Thanks - I get what you are saying. However, if Brent's bottle was a salesman's sample, wouldn't it also include the name of the bottle manufacture who was making them - similar to the can you posted that says it was made by the Continental Can Company? In other words, WHO do you think MADE Brent's bottle? I can't say for certain, but I doubt it was MADE by the Sterilized Beer Bottling Company - although it might have been made exclusively FOR them - but by WHO? Which takes us back to the 1892-93 Alexander Straus patent. If they were made in quantity and distributed, I wonder WHO made them?
I apologize for any confusion this might generate, but confusion seems to be par for the course with me lately.
Maybe it was like my first pic where it advertise the Hutchinson Bottle, but The Hutchinson bottle was made by at least 20 different Bottle makers, it was not made or marked WWH which is Hutchinson.?
One Hundred Years of Brewing Book ~ 1903 ~ H.S. Rich & Co. New York
Bruce Mobley Websites
A B Co = American Bottle Co. = 1906-1914
D. O. C. = D. O. Cunningham Glass Co. - 1880-1931
E H E Co = Edward H. Everett Glass Co. - 1885-1903
N. B. B. G. Co. = North Baltimore Bottle Glass Company - 1885-1920s
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for GBS AQUA BAY VIEW BREWERY BALTIMORE MD MARYLAND NORFOLK VA BEER BOTTLE CROWN at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
If Maureen O'Prey's information is accurate about Bay View Brewery being the first to use a Crown-top
If the following articles are accurate in that G.B.S. (Gottleib-Bauernschmidt-Straus) was established in 1901
The Baltimore Sun October 10, 1901
"One Hundred Years of Brewing" published in 1903
Then it appears to me that we can eliminate any of the bottles embossed with GBS as being produced any earlier than 1901 - and likely not the Crown-top that O'Prey was referring to. Which leaves us with this bottle as a possible contender for a 1892 Crown-top (Pre GBS)
Bay View Brewery Norfolk Branch
D.O. Cunningham Mark - Used between 1880 and 1931
(I don't know what the 27 stands for but likely a catalog or style number and not a date)
This is the only brand of beer I can find related to the Bay View Brewery in Norfolk, Virginia in 1892. The brand was not exclusive to Bay View and was sold in other states as well. I am still searching for an ad that illustrates the type of bottle they used in 1892, but no luck yet, and will keep looking.
You might have better luck finding a early crown if you looked for a bauernschmidt brewing bottle also known as bauernschmidt & marr brewing co in 1889-1899 & also known as Baltimore United Breweries at same time. LEON.
Finding Baltimore and/or Norfolk beer bottles is the easy part - but accurately dating them can be a Nightmare on Elm Street - especially when it comes to narrowing it down to a single year such as 1892. These links are to Bruce Mobley's site and include some of the bottles you mentioned. Take your pick as to which of them was made in 1892.
The book via this link was published in 1914 and includes everything we ever want to know about William Painter and his Crown Cork. Its a fun read where you can enlarge the pages by using the (+) and turn them with ease using the < >