Eh! That’s got it! 15 cents - the reigning champion. Oldest bottle of paint. Can anyone beat 15 cents?
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18 year old tin of WEM USN Ocean Grey
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Humbrol lasts forever, now Zero paints (quite popular for cars) "guarantees the quality of their paints for only one year, and I had several bottles of Alclad going bad as well.
I still turn to Humbrol for most of my modelling, you can brush and airbrush it, it lasts forever in the thin, there is a huge color range, it sticks to the model like glue, and gives a nice finish.
I wonder why we even try using some brands notorious for clogging up the airbrush, not sticking to the model …
If only Humbrol would come in decent bottles … 
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ahemmmhhrrmmfffFF
The Humbrol tins don’t have screw on caps that cling like limpets to the threads and are near impossible to twist off
A little basic cleaning will prevent issues with paint build-up that interferes with proper lid seating.
Small screwdriver used as chisel removes most of the gunk and then some lacquer thinner to clean off the rest and the lids are squeky clean again.
The sweet aromatic smell of balsam turpentine makes my heart beat faster and brings a happy smile to my face. Wife doesn’t like it though, sod it …
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I could not have said this any better 
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A can from when Humbrol used little paper disks to identify the paint. I have a bunch of cans that have lost there paper disks and the colour is now unknown, the plan is to open them sometime and mark the colour on the can but that will happen after I finish all the kits in the stash! I don’t know how old it is but it was bought at Simpsons Sears (older Canadians will know this store) for 50 cents Canadian.
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I have some Tamiya paint bottles from the late 80’s that I’ve carted back and forth across Canada from Ontario in the 80’s to the North West Territories in 1990 then into Northern Quebec in 1996 back to Ontario in 2000 then back to Northern Quebec in 2012 when I was forced into retirement from illness. Some of the paints dried up because of damage to the caps. The rest of the bottles are fine. I have a shelf full of the original size bottles and now the smaller ones that I continue to use alongside the new AK paints, citadel and Vallejo paints that I’ve been accumulating since around 2015. The collection has vastly expanded and colour selection has greatly improved for me since my son started modeling, since he’s doing games workshop figures his need for more than basic military colours has encouraged the purchase and collection of a variety of colours, shades and washes. Much more than I have ever possessed at any one time since I began modeling as a youngster. Then I started with testors and humbrel paints now fifty years on in the hobby I’m being continuously challenged to improve my skills so I can help him along in a hobby that he has very quickly adopted my habits of having a stash of kits and having multiple projects on the go at the same time. I just had to reorganize everything in order to get him more space. For the first time ever I established designated shelf space for projects that have stalled because you haven’t quite figured out the way that you wish to complete that next step either in colours being painted or wishing more detail to be visible but not being entirely sure just how to pull it off.
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Well the picture only shows a small part of it. We now have 5 full cases of Vallejo, AK, and citadel paints that my so transferred into the small bottles like Vallejo come in. I am in the process of completing a full rework of the room my wife gave us to use in the house for our hobby, during the clean up I discovered that I now need a sixth case to put away all of the assorted colours he has out on his desk. So in all likelihood I will end up buying two more cases so I’m assured to have expansion space into the future. This is the third iteration of my rework of the space to make it more useable. This time I had to add in a corner space for my bed because I now have Parkinson’s at night my body decides to move around a lot and I don’t like to disturb my wife and our daughter who claimed ownership of the bed once she figured out out to get out of the play pen we had been using as a crib. So at three she was in and out at will sometimes scaring the heck out of me. We thought the move would be a temporary one so I just threw a mattress in taking up the floor space that made the room quickly and quite impossible to use to model so I’ve organized things having to reassemble my desk after an act of self destruction on its part and since it’s basically screwed into the floor there won’t be any further adjustments besides replacing some plastic shelving units in the future unless we find by reorganizing my huge stash of kits to get my son his own stash space and this time I designated two project shelves so we can stay somewhat neat and at least appear organized. I still have more to do but am taking some down time to rest up for the coming decisions of what heads into a container until I have sufficient display space in the house for the larger 1/35 kits I do have while he’s been introducing me to the war hammer universe that I must admit I am quickly becoming interested in that genre not only for the variety of subjects in the area but also the challenge it gives me to paint such small figures with my tremors. Much learning happening with me at the moment in order to adapt to my new reality!
Just painted my Spitfire with 15 year old Modelmaster Enamels,turned out nice,paint sprayed with no issues.
My oldest bottles will be tamiya probably from somewhere around 1985 to 1990 would be when I bought them.
I have testors paint brushes that I’ve had from likely around 1980 or so give or take a couple of years.
I’ve found if you turn the bottle upside down and rest it on it’s cap you can use an eyedropper and flood the threads with mineral spirits ( for Enamels) and that will solve the dried paint so you can more easily unscrew the cap. I have had the bottle shatter when using two pliers to crank off a stuck on cap, that was bad day, lotta refined French words tossed about.
Cajun 
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Aye. I’ve had that happen several times myself. 
Its funny, the only paint I ever had to use pliers for was Model Master, and then I only needed one.
Ken
I have to use my Swing-A-Way bottle opener on EVERY Tamiya bottle I own.
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I can think of another reason for a Swing-A-Way bottle opener after spending five minutes struggling to open a bottle of nail polish for my fiance.
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I just learnt out of curiosity that these ones are from the 50s. They are probably older than the last one I shown. I can still feel the liquid when I shake it.
If you anyone interested, I know 1 or 2 last stores in Montreal that may still have these old cans (since they took a fraction of a closed one last year) just to flex on other people.
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Those tins are beautiful. Much better looking than modern tins.
I long ago figured out how to open those bottles with paint dried in the lid. Light a match and slowly spin the side of the cap through the flame. Once warm the pliers easily turns the cap now that the dried paint is soft.
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OK, I’ll play along. Not sure if this is my oldest, but I can prove it’s age. It’s a bottle of Testor’s Sealer for Metalizer.
I got it from MJ Designs (something between a Michaels and a Hobby Lobby) who was in the habit of adding the shelf date to their price labels.
January 10, 1991, makes this bottle over 30 years old! And just try to match that price!
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