What Happened to the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ Bottle?

60 years ago, Barbara Eden‘s sassy genie materialized out of her bottle and onto our TV screens, when I Dream of Jeannie debuted on September 18, 1965. Jeannie eventually came to share a home and a marriage with her love, Major Tony Nelson, but her bottle remained her personal place for all five seasons of the show — she jumped in to sleep, hide, or just get away from the human world for a moment. But what happened to Jeannie’s bottle after the series ended? The good news is that it’s still around and you can see it — in fact, you might even be able to buy it yourself (if you have a lot of spare cash on hand, that is).
How Jeannie got her bottle
Created and produced by Sidney Sheldon — yes, that Sidney Sheldon, millions-selling author of books like 1982’s Master of the Game — I Dream of Jeannie was a direct response to the success of Bewitched, which had premiered in 1964 and immediately became a top five hit series. Sheldon took inspiration from the 1964 film The Brass Bottle, which also dealt with the idea of genies in the modern world and also starred Barbara Eden — though she played a human love interest, not a supernatural one, in that film.
What’s the first thing a Jeannie, um, I mean, genie needs? A bottle, naturally! But Jeannie’s bottle originally housed something far different than a magical being — it used to be full of whiskey. That’s because Jeannie’s bottle was originally a 1964 Jim Beam Christmas edition glass whiskey decanter, which was left its original green color but painted with gold designs during the show’s first, black-and-white season. When the series switched to color, the bottle was painted purple so that it would “pop” more on TV screens.
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It’s estimated that 12 bottles total were used on the series; when it wrapped, Eden, Larry Hagman, and Bill Daily all supposedly got to take one home.
Where Is Jeannie’s Bottle Now?

Everett Collection
There were a few different Jeannie bottles, but one is most easily accessible for fans: the bottle on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. This bottle was donated by Eden herself; the bottle was given to her by a makeup artist on the show’s final day of shooting. You don’t have to buy a ticket or make a special appointment to see the bottle; the museum is open every day aside from Christmas, and admission is free. The bottle is viewable in the “New Acquisitions” area.
But if you have $75,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you might be able to take home one of the bottles yourself. A season one green I Dream of Jeannie bottle, owned by a private collector, is currently available for bidding on the Heritage Auctions website. It’s not currently part of an auction, but the owner is responding to offers north of $75k. So if a genie happens to grant your wish for unlimited funds any time soon … you know where to spend that cash.

1965
February 2025
Flashback to 1965 and celebrate the very best of TV, Movies, Music, Fashion & more!
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