Posted 7 years ago
jerryn
(8 items)
I found this bottle in California in a site that dates it no later than 1930. It is 7 1/2" tall and has no cracks or flaws. There are no markings on the bottle -- if anyone has knowledge that would pin it down more definitively please post
It's a bottle that was mouth blown, and had a cork closure. As there is no embossing to tell us what company it came from, or what product it held, we may never know. Amber bottles were usually apothecary or medicine bottles.
Thanks, I agree with you on what we will never know. It was likely late 1920's and from California though possibly earlier and from elsewhere, but there is not much more to be said. It is a nice addition to my collection.
Gillian is incorrect: the bottle is machine-made, as shown by the seams that continue to the top of the lip in photo 2, and the lack of tooling marks on the neck (thank you for very clear photos). The bottom exhibits a very typical suction scar (which some people mistake for a pontil from a punty rod), which is left over from how the bottle was held and transferred in its manufacturing process on an early Automatic Bottle Machine (ABM) c. 1905-1930 indeed, most likely in the later 1910s or 1920s when tooled-top bottles sank down into obscurity as machines took over the glasshouses.
The bottle was most likely used for medical or chemical purposes. It is a very standard shape and colour for such things.
To see a couple similar (though shorter and hand-tooled) bottles with original labels, please click here:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/186913-parke-davis-and-co-paper-label-product?in=collection-6128
The dating sounds right Spirit Bear. Thanks for the info.
Well I am summarily dismissed from making important, and perhaps rash decisions about old, old, bottles. I guess I get a point or two for the apothecary bottle decision. but I'm s0rry jerryn for leading you down the wrong glass road. So glad Spirit Bear was here to correct me.
Gillian, no worries, you get points for the apothecary bottle and points for getting Spirit Bear to correct you. That's what is great about this forum, we learn a lot from participating even when we are not quite on the money. BTW all, this is a really beautiful bottle IMHO and I am happy having it in my collection.
If either of you should like to know more about bottles, the following link is to a forum for antique American utility glass, and it directly links to a page on which I provided several hyper-links to wonderfully educational and trustworthy websites for learning about glass production and dating techniques, as well as a glossary and exposition upon the terms I provided for the user who made the 'thread'.
https://www.antique-bottles.net/showthread.php?688569-Glossary&p=705829#post705829
Thanks Spirit Bear