Hawaii bottle help

[Coled18]

Disclaimer: I posted this in the historic glass bottle channel before but couldn’t figure out how to delete the posting. I figured it would get more views and help here. I added more pics to this one.

I was wondering if yall had any info on these Hawaiian soda water companies? They were among the few bottles we bought while we lived in Hawaii. We also got a very early English Lea and Perrins from the same store. I am not sure what type of closure is on the clear bottle. If someone could help with that, please do!

The aqua is an ABM, and clear is a BIMAL.

 

[Hezezilla]

Disclaimer: I posted this in the historic glass bottle channel before but couldn’t figure out how to delete the posting. I figured it would get more views and help here. I added more pics to this one.

I was wondering if yall had any info on these Hawaiian soda water companies? They were among the few bottles we bought while we lived in Hawaii. We also got a very early English Lea and Perrins from the same store. I am not sure what type of closure is on the clear bottle. If someone could help with that, please do!

The aqua is an ABM, and clear is a BIMAL.

You are in luck brah, I got you. As the bottles say, you got one from the Oahu Soda Works and the Ewa Soda Works. As their names suggest, they served their respective neighborhoods on Oahu. Both soda works ran in relation to the plantations and nearby towns.

The vast majority of these were made by the Illinois-Pacific Glass Company (IPG Co.). Their logo was "IPG" in a triangle or their initials. You will find these most often on the heel or base. Bottles from after 1926 will have numbers above or next to the mark. The left number is the year code (7-1, 1927-1931) and the right number is the month (1-12). Not all bottles will have this mark but it is a helpful indicator of age.

When I get home later today, I'll look em up in my reference books later. I also get plenty of these so I'll add some photos of the ones I get too. I don't think the OSW is a bimal (I have one that's very early machine) but again, I check in the books.

I born, raised, an still live in Hawaii so if you got any questions about Hawaiian stuff, I suppose I'm the guy. I am also a collector of Japanese bottles.

 

[Hezezilla]

Here's my early Oahu. It was manufactured by the Pacific Coast Glass Works. It's machine-made and dates from 1917-1925. I have it listed for sale on eBay since it's in rough shape. The last bottles from OSW that are Bimal are from 1913. Those have a different embossing pattern. Yours is probably machine but if it really is a bimal, I'd be surprised.

These are my Ewas. There was an Ewa Plantation Company and an Ewa Soda water Co. around 1910. The Ewa Plantation Co. bottling facility went outta business around the early 1920s. Ewa Soda water was renamed Ewa Soda Works and kept bottling through to the mid -30s. Both companies produced a variety of Bimal hutches and crowns. These are machine from the late teens through to the mid-30s. The aqua one is from 1928 and the clear is unmarked.

I forgot to mention that most early IPG Co. bottles have pri-off tops whilst later versions will have normal crown tops. On crown IPG Co. bottles, the date code will be next to the glass mark and on the lower part of the crown.

 

[Coled18]

View attachment 255339
Here's my early Oahu. It was manufactured by the Pacific Coast Glass Works. It's machine-made and dates from 1917-1925. I have it listed for sale on eBay since it's in rough shape. The last bottles from OSW that are Bimal are from 1913. Those have a different embossing pattern. Yours is probably machine but if it really is a bimal, I'd be surprised.

View attachment 255340
These are my Ewas. There was an Ewa Plantation Company and an Ewa Soda water Co. around 1910. The Ewa Plantation Co. bottling facility went outta business around the early 1920s. Ewa Soda water was renamed Ewa Soda Works and kept bottling through to the mid -30s. Both companies produced a variety of Bimal hutches and crowns. These are machine from the late teens through to the mid-30s. The aqua one is from 1928 and the clear is unmarked.

I forgot to mention that most early IPG Co. bottles have pri-off tops whilst later versions will have normal crown tops. On crown IPG Co. bottles, the date code will be next to the glass mark and on the lower part of the crown.

That’s awesome, thanks for the info! I grew up in Mililani and found my first bottles in Oahu. Found my first old piece there too, JJ Melcher Case Gin! I didn’t see any IPG Co marks on my two sodas but I have found several IPG Co bottles in Oahu from the 1910s/20s period.

Do you have any more info on the pri-off tops?

Also, do you know of a Japanese bottle that says “Ribon” on it? I’ll send pics in a bit. I think it has kanji or hiragana on the other side. We found one that looks like a perfume bottle in a ravine that had stuff from the 10s thru the 50s.

 

[Coled18]

Here's my early Oahu. It was manufactured by the Pacific Coast Glass Works. It's machine-made and dates from 1917-1925. I have it listed for sale on eBay since it's in rough shape. The last bottles from OSW that are Bimal are from 1913. Those have a different embossing pattern. Yours is probably machine but if it really is a bimal, I'd be surprised.

View attachment 255340
These are my Ewas. There was an Ewa Plantation Company and an Ewa Soda water Co. around 1910. The Ewa Plantation Co. bottling facility went outta business around the early 1920s. Ewa Soda water was renamed Ewa Soda Works and kept bottling through to the mid -30s. Both companies produced a variety of Bimal hutches and crowns. These are machine from the late teens through to the mid-30s. The aqua one is from 1928 and the clear is unmarked.

