Muskegon River Clean-up finds.

[Robby Raccoon]

Today I was part of the Muskegon River Clean-up. All in all, I filled two sacks with garbage---mainly bottles and cans. Having arrived to the Bridgetown(?) boat-launch which was destination, I eventually became bored and though, "Well, that bridge down there might have some '60s bottles, as the one over our highway does. Guess what!? Only a few hundred feet away was a long bar of gravel along the shores. I spotted the clear bottle you'll see on it, but thought it was plastic from the distance (Hi-C maybe?) and kept kayaking passed. Then, thinking, I haven't found any older bottles which is odd, I suddenly spotted this little (okay, larger!) one in the gravel only a few feet from shore and instantly thought, Okay, this has to be an old one. Well guess what!? I may only know this brewery eventually took over Muskegon Brewery, but I was instantly fairly sure it's pre-prohibition. THEN! I got it back and cleaned it up, noticing the seams stop before the mouth even though it looks like ABM--they took my picture with the bottle, excited on my find. The bottle says, "GRAND RAPIDS / BREWING CO." at top, on front heel 'A B COREGISTERED THIS" (Yes, no space between 'Co' and 'Registered') then at the back BOTTLE NOT TO BE SOLD" The base says, "203 / P" It's in light minty green and, as stated, the seam ends before the lip on either side... so hand-tooled? It would have had a label, as I had guessed over at the boat launch. Here's a link to one in brown with label: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-ANTIQUE-GRAND-RAPIDS-BREWING-CO-BEER-BOTTLE-WITH-LABLE-/271550887135?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f39b1b4df Any idea on exact age? I'm so pleased with it! It's not my prettiest, most valauble, or oldest (hardly even local) but it'll look nice in my collection. I'll post on a few more bottles I found there.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

More pictures! Might not be able to see it, but seam stops before neck and looks like it's been worked.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Okay, next bottle I grabbed but spotted first! It's clear, I have no idea what was in it. It's the Owen-Illinois company with almost a plus-sign above their symbol on the base (plus is centered, their winged oval with a 1--looks like an I to me--number seven on its left, 3 on it's right (their date-codes messed me up long ago with how they changed so I'm not gonna look into it, but if anyone tells me which plant and year, I'd be most pleased.) There's a circle off-center around that plus, too... "E216" is embossed on it. Any idea what was in it? It's left of the Brewing Bottle.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Last, but not least--I found this one past in a pond closer to the bridge, not the gravel-bed-- this beautiful but sadly shattered ACL Mission Beverage bottle--Ginger Ale? Says on the front ACL, "BOTTLED BY QUALITY BOTTLERS EVERYWHERE / mission / BEVERAGES / Naturally good [last two words said in 'script'?, MISSION seems to be a mix of lower-case and upper.] / UNDER LICENSE OF MISSION DRY CORPORATION" Then it's embossed on the front heel, saying, "NET CONTENTS 10 OZS." The back ACL says, "Naturally / Good / GRAND RAPIDS BOTTLING CO. / GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN" The base is embossed, "MISSION DRY CORP. / 4 / Ball(?) [Too hard to truly see... as it's worn on the cursive double L] / 2 / 73010" Any idea on age? I'm guessing late '50s to early '60s. I've not done research on it as it's shattered.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Yep, that's definitely a tooled crown! Your other bottle is probably a pickle or sauce bottle, nothing too special unfortunately. You're probably right about the dates on the Mission, though it could be a decade older. Early 60's seems a bit too late, I think by that time they were using the bigger swirly blue ACL Mission bottles. Congrats on the tooled crown! I still haven't found one, to be honest. I've found some rare early embossed ABM sodas, but a tooled crown still eludes me. I need to do more digging.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Try swimming? Have any river clean-ups on a historically busy river? I hope you do at some point. I'm most pleased about my find, even if it's missing its label. It seems they mostly came in amber, which makes mine extra-special. Would you say TOC-1910 on mine? Do you know what decade the bottle is from (Owens?) It's lacking "DURAGLASS" so I'm guessing it's older? I saw some 1940s-1950s Mission Beverages like mine, but none were made by Ball... or had the same numbers....

 

[hemihampton]

Nice find on the Pre Pro Grand Rapids bottle. Congrats. LEON.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Thank you, Leon. []

 

[sunrunner]

good going.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

I know! and it took all day to find these in one hour, hah hah!