Mitchell & Fletcher olive oil

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RelicRaker

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Crews are digging up an old schoolyard in my neighborhood and were kind enough to let me grab a few bottles from the tailing pile. The most interesting is this olive oil, embossed with a faux seal, "Mitchell & Fletcher, Huile de Olive, Philadelphia." Mitchell & Fletcher had a profitable grocery wholesale and import business in Philly, with 3 locations at its peak during the 1870s and 80s.

Mtchell & Fletcher olive oil bottle.jpg
 

sandchip

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Very nice and looks to be in great condition.
 

RelicRaker

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Thanks all! Yeah it's in great condition and full of irregularities, bubbles, etc.
Here's a detail on the seal.

Mitchell & Fkletcher seal.jpg

and the finish...
Mitchell & Fletcher lip.jpg
 
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CanadianBottles

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Nice one! Do you think I'm correct in guessing that it's a foreign-made bottle? Also what makes you think the seal is a faux seal? It looks to me like a real seal done on the tail end of the applied seal era.
 

RelicRaker

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Nice one! Do you think I'm correct in guessing that it's a foreign-made bottle? Also what makes you think the seal is a faux seal? It looks to me like a real seal done on the tail end of the applied seal era.
Am hoping it was bottled abroad. Was olive oil typically bottled under an importer's name then shipped—or was it shipped in casks and bottled by the importer on arrival? As for the seal, I posted an a few months back about a find of an olive oil bottle and was told that seal was part of the mold. Assumed the same for this one. It would be great if it were applied.
 
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CanadianBottles

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I think it was typically bottled by the importer on arrival but this one looks like it's likely an exception. That bottle looks much more European than American. And I think that's a real seal, I've got a bottle from the 1910s with a true applied seal so they were still doing it that late in Europe, mostly for fancy products I think.
 

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