Hello from West Virginia

[Vetus Vitrum]

It has been a bit since I signed up on the site and did not intend to be so long in saying howdy. I am in Marlinton, WV right on the Greenbrier river. Last year I began repairing the bank of the river and found a few small bottles and a bunch of broken glass. I decided to start doing what I could to clean up the glass out of the river and as I did I found more bottles and jars. I began studying the manufacturers marks and recently started posting my finds on an auction site. The town here was established in 1759 but most of the pieces I find date from about 1900 up into the early 1950s when, I reckon, trash service began and folks quit burning their trash piles down by the river. There was an early soda bottling company here in town called Mason (family name) that sold out to Coca-Cola around 1939. There was also a hospital and a couple of doctor's offices on the river, as such I find quite a few medicine bottles. Along with those categories, I find containers the that pertain to every aspect of life that made up this town. I will be posting some photos soon of my finds and asked questions as they apply to identification, cleaning, repairing and such. I love collecting things I find whether it be rocks, artifacts, coins or in this case glass bottles and jars. I am fascinated by the history, the artistic style of the glass work and, of course, the pretty colors. I look forward to learning more about this hobby and sharing my finds. Thanks for reading my introduction, Ernest

 

[Sitcoms]

Welcome to the site Ernest, and it looks like you've got a good eye and have done your research on dating bottles - I'd agree with your assessment of early 1900s through about 1950-55. Riverbanks were one of the most common places to dump, so it seems like you could have found a great little spot. With a local bottler it's possible you could come across some rare bottles there!

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

I just sold my first pre- prohibition beer bottle, Philipp Jung Brewery, Covington KY. I believe rare as this particular Jung brewery was only in business about a year 1917-1918. I describe it as hand blown in a mold with a tooled lip or top or crown (not perfect on the terminology). Thank you for the reply, I am interested in gathering information, opinions and correct terminology as they pertain to my finds.
12 oz., 9 1/2 inches tall. 2 1/2 inches in diameter at the base. Embossed with an image of hops and wheat with the lettering PHILIPP JUNG BREWING CO., COVINGTON.KY. around. Base embossed, ROOT (Root Glass Company, Terre Haute, IN, 1901-1932), number on the heel, 1365.

 

[CanadianBottles]

I just sold my first pre- prohibition beer bottle, Philipp Jung Brewery, Covington KY. I believe rare as this particular Jung brewery was only in business about a year 1917-1918. I describe it as hand blown in a mold with a tooled lip or top or crown (not perfect on the terminology). Thank you for the reply, I am interested in gathering information, opinions and correct terminology as they pertain to my finds.
12 oz., 9 1/2 inches tall. 2 1/2 inches in diameter at the base. Embossed with an image of hops and wheat with the lettering PHILIPP JUNG BREWING CO., COVINGTON.KY. around. Base embossed, ROOT (Root Glass Company, Terre Haute, IN, 1901-1932), number on the heel, 1365.

Welcome to the forum! It looks like you've got a good spot there. FYI, I think the Jung is a machine-made bottle, not hand-blown/tooled. It looks like it's got a horizontal seam below the crown top which shouldn't be there on a tooled lip. I don't see a typical suction scar on the base (a sign of a machine-made bottle) though, so it was probably made on a less common early type of machine rather than the standard Owens machine.

 

[islamoradamark]

bottles are so cool they tell a story

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

Welcome to the forum! It looks like you've got a good spot there. FYI, I think the Jung is a machine-made bottle, not hand-blown/tooled. It looks like it's got a horizontal seam below the crown top which shouldn't be there on a tooled lip. I don't see a typical suction scar on the base (a sign of a machine-made bottle) though, so it was probably made on a less common early type of machine rather than the standard Owens machine.

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

Thank you, I will post in the general chat forum tomorrow with a close up of top of the bottle along with a couple of others that have more of a drift on the seam line that I would expect from a tooled finish. This is part of what I am seeking clarity on, I appreciate the help.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Thank you, I will post in the general chat forum tomorrow with a close up of top of the bottle along with a couple of others that have more of a drift on the seam line that I would expect from a tooled finish. This is part of what I am seeking clarity on, I appreciate the help.

Basically if there's any seam that reaches the top of the lip, regardless of what it aligns with, it was made on a machine. Mouth-blown bottles will never have any sort of seam running all the way to the top (except for some of those burst-top bottles from the UK which are obviously hand-made, but I don't expect you to come across many of those in the US).

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

Basically if there's any seam that reaches the top of the lip, regardless of what it aligns with, it was made on a machine. Mouth-blown bottles will never have any sort of seam running all the way to the top (except for some of those burst-top bottles from the UK which are obviously hand-made, but I don't expect you to come across many of those in the US).

Here is the photo, the seam stops right at what I call the crown and does not continue to the top or lip. The seam line is straight right to the point it terminates. Most bottle I see that I am more certain of having a tooled finish, the seam line trails off before it ends. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Here is the photo, the seam stops right at what I call the crown and does not continue to the top or lip. The seam line is straight right to the point it terminates. Most bottle I see that I am more certain of having a tooled finish, the seam line trails off before it ends. I appreciate your thoughts.

Yeah that horizontal seam under the lip is a giveaway that it's machine-made, although I don't know what sort of machine it was made on if there isn't a separate seam continuing to the top of the lip. I've seen some machine-made milk bottles like that, I guess there was some sort of less common machine which didn't leave seams on the lip. You're right that a tooled lip should have a seam which trails off where it was smoothed down by the tool.