Look what followed me home!!

[Bent-Twig]

Hey Folks ,

This is my first post here in the bottles section. I post in the Native American Artifacts section. Yesterday morning I went out for a squirrel hunt in my favorite woods. I have been hunting this woods for 23 years since I was 14 years old. The owner cleared out a swampy section to try and make a food plot for bow hunting over. In the process he stirred up a bottle dump. I have never been a bottle collector, but I sure do see the appeal that they have. I brought a bunch home and spent more time cleaning them than I spend cleaning my Harley. I set them up in my mud room and I like them. Now I already have too many hobbies and here comes another one creeping in.

Happy Huntin' ,Bent-Twig.

 

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[acevillav]

Nice finds amigo, place the clear ones in a sunny spot. Older clear bottles have magnesium in them and change their color to purple over time ( a few weeks). Keep hitting that spot and get any crocks or jugs too $$$$$$$$. Let me know if you need any help cleaning that spot out

Acevillav

 

[unitas]

That is a quality dump. Nice bottles, You should get permission to dig it. I've done it several times near Avon Oh and it is a lot of fun.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Very cool finds...WE LOVE OLD BOTTLES!

 

[Bent-Twig]

Thank you for the nice comments. Can anyone tell me why the one bottle was made w/a rounded bottom?


Thanks , Twig.

 

[txkickergirl]

nice collection to start out with, and they look really nice where you displayed them.

 

[Bent-Twig]

Nice finds amigo, place the clear ones in a sunny spot. Older clear bottles have magnesium in them and change their color to purple over time ( a few weeks). Keep hitting that spot and get any crocks or jugs too $$$$$$$$. Let me know if you need any help cleaning that spot out

Acevillav

Ace,

A couple of these have that purple color to them. A very light purple.All of the crock stuff was busted up real bad. He had went thru this area w/a plow.Was probably lucky to find the ones I got. He probably broke up some good stuff. Do these look old? How old approx?

Twig.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

round bottoms were to ensure that the wired down cork did not dry out....http://www.sha.org/bottle/bases.htm

the purple color will come from being in the sun....

 

[*Molly*]

Thank you for the nice comments. Can anyone tell me why the one bottle was made w/a rounded bottom?


Thanks , Twig.

Hi Kevin, I have a rounded bottle too, they were made that way, so as to lay on there side, you should find a slightly flat side on it, like mine as. They were made in europe, brought over by boat. If i remember rightly, they had soda in them..
Nice finds my friend. Are the larger bottles black?

Molly.

 

[Bent-Twig]

Gypsy,
Thank you for the great link!!


Molly,
This one seems to be round w/no flat spot .
The tall bottles ; one is blackish and the other two are a real dark green.

Twig.

 

[acevillav]

BOTTLE BASICS
Digger Odell Publications © 2003
How to Tell the Age of a Bottle: Lips
Beginning collectors often wonder how to tell the age of a particular bottle.One of the most important clues to the age of a bottle is the style of the lip. In the picture below are shown a number of lip styles common during the last century.
Lips of Nineteenth Century Bottles

All of the above lips were applied to the neck of the bottle after it was removed from the mold. A hot piece of glass was applied to the neck and then hand tooled to the proper shape. The lips of bottles made before 1870 were often crudely applied and careful examination shows these irregularities. Sometime around 1880 it became common practice to tool the lips with a lipping tool, an object which fit one piece into the opening of the neck while two other pieces clamped on the outside of the applied band of glass. Then with a twisting motion, the top was uniformly shaped. Bottles produced during the last twenty years of the last century will show evidence of this twisting motion which left faint concentric rings around the mouth and upper part of the neck. This motion also erased the mold seam in the process. This is shown in the picture below on a bottle made sometime between 1890 and 1910. The lip, a round band, was finished with a lipping tool which erased the mold seam and left its tell tale concentric rings. Earlier bottles, those made before 1870, will not show these rings and lip may be more crudely applied with some drippy areas under the applied band. When the mold seam stops before the top of the bottle then the bottle is said to have been hand finished..


How to Tell the Age of a Bottle: Bases
Looking at the base of a bottle is also helpful in determining the age. Most bottles made before 1858 will have a "pontil" mark. This mark was left when the "punty rod" was snapped off the bottom of the bottle. The punty rod was used to hold the hot bottle while the lip was formed and finished. The punty rod was dipped into hot glass and attached to the base of the bottle by one of the helpers. The glassblower then formed the lip in the appropriate style and the punty rod was broken off. In the picture are samples of the most common types of "pontil marks". Larger bottles and especially soda bottles made between 1840 and 1855 have pontil marks. Most bottles dating before 1855 will have an open pontil. There are several types of open or pontil marks but the key is the presence of a rough area on the base.
THE OPEN PONTIL IS MORE
COMMON THAN IRON PONTIL
A BROWN OR REDDISH RESIDUE WAS LEFT
EMBEDDED IN THE GLASS WHEN THE
BOTTLE WAS IRON PONTILED.

