Moses Bottles

[cowseatmaize]

Two Poland Mineral Spring Water Moses Bottles.

First is an Aqua original mold from 1876-78 time frame with applied lip. I don't have the
proper cleaning supplies and it does have some spots of crud in the nooks and crannies.
There are no chips, cracks etc. that I could find but the seal is a bit weak (very common
in the aqua color originals). Heel embossing H. RICKER & SON'S PROPRIETOR'S (ROPRIETORS) in
smaller font.

Next it the 1931 "Honeymoon" bottle in a brilliant emerald green is machine made and the
last of the quart Poland Water Moses bottles. After that they were liquor without the
Poland Water on the front. Again, no damage but a few small spots that need to be reached
with proper tools. This is a "FACSIMILE" but all the embossing is strong. Heel embossing
THE MOSES BOTTLE/FAC-SIMILE OF THE FIRST POLAND WATER BOTTLE/HIRAM RICKER & SONS INC.

Brief history on these

Contrary to popular belief, the applied lip as the aqua (and the more desirable other
colors) is the original but other so called "originals" were made later (those also didn't
have FAC-SIMILE" on them). 1883 and 1893 two from the book by Pal Vincent. The later
versions had a tooled (soda blob top looking mouth). As a bottle collector, the applied
taper is just more consistent with the 1876 age. Made at Salem Glass Works.

I'm lousy at picture taking but provided a few, I hope they come out well enough. If you
wish for more, let me know.

 

[cowseatmaize]

I had these on ebay and while trying to figure out how to schedule a list and then I started toying with other stuff. Apparently you can cancel a list and not get a warning box. That hoovered since just deleting stuff from my watch list does. Anyway, I figured out both out now.
I also saw a few embossing mistakes in the list that I think are corrected here.

The price is $130 to zones 1-4 and $140 for 5-8 in the US. It's a $12 difference from here to there so I may get or loose a buck or two.

If you were one of the 3 folk that were watching those, I'm sorry.

I may consider splitting the pair.

 

[epackage]

Good luck Eric, I am tempted...

 

[cowseatmaize]

If your still interested they end tonight and is at $90.

AQUA Poland Water Moses H. Ricker&Later Hiram Honeymoon Lot of 2

A few other things also, more to come as I find boxes.

 

[Steve/sewell]

A very under rated bottle Eric..........Here are two originals and aqua 1876-1878 with an LTC type top and and 1885 Blob top version with a nice pink coloring due to time in a window.

The Salem Glass works were located in the town of Salem New Jersey the second oldest established town next to Burlington city.The Glass Works were located on Griffith Street along the water front. It started in 1862, when Henry Hall, Joseph Pancoast, and John V. Craven formed a partnership and built a single furnace on Third Street in the City of Salem. They made mold blown bottles, including squat mineral waters and porters for John P. Robinson, and John C. Brown of Salem, blue porter squats and squat ales for John Ryan of Savannah Ga., squat porters and mineral waters for Wm. Morton of Trenton, and squat porters for Twitchel of Phila.

This information came from a company mold book for the years 1865, 1866, and 1867. These glass works also made the Banner, Worcester, Wm. Pogue, W.W. Lyman, and Willoughby fruit jars and the U.H. Dudley Fruit bottle. They also made Attwoods bitters, Carter’s inks, Lea & Perkins Worcestershire Sauce, cone inks, Sachem Barrel bitters, Jenny Linds, Poland Springs “Moses†bottle, Paine’s Celery Compound, Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, Turlington Balsam, Drakes Plantation Bitters to name a few .

The most famous bottle associated with these works were the Poland mineral water bottles or as they were referred to the Moses bottles.For the grand opening of the new Poland Spring House, in 1876, the Rickers introduced the unusual Moses Bottle, which continued to be the symbol of Poland Spring beverages well into the 1970's. The original bottles were made only for a year and a half and then the mold was destroyed. Some time in 1885 the bottle reappeared with a blob top and slightly different dimensions. These were thought to have been made at the Whitney glass works as they are listed in a sales prices current sheet in 1885.

The Moses Bottles were first created for the grand opening of the Poland Spring Hotel, Poland Spring, Maine in 1876. The bottles contained Poland Spring Water and were given as souvenirs to those who attended the opening. The original bottle was made at the end of 1876 -October of 1878 when the Salem New Jersey Glass works were destroyed in a massive fire. Over the years 1876 - 1972, 43 different varieties of Moses Bottles were created for Poland Spring Water, Gin, Sloe Gin and Whiskey. Often a bottle would be made to commemorate a special event. Because of the wide variety of types, sizes, colors and the uniqueness of the shape, the Moses Bottle has always been a noted addition to any collection.

One of the most popular Moses Bottles is the 1925 type. 1925 was the last year the clear Poland Spring Moses Water Bottle was made. As Eric has shown the Green 1931 Honeymoon bottle was the last year for any of the Moses bottles It is the fourth of the "facsimiles" Each new generation of Moses Bottle has it's own characteristics and the 1925 Moses is no exception. The facial features were broad to begin with and the more the mould was used the flatter his features became; thus the nickname "Old Flat Face".

This is a massive quart sized bottle with great 3 dimensional strike to the mold. Contrary to popular belief these are not plentiful by any means as they were only made for a year and a half. If you collect soda or mineral water bottles this will look great in your collection I have these tow shown as book ends in one of my display cabinets with historical flasks in between.

 

[Steve/sewell]

2

 

[Steve/sewell]

3

 

[Steve/sewell]

4 The long taper type top of the 1876 original.

 

[Steve/sewell]

5 The Blob type top of the 1885 Whitney Glass works version.

 

[Steve/sewell]

6