Few questions, very curious

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Bottleheadz

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I dug these earlier today and was very curious to see a soda torpedo with an applied lip? But it looks like it could have received a crown top? It also has 4 numbers on the bottom. So here are a few questions:
1.) Date maybe 1890-1905'ish?
2.) How to possibly look up the numbers to find a manufacturer?
3.) Was this a porcelain or possible early crown seal?

torpedo1.jpgtorpedo2.jpgtorpedo3.jpg
 

CanadianBottles

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Yes that's a crown top. It's probably British. I'd date it as more likely 1900 to 1925. Crown tops weren't invented until 1892 and I don't think they caught on in the UK for several years. They were using applied lips way later than the US was. And unfortunately you can't look up numbers to find a manufacturer, they don't mean anything to someone outside of the factory.
 

Bottleheadz

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Yes that's a crown top. It's probably British. I'd date it as more likely 1900 to 1925. Crown tops weren't invented until 1892 and I don't think they caught on in the UK for several years. They were using applied lips way later than the US was. And unfortunately you can't look up numbers to find a manufacturer, they don't mean anything to someone outside of the factory.


Why wouldn't we make them if we invented the crown? Do we have a history of later torpedo soda bottles made in the US? Thanks too btw for the response! ;) I'm also not sure if applied lips would still be made past 1910-1915 due to everything at that time being made on automatic machines? Thoughts?
 

sunrunner

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you well see American semi round bottoms ( there is a small value mark on the bottom ) .and machine made after 1910. there are some B.L.M before 1910 ,tooled top crowns.
 

CanadianBottles

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Why wouldn't we make them if we invented the crown? Do we have a history of later torpedo soda bottles made in the US? Thanks too btw for the response! ;) I'm also not sure if applied lips would still be made past 1910-1915 due to everything at that time being made on automatic machines? Thoughts?
Round bottom bottles weren't particularly popular in the US late enough to coincide much with the crown tops. They were always more popular in the UK than the US. And applied lips were phased out long before 1915 in the US but the UK took much longer to update their bottle technology. They were still making bottles by hand well into the 30s, and I'm not sure if they ever phased out the applied lip until the glassblowers were replaced by machines.
 

Bottleheadz

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you well see American semi round bottoms ( there is a small value mark on the bottom ) .and machine made after 1910. there are some B.L.M before 1910 ,tooled top crowns.


Got it! I appreciate that info! I actual found some others with the value mark on the bottom next to these. So the mystery deep'nd when I saw that these were applied and the others were machines but nearly identical..
 

Bottleheadz

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Very cool! I did not know that. But isn't that the American way to be technological competitive back then and pull away from hand operations! These were found right next to some others that were crown machine made ones with that little value indent on the bottom. I just wanted to understand the mystery of how possibly some old applied ones ended up right next to more modern rounded bottom but machine ones came about.. HMM.. Thanks again!
 

Robby Raccoon

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Canadian Bottles has it right. The British made lots of hand-made bottles even into the 1930s. One American firm was still blowing bottles into the '20s. The bottle in question is likely a ginger ale or mineral/soda-water of English/Irish make. Foreign waters and ginger ales have been popular for almost 200 years.
Here is a labeled version in my collection: Applied crown. That mine was made in a snap-case though is curious, because that doesn't suggest American make in any way for this new of a bottle. My guess is, my bottle was imported, sold, recycled for deposit, and bought for use by the bottler whose label is on it. I should think yours experienced the same.
3e551RoAcFWgwtNZ8RDjhA.jpg
 

Bottleheadz

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That is awesome knowledge!! Sorry for the late reply.. You have a sweet bottle there! ;) Crazy to still see it's label!
 

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