Bromo-Seltzer Emerson Drug Co. Baltimore, MD.
Bromo-Seltzer was an extremely popular drug, in the form of a powder, introduced in about 1888 by Isaac Emerson, in Baltimore. This concoction was heavily promoted as a remedy for “sick headache”, upset stomach, headache, hangover, and other maladies. The exact formula varied somewhat in the earlier years, with the main active ingredient (originally) being sodium bromide. The recipe was eventually changed about 1975, with the sodium bromide being removed entirely. (The last time Bromo-Seltzer was available for retail sale seems to have been about 2011. See my notes near the bottom of this article).
The bottles are usually found in cobalt blue glass (they are also rarely seen in aqua and clear glass), in a variety of sizes and minor embossing variants. The earlier bottles are hand-blown with a tooled lip, and the later examples are machine-made. The last machine-made types have a screw-threaded lip.
WARNING: (this paragraph first posted February 23, 2014, updated July 19, 2015). It has come to my attention that unscrupulous ebay auction sellers have recently listed old Bromo-Seltzer bottles in a peculiar dull greenish color…… I would give the color a term such as swampy moss green, olive green amber, burnt olive green or dirty mustard green!
Some bottles are also showing up in peculiar shades of dark teal blue, “midnight blue”, “dark ink blue”, very dark teal green or “Prussian Green”. (Some of these colors may or may not be “nuked”. Please see my note below about the teal green color).
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Although these bottles could theoretically show up virtually anywhere, some of them appear to be originating from sources in Florida. MOST OF THESE BOTTLES WERE EVIDENTLY ORDINARY COBALT BLUE BOTTLES WHICH HAVE UNDERGONE “NUKING” (irradiation) to change their color to a “rare” color shade, increasing the “perceived” value to bottle collectors. Be aware that the color is not believed to be “original” or “authentic”. Also, please see my webpage on this site about Artificially purpled bottles. Artificial irradiation can change glass from an original aqua or blue color to other shades including purple, depending on the exact content of the glass batch “recipe”.
(Note: Someone has written to me recently [3/2016] who stated he has personally dug a few Bromo-Seltzer bottles in a dark teal green from an old dumpsite and they are definitely authentic, not nuked, so I am adding this paragraph 4/12/2016.) I will reserve judgment on these color variants to others…………… diggers/collectors who are more knowledgeable on dug Bromo-Seltzer bottles and the range of colors that have been found. I also invite anyone to write to me directly (my email address is listed in the “CONTACT NOTES” paragraph near the bottom of any page on this site) if they know of teal green or any other colors of these bottles (any colors other than cobalt blue) that they have personally dug, and are absolutely sure they are “as originally found”. THANK YOU!
(Note: Hand-blown (mouthblown) bottles will have two vertical mold seams along the sides of the bottle that gradually “fade out” or appear to be “erased” as the seam reaches closer to the top rim. In contrast, machine-made bottles have mold seams that are usually visible clear up to the top of the bottle, often extending up onto the very top rim).
The largest size bottles are somewhat scarcer, and harder to find than the typical small size (most common) which measures, in general, about 2 and 5/8″ in height.
Many, many millions of these glass bottles were made, and the embossed lettering varies somewhat with slight variations in the exact placement, size and shape of the letters. Some bottles exhibit the results of mold-cutting errors, for instance sometimes the “Z” in “Seltzer” is embossed backwards (as in the case of the small bottle on the right in the accompanying photo). Incidentally, that particular bottle is an older version, with a “squared band” lip, believed to date from the early years of Bromo production, circa early 1890s. In contrast, the great majority of the smaller Bromo bottles have a “rounded band” lip.
Hundreds of different molds were utilized in the long stretch of time that these bottles were made. An examination of bottles shows many that carry only mold numbers on the base. These mold numbers (one or two-digit numbers) do not convey any precise information as to when the bottle was made. However, because of the high quantities of machine-made Bromo-Seltzer bottles seen with these mold numbers, it is very likely that they are products of Maryland Glass Corporation.
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The very first Bromo-Seltzer bottles were believed to have been produced by Cumberland Glass Manufacturing Company, Bridgeton, New Jersey in the very late 1880s or early 1890s. No doubt other unidentified glassmakers also produced them. The earliest bottles blown for Bromo-Seltzer may have been unembossed, leaving their identification tenuous at best.
Maryland Glass Corporation, starting production in 1907, was a glass manufacturer owned by Emerson Drug Company and was built specifically to be operated as a vehicle for producing the vast quantities of Bromo-Seltzer bottles necessary. Philip I. Heuisler, a close business partner with Isaac Emerson, served as it’s president.
