Bixby Bottles

[JOETHECROW]

Very nice! I used to dig them quite often back in the days...[] (70's and 80's)...I miss finding them....The old "radio station" dump was loaded with them....I always brought them home.

 

[beendiggin]

Thanks for that history. Great pics, too. You really know your Bixbys. Is there a book out on them because you could probably write one if you haven't already. Very nice collection.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Here are my 3 examples of a scarce Bixby bottle. It only has "Bixby" embossed on the base, but the sides of the bottle are indented in the middle to accomodate a wrap around label. I`ve found these in 2 sizes, with the larger one in amber and aqua, and the smaller one only in aqua, so far! There is no patent date on these, the last squared variant that I had is the last style to have the bulbous shoulder as called for in the patent. This is a scarce style to find, and I believe it was used around 1900 or so.

 

[Bixby Bill]

The bases.

 

[Bixby Bill]

The next set is probably Bixby`s most attractive embossing that they used. It has "Bixby" in a circle next to "French / Polish" in very stylized embossing. There are two colors that I`ve found this in so far, aqua and light green, but that doesn`t mean that there aren`t others out there. There are two mold variations for this bottle, one has a backwards "S" in "Polish" and feathered inner legs of the "X" in :Bixby", the other scarcer one has a normal "S" and plain legs on the "X". This bottle dates to probably the late 1890`s and a little later.

 

[Bixby Bill]

The rest of the embossing. The bases are unembossed on these.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Here`s another style from the 1890`s and probably a little later. The bottle shape and style is identical to the common shape of thw Whittemore shoe polish bottles. They are rectangular shaped, plain bases, and an indented front panel that is embossed "S.M. Bixby & Co. / New York, U.S.A." These are found in clear and shades of aqua so far, but the Whittemore bottles are found in several colors, so who knows if these are also. These are also found in 2 different sizes, and aren`t too hard to find.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Here`s another commonly found style used from the 1890`s right up to when they started using machine made (ABM) bottles in the same shape. They are embossed "Bixby" on the base usually along with a mold number. Here are the 4 shades of olive green that I`ve found, ranging from an almost olive-amber on the left to a deep forest green on the right.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Here are the bases.

 

[Bixby Bill]

Here are the other 4 colors I`ve found them in, amber, emerald green, aqua, and clear. These are still all blown by hand with tooled lips, no ABM ones yet.