Ginger beer bottle question ?????

[epackage]

I just had a friend who pinstripes cars use some cobalt paint and a brush and have at it... I laid out what I wanted it to say and I sent him a few pictures of script jugs to give him an idea of how they were lettered during the time they were popular. Please call me Jim...

 

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[Harry Pristis]

I just had a friend who pinstripes cars use some cobalt paint and a brush and have at it... I laid out what I wanted it to say and I sent him a few pictures of script jugs to give him an idea of how they were lettered during the time they were popular. Please call me Jim...

It does appear that a professional hand was involved. Thoughtful of you, Jim.

 

[epackage]

Thank you Harry... I was gonna do it myself but it took a number of different brushes, and since he's a world reknowned artist in the field I figured why even bother, I am very happy with the results...

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here is a flambeau I brought back from Guyana (right, in the image). One reason I took it was its size. This is a big bottle which holds 28 fluid ounces of (lamp oil). It is debossed at the heel, PRICE / BRISTOL.

The other bottles (left and center) are American bottles.

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[gleaner1]

Hi all. I found this bottle last summer and at first I did not notice any markings but after looking closer I see something.So I was wondering if anyone has seen this mark ? ..and if so who ?what? were? and when was this bottle made? Thanks !

kieser I been diggin for forty two years and found a lot of ginger beers (true stamped ginger beers). We call plain ones like yours ginger beers too. But if I tell my bud I dug four ginger beers, he asks "What ginger beer? a Diamond A (Syracuse), a Briggs or Hanlon? (Watertown). I say nope, just the plain ginger beer, no glaze stamp.

Harry, thanks for setting the record straight on this clearly touchy subject. Next time I dig some pottery ales, I'll call my bud and say "Hey dude, I just dug four pottery ales down at the Old Telephone Pole Swamp dump!". And he will say "Good for you". He will know what I mean, but I know he was just being sarcastic.

Aw heck, a plain pottery bottle is a ginger beer just like your shiny new zincoln cent is a penny. Pics soon, no really. I just gotta dig thru a mountain of boxes.

This is the first link I found.

Ginger Beers

 

[gleaner1]

Many years ago the old Camp's Ditch was dug up to build a hospital addition here in Watertown and they uncovered a stupendous pit of thousands upon thousands of broken smashed Briggs Ginger Beers. Enough to fill many dump truck loads. No pics. Too long ago. I went in there, looking for just one whole one. That did not happen. And I really looked around. It was just a complete smattering of broken Briggs. A good Briggs in decent shape fetches about fifty bucks in the shops around here.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Thanks for link to the ginger beers site, 'gleaner1.' I noted that the Christian-Moerlein Brewing Co. - Cincinnati bottle was offered as a ginger beer. I did not realize that this was not a lager beer . . . there is nothing on the complicated transfer label to indicate ginger beer.

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I thought that this one was my only ginger beer:

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[sodetraveler]

It does not surprise me that Hawaii diggers use the term "ginger beers." The term, I'm sure, has deep roots from when these ale bottles were being recycled for producing home-made ginger beer (and root beer, no doubt). The term is collector jargon now, like "wood bottle mold" and "refired pontil scar," appearing in at least one collector-written bottle guide.

I am not bothered to be told I'm wrong; but, it does motivate me to organize my facts (and, occasionally, to admit a misperception). In this case I am comfortable with the facts.

I don't demand that 'mile-ender' accept the facts. In fact, I suggested to him the 'sodetraveler' solution to reconcile the information conflict. I suggested to him that, You can call these stoneware bottles anything that you wish, but archeologists call them ale bottles.

Indeed!

It just occurred to me that another reason Hawaii diggers refer to these as ginger beers is likely because the only known stoneware bottle used by a Hawaiian company (pre-1915) was the Rycroft Ginger Beer (see link below).

HONOLULU HAWAII RYCROFT GINGER BEER, NO RESERVE

These fetch big bucks from Hawaii collectors!

 

[Muddyhandz]

I've always called them ginger beer's and have over 30 of the typical black designs with "Ginger beer" but actually was going to support Harry's terminology because I remember digging a blank one with "O'Keefe's Beer" engraved at the bottom.

After looking in my books, I now have to disagree with Harry......



These are paper labels that say GINGER beer. The one on the left (Stone bottle) is what I have.

I also have the exact same style as the one that started this thread except the little engraved circle at the bottom is from Quebec.

Here it is in the book.......


Hard to see but the bottle (Left) has the engraved circle at the bottom. Paper label also.

Looking through the couple of other plain stone types, I have one that just simply has an engraved maker......




I have a few other typical Ginger beer bottles (Black designed label) that say Mineral water also.

So, I don't disagree that some "Ginger beers" were actually just ale.

However, my conclusion is that you can't generalize the stone bottles that are blank with only the engraved circle (like the one in post #1) as "Ale."

More importantly, To use a defense like "That's what the archaeologist's classify them as" is not wise.

In the relic hunting world, I have endless data that prove archaeologist's classifications are wrong in regards to hundred's of artifacts.

With limited field work, most times they quote an academic's hypothesis from decades ago and the information is quite dated.

They are not the authority on everything and I would wager someone like Harry knows a 100 times more about bottles than the "academics" do.

Interesting debate!
Cheers,
Dave.