As time went on, Maryland concentrated most heavily on the manufacture of many types of cobalt blue bottles and jars and other blue glassware. Maryland Glass, no doubt, produced more of the B-S bottles than any other manufacturer. The most common mark used by Maryland Glass Corporation is their “M inside a circle” . See more info on Maryland Glass Corporation and their marks here in this article: “Maryland Glass Corporation / M in a circle trademark”
All of the earliest Bromo-Seltzer bottles were handmade, presumably including most if not all of the Cumberland Glass production, as well as the first few years of Maryland Glass production.
From in-depth research by collector, researcher and Bromo Seltzer museum curator Ernie Dimler, it is now believed that Maryland Glass Co. Bromo-Seltzer bottles were made by hand from 1907 to the 1910-1911 period. By 1911, production was switched over to machine, and in about 1914 Owens automatic bottle-making machines was put into use at the plant.
Most, if not all, of the CORK-top Bromo-Seltzer bottles made by Maryland date between 1907 and circa 1921. Around 1921, the cork-top style was phased out and the “lug-style finish” was phased in. The lug type bottles have 3 lugs (small protrusions or tabs) spaced equally around the top of the bottle. The lug finish is believed to have been phased out around 1952 and the “continuous thread” finish (the “normal” threaded top) was began in about that same year.
The “M in a circle” trademark used by Maryland Glass was introduced in about 1921, around the same time the lug finish was being phased in.
Although I have previously posted here that I believed Illinois Glass Company made some of the early Bromo-Seltzer bottles, marking the bottom with a diamond with a dot inside, I now doubt that this is correct. There are a number of bottles found with geometric shapes on the base (along with an arrangement of dots) and these were most likely made by Maryland Glass Corporation in the early years of their handmade operation.
Some Bromo Seltzer bottles were also believed to have been produced by Hazel Atlas Glass Company (or it’s predecessor, Hazel Glass Company). However, that information is now in doubt as well, as discussed on Bill Lockhart’s exhaustive webpage on Bromo-Seltzer bottles here.
Another confirmed maker of Bromo-Seltzer bottles would be George Jonas Glass Company, Minotola, New Jersey (1896-1908), as this is specifically mentioned on page 271, The Glass Gaffers of New Jersey, by Adeline Pepper (1971).
Bromo-Seltzer bottles are so plentiful that they do not have a high intrinsic value, but because of their highly attractive cobalt blue color, they are very popular with glass and bottle collectors and non-collectors alike, and can even add color and interest to interior room design. Many of them are sold on internet auction sites such as ebay, and other antique and collectible sites.
The switch from glass to plastic Bromo Seltzer bottles – circa 1983?
[This paragraph edited July 13, 2022] : Exactly when the last glass Bromo-Seltzer bottles were made is currently uncertain, but possibly in about 1983. I have previously written on this site that BS glass bottles were probably phased out sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s. That is absolutely incorrect. (Bill Lockhart, in his articles for Sha.org, estimates the last glass bottles were made in the early 1970s, perhaps 1971).
Please see a message sent to me by Ron (June 24, 2013) posted in the Comments section farther down on this page. He stated that the glass bottles might have been discontinued not long after 1956 (within a year or two). However, I later received a message from Mike Johnson (posted 9-24-2015) and he is fairly certain that cobalt blue glass bottles were made for Bromo-Seltzer until about 1981 (see his post in the “Comments” section of this page also). Recently (7-2022) I received a note from another reader (Richard Kriley) and he sent me photos of a glass bottle, still labeled, bearing what appears to be a 1985 expiration date stamped on the side. After more internet searching, I found photos of other bottles (made of cobalt glass, labeled, and with metal lids) with expiration dates including October of 1985, November of 1985, and April of 1986. Exactly how long a period of time is typical between the sell date and the expiration date on these bottles is unclear. (Do you know? Please contact me!). But my guess would be that the bottles were sold around 2 to 3 years before the expiration date came around. So I am currently, until further notice, placing the date of the most recent Bromo-Seltzer glass bottles at about 1983. I invite further discussion on the subject, and if anyone has concrete documentation on when the very last glass bottles (not plastic) manufactured for Bromo-Seltzer (for normal retail sale) were made, please write!
The Emerson Drug Company (and it’s subsidiary Maryland Glass) was sold to the Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Company in 1956. In 1968, the Dorsey Corporation of Chattanooga, TN acquired the glass plant from Warner-Lambert, although it continued to operate under the “Maryland Glass Corporation” name.
