GLASS BOTTLE MARKS ~ HOME PAGE
Hi there ~ I’m interested in the general history of the glass manufacturing industry in the United States, especially that of container glass, electrical insulators and tableware (both pressed and blown). Antique bottles, Fruit jars, Glass electrical insulators, EAPG (Early American Pattern Glass), Depression Glass, Milk Glass, antique children’s mugs, fishing net floats, and other items are some of the forms of glass I enjoy learning more about. My “GLASS BOTTLE MARKS” website attempts to discuss those subjects and more.
A lot of great information about glass is already available on the web, as well as in numerous books and magazines, but I’ve tried to gather some of the very best, basic info together onto this site, in particular concentrating on glass manufacturers’ identification marks found on bottles, fruit jars, insulators and tableware. I’m also in the process of adding various research articles to this site, with histories or summaries on a number of glass companies, and information about different types of collectible glass and glass items.
The glassmaking industry in the United States is a huge field that dates back to the seventeenth century, and covers a vast array of items and applications, including both handmade and machine-made glass.
According to historian Rhea Mansfield Knittle (Early American Glass, 1927), one of the earliest glass manufacturers in the US (not counting the unsuccessful attempts at Jamestown in 1607 and 1621) who may have produced considerable quantities of glassware and actually met with some degree of success, was Johannes Smedes (or Jan Smedes) who operated an establishment – probably making bottles for the most part – sometime in the period of 1654-1664 at New Amsterdam (now New York City).
What is glass?
Although some collectors and researchers might consider this a question with a fairly “obvious” answer, it’s not quite as simple as that. For a brief, basic discussion on glass (especially concerning the most common type of glass used for containers and tableware), check out my webpage here: What is Glass?
Every glass object, even the most lowly, commonplace glass bottle, has a story behind it, although all of the precise details may never be known. Where was it made? What was the name of the company or factory where it was produced? How old is it? Is it handmade? Was it mass-produced by machine methods? What type of glass is it made of? What elements/chemicals were included in the glass formula or “recipe”? Why is it a certain color? If it’s an older, hand-blown bottle, who was the glassblower who fashioned it? Who was the last person who used it and handled it before it came into your possession? Where was the physical location of the sand supply that eventually was turned into the glass piece that you hold in your hand? Is it American-made, or a piece that was produced outside the United States? Are there letters, numbers, emblems or other graphics embossed into the glass itself? Can the factory or company/glassmaker be identified by the markings on it? What do the markings mean?
Some or all of these questions might come to mind to the collector or layman, student, flea market shopper, historian, researcher, archaeologist, or casual hobbyist. And my site attempts to answer, in at least some cases if possible, these questions: Where, approximately when, and by what company was this piece of glass made?
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Glass making factories in earlier days were, for the most part, rather unpleasant places … the general inside environment could be, and often was, brutal. It was extremely hot (especially in the warmer months), noisy, dirty, and dangerous for a number of reasons. Injuries, especially burns and cuts, were commonplace. Fire was always a potential occurrence, and many early factories were destroyed by fire, sometimes leading to the complete closing down of a plant and/or failure of a company.
Antique and vintage glassware of all types and styles that are collected, studied and appreciated today are the tangible artifacts and testaments to the remarkable creativity, sheer hard work, energy, endurance, perseverance, and innovation of those men (and women, as well as many young children in the days before the enactment of child labor laws) who worked in those earlier factories.
Five of the webpages on this site list glass manufacturers’ identification marks (alphabetically listed) seen on container glass (bottles, jars, flasks, jugs, etc.) and on other types of glass including handmade and machine-made tableware and cookware.
A few examples of “glass bottle marks” on utilitarian containers would be “I inside a diamond” , “B in a circle” “R & CO” and “N inside a square”.
Please click here to go to “PAGE ONE” of the alphabetical mark listings, with introductory information and explanatory comments: Glass Bottle Marks
On this site are a number of individual web pages with basic information on some of the glass factories that operated in the United States. To read any of the glass company profiles I’ve posted (so far) on the Glass Bottle Marks site, and other articles pertaining to glass, please look along the right-hand sidebar of any page (on a computer screen) or at the bottom of the page (on mobile devices) for the menu of “Glass-Related Articles”, and click on any link in that list. I hope to post more articles and add more information as time and energy permits!
