how can you date?

[mreese1849]

I found a vicks vaporub bottle while metal detecting an old homestead site that has certain items that date back so far as early as 1907 and I found the bottle lying up against the bottom of a tree. I must have walked by it 20 times without noticing lol. Any idea how you can tell what time era it was made?

 

[GaRebel1861]

Perhaps, post a picture and someone here will likely be able to tell you something about. Good to see another Georgia bottle hunter here!

 

[mreese1849]

Perhaps, post a picture and someone here will likely be able to tell you something about. Good to see another Georgia bottle hunter here!

thanks lol here are the pics

 

[Joshr29]

I've been told that the darker blue it is the older it is. Someone here will correct me if I am wrong. HH

 

[mreese1849]

I've been told that the darker blue it is the older it is. Someone here will correct me if I am wrong. HH

Yeah I read that somewhere as well and the bottle is super dark blue lol. I also found a 1907 coca cola watch fob in the same area metal detecting a couple of weeks ago. My cool finds for today were the bottle and a 1930's or 40's cracker jack mystery club token with woodrow wilson on it. Its pretty beat up though and took all night to i.d.

 

[Joshr29]

I can say it is for sure after the 1920's when the ABM (automatic bottling machine) started making all bottles.

 

[mreese1849]

I can say it is for sure after the 1920's when the ABM (automatic bottling machine) started making all bottles.

what did bottles made before that look like? im not familiar with bottle collecting but still interested in anything old

 

[surf]

​

Hello mreese,

It looks 1930-1940ish to me. These are ubiquitous little jars. There's millions of them out there. I don't remember there being any glassmaker
codes on them. Always nice to find some shiny cobalt glass. I believe that business about the darker/older cobalt is a collector myth. The depth of color is a function of the batch chemistry.

The Va-tro-nols are slightly less common.

Good hunting, sir.

 

[Joshr29]

Find the seam of the bottle and follow it up. If it goes all the way up through the lip then it is ABM. If it fades away part way up the neck then it is older. There is alot more to it than that but it's a simple way to check for age.

 

[mreese1849]

Find the seam of the bottle and follow it up. If it goes all the way up through the lip then it is ABM. If it fades away part way up the neck then it is older. There is alot more to it than that but it's a simple way to check for age.

The seam runs up the main part of the bottle on both sides and kind of indents a little at the top of the body and the seam for the top isnt in the same spot as the body seam. It doesnt line up.

 

[epackage]

I can say it is for sure after the 1920's when the ABM (automatic bottling machine) started making all bottles.

You're off by about 15 years...

 

[Joshr29]

You're off by about 15 years...

How so? Yes, some bottles were machine made as early as 1907 but by 1920 almost every bottle was made by an ABM. Though there are a few that were still being hand blown, it is a pretty minute number. Just wondering how I am wrong. I don't mind being corrected at all.

 

[epackage]

How so? Yes, some bottles were machine made as early as 1907 but by 1920 almost every bottle was made by an ABM. Though there are a few that were still being hand blown, it is a pretty minute number. Just wondering how I am wrong. I don't mind being corrected at all.

In 1905 more than 90% of bottles made in the USA were ABM...

 

[Joshr29]

In 1905 more than 90% of bottles made in the USA were ABM...

Well we will just have to agree to disagree. My research says that it wasn't 90% until 1917 and then almost all of them by 1920. Maybe somebody else will tune in. HH

 

[mreese1849]

lol just trying to get a good estimate of the old area that I found in the woods. Me and the neighbor found a base for a chimney while detecting and I found some really neat stuff about fifty feet away from the home site. All of this is literally right off of really old abandoned railroad tracks that were made during the turn of the century. I think the homes may have been bought out by the railroad.

 

[Joshr29]

Lol sorry I got sidetracked. Here is an even simpler way. If it has threads it is almost for sure from the 1900's excluding some mason jars and other wide mouth bottles. That is not a flawless method but a pretty good one. HH

 

[mreese1849]

Lol sorry I got sidetracked. Here is an even simpler way. If it has threads it is almost for sure from the 1900's excluding some mason jars and other wide mouth bottles. That is not a flawless method but a pretty good one. HH

One thing that is certain about this site is that I dig A LOT of mason jar lids with the white glass in the lids and I have also been digging some pieces of china plates. Really pretty designs. One piece I dug says made in germany.

 

[Joshr29]

I like those old mason jar seals. I've dug a few hundred of them but never with the bottle. Do you have any mason jars that are a color besides clear? Are they mostly Ball brand?

 

[mreese1849]

I like those old mason jar seals. I've dug a few hundred of them but never with the bottle. Do you have any mason jars that are a color besides clear? Are they mostly Ball brand?

Well all of the lids I dig are surrounded with broken glass so I cant really tell, but the glass is clear. Hopefully I can be careful enough when I come across one with the full jar. Im still puzzled by the area and trying to figure out what was there. Its right on the edge of a city park. The park has a lake on it and the lake belonged to the first mill in the city that started in the 1880's. you can see the lake through the trees and im thinking that the place im digging may have been a little store of some sort for the mill back then. The tracks may have been for the mill as well. The tracks are only ten feet away from the chimney. That is what is confusing. I actually found a spot on the track that has the date 1918. A lot of really neat stuff back there in the middle of the woods lol.

 

[Joshr29]

That's awesome. A good number of bottle collectors will not keep stuff that is ABM but I think they still made some pretty cool bottles that way. I love that really deep blue color. I have a small poison bottle that matches the color of that Vicks bottle.