In 1978 the Maryland glass plant was sold by Chattanooga Glass Company to Steve Kelly, who soon ran into financial problems with the property and filed for bankruptcy in 1979. By late 1980 the workers were being laid off, and the glass plant was closed down completely by February of 1981.
The product Bromo-Seltzer was continued to be sold after 1975, which was evidently the year when the formulation was changed and sodium bromide was removed from the “recipe” for the medicine. Eventually production of Bromo-Seltzer was moved entirely to Canada. (Any glass bottles that contained Bromo-Seltzer that were made after about 1981 would have been made by another glass company besides Maryland Glass Corporation).
There is confusion on when the Bromo-Seltzer product itself was completely taken off the market. Some sources have given 2008 as the year when the company stopped producing the product and went out of business. During the last years of the product (and those exact years are unclear to me at the present time), it was packaged in plastic bottles, and (later) in plastic, foil or paper packets.
From this webpage on Amazon (from reading product reviews from purchasers), the last year that Bromo-Seltzer seems to have been available for sale (online only) was approximately 2011. [Edited 4/16/2024 – that page is no longer active and was deleted].
NOTE: For a very informative, detailed treatise on BROMO-SELTZER bottles, please check out this article (this is a .PDF file) written by Bill Lockhart from his research along with info submitted by several other glass researchers. Bill discusses the many different Bromo bottle variants made over the years, with an estimated timeline: https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Bromo-Seltzer.pdf
Bill also goes into more detail on Maryland Glass Corporation in this article:
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/MarylandGlass.pdf
For more information on the Bromo Seltzer Art Tower in downtown Baltimore, see this article:
https://www.bromoseltzertower.com/visitor-info/museum
For a little more background information on Bromo-Seltzer, check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromo-Seltzer .
For an extensive list of glass manufacturers’ marks on bottles, fruit jars, electrical insulators, tableware and other glassware, please click here to go to Page One of the “Bottle Marks Pages“.
Click here to go to my site Home Page.
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I was digging in my yard to build a fence and about 6-7″ in the ground I found in perfect condition an emerson seltzer bottle it’s about 2 1/2″ tall with a 5 stamped on the bottom. Could you tell me more about this.
I have three of those 2.5″ and they are all different, which is why I keep them. One has a handformed top (no seam above shoulder) with nothing on the bottom. It is a dark blue.
I have one with a seam mark running all the way to shoulder then about 1/32 of an inch to the right another seam going up the neck. It has a diamond with two dots inside it on the bottom. The third has a constant seam from bottom to top and has the number 9 on the bottom (with line beneath it so as not to confuse it with a 6). They are beauties, aren’t they?
Looking for an older Bromo bottle with squared ring top … seamless neck.
Very interesting article, thank you. I found one under the snow in our driveway in Shelburne MA. Was surprised it does not say MD after Baltimore. It’s about 4″ tall.
Hi Laura,
Yes, there were many different molds made over the years, and the exact wording (and arrangement of the markings) on the Bromo-Seltzer bottles may vary a little. Thanks, David
Doing construction of new home on the beach in Margate City NJ. While Driving pile for the new house I Found a small EMERSEN bottle with the number 26 on the bottom. It definitely appears to be hand made. Very interesting to read about the other finds. Thanks for all of the info.
I work on an orchard in Johnstown,Ny. Today I was picking pumpkins and seen some blue glass and uncovered a bottle of Emerson Bromo seltzer. Great condition other than a small chip in the rim. Has the diamond with a dot symbol on bottom. I found your article very informative!
Just found a bromo seltzer bottle working at the old Thomas Edison building in west orange NJ.
Also has the number 14 on the bottom
I just found a Bromo Seltzer bottle on the beach in Sandy Hook, NJ. yesterday. It has the fully embossed front Bromo Seltzer – Emerson Drug Co. – Baltimore, MD and a number 23 on the bottom. So I think its from the early 1900’s according to what I have been reading. I figured I would google this and see what I found. Wow, didn’t realize I would find so much. This small bottle is fully intact, but on the same beach, I found a much larger curved piece of Cobalt Blue, and the only distinguishing marks was the letters MD. When I compared the two bottles, it absolutely looks like the same MD on both bottles. Was there a much larger bottle made also? I can’t believe I found this on a public beach. Two pieces no less. That is just crazy to me.
Hi Lois,
There are a number of different sizes, and many slightly different embossing variations of BROMO bottles that were made over the years.
