IN SEARCH OF / NON-ABM / FANCY-IMAGE / CROWN SODA BOTTLES

[SODAPOPBOB]

I am especially interested in this sentence by Digger Odell ...

"The new century meant new ideas and that mean new designs and new art forms. The art of the times is reflected in the designs."

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

For Starters ...

20th Century Art & Music

( And looking for specifics that might have influenced soda bottle designs to go from blasé straight-sided to using intricate patterns ).

"1900 sheet music cover reflecting the era's optimism about a better future through technological progress."

 

[celerycola]

Bob, you need to get out to a bottle show or maybe buy a book or two. Most of this information will not show up in a google search. I saw several at Manchester over the weekend picturing animals such as eagles, indians, a pig, etc.

Where I am from there were three companies using eagles, a camel, an elephant, a deer, and several with Indian heads, all before 1910 and hand finished from a single county.

As far as pre-abm deco bottles gay-ola adopted a bottle design patented in 1914 in many cities. Bludwine used a hobble skirt bottle across the US as early as 1906 but that bottle was not design patented until 1918. One of the most elaborate deco sodas I have ever seen is the Kola-Mint with raised and sunken panels, horizontal rings, and the script trade mark embossed on high relief mint leaves. Every one is hand finished.

If you want sources check the Alabama Soda Book, the Oklahoma Soda Book, the Kansas Soda Book, the Arkansas Soda Book, the Illinois soda book, the Oregon Soda Book, the Washington Soda Book, and others.


Thanks for the replies ... and please post some pictures if available.

Bob

~ * ~

Examples of recommended search terms ...
Which can also be used with the words "Embossed" and/or "Crown" for alternative searches.

For circa 1900 to 1910 soda bottles:

Hand Blown Soda Bottle
Blown In Mold Soda Bottle
BIM Soda Bottle
Pre 1910 Soda Bottle
1900 Soda Bottle

For circa 1910 to 1920s soda bottles:

Automatic Bottle Machine Soda Bottle
ABM Soda Bottle
Deco Soda Bottle
Designer Soda Bottle
Post 1910 Soda Bottle
1920s Soda Bottle


Because I am primarily an ACL (Applied Color Label) soda bottle collector, this means I have a limited number of non ACLs in my collection. This also means I have to search books and the Internet and rely on the descriptions of others when trying to determine whether a particular soda bottle is hand blown or not (Pre-ABM / Pre Circa 1910).

As I indicated in my opening page, I am primarily looking for two things ...

1. Hand blown (BIM) Crown soda bottles with images embossed on them.
2. Hand blown (BIM) Crown soda bottles with fancy/intricate embossing on them.

As a result of my ongoing search, I have found a few BIM crown soda bottles with images on them. However, as I said, I have to rely on the individual's description when they claim the bottles are hand blown and not machine made, which I personally cannot confirm one way or another. In any event, hand blown bottles with images embossed on them apparently do exist, although they seem to be farther and fewer between compared to the greater numbers of plain, straight-sided bottles that don't have images and are typically embossed with block lettering, with some that used cursive script like Coca Cola and others.

As for finding fancy / intricately embossed (deco style) hand blown soda bottles prior to about 1910, the search still continues on that as I have not found any noteworthy examples yet. In fact, the more I search/research this type of bottle, the more inclined I become to ask ...

"What was it that influenced designers to evolve from straight-sided soda bottles to the fancier deco/designer types of soda bottles? Was it simply a reflection of the times - art - architecture - etc? Was it the introduction of bottle making machines and new tecnology? Was it the evolution of closures from Hutchinson to Blob to Crown? Was a combination of all of the above? Or are there other reasons not mentioned here? And if so, what were those reasons?"

By the way, some observers feel the advent of the deco era began with the introduction of the Root/Dean Coca Cola contour bottle in 1915 thru 1917. Thus, my interest in trying to find earlier examples (if they exist) prior to circa 1910.

I intend to look into this in more detail as time allows and hopefully find some logical explanations to my questions. I will share what I find in future postings. In the meantime, the following links are to examples of some of the "image" labels I've found, which are described by the sellers as "Hand blown Crown soda bottles."


Witch

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/salem-mass-soda-bottle-emb-witch-on-broom-100-yrs

Dog

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-soda-embossed-dog-john-tebo-253185085

Train

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/spencer-carbonating-co-nc-train-slug-129527960

Elk

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-soda-embossed-elk-stag-deer-253682624

And here's my current favorite ...

Jumbo Soda Bottle ... (From a 2006 listing).

Described as:

"Hand blown - Hand tooled crown top."

"This rare Jumbo soda bottle was made by the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana over 100 years ago."

