Wholesale 1973 Old Fitzgerald “Erin the Emerald Isle” Counties of Ireland Porcelain Bourbon Decanter

The Piece A field of cream-glazed porcelain is wrapped in the heraldry of Ireland, each county represented by a miniature crowned shield picked out in cobalt, emerald green, iron red, yellow, and black. At the center, oversized green calligraphy reads “Erin the Emerald Isle,” surrounded by shamrocks and Celtic-inspired ornament in green, orange, and gold. Turn the vessel and the decoration continues almost uninterrupted, moving through the counties in rows of individually labeled coats of arms. The form is unmistakably that of a substantial old whiskey bottle rather than a conventional ceramic jar: a broad cylindrical body rises between molded foot and shoulder rings to a domed porcelain stopper, both body and lid edged with narrow bands of gold. The original Old Fitzgerald “Counties of Ireland” Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey paper label survives on the reverse, along with remnants of the green federal tax strip that once sealed the bottle across the stopper. The underside removes any uncertainty about age. It is printed “Original Design From the Old Fitzgerald Distillery, Inc. / Old Fitzgerald Collector’s Gallery / Genuine Porcelain / 1973.” Together with the surviving bottle label and tax-strip remnants, those markings make this a particularly complete example of Old Fitzgerald’s decorative porcelain whiskey packaging from the early 1970s. History & Provenance Old Fitzgerald had long treated its packaging with considerably more ceremony than the average bourbon bottle. By the postwar period, decorative decanters had become part of the brand’s identity, allowing the vessel itself to remain in the home long after the whiskey was gone. The Collector’s Gallery series pushed that idea further, turning porcelain bottles into thematic display pieces intended from the outset to be kept. This example was produced in 1973 and titled around the theme “Erin the Emerald Isle” / “Counties of Ireland.” Its decoration celebrates Irish county heraldry through a dense arrangement of shields, shamrocks, Celtic knot motifs, and the green-and-orange palette associated with Ireland. The timing is noteworthy. The decanter belongs to the early-1970s chapter of Old Fitzgerald history, when elaborate commemorative and thematic ceramic bottles were marketed as collectibles in their own right. Unlike later reproductions of vintage whiskey advertising, this vessel is an original Old Fitzgerald promotional object from the period and is explicitly dated on the porcelain itself.