Orange Juice Containers

[Dogo]

That rough top looks like there should be something to protect the user from cuts. If they were for juice they probably would have had a better finish around that lip.

 

[Lobsterpot]

Thanks for the input.
The tops are very smooth, but I don't think the containers were designed to be drunk from.
I think they were made to be used with a straw ?? They would be hard , if not impossible, to drink from without pouring some of the contents on yourself.
The lip is smooth , no jagged edges.

 

[CanadianBottles]

I have a hard time imagining that these could be orange juice containers. There's no reason for the top to be unfinished, even if they were intended to be used with a straw, and if they were meant to be reused it makes no sense to use such thin glass which would be broken almost immediately. And farmers would be unlikely to be able to afford a bunch of custom-made single-use bottles.

I agree with Robby's guess that they're Christmas tree ornaments, probably missing their paint. The opening lines up pretty well with the wide mouths that they used to have. Figural fruit designs used to be very popular for tree ornaments, and oranges are traditionally a Christmas fruit.
Here's the mouth of an ornament with the top removed, for comparison:

Here's a picture with a figural orange ornament in the upper left. It's got a smaller mouth than yours but otherwise is pretty similar:

 

[Lobsterpot]

Thanks for your thoughts and photo's.
The openings are flush with the top, so there is nothing for the metal top of a Christmas ornament to fit over. All three containers are identical.
I don't believe that they were meant for continued use , thus the thin glass, but more as a marketing technique. As far as cost to a farmer , I can't imagine these containers costing more than a few cents a piece back in the day, not a great cost for a citrus grower trying to promote his product. Who knows ??
So, far , I guess I have (3) oddities. The mystery continues.
Again, thanks to everyone for there comments . I appreciate them !

 

[CanadianBottles]

Thanks for your thoughts and photo's.
The openings are flush with the top, so there is nothing for the metal top of a Christmas ornament to fit over. All three containers are identical.
I don't believe that they were meant for continued use , thus the thin glass, but more as a marketing technique. As far as cost to a farmer , I can't imagine these containers costing more than a few cents a piece back in the day, not a great cost for a citrus grower trying to promote his product. Who knows ??
So, far , I guess I have (3) oddities. The mystery continues.
Again, thanks to everyone for there comments . I appreciate them !

Christmas ornament toppers don't need to fit over anything, they attach with wire clips that press against the inside of the opening.
The other problem with these being orange juice bottles, is why have no others ever shown up? Why do no glass catalogues from that era advertise anything remotely close to these? Why did they use a design completely unlike anything else ever used in North America?
And even if they did only cost the farmer a few cents each, that adds up to a massive amount of money once it's scaled up to giving these away to large numbers of people. Five cents around the turn of the 20th century (and these could have cost significantly more since figurals were expensive) is equivalent to around $1.50 today. No one is going to be spending over a dollar per free sample today, because even though a dollar isn't too much, free samples are given away in huge numbers and only a small percentage result in a sale. If you're giving away free samples which cost you $1.50 each, you can quickly end up spending over $1000 in a single day on samples and only net maybe 50 customers or so. Small expensive single-use sample bottles were used around the turn of the 20th century, but they were used for advertising high-value items like bitters and patent medicines where one sale could pay for a hundred sample bottles. You aren't going to pay for much with the sale of one bottle of orange juice.
The other issue is that these can't be sealed as far as I can tell, so they would have to be consumed right at the stand. If they were being consumed right at the stand then why would anyone possibly want to spend so much money on glass oranges when a reusable glass or paper cup would serve the exact same function for a tiny fraction of the price? I don't know of any bottle at any point in history which was intended to be filled in front of the customer and then discarded. It just makes no sense. Even today, when glass costs much less than it did back then, no one makes single-use glass containers which aren't used for storing the product.

 

[Lobsterpot]

Thanks so much.
I appreciate your enthusiastic and thought provoking conjecture, however I still am looking for the identity /purpose of these orange shaped containers. I have reached out to the academic community that are involved with the citrus industry. I'll report back on any news.
Thanks again.

 

[Eric]

Look like small MCM vases... having a mold line they were probably mass produced... wouldn't think they would be for drinking if they are thin glass.. I remember in the 70s in Florida you could get orange juice samples and the containers where orange plastic and actually looked like oranges even had green plastic leaves... had a hole for a straw and everything.. these are warped on purpose due to the mold lines... my guess, these are small decorative pieces... look 1960s/early 70s.

 

[Lobsterpot]

Thanks for your input.
I think these were meant to be single use containers, they are much too thin to be a regular house hold item.
I compare them to glass "target balls". use one time and discard ??
Maybe they are from the 20-30"s when orange juice was being heavily promoted to the US population. The marketing idea of "Drinking an Orange" became the
savior to the citrus industry in the early part of the 20th century..
Again thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate them.

 

[SandiR]

Thanks for your input.
I think these were meant to be single use containers, they are much too thin to be a regular house hold item.
I compare them to glass "target balls". use one time and discard ??
Maybe they are from the 20-30"s when orange juice was being heavily promoted to the US population. The marketing idea of "Drinking an Orange" became the
savior to the citrus industry in the early part of the 20th century..
Again thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate them.

I remember going down to California as a kid and getting orange juice in orange-shaped containers. I believe by the 1970's, though, the ones we got were plastic. I have no doubt that they could have started with glass ones. We might have got them at Disneyland, though. I'm not sure.

 

[Lobsterpot]

Thank you,
The California citrus growers association (now known as Sunkist) started marketing orange juice to increase sales of their oranges, prior to this people would only eat oranges ,not "drink: them. The rest is history.
I appreciate your comments.