Vintage Cat Kitty Grapette Family Beverage Syrup Glass Bottle Piggy Bank Kitten
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:23924795 | Type of Advertising: Cat Bottle |
| Date of Creation: 1940s | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
| Color: Clear | Original/Reproduction: Original |
| Brand: Grapette |
The Grapette Kitten Syrup Bottle Story Grapette introduced its syrup product line in the fall of 1948. A consumer could produce a very tasty non-carbonated soft drink at home by mixing one part of the syrup with seven parts of water. For 33 cents, the consumer could make a gallon of beverage. The container itself was made in the shape of a sitting kitten or cat. The metal screw-on cap had a slot in it so that, after the container was empty, the cardboard seal under the cap coul...d be removed and the container used as a bank. This novelty greatly added to the appeal of the new product. Because of a shortage of glass at the time, Grapette also, for a brief period, purchased and used a bear-shaped bank from Snow Crest. However, the kitten-shaped bank turned out to have serious problems. The opening in the top of the bottle was not centered on the axis of the base, making the bottle difficult to fill with automatic filling machinery. Its irregular shape also defied machine labeling. Special 12-bottle adapters had to be built to hold the bottles in the proper place during filling. The adapters had to be loaded by hand, taken to the filler, then moved to the delivery conveyor. The caps had to be started by hand, and the labels had to be applied by hand. With all of the manual effort required, production was limited to only about 2, 000 12-bottle cases per day. In the meantime, sales were so encouraging that the company began to consider national distribution of the syrup product. However, the kitten bank was an impediment to increased production that would be required to meet the demand. Therefore, the kitten bank had to be replaced. By 1950, a new syrup bank was developed and the kitten bank began to be phased out.BIN20 We offer our items for sale under the following policies:
Our Inventory:
We sell "used" items in almost all cases. There are however some items manufactured in previous years that were never used. If such an item is in excellent condition and still has an original price tag, original packaging and in some cases the original box we will show it as a new item but describe it as "new old stock".
Condition Evaluation:
Used items are not perfect, not mint or near mint and can have scratches, marks and general wear. Some items we sell have general wear consistent with age and other items do not show their age nearly as much. Most items are evaluated as either in "good" condition, "very good" condition or in "excellent" condition. In very rare cases we may describe an item as "near mint" or "mint" if we find no blemishes or the item is essentially new in box. An item may be described as "fair" in very few cases. Please review pictures carefully before buying as they are included as part of our description of the item.
How We Evaluate ConditionExcellent - Has minimal wear and is complete. Excellent does not mean new or near mint. Very Good - Has some wear but is in very good condition for it's age and is complete. May have a stain, tear or other blemishes.Good - Has normal wear for it's age. Is generally complete but will have more blemishes than a VG item.Fair - Item has more condition issues but is still usable.
Acquisition:We obtain our items through yard sales, storage sales, individuals, pickers that we use, auctions and various other means and we do consign items for sale on occasion. We do not know the history of the items we obtain as to how it was stored, who previously owned it, etc. Items are generally unique but we do buy multiples in some cases. We do research every item but are not experts on every item obtained. We do our best to describe each item accurately.
Shipping:We ship within 3 business days of receiving payment (excluding weekends) which is generally twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you need the item sooner let us know and we can expedite shipment for an additional charge. In our shipping cost we include the cost of shipping materials, insurance and the shippers cost. We can also combine ship for multiple items upon request. We try to show as many pictures as possible to support our description of an item. Please review our pictures as they are an important part of our condition description. If you receive an item that is damaged in some way let us know right away as shippers can be very rough on items shipped. Depending on the type of item we try to "double box" sensitive items to prevent damage. In many cases carefully wrapping the item in bubble wrap or other wrapping is enough protection.
Returns:We accept returns consistent with eBay's return policy which means items should be returned in the same condition as received which includes the same way the item was packaged and shipped to you. If the item had original tags, packaging, container and/or box then the item must be returned along with said tags and packaging undamaged. Items with original packaging have more value so anything not returned may caused the item's value to drop or cause the item to be non-sellable. For returns due to damage we require a picture of the damage and picture of the package as received from the shipper. The shipper will require this information for filing a claim for reimbursement.
Payment:For "Buy It Now" items payment is due immediately. Payment for auction items is due within 24 hours of the auction's completion unless we are notified about a unique situation.
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For questions about any items or policies please send us a message. We generally respond to inquiries the same day but no later than the following business day.
Our Inventory:
We sell "used" items in almost all cases. There are however some items manufactured in previous years that were never used. If such an item is in excellent condition and still has an original price tag, original packaging and in some cases the original box we will show it as a new item but describe it as "new old stock".
Condition Evaluation:
Used items are not perfect, not mint or near mint and can have scratches, marks and general wear. Some items we sell have general wear consistent with age and other items do not show their age nearly as much. Most items are evaluated as either in "good" condition, "very good" condition or in "excellent" condition. In very rare cases we may describe an item as "near mint" or "mint" if we find no blemishes or the item is essentially new in box. An item may be described as "fair" in very few cases. Please review pictures carefully before buying as they are included as part of our description of the item.
How We Evaluate ConditionExcellent - Has minimal wear and is complete. Excellent does not mean new or near mint. Very Good - Has some wear but is in very good condition for it's age and is complete. May have a stain, tear or other blemishes.Good - Has normal wear for it's age. Is generally complete but will have more blemishes than a VG item.Fair - Item has more condition issues but is still usable.
Acquisition:We obtain our items through yard sales, storage sales, individuals, pickers that we use, auctions and various other means and we do consign items for sale on occasion. We do not know the history of the items we obtain as to how it was stored, who previously owned it, etc. Items are generally unique but we do buy multiples in some cases. We do research every item but are not experts on every item obtained. We do our best to describe each item accurately.
Shipping:We ship within 3 business days of receiving payment (excluding weekends) which is generally twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you need the item sooner let us know and we can expedite shipment for an additional charge. In our shipping cost we include the cost of shipping materials, insurance and the shippers cost. We can also combine ship for multiple items upon request. We try to show as many pictures as possible to support our description of an item. Please review our pictures as they are an important part of our condition description. If you receive an item that is damaged in some way let us know right away as shippers can be very rough on items shipped. Depending on the type of item we try to "double box" sensitive items to prevent damage. In many cases carefully wrapping the item in bubble wrap or other wrapping is enough protection.
Returns:We accept returns consistent with eBay's return policy which means items should be returned in the same condition as received which includes the same way the item was packaged and shipped to you. If the item had original tags, packaging, container and/or box then the item must be returned along with said tags and packaging undamaged. Items with original packaging have more value so anything not returned may caused the item's value to drop or cause the item to be non-sellable. For returns due to damage we require a picture of the damage and picture of the package as received from the shipper. The shipper will require this information for filing a claim for reimbursement.
Payment:For "Buy It Now" items payment is due immediately. Payment for auction items is due within 24 hours of the auction's completion unless we are notified about a unique situation.
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For questions about any items or policies please send us a message. We generally respond to inquiries the same day but no later than the following business day.
