owens bottles

[tattooedmomma]

Are they worth anything? they have the mark with the diamond circle and I in the middle. I have lots of green long neck. different shapes and sizes. Supposedly was a speakeasy at one time.. I got these bottles on the surface. can't wait to go back and dig more!

[Mr Ripley]

I am new here, but I may as well lay my bottle philosophy down early (for what it is worth).

In the big picture, most Owens bottles are not worth a whole bunch to collectors. Some of them make wonderful window bottles with their emerald, cobalt and interesting embossing. Thus ends the standard bottle snob answer.

On a smaller scale, you say you are excited to go back and dig? Then I would say they are worth a great deal to you personally and the deeper you go into this deposit you may find glass that excites you even more. I miss the days when every bottle I dug triggered an urge to investigate and learn. It was tons of fun and not as few and far between as "valuable" finds are now.

In short, my philosophy is that if it makes you happy, it can't be without value. Have fun and find something nice.
Enjoy,

Mr R

[tattooedmomma]

Thanks so much!! I kew right away they were not blob tops or really old or anything.. I can't wait to find some like that. BUT this was my first dump so I was just super stoked to find bottlesbarely hidden in the ground! I did find one bingo soda bottle also. Says it was made in Oakland ca. Not far from where I live. It all makes me wonder who the people were who drank all this and what they were up to!

[allen]

have any pics of these bottles ?

[diggummup]

If you found these on the surface chances are there are older ones waiting to be dug up. Generally the deeper you dig the older stuff becomes. Have fun and good luck!
Here is a little info on your Owens mark-
Diamond superimposed over an oval [letter O] and an I..............Owens-Illinois Glass Company, Toledo, OH (head office) and other plant locations (1929-to date). Two examples of the mark are shown here. This mark was used from 1929 (possibly not actually engraved on molds until early 1930) up to c.1957. As there was a gradual changeover to the 'new' trademark (with the diamond removed) which occurred over a period of four or five years (beginning in 1954), some bottle molds already in use were not re-engraved until as late as 1957 or 1958. (I have a soda bottle dated 1959 with this "old" mark!). However, after 1958 the great majority of O-I bottles carried the "new" trademark, which was simply an I inside an oval. (See "I inside an O" mark). On very small bottles, the mark may be indistinct and the "I" may be invisible, or just a tiny dot. On the typical bottle, there is usually a number to the left of, to the right of, and below, the trademark. (Note: This arrangement is the most commonly seen, but some bottles, such as liquor flasks, are marked in other ways and so are found with a different code configuration.) The number on the LEFT of the diamond logo is the plant code number, the number on the RIGHT is a date code, and the number below the logo indicates the mold cavity or serial number. Examples: plant code #2 stood for the Huntington, WV plant; "3" was the Fairmont, WV plant; "7" indicated Alton, IL; "9", the Streator, IL factory; "12" was Gas City, IN; "14" was the Bridgeton, NJ plant, etc. Some of the numbers have been re-used for other plants opened in later years, however.
Here is some of the plant code numbers-
http://www.angelfire.com/tn/traderz/owens.html