Need help identifying an old (possibly beer) bottle

[Hailee.McC]

Hi there! I'm new to bottle collecting, and I found this bottle recently outside of an abandoned farm house while doing archaeological work for a class. My professor said (mostly jokingly) that since I get to keep it, I have to figure out how old it is. Does anyone have an idea of what year (approximately) this is from? The bottom of it has the Thatcher Glass Manufacturing MTC variation mark, the letter S, the number 16, and the number 78. There are eagles all around the top in front of what looks like the letter A. The bottom says No Deposit (then a star) No Refill as well as Please Don't Litter. Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[DavidW]

Hi, I think it is most likely a beer bottle made in 1978. (Is that a Budweiser logo on the shoulder area?) Although, to be clear, on the base of a lot of beer bottles made by several other glass companies (such as Owen-Illinois), the date code would normally be placed at the "3 o'clock" position. But since that number on that bottle is a 16, which would not make sense as a date code, the 16 is likely the mold number and the "78" in the 6 o'clock position is almost certainly the date code. Those "Please don't litter" types of phrases were very popular on most beer bottles from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It might be my imagination but the "8" almost looks like it might have been re-engraved over a "7" , which would make perfect sense if the bottle mold had been re-tooled slightly to change the numeral from a "7" to an "8".

 

[embe]

That's an Anheuser-Busch logo (Budweiser was one of their brands). Based on the style I'd guess 40-50 years old but there's a way to crack those date codes.

 

[hemihampton]

I'm guessing 1978 Anheuser Busch Bottle. LEON.

 

[Csa]

Looks like a 1978 bud 16 oz to me. If you found it in NJ, May be one that I drank!! The 8 does look like an overwrite type date mold over a 7. I have a few of those on some bottles I’ve dug.