I might also mention that, especially after strong storms and tides, it is not that uncommon to find pieces of beach glass, including whole bottles, that have been uncovered by shifting sands and currents. It could be a bottle that has been buried nearby for many years, and was recently uncovered. Or possibly a bottle that had been underwater (farther away from the shore) lying on the bottom for a long time, but was washed farther up onto the beach just recently. If you haven’t already, check out my article on Beach Glass, and the page on Maryland Glass Corporation.
Thanks for writing!
David
Just found a Bromo-Seltzer bottle whilst digging in my back yard which just happens to be in South Baltimore 1 mile from Fort McHenry. It’s the one pictured on the left here, only ID marks are a 24 on the bottom.
About 20 years ago while replacing a sidewalk I found a Bromo-Seltzer bottle. Cobalt Blue, and the 2.5 X 1 inch size. The embossing does include BALTIMORE, MD. The top is like the picture of the large bottle in the middle above. The rim is a single rounded ring. Looking at Table 3 in the SHA guide that you reference, I am assuming that this is the single ring, rather than the 3 or 4 lug. The seam is pretty strong until about half-way or two-thirds up on the neck. There is a 12 embossed on the bottom. The glass in the base is not level (thicker on one side than the other).There does not seem to be a horizontal seam just below the single ring. The base is countersunk.
My best guess would be: Mouth-Blown, Full Front Embossing, 1- or 2-Digit Numbers on Base.
Thank you for posting this information, and the link to the information from the Society for Historical Archeology.
Donald, thank you for your post! I appreciate it!
David
My blue embossed bottle says Bromo-seltzer, Emerson Drug Co. Toronto, Ont. It would take a press on cap, I think. Not a screw cap. How old do you think it is?
Pamela,
I don’t know, but would guess it dates from sometime in the 1907-1930s period. I assume that style of bottle would have had a cork closure.
David
Issac Emerson who started Emerson Drug Co. and invented BROMO SELTZER in Chapel Hill, N.C. was my great uncle (my grandmother’s brother). EmersonDrug Co. was sold to Warner-Lambert and W-L was later on sold to Pfizer Pharm Co. My great uncle (Mr. Emerson) gave stock to his sisters (one being my grandmother) my mother and her sisters inherited the stock (being Pfizer stock later on). My mother died many years ago and I inherited the stock. I am now a proud owner of many shares of Pfizer stocks and they also pay a good dividend. I suggest that you check it out.
We are very interested in finding any information regarding Mr. Emerson especially from descendants to be included in not only our history tours but also The Maryland Glass Corporation Museum and extension of the Emerson Museum which is open to the public in the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower in Baltimore. We would be pleased if you contact us with any info you may have. Ribbon Cutting ceremony for the Maryland glass Room Sat June 10, 2017.
My husband found a small BromoSeltzer bottle on our farm. It has the mold seams all the way up and the rounded lip. I’m guessing this had a cork as it does not have the “screw” marks. Roughly what year did they stop making the cork topped bottles. I’m just trying to get a sense of when it might have been made. Thank you
Hi Sharon,
I don’t think anyone is sure exactly when the ‘cork type’ lip was discontinued, but from this webpage article, the screw-type finish (“continuous thread”) may have been instituted sometime in the 1954-1956 time period. So any bottles with the cork-type lip would date previous to that time. Here is the article I am referencing. It has a lot more detailed information than I have on my site……….. Please check out the info under the “TABLE 3 – EMBOSSING AND FINISHING STYLES” heading.
http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Bromo-Seltzer.pdf .
Best regards,
David
Recently just found an old cobalt blue bottle from an old house site and there is nothing under the bottom of it except a 8 in the far corner. I assume it is an old medicine or Bromo Seltzer bottle, but not sure. Any help on this?
Hi Lander,
There were gobs and gobs of cobalt blue bottles made, of various sizes and shapes, over many years. Some have markings, but many do not. Without a glass manufacturers’ mark on the base, it is hard to pin down an age range (much less a particular year). A simple number (one or two digits) on the bottom of a bottle is usually a mold identifying number and gives us no info on age or maker. Please check out my webpage on numbers on the base of glass bottles.
A lot of these bottles could be called “generic’ medicine bottles (many poison bottles were purposely made in cobalt blue glass) and there were many brands of medicines, ointments, cosmetics and other products packaged in blue bottles. Just a search on ebay with the terms cobalt blue bottle will bring up examples of lots of these bottles. Bromo-Seltzer was just one brand name, but there were other competing products, many of which probably carried a paper label but did not have markings embossed into the glass itself.