Other Types of Bases
The practice of using private molds became popular around of the middle of the nineteenth century. These mold were ordered from the glass factories by medicine manufacturers, soda and mineral water bottles and manufacturers of other household goods. Private molds could be had with embossing or for bottles of unusual design. Embossed bottles became commonplace.

Sometime around 1855 a tool called a snap case was invented which allowed the glassblower to hold the bottle for finishing without using a punty rod. the snap case left no marks and more importantly no pontil. Molds were designed with a particular base called a "key mold" this mold left a distinctive mark on the base of bottles made between 1850-1870. Key mold bottles can be found both pontiled and smooth based

Bitters Bottle Base Showing Key Mold Circa 1870

Smooth Base Bottles
As mold making technology progressed the seam across the base of the bottle disappeared. Embossed bases became more common and other markings began to appear on bottle bases such as initials for the glass works producing the bottles. For the period from 1870-1910 bottles had hand tooled lips and smooth bases. Then in 1892 a semi-automatic bottle machine was invented. With this machine the entire lip was molded along with the body of the bottle and the need for hand finishing disappeared. Early machine made bottles carry a distinctive mark known as the Owens ring, named after the inventor of the automatic machine at the Owens Glass Company. The fruit jar shown below was made about 1920 and shows the Characteristic Owens ring. By the mid 1920's every bottle was being massed produced by machinery and the era of the hand blown bottle ended. All machine-made bottles have the mold seam go up and over the lip. The letters ABM (automatic bottle machine) are used to refer to these bottles.

A machine made bottle base
In the photograph there is a smaller ring and then a larger one (not as clearly visible). The larger one is the Owen's ring. Both rings are very symmetrical and did not leave a rough mark like the punty rod. Around the turn of the century, the typical color of glass used for bottles changed from aqua to clear. Fewer bottles were embossed and by the late 1930's and into the 1940 and 1950s, painted label bottles (especially for soda and milk bottles) became popular. Bottles lost their individuality as food manufacturers demanded more regular containers, bubbles and the charming irregularities that collectors love disappeared as the 20th century progressed.
(Copyright 1998 by Digger Odell Publications)
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[acevillav]

Re: missing pics

Sorry the pics from this link did not make it through but the info is still good. There are lots of variables when it comes to value color, age, style etc. I would get some reference books from your library. In the mean time keep everything. Also there still may be some crocks that aren't broken laying @ so keep looking the ones with blue designs or pics are the best. They are called salt glaze. Good luck shoot me a pm if you have any questions.

Acevillav

 

[lumbercamp]

There is an easier way to turn bottles purple then placing them in the sun. I've been down that route and it takes several years to turn in the sun. Only bottles that have a gray tint to them will turn purple. These bottles have manganese in them. I took a box and lined it with aluminum foil and placed the bottles in it. You will need a UV light and place it on top of the box. Some bottles will turn over night, while others may take a couple days. DO NOT look at the UV light as it will damage your eyes.

 

[mistergee]

thanks for the info ace...lots of it too...gonna hafta print that out....and good tip lumber... gonna hafta try that...i had bottles out in the sun all summer and they still look the same...
i got most of my bottles digging curb traps and water services in phila. wish i knew then what i know now ...left alot of cool relics in the holes that i didnt think was worth anything...got lots of cool old bottles and a ceramic sugar bowl...couldnt find the lid though...man it was like opening a time capsule some days...that got me hooked on searching bottle dumps...although i havent found one in quite awhile

 

[lumbercamp]

Mistergee, you have to remember that not all clear glass will turn. I have hundreds of bottles that won't turn since they don't have manganese in them. If your bottles look crystal clear then they most likely won't turn. As I mentioned they should have a gray tint and these will turn purple. Good luck.

 

[mistergee]

thanks again lumber....i put my clear ones away....left the grayish ones out....now i have to get that uv light....wifeys gonna think i lost my mind....

 

[Bent-Twig]

I,ve got a couple I'm gonna try too!!

Twig.

 

[jrsherman]

That looks like a little blue Bromo-seltzer!! I love those guys, and I'm up to a 4 bottle collection right now =-]. Nice bottles, and you can bet there's probably several more that didnt make the surface. . .

 

[crazyjarhead]

That's OK if they followed you home