THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

[sandchip]

How tall is the amber example that sold on ebay?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

How tall is the amber example that sold on ebay?

The seller doesn't mention the height, but the two halves (upper and lower part) of a broken example I have measure approximately eight inches.

 

[sandchip]

Is there any embossing or just label only?

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Is there any embossing or just label only?

I don't know about the eBay bottle, but the only embossing on my broken example is on the base which has the number 64 Correction on the height - as best I can determine by fitting the broken pieces together it measures ten inches high.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Here's the broken Buckman Springs bottle I have been talking about ... which is actually portions of two bottles.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

It's true what they say, you learn something new everyday ...

This past Sunday I had a couple of hours to kill and went down to the lake again to explore another section of shoreline. The only bottle I found was a 1953 Coca Cola Hobbleskirt, and even though it was broken in half, I decided to keep it anyway because it was marked in a manner I was not familiar with. I've seen my share of Hobbleskirts and thought I was familiar with most of the codes. But as you will see in the following pictures, the one I found has the Owens-Illinois mark on the base and the date and mold codes on the side. I haven't gone through all of my Hobbleskirts to double-check them, but I honestly don't recall ever seeing one where the Owens-Illinois mark didn't have numbers on either side of it. This got me to wondering about it so I did some research and sure enough found what I was looking for. Actually, I suppose I should say I found 'part' of what I was looking for. The part I'm still confused about is the letter L

This link is to a Owens-Illinois article by Bill Lockhart. Scroll to the subheading "Coca Cola Bottles" where you will find the following ...



[URL=http://www.sha.org/research/owens-Illinois_article.cfm]http://www.sha.org/resear...s-Illinois_article.cfm



"In 1951, two changes occurred simultaneously. The date code migrated to the left, and the manufacturer's mark moved to the base of the bottle. The remaining embossing on the skirt was the two-digit date code, a dash (-), then the two-digit mold code on the right. These changes occurred about mid-year, so Coke bottles are found with both configurations. Some Owens-Illinois-made Coke bottles actually used the standard Owens- Illinois format (e.g., 24 OI mark 4 - Porter 1996:4, 7).
The Owens-Illinois mark on Coke bottles changed to the Oval-I mark about 1954 (when it changed on other bottles - see above). The final mark-related change on Coke bottles occurred by at least 1953 (probably in 1951), when Owens-Illinois began placing a smaller single letter above the manufacturer's mark to identify the plant making the bottle. Factories and marks included A (Alton, Illinois); B (Bridgeton, New Jersey); C (Charlotte, Michigan); F (Fairmount, West Virginia); S (Streator, Illinois); and W (Waco, Texas) (Porter 1996:4)." ~ * ~ Questions: 1. Is Bill's list of plant location codes complete or incomplete?2. What does the L stand for on the bottle I found? According to the various charts, the only Owens-Illinois plant that fits date-wise and starts with an L is Los Angeles. But Los Angeles is not on Bill's list. ??? If you have a similar Hobbleskirt with a solo letter and that has the Owens-Illinois mark without numbers on either side of it, please share it with us. Thanks. The marks on the bottle are as follows ... Side: 53 - 10Base: San Diego, Calif. L <(I)> P.S. ~ In about a week I plan to rent a boat and explore the remote north shore of the lake and hopefully find some real 'keepers'

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

And here's the Owens-Illinois charts I referred to ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This image is from Google Earth. The one I painted is as follows ...

Red = The lake's shoreline when filled to capacity.

YELLOW = The lake's current size.

GREEN ARROWS = The north shore where I intend to explore by boat. There are no roads in this area and is only accessible by boat or foot.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Speaking of Google Earth, if you haven't used it yet, it is an amazing site that allows you to explore any location on the planet. It's primarily satellite images of the Earth but also has various other features including ground level "Street Views." The street views were accomplished by a van that drove around that had a 360' degree camera mounted on the roof.

But in order for the site to work you have to download it first, which is free and only takes a minute.

This link will take you to the download page ...

[URL=http://google-earth.todownload.com/?lp=adwords&kw=Google%20earth&mt=e&ad=27135198918&pl=&ds=s&gclid=CK-YppXW57wCFTRo7AodfHMAEw]http://google-earth.todow...ppXW57wCFTRo7AodfHMAEw

Once you have it downloaded, and are interested in seeing a Street View of the old Buckman Springs bottling plant as it looks today, just copy/paste the following coordinates in the upper left search box (click on the search symbol) and it will automatically take you to the location. In order to use the Street View feature, just click/hold and drag the yellow man to the intersection where the coordinates appear. And from there you can 'drive' (by using the mouse scroll wheel) and go either north or turn around and go south. The old house is just to the north of the intersection and the old bottling plant is just to the south of the intersection. Try it - it's easy and fun. And once you get the hang of it, you can visit your own neighborhood or anywhere else on Earth.

Good luck and please let me know if you have any questions.

Here's the coordinates. Just copy/paste them once the site download is completed.

32 46'13.10"N 116 29'32.40"W

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Back to Charles Hatfield the Rainmaker ...

Apparently no one knows the exact location where Hatfield erected his tower and had his camp back in 1916, but based on the research I've done I believe I have narrowed down the location to within a quarter-mile section of land. The attached black & white picture is the only one in existence that shows Hatfield's tower as it appeared at Lake Morena in 1916. I have walked the entire two mile section of road in the area where the tower was said to be, and the color picture I took yesterday is the only place that even comes close to matching the 1916 photo. After locating the spot I only had about a half-hour to look around and will need to go back in order to explore the entire area. The only thing I found yesterday was a weird looking bottle cap that I believe is made of zinc or a similar metal. What's interesting about the cap is that it has the same residue incrusted on it that the Carboy bottle shard has. Plus it fits on top of the shard just right and might have been used to hold a cork in place with the help of some wire.

I'll post a picture of the shard and cap on the next page but for starters thought you might like to see the original picture and the one I took yesterday for comparison. I realize it's been 98 years and that things have changed, including black-topping what was once a dirt road, but otherwise this is the only location where the trees and other aspects matched up ...

1. Hatfield tower 1916
2. Similar looking location 2014