If you can tell the difference between handblown bottles and machine-made bottles, that can help narrow down a date range somewhat. IN GENERAL, handmade (mouth-blown) bottles have vertical side seams that do not go all the way to the top…….the tend to “fade out” or appear to be “wiped” or “erased” at some point below the lip area. The lip was added in a second step during production.
In contrast, machine-made bottles typically have mold seams that go all the way to the very top of the bottle.
There was a gradual changeover from handmade bottles to machine-made bottles, depending on the glassmaker (some more prosperous companies changed over earlier to machine), the type of bottle, etc, but in general we can say that most handmade bottles were made before about 1915, and most machine-made bottles date after approx. 1905-1910.
Again, there is an OVERLAP of several years where it is difficult to pin down dates on any particular example. Hope this helps a bit.
David
Hi David, I have just found a Bromo Seltzer bottle in my garden in Sydney Australia. It’s 4 1/4 inches tall, machine made type with an ‘interrupted’ screw top, fragments of what seems to be a bakelite (?) screw top, has a diamond with a C (or maybe a badly formed O) and a dot (Cumberland?) inside the diamond,and a 2 below it, on the bottom.
Rehards
Peter
Hi Peter,
Check out this webpage article (a pdf file) by Bill Lockhart which has a LOT more info than I have. There are several mold types with geometric shapes on the bottom. I think yours might fall in that category. I am not sure who made them.
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Bromo-Seltzer.pdf
David
I have the one ounce bottle with a double ring finish. From the article you quote this seems rare. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Diana Mize
Hi Diana,
That comprehensive article by Bill Lockhart (with input from others) does not mention the ounce capacity of the scarce “double ring” variant, so your information is new to me. I really have no idea just how rare that type of bottle is, but judging from the fact that Lockhart (and others in the “Bottle Research Group” who contributed to the article) had not seen any other examples besides the ebay auction noted, we can assume it is hard to find. Unfortunately I have no other info on it’s rarity or value. Best regards,
David
This was so fascinating! I just bought one for my fiancé as he grew up in Baltimore and we drive by the Tower often! This one only has a circle on the bottom, and a lipped top. Any idea (since there isn’t an “M” in the middle of the circle, does that mean it wasn’t made by the Maryland company?
Lori, it is uncertain what glass company made the examples with the geometric shapes on the bottom (triangle, rectangle, circle, diamond with dots, etc). And it’s not easy to pin down the years when they were made. I will guess your bottle dates from sometime in the 1910s-1930s, but I know that wide date range doesn’t help us very much! Thanks for writing,
David
I have a bottle that has “BALTICMORE MD” written on it. Would that be of any type of significance?
Hi Courtney,
Many types of older bottles and glass insulators are found that bear mold-engraver errors, such as missing letters, upside down or backward numbers or letters, extra characters, errors of spacing etc. Yours is an error I was not aware of, although I am sure among the many molds manufactured over the years for the Bromo-Seltzer bottles, there will be errors found once in a while (such as the ‘backward Z”). I don’t have any info on how common that error piece is, or if it has much value to collectors above and beyond the “normal” ones. Perhaps someone who specializes in collecting Bromo bottle variants will read your query and comment on the subject. Thanks for your post~
David
I have found a small blue bottle with “Bromo Seltzer Emerson Drug CO. Balitmore MD on it and a triangle on the bottom. It was found in the Arkansas river in Wichita,ks.
Hi Valeri,
Thanks for your post. That’s one of the Bromo-Seltzer bottles with geometric shapes on the bottom, and currently it’s uncertain which glass company produced them. For more info on this, check out this in-depth page written by Bill Lockhart and others……………..(also see Figure 19 on that page) :
http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Bromo-Seltzer.pdf
~David
Just dug up a small one in Chertsey, England. Just washing it out now. Always of to hear some history about it cheers
Just acquired some land in sw Arkansas which part of it is a early 1900’s dumpsite. I have found many of these bottles. I plan to begin excavations at the site shortly I would like someone with knowledge of these artifacts to contact me.
Congrats! Wish I was there to dig with you, that’s a good deal. Should be lots of fun. Take your time… I’d bring a soft brush for fine work around the bottles. Would make sure to wait till there’s a full thaw if you ground gets frozen. Enjoy.
I found a 2 1/2 inch blue bottle in a field in Fayetteville TN right near a Civil War site and was very excited that I’d found some living history! No visible side seam, 12 on the bottom.
