OWENS SCAR (OWENS RING)
The “Owens scar” is also called an “Owens Ring”, an “Owens suction scar” or just “suction scar”. Basically, an Owens Scar is a more or less circular ring, seam or line seen on the bases of bottles made on one of the “Owens type” fully automatic bottle-forming machines. Owens scars are always generally circular in appearance but almost never PERFECTLY circular. The scar is often off-centered on the base of the bottle, the edges sometimes extending onto the rim or even slightly onto the actual “heel” of the bottle.
The scar was formed during the bottle manufacturing process (in this case, a vacuum suction process) when hot molten glass was sucked upward into a mold and a steel blade or knife cut off a portion (“gob”) of the molten glass – leaving the scar on the base of the finished bottle. True Owens scars are NEVER seen on handmade (mouthblown) bottles of any type. They are NOT “pontil marks” or “pontil scars”. There are other types of base marks and seams on bottles that may look somewhat similar at a quick glance.
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On many earlier bottles and jars made using automatic Owens-type bottle machines (especially during the 1904-1930s era), the scar was often more roughly formed, somewhat “sloppy” looking and the seam line tends to be more “feathered” or “rippled” with a “centipede-like” appearance. The rougher, feathered appearance of the ring became more pronounced when the blade was in need of re-sharpening. After the 1930s the rings (in most cases) became larger, “cleaner” and neater.
Since “a picture is worth a thousand words” as the old saying goes, here are three photos that (hopefully) will illustrate the general appearance of the Owens scar more effectively.
Owens scars are seen on containers made by many glass companies in the United States that had licenses to use the Owens-type automatic bottle manufacturing machines in their factories. (The Owens machines were also used in other countries around the world). Some of the companies within the US that produced ware with Owens scars on the base include Owens Bottle Company; Illinois Glass Company; Owens-Illinois Glass Company (a merger in 1929 of the previous two firms); Ball Bros Glass Company; Chas Boldt Glass Company; Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company; Hazel-Atlas Glass Company; Maryland Glass Corporation, and many others.
Here are some other pages on my site that might be of interest:
“Duraglas” Brand Marking on Glass Bottles
“I inside a Diamond” mark: Illinois Glass Company
Numbers Seen on the Bottoms of Glass Bottles
“Ball Perfect Mason” Fruit Jars
Pontil Marks on Antique Glass Bottles
GlassBottleMarks.com ~ Home / Welcome Page
Some Unknown / Unidentified Marks on Glass (Primarily Bottles)
For more background information, the reader might find this page on the “Historic Bottle Website” (written by researcher Bill Lindsey) of interest:
Bottle Bases Page – Historic Bottle Website – hosted by SHA.org
The webpage discusses many types of bottle bases, on both mouthblown and machine-made bottles.
Scroll down to the “Machine-made Bottles” section, and in particular, “Owens Machine Suction Scars”.
Another good page on his site is the BOTTLE GLOSSARY PAGE . This page has a comprehensive list of terms relating to antique bottles and the bottle-manufacturing industry.
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