CLARK & WHITE / NEW YORK - Quart "Saratoga Springs" style bottle in a deep olive emerald color (with maybe a slight yellow cast) with a crudely applied LTC with skirt ("mineral finish"), 9" tall.  This is the "large style lettering" version in Tucker's book on the Saratoga type bottles.  Base is indented with a short line embossed and not pontiled, though these do come this way on occasion.  Ca. 1860-1870 and a very nice piece of Civil War era glass.  Color is quite beautiful and the bottle does pass light to a moderate degree when sitting in the window.  Body of the bottle has tons of big whittle marks giving the surface a wavy appearance.  Lots of little bubbles throughout also.  There are a few scratches and very minor wear on the body.  No cracks or staining, but at the base of the neck is a small (1/4" by 3/16") iridescent bruise (maybe potstone related) that has a shallow tiny pinhead size piece of glass missing (I guess this could be considered a very small body chip).  Really not much to look at (literally) but is there and must be described; no radiations or cracks from the spot.  (Incidentally, this bottle was illustrated on the Historic Bottle Website.) Overall this a very nice item at a decent price.  $60

BAY CITY SODA WATER / CO /S. F. - (Star on reverse) - To see an image of the large bold star embossed on the reverse, click reverse view.  These are very familiar and popular soda bottles with Western collectors and for a good reason - they are beautiful.  The Bay City bottles like this date from about 1871 to 1880 according to Markota's book on the subject.  This example has the typical applied blob finish or lip, is just over 7" tall, smooth base (these are never pontil marked; click base view), has very bold embossing, and is in a very nice clear medium sapphire blue.  The bottle is also quite crude - whittled with bubbles in the glass and stretch marks in the upper shoulder to neck area.   This example is near mint though has been professionally cleaned retaining some light case wear in the usual spots.  It also has two very small nicks on the heel/base related to the case wear (one within the edge of the base is visible on the left side of the base in the base view image above...it is the largest and still very small).   Nice example.  $200

H. MAU & CO. / EUREKA / NEVADA - A deep blue aqua in color, this bottle has the "look" of many soda bottles made at the SF&PGW between about 1875 and 1885, including the ubiquitous "curved leg R's" which were the product of some unknown mold engraver that worked in the Bay Area during that era.  Click embossing close-up to see such.  This very nice condition blob soda bottle - one of the very few from Nevada - has an applied blob finish, smooth base, and stands 6 3/4" tall.  Condition of this bottle is essentially mint with no chips, cracks, digs, flea-bites, or significant staining...just some very, very light wisps inside which many would not even note.  Great example in great condition...and harder to find every day.  $200

PORTLAND / TRADE MARK / (crude phoenix bird) / SODA WORKS / P. O. - This is an early Portland, Oregon Hutchinson soda bottle that dates from the mid-1880s.  One of these bottles (different example) was used as an example on the "Soda & Mineral Water Bottles" page of my Historic Bottle Website so I will quote from there:   The base is...embossed with NORTHROP & STURGIS whom were the proprietors of the concern from 1883 to 1911, when it became the Puritan Manufacturing Co.  In 1886 - the era of the pictured bottle - the company advertised the production of numerous beverages any of which could have been in this bottle - soda water, sarsaparilla, ginger ale, cream soda, cider, and more.  The Portland Soda Works had a long run of embossed bottles (at least 9 different molds in 3 different bottle styles) under several ownerships beginning in 1877 with the Cottle, Post & Co. blob-top soda and ending during the early 20th century with an early (mouth-blown), crown-top soda style.  The pictured Hutchinson soda is one of three similar variations with an eagle produced by the company and likely dates from about 1884 to 1887.  The bottle has a true applied blob finish, is 6.1" tall, and has great stretch marks on the shoulder/neck and moderate whittle throughout.  In my experience the bottles from this mold are always crudely made befitting the crudely done phoenix bird in the embossing.  They are probably also products of the SF&PGW, although there is no maker's markings.  Condition of this bottle is very good with some scattered and relatively light inside haze, some outside scuffing, and a tiny pin-prick flake just inside the lip.  Nice bright example nonetheless and not commonly encountered.  $45

