Pumpkinseed is Throwing Me

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Hi, There! I'm new to your site. I've collected bottles forever, but just because they were beautiful with the light going through them on the windowsill. Even put shelves in front of windows, so I could look at more of them. Recently, however, my husband pointed out that I was using a huge amount of storage (like 30 boxes or more) for my stored bottles. So, I've been educating myself slowly about marks and molds and finishes, in order to sell some. However, after I went to a glorious "garage sale" with 1/2 acre of tables with bottles, I came away with more, mostly a glorious collection of pumpkinseeds. This one is throwing me. I think it is from a suction mold, and it has mold seams up the sides that end just over the shoulder, into what I'm calling "slumps" (asymmetrical marks, on both shoulders). Then those mold seams disappear, as if in an applied finish. Here's the confusing part - there are also mold seams up the front and the back that go all the way up and over the lip. They are extremely straight, but off enough that, on the front side, you can catch your fingernail on the higher edge, and it obliterates part of the "NET CONTENTS 5 OZ." mark. On the back side, the seam is sunken. I love oddities, bubbles, "slumps", but what the heck is going on with this one? I've attached numerous photos. Any help will be more than appreciated! Also, any advice on informational bottle websites would be great!
 

Attachments

  • 3 Bottom corner.JPG
    3 Bottom corner.JPG
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  • 4 side seam disappearing into slump.JPG
    4 side seam disappearing into slump.JPG
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  • 6 No side seam on finish.JPG
    6 No side seam on finish.JPG
    7.2 MB · Views: 167
  • 8 Slump 2.JPG
    8 Slump 2.JPG
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  • 9 Slump.JPG
    9 Slump.JPG
    7.2 MB · Views: 178
  • 10 Front and Back Seams.JPG
    10 Front and Back Seams.JPG
    7.7 MB · Views: 176
  • 11 Front Seam.JPG
    11 Front Seam.JPG
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  • 14 Front seam going through mark.JPG
    14 Front seam going through mark.JPG
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  • 16 Back Seam.JPG
    16 Back Seam.JPG
    7.3 MB · Views: 171
  • 17 Top lip.JPG
    17 Top lip.JPG
    7.6 MB · Views: 154

bottles_inc

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I would guess its a 1900-1910s+ bottle for a whiskey that used the pumpkinseed shape as nostalgia for marketing purposes. Pop's old fashioned whiskey, just like they used to drink when you were a kid in 1880.
 
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Thanks! So, the mold for it was a mold with badly matched seams, and fake side seams. That makes sense! Thanks!
 

SODABOB

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Bottle Odyssey

Welcome aboard - Cool bottle - Thanks for sharing

As you may know, the term "Pumpkinseed" flask is a collector's term. The glass industry typically listed them as "Picnic" flask. The information via the following links should be of help. They are to the "Society for Historical Archaeology" (sha.org) website which includes the most extensive bottle related research material on the Internet. You do not have to join the site in order to navigate it. I am a member myself and there are a few articles on the site that I participated in. If you are not familiar with the site, it can be a little tricky to figure out, but with a little practice I'm sure you won't have any problems.

The first link will take you to some general information. The "Main Subject Pages" box on the left side of the page provides access to a variety of different topics.

The second link will take you to the Liquor & Spirits page. Scroll to the bottom area of the page and you will find a lot of information about various flasks. It also has some information about your particular Picnic flask. It even has a photo of one that looks identical to yours.

I hope this information helps - and have fun on the website

Bob




Glass Making & Glass Makers / Glossary / etc.

Glassmaking and Glassmakers Page (sha.org)



Liquors Spirits / Picnic Flasks Bottom of Page

Liquor/Spirits Bottles (sha.org)
 
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Wow! Thank You! I do have about a million bookmarks of SHA pages, but not that one! I am so thankful for your help. A major problem, though...the more I learn, the less I want to sell my beautiful bottles. Happy dilemma, I guess...;)
 

sandchip

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Your pumpkinseed is an early machine made bottle, dating post-1903, but no later than 1917, since manganese was used as the decolorizing agent, the use of which ended when we entered WWI. I'd lean towards the early side of the date range. ABM bottles are blown in two different molds, the first being an undersized one, sort of a tapered cylinder, to give the parison uniformity before being transferred to the full-size mold. The gather is held by the top, hence the horizontal mold line just below the lip. In early examples, some unintentional rotation occurred between molds leaving the impression of a second pair of mold lines elsewhere on the bottle. Usually, the rotation is only a few degrees, not nearly as radical as on your flask. The circular line at the bottom is from the first mold as well. As the machine was perfected, incidents of gather rotation eventually disappeared. Hope this helps.

One other thing that I noticed in the first picture of the base is that an old "hand blow" mold was adapted for use in an automatic blowing machine, evidenced by the pronounced side mold lines which result from the gap between mold halves which allowed for air to escape as the gather was blown into the mold. Automatic machines have a vacuum to pull that air out, allowing for a tighter fit between mold halves and much finer mold lines or "seams". I've got an early ABM hobbleskirt Coke from the Laurens, SC glassworks, the only glasshouse that blew hobbleskirts by hand from what I hear.
 
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Wow! Thank YOU so much! I'm afraid I will never know as much as you do about bottles. I'm educating myself, and I really enjoy it, but I'm kinda late to the game. I remember when I was 5 or 6, my friend's parents would take us bottle and rock collecting, and I loved it. That was in Salmon, Idaho, 53 years ago. Imagine how much I would know if I'd kept at it...but we moved, end of opportunity. I'll keep at it, though, and maybe attain some knowledge. You are a master, and I thank you for sharing your expertise. SO interesting! I love this website! (and, yes, I do use a LOT of exclamation points when I'm excited) :cool:
 

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