One page in particular within this site is a list of glass factories that manufactured, or are believed to have produced, glass electrical insulators for telegraph, telephone and/or power lines. Although mainly listing U.S. factories, a few Canadian factories are listed also. Click here to go directly to that page: GLASS INSULATOR MANUFACTURERS.
If you have additional information, please contact me (at the email address listed on the Contact Information page on this site) as I’m continually looking for the most accurate data available on these companies. Sources of some of the information is included after each entry if I have it available. I’d appreciate any additions, corrections, or suggestions you may have!
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Some of the information on glass insulators is from research originally compiled by N. R. Woodward, creator of the “CD” (Consolidated Design) numbering system now used worldwide by collectors for identifying and cataloging insulators. A portion of the info in this site pertaining to insulator manufacturers is drawn from various articles in the classic 2-volume reference book “INSULATORS: A HISTORY AND GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN GLASS PINTYPE INSULATORS“ by John & Carol McDougald (published in 1990).
The glass insulator pictured here, a blue aqua or “Hemingray Blue” CD 257 “Mickey Mouse”, is a type made for power lines, made by the Hemingray Glass Company at their factory that operated in Muncie, Indiana.
This site is a “work in progress” started in February of 2004. Originally, the core material was posted as a “sub-page” on the umbrella site https://myinsulators.com (hosted by webmaster Bill Meier), but in September of 2012 I moved to my own domain name, and have since expanded this site with additional articles. I would also like to thank the many people around the country (and some from outside the US) with whom I’ve communicated by email, and who, over the years, have sent me photos of glass marks, some of them posted in the alphabetical listings.
I hope this website will be of help in your quest to discover more information concerning the wide world of glass and glass manufacturing. Please be sure to bookmark my site, and return often!
Thank you!
~David
COMPLETE LIST OF ALL ARTICLES ON THIS SITE
SURNAME-ORIENTED ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTING
GLASS MANUFACTURERS MARKS -ALPHABETICAL PAGES – PAGE ONE
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The family went kayaking yesterday and I spotted a blue bottle in the mud. I was wondering if you could give me some info on it. The Bottom has a M in a circle with the number 15 below I do have a pic. Thanks
Mark, please check out my list of glass marks in alphabetical order (Pages one thru 5). Your bottle with “M in a circle” was made by Maryland Glass Corporation. I also have a separate webpage on that company.
Best regards,
David
I found an M.G. Co brown bottle in Puget Sound. It looks different than the examples you have posted. There is an underscore below the o, and it has a plus sign above and a 3 below.
After a second look, the plus appears to be a cross.
Hi Brad, For more in-depth info on the M.G.CO. beer bottles (made by Mississippi Glass Company, St. Louis), check out this article here:
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/mississippi-lindell.pdf .
There are a number of bottle molds that bear a “Maltese Cross” on the base along with the initials. No one is positive what it means, but perhaps the individualized mark of a particular mold engraver.
David
Thanks. There was an example that matched. How about an amber bottle with a lid stamped on the bottom with VT 782?
Brad, I’m not familiar with it. Is that also a beer bottle of similar shape?
David
I have a bottle I bought in the late 50s or early 60s at my grand mothers house sale. this bottle looks to be 15-20 gallons made for water coolers on the bottom is wtco 2 on the top by the spout is k 23 w.t.co. I remember having to pay 5.00 for it. that was a lot for me that young and the only thing I bought at the auction full of many antiques!!!!!
Hi Gary, your bottle was made by Whitall Tatum Company. (See my webpage on that glass manufacturer). They made many large bottles and jars including water bottles.
Best regards,
David
Hi David, my niece found a Hazel-Atlas bottle that we can not find anything about; it is a brown glass quart bottle, with X – O – X on the shoulder, and bottom has Atlas symbol, Registered X-O-X U.S. Pat Off 9-A-4081. Thank you for you time, Susan
Susan, I think it might have been an obscure competitor to Clorox bleach, but I may be wrong. I can’t find anything of relevance on the web, although I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some information out there somewhere! There have been many short-lived companies and brand names, and sometimes about the only evidence left behind are the embossed bottles!
