Five Beam's Bicentennial Bourbon decanters from the Saturday Evening Post series, produced 1975-76 for the American Bicentennial. Each is a ceramic decanter finished to imitate tooled leather - crackle glaze, gold star studs around the border, embossed eagle at the shoulder - with a reproduction Norman Rockwell Post cover mounted on the front panel.
The covers I can identify from your photos:
"Ye Pipe & Bowl" - February 6, 1926, the sign painter at his easel
Benjamin Franklin - May 29, 1926, the Sesqui-Centennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration
"Elect Casey" - November 8, 1958
April 23, 1949 cover
1945-era wartime cover, the fire-escape scene
All five are empty, with tax strips torn and closures gone. Practically speaking that's convenient - no alcohol licensing questions, unlike the Bordeaux and the Pyrat.
Value estimate - with a caveat
Realistic auction range: $50-$100 for all five.
Here's the honest picture, and it's worth understanding before this goes in the catalog. Appraisal data puts the full six-decanter Rockwell set at $60-$125 empty, or $145-200 full. Individual sealed examples with intact tape seals and original boxes fetch $90-150. But empty, unboxed decanters are the low end of a low market.
Jim Beam decanters are one of the great cautionary tales in collecting. They were manufactured in enormous quantities in the 1960s-70s specifically as collectibles, clubs formed around them, prices ran up - and then the bottom fell out and never came back. Many people inherit boxes of these expecting real money. This particular series is among the more appealing ones, but it's still a decorative market, not an investment one.
You also have five of six, so it's an incomplete set.
Suggested opening bid: $25. I'd sell all five together - splitting them would produce five lots nobody wants.
Auction description
Beam's Bicentennial Bourbon Decanters - Saturday Evening Post / Norman Rockwell Series, Set of Five
A charming set of American Bicentennial collectibles from 1975-76, celebrating the nation's 200th birthday through the eyes of its most beloved illustrator.
Each ceramic decanter is finished to resemble a tooled leather-bound volume - deep russet crackle glaze, gilt star studs framing the panel, and an embossed eagle at the shoulder. Set into the front of each is a faithful reproduction of a classic Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover, including the sign painter of "Ye Pipe & Bowl" (1926), Benjamin Franklin at his desk marking the Sesqui-Centennial of the Declaration's signing (1926), the campaign-day bustle of "Elect Casey" (1958), and two further covers from the 1940s.
Displayed together, the five make a warm and genuinely handsome grouping - equally at home on a bar shelf, a bookcase, or a mantel, where they read as much like a row of leather books as like bottles.
Five decanters, all empty; tax strips broken, closures absent. Ceramic, approximately 10" high each. Good condition with wear consistent with age. Sold as decorative collectibles. No original boxes.
*Items will be delivered to shipped to winning bidder.