Hey guys, I recently dug up a few glass bottles while metal detecting and I was looking to see if anyone could tell me about their maker, age and any other relevant information. I am a complete novice when it comes to antique glass bottles so try and bear with my long post as I did not know what was important or novel enough to be included, I will appreciate any knowledge you have to share about them.
All 5 of the bottles were found in the same pit and I believe they date anywhere from 1900 to 1932. (This would coincide with the age of the former estate on which they were found and the creation/termination of the Excelsior Brewing Company)
Two of the bottles are clear in color and appear to be either champagne or beer bottles from the Excelsior Brewing Company of Brooklyn New York. At first I thought these two bottles were identical. They bear the insignia of the Excelsior Brewing Company on the shoulder, have a crown top and the words "EXCELSIOR BREWING.CO BROOKLYN, NEW YORK" circling the bottom of the bottle. They also have a line running down either side which I believe suggests they were made from a cast, although these lines appear to end when it reaches the neck. Both of the glass bottles are also filled with tiny bubbles and some larger imperfections which I tried to include in the photos.
These two bottles begin to differ when you take a closer look though. At the butt of the glass both are labeled with a number (Were they part of a series?), one being 699 and the other being 677. The butt of both glasses are also both engraved with the label "B & M . S . CO". The funny thing is that this engraving was messed up on the 677 bottle and it reads " B *blemish* *blemish* *muddled S* CO". The bottle makers apparently realized that they had screwed up and included another "& M . S" right below the imperfect engraving.
Bottle 699 also has a bluish tinge while bottle 677 has a greenish one. 699 is just a few centimeters taller than 677 with a thicker base. The neck of 699 is also imperfect with a steeper slope on its left than it's right that makes it's head appear like it is craning slightly. The insignia on 699 is also less pronounced and larger than 677, while 677's insignia is stouter, concentrated and more prominent. The text circling the bottom also looks a little different too.
The other three bottles are larger and amber in color and appear to be wine bottles(one of them still had the cork inside of it), but they do not have the name of any specific brewery located on them. Like the EBC bottles they all have two lines running up the shoulder which I think means they were made with the help of some kind of casing (These lines clearly extend up the neck though and have a less apparent adjacent line that only goes down from the shoulder). These bottles also appear to be lacking the tiny bubbles and imperfections, perhaps indicating they are more recent although they were found at the same exact level as the clear bottles.
The sides of these bottles read "1-9/16 PTS." something I haven't been able to decipher yet. The butt of each bottle reads "B59" surrounded by a diamond shape. Below the diamond each one is numbered. One clearly reads "1" and another "2", the last one is harder to read but it looks like a "4".
The first image shows some of the items that were buried along with the bottles if anyone can identify what they are. The limit is 20 images so I will include the rest in the next post.
All 5 of the bottles were found in the same pit and I believe they date anywhere from 1900 to 1932. (This would coincide with the age of the former estate on which they were found and the creation/termination of the Excelsior Brewing Company)
Two of the bottles are clear in color and appear to be either champagne or beer bottles from the Excelsior Brewing Company of Brooklyn New York. At first I thought these two bottles were identical. They bear the insignia of the Excelsior Brewing Company on the shoulder, have a crown top and the words "EXCELSIOR BREWING.CO BROOKLYN, NEW YORK" circling the bottom of the bottle. They also have a line running down either side which I believe suggests they were made from a cast, although these lines appear to end when it reaches the neck. Both of the glass bottles are also filled with tiny bubbles and some larger imperfections which I tried to include in the photos.
These two bottles begin to differ when you take a closer look though. At the butt of the glass both are labeled with a number (Were they part of a series?), one being 699 and the other being 677. The butt of both glasses are also both engraved with the label "B & M . S . CO". The funny thing is that this engraving was messed up on the 677 bottle and it reads " B *blemish* *blemish* *muddled S* CO". The bottle makers apparently realized that they had screwed up and included another "& M . S" right below the imperfect engraving.
Bottle 699 also has a bluish tinge while bottle 677 has a greenish one. 699 is just a few centimeters taller than 677 with a thicker base. The neck of 699 is also imperfect with a steeper slope on its left than it's right that makes it's head appear like it is craning slightly. The insignia on 699 is also less pronounced and larger than 677, while 677's insignia is stouter, concentrated and more prominent. The text circling the bottom also looks a little different too.
The other three bottles are larger and amber in color and appear to be wine bottles(one of them still had the cork inside of it), but they do not have the name of any specific brewery located on them. Like the EBC bottles they all have two lines running up the shoulder which I think means they were made with the help of some kind of casing (These lines clearly extend up the neck though and have a less apparent adjacent line that only goes down from the shoulder). These bottles also appear to be lacking the tiny bubbles and imperfections, perhaps indicating they are more recent although they were found at the same exact level as the clear bottles.
The sides of these bottles read "1-9/16 PTS." something I haven't been able to decipher yet. The butt of each bottle reads "B59" surrounded by a diamond shape. Below the diamond each one is numbered. One clearly reads "1" and another "2", the last one is harder to read but it looks like a "4".
The first image shows some of the items that were buried along with the bottles if anyone can identify what they are. The limit is 20 images so I will include the rest in the next post.