David
Hi David,
We recently found a Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing bottle on our property. It is an aqua blue color, has the I in the diamond but also has a 12 under the diamond. The 12 looks like a late 1800’s type font. Any idea how old this bottle is and what the 12 stands for? Thank you for any info.
KP
Hi KP,
Huge numbers of MSB bottles were made for many years by several glass companies. Your particular bottle was made by Illinois Glass Company (see my page on that firm) and the “12” is a mold number.
David
I found a piece of glass with a key embossed on it I can send a picture as I would love to know more about it.
Sorry, I don’t know anything about it.
~David
The Key Glassworks, LTD., was an extensive British company that combined with others over the 19th and 20th centuries. During the 1950s, they used a small door key symbol with the key pointing left on their containers. They merged with United Glass in 1962, according to Toulouse, in his book, Bottle Makers and Their Marks (1971).
Thank you Michael!
Although I have had a copy of “Bottle Makers and their Marks” for many years, and a lot of the basic data on my site is based on Toulouse’s research, I completely forgot about that glass company in my earlier response to “4everycloud”. Never having seen that mark in person, I had neglected to list it on my site.
For more extensive info, Toulouse’s entry concerning Key Glassworks, LTD is on pages 299-302 of BM&TM. He also lists a “K in a square” mark as used by them from 1908-1954, and the door key symbol “since 1954”. Although, he didn’t state clearly whether or not the key logo was retired in 1962 when Key Glassworks merged with United Glass LTD.
Best regards,
David
Hey David. I have a mystery for you! Found two colorless ABM bottle bases embossed with T. G. CO. 1922. Can’t seem to track them down anywhere. They appear to be liquor bottles and were found in central Nevada.
Hi Cassy,
I don’t have any relevant information for you, and am not familiar with the mark you describe. According to Julian Toulouse’s “Bottle Makers and their Marks”, on page 493 he lists a Toronto Glass Company (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and claims they used the mark “T G Co” but he writes that company was in business from 1894 to 1900, which is definitely too early for the machine-made bottle that you are describing.
Also, I’m not sure in your case if the “1922” would be a mold/style identifying number, or have any relation to an actual date.
Best regards,
David
Hi David
My fiance and I are avid seaglass hunters, I recently found a half bottom glass bottle with the markings PL inside what looks like a shield. It is in the shape of a rounded rectangle. These are the only markings I have and I have searched your site over and over and cannot seem to figure out what this is. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You
Shawna
Shawna,
I have seen this mark somewhere, but have no information on it.
~David
I bought a glass decanter at a thrift store about 5 years ago. It is clear glass, marked 1 quart, 3 sides are molded with squares that contain 4 pyramids which meet in the middle of each square. One side of the decanter is clear. The marking on the bottom is an oval inside a diamond with an I inside the oval. The number to the left is a 7, to the right is a 2, and below is the number 4. Can you tell me how old it is ? I think I paid $2 for it.
Hi Mary,
Your piece was made by Owens-Illinois Glass Company (see my webpage on that glassmaker). The “7′ stands for their glass plant at Alton, IL. The “2” is a year date code which would stand for either 1932 or 1942. I cannot say for sure which year that would be. The “4” is a mold number.
Hope this helps,
David
I have stumbled across 8 thin gold leaf rimmed Highball? glasses. I cannot find a maker mark because im ignorant or there is nothing on any of them, i thought i seen what appeared to be an “F” on three of the eight. I hope this isnt against the rules but i posted via another website with pictures on an attempt to ID them.
there are two pictures, one looks like a regular glass, you have to click on the thread to see the other.
It has the Irish Clan of Arms for the “Coopers”
Is this a novelty item that perhaps someone bought because their last name was cooper, or could these have been owned by a Family member many years ago.
Either way I plan on using them if they are worthless, If not they will go in my collectibles display. I would like to know anything about them.
Thanks in advance,
Ignorant Glassware owner 🙂
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/185510-please-help-identify
Ben, without a glass manufacturer’s mark, it is hard to be sure who might have made them, or how old they are. Are you familiar with the “Cursive L” mark by Libbey? Libbey has made Tremendous numbers of drinking glasses of all types and sizes over several decades. Also, the mark “F in a shield” is the mark of Federal Glass Company, also a prolific maker of glassware.
