Beginner finding more bottles than info: are these catsup bottles?

[bottlerocket]

Yes those are catsup Bottles. They seem to be everywhere. 40s to 60s possibly.

 

[Tony Kendzior]

Mikez - did I get your name right? My guess it the ones with flat sides are ketchup or catsup, depending on where you live. None of them look very old to me. Maybe the 40's or the 50's. Certainly the broken Pepsi bottle is no more than 50 years old which suggests the others got buried at the same time.

It's possible the amber bottle is old but it's too encrusted with dirt to see properly. Next time, take them home in a bucket and wash them thoroughly. Only then can you see the mold marks and other indications of age. Good luck and keep digging!

 

[Mikez]

Mikez - did I get your name right? My guess it the ones with flat sides are ketchup or catsup, depending on where you live. None of them look very old to me. Maybe the 40's or the 50's. Certainly the broken Pepsi bottle is no more than 50 years old which suggests the others got buried at the same time.

It's possible the amber bottle is old but it's too encrusted with dirt to see properly. Next time, take them home in a bucket and wash them thoroughly. Only then can you see the mold marks and other indications of age. Good luck and keep digging!

Thanks.
Since I posted this I have found way, way too many ketchup bottles.
I'm starting to realize, the ketchup bottles were non-returnable and not useful for reuse.
The soda bottles I'm after were returned while the ketchups got tossed.

I remember as a little kid, my grandparents kept wooden cases of some cheap local soda. Us kids were allowed to help ourselves to soda with no complaints - but god forbid we forgot to return the empties to the case!

 

[RCO]

Thanks.
Since I posted this I have found way, way too many ketchup bottles.
I'm starting to realize, the ketchup bottles were non-returnable and not useful for reuse.
The soda bottles I'm after were returned while the ketchups got tossed.

I remember as a little kid, my grandparents kept wooden cases of some cheap local soda. Us kids were allowed to help ourselves to soda with no complaints - but god forbid we forgot to return the empties to the case!

true that seems to be what happened , there is a lot of ketchup bottles out there and buried in dumps . be crazy to think how many ketchup bottles might be sitting in dumps across north America , have to be millions if not billions

 

[Bark]

We found lots of similar bottles with CCC stamped on the bottom in a dump site in NE CA which dates at about 1928 per the Clorox bottles we found and a 1926 CA license plate we found (attached to a rear bumper). We were thinking that they were bottled for the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942) who worked on a dam very close to the site. We think all the garbage (including baking soda cans and my first blue bromo seltzer bottle) got bulldozed together and burned in the late 40's.
Its been a few years since we have been digging but are getting back into it.

 

[tommyc03]

Catsup Bottles

Yes, they certainly do appear to be catsup bottles. And I would hazard a guess at the amber being a peroxide bottle. I'm in the Berkshires in Mass. and these are both plentiful. Your question about acl bottles could be many answers, freezing/warm weather, lime, iron deposits all affect these. I agree that you should let them dry thoroughly before attempting to clean, but whenever possible avoid the lettering, etc. If there is milkiness inside the bottles, carefully use muriatic acid as a wash. Actually these types of catsup bottles can be used at attractive bud vases. Once cleaned you can coat with a primer paint and then decorate as you wish. If they come out really clean they can also be used for sand art, filling with small glass marbles, a ribbon of the top, with a cork to seal and you have a nice flea market sellable. I have done so quite successfully. Been meaning to get back here for the longest time, so with winter setting in hope to be able to contribute more. Hello to everyone!

 

[splante15]

Yep that's the truth with the ACLs......you may be onto an old restaurants dump site..

 

[Mikez]

Yep that's the truth with the ACLs......you may be onto an old restaurants dump site..

You guessed it. Restaurant/bar. Hundreds of catsups and generic quart beer bottles and unmarked whiskey.

 

[sunrunner]

I lived in NH in the early 1980s .there were a lot of dumps on the Merrimack around Newberry Port and Haverhill . some were hit pretty hard even back then ,but you may get lucky . with all the newbie's out there now days scraping the serifs there may be some good stuff at the bottom of those 9 to 12 foot dumps that's up there. good luck lol.

 

[Bark]

Hello, One more thing. Why the heck do those disposable catsup bottles seem indestructible compared to returnable or high value bottles. Is it a secret plan to drive me nuts?
I swear I can be digging a site, get into an area where I start finding some old soda, ink and other bottles that all have chips or bottoms missing and than find a perfect catsup bottle.
Its a conspiracy I say.