Don’t grimace. It was once upon a time the thing to do…

Pigs were a sign of prosperity during the 1870’s–1890’s. The pigs were fed corn and corn was also used in the distilling of whiskey. The critters were cute and popular with the public so the distillers capitalized on these figurals as a marketable tool. The pig also represented the evils of drink. Using the cork to seal the contents at the rear allowed crude and rude jokes or slogans to enhance the product, for example “Something Good in a Hog’s –>” (with the arrow pointing to the rear). Beside glass, these pigs appear in pottery form. Anna Pottery from Anna, Illinois produced the famous Railroad Pig that goes for top dollar. The Kirkpatrick brothers who worked in Anna summed up their feelings in an article in the Jonesboro, Indiana Weekly Gazette in 1869: “It is rather a hoggish propensity to be guzling whiskey, and if the habit is indulged in, will soon reduce a man below the level of the hog, and cause him to wallow in the gutter.”

Glenn Poch

More pig bottles here.