ATTENTION! FORUM MEMBER squirtbob ~ EARLY SQUIRT BOTTLING NEWSPAPER ADS

[SODAPOPBOB]

Bob

I agree the Mehren bottle is a standard Squirt type with a sloped shoulder. I did a forensic examination of it using zoom and various other applications with my photo editing tools and discovered ...

1. The shadow "inside" his coat cuff distorts the base of the bottle and the bottle isn't as tall
as it appears.

2. The upper-right portion of the bottle is "pressed" into the palm of his hand which distorts the
shoulder of the bottle.

3. His fingers are partially wrapped around the left shoulder of the bottle which distorts that
portion as well.

Here's a couple of images I toyed around with ...

1. The red line is the actual base of the bottle. The rest of what you see is shadow.

2. I changed the color of the shadow "inside" his coat cuff so as to enhance the base.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

[ squirtbob quote ]
"I can tell you that the only other black script squirt that I've seen is noticeably slanted on the yellow splash, unlike mine."

~ * ~ P.S. Please tell of more about the "slanted" black-script bottle. Do you have a picture of it?

 

[squirtbob]

Bob, If I get permission to post the picture I will. I can say this, the picture you posted of Mehren is interesting on more than one level. The crates all have the slanted script but the banner does not. The black script bottle, not mine, is slanted upwards almost, but not quite, to the same degree as the crate. The bottle was made by Owens-Illinois and positively dates to 1938.It would be interesting to know who made the blue caps that went on the first bottles. You have probably noticed that they are easy to find and always in unused condition.

 

[squirtbob]

Bob, I wonder who and how advertising was controlled at squirt. Thought you might like to see various caps and matchbook ads and how they match up to the early bottles.The blue cap, matchbook "a drink, a mixer" match up with a 1939 & 1940 bottles that I have.The tart sweet matchbook shows a blue cap, the tart sweet ad on the bottle appeared in 1941.In the public eye followed next and the cap was changed to red in a yellow splash but the bottle contents remained on the back of the bottle.The final ad shows squirt underlined on the matchbook and bottle and the cap now has the contents listed on it and not on the bottle.

 

[squirtbob]

Here are the balance of the ads.

 

[squirtbob]

[ squirtbob quote ]
"I can tell you that the only other black script squirt that I've seen is noticeably slanted on the yellow splash, unlike mine."

~ * ~ P.S. Please tell of more about the "slanted" black-script bottle. Do you have a picture of it?

I just received permission to post the pictures of the confirmed 1938 black script squirt. The condition of this one is far better than mine. The date is clear on the bottom. It is an Owens-Illinois bottle from 1938 and produced at the Streator plant (which makes me jealous because that's where I grew up and my grandfather probably worked at that plant at that time). The back is in excellent and very clear and you see it was bottled in Quincy, IL. I'd like to thank Steve Wilson for giving me permission to post this, ...hoping he'll sell it to me or find me another one![] The back of my bottle is so faded that it is ghost like, however the detail is exactly the same as this bottle, with the exception of it being bottled in Joliet, IL ...so both of the only two black script bottles I've seen are from Illinois.

 

[squirtbob]

2nd attempt. I had to resize the pictures. The bottle belongs to Steve Wilson with thanks given to him for the pictures.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Bob Great bottle and great pictures! Thanks for posting them. This might be the first time that a 1938 slant-script Squirt bottle has ever been seen "in the public eye." Good job! I hope you eventually acquire one. And if you find two, please remember me. []

 

[squirtbob]

Bob Great bottle and great pictures! Thanks for posting them. This might be the first time that a 1938 slant-script Squirt bottle has ever been seen "in the public eye." Good job! I hope you eventually acquire one. And if you find two, please remember me. []

Will do. If I do ever find one you'll be the first to know. You've uncovered lots of interesting information ...perhaps there's a collector booklet in the future? Just need to motivate some of those folks on the west coast.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Unless I'm forgetting one,* the current total of known Squirt bottles from 1938 comes to six ... 1. Quincy, Illinois ~ Black Slant-script label (Confirmed)2. Joliet, Illinois ~ Black Slant-script label (Confirmed)3. Manitowoc, Wisconsin ~ Label type unknown4. Menasha, Wisconsin ~ Label type unknown5. Alton, Illinois ~ Label type unknown6. Appleton, Wisconsin ~ Label type unknown *Please let me know if my list needs editing. It would be interesting to know which was the first or if several of them started at the same time?