~David
I have a three-part iron Anheuser mold from my father and his days at Obear-Nester Glass. Just wondering if you or anyone else you knew would be interested in adding it to a collection. I can email photos if needed.
Charles, I am posting your comment here. If anyone is interested I will pass along your email address to them. Thank you, David
Found a blue bottle on the south shore of long islands great South Bay today below is what it written. Note no MD next to Baltimore Approx 2 1/2″. Unfortunately a broken top no markings on bottom Thanks for any info. Did look up company but found none without MD
Bromoseltzer
Emerson
Drug co
Baltimore
Robert, I have no specific info on your bottle. There are no doubt many slightly different variants of the Bromo Seltzer bottles since they were made over a very long period of time.
~David
Robert, here is some information (albeit from Wikipedia!) on the Emerson Drug Company. Being a pharmacist, I find historical pharmaceutical bottles so interesting! I have a small collection I’ve acquired from antique shops over the years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Edward_Emerson
Was canoeing out of Florida city in the Gulf of Mexico when I came upon a bottle that had washed up around Cape Sable. Great condition and fully intact.I collect bottles, so looked it up when I got back a week later. AB P24 beer bottle. I was stunned at the age of the bottle , to be in such great condition.A real lucky find.
Thanks Gary! I will add that one to the list on my webpage on the “AB connected” bottles.
~David
David, I recently found an aqua colored bottle with AB not connected but double stamped with the number 74 or 77 below it. I have researched it with no success so far and was hoping you may have some information on it. Thank you
Brandon, all that I can tell you is what is already written on my site about the AB marks. (See pages on those marks). It was made by American Bottle Company, probably dating from the 1905-1917 period. The “74” or “77” is a mold number, and the double-embossing is called ‘ghosting’ by some collectors. That happens occasionally when the bottle is being blown. The molten glass shifts position slightly/momentarily when contacting the inside of the mold during manufacture, picking up a “double impression” of the engraving before solidifying into it’s final position. That happens within seconds.
David
David, Thank you for the info. Brandon Burress
Hello,
I’m not sure if you can help but i live in Australia and today I found a J.R Watkins co. bottle. I have read about the company and found that they are a medicine company it also said they had factories in the U.S England, Asia and Australia.
My bottle isnt like the bottles i found on the internet, the ones online most have cursive embossed writing with longish necks and no lids. ( google The J.R Watkins co old bottle).
My bottle is a clear glass bottle with embossed block writing that says
THE J.R WATKINS co.
MADE IN AUSTRALIA
It has a short neck with (what i think is tin) screw on lid with their logo and Watkins written on
on the bottom is a logo thing then the number F168 then beside it is a lone M
I would like to know what it would have had in it an how old it is,
thanks a lot from
Elise
Hi Elise,
Thanks for your post. I am not familiar with the variants of the Watkins bottles made outside the US, and have no information on them. I am sure there are many and varied!
~David
My name is Brian I found a bottle in Preston Connecticut is aqua in color with an connected and a6 under that how old do you think this is
Hi Brian,
Please check out the 2 pages on my site with info on these bottles. Although no particular example can be dated to a certain year, the “AB connected” beer bottles with the letter/number combos underneath are believed to date between the years 1905 and 1917. Here are the articles with more info:
AB-connected mark on beer bottles and List of AB-connected bottle base mold codes.
This is all of the information on those bottles I have on the site. Thank you for writing!
David
Just an FYI. I recently found a small clear glass medicine bottle embossed BW&CO. I think this is the Burroughs Wellcome & Co. {I’m not 100% on this.} It is about 2 inches high, 1 1/2 inch across and 3/4 inch wide. It still has the metal cap, badly rusted, fully intact. By the necking it looks to be from the 1930’s, as it is a single twist ‘thread’. The only markings are the BW&CO on the bottom. Does anyone have input on this marking and bottle type?
Hello Mark,
Thanks for your comment! I’m not personally familiar with that marking, but doing a bit of research, I am sure you are 100% correct on the mark attribution. Burroughs Wellcome & Company was founded in 1880 in London. (Merged with Glaxo in 1995 to form Glaxo Wellcome, now GlaxoSmithKline). An online search of photos of various bottles marked “B W & Co” show a variety of types, all fairly small medicine bottles, mostly in clear, aqua or amber glass. I would guess they mostly date from the c. 1890-1930 period, but it is hard to tell without examining individual examples closely for details on whether they are handmade (mouthblown) or machine-made.
