My First Pontil Soda

[DavidW]

K6TIM,
Can you give us a link to some examples of poison bottles marked with XX or XXX? Or photos.

I think you are thinking of the "Skull and crossbones", not the letter "X".

Thanks, David

 

[Len]

Nice job there, Underminer. I spent a lot of my youth in the sand of CT's state beaches and never found a cool bot like yours. Congrats. If you're often poking around historical areas once inhabited by under represented Americans you might want to take a couple notes and a pic or two for future use...
Good luck with your collection. Remember, take good care of the bottles and in the future they'll return the favor.

 

[THE BEAR]

Hello Underminer, Wow that is a beautiful bottle. What a lucky find. I would guess most beachcombers find bottles that are much newer, or, if they are that old, just broken pieces are found!

My guess is that currents and strong surf action caused some erosion and uncovered a bottle that had been buried under sand or mud for a very, very long time.

Is that bottle also marked "R . C. & T. NEW YORK" ? Can you post a pic of the other side, and the bottom? I have to ask because I am under the impression that all the bottles made for Robinson, Charlesworth & Tryner are marked with one of those three embossing variations as explained in that article.

I'm not trying to come across as a "know it all" so please bear with me. It is my impression that lots of different glass companies and/or mineral water/ale/beer bottlers in the 1840s, 1850s, 1860s and maybe later, placed large embossed letters "X X" or "X X X" on their bottles, and if there are only X's on the bottle (but without other markings) it would be impossible to be sure who made the bottle or what company or brand of ale, cider, or mineral water was involved. There are on a lot of bottles that look like "Soda" bottles, but wasn't that X only placed on those bottles to refer to alcohol-related bottles???? I assume they were made to hold either soda OR ale?

Honestly I don't know. Looking for input from anyone on this question!! Does ANYONE on this forum have information on exactly what those "X"s meant??? I have read conflicting info online. Some info refers only to liquor containers like the heavy old pottery crocks and jugs with "XXX" on them.
I thought the XX or XXX has something to do with the strength of that ale, beer or cider inside.

OR, maybe in some cases the XX on a soda bottle was just a mold identifier???

At one time it was how many times it was filtered. One X per time.

 

[Sodasandbeers]

Need to find one of these in puce. You may find this article interesting.

Soda and Beers - Notes

 

[rdfmartin]

The x's on the bottles are for the type of porter (beer) they contained, double or triple X porters. I have several XXX porters and a R.C. & T with BROWN STOUT on the back. It has an iron pontil base.

 

[sandchip]

I always heard that the number of Xs indicated the strength of a porter, but the filter theory sounds plausible, too. I don't claim to know, but to add to the confusion, here's 4 Xs on a rye bottle.

 

[rdfmartin]

I wouldn't count out the filter idea, I've never seen a definite answer to the x question.

 

[rdfmartin]

The Rye bottle is the first 4X I've seen.