility at the Old Saxton distillery site in Chicago, Kentucky.
In 1912, Thixton, Millett & Co. moved production to a modernized facility at the Old Saxton distillery site in Chicago, Kentucky.
The original early-1900s operation closed down due to Prohibition.
After the repeal of Prohibition, Seagram's acquired the rights to the name. In 1954, the Meadowlawn Distilling Company in Valley Station, Kentucky, bought the brand and officially renamed itself the Old Boone Distillery Co. This incarnation produced whiskey until it permanently ceased operations in 1977 following a series of catastrophic accidents, including a boiler explosion, a major fire, and a structural water tank collapse.

FUN FACT
Before the Prohibition era of state liquor stores (1920-1933) whiskey was heavily marketed and sold directly to consumers via the mail same as saloons or taverns owners.

Conditions of all four are excellent with no cracks or chips. Some slight fading on etchings.
Extremely Rare
Memorylanevintiques picked these whiskey tumblers in Denton, Texas.

MemoryLaneVintiques sanitizes all glassware, glazed pottery, jewelry and resin cast items before packing for shipment..100% Guaranteed!
STANDS IN PHOTOS NOT INCLUDED WITH PURCHASE OF THIS ITEM!
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