Hello from Massachusetts!

[Synna]

I just checked Hutchbook.com. Here is a listing for a similar bottle:
http://hutchbook.com/Bottle Directory/HutchSearchResults.aspx?Primary_Name=e&Manufacturer=&City=salem&Color=&County=&Mold_Type=&State=MA&Plate_Type=&Territory=&Pictures=&Region=&Start_Height=&End_Height=&Country=&Start_Width=&End_Width=&Bottle_Number=&Start_Marked_Year=&End_Marked_Year=&Sub_Categories=&Shape=&All_Embossing=&Rarity=&Front_Embossing=&Added=&Back_Embossing=&Updated=&Base_Embossing=&Comments=&Find_Hutches=Find+Hutchinsons&Source=Attributes

So, according to the info posted on that page, E. P = Ephraim Provo, Witch City Bottling Works, 4 & 6 Sewall Street, Salem, Mass. The bottle may date from around 1893.

You Rock! I couldn't find a thing. So it's a Hutchinson bottle? I was just looking for "blob tops" in Salem, Mass. and I assumed it was a person's initials. (Which it is, but it's a company bottle, right?) I had read something about a period in time where people had their own personalized bottles made up. Thanks so much.

 

[Synna]

Thank you everyone for your help. David W.

I just checked Hutchbook.com. Here is a listing for a similar bottle:
http://hutchbook.com/Bottle Directory/HutchSearchResults.aspx?Primary_Name=e&Manufacturer=&City=salem&Color=&County=&Mold_Type=&State=MA&Plate_Type=&Territory=&Pictures=&Region=&Start_Height=&End_Height=&Country=&Start_Width=&End_Width=&Bottle_Number=&Start_Marked_Year=&End_Marked_Year=&Sub_Categories=&Shape=&All_Embossing=&Rarity=&Front_Embossing=&Added=&Back_Embossing=&Updated=&Base_Embossing=&Comments=&Find_Hutches=Find+Hutchinsons&Source=Attributes

So, according to the info posted on that page, E. P = Ephraim Provo, Witch City Bottling Works, 4 & 6 Sewall Street, Salem, Mass. The bottle may date from around 1893.

Thank you everyone for your help. David W. hit the nail on the head with the Hutchbook. It's the same bottle as I have, although in far greater condition. I'm psyched to know the history of it although the mystery was kind of fun too, with it being from Salem, MA and just having someone's initials. Could have belonged to a witch!

 

[DavidW]

Thank you Synna, that area of beach with all the glass sounds really neat - no telling what you might run across! (Have you heard of Dead Horse Bay? Another secluded "glass beach") ........ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Horse_Bay

About the initials, many soda and beer bottles only carry initials and sometimes the initials are of the owner of the company (brewery or bottler). I suspect it was a little bit of ego gratification to have the owner initials put on his company's bottle. And when a bottle order was made by the brewer or bottler (to a glass bottle manufacturer) they usually ordered a certain number of bottles at a time, such as 100, 200, 500, 1000 or whatever.

Bottles were relatively expensive to produce, and these older types of bottles are heavier (to withstand high pressure from the carbonation) but also to stand up to heavy repeat use. Some of the older Hutchinsons and others were filled and refilled dozens or even HUNDREDS of times over many years, and the heavy "case wear" (scratches, rubs, dings, high point wear) certainly shows it!!