aqua bottle & marbles

[Mainely Broken]

Sorry Rhona didn't mean to steal your post...[] just like you would like to know???

The whole thing...

 

[capsoda]

The Owen's Suction Bottle Machine left an uneven circle with jaged edges. A pontel generaly leaves the bottom pushed up and rough with or with out iron deposits or with chipped or broken glass in the center depending on the type of pontil, Iron or glass. The best way to tell is to look it up in the BLM web page. You can find it in the resorces page of this fourm. Ther is some great info and pics too.

 

[Trying not to break it]

hi warren, cowseatmaize and ba, thanks for looking and responding. the seam goes 1/2 way up the rounded part of the lip it does not go over it and there is no seam going horizontaly around it. is this a hand finish lip? hey mainely broken, it does get comfusing[sm=rolleyes.gif]. warren i understand trying to put things on this forum late at night, i have to correct half of what i type. thanks again, rhona

 

[poisons4me]

Try going to this site,US Department of the interior,bureau of land management historic glass bottle indentification,great site. Hope it helpsHistoric Glass Bottle
Identification & Information Website

Main Subject Pages
Home
Dating
Typing/Shapes
Glassmaking
Colors
Finishes (Lips)
Body & Seams
Bases
Fragment ID
Glossary
References
Links
FAQ's
About this site
Website Map
Welcome to the Bureau of Land Management's
Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website!



NOTE TO USERS: This website is a work in progress and currently incomplete, though the majority is useable now. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, administers 261 million surface acres of America's public lands, located primarily in 12 Western States. The BLM sustains the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.

Part of the mission of the BLM is the management and preservation of the cultural resources & heritage resources found on America's public lands - prehistoric and historic. Long-abandoned archaeological sites and historic landscapes give us important insights into the ways human activities and the environment have linked together through time, how seemingly minor cultural practices can contribute to substantial environmental change. Discovering, studying, and understanding the evidence of past human influences on the land can give BLM and the public critically important background as we plan how we should be using the same land today and in the future.

The proper study and understanding of historic sites on public lands entails the use of analytical "tools" to assist in dating and interpreting the occupation details and time period of a given site or landscape. The information found on this website comprises one of those tools.




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GOAL OF THIS WEBSITE: To enable the user to answer two primary questions about most utilitarian bottles and jars* produced in the United States (and Canada**) between the early 1800s and 1950s, as follows:

1. What is the age of the bottle? (Bottle Dating)
2. What type of bottle is it? (Bottle Identification or Typing)


The above two questions also address what was succinctly articulated in the Intermountain Antiquities Computer System (IMACS) and the nominal purpose of this website, which is “…to provide archaeologists with a manual for a standard approach to arriving at historical artifact function and chronology.†(University of Utah 1992). In addition, this site also assists the user with these questions:

3. What technology, techniques, or processes were used to manufacture the bottle?
4. Where did the bottle come from, i.e. where was it made and/or used?
5. Where can I go for more information on historic bottles?



Glass-tipped or "open" pontil scar.
Bottle ca. 1850-1860

This website will explain why this sharp glass mark on the base of a bottle is a key mid-19th century diagnostic characteristic.

Since there were several hundred thousand different bottles produced in the United States (and Canada**) between 1800 and the 1950s, it is beyond the scope of this or any website (or book) to provide specific details about more than a tiny fraction of those bottles (Fike 1987). This site instead attempts to help the user determine some key facts - approximate age & function - about a given bottle based on observable physical characteristics.

This website is intended for...

- Field archaeologists trying to identify and date bottles or bottle fragments which are found during cultural surveys and excavations in the United States;
- Educators dealing with the subject of historic archaeology; and
- Bottle collectors and the general public trying to date a bottle, determine what it was used likely for, and/or begin their search for general information on historic bottles.



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HOW TO USE THIS SITE



Some of the embossed markings on the bottle base above are a great information source for 20th century bottle identification; some are meaningless. Bottle is an Owens-Illinois Company produced beer bottle made in 1941.

This website will help you determine what to look for when identifying and dating historic bottles.

If you are attempting to determine the approximate manufacturing date - or age - of a particular bottle (or significant sized fragment) the first page to visit would be the Bottle Dating page and its related sub-pages. These pages lead a user through a series of questions about the physical - or morphological - characteristics of historic bottles which help to narrow down the age of an item. This complex of pages is a major hub of this website and the best place to start a search. Also linked to the Dating page is a sub-page called Examples of Dating Historic Bottles which tracks a few different bottles through a dating and general information quest to illustrate how the Dating process and this website work.