I forgot to mention that most early IPG Co. bottles have pri-off tops whilst later versions will have normal crown tops. On crown IPG Co. bottles, the date code will be next to the glass mark and on the lower part of the crown

You are in luck brah, I got you. As the bottles say, you got one from the Oahu Soda Works and the Ewa Soda Works. As their names suggest, they served their respective neighborhoods on Oahu. Both soda works ran in relation to the plantations and nearby towns.

The vast majority of these were made by the Illinois-Pacific Glass Company (IPG Co.). Their logo was "IPG" in a triangle or their initials. You will find these most often on the heel or base. Bottles from after 1926 will have numbers above or next to the mark. The left number is the year code (7-1, 1927-1931) and the right number is the month (1-12). Not all bottles will have this mark but it is a helpful indicator of age.

When I get home later today, I'll look em up in my reference books later. I also get plenty of these so I'll add some photos of the ones I get too. I don't think the OSW is a bimal (I have one that's very early machine) but again, I check in the books.

I born, raised, a still live in Hawaii so if you got any questions about Hawaiian stuff, I suppose I'm the guy. I am also a collector of Japanese bottles.

Yah, maybe the wear took the seams down so it looks like a BIMAL. I don’t have the bottle right now so I couldn’t tell for sure

 

[Coled18]

View attachment 255339
Here's my early Oahu. It was manufactured by the Pacific Coast Glass Works. It's machine-made and dates from 1917-1925. I have it listed for sale on eBay since it's in rough shape. The last bottles from OSW that are Bimal are from 1913. Those have a different embossing pattern. Yours is probably machine but if it really is a bimal, I'd be surprised.

View attachment 255340
These are my Ewas. There was an Ewa Plantation Company and an Ewa Soda water Co. around 1910. The Ewa Plantation Co. bottling facility went outta business around the early 1920s. Ewa Soda water was renamed Ewa Soda Works and kept bottling through to the mid -30s. Both companies produced a variety of Bimal hutches and crowns. These are machine from the late teens through to the mid-30s. The aqua one is from 1928 and the clear is unmarked.

I forgot to mention that most early IPG Co. bottles have pri-off tops whilst later versions will have normal crown tops. On crown IPG Co. bottles, the date code will be next to the glass mark and on the lower part of the crown.

Do you think you could help me with info on this bottle? I’m assuming it’s perfume but that’s about all I’d know.

 

[Hezezilla]

That’s awesome, thanks for the info! I grew up in Mililani and found my first bottles in Oahu. Found my first old piece there too, JJ Melcher Case Gin! I didn’t see any IPG Co marks on my two sodas but I have found several IPG Co bottles in Oahu from the 1910s/20s period.

Do you have any more info on the pri-off tops?

Also, do you know of a Japanese bottle that says “Ribon” on it? I’ll send pics in a bit. I think it has kanji or hiragana on the other side. We found one that looks like a perfume bottle in a ravine that had stuff from the 10s thru the 50s.

Do you think you could help me with info on this bottle? I’m assuming it’s perfume but that’s about all I’d know.

I don't actually have a whole lot of info on the pri-offs. I have almost all of the Oahu machine-sodas from the 1920s. Basically all of them have pri-offs and were made by IPG between 1925 and about 1929. I think the IPG either patented or licensed the design in the mid-20s. It remained in use for a few years until it became uneconomical and was phased out in favor of the crown top. Also, IPG went out of business in 1932 with their last date codes being from 1931. I have noticed that SOME but not all IPG sodas from 1928-31 have crowns but the pri-off was still predominant. This is just my personal theory. I haven't done the research yet to know if it's true.

As for your oriental, the Japanese is "リボン香油" which translates to "Ribon Pomade". I've never seen this one before. I'd imagine it might have been a higher-end perfume due to its unusual shape. I did a quick search in Japanese and found no matches.

You still in Hawaii?

 

[Coled18]

Thanks for the translation and info, that does help! We thought the Japanese one was a perfume, don’t know the age though. it’s a little nicer looking and has English font so maybe post WWII?

Unfortunately I don’t live there anymore! I visit friends every now and then but we've moved around a lot.

 

[Hezezilla]

Thanks for the translation and info, that does help! We thought the Japanese one was a perfume, don’t know the age though. it’s a little nicer looking and has English font so maybe post WWII?

Unfortunately I don’t live there anymore! I visit friends every now and then but we've moved around a lot.

Yeah, living here is pricey. Not much to dig anymore too, especially out east where I live.

As for the bottle, I think it's pre-war. I follow a lot of diggers in Japan and the post-war bottles tend to be blank and smaller. The style of bottle post-war was different too. This looks more similar to pre-war. Also, I've noticed that most of the Japanese bottles in Hawaii are pre-war. I think because of Pearl Harbor, the want to associate with Japanese businesses disappeared. There are very few Japanese bottles to be found until the 1960s. And it's not like Japan wasn't making bottles, they just don't pop up here until much later.