EARLIEST "CROWN TOP" SODA BOTTLES 1892 - 1900

Welcome to our Antique Bottle community

Be a part of something great, join today!

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
Update ...

I went back to where I found the green King's bottle and saved an image of the base - which was so dark when I first saw it that I couldn't see any marks. However, I highlighted it and discovered that its marked with ...

VE

The VE stands for Vetreria Etrusca - which was a glass works located in Italy. They also made some of the early Vichy bottles. Vichy was located in France and goes back to the 1800s. Unfortunately, neither I or the Bottle Research Group I belong to know how to accurately date VE bottles - mainly because they are foreign - which gets kind of confusing. Just about the only way to approximate when a VE bottle was made is to determine if the bottle is hand-blown or machine made. At the moment I'm not sure if the King's bottle is machine made or hand-blown. All I know with relative certainty is that some of the VE bottles are possibly pre-1900. Of course, there is also the possibility that the paper label is not original to the bottle - that some wazoo just stuck on it.

King's Beer Base

King's Beer Bottle Base.jpg


King's Beer Crown Finish

King's Beer Bottle Crown.jpg


Vichy Bottle Date Unknown

Vichy Bottle Front.jpg


Vichy Bottle Base w/VE

Vichy Bottle Base V E.jpg
 

UncleBruce

BEER DUDE
Joined
Aug 22, 2012
Messages
1,718
Reaction score
2,062
Points
113
Location
Show Me State (Missouri)
Seems odd a american label on a foreign bottle. while the Vichy is a France Label on a Italy Bottle, which makes more sense? LEON.
Your post reminded me of this oddity showing that the glass companies did not let geography isolate them. Here is a NEBRASKA beer bottle FRED KRUG BR'G. CO. , made by STREATOR BOTTLE & GLASS CO (S B & G CO.) of ILLINOIS, using a GERMAN company DRESDEN (?) GLASS INDUSTRY blob top and stopper design.
k.jpg
 

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
Meet ...

George Meyer

Born - June 19, 1860 - Georgia
Death - Undetermined - Possibly 1930s
Father - Rudolph Meyer
Mother - Louise Meyer
Wife - Amelia - (Married in 1890)

1880 Voter Registration Occupation - Driver - Age 20 - Likely for Knickerbocker Ice Co. - Savannah, Ga.
1884 - Associated with Anheuser Busch - Savannah, Georgia
1893 - Permanent receiver of P. H. Wolters Brewing Co.
1894 - General Manager - Georgia Brewing Association*

*Most references say the Georgia Brewing Association incorporated in 1894 - but I found a news article that indicates they incorporated in December of 1893.

Even though I have not found a George Meyer Crown-top bottle that can be definitively dated to 1893, the April 30, 1893 ad I posted earlier confirms they existed. So please keep that in mind when reviewing any histories related to this topic.

The paper label in the 1893 ad clearly depicts ...

1. Meyer
2. Wolters Brewing
3. Savannah, Ga.

Atlanta Constitution newspaper - April 30, 1893

Meyer Crown Cork Bottle_The_Atlanta_Constitution_Georgia_Sun__Apr_30__1893_Cropped.jpg



Atlanta Constitution newspaper - November 6, 1893

Meyer Beer_The_Atlanta_Constitution_Mon__Nov_6__1893_.jpg


News Article - Georgia Brewing Association - December 18, 1893

Meyer Beer Georgia Brewing Association_The_Times_Picayune_Mon__Dec_18__1893_.jpg



Books - Memoirs of Georgia - Volumes 1 and 2 - Published in 1895

Meyer Memoirs Of Georgia 1895.jpg


Page 403 from Volume 2

Meyer George History 1895 Georgia Memoirs Vol 2 Page 403.jpg


The only P. H. Wolters bottle I could find - Likely pre 1894 (The P is for Peter)

Meyer Wolters Bottle Peter H Wolters .jpg


Meyer Blob - Date Unknown

Meyer Beer Savannah Blob.jpg



Based on the above evidence, the next bottle is likely from 1894 or slightly later - although this is not confirmed. "Tooled" generally means it was handblown. The D.O.C. is for the D. O. Cunningham Glass Co. who used the mark from 1880 to 1931. The 125 is likely a catalog and/or a model number used by D. O. Cunningham.

Even though this particular bottle may not be the same one as the bottle illustrated in the 1893 ad, it is the closest I have been able to find and is worth considering as a possible candidate for one of the earliest Crown-top bottles known. If this is a 1894 bottle, its possible that Meyer's 1893 bottle is similar to it.

In other words, the search continues.

This bottle and others can be seen via this link

http://brucemobley.com/beerbottlelibrary/ga/savannah/georgia.htm

Meyer Beer Bottle with Information.jpg
 
Last edited:

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
I wanted to add these to the mix - both of which are from the same book that was published in ...

1886

Meyer Beer Savannah, Georgia 1886 (2).jpg



Meyer Beer Savannah, Georgia 1886.jpg
 

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
This is primarily for future researchers and/or anyone who questions the validity of the Meyer's Crown Cork bottle ad being from 1893 - the date of which can be seen at the top. I converted it to a pdf because the entire page is too large for posting and reading.
 

Attachments

  • Meyer Beer_The_Atlanta_Constitution_Sun__Apr_30__1893_.pdf
    910.5 KB · Views: 202

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
And here's the entire page for the 1893 King's Beer Crown Cork ad in pdf
 

Attachments

  • King's Beer_Hartford_Courant_Wed__Jul_12__1893_.pdf
    624.9 KB · Views: 169

greendirt330

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2020
Messages
159
Reaction score
245
Points
43
According to Dale at OldBreweries.com P.H. Wolters Brewing Company was in business from 1892 to 1894 . All the bottles I have seen from there are blob tops , so I kinda doubt there was ever a crowntop from them.
 

hemihampton

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
9,088
Reaction score
6,089
Points
113
If a crown top is in Ad I'd assume a crown top exist. LEON.
 

SODABOB

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
2,121
Reaction score
479
Points
83
To clarify ...

I did not intend to insinuate that the P. H. Wolters Brewery ever produced a Crown-top bottle. My intent was to establish a connection between the Wolters Brewery and George Meyer. It was George Meyer who used a Crown-top bottle in 1893. Hopefully the following articles will help shed some light on the subject.

The Morning News ~ Savannah, Georgia ~ November 9, 1892

Wolters Meyer 1892.png


The Morning News ~ Savannah, Georgia ~ March 18, 1894

Wolters Meyer  1894.jpg



The entire pages can be viewed in the pdf's
 

Attachments

  • Wolters Meyer 1892 Savannah Newspaper PDF.pdf
    4.2 MB · Views: 155
  • Wolters Meyer 1894 Savannah Newspaper PDF.pdf
    3.6 MB · Views: 143

Members online

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Threads
83,220
Messages
742,916
Members
24,237
Latest member
Fancy2cu
Top