Hobbleskirt Coke with 1916 date error

[SODAPOPBOB]

CC I hear ya! [] Crazy and confusing all rolled into one! Please continue your Owens search. In the meantime ...
Please note I am wide open to suggestion and fully prepared to explore all possibilities. I also want to emphasize I am totally guessing at present as to who made the 1916 error bottles. But somebody obviously made them and it's that "somebody" I'm hoping to find. Also note I'm trying to follow clues, as meager as they are, with the hope that one clue will lead to another and another until the mystery is eventually solved. Speaking of which, as I said earlier, the clue I'm currently following focuses on the Reed Glass Company because ...

1. Bill Porter referred to them in his book as a "small" glass company.
2. Bill Porter stated in his book they were known for having produced "blue" hobbleskirts.

At present I know zilch about Reed Glass other than at some point they used an 'R' in a triangle for their mark. What I'm hoping to establish currently is "when" they first started using the 'R' mark?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

More confusion, but at least its a start ...

http://www.glassbottlemarks.com/bottlemarks-4/

R in a triangle ... Reed Glass Company, Rochester, New York (c.1927-1956). The 1927-1956 date range is given by Julian Toulouse in Bottle Makers and their Marks (1971). However, I received a report from Taylor McBurney who confirms this mark on an older, square handmade bottle (prob. Circa 1890-1915) so, assuming Reed was the maker of that bottle, they apparently used the “R in a triangle” much earlier than stated by Toulouse. The “R in a triangle” might also indicate another, unrelated and unidentified company. See “Reed”, Rochester Glass Works, “C-H” mark.

Reed ... F.E.Reed Glass Company (or Reed Glass Company), Rochester, New York (c.1899-1956). See Rochester Glass Works.

Rochester Glass Works ... Rochester Glass Works, Rochester, New York (1862-1908). Alice Creswick in The Fruit Jar Works (1995:273) shows this chronology for the Rochester Glass Works and succeeding firms, evidently from city directory listings researched by either herself or Dick Roller: Rochester Glass Works (1862-1881); Kelley & Co. (1882-1885); Kelley, Reed & Co. (1886-1887); Eugene Reed & Co. (1888-1889); E. P. Reed & Co. (1890-1894); Rochester Glass Works (1895-1898); F. E. Reed Glass Company/Works (1899-1900); Rochester Glass Works (1901-1908); F. E. Reed & Co. (or F.E.Reed Glass Co.) (1909-1927); Reed Glass Co. (1927-1946); and Reed Glass Co., Inc. (1947-1956). Several marks were used at various times by this factory, and the exact period of time during which each mark was used is not completely certain at this time. Known marks include “Reed”, “F.E.R.”, “F.E.R.G.Co.”, “R in a triangle”, and “Rochester Glass Wks”. Some bottles are known with the marking “Rochester NY Glass Works” embossed in a circle on the base. The full factory name could conceivably have been embossed on bottles dating from anytime within the 1862-1908 timeframe. After a time of inactivity, the Reed Glass Company plant at Rochester was purchased by Castle-Hanson Corporation in 1959, and the “C-H” mark was used for some period of time thereafter. Later, Leone Industries, based in Bridgeton, New Jersey, purchased the plant and their “L in an unconnected square” mark was used on ware produced at Rochester as well as Bridgeton. Exact dates of later operations of this factory are unclear. (See “R in a triangle”, “C-H”, and “L in an unconnected square” marks).

 

[Canadacan]

Hmmm...two angles to work at! ...I have seen a reed embossed REED on the heel...can't remember where.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I'm finding lots of Reed 1915 hobbleskirts and liking what I'm seeing. Without exception every example I've seen so far is aqua/ice blue in color. However, other than the color connection to the 1916 error bottles, the various 1915 Reed bottles are all embossed in some manner with the Reed identifying mark. Plus, all but the one shown here were apparently produced after 1919-1920 and have the town/state on the base. The interesting thing about the one pictured below is the base is blank and the accompanying caption describes it as ... "Coca Cola hobbleskirt bottle Pat'd Nov. 16, 1915 made by Reed #251 in a light blue/green - deep aqua color. It has no city or state on bottom. Crudely made with thin/thick glass, some bubbles, lines in glass." Of course lots of the first 1915 hobbleskirts were "crudely" made and had bubbles, but its the color that has really captured my attention.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

In case anyone is confused about the blue color I keep referring to, here's a 1916 error bottle next to a 1915 green bottle. Unless I missed something, I believe all of the 1916 error bottles are blue.

 

[Dmellman]

Here are images from a 1938 Rand McNally commercial atlas I have. One isIMG_5758.PNG roads, the other railroads. I have circled the location of the bottles.FullSizeRender-6.jpg

 

[Dmellman]

I got my bottle in Harrisonburg, VA. Cumberland MD is straight north. It may have come from Maryland. It was with dug bottles from the period from Cumberland. MD, Hagerstown, MD, Staunton, VA, Lynchburg, VA, Roanoke, VA, Alexandria, VA, Portsmouth, VA, Richmond, VA, Charlottesville, VA, Winchester, VA, and several West VA towns. Travel then from Cumberland, Hagerstown, Winchester, Staunton, Roanoke was common back then. I also am from Central New York. I collect Rochester stuff. Rochester bottles frequently moved east, not usually south, but anything is possible.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Dmellman Great information! Because your 1916 error bottle was "dug" along with other bottles, have you checked the other bottles to see what glass factories made them? I realize this is a longshot, but there might be a connection between who made the other bottles and who made the 1916 error bottle.

 

[Dmellman]

Bottle is more crude than any central or western NY bottle I have from that period or even earlier. I am not sure about Rochester. The bottle seems southern to me. West Virginia? South Carolina? Virginia? Western Maryland? Just a feeling from having hundreds of central new york bottles.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Dmellman The only other "dug" bottle I'm aware of is the one I posted from Connecticut. It was described as having been found tangled among the roots of a tree on the bank of a stream, and that the tree had toppled over during hurricane Sandy, so I'm assuming the bottle had been there a long time. As the crow flies, it is approximately 350 miles from Harrisonburg, Virginia to the southernmost coast of Connecticut, which leads me to suspect the error bottles originated somewhere in the northeastern region of the U.S. As you know, Connecticut borders southern New York state. Rochester, of course, is in northern New York state.