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/new-orleans-jumbo-5-cent-soda-emb-elephant-rare

[/quote]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Please note it is not my intention to turn this into a strictly "Deco" soda bottle discussion and that my primary interest is still with finding pictures and references to pre-deco soda bottles that are "similar" in style but that date between about 1900 and 1910. So please bare with me regarding the following because it is only intended to try and exemplify what Digger Odell referred to as ...

"The new century meant new ideas and that meant new designs ... "

I can think of no better example of "design" than that associated with architecture, especially that of the ever changing New York skyline. Notice in the two pictures that follow how in the 1898 picture of New York the buildings are for the most part "box" shaped. Whereas in the 1931 picture we now see a couple of towering skyscrapers, namely the Chrysler building and the Empire State building. But even with this said, I wish to point out that the Chrysler building was built in 1930 with the Empire State building built a year later in 1931. So it goes without saying that those two buildings could not have had an influence on deco style soda bottles that date from the teens and early 1920s. The reason I mention this is because some accounts I've read claim it was the Chrysler building in particular that "ushered in the Deco era," which I somewhat disagree with, at least when it comes to soda bottles. In fact, I'd say 1930 and 1931 were closer to end of deco soda bottle era than to it's beginning.

However, I do believe that architectural design in general from about 1900 to about 1915 did play a role and have an influence on pre-1920 soda bottles. The influence I'm referring to is a trend starting around 1900 away from "boxy" buildings to the more elegant and much "taller" buildings that we think of now as skyscrapers.

Have you ever notice that many of the 1920s deco soda bottles are tall and slim? They got that design look from somewhere, and I'm suggesting one of those "somewhere's" might have been from architecture, especially skyscrapers.

Next I'm going to take a look at turn-of-the-century and 19-teens "Art" and see what I can come up with there that might have influenced the introduction of deco style soda bottles.

Bob

[ 1898 New York Skyline ]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

[ 1931 New York Skyline ]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Speaking of art ...

I found the cover of this book interesting. (Notice the skyscraper in the background). I especially like a portion of the accompanying caption that says ...

"Streamlined design aesthetic of the 1920s"

More later

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

ORIGINAL: celerycola

picturing animals such as eagles, indians, a pig, etc.

eagles, a camel, an elephant, a deer, and several with Indian heads, all before 1910 and hand finished

Bludwine used a hobble skirt bottle across the US as early as 1906

Kola-Mint with raised and sunken panels, horizontal rings, and the script trade mark embossed on high relief mint leaves. Every one is hand finished.

Pictures please. That way I won't have to spend hours looking for them. Plus it will help other members as well who are curious as to what those bottles look like. Then I can start digging even deeper as to what some of the influences might have been that appears to have started around 1905 causing bottle designers to switch gears from the blasé straight-side's to the blazing decos.

Thanks

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Speaking of art and artist ...

Pablo Picasso was one of if not the most influential artist in the early 1900s and later. I did a quick study of some of his earlier works and it appears it was around 1907 when he started to get more heavily involved with abstract imagery. Prior to about 1907 most of his works were of portraits and the like. Whether any of his early 1900s works had any influence on soda bottle designs, I can't rightly say. But it wouldn't surprise me if they did. After all, in a manner of speaking, bottle designers were also artist, and I can't image those bottle designers not being aware of Picasso's works.

The work pictured below is from 1907 and titled "Portrait of Kahnweiler." I selected it at random from several of his circa 1910 works because I liked the odd shapes and thought it might best emphasize a possible connection to early art deco soda bottles.

So is there a connection between early 1900s streamlined architecture - abstract Picasso art - and deco soda bottles? I'm not sure either but I'm looking into it. [sm=thumbup1.gif]

Bob

[ Portrait of Kahnweiler ~ Pablo Picasso ~ 1907 ]

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Image below is ...

Cover of ... "The World Magazine" ~ January 20, 1907

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Regarding Early 1900s Bottle Technology ...

http://www.utoledo.edu/library/canaday/exhibits/oi/OIExhibit/timeline.htm

1902: Owens completes work on the first fully successful automatic bottle-blowing machine, Machine Number Four. On September 3, 1903, the Owens Bottle Machine Co. opens for business with the former machine's successor, Machine A. This marked the first use of the automatic bottle-making machine created by Michael J. Owens with the help of engineer William Emil Bock.

1907: The first machine-blown glass tumblers are produced.



http://www.sha.org/bottle/glossary.htm

The Owens machines, which used suction to draw the glass into the mold, were gradually overshadowed by more efficient "gob feeder" (gravity flow glass feeding) machines beginning in the late 1910s and 1920s.