Rare 1920's Shell Oil Bottle, Three 19th C. Blob Bottles, and Two Milks

UnderMiner

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Jul 27, 2014
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Went on a big adventure today in a muddy swamp. Five hours of constant walking, all mud, all new, likely never hunted by anyone before. The results, a couple hundred dollars in rare bottles including an original Shell Motor Oil, three late 19th C. blob tops - small, medium, and large, and two early 20th C. milks.

Polish_20220825_224331989.jpg

From left to right: Willow Brook Dairy, Reid's Union Dairy Ice Cream Corp., Shell Motor Oil, G. Wm. Meyer, August Bay Bottling Co., and the mini Blob is from the Union Bottling Company "UBC".

Blob bottles in situ:
Polish_20220825_231708515.jpg

Polish_20220825_231517344.jpg

Bottