western bitters bottles

[westernbittersnut]

Andrew,

The Alex Von Humboldts and the Dr. Renz's Herb Bitters (small letter variant) bottles were made by the same mold maker and have a unique anomaly on the bases. they also use the same style lettering. I would almost bet that both bottles would have been made around 1868.

The G. A. Simon's bottle and one variant of the E. G. Lyons bottle are also made by the same mold maker, they use the same unique anomaly on the base. There are actually two variants of the square E. G. Lyons bottles, I'm not sure many diggers/collectors are aware of that. If you still have that shard of the base, could you tell me if you see a diagonal seam line across the base or a fine seam line that parallels two adjacent panels.

 

[CALDIGR2]

Warren, I'm sure that you are aware that both the N.B.Jacobs, Rosebaum's and Dr. Hausmann's bottles share the same mold. I brought this to Peck Markota's, and other's, attention many years ago, after examining specimines that I had dug. Mold similarities are indicators of glass house practices, and not necessarily the relationships between manufacturers. Many out of use molds were modified to contain new products, with patches and peened out lettering bearing witness to this.

 

[westernbittersnut]

Actually, Mike it is only the small variant Rosenbaums Bitters bottle and the Dr Hauseman's German Bitters bottle that are made from the same mold. The N. B. Jacobs San Francisco bottle is a separate mold of its own. I did know about this from sometime back.

The Cassin's Grape Brandy Bitters bottle is a good example of a mold alteration as well. Both variants of this bottle were made in the same mold, evidence can be seen from close examination of the two examples side by side.

I agree that mold similarities are indicators of glass house practices, I was only giving examples of manufacturers product containers that more than likely placed their orders with the same glass works.

 

[CALDIGR2]

That's what I meant, Warren. I should have left out the N.B J. part, but felt that it might be helpful to others who are not at all familiar with western glass and products. Of course, only the "baby Rosie' mold was later used by Hauseman.