PACIFIC / SODA WORKS / PORTLAND, OREGON - This is all embossed within a round "slug" plate on this taller style Hutchinson soda bottle.  This bottle is 7" tall, has a smooth base, and a blue-ish aqua glass color. One of these bottles (different example) was also used in the preparation of my Historic Bottle Website so I will also quote from there:  The bottle...is a "mug base" (10-sided lower body), tall style Hutchinson soda with the embossing in a round plate, a tooled blob finish, and was blown in a cup base mold with no apparent mold air venting.  This bottle also has embossed near the reverse heel - McC - which indicates a manufacture by a William McCully related glass company (Pittsburgh, PA.) which likely used this mark up until at least 1899.  The first Portland city business directory listing for the Pacific Soda Works was in 1881 (probably producing the rarer gravitating stopper type bottle) with the remaining listings under a different owner between 1888 and 1897.  The glassmakers mark, business directory information, and the noted manufacturing related features indicate a likely manufacturing date for the Hutchinson bottle of the late 1880s or early 1890s which fits the later business period.  This example is in decent condition with no chips, cracks or major damage, though it has some moderate staining to the inside and out, some wear to the high points of the embossing and mug base edges, some lower body wear, and a faint compression bruise on the inside of the lip which doesn't show very much.  It is a decent example of a relatively hard to find Portland soda bottle that will look nice until you find a mint one (which are very uncommon in my experience as these bottles were usually used hard and thrown away worn out).  $25

"B" Gravitating stopper bottle from California - This is a Stockton and/or Marysville, CA. bottle in the typical gravitating stopper shape with the following boldly embossing on the base (with the mold engravers errors noted; errors which are not noted in Markota's book on the subject): GRAVITATING STOPPEP (a "P", not an "R") / MADE BY (with the "Y" upside down) / JOHN MATTHEWS. N. Y. / PAT / OCT 11 / 1864 in a similar orientation as above.  (The base of this bottle is shown with the stopper in the image to the left.)  This bottle is embossed with a large, thick "B" with diagonal hatch marks indicating its use by Charles Belding who bottled soda waters for a very long time in Stockton and Marysville, CA. during the last half of the 19th century, beginning during the Gold Rush era (1853) until at least 1895.  Whether this bottle was used in only Stockton or Marysville or at both is unknown according to Markota's great book on California Hutchinson sodas.  Bottle dates from the 1880s and includes the original gravitation stopper as shown in the image.  Condition of the bottle is essentially mint with no cracks, chips, or notable staining (just some very faint wisps inside that may just be dirt).  The only "issue" is a tiny, almost invisible pin prick mark on the edge of the lip.  This bottle is a well above average specimen and was also used for illustrating my Historic Bottle Website.   $50

W. H. HUTCHINSON & SON / CHICAGO, ILL'S - W. H. H. - The preceding lettering is embossed vertically on this relatively early (early to mid-1880s) Hutchinson-style soda bottle produced by (or for) the company that invented the famous stopper.  These bottles are thought to have been a salesman's sample used by the company to demonstrate their revolutionary closure, though this might also have been a generic bottle sold by the company which offered a wide array of "bottlers supplies."  The "SON" in the embossed title is the inventor of this closure - Charles G. Hutchinson.  Of additional interest on this bottle is that the mold engraver ran out of room when engraving the "SON" and ended up with the "O" squeezing against the edge of the heel and the "N" curling over the heel towards the base of the bottle (or maybe the SON was added later to the mold?).  This particular bottle appears to have an applied (possibly tooled) blob finish or lip, is aqua in color, and about 7 3/4" tall.  Click on the following links for more images of this bottle:  base view (showing the noted poor mold engraving); close-up of the shoulder, neck and blob finish (note the small dark spots on the bottle which are impact marks resulting from bottles banging against each other in the cases during the multiple use and re-use events).  The bottle has no chips, cracks or staining but has been professionally cleaned and still retains some polished ground wear.  It also has quite a few of pin-head sized ping marks on the body, as noted earlier.  Bottle acquired for and used/pictured on the Historic Bottle Website.  Great historical item for the Hutchinson soda collector.  $45

