Turn of the century ABM i think, BUT check out this mold line...

Kevlardini

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So I found this awesome W H Cawley beverage bottle. It looks like an early ABM, but what sold me on it was this peculiar mold line. I think I've only seen this on one other bottle before, and its rally intriguing. Other than the fact that it has the shape of a crown top, you might think it was a partly tooled top. The mold line goes halfway up the crown but then sloppily jerks outward. It kind of looks like a tool mark. It also feels like when the two piece were put together, it wasn't aligned correctly, and the seem is bumpy. The neck also has that slightly ridged texture to it. So is this just a result of early experimenting with ABM, or an uncommon error?
I also would like to get a wire bale top for it, but I have no idea what the best way to go about that is. I looked on Ebay and no one is selling antique bale caps, just new ones. Would it be possible to even use a salvaged bale top, or is it just going to break when I try to bend it on to the bottle?
IMG_2361[1].JPG IMG_2364[1].JPG IMG_2365[1].JPG IMG_2366[1].JPG IMG_2367[1].JPG
 

NJKLAGT

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This is not an ABM bottle, it is definitely hand blown/tooled!

Nice bottle!
 

cje

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Nice find. Not sure how to go about putting a bale on that bad boy.
 

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Kevlardini

Kevlardini

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This is not an ABM bottle, it is definitely hand blown/tooled!

Nice bottle!

Really! Why would someone go through the trouble of making a crown top design though? It sure is one interesting piece.
 

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Kevlardini

Kevlardini

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Nice find. Not sure how to go about putting a bale on that bad boy.
Thanks! Yeah I was thinking it would be a challenge to put a Bale on it, but it would look nice!
 

gleaner1

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Yes, twisty crown late 18 to early 19...hand finished so early ones can be rough. Crown top surely the most successful bottle closure ever, even beating out the cork I reckon.

ghgh.jpg
 

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Kevlardini

Kevlardini

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Yes, twisty crown late 18 to early 19...hand finished so early ones can be rough. Crown top surely the most successful bottle closure ever, even beating out the cork I reckon.

View attachment 1304090

Ok that would make sense. So they would bother to tool a crown lip because it was more effective then a cork top. I guess then once it was found to be successful, they decided to mass produce it through ABM?
 

epackage

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Ok that would make sense. So they would bother to tool a crown lip because it was more effective then a cork top. I guess then once it was found to be successful, they decided to mass produce it through ABM?
Crown tops were invented in 1892, many bottlers used their existing stock of lightning closures, both porcelain or all metal, instead of just throwing them out and buying boxes of cork crown caps since they worked fine on both blob and crown top lips. The ABM wasn't fully integrated until 1915 for the most part, and in a few places even later...
 

gleaner1

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The old pre-crown bale type lightnings are effective (and still in use) but expensive. Many varieties exist.
lightning.jpg grolsh.jpg

Hutch's just look wrong from the start. hutch.jpg
Crowns are cheap and can handle pressure from beer and soda. The best designs are always the simplest.
 

epackage

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gleaner1

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epackage I see now... on Bones applied type they added a glob of glass to the neck to form the crown. Tooled type did not need to add glass to form up the crown. Now I feel like digging out some of my crown stuff for more pics.
 

unclemac

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Crown tops were invented in 1892, many bottlers used their existing stock of lightning closures, both porcelain or all metal, instead of just throwing them out and buying boxes of cork crown caps since they worked fine on both blob and crown top lips. The ABM wasn't fully integrated until 1915 for the most part, and in a few places even later...

...i even have a couple crown tops with glass stoppers still in them.
 

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