Old Soda? Bottle

[druggistnut]

Hey Ken,
It appears that you oiled that bottle. What did you use?
Bill

 

[cowseatmaize]

You can start with 1892 for a start point for the crown.
As for the machine made it's a bit trickier. ABM was started in the mid 1890's or so and developed over time. Older machines were also bought by and used much later by some factories than the ABM we think of from the 1906 that is commonly referred to as a date.
In other words, you could maybe date the machine but not the actual bottle.
As for the number, I'm seeing a C3 which I've seen on a lot of bottles from embossed to paper label only. If I remember correctly, Budweiser used that on some and it may be just a style mark.
Maybe Red Mathews will check in and help.

 

[NewbieBottleHunter]

It appears that you oiled that bottle. What did you use?

I have a friend who found a Codd bottle underwater and sitting for a century in saltwater understandably aged the rubber seal gasket in the neck. After a few months of sitting in her house the gasket dried-out and fell apart. To attempt to counteract this problem with my Codd I inverted my bottle in a small container of mineral oil. I found that a light rubbing of mineral oil (not enough to make the bottles dangerously slippery) can add a bit of luster to the surface of an old bottle. Didn't know it was noticable from the photos but thanks for asking.


-Newbie

 

[NewbieBottleHunter]

ORIGINAL:
As for the number, I'm seeing a C3 which I've seen on a lot of bottles from embossed to paper label only.

This crude embossing on the base of the bottle is difficult enough to see in hand and even trickier to try to photograph. It is in fact "13" and not "C3" as it may appear in my image. I was assuming it was something inconsequential (such as a mold style as suggested by others) but as it was the only embossing on the bottle I thought I'd provide the information in case it was in any way a clue. When you don't know much about old bottles you don't know enough to know what is important and what is trivial.

The fact that the different seams on the body of the bottle and the finish which I now understand clearly point to its production on something like a semi-automatic machine (a spectacular image of which was provided by surfaceone) was informative and now adds special meaning to this odd little bottle in my collection. In my humble opinion a bottle in my collection would have to be beautiful in its own right (color and/or form) or should have a story attached to it. Otherwise, why keep it?

Thanks a lot to all those who have helped me build a story for this bottle.


-Newbie

 

[RED Matthews]

Maybe Red Mathews will check in and help.

Well guys, I did. It is a neat early ABM product made in the time period you have estaglished. The earliest threaded finishes made on an ABM, were made with the thread in the mold. Here the seam was the same one as the mold and the top of the finish had to be ground for sealing good. When they started using neckrings to form the thread with - we don't know if it was done in a ring on top of the mold or a neckring under the parison mold (Blank Mold). There were several glass machine developing companies working this their own way.

Regarding the work of Bill Lindsey and the bottle making descriptions, when I retired from selling mold metals to the worlds glass industry, I ran into this man's work. I used a good three reams of paper and filled three notebooks with these sheets of knowledge transfer. From there I read them. I also bought every book about early glass making that I could find. Libraries were not much help. Having worked in the industry for 30 years +, I decided to learn how it was all done before 1900. This was my approach - even though I had collected glass since I was seven years old.

So here I am today at almost 84 - trying to help all of the hobby collectors - where I can. So thanks for the recommending me. Clarence RED Matthews <bottlemysteries@yahoo.com>