BERLIN MINERAL WATER CO., BOSTON U. S. A. -  This is embossed inside of a large German cross that has a heraldic eagle trade mark.  It is also embossed with "REGD. 1873."  This is a typical round bottom soda type bottle that unlike the vast majority of such bottles, is actually of American origin - Boston, Mass. to be exact.  It is 9" tall/long, has an applied blob finish, and likely dates from the 1880s.  The majority of these type bottles found in the United States were imported from Great Britain and frequently embossed with company names and cities from England and Ireland - Belfast being a very common point of origin.  However, some were - like the bottle pictured - made in the United States (or made overseas for a U.S. bottler).  Condition of the bottle is excellent with just some wisps of faint haze inside (totally non-distracting), a tiny bit of external wear, and a very small indented (3-4 mm) imperfection to the underside of the lip that appears to be in-making as it is smooth (and doesn't appear under a hand lens to have been buffed).  Bottle acquired for and used/pictured on the Historic Bottle Website.  A relatively rare item I believe.  $50

Beer/Ale

LIBERTY BREWING CO. / SPRINGFIELD, MASS. - I don't know much of anything about this bottle except that the company is listed in Van Wieren's "American Breweries II" as being in business from 1901-1911 at 183 Liberty and Charles Streets in Springfield.  The full embossing on this bottle is REGISTERED / LIBERTY BREWING CO. / TRADE (Statue of Liberty) MARK / SPRINGFIELD, MASS.  The embossed Statue of Liberty makes this bottle head an shoulders nicer than the usual crown top beer bottle from the Eastern Seaboard.  This item has a tooled crown top finish, smooth base (a couple faint numbers it appears), a faint amethyst tint to the otherwise colorless glass, and is 9.25" tall.  Condition is essentially mint with no chips, cracks, dings, or staining.  There is some very light - and very hard to see - wear on a couple high points of the body.  Other wise just a nice bottle with some great embossing.  Start your "Statue of Liberty" collection with this bottle!   $25

FREDERICKSBURG / (emblem with F B Co inside of a shield) / BOTTLING CO. S. F. / THIS BOTTLE NOT / TO BE SOLD.   This large (24-26 oz. & 11.5" tall), crudely made, heavily whittled, applied blob finish, thick olive green glass, champagne style beer bottle is very reminiscent of the "apollinaris" style mineral water bottles.   According to Tom Quinn (in an excellent article in Thomas's 2002 book which was based on a lead in May Jones's books from the 1960s) - these bottles, as well as scores of other different beer (export and champagne) and cylinder liquor bottles, were made in Germany (like most apollinaris bottles) for various far West Coast brewing and liquor companies (primarily California with some in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia); often for companies with German surnames or themes (like Fredericksburg).  These German-made bottles - or at least the ones with U. S. specific embossing - seem to be a phenomena of just West Coast brewing and liquor companies which is believed related to a connection with several importers in the Bay Area of German ancestry (Abramson & Heunisch in the early 1880s; possibly others later).   Anyway, this example is in about mint condition with just some very minor wear/scuffing and a small nick at the base edge (visible at the linked image at about 11 o'clock).  This bottle was used for illustrating my Historic Bottle Website.  And interesting piece of Western American history with European roots.  $75

E. DUFFY & SON / 44 FILBERT St.  - This listing is for a very early and interesting ale or porter bottle from the City of Brotherly Love .  The noted embossing (click image to the immediate left) is embossed in a very distinct "slug plate" or just "plate."  This is one of the earliest of these type plates which made it easy for soda, mineral water, beer (ale, porter, stout) bottlers to have individualized "proprietary" bottles made up for them at less cost than a individual mold.  The other side is embossed (not in a plate) with DYOTTVILLE GLASS WORKS (arched)  / PHILAD.A (Philadelphia, PA.).  This particular bottle has a crudely applied mineral finish/lip, a distinct iron or improved pontil scar or mark on the base, and an overall crudity befitting its manufacturing date of about 1854 to 1856.  (For more information on these Dyottville bottles and dates of manufacture see Tod Von Mechow's excellent article in the May 2006 issue of AB&GC magazine.)  The condition is very good for a re-used, dug bottle with no chips, cracks, or notable staining though the bottle does has some moderate wear to much of the body from re-use; this is visible in the close-up image to the left.  It is however, not really that distracting and gives the bottle surface a "matte" type finish.   Bottle used for and pictured on the Historic Bottle Website.  A relatively nice example of a very historic bottle which is among the earliest of the embossed beer bottles.  $165

