Philadelphia Milk Bottle

[katemail13]

Found this Supplee Wills-Jones Clean Milk quart bottle while cleaning out the house of an uncle in Philadelphia who recently passed away. I have read about the company, but I'd like to know how to tell the date of the bottle. I haven't cleaned it yet, other than a rinse, but it's in very good shape. Can anyone help with figuring out a date?

Thanks in advance!

Katie

 

[CanadianBottles]

Milk bottles like this typically have two digits on or near the base which mark the year of manufacture. I can't make it out in these photos but I would be surprised if it isn't there. Without knowing that, I'd guess roughly 1940s-ish from the look of it.

 

[katemail13]

Thanks, @CanadianBottles. There is an 's' (could be a '5') below where it says 'registered', and on the opposite side at the base, there is what looks like a capital 'i'. There's nothing on the bottom, except what look like some scratches.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Thanks, @CanadianBottles. There is an 's' (could be a '5') below where it says 'registered', and on the opposite side at the base, there is what looks like a capital 'i'. There's nothing on the bottom, except what look like some scratches.

I see what looks like L.G. with some numbers after it on the heel, but I can't make out what the numbers are.

 

[swpender]

Found this Supplee Wills-Jones Clean Milk quart bottle while cleaning out the house of an uncle in Philadelphia who recently passed away. I have read about the company, but I'd like to know how to tell the date of the bottle. I haven't cleaned it yet, other than a rinse, but it's in very good shape. Can anyone help with figuring out a date?

Thanks in advance!

Katie

Supplee was one of the last local dairies in main line Philadelphia. Supplee bought Kennett Square PA Eastern Condensed Milk in 1909 and in 1938 renamed it Supplee Wills-Jones. We’ve dug several Supplee varieties including slugplates, embossed, fancy and plain, which end with ACL’s.

Your bottle is post ‘38 (ain’t I smart) I’d guess the age of embossed milk bottles was approaching the end as ACL took hold. Probably not a very common bottle.

The most interesting thing about it is how the history of several American innovations that produced massive and ongoing wealth are connected to that one bottle.

I guess most of us are here for the history. This one is particularly rich in it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Csa]

The L G Co on heel or LG 52 is likely Lamb Glass co. Here’s a good resource and image of main mfg companies and the sealed codes they used.

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/MilkBottleSealsChapter1.pdf