Per Ron’s comments about when glass Bromo bottles were phased out…he is about twenty five years too early. Warner Lambert discontinued glass Bromo bottles circa 1981, not 1956 (the first commercial plastic bottles were produced in 1959 for Procter and Gamble’s Ivory Liquid). I have a complete Bromo package (bottle,box,etc.) which has the zip code for Warner Lambert (zip codes post date 1965) and no UPC code (post dates 1975). So, it is my contention that glass bottles of Bromo-Seltzer were made well after the 1950’s.
Hi Mike, and thanks for your comments. Can you post some info on your exact sources of information that indicate the Bromo-Seltzer bottles were made up until circa 1981? Did the last cobalt blue bottles containing Bromo-Seltzer actually have the brand name or company EMBOSSED on the glass? If not, once a label is gone it may be difficult to know that any particular bottle actually contained a certain product. Also, not to split hairs (and it doesn’t change anything in your assessment of dates) but zip codes were introduced in the US in July of 1963. Although they were not made “mandatory” on certain classes of packages until 1967.
~David
Anyone have a Cobalt Blue 2 1/2inch tall with slick sides and P & W on the bottom. Also H-24 and a 7 in the center. Looks like a cork stopper must have been in it originally..
Have found a bottom of a cobalt blue glass with a circle and the number 6 over the circle. Do you have any idea what this bottom came off of.
William, I’m sorry but I don’t know.
~David
Wow, thank YOU, David, for all the information you’ve provided and hosted here. It’s like I’m in a support group or something! 🙂 Living in an historic 1870’s home, I too have a story of the bottle popping up out of the ground last year while planting a tree… which is the larger bottle pictured above, 5 on the base. I posted a pic of my bottle on FB and within minutes someones google search pointed me right here. I notice now, though, and wonder… I see a dot/period on the upper curvature, centered, back.
Thanks again!
Chris, thanks for the nice words! I think the “dot” you see is a “vent mark”. See the paragraph about air venting marks on this page from Bill Lindsey’s bottle site:
http://www.sha.org/bottle/body.htm#Air Venting
Take care, David
Hi, I live in a historic home built in 1851 with a granary that was built in 1865. My son-in-law happened to see a piece of blue glass under the floor that sparkled. He dug it up and it was a Bromo Seltzer bottle. A fun find. It has the original cork stopper in the top. Do you know how to remove this without damaging it so I can wash the inside of the bottle? It was so fun to read all the comments. Loraine from Utah
Hi Loraine, Sounds neat! Usually a very old cork will be dried out and easily prone to damage when attempts are made to remove from a bottle. Personally, I would leave it as is. (Since it is an authentic artifact from your house’s history, it might be of more interest or sentimental value if left as it was found). I don’t know this for a fact, but perhaps there are smaller sizes of corkscrews out there that could be used to remove the cork if you really want it gone? Sorry– I just don’t know.
David
My parents house sits on an old ‘clean’ landfill and we constantly find cobalt bromo seltzer bottles in the ground. I think we’re up to about 20 now in various sizes.
HI, and thanks for your comment! The Bromo-seltzers are out there in abundance, and many, many different molds with differences in exact markings can be found! Great “window bottles”!! David
Thanks David. I just picked up a 2 boxes of bottles from an estate sale. It was in a MD family. Using your article i was able to identify it from the MD factory, hand blown, no marking on the bottom. The bottle is in amazing condition as it sat on a shelf in the basement of the old farm house.
Thank you Noreen!
~David
Thank you David for posting this information!! I live in Kansas and have found a multitude of htese bottles, of all sizes, buried in my backyard. Some of them still have the cork and powder inside. I will have to go home now and find out where they were made thanks to your information on the “M” or “I”. I have also found a few, no bigger than 2 inches that have no information on them at all. Most are cobalt blue in color. Thanks again for the information!!
Hi Jamie, and thanks for your post. I would imagine there might have been an unofficial trash dumping area along the back perimeter of your property, and the area has settled over the years, and/or been covered over with soil, and you are now finding some of the “non-degradable” items such as bottles that were disposed of there?
Take care, David
I have a blue bottle but it has a .4 on the bottom? What does that mean?
It’s a mold number, and just identified the mold. It means almost nothing to us collectors now, but had importance to the factory workers at the time the bottle was made.
David
We recently acquired some property which is apparently the site of an old trash dump used in the early 1900’s. We found numerous blue bottles and other artifacts lying exposed on the ground. We plan on digging for more soon as the weather warms up. Any info or tips would be helpful as we are brand new to this.