UNION BREWING / AND / MALTING CO. / S. F. CAL. - This is embossed on the front of this "select" or "champagne" style quart (24-25 oz.) beer bottle.  It is also embossed on the base with P. C. G. W. which indicates manufacture by the Pacific Coast Glass Works (San Francisco, CA.) which used this mark from 1902 to about 1924 according to Dr. Julian Toulouse's classic book on makers marks.  The Union Brewing & Malting Company operated under this name from 1902 to 1916 with this bottle most likely dating to the first half of that range.  This example has a tooled blob finish, 11" tall, smooth base (besides the noted makers marking), and in a nice bright deep amber that does pass light well in the window (the image shows the color well).  Click on the following links to see more images of this bottle:  base view showing the PCGW mark faintly; close-up of the shoulder, neck, and finish.  The condition is virtually pristine with just a few light scuff spots on the lower back and no cracks, chips, flashes, staining, high point wear on the embossing (common on re-useable beer bottles), or other issues.  This bottle was also acquired for and used/pictured on the Historic Bottle Website.  $45

COLUMBIA / WEISS BEER / BREWERY / ST. LOUIS, MO. - Virtually unknown as a bottle style out West (at least embossed with a Western company/city), the tall and graceful "Weiss" bottles were not even that commonly used in the Midwest and East.  However, it seems that a large amount of them were made for the St. Louis market, like this example.  Bottle is a nice clear medium amber, 9 1/2" tall (with stopper), tooled blob top with the original lettered porcelain stopper and original bail (click HERE for a picture of the stopper), smooth base, ca. 1900-1910.  This bottle is also embossed on the reverse with "THIS BOTTLE / IS / NEVER SOLD"; click HERE for a picture of the reverse side.  At the bottom of the reverse side, just above the heel, is embossed "I G CO 30A" which indicates manufacture by the Illinois Glass Company in mold #30A.  This mold is listed in the early 20th century Illinois Glass catalogs with the number 30A and was called - of all things - the "St. Louis Weiss Beer" style.  Bottle is essentially mint with no chips, cracks, wear, or staining - just a couple of obscure scratches.  The relatively heavy glass also has some nice bubbles in the glass and is all-round just a neat looking item. (Incidentally, this bottle was illustrated on the Historic Bottle Website.)   $50

Cobalt blue beer bottle - This cobalt 12 oz. beer bottle so intense in color that it has some purple-blue highlights to my eye in the thicker portions of the glass which is quite heavy.  Bottle is 9" tall, smooth base (click base view to see such), a true applied "mineral" type finish or lip (click close-up of the shoulder, neck and lip to see such), was produced in a turn-mold (unusual for cobalt beers) with very distinct horizontal striations, and dates from the 1880-1895 era in my estimation.  It also has some nice elongated bubbles in the glass.  These cobalt blue beer bottles often (always) held a brewed product called "Liquid Bread", which was likely simply an euphemism for "beer."  The condition of the glass is very nice and smooth - no staining, just a few scuff marks.  There is a small edge of the lip rim nick (actually it may be a very small open bubble) and a short (5 mm long), narrow flake of the bottom edge of the lower part of the collar which is not too obvious and minor in scope...but it is there.  Great window bottle and a item which I used to illustrate the export bottle type on the Historic Bottle Website.  Given the very minor chips, this item is priced well.   $40

SOLD ITEMS

F. ENGLE / LANCASTER / PA. - A nice Gravitating Stopper soda bottle from Pennsylvania.  The base is embossed in rings as follows: GRAVITATING STOPPER MADE BY / JOHN MATTHEWS NEW YORK / PATD OCT 11 1864  - click HERE to see a close-up picture of the base.  Bluish aqua, applied blob top (typical of this style of bottle), smooth base (except for its totally embossed), 7" tall, ca. 1870-1880.  Gravitating stopper soda bottles can be found embossed from just about every state in the Union and typically date from the 1870's or early 1880's, though some must date back to the late 1860's.  This specimen is about mint with only the lightest of internal haze evident - and it really is almost impossible to see except under a bright light.  No chips, cracks, almost no wear, and only one very small (about pin head size) impact mark on the back from the bottles bumping each other in a case.  Even has a little light "whittling."  If you don't have an example of a Gravitating soda - or collect PA. sodas - here a very nice, virtually mint, example for your collection.  SOLD!

