IP Lewistown Soda

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Jim

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Here is the only known type of pontiled bottle from Lewistown, PA. I've posted this one before, of course, but it was happy to hear about the new Pontils Only section and didn't want to be left out.

SOULT & ZERBE/ LEWISTOWN/ Pa. George W. Soult (1822-1882) and Henry Zerbe (1816-1876) manufactured and bottled sodas and mineral waters in Lewistown from 1855 to 1859. After being in the bottling business, Mr. Soult served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was wounded at Gettysburg in 1863, but made a full recovery and finished his tour of duty. Mr. Zerbe was originally from Schuylkill county, and had several successful business ventures in Lewistown.

These bottles are extremely rare, with only seven or eight examples having been confirmed to exist. It's the centerpiece of my collection, and probably always will be. I have local bottles that are more rare and even unique, but none of them are emerald green and iron pontiled [:)] ~Jim






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Jim

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Nice, early-looking embossing font




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Jim

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Very deep pontil scar with full iron. The few of these bottles that I have seen all have very strong pontils, but this one is by far the most pronounced of all of them. I hope to get the chance to buy another one of these some day, or, better yet, dig one in one piece.




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Jim

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About that "in one piece" statement... I dug this one in 2007. [:mad:][:'(][:(] (censored, bleep, censored) [:(][:'(][:mad:]




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Jim

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This one, what's left of it, is (was) a lighter green than my good one. The broken one is almost Coke bottle green, while the good one is a deep, rich true emerald green. My bad pics don't show the difference very well, but it's night and day when they're side by side in front of you. I'm not certain if they were intentionally different colors, or simply a glass batch variation. I have seen another good one in the lighter green, as well as another one that is dark like my good one. Being that they bottled both soda and mineral water, they may have wanted two different colored bottles.

I had to live with this as my only example for two years until I got my good one. It was worth the wait and torture! ~Jim




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SC pontil collector

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Jim,
Nice bottle. Great color, condition and iron on the pontil, always nice when there is iron still left.
Thanks for the history lesson. It gives some meaning to your bottle.
SCPC
 

Jim

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Thanks, SC. This is my favorite bottle, and it was fun to learn about the history behind it. I'm usually successful at finding out about the history behind my local bottles, but sometimes it takes a while to bring it out of hiding. Nobody who is alive today knew these guys, but fortunately, written records have survived.

I document pretty much everything about my local bottle collection- The history of the bottles, accounts of my digs and purchases, even the stuff that seems like nobody would ever care about it. Hopefully, the information that I have put together can be of some help to interested people long after I'm dead and gone. Without the written records, the history that we know and love would fade away, so I try to compile and preserve as much as I can. ~Jim
 

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