Bound for New Orleans from New York with passengers and commercial cargo, the sidewheel steamship SS Republic was caught in a violent hurricane and sank on October 25, 1865. Odyssey Marine Exploration located the shipwreck of the SS Republic in 2003 more than 100 miles off the coast of Georgia nearly 1,700 feet below the surface of the Atlantic. The shipwreck was a time capsule of Civil War era life and commerce. During the archaeological excavation of the shipwreck, more than 175 different glass bottle types were delicately recovered from the seabed with Odyssey's Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) nicknamed ZEUS.

These bottles were carefully recovered from the SS Republic shipwreck site, and were conserved and documented in Odyssey's conservation labratory. A unique arifact ID number was assigned to each individual bottle aboard Odyssey's recovery vessel and is shown on the artifact tag as well as the Certificate of Authenticity.