H. Floto's / Lager Beer / Reading, PA. is embossed vertically on one side of this blob soda shaped bottle - the reverse side is not embossed.  Though typically identified with soda, the "blob top" style of soda bottle was also used frequently for beer in the 1850-1870s era, though was primarily used for soda/mineral water.  Bluish aqua, applied blob lip or finish, smooth slightly indented base, ca. 1870s.  Like many bottles on these "for sale" pages, this one is pictured on the Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website - a project that I am pursuing at work.  This bottle is in very good shape with a little wear on one side and the base and a small peck mark on the edge of the lip that has a faint iridescence to it - very hard to see and not particular detracting for this rare "soda beer" bottle.   SOLD!

JOHN CLARKE / NEW YORK - One of the earliest of the Saratoga Spring's items, the John Clarke bottles date between 1833 and 1846.  This is a pint size, a very nice "bright" medium yellowish olive green color, 7.2" tall, crudely applied "mineral" finish (click HERE for a close-up picture), and with a pontil scarred base (sand pontil); click HERE for a picture of the base showing the pontil scar.  The body of the bottle has a hammered whittle look to it and the overall look of this early mineral water is just plain crude.  This early bottle has no chips, cracks, dings, flashes, etc., but does have some spotty wear on the body (and base wear) and some swirly relatively light patination or staining which is not esthetically detracting.  It would respond well to professional cleaning, but actually looks fine the way it is.  Excellent example for a good price and one of the least expensive, colored & pontiled, early American bottles (these were selling for much more than this at a recent Glass Works Auction).  SOLD!

JOHN DAHLSTROM / ISHPEMING / MICH. - This is one of those strange (compared to the normal size) quart sized Hutchinson soda bottles that are virtually never seen out West.  I don't believe there are any quart Hutchinson sodas with a Western city embossed.  They seem to be primarily a Mid-Western or Eastern thing.  Embossing on this one is in a round "slug" plate, pale greenish aqua, tooled blob top, smooth base, 9 1/4" tall, ca. 1895-1905.  Near the heel of the bottle on the back are the letters S. B. & G Co. which stands for the Streator Bottle & Glass Co. (Streator, Illinois - 1881-1905).  Ishpeming is on Michigan's upper peninsula and not that big of a town even today - a big bottle however.  These quart Hutch's are almost always quite rare, though this size was listed in many turn-of-the-century glass makers catalogs.  Not many were ordered apparently since consumers likely favored the normal 10-12 oz. size.  The bottle is about mint with only a few scratches and a small very hard to see tiny "flash" in the glass in the thick part of the base....no staining.  SOLD!

HATHORN SPRING / SARATOGA N.Y. - Pint "Saratoga" style bottle with an applied "mineral" finish (sloping double collar), 7 1/4" tall, smooth base (big line or "1" in the middle), ca. 1875-1885.  Color is a very dark amber - "black amber" if you will.  Condition is near mint with a smooth glossy surface with just a few scattered scratches.  Only "issues" are a small 1/8" bit of "roughness" on the top of the lip (this also has a bit of iridescence associated with it on very close and brightly lit inspection) and a very small impact mark on the back body which has no radiations - just a nick in the glass surface.  Nice example.   SOLD!