If you are interested in identifying what a bottle was likely used for - i.e. what "type" of bottle it is - the Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes page and the extensive array of related sub-pages should be visited. This large complex of pages includes bottle type specific sub-pages with extensive style and dating information.

Be aware that none of the pages are all inclusive since related information exists on one or many other website pages. For example, there is information pertinent to dating a bottle on virtually every website page. The title of any given page gives the predominant theme of that page and would be the first place to start when pursuing information on that particular subject. However, the process of bottle identification and dating is quite complex with many exceptions; thus the need for many web pages covering a lot of descriptive information. A listing or "map" of all the main subject pages and connected sub-pages found within this website is found at the following link Website Map; use that page to get a feel for the structure of this website and to access any of the other web pages.

The process of "bottle enlightenment" could be summarized as follows:


The process of determining the age and/or use of any given historic bottle is like the workings of a court of law: the outcome or solution is determined by the preponderance of evidence pointing towards a particular conclusion with the level of confidence in that conclusion proportionate with the amount and reliability of the supporting evidence.


When possible, the information on this website is given general reliability rating estimates (high, moderate, low or "usually", "occasionally", "almost always", "almost never") to allow a user some "feel" for the probable accuracy of their conclusion or determination. In addition, there are a lot of dating and typing determination examples scattered throughout virtually every page to give the user a feel for the processes involved in dating and/or typing a bottle.




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It is recommended that a new user first view a short listing of User Tips about how this site "works". Click on User Tips (pop-up page) to view this information.



To SEARCH for specific information on this website

To search this Historic Bottle website, use the general "Search Engine" for all external BLM sites which is available at the following link:
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/search.htm
Use the "All BLM Websites" default setting. Once a page is selected, use the "Find (on this page)" function of the browser (IE and Netscape are similar) to find on that page the specific word or phrase you are seeking.



If you simply want to learn something about historic bottles and/or view pictures of a lot of different type historic bottles, just surf the site!

Return to the top of this page.



*Note on the scope of this website: This website is designed to provide information on the dating of typical utilitarian bottles and jars made in the United States during the 19th through mid-20th centuries. It does not attempt to address the dating of "specialty" or imported bottles made during that time, though much of the information found on this website is pertinent to these items to varying degrees. What is a utilitarian bottle or jar? What are specialty bottles? Both are hard questions to answer and the answer is somewhat arbitrary in the end. For this website the distinction between the two categories is related to the varying time frames that different glass making techniques were used for for the two classes of bottles. Click on utilitarian bottles or "specialty" bottles to view the portion of the Glossary Page that covers these subjects. We have tried to define the distinction between these two classes of bottles from the perspective of the intent of and information found on this website.

**Note on Canadian bottles: This website was prepared based primarily on information about bottle manufacturing technologies, processes, and styles specific to the United States. Empirical observations indicate that Canadian-made bottles very often followed similar glassmaking technique and process chronologies making much of the information applicable to Canadian made bottles. However, some Canadian-made bottles mirrored English manufacturing techniques/timeframes and many English stylistic trends (particularly for liquor, soda, and beer bottles) which differed somewhat from typical U. S. items - though many Canadian bottles also mirrored U. S. styles. If using this site for the dating or typing of a known or likely Canadian-made bottle, keep this in mind as the reliability of the information may be reduced.

The subject of Canadian made and imported (primarily European) bottles is addressed by this question on the FAQ's page:
Why are only bottles produced in the United States covered by this website?





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This page was created by the BLM. This is a U.S. Government Computer System; before continuing, please read this disclaimer as well as our Privacy Policy.
The opinions expressed on this website are those of the author/content manager of this website and not necessarily those of the Bureau of Land Management or Department of Interior.



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This website created and content managed by:
Bill Lindsey - Bureau of Land Management
Klamath Falls Resource Area
2795 Anderson Ave., Bldg. 25
Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603
Contact email: William_Lindsey@blm.gov

1/4/06

 

[David E]

Hey Rhona, my understanding of a semi- automatic machine, they were used sometime in the 19th & 20th Century. They could only be used on wide mouth jars (don't know if yours is wide enough)
And they left a small ring mark on the bottom of bottle.
On the crute I have had a few of them and understand what you are saying about the bottom scar, but have been unable to find out how it was made. My feeling is that it looks like it was just screwed away from however held it (that is what it looks like anyway)
Dave