Awesome!

[Gunsmoke47]

Hey Bill, I just got around to really looking at your site today. I spent 2 hours on it and don't feel like I even scratched the surface! My hat is off to you for a fine job on an undertaking of that magnitude. Very informative reading. Thank you, Kelley

 

[jfcutter]

Thanks Kelly!

Glad to know people are really using & looking at it already.

If you find any errors or have any suggestions, I'm open to them. It is - and always will be - a work in progress.

Bill

 

[wootten]

your sight is unbelievable-I am so new and will get some info on my finds-I had been looking for a refernce point-I hope others look on this site-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wendy

 

[jfcutter]

Well Thanks Wendy!

I kinda like the website too....!! It is so great to hear people using and liking it both!

Like I noted in the message to Kelly above, if you have any thoughts or suggestions about the site, let me know. I want it too be of high usability to people and welcome comments.

Enjoy and stay tuned....more pages and informaton to come!

Bill

 

[Maine Digger]

Bill, this is hands down the most thoughtfully produced, visually delightful, overflowing with information, essential, resource-filled bottle site I've ever visited![] Other than that, I like it a lot.[] I'm taking my time going through it, there's so much to explore! On the behalf of bottle lovers everywhere, Thanks!!!!

 

[jfcutter]

Wow! Thanks Norm...I'm humbled by your comments which are MUCH appreciated. It has been a lot of work to date, but well worth it when I get comments like yours.

My intention with the website was to bring as much valid, published "general" information together about bottles as possible, so that people could have one place to go in trying to figure out what type bottle they have (i.e. what it likely contained) and the approximate age of manufacture.

I do include scattered personal speculation about dates of bottle features and such, but they are based on many decades of looking and thinking about bottles. No they are not published (except now on the website) but they are trends that I've noted over the years. These are the items I would particularly like experienced bottle people like yourself to think about from the perspective of their observations over time.

Even though I would like to, I am avoiding adding specific information about the companies that used the bottles (e.g. like the history of H. H. Warner products) since that would be 1. Impossible to do really, and 2. would make a website to large and impossible to maintain....actually, reason 1. is enough. Just can't be done since there would never be an end. I do have examples on the website of how users can pursue information beyond the basics provided on the site, but that is the extent of the bottle or company specific information. I'm trying to stick to the two primary goals of the site - to allow a person a good chance of dating and typing their bottle.

I most definitely welcome the input from people like yourself in regards to any information or thoughts you may have that would contribute to the goals of the website. There is a lot of good information and observations out there that are beyond my experience. One example is that I live in the far West and have little experience with many things dealing with bottles in the East and Midwest. I have lots of great "Eastern" bottles, but don't live in the area and able to absorb the information that is there.

Rambled enough here....I was just using your message as an opportunity to explain things a little more about the site. Thanks again Norm and stay tuned for the completion of the website, which I expect by the end of this year. Of course, as I've noted previously, it will never be totally done, since I'll always be revising and adding information to it until my forehead hits the keyboard.

Bill

p.s. I bet Maine is way nicer than New York, eh?

 

[David E]

Hi Bill can you tell me "why the government" either arrests or issues citations to people who even pick up a broken piece of glass on public land,
Dave

 

[jfcutter]

Hi Dave...

In answer to your question, I will have to largely defer. That is outside my field of knowledge for the most part, except that it has everything to do with federal laws dealing with antiquities. The laws are the way they are because Congress passed them that way. The enforcement of them is another thing, which I really can't really comment about as I am not that familiar with the particulars of law enforcment except to say that your statement is correct - people can be cited for even picking up pieces of old bottles off public lands.

My approach on the website is to simply make reference to the laws on the "About This Site" page and leave it at that. That page is available at the following link: http://www.blm.gov/historic_bottles/about.htm. See "caveat" #2. The two primary laws are the Anquities Act of 1906 and the more recent Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.

I am not an archaeologist nor am I a law enforcement person - but I work with such people on occassion. I'm primarily an avocational collector interested in the subject matter covered by the website and was allowed the opportunity to do the site because I know something about it - and was willing to put in the time (at work and on my own time).

The removal of artifacts of all types off any lands could be potentially detrimental to the future acquisition of knowledge about the lives of people in the past. That's what archaeology is all about. The laws were passed to protect significant historic and pre-historic sites so that future researchers - with future refined techniques - could have something to study. (With pre-historic sites there is also the complicated relationships with Native Americans.)

Conversely, I also won't even begin to argue that a few glass pieces on public lands is necessarily significant now or in the future. Like with most laws however, the only way to be enforceable is to make the law all embracing. Thus the occassional report of someone being cited for picking up 1920's cans off public lands and the like...

Hope that helps...best person to ask such a question to would be a federal archaeologist.....Bill

 

[jfcutter]

As an update...

I just recently finished the "Bottle Body Characteristics & Mold Seams" page. The completed and edited version will be up next week (March 7th) though the partially unedited page is already on the internet.

The link is: Bottle Body Characteristics & Mold Seams

Now I'll be moving on to the "Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes" page. That page will take quite a while to complete as it will contain - or link to - hundreds of pictures of "typical" shapes for various types of bottles. Yes, I know that if there is one rule in regards to shape and use of a bottle it is that the rules were often broken...and a given shape was used for all types of different products. However, there are definite trends where form follows function.

I probably won't have that page completed until late spring or maybe even late summer, depending on other work priorities. My "real" job is in public land grazing (livestock & wild horses) management administration and that season starts ramping up over the next couple months.

Stay tuned...Bill

 

[jfcutter]

Just to let everyone know, the Historic Bottle Website is - with most all of the Bureau of Land Management websites - still not functional due to "unanticipated maintenance."

Translation: There is currently a wave of internet security paranoia going around the Department of Interior and all websites (or the servers?) are being checked to make sure they are "secure." Secure from what I don't know...I'm too low in the pecking order to be privy to that kind of information.

Hopefully the website will be up and functional again soon, but I have no idea of the timeframes.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Bill