"Started around 1938 to present (1985). Jim Beam Distilleries owns the Regal China Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary. Royal China and Novelty Company of Chicago is the distributing or sales organization for the corporation." Maybe these companies are still around, and you can contact them for more info.
It goes on to state that Regal China also made a cookie jar for Quaker Oats, a milk pitcher for Ovaltine, and ship decanter and coffee mug for Old Spice among other things. These last 4 items are still hard-to-find in Like New condition, so I think their value is still pretty high.
Your bottle has the date 1970 with the Makers' Mark, so that's when it was made. If Mark E. is correct with his dates for the buy out by American Tobacco, this was mad before then and makes it one of the LEs. There's no information about quantities made the book. But I think Mark and Skip are correct in their assessment of the value. Lots of people collected these and put them on shelves, then in boxes in the garage. Not so for the cookie jars, milk pitchers and coffee mugs.
Oh, and it's JAMES B. BEAM. Your mark is the same to the example in the book except for thee date.
Hope this helps a wee bit. Later - Buzz
|