Early to later Mr's Butterworth's bottles

[RoyalRuby]

Figured I'd start a thread about these unloved bottles. I had asked in my return trip to the Duke dump thread if anyone knew why the de-bossed line was in the bottom of these earlier Butterworth bottles. The more I thought about it I may have answered my own question. I think it's there to keep the bottle straight going down the filling line to apply the label where it needs to be. I searched through the first year, '61 and up until it wasn't used anymore which was '73 best I can tell, the '61 bottle didn't have a line, just a notch on the back, from '62 until '72 the de-bossed line was used, and by '73 the line was gone and a notch was then used again that was molded in the back bottom of the bottle more than likely just a "new then" way to hold the bottle straight to put the labels on. I did find an image of a 1972 bottle having both the de-bossed line and a notch on the back, maybe a transitional/trial time period, or so bottling lines that hadn't been up-dated yet could still be used. Not sure why they used a notch on the '61 bottle and switched to the de-bossed line then went back to using a notch later on....... '61 bottle shown first then '62 then '73 then '72 with both line and notch.

 

[RoyalRuby]

Looks like I need to update this thread already, right after posting thread I went out to hit a couple antique stores, figured I'd check any of the Butterworth bottles I came across, first store were all early 80's bottles, at the second place the first one I came across was dated 1960 so I came home with it, It's basically the same as the '61 bottle best I can tell. Guessing these bottles were first produced in 1960 prior to being released in '61. It's pictured on the left of the '65 bottle I dug Friday. Note that the arms/hands and collar are different as well, the caps are just some extras I had, I'll find correct yellow ones for them..... Also grabbed a vintage Pfeiffer's beer can with the can being made by Cans Inc. rather than the very common American Co. "Keglined" version, quite sure there's an even harder "National Can" version as well, IIRC Leon has one.

 

[Roy]

Figured I'd start a thread about these unloved bottles. I had asked in my return trip to the Duke dump thread if anyone knew why the de-bossed line was in the bottom of these earlier Butterworth bottles. The more I thought about it I may have answered my own question. I think it's there to keep the bottle straight going down the filling line to apply the label where it needs to be. I searched through the first year, '61 and up until it wasn't used anymore which was '73 best I can tell, the '61 bottle didn't have a line, just a notch on the back, from '62 until '72 the de-bossed line was used, and by '73 the line was gone and a notch was then used again that was molded in the back bottom of the bottle more than likely just a "new then" way to hold the bottle straight to put the labels on. I did find an image of a 1972 bottle having both the de-bossed line and a notch on the back, maybe a transitional/trial time period, or so bottling lines that hadn't been up-dated yet could still be used. Not sure why they used a notch on the '61 bottle and switched to the de-bossed line then went back to using a notch later on....... '61 bottle shown first then '62 then '73 then '72 with both line and notch.

They might be unloved here in CT because they are so common. I put 2 of them back in the ground last week , never even thought to look at the bottoms. Roy

 

[RoyalRuby]

They might be unloved here in CT because they are so common. I put 2 of them back in the ground last week , never even thought to look at the bottoms. Roy

Yeah, I'm really only providing information I've come up with about these mainly because I couldn't find any good info on changes through the years on these bottles, I'd want to think the first few years aren't as plentiful. I only have the two I pictured, if I come across any pre '65's on the cheap I'll grab them. I would like to have just the ones made from '60 through '65, only four to go...lol

 

[DavidW]

I've never paid a huge amount of attention to these bottles, BUT they are ICONIC and interesting, and since they are figurals, are no longer made in glass, and many have date codes that pinpoint the year the bottle was made, and what glass company made it, it seems like they should continue to increase in popularity among the average collecting public.

That said, maybe you should get together as much info as possible, and eventually put together a webpage with that information!!
Here's a question I have for you: What are all the glass manufacturers that made bottles for the brand, at some time or other, over the stretch of years they were made? Have you started a list? I have seen the Thatcher Glass mark on some. I would guess that they were made by a half dozen glass companies, or maybe many more than that????
According to this article on Wikipedia (and the sources appear to be very reliable) the Mrs. Butterworth's glass bottles began moving over to plastic beginning in 1999 .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Butterworth's
SO, that gives us about 39 years worth of bottles!!!

 

[RoyalRuby]

I've never paid a huge amount of attention to these bottles, BUT they are ICONIC and interesting, and since they are figurals, are no longer made in glass, and many have date codes that pinpoint the year the bottle was made, and what glass company made it, it seems like they should continue to increase in popularity among the average collecting public.

That said, maybe you should get together as much info as possible, and eventually put together a webpage with that information!!
Here's a question I have for you: What are all the glass manufacturers that made bottles for the brand, at some time or other, over the stretch of years they were made? Have you started a list? I have seen the Thatcher Glass mark on some. I would guess that they were made by a half dozen glass companies, or maybe many more than that????
According to this article on Wikipedia (and the sources appear to be very reliable) the Mrs. Butterworth's glass bottles began moving over to plastic beginning in 1999 .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Butterworth's
SO, that gives us about 39 years worth of bottles!!!

So far without really searching very hard, I've noticed all the early ones so far have been made by Thatcher and some later ('80's) by OI and by a couple other glass manufactures that I haven't ID'd yet. I did start looking into what the earlier labels looked like so if any I come across with labels I can get an idea how early the bottle w/label I come across could be without even picking it up. Here's an image of two '62 bottles, and a '60 and '62 ad showing a bottle w/label, one of the '62 bottles had the "4 cents off" added so by '62 they were already making label changes. The early labels have a bit more plain looking lettering and "The original buttered syrup" lettering is red circled in white, also one has the "Good Housekeeping" logo on it and the other does not.

 

[DavidW]

Hey RoyalRuby, if you have / see any pics showing Mrs Butterfield bottle bases with the glassmaker marks you hadn't ID'd, feel free to post pics here of the mark, or send to me via "private conversation". I'm the guy who has the "Glass Bottle Marks" site and I am sure I can easily ID the maker for you (and anyone here following this thread). Thanks! David

 

[CCB420]

I found a bottle last yr, but was a fifth of something, with the flying buttress design. It has that same line running across the base, I think I posted the bottle and asked this same question, but didn't get an answer! Then again, I may have forgotten to ask about the line, who knows, I'm about to try and find it now though

 

[MapleMatt]

I dug into my files on Mrs. Butterworth's bottles and here is a little info on the Butterworth's early bottles and labels. The product was introduced in September 1960 by the Lever Brothers. In 1962 the label added the words "The Original Buttered Syrup". In 1968 the label added a red background to the Butterworth's name. This does not help with the timeline of the basal notches but it does shed some light on the full appearance of these bottles and their paper labels.

 

[OldBot]

RoyalRuby and all...thanks for this info on a bottle like my husband found in SE Texas some years ago. We were interested in knowing what that deep line was for...de-bossing is a new word in my vocabulary! From what I am understanding, this bottle was made in 1961 (maybe the first year in production?). Thatcher Glass Company made it? What do the 4200 on top, S and 2 on the right side mean? Thanks for any info. Any value at all?