I thought I would continue with this and presume that the earlier text and images will eventually be fixed and reappear. All I know at the moment is that I can post as usual and wanted to add the following to the discussion. The attachment is of a ...
1860 U.S. Census record for Pottsville, Pennsylvania
... which list Laughlin Deegan as a "Bottler Porter etc."
(Notice that Jeremiah Deegan was eleven years old at the time)
This, along with other do***entation I posted earlier, should confirm that the L on the bottle in question stands for Laughlin. And because the 1873 Pottsville directory list Jeremiah as a bottler, but no listing for Laughlin, who I assume had passed away by that time, I have concluded that Laughlin Deegan was a bottler in Pottsville between circa 1860 and circa 1873. Please be reminded that Hutchinson bottles were invented in 1879, so we can eliminate them as dating any earlier than that. Which takes us back to the L Deegan bottles between about 1860 and 1873.
First Question: How do you tell the difference between an 1860 bottle and an 1873 bottle?
I have seen indications that the super-early Deegan bottles might have been made by the Union Glass Works in Philadelphia, Pa., but this has not been confirmed.
Second Question: Is there any way of accurately dating Union Glass Works bottles?
If the numerous listings I have seen for J. F. Deegan / Jeremiah F. Deegan bottles list them as being worth $300 to $500, does this mean that an earlier [Laughlin] L Deegan bottle is rarer and worth more? And if more, how much more?
The other day I contacted Tod Von Mechow, who has the soda and beer bottle website that listed Laughlin Deegan's first name as Lockland, and I sent him some of the do***ents I posted here. I just heard from Tod and he said he will correct the name on his next update. He said he got the Lockland name "from a collector."
Here's the link to Tod's website for future reference ...
Just for the record, it's not me that is adding the *** to the word doc-u-ments. It's doing it automatically but I can't print the word its blocking out.
Another thing I'm wondering about is whether Laughlin Deegan ever bottled soda pop? As far as I know all of the squat type bottles, including those with Jeremiah's name on them, are Porter (Beer) bottles. I suspect the Jeremiah Deegan Hutchinson bottles are soda bottles, because as far as I know they rarely if ever put beer in a Hutchinson bottle.
For future reference to aid in dating the Deegan bottles ...
Bottle Evolution
By 1870, the beer bottle had evolved into a taller more slender shape than the squatty Porter and Stout bottles of the 1850-1860s. Quart bottles became more common. Embossing done by means of a slug plate meant the same mold could be used by numerous brewers. Bottles made in the 1870s appear more “hand-made” than their cousins a few decades later. The blob tops were applied but not tooled.