Steven, my only advice would be to dig very carefully, and try not to break any bottles in the process! Depending on the particular dumpsite, there may be only a small amount of debris in a thin layer, or there could be multiple layers of trash from extended periods of time when an area was used for trash disposal. Some dumps are very old, and bottles from lower levels might date from the very early 1900s or even back into the 1800s. Just depends on the individual site. You might search the internet for articles on dumpsite bottle collecting, ‘dump digging’, “privy digging” etc. Also, you might try posting some queries on the antique-bottles.net website, where discussions on all aspects of bottle and jar collecting (including digging for bottles) are posted.
Take care, David
My Dad and I dug many of these bottles when he was around. They have a very special attachment for me. I’d like to make a collection of them again. Thank you very much for your article.
Mark in Boston.
Thanks a lot Mark!! They are beautiful bottles……..love that Cobalt color! Good collecting, and thanks for your comments!
~David
Hello my name is Kathy, I recently came across two cobalt bromo seltzer bottles. One of them is the big bottle with the lettering on It and the other is a sm bottle with no lettering but however it still contains some of the bromo seltzer powder in it with original cork. Are these bottles worth anything
Hi Kathy, Sorry, this is not really an appraisal site. However, most Bromo-Seltzer bottles in the more common small sizes are worth around 50 cents to a couple dollars apiece. They may be priced much higher on online auction sites, in antique stores, flea markets, etc. Larger, more unusual sizes will be worth more.
~David
I’m glad you posted that Dave. I met a seller at a bottle show several years ago that had two Bromo’s for $10 each. I wish I bought them as examples. One was that fugly moss color and the other was more a teal green. I mentioned the “nuking he was upfront that they had both been irradiated.The tealish was probably “under cooked”. Some Teals have been dug though so that further clouds the issue.
Thanks for the comments! Irradiation is a scourge on the hobby, in my opinion….
~David
The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower is Open for Tours. Check out our website bromoseltzertower.com. We have 15 floors of artists and do tours into our historic clock.
Hi Betsy, I’m posting your note here with a link to the site. David
Great info — I was able to validate my 6.5 ” bottle, hand blown version. Bubble over Emerson , seam disappears on the top. Would this date bottle to pre 1907 ?
DN,
Unfortunately, there is no way to be sure just when any particular Bromo-Seltzer bottle was manufactured, only a very general date range. Methods of bottle manufacture changed over GRADUALLY (from hand-blown to machine-made), over a period of quite a few years, generally between 1904 and circa 1920. Some glass manufacturers changed over rather early, some later. Some made both handblown AND machine-made bottles concurrently for a period of time. Some factories produced hand-blown bottles even much later than 1920.
According to Julian Toulouse in Bottle Makers and their Marks (1971), on page 339, he writes that Maryland Glass Corporation did not start fully automatic bottle production until 1915. Of course, this is 8 years after Maryland had been in business, churning out tremendous numbers of cobalt blue bottles and jars of many types including the Bromo-Seltzers which was their principal product. So, there is no way to state positively that your bottle dates either before, or after, 1907. It could be a product of Cumberland Glass Manufacturing Company, Bridgeton, New Jersey (maker of Bromo-Seltzer bottles before Maryland started production of them c. 1907) but there is no way to be absolutely certain. Cumberland is believed to have been the first maker of these bottles, and might have blown the first Bromo-Seltzer bottles (presumably as early as circa 1891-1892), but there is conflicting information on exactly when the first of these bottles were produced. It is possible that some of the very earliest bottles containing Bromo-Seltzer were unembossed. Best regards,
David
We try to share as much history that we have on the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower which was the home of the Emerson Drug Company was built by Isaac Emerson a mover and shaker in Baltimores history. Our history room is modest and we are always hoping to find people interested in donating to make it more interesting. We have a counter dispenser and we are looking for the large bottle that fits into it. I can be contacted through the website. Keep on collecting!
The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower now houses an extensive collection of Bromo Seltzer Bottles made by a variety of glass manufacturers prior to MD Glass Company as well as what I believe is the largest collection of the green bottles, and Maryland Glass Company emphemera. This collection is on loan from the curator Ernie Dimler.
Mr Dimler is interested in holding a forum at the tower with one of the discussions on the green bottles. Interested parties should go to the website contact him or myself at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower in Baltimore. No date set as of yet so indicate your interest and suggestion of dates I believe there is a large bottle collectors’ event in March in Baltimore?
Great information! I am a seaglasser and found a piece of a Bromo Seltzer bottle on the beach near Baltimore yesterday. I was able to identify the piece as from a 5″ bottle. There is a lot of great info here and I have shared this link on my facebook page – Sea Glass Visions. Thanks! Cathy
Hi Cathy!
