Bottle Haul prt 1

[b.ecollects]

Does it say French Gloss on other side of Whittemores? If so I must of dug at least 20 of these over the Years, maybe more? I would rather take any other Bottle in the group then the Whittemore. To me similar to always digging those Fletchers or Pitchures Castoria Bottles. LEON.

I'll take a look at it later on today and post some pictures in the comments. It probably will now that I know the Whittemores bottles are really common.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

I agree. I think my favorite so far is the E R Durkee bottle from 1877 (7th picture)

Here is what a full unopened celery salt looks like. Ground lip cork top under the shaker. Aluminum is oxidized onto the top of the cork. It is from the 1890's!
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[b.ecollects]

Here is what a full unopened celery salt looks like. Ground lip cork top under the shaker. Aluminum is oxidized onto the top of the cork. It is from the 1890's!
ROBBYBOBBY64.

That's so cool! The colors on the label are so well preserved. For something out of the 1890s, that's amazing.

 

[DavidW]

Does it say French Gloss on other side of Whittemores? If so I must of dug at least 20 of these over the Years, maybe more? I would rather take any other Bottle in the group then the Whittemore. To me similar to always digging those Fletchers or Pitchures Castoria Bottles. LEON.

I love the older Whittemore bottles even though they are common. Whittemore bottles can make a nice little collection of color variants. The very oldest ones are OLD - 1870s or 1880s. I think the really old ones have an applied lip, not just tooled.

I have aqua, greenish aqua, light green, citron, amber and clear. I'm sure there are other scarcer colors that exist that most of us have never seen.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

That's so cool! The colors on the label are so well preserved. For something out of the 1890s, that's amazing.

Attic found. It is crazy what people store.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[East_Tn_Bottle_Guy]

I love the older Whittemore bottles even though they are common. Whittemore bottles can make a nice little collection of color variants. The very oldest ones are OLD - 1870s or 1880s. I think the really old ones have an applied lip, not just tooled.

I have aqua, greenish aqua, light green, citron, amber and clear. I'm sure there are other scarcer colors that exist that most of us have never seen.

What's the difference between tooled lip vs applied lip? I had always, apparently incorrectly, assumed that they were the same thing.

 

[UncleBruce]

What's the difference between tooled lip vs applied lip? I had always, apparently incorrectly, assumed that they were the same thing.

Not much, but applied lip is a much broader term. Actually, all lips required tools to be finished back in the day. In the transition from fully handmade lips to the machine-made lips the requirement for hand finishing, using tools became less and less.

 

[East_Tn_Bottle_Guy]

Not much, but applied lip is a much broader term. Actually, all lips required tools to be finished back in the day. In the transition from fully handmade lips to the machine-made lips the requirement for hand finishing, using tools became less and less.

Alright, thanks for the clarification.

 

[DavidW]

What's the difference between tooled lip vs applied lip? I had always, apparently incorrectly, assumed that they were the same thing.

Although to speak very broadly, many bottle collectors call the lip on most handmade (mouth blown) antique bottles "applied" but that is not actually correct. There is actually a difference between an "applied lip" and a "tooled lip", and it can be very important to dating examples of bottles that look superficially similar.
For example, most (but not all) aqua pontil-scarred bottles will have an applied lip. That same type of bottle might have been made over a very long period of time (such as Davis Pain Killer) and there are newer versions that have a tooled lip (NOT an applied lip) and that might date from the 1890s or later.

Check out the paragraphs on this page titled "APPLIED FINISHES" and "TOOLED FINISHES". This is one of Bill Lindsey's pages on antique bottles and their terminology https://sha.org/bottle/finishes.htm

I know that that article gets "into the weeds" and it gets a little complicated. BUT I will try to make it simple here (sorry if it is still confusing):

Most true "APPLIED LIP" bottles are usually (not always) older, and they show the lip was added in a second step by adding an additional glob of molten glass to the body of the bottle. There is usually a very noticeable sudden "demarcation" or "discontinuation" between the body of the bottle (neck area glass) and the added lip. The vertical mold seams will suddenly disappear (often right at the lower edge of the lip) and there is often a thin crease or tiny crevice along the bottom edge of the lip, even deep enough that dirt will be caught in the crease. Sometimes you can see the direction of the glass flow and embedded bubbles are almost totally VERTICAL - right up to the point they meet up with the horizontally applied lip glass area.
Applied lip bottles often have a "drippy" effect below the lip, often crude and there is no neat "wiped" effect that would have "cleaned up" the bottom edge of the lip area. The true "applied lip" bottles usually date from before about 1885. Most applied lips bottles are found in aqua or amber, but not as many in clear.

The true "tooled lip" bottles were made by using an iron shaping tool to create and finish the lip of the bottle (but no additional molten glass was added - the tool shaped/formed the lip at the top of the bottle with glass that was already there - NOT adding any more glass).
They almost always have a very smoothly finished lip area, the glass blends in very nicely and smoothly, and you can usually see a "horizontally wiped" effect underneath the lip area - look carefully under a bright light and you can often (not always) see faint horizontal striations (like on a turn mold) and/or thin bubbles that stretch horizontally (not vertically), circling around the neck area right below the lip.
Most "tooled lip" bottles date after around 1885, although some "higher grade" clear glass bottles such as druggist bottles, decanters, etc were fire-polished and have nice smoother lips even though they date before the 1880s.
And some smaller or less prosperous glass factories were a bit slower changing over to more modern methods, and they continued making "applied lip" bottles even into the late 1880s (such as Falls City Glass Company of Louisville).

If you have some free time I'd encourage EVERYBODY to PLEASE check out Digger Dave Beeler's great video explaining about antique bottles here. He explains the difference between "applied" and "tooled" and shows actual bottles for comparison.

If you are digging in a dump, cistern, or privy that only dates back to about 1890 you may not see any true applied lip bottles, only tooled lip bottles. (Except for an occasional late-throw!)

I hope this will help explain this confusing subject!!

 

[UncleBruce]

Although to speak very broadly, many bottle collectors call the lip on most handmade (mouth blown) antique bottles "applied" but that is not actually correct. There is actually a difference between an "applied lip" and a...

Apologies for sharing this, but when I saw this post, I was reminded of the PROGRESSIVE commercial where FLO goes to her sisters home and the sister has the baby and the sister says "keep using your words" and the baby falls asleep and she says "shh, sleeping baby" and shuts the door.
So again apologies, but it did make me smile.
Like the credit for my buddy Digger Dave.