Anyone good at reading antique labels? :P

[moodorf]

Idk why I never mentioned this when I bought it, but a few months back I bought a nice black glass ale/beer bottle with some fragments of label still intact.

Seems to be a Bass Pale Ale....bottled by Rob B. Byass London. I can't make out a lot of the label, anyone got any good eyes??

I seem to recall reading about there being some sort of controversy at the time about this bottler or something? Like, some sort of deal where two different companies were trying to bottle ale under the same family name or something, thus the apparently emphasis on it being a "GENUINE" bottle.

Anyone got any insight?

 

[CanadianBottles]

I can make out:

['B]ASS'
PALE ALE
BOTTLED BY
ROBT. B. BYASS
LONDON.
GENUINE when it has
LABEL & CAPSULE with their TR[ADE]
MARK and an additional LABEL
with the
BYASS
[T]RA[DE] MARK

 

[moodorf]

I'm trying to date the bottle right now. I read into the lawsuit again. It was indeed someone using the Byass trademark on their own product.

LAW REPORTS.; Byass' London Porter. INFRINGEMENT OF TRADE-MARKS. (Published 1860)

www.nytimes.com

The article is from 1860, when presumably the lawsuit was current. So the fact that the bottle needs this kind of qualifying language tells me the lawsuit was probably still somewhat fresh in people's minds when this bottle was made.

I also found a picture, seems legitmate, of what the bottle would have looked like in 1909

The same "GENUINE" language doesn't seem to be on this label, which would make sense; the lawsuit was probably no longer an issue by the 1900's.

So based on this and the base which--come to think of it I never posted and now will--I'm thinking this bottle is 1860's-1900's

That doesn't really narrow it down.....hmmmphhh....

 

[nhpharm]

Its closer to 1860's than 1900. I'd guess late 1860's.

 

[moodorf]

Thanks nhpharm and Canadianbottles.

That......is one stubborn label.

 

[Roy]

Its closer to 1860's than 1900. I'd guess late 1860's.

I would second that guess.
Roy

 

[epackage]

I'd date the bottle to the 1880's, it looked like this..

.

 

[moodorf]

I've looked so hard for a picture of the label for so long, thanks!