I’m assuming the BW&CO bottles are much more commonly seen in Great Britain rather than here in the United States. If anyone else wants to submit a comment here on the BW&CO bottles, please do.
Best regards,
David
I have just received (December 2015) an odd embossed NDNR NEHI soda bottle with the traditional M-in-circle mark dated 1980. It is not the traditional silk stocking NEHI design, but a coverage of dots in relief. Within the coverage are the traditional NEHI candy cane lettering design for all the fruit flavors. The logo is twice around the bottle. The bottle contains the original grape flavor cap for the Royal Crown Cola Bottler of Norfolk, Virginia. Every NEHI man I have shown it to is outraged by this design! –MikeEinTennessee
David. My name is Brad W.Recently I’ve found a very large ( probably 25-30 gallons) clear glass bottle complete with glass stopper. Looks like a Sparklets bottle. The only visible markings are located on the top rim below the stopper. Markings are W.T. CO. E “E” is not punctuated and several spaces between CO and E. Whiteland Tatum Co. I can’t find any images of vessel’s this large. Not even close! Curious to find out how old it is and the original contents. Portions of the glass appear to be opelized. Any info? Thanks David
Hello Brad,
I know that Whitall Tatum made a huge variety of bottles ranging from tiny vials to huge carboys, but that sounds like one of their largest bottles they made! I am sorry but I have no information about it. I’m assuming it is a water bottle or chemical/acid bottle, and would certainly have originally been used along with (housed inside) a plywood crate to protect it during transportation.
Best regards, David
David,
Today I found a dark green Insulator. I work for the railroad so i find them often.
But today I stumbled across one that has a “B” on the side and what looks like 0-1 on the top. Any help?
Hi Jake,
You have found a “beehive” style telegraph insulator made by Brookfield Glass Company. (Check out my overview on that company here).
Some of the more commonly-found insulators seen along railroad tracks include these: Hemingray-42 (CD 154), which was the most common insulator used along railroads; Hemingray No. 40 (CD 152); Whitall Tatum No. 1 (CD 154 or CD 155); Armstrong DP 1 (CD 155) and others, but the “beehives” are somewhat older and they include the ones such as “H.G.CO.” (usually with an H on top) ; “H.G.CO. / PETTICOAT” made by Hemingray; “BROOKFIELD / NEW YORK” ; and the ones just marked “B” on the side. Most of the “B” beehive insulators have a “shop number” or mold number on the top. OO, OX or OI are examples. Sometimes the numbers appear backwards. Most, if not all of the “B”s were made between about 1906 and 1920 at Brookfield’s second plant located at Old Bridge, New Jersey. They range in color from light aqua to light green, medium aqua, to darker teal green, grass green, olive green and even a few ambers. Off-clear (light purple) beehives are also found. Hope this helps, David
hi david i have a ball perfect mason jar embossed 18 J from your web page it said it only went up to 16?
Boyd, there have been many, many different types/series of Ball Perfect Mason jars that were made over the years. Many different mold numbers and letter/number combinations are known. I was speaking of the most commonly found type of AQUA-colored BPM jars which typically do have a number (usually positioned in the center of the base), between 0 and 15 on the bottom. I’m sure there are exceptions here and there. I think some of the earliest versions of those jars have a letter/number combo on them instead of just a number. For more insight from Ball collectors, you might try posting a query on the antique-bottles.net site where there is a discussion section for fruit jar collectors.
Best regards, David
Hey David. I collect clorox bottles, and I know they aren’t worth much but it is fun for me. I have three made 1946-47 that were made with clear glass. Two quarts and one half-gallon. I am getting ready to get another one, a quart, and all of these quarts were apparently made at the Clarksburg O-I plant (#4). (4-6 under the Clorox logo) The half-gallon has a #20 which I think is San Francisco. (20-7 under the Clorox logo) Do you have any idea why clear glass was used instead of the standard amber? Also 3 of the 4 bottles were in North Carolina when I got them.
