Stodart's Scotch Ale Bottle

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flyingliger

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Hello all,

My scuba dive in the Waccamaw river today yielded some very interesting intact bottles. I am no expert, but love to learn more about my finds.

One of three earthernware bottles I recovered is stamped with Stodart's Scotch Ale. Does anyone have any information about the company or perhaps the bottle's origin. Recovered artifacts must be reported to the SC state museum, so I try to be as thorough as possible.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Robert
 

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Old Wiltshire

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Hi Robert,

Is the pottery mark just visible to the bottom right of the bottle in the first image readable?
My first impression is that it is possibly a British made bottle, many of the British potteries made bottles for export.
I have made a quick search and cannot find 'Stoddart's Scotch Ale' advertised in the UK.
A very nice find by the way!!

Colin


:)
 

flyingliger

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Thank you Colin,

unfortunately the mark on the bottom right is not remotely legible. The fact that I took the photo under extreme light/dark conditions makes it look more substantial than it really is. I also thought that it might be English as I've found a number of plate shards in the same part of the river with maker's marks from 1850-1890 Britain. I thought this bottle might fall in line with items discarded by trading vessels in the area during the 19th century. Also, I too made the mistake of using the name "Stoddart's" in my initial search, but there is in fact only one d in the name. Even Google kept asking, "did you mean Stoddarts?"

Thanks so much for your input and quick reply!!!

Robert
 

Old Wiltshire

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I see what you mean with the double 'd' Robert, unfortunately still the same negative result using a single 'd'.
If you don't mind I'll put a couple of your images with the question on the UK forum to see if anybody recognises or has knowledge of it.

:)
 

flyingliger

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Thanks so much for your help Colin. Yes, please feel free to share.
 

TROG

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Hello Robert,

Your bottle definitely looks like it is English made and would think it dates to 1860 -1870.

Hope this helps
 

Old Wiltshire

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Hi again Robert,

Just to keep you updated, this was the post I put on the UK forum about 12 days ago.
Included is a little bit of further information from myself and an additional couple of responses received so far.
Nothing positive on Stodart's yet but it sometimes takes a little time!
It would be interesting to see any other bits and pieces you come up with from this site.

Kind regards Colin


-
BRITISH MADE ?

I am a member of several forums including the predominantly US orientated ANTIQUE-BOTTLES.NET.
A question was posed there a couple of days ago concerning the bottle shown below.


-

-

This was the original question with my response and the subsequent replies.

....Hello all, My scuba dive in the Waccamaw river today yielded some very interesting intact bottles.
I am no expert, but love to learn more about my finds.
One of three earthernware bottles I recovered is stamped with Stodart's Scotch Ale.
Does anyone have any information about the company or perhaps the bottle's origin.
Recovered artifacts must be reported to the SC state museum, so I try to be as thorough as possible.
Thanks in advance for your input! Robert ....

-

....Hi Robert,
Is the pottery mark just visible to the bottom right of the bottle in the first image readable?
My first impression is that it is possibly a British made bottle, many of the British potteries made bottles for export.
I have made a quick search and cannot find 'Stoddart's Scotch Ale' advertised in the UK.
A very nice find by the way!! Colin....

-

....Thank you Colin, unfortunately the mark on the bottom right is not remotely legible.
The fact that I took the photo under extreme light/dark conditions makes it look more substantial than it really is.
I also thought that it might be English as I've found a number of plate shards in the same part of the river with maker's marks from 1850-1890 Britain.
I thought this bottle might fall in line with items discarded by trading vessels in the area during the 19th century.
Also, I too made the mistake of using the name "Stoddart's" in my initial search, but there is in fact only one d in the name.
Even Google kept asking, "did you mean Stoddarts?" Thanks so much for your input and quick reply!!! Robert....

-

....I see what you mean with the double 'd' Robert, unfortunately still the same negative result using a single 'd'.
If you don't mind I'll put a couple of your images with the question on the UK forum to see if anybody recognises or has knowledge of it....

-

...Thanks so much for your help Colin. Yes, please feel free to share....

-

-

I have found a number of advertisements from around 1860 for J. Aitchison & Co.'s Scotch Draught Ale with the sole manager for the London District
shown as James Stodart but can find no evidence that he may have been using bottles marked with his name.

-

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So the question is, can anybody help out with either knowledge of the bottle or company?

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The Waccamaw River:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waccamaw_River

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Link to the Antique-Bottles.net site:

https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum.php


:)

RESPONSES

....There is no doubt many bottles found abroad are British made. There was another Facebook query regarding Price of Bristol.
Stoneware bottles were good to ship abroad as they also provided ballast for the earlier sailing ships
. In "Ginger Beer Bottles of South Africa" Lastovica lists 97 types for Barnett and Foster , 60 for Price of Bristol, 40 Bourne of Denby etc.
Conversely a fair few New Zealand bottles were made by Buchan. Port Dundas also made a few items bound for American suppliers.
In Australia you see a lot of Price flagons. During my diving days I visited a few sunk emigrant ships.
In the earlier ones many of the bottles were actually plain no doubt awaiting labels in the country of origin.
You see pepper sauce bottles, seltzers, poisons. bulk glass bottles, and plain ginger beer types like we found on " Heroine ".
Add to that chamber pots and crockery.
Of course ships also had to carry supplies for a voyage so many bottles were commoner types often marked with a UK suppliers name.
One particular oddity regards reform flasks. I have seen a good few for sale over the years in America.
There and nowhere else abroad. Presumably they were taken back by tourists.
Even stranger is that American potteries like Bennington copied some in slipware presumably using the UK originals to make the molds.
Somewhere there are figures for the number of bottles exported abroad in the earlier days.
I may have been a bit off track with this brief summary if Colin was placing more emphasis on the product rather than the bottle maker.
In any case both are an interesting line to pursue....

-

....The bottle makers used wooden profile formers to create the shoulders and lip shape and each potter would have his own set.
you will need to look at a number of bottles with a similar shape and the you should be able to whittle it down to a single factory.
My friend Keith Fraser who worked for Pearsons, Chesterfield still has a set that he was given in the 1970's that were of Victorian origin.
Several potteries would use roughly the same profile for example to produce a "London" ginger beer bottle but the small difference wil be telling.
I would start of with some of the scottish makers like the Port Dundas or Portobello potteries as they produced
a lot of wares of this profile that was predominantly for export....

-

Link to the British Antique Bottle Forum:

http://www.britishbottleforum.co.uk/forum.php


:)
 
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AAAuctions

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Could you show a close-up photo of the small potters mark please as it looks like it will be 'PRICE, BRISTOL' (even indistinct we should be able to tell for sure, even just by the shape/layout of it). Great find by the way. These 'Bristol-glazed' ones were normally used for Ginger Beer or London Porter (dark beer) in the UK back in the 1850's to 90's
 

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