Old Bottles of Macon

A treasure trove for collectors of old bottles … in Macon and beyond.

Beginning around 1965, a relatively new craze spread rapidly across the U.S. Collecting antique bottles had been mostly the province of more affluent northern collectors, who had been buying and trading for decades. But times were about to change. The government began a somewhat questionable program known as urban renewal , where the oldest, poorest, most dilapidated, and often most historic sections of towns were bulldozed flat. Then came the diggers.

One of these diggers and collectors was Lowrell Pierce, though Lowrell was not the average collector. He was an illustrator inspired to put every known variation of a Macon bottle to paper. What an amazing and thrilling sight to watch Lowrell hold a bottle in one hand, to see it appear by the skill of his other hand on a blank sheet of white paper. He recorded all the known Macon bottles, many being one of a kind, many passing from his hand back to their owners, perhaps never to be seen again. Lowrell pursued this project with great passion and pride, producing the only book devoted entirely to Macon, Georgia bottles and jugs.