Question about a bottle found last year

farmdump

Full Member
Mar 5, 2013
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Maine
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Well, after a year of thinking this bottle was from the 1890s (I posted a thread with this bottle included last year) I recently discovered that the wording on the bottle is a very rare variation of a "Dr. E. Hartshorn & Sons" bottle and it could be potentially from the late 1860's to the early 1870's which would make it one of the oldest bottles I've ever found.

My question is, if this where to be put up for sale, how much would it go for and how collectible would this be to a professional bottle collector? Here are a couple photos of the the bottle with the clear wording of "E. Hartshorn & Son" and another Hartshorn bottle that I found that has the regular "E. Hartshorn & Sons" variation on the front.

ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1472992976.944926.jpg

ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1472993071.493205.jpg
 

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Gaspipe

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Sep 6, 2013
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New England
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Looking at your bottle I would say it does date form the 1890-1910 period since from the lip shape and what it I see of the base it does not appear to have an pontil ; if it dated to 1860 it would have an open pontil . Post a pic of the base and I can verify. If unpontiled I cant see much value in it as these patent medicine type bottles are usually very common , especially locally . As far as variations of it unless there are collectors who specialize in this company ( which I am unaware of ) I don't think the letter variation will matter.
 

Gaspipe

Bronze Member
Sep 6, 2013
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New England
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Well I can assure you your bottle is un-pontiled and therefore later than the Civil War. It in fact dates to the late 1800's to early 1900's as mentioned. It is mold blown with an applied lip. The link you provided shows a similar bottle I would say of the same period. Yes the medicine was apparently made during the war however your bottle is not that old . The bottle shown also a complete label which gives value a boost. They have it listed as $65 or BO and the rare variation thing is likely more of a sales ploy. It is a cool bottle and a neat find . My opinion is that at a bottle show it would not likely carry much interest to most collectors. Why; because it a common type medicine in a common color and in dug condition. It would be more easily sold say at an antique shop for someone to display in their kitchen. I would say value is maybe $5.00. In my days as a bottle digger I dug thousands of neat bottles and probably dug 50 that were worth more than $100 but I loved them all. Keep digging and have fun.
 

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