Dug an Amarotta (Boston, MA) soda or beer bottle today. How old? Rare or common?

[FreeBirdTim]

Froze my hands and knees off today, but I did find a couple of good bottles. The first is blank strap side whiskey flask. Looks pretty old, but probably not pre-1900. But the second one could be a winner. It's an Amarotta bottle from Boston, MA. (North St.). Can't find any on eBay and a Google search came up blank.

They both appear to be in nice shape, but I'm not going to clean them for awhile. Ground is very cold right now. I put them in my cellar for now to acclimate them to the warmer temperature.

Any ideas as to the age of these bottles? I dug them from a 1920's dump site, but they could be older than that. Is the Amarotta bottle rare or common? Toss me some opinions. Thanks!

 

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[Crusty Shellback]

Try A. MAROTTA
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/embossed-boston-mass-blobtop-bottle-w-bale

 

[FreeBirdTim]

That definitely helps, but all I found on eBay was a Frank Marotta blob top. I was hoping to find the history of the company somewhere, but I guess it's not online. I'll keep trying, though...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/blob-top-Frank-Marotta-North-St-Richmond-St-Boston-MA/352234498108?hash=item5202cfe83c:g:qTwAAOSwsFpaNIFY

 

[Bass]

Don’t know anything about the Marrotta but I’ll go out on a limb and say both bottles are little older than you are guessing. 1885-1900

 

[sandchip]

Don’t know anything about the Marrotta but I’ll go out on a limb and say both bottles are little older than you are guessing. 1885-1900

I agree. A few more pics of 'em cleaned up would be nice. Maybe close-ups of the tops, too. A little research will probably be necessary to find out what came in the blob, but I'm leaning toward beer for some reason. Nice finds, Tim!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Wow, that would be great if they were pre-1900 bottles! I'll attempt to clean them up later tonight. I wiped some of the dirt off the strap side bottle and noticed that it has a fairly large circular crack on one side, so I'm not going to worry about cleaning that one up. But I'm going to shoot myself if I crack the Marotta bottle! LOL!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Not the best pics, but at least you can see all the funky bubbles in the glass. And the crack, unfortunately...

 

[Bass]

Oh man, bummer, that flask has really good color. Keep it as a display bottle and turn the crack to the back. It’s still a nice looking bottle. It has a “tooled” top

 

[Bass]

Clean up the other one and show it off!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Okay, managed to clean up the Marotta bottle without cracking it! Doesn't have any cracks or chips, but it is slightly cloudy inside the bottle. Not too bad, though.

Here's a few pics. Best I can do this late! I'll try to take better pics tomorrow in the daylight.

 

[sandchip]

Best I can tell by zooming in on the third pic, the flask appears to have an applied top, which would be expected with the post bottom mold. Might even push it back into the 1870s. Beautiful color and what a shame on that crack.

The blob sure cleaned up nice!

Keep 'em coming, Tim!

 

[Crusty Shellback]

Anne St was renamed North St in 1852. So it seems that Frank Marotta was a licensed liquor dealer at 176 and 178 North St in 1900, his wife was Angelina
Marotta. Check out the story in this link:
Massachusetts Reports - Volume 185 - Page 527
Could it be that due to his debt Frank Marotta closed the doors to his co and opened a new co down the street at 249-251 North st which is the address on your bottle? Pure speculation on my part but 1/2 the fun for me, of these old bottles is the history lesson that comes along with them. This neighborhood had a very colorful history earlier than your bottle but interesting to read about. Anne street was a wild area in the 1800's! If they taught history like this way back in school I probably would have paid more attention! hahaa I think I've learned more history through old bottles than I ever did in school!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Street_(Boston)
Great bottle, thanks for showing it!

 

[Bass]

Best I can tell by zooming in on the third pic, the flask appears to have an applied top, which would be expected with the post bottom mold. Might even push it back into the 1870s. Beautiful color and what a shame on that crack.

The blob sure cleaned up nice!

Keep 'em coming, Tim!

You may be right Sandchip, by zooming in I don’t see any tooling marks. It could be an applied top. Only way to know for sure is to get more shots of the top in natural daylight.

 

[epackage]

Archangelo(Arcangelo) Marotta went into business for himself in May of 1897, here is the article from the 1967 "Massachusetts Beverage Journal" celebrating 70 years in business...

 

[Crusty Shellback]

Very interesting, nice find!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Wow, you guys are good! So it's most likely a beer bottle from the 1907 to 1920 era? Very cool! Thanks for helping me out researching the bottle.

I'll try to take better pics of the strap side bottle tomorrow, if I have the time.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

You may be right Sandchip, by zooming in I don’t see any tooling marks. It could be an applied top. Only way to know for sure is to get more shots of the top in natural daylight

Here's something I can tell you about the lip on the amber bottle. Right below the lip, it looks like the glass is dripping in one spot. Similar to wax running down the side of a candle. Never saw a bottle with a lip like that before. Does that mean it's an applied top?

 

[Bass]

Here's something I can tell you about the lip on the amber bottle. Right below the lip, it looks like the glass is dripping in one spot. Similar to wax running down the side of a candle. Never saw a bottle with a lip like that before. Does that mean it's an applied top?

Most likely. Can you get a picture of that drip, in natural daylight, no bright lights

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Cloudy and dark day today, so here's the best I can do for now.

 

[Bass]

That’s good enough. Sandchip is right, it has an applied top. Good eye sandchip