need info on this bottle

[CanadianBottles]

That's a beautiful find, probably from the 1910's to late 1920's as those were produced by hand longer than most bottles. The value depends on where you are, when I was living in British Columbia I could never afford a single embossed pharmacy bottle from the province as they tended to go for minimum fifty dollars each, I had to move to Ontario before I found one and it's still my only one. But now I'm getting local pharmacy bottles from here for five bucks or less consistently just because there was a bigger population back then. The same goes for places like New York of Philly, where there were so many druggists that even super rare ones don't cost much. I think Florida is somewhat mid-range, and that's a nice one with great embossing so I think seven dollars was pretty good. And Red Matthews, I don't know why you didn't see the description of the embossing either, as it was in the first post. []

 

[RED Matthews]

Oh I saw it but it didn't tell me what I expected to see. It is a great hobby though, and I try to help where I can. RED M.

 

[mctaggart67]

Prescription bottle values are all over the map in both Canada and the USA. Just so many variables to keep tabs on. As most here know, I collect from across Canada and find that the usual factors of age, condition, style appeal, rarity, colour, etc. come into play. Increasingly, I'm also finding that local competition is driving prices according to typical supply-demand parameters. For instance, embossed drugstores from the interior of B.C., especially the Kootenays, go for so much more than their equivalents from, say, the Prairies or big-city Ontario, only because of the high demand of several local collectors who, rightly, prize finds from this area of B.C. Now, as to your Fort Myers bottle. It's got nice colour (or color), it's in fairly good condition, and it has nice sharp embossing. On these grounds alone, your $7.50 was well spent. Although, it's not screaming with age, being from the early 1900s, it may well be in hot demand down there in Florida. However, note I said, "may well be in hot demand," as I haven't the foggiest idea about the local/state collecting scene down there. Perhaps, our Florida-based members could shed some light here?

 

[RED Matthews]

Here is some more help!The number one thing to learn is how to identify and know Mouth Blown Bottles. One of the best things to learn is how to identify the pontil marks.
#1 When a bottle has a round ring of glass on the bottom, it is telling us that the ring was made by having an empontiling done with the previous blow pipe with neck glass left on the end of that blow pipe. The diameters (inside and outside) will be about the same as the neck of the bottle under the finish. So this is a Blow pipe or Open Tube Pontil, on the bottom of your bottle. That previous blowpipe was laid on a rack by the glory hole to keep that glass tube end hot enough to stick to the next bottle. These are often referred to as: an open pontil but that is up to the collectors’ use of words.
#2 When the bottle has a contact mark on the bottom that illustrates that what was used to empontil it, that mark will be a round form with different textures in the mark. The mark is made by an iron punty rod and the diameter and style is different for: small to huge heavy glass bottles. These heated punty rods were often soft coated with a sticking agent like: graphite, red lead or white lead . The coated punty is then placed in; an open boxes with: powdered iron, glass chips, glass dust, sand, to mention the main ones. It is then stuck on the bottom of the new bottle to become a handle for the bottle-maker to apply glass to the neck of the empontilled bottle.
Some punties are even just coated with some hot glass from the melting crucible. Identifying the exact method of empontiling is not as important as just realizing it has been on a punty rod.
#3 Now the last thing to look at is the finish on top of the bottle you are thinking of keeping.
If the finish was applied hot glass it will be just a ring of glass or it might have lines going around it and down on the neck of the bottle indicating that a pinch action tool had been inserted in the neck and the hot glass rotated to shape the hot glass, that was put on the neck. In this looking at your bottle or jar – if you see two vertical mold lines on that finish – then it was made on an ABM (Automatic Bottle Machine) and left for a future collector. The only exception is if the bottle is a unique figural or has some other indications of being a collectors item. This will come after you have more experience. This is no doubt enough to get you on a good road. Clarence RED Matthews
My email: < bottlemysteries@yahoo.com>
My homepage: http:www.bottlemysteries.com/welcome