HONESDALE / GLASSWORKS / PA. - MINERAL WATER - This is embossed on the two sides (if a cylindrical bottle has two sides) of this early-ish - though non-pontiled - mineral water "blob soda" bottle.  The embossing of the glassworks is a bit faint, though entirely readable; click Honesdale embossing to view a close-up of such.  The MINERAL WATER embossing is more distinct; click reverse view to see this side of the bottle.  Deep clear green color (pictures show it accurately and a much rarer color for this soda which is usually aqua-ish), 7" tall, smooth base.  This is the variant with what appears to be a swastika crudely "slugged out" above Honesdale; actually, it looks like the engraved swastika was filled with "Liquid Metal" or something (which of course did not exist then) as it is rough and crude but vaguely visible.  This bottle is near mint and appears as though it was professionally cleaned to me (a tiny bit of ground wear), though the person I acquired it from did not think so...and maybe it isn't.  It also has a very faint & small iridescent bruise on the inside of the lip in one spot that is hard to find (and not noted by the seller to me).  No other issues - no chips, cracks, dings, fleabites, etc.  Overall, this is a very nice looking bottle and a fairly rare one as the Honesdale Glassworks was in business from about 1840 to 1861 when the place burned down and was not rebuilt until the 1870s.  Bottles with this embossing of the glassworks are attributed to the earlier period; this one dates ca. 1860 (McKearin & Wilson 1978).  SOLD!

COTTLE, POST & CO / (eagle) / PORTLAND OGN. embossed around a phoenix bird rising from the ashes.  Medium to deep blue-green, tooled blob top, round, smooth base, 7" tall, ca. 1877-1881.  Here is the top Oregon blob soda - if color is the criteria.  The Cottle sodas are the only real colored soda bottles from Oregon and come in several distinct shades of blue-green as well as the extremely rare and desired amber version.  (Note: The H. D. / ALBANY blob soda from Albany comes in a deep blue aqua - almost teal color - but that is as close to "color" as any other Oregon blob soda's gets to my knowledge.)  All of the Cottle bottles have a tooled lip - unusual for this era which saw almost exclusively true applied lips on sodas and mineral waters.  The phoenix bird on this bottle is virtually identical to the phoenix on the older (Sole Agent) Phoenix Bourbon bottle from San Francisco...both are probably products of the San Francisco & Pacific Glass Works though there are no curved "R"s on the Cottle's and the manufacturing technique looks different, so it could be a product of an eastern glassworks.  The example offered here is of the deeper blue-green variety with a slant towards the blue - there is also a lighter teal green version and a equally deep blue-green version that leans a bit more towards the green than blue.  These bottles are around but not common by any means and quite popular given the color.  This one is in very good condition though appears to have been lightly cleaned as it has some minor evidence of case wear on the sides and high points of some of the embossing and a few pin prick peck marks (case bumping) on the surface of the glass.   (One of these recently sold at the Grapentine auction for over $850 and appeared to not be that much better than this one as it had a bit of embossing wear also.)   SOLD!

GREEN & CLARK /MISSOURI CIDER / TRADE MARK -  This is embossed on one side of this root beer amber, ca. 1878 to early 1880s, "blob-top soda" style bottle that actually contained fermented apple juice, aka "cider" or "hard cider."   Hard" cider (with about 7% alcohol) was a very popular beverage in the U. S. during colonial and early American times and continues with some popularity today.  However, bottles with "cider" noted on them seem to have been most prevalent from the late 1840s until about 1880, largely disappearing about the time of the pictured example.  It is thought that the popularity of hard cider was an early victim of the rising power of the Temperance movement in the late 19th century.  The pictured bottle is likely from St. Louis, MO. though that is not know for sure.  This example has an applied blob finish and was blown in a post base mold with no evidence of air venting.  Condition of this bottle is pretty good with no chips or cracks, though it does have some minor staining in one inside shoulder area and some scattered wear, light scratching, and a few very minor peck marks on the body from use and case contact with other bottles; see the various images.  Click the following links for more images: base view showing the round post plate seam; close-up of the shoulder, neck and finish.  The "Missouri Cider" name was trade marked in 1878 as evidenced by a variant of this bottle that is embossed with RGD. AUG. 27, 1878; click 1878 Missouri cider variant to see an example.  (Photo courtesy of American Bottle Auctions).  This trade mark registered date gives a reasonable begin date for the production of these bottles although they could have been made first a bit earlier.  This rare bottle was also used for illustration purposes on the Historic Bottle Website.  SOLD!

Click on the following links to go to these other pages with more bottles for sale.

 

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