Johnny, I can only make a guess, but it is my hunch that sometimes if there was a very large order of bottles being made and they were pressed for time, trying to produce the bottles as quickly as possible, they might have utilized clear glass from another tank (in addition to the amber tank) to help make up the difference. This was also shortly after the end of WWII so maybe there was some supply-related connection there?? I simply don’t know!
~David
Hi David,
You have a photo of “CALDWELL’S SYRUP PEPSIN/ MFD. BY /PEPSIN SYRUP COMPANY / MONTICELLO ILLINOIS”. I have the same bottle but smaller than the one in your photo. It has an S on the bottom. You do not mention a possible S in the following paragraph. But when I look up a simple S as a mark you wrote it could possibly be from Lyndeboro Glass Company, South Lyndeborough, New Hampshire. Do you think they are the maker? What is on the bottom of your bottle?
Julia
Hi Julia, I don’t think there is any connection. The “S” on the bottom of certain antique liquor flasks believed to have been made at Lyndeboro is a different “ball of wax”. The Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin medicine bottles were (for the most part) made during later years, and many of them carry mold numbers and/or letters on the bottom which just identified a particular mold being used at the factory. I can’t prove it, but I think they are completely unrelated.
Best regards, David
David: I found a clear glass bottle on a shipwreck that dates to 1872. Unfortunately I only have pieces. I can make out the following words and numbers: “Metropolitan Mil?” “157 6th” “W. Boulev?” “CCO Branch” “48” “New York”
Any clues to the manufacturer or type based on that information?
Thank you, Bill
Bill, I’m sorry but I have no idea on what type of bottle that would have been. Are you positive the shards are all from one bottle (or type of bottle)?
~David
Hi David
I have a 15″ round x 10″ tall bubbled glass bottle. It is etched with my grandfathers name followed by his birthyear 1898. The bottled is filled with an anchor and crosses. The top has a wood cork held in by a wood pin as well as a second wood pin under the throat of the bottle. I have no idea where this was made or how it was made. Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Bambi
Bambi, I am sorry I have no info on the bottle. Good luck with your continued search for information.
Best regards, David
Thank you kindly for your response
Bambi
I worked at a glass plant in Minnesota (Brockway Glass Co.) when I was younger. The air bubble defects were called blisters. Some of the more exotic defects in a glass bottle was a strand of glass across the body of the bottle. It was called a bird swing. Or small bits of glass on the bottom of the bottle called tramp glass.
Mark, thanks so much for the interesting “inside” information! I appreciate your post! I was familiar with the term “blisters” but had not heard of the other two terms. So why were base bits called “Tramp Glass”? Because they were “hitching a ride”? Or sorta like being stuck to the bottom of a shoe after “tramping through broken glass”??!
Best regards, David
I’m always finding glass bottles under my house and most recently found a Dr. S. PITCHER’S CASTORIA blown stamped bottle. It has an air bubble in it.
Thanks for the wonderful information. I just found a Boyd’s Milk Glass lid in my yard in Northwest Arkansas. I live on top of what I think was a late 1800s, early 1900s dump site. That’s my guess from the variety of glass shards that turn up after every hard rain.
Thanks Anne! ~David
David, I have a 5 gl glass jug. It says Mountain Valley Mineral Water. Hot Springs Arkansas on the side. On the bottom it has the diamond/o/I with a 7 on left side, 8 on the right. 5295 above the diamond/O/I and a 5 below. Can you tell me anything about it and what it may be worth? Thanks. Tammy Joslin, Wilburton OK. jo
Hi Tammy, your water bottle was made by Owens-Illinois Glass Company. See my page on that company. The “7” is a plant location code for their Alton, Illinois factory. The “8” is a date code……. 1938 or 1948, don’t know which. “5295” is an inventory/catalog number assigned to that style. “5” is a mold number. This site is not intended to be an appraisal site (although I have mentioned this repeatedly on my site, including in the introductory comments on the GLASS BOTTLE MARKS pages, but I’m still constantly bombarded with questions on value) so I now just advise collectors to go on ebay or other sites and find comparable bottles and check ending prices (actual COMPLETED auctions, NOT asking, beginning, or minimum prices). Best regards, David
Hi I am looking for information on a Mason’s improved jar 2 piece post, blown in mold with ground lip. with the number J195 on the base
Do u have any information on a authentic fishtail glass fishing float
No, sorry I don’t.