Thanks for your kind words, and thank you very much for posting a link to my site on your Facebook page. [her page is here: http://www.facebook.com/seaglassvisions ]
Best regards,
David
Does anyone know if the embossed bottles also had paper labels? I have the earlier dispenser and have a nice large almost 8 inch bottle that is embossed Bromo-Seltzer Emerson Drug Co. Baltimore MD. Wondering if it had a paper label also. I can’t find any examples online that have the paper label and have the embossing as well. Say when you went to the drugstore in 1925 what did the actual product look like?
Hello Keith,
I’ve always assumed that all of these bottles originally carried paper labels. I can’t vouch for that 100 percent. However, perhaps a close watch on ebay auctions will bring up an example, sooner or later, showing the label on this size Bromo-Seltzer bottle from that time period.
Best regards,
David
Hi guy’s
If I am not mistaken – the embossed side of the bottles was often the back side of the bottle and the front did in fact have a printed paper label.
Hi Ray,
I think that you are right about this—- at least concerning a lot of typical kinds of bottles, not just Bromo-Seltzer. I might add that in earlier times (say, as early as the mid-1800s) most bottles of any type or product usually had a paper label glued or taped on it, and that was in additional to whatever embossing may have been on the bottle (although there has always been a high percentage of un-embossed bottles). However by the 1920s more and more bottles went to “label only”… eliminating the extra cost of having embossed lettering. Just my guess, but the high point (the “heyday”) of lots and lots of raised embossing on bottles seems to be the period of around 1870-1910.
~David
Recently, the house next door was torn down, and the workers gave me some old bottles. We have several, but I noticed the bottle I have on this page. It is cobalt blue, about 2 1/2 inches tall, and has “Bromoseltzer Emerson, Drug. Co. , Baltimore. Is it fair to say the bottle itself is circa 1891? It is in flawless condition, but tiny. Have never seen one before, and was just inquistitive. Thanks so much for any info you may have to share with me.
Hi Catherine,
Your bottle could theoretically date from the early 1890s up into the early 20th century. These bottles were made over a period of MANY years. The chances are high that any particular example is NOT from 1891.
Can you email me a photo of the bottle? (to davidrussell59 “at” att “dot” net). (The style of lip changed somewhat over the years). Earlier versions were hand-blown (with the vertical mold seams “fading out” before reaching the top) and later versions are machine-made. Typically, the mold seams on a machine-made example will extend all the way up to the very top of the bottle. Hope this helps~
David
I have a bromo-seltzer bottle less than an inch tall with the cap and the bottom markings are a triangle inside a triangle can you give me any information on that?
Sorry, I have no specific info on it. The cobalt blue jars I have seen with 2 triangles on the base are Vicks-Vaporub jars, but I don’t know about any bottles marked Bromo-Seltzer with that marking on the bottom.
David
I have a 4 inch Alka-Seltzer glass bottle what year were they last made?
Connie, I don’t know. Perhaps a reader has more info??
~David
In 1956, Emerson’s Bromo Seltzer was sold to Warner Lambert. I don’t know the exact date this
transpired. I have two bottles from this year. Both are 4 inch with the screw top. One paper label
reads “The Emerson Drug Co.” while the other reads “Warner Lambert Company”. It was the Warner Lambert Co. that switched the cobalt glass bottle to blue PLASTIC bottles. I believe they made that transformation within one or two years keeping the cobalt blue glass bottle in the 1950’s.
Hi Ron!
Thank you so much for this information!! I really appreciate it!
~David
Thank you for your helpful article. Just got one of the 4″ ones at the local flea market. It is a later one, with visible seams the whole length. Can you tell me the significance of the number 3 stamped on the bottom?
Hello Joyce,
It really has no significance to the modern-day bottle collector. It is just a mold number, which merely identified the specific mold that bottle was made from. At the time your bottle was made, there may have been a number of identical molds being used to produce that particular size of bottle, with all under production simultaneously, thousands of bottles being churn out by Maryland every day. Each mold was engraved with a number (for instance, from 1 to 12), or even extending to higher numbers. For more info, check out my page on numbers on the base of glass bottles here..
Thanks for writing!
David
I have your article very interesting as I have just found a bottle under our patio Our cottage was built in 1878 and was originally used for the workman. I will clean up and use as a pretty small vase. many thanks
Christine Ward
Thanks Christine!!!
David
I found a small bromo seltzer bottle (cobalt blue) in my backyard in Queens NY. The number 21 is on the bottom. Circular top with no grooves. Is that the year ? 1921?
Hi John,
The “21” is a mold number. Unfortunately it doesn’t tell us anything about the age of the bottle.
David