Bottle Huntin

[flasherr]

Re: Bottle Huntin'

Its hard to say what is worth something. go to the library see if you can check out a book on bottle values to get an idea. you can have a 100 yr old bottle and be worthless but then you can have a 20 yr old bottle worth lots of money. Color and writing are indicators a bottle may have value. even though a bottle may not have much value it could still be one of your favorite bottles. im more of a soda guy mostly painted labels. In that field a good picture is a big part of value. Indians are always good. as far as coke bottles straight sided ones and brown ones are good. 1915 and 1923 cokes are good they will be embossed on the bottle with these dates under the coca cola. Small towns better than big towns.

Local drug store bottles with town name and druggist are usually good. Im not much on alcohol bottles but if it says federal law on it they usually aren't that good they are after Prohibition.

Familarize yourself with mold seems to date bottles and Pontil marks. Usually pontil marks are sign of a good bottle it is a rough round circle on bottom of bottle where the glass blower attached bottle to metal blow rod while forming bottle.

I dont know where you are at but a bottle that might normally be worthless but is made by 3 rivers glass company can have great value. It can be marked three rivers 3 rivers 3 with a star rivers and several other ways. Most of these bottle will be in Texas or states that closely border Texas

Hope this helps some and im sure other people will have plenty to ad to this and probably correct any mistakes ive made

 

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[Southern Yankee]

Re: Bottle Huntin'

I am in the upstate of South Carolina, if that helps.

 

[creeper71]

Re: Bottle Huntin'

I am in the upstate of South Carolina, if that helps.

the best advise I can give you cause there is no definate answer to your question of what bottles are worth money... it take years to learn the basics.. so just bring home all the cork tops that aren't damaged an if the cork tops are teal, red, green, olive,or yellow colors bring home even the cracked ones..take pics of your bottles an we can figure out what is good an what is not... bring home all milk bottles.. an any coke bottle or pepsi bottle that isn't a painted on label.. the soda name must be embossed into the glass... after you learn this we can start on showing what a good painted label soda is....

 

[sodetraveler]

Re: Bottle Huntin'

What I really need is to find out what types of bottles are worth money and what is worthless.

That's a REALLY big subject, but there are a few general things that can be said......

1) Older bottles are generally worth more and there is a very specific separation line between the stuff I will keep and the stuff I will throw back. Around the turn of the century the Automatic Bottling Machine (ABM) was invented. Prior to that most bottles were Blown In Mold Applied Lip (BIMAL). Any BIMAL bottle is a keeper in my opinion. Most "cork top" bottles will likely be BIMAL, but the only way to tell for sure is to check the seam on the neck. Here is a good place to get the details: http://www.sha.org/bottle/index.htm

2) Bottles with embossing are worth more than ones that are blank. When I say embossed, I'm talking about the sides of the bottle, not the base. While base markings are interesting - and can tell you allot about the manufacturer - they don't add much to the value in my opinion. I will sometimes keep ABM bottles that are embossed, but never blank ones!

3) There is often value associated with bottles from certain geographic areas. For instance, Hawaii has a huge number of bottle collectors and any bottle (ABM or BIMAL) that has embossing from a Hawaii company is worth keeping. Even the painted bottles from Hawaii are becoming quite valuable. There are likely other areas that also have higher bottle values - and most collectors are interested in keeping bottles from local companies in their area.

4) Certain types of bottles (e.g. whiskeys, gins, sodas, milks) are considered highly valuable if embossed (more so if they're BIMAL).

5) Color can be a big factor too. Always keep blue bottles! Other colors are good too, but rather than trying to name them all I'll just say this: brown, aqua and olive green (aka black glass) are very common colors for BIMAL bottles. Clear is also common, but if left in the sun many of these BIMAL bottles will turn purple (or amethyst if you like) which is another desirable color. Once you've dug through piles of broken glass and found hundreds of bottles you'll firgure out for yourself which particular shades are rare.

6) Finally, the shape of the bottle can add value. Certain basic shapes used for wine and champagne for instance haven't changed for over 100 years! If you find an un-embossed BIMAL wine bottle it's hard to even tell it's not new without checking the seam (or lack thereof for a turn-mold). If you find something with a unique or interesting shape, bring it home!

There are certain exceptions to these guidelines as well as other bottle types that people might list as being more attractive to them - but it's a start! The bottom line here is that if you like the bottle, keep it. Now go out and dig up lots and lots of bottles! You will learn more once you get your feet wet.