David
I unearthed an old bottle . The bottle is circular, the only marking is a sun with a R in the middle on the bottom with a number 1 underneath it. Curious about the maker.
Hi Penny, To date, there doesn’t appear to be any consensus on what this mark represents.
~David
Hi David, thanks for the info. I bought 2 giant amber (beer) bottles at a WI estate sale yesterday which you have helped me identify as Owens Illinois, 1934 & 1935, plant #6 (Charleston WV), mold #7. They have flip top rubber stoppers with wire and one has remnants of the original “consumption tax” label, or I think that’s what it is. One is open (the other stuck shut); I examined the bottom of the open one’s rubber stopper and it’s marked but too hard to read. Thanks again.
HOW WERE THE GRAPHICS APPLIED TO VINTAGE JELLY JAR GLASSES ? EX. TOM & JERRY
WHAT TYPE OF APPLICATION WAS IT AND WHAT IS IT CALLED? THEY NEVER SEEMED TO WEAR OUT LIKE MORE MODERN GLASSWARE OR AT MOST – VERY LITTLE. . GOSH – I SURE MISS THOSE DAYS ….
Hi Bob and Mille, The process is usually called “ACL” or “Applied Color Label”. It was developed in the 1930s and used a lot on soda and milk bottles, and was also used on other items such as jelly glasses and tumblers. Here are a few links to check out, for info on this process of adding color to the outside of glass………..
https://www.fohbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/AppliedColorLabelBottles.pdf
https://cocacolabottleman.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/cleaning-acl-bottles/
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/ACLArticle2019.pdf
I hope this helps! ~David
[Update March 19, 2021 – The links to articles above have been re-edited due to some broken links – David]
Hello David-
I have an old aqua bottle with the R & CO on the bottom but instead of a number under the R & CO there us just the letter R. I followed your suggestions to check out the glass maker marks but didn’t see any mention as to what the R might stand for. Could you please enlighten me? Thanks!
Hi Rita, I assume it is just a bottle mold identifier (or “shop” identifier), serving the same purpose of the numbers often seen immediately below the “R & CO” marking. Sometimes letters were used instead of numbers. If there is any specific reason above and beyond this, I don’t know what it would be.
David
I found a 7 oz. clear glass bottle embossed with ”Mtn. Grove Creamery Ice and Electric Co. Mtn. Grove Missouri. It also had embossed on the bottom M. G. 7 oz. Is this the makers mark? At the base of the bottle I found 081410R. The bottle has the ”whittled” look to it. I also have a “Coke” bottle that has Mtn. Grove Missouri embossed on the bottom of it. I grew up in Mtn. Grove but no longer live there. Do you know if there was a bottle mfg. co. there ?
Hi Mark,
I’m not familiar with the bottle, but a quick google search (of “Mountain Grove Creamery Ice and Electric Company”) indicates the company was in business in the early 1920s, and they produced ice cream and butter. There was a fire in 1922 which caused a great deal of damage. I am guessing the bottle could be a soda bottle (?) and perhaps they sold a variety of other products including carbonated beverages. Some ice companies in the late 1800s and early 1900s were known to bottle beverages in addition to selling ice.
Concerning the Coke bottle, if you get a chance please check out the introductory comments on my page Glass Manufacturers’ Marks on Coke Bottles. I am sure there was no actual bottle-MAKING factory at Mountain Grove, but there would have been a local BOTTLING (filling) plant located in that city or nearby. Coke had bottles made for them (by many different glass companies over the years) with the names of well over a thousand towns and cities across the United States embossed on the bottoms, and the bottles were meant to be circulated within that area and returned to the local bottling facility for re-filling. Many of the older Coke bottles (and other brands of soda) were filled and re-filled dozens or even hundreds of times during their “use life”. Most Coke bottles have a glassmakers’ mark on them, alhough it may be faint………sometimes on the “waist” or “heel” area of the bottle, or on the base.
Hope this helps a bit,
David
I found an A.B. Co. bottle in 1962 in mint condition, looks like it was made in a wooden mold and has an applied lip. It has A.B. Co. D 9 on the bottom. The B. and the C are doubled stamped. Have anyone seen another doubled stamped beer bottle like this and is it worth anything?
