Possibly one of the earliest John Ryan bottles?

[baltbottles]

Matt,

There was a small article published in a now defunct bottle magazine about these fakes and I got a chance to see one of the Pa squats and this bottle is obviously made using either the same or a very similar technique. There has also been quite a bit of discussion on one of the British bottle forums. They have had a rash of colored embossed Codd bottles being faked in a similar way recently.

Chris

 

[bottlekid76]

Wow, that hurts. You guys really think it is?

~Tim

 

[sandchip]

Another thing is that I don't remember ever seeing Helvetica used in any early bottles or advertisements (the "R" is the giveaway here). It's probably the most popular sans serif font used in modern times and is in the basic font package with any type of computer driven lettering machinery, so that would be another red flag in itself.

 

[cyberdigger]

I was puzzled by the font style of the embossing.. just doesn't look 1850ish.. can you return it?

 

[baltbottles]

Tim,

I am 100 percent sure the bottle was a plain 1850s Philadelphia made soda that using some kind of modern Machine Tool embossing was cut into the surface of the bottle. Then the bottle was likely tumble polished to remove evidence of this altering.

Also real slug plates are not set into the body of the bottle like that. They usually end up very close to flush with the rest of the surface of the bottle. And a small seam forms around the edge of the slug plate which is raised like other embossing on the bottle.

Chris

 

[Plumbata]

I dunno about a laser, as the work looks mechanically effected due to the chipping, roughness, etc. but it could have been done by a laser, and then tumbled to give the whole bottle an even superficial texture. Sadly, the first thing I thought after looking at the picture for about 5 seconds was that it is a fake. A few more seconds confirmed the suspicion. Scrolling down and seeing the responses further corroborated it. My heart sunk for your sake.

I really really hope you can get your money back, and am sorry to be another bearer of the bad news. [&o]

 

[epackage]

[][][]

 

[bottlekid76]

I sure am no expert, and have no idea. I'm not saying it couldn't be I guess after reading what you are saying. I'm not experienced in that area enough to know. I would like to see another example of one that has been faked to compare it to before I could make a definate decision about it tho. One thing that puzzles me about that is if one was to do this, why wouldn't they use an essentially mint bottle, instead of one with an ice pick bruise in the inside lip?

~Tim

 

[epackage]

I am humbled by the knowledge on this sight, I am saddened for Tim and hope he can return it and I'm happy we are all getting an education here.....Jim

 

[cyberdigger]

Artificial authenticity ..what hath man wrought...?