My local collection

[Wheelah23]

Interesting thought... It would certainly be more economical than the dozens of plastic water bottles we each go through in a year... It could also get expensive, though.

ANYWAY... I won this bottle off eBay the other day. I know it's not too old, but at least it adds some color to my collection. Before, the colors ranged from clear, to light aqua, and all the way to... dark aqua LOL! I don't know much about the age of seltzer bottles... Any ideas on how old this one is? I know the pedestal based ones are the oldest... mine isn't that. It's acid etched, not ACL, so I'm thinking it's between the 20's and the 40's. It also says "BOTTLE MADE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA" on the base, so it's post WWI. I like the light cobalt color.

"REGISTERED/ IDEAL BEVERAGE CO./ (eagle)/ MONTCLAIR, N.J./ CONTENTS 26 OZ."

 

[Wheelah23]

Metal spigot says "IDEAL BEVERAGE CO. 59", so I'm guessing this is the 59th seltzer bottle they had?

 

[Wheelah23]

Thing's got some dings and heavy base wear, but I like it... It's a change of pace in my collection.

 

[Wheelah23]

Got another nice one off eBay. I don't think this one's particularly rare, as I've seen a couple around, but I'm happy to add a mint one to my collection. This one was found in an attic, so it has no damage, stain, or scratching. However, some bozo thought it would be a good idea to paint the wire bail silver. The painted silver wire looks horrible, so I removed it, and will soak it in paint remover to eliminate the paint. I cleaned the bottle better, and I kind of like it better without the bail. It's embossed "GEORGE FRANCK/ (GF in diamonds trademark)/ ORANGE. N.J.", and has the usual TBNTBS on the back.

As for dating this bottle, I think I've handled enough blob tops from my area to know the general dates just by looking at some body features. Many of these blobs were obviously made at the same glass houses, with a different slug plate inserted. I can tell by the slight shape differences in some of them. I suspect this bottle was made around the early to mid 1880's, due to the fact that it has no air venting marks. That gives it the weaker embossing that is characteristic of pre-1890's bottles. It's also got some whittle, and an applied, not tooled top. I almost prefer the post 1890's bottles I have, to be honest, because of the strong embossing. I don't really like the look and feel of the rounded embossing. Oh well, I like all local bottles anyway.

Before 'n afta

Applied top

This bottler's got some interesting history behind him. He was born on August 20, 1842 in Hegeney, France. Hegeney is in the Alsace region, which has a strong German influence- Franck is a German name, so I think his German background is why he entered the beer brewing industry. He was the son of Amand Franck and Catherine Moritz. He emigrated to the US in 1871, and settled in Orange. Credit for most of this information goes to an anonymous poster on this site. I'm not certain when he started in the bottling business, but I don't think it was too long after he emigrated to the U.S.

Now, in late September of 1883, a girl named Phoebe Paullin was murdered near Eagle Rock in Orange. George Franck became the primary suspect in this murder investigation. Coincidentally, Franck tried to kill himself for unclear reasons at almost the same time. He didn't succeed, and was then arrested. His alibi was that he was delivering beer on his wagon at the time of the murder, but no one saw him, and his wagon would've been hard to miss. Public opinion seemed to sway about his innocence. I found five articles discussing this murder, and in some of them, Franck seems to be innocent, while in others, he is all but assumed to be guilty. This December 9th, 1883 NY Times article explains it better than I can. The whole case is pretty interesting. I can't find whether or not they caught the killer. I've noticed old newspapers had a ton of typos and misspellings.

 

[Wheelah23]

I dug this one yesterday. It's practically as mint as the day it was born. It had a bit of the original contents left inside, which I cleaned out and smelled today. It smelled like old bread, which I take to mean George Greason was a beer bottler. I think this bottle is chronologically after the other blob top I posted earlier, because this one has the logo. It's a regular 9" tall size, the picture makes it look like a quart.

 

[Wheelah23]

This one was given to me by another digger. It's an extremely rare J. Henderson Grocer blob top from Montclair. It isn't damaged, but it's sick and has some scratching. I'm still very happy to add an example of this bottle to my collection.

 

[epackage]

Great additions Connor, I like the seltzer and the Franck the best.... I have 3 bottles here for you from Ed(pikewaynebottles), and let me know if you want those Montclair Ink Out bottles....Jim

 

[Wheelah23]

The Koch got here today... It's absolutely perfect... Original stopper and everything. Two things surprised me about it. One, it has an applied, not tooled top. Usually for bottles around here, that means it's 1880's or earlier... But it also has mold vent marks, which usually means 1890's or later... Unusual to say the least.

The other surprise is what I saw on the base. The manufacturer is one completely alien to me, it says "THE B & B S Co/ NEWARK, N.J.". I assume it stands for "The Bottle & Bottler Supply Co", or something along those lines... I can't find any record of a glass company like that existing... I'm extremely happy with this bottle, and I think it may be a rare one too.

It's embossed on the front "REGISTERED/ H. KOCH, JR./ MAPLE ST./ WEST ORANGE, N.J./ THIS BOTTLE/ NOT TO BE SOLD". I found on a map that H. Koch owned a hotel in 1912, but it's not on Maple St. I'll email Tod von Mechow about this one, maybe he'll be able to shed some light on the manufacturer.

 

[Wheelah23]

Base

 

[Sodasandbeers]

Another one to research! I'll never get my web site update published! ;-)

Is Brewers and Bottlers Supply Company. Try googling "Brewers & Bottlers Supply" Newark. Seems like a lot of hits with a Hoffamn running it.