Hi Diana,
Although there has been a lot of misinformation published over the years about “wooden molds” being used for bottle production, the great majority of glass containers made after the 1840s or 1850s era were not made in wooden molds, but in cast iron, and later, steel, molds. Sometimes the surface of the glass has a “grained pattern”, or so-called “whittle” that appears to have been caused by forming in a wooden mold, but in general this “look” was actually caused by the molten glass being blown into a mold that was not quite pre-heated properly.
The molten glass begins to cool a little too quickly in contact with the inner mold surface, and this causes a distorted or smeared look to the finished bottle, sometimes looking like the surface of wood that has been whittled or “flaked”, hammered metal surface, or like the appearance of heavy rain beating against a windowpane.
ALSO, especially in the 19th century and before, some bottle and jar molds were poorly “finished” (the inside surface was not well smoothed or polished, or was developing rusty areas) and these are other reasons why the surface of a finished bottle may not look quite “right”.
Also, the “double stamped” appearance of the letters B and C is called “ghost embossing” and this is very common on glass insulators, also sometimes seen on bottles. This occurred when the molten glass shifted very slightly within seconds, (or fractions of a second) of being blown into the mold, “picking up” a part of the lettering, before coming to rest in it’s final position inside the mold, creating the double-stamp effect.
In general, ghost embossing does not increase the value of glass, although it is of some interest to those collectors who look for oddities and manufacturing errors in antique bottles and insulators.
The “A.B.CO” and “AB connected” beer bottles were made in very large numbers, thus being so plentiful, they have only minimal values to bottle collectors, even considering the fact they are authentic antiques and most are well over a hundred years old.
Hope this helps!
~David
I was wondering what the bottle was on the far left on your front page picture (left of green insulator and red hobnail voitive). I have a similar bottle that is 90 mm tall, 2-piece mold, entire seam with no finish (on rim), uneven, unground rim and very irregular light green tinted glass with air bubbles. The glass is very irregular in thickness and the rim is uneven with no internal or external roll. No markings…any help identifying this would be wonderful. Thanks
Hi Kaye,
I believe it is a type of “tube vial”. The example shown is similar to what you describe…….it is handmade, about 87 mm tall, two vertical seams from top to bottom, in a very light green-aqua tinted glass. Smooth base with no markings. I believe I found this in a dump or construction site somewhere, but to be honest I don’t remember exactly where, or what age range of items were found with it. However I believe it does date from sometime in the 1870-1910 time period. This link shows a page from a catalog showing bottles of a somewhat later time period (Illinois Glass Company, 1906 catalog, on Bill Lindsey’s bottle site)— check out some vials shown here:
http://www.sha.org/bottle/Typing/IGCo1906/IGCo1906page88.jpg
Best regards, David
First of all I love your website, I use it quite often to identify the age and makers of all my vintage glass collectibles. Thank you!
I have an item I can’t seem to find anything about. It’s an old glass rolling pin. The person who gave it to me said it’s from the 1950’s, but I don’t think they “know” this for a fact.
The mark in the glass has a capital M within two circles. Outside the circles is what I think is a capital G, but it could be a 6 or 9.
Any info on who the maker is, would be much appreciated! I would love to learn more about this piece, it’s the first glass rolling pin in my collection.
Hi Sandy,
I don’t have any information on your rolling pin. Perhaps someone will run across your query and clue us in on the maker!
~David
I’ve got a tiny glass jar, with a key embossed on the bottom and the number 106, could you tell me more about it please if you can?
Hi Katy,
Sorry, no info. Readers?
~David
i have an amber bottle with jaynes written downwards on one side and tonic on the other.and in between that it says “good for mother and child (in caps) on the bottom it has “CROWNFORD Co (with a _ under the o) INC” also it has most of the paper label “JAYNE”S EXPECTORANT for coughs colds there is more. the picture is a kid about 4 or 5 yrs old onthe shoulders boy looks about 12 or 13 yrs old. the clothes look like from early 1800s. it holds about a qt. i can’t find it anywhere on line. any ideas on the age of it.
Hi Mike,
It’s a reproduction bottle, (loosely patterned after original bottles from the late 1800s marked JAYNES) probably dating from the 1970s. See my webpage on Crownford China Company. Most of the glass bottles sold by/through that distributor were apparently made in Italy.
David