House Of Lords - Whisky In Square Bottle Introduced In 1903

[mnloyola]

I wonder if you can help me know of this old bottle of scotch whisky worth anything.

The label says:

HOUSE OF LORDS THE ORIGINAL. HL. 100% SCOTCH WHISKIES. SCOTCH WHISKY. WILLIAM WHITELEY & CO., LEITH SCOTLAND. CONTENTS, 26 2/3 OZS. WHISKY IN SQUARE BOTTLE INTRODUCED IN 1903.

I think the bottle has its original seal.

Pictures in Dropbox File:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ogvbxgtnxrmflzj/pRSkc4A1Mu

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely,

Marco Loyola

[blenderm]

If you look at the contents carefully you'll see that there was a sticker glued over it. This was when metric sizes were introduced and dates the bottle from the late 1970's.
As the whisky is down to the shoulder and it's a blend I doubt if there's any value attached to it.

[wchurst]

Marco,

I will have to agree with blenderm on the detail of two small points here:
One being that there may have been a sticker placed over the "26 2/3oz"
of the main label.
However, this could have been done for several reasons as listed below:

1) "26 2/3 oz" was a unit of measure used for a very short time, during a
period between the late 1940s-1950s when the UK standard measurement
was based on the Imperial Quart.
(Subsequent changes to the legal measurement requirements in the UK
did necessitate that content markings on the labels of bottles be "revised"
- Such as a change to Metric measurements, as noted by blenderm.)

2) Often times a product manufactured in one country, then exported to
another, is often required to bear content markings compatable to the
importing countries laws on wieghts & measures...causing the exporter to
have to change/modify the label: This most often happens when the
importing country has recently changed their legal requirements.

On the second point of agreement, the whisky is down to the shoulder and
may not be of much interest to whisky collectors, as well as having a high
risk of spoilage (oxidation) due to the amount of air in the bottle.

However, all of that aside, I would disagree with the proposed dating of this
bottle as being from the late 1970's...for several reasons.

1) Your bottle incorporates a Plug-Cap, which was in use on House of Lords
bottles well into the mid-1960s...at which point the cap was changed to a
Screw-cap design. (See Example-1 Below)

2) Secondly, Whiteley & Co made several changes to the main label in the
1950's; including the addition of the term "100% Scotch Whiskies" in 1954,
the addition of the term "Distillers" in 1956, as well as changes to the location
of the word "Leith". (See Example-2 Below)

Your bottle's Main-label includes the term "100% Scotch Whiskies", indicating
that it was produced after 1954....and it is missing the term "Distillers", which
indicates is was produced before 1956, which is again verified by the position
of the word "Leith" at the end of manufacturers name, rather than before the
work "Scotland". (Your bottle actually dates to between 1954-1955.)

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Cheers,
Walter C Hurst
wchurst@hotmail.com

[Islay Peat]

Wchurst, thanks for a great Sherlock Holmes of a post!

[mnloyola]

Thanks a lot!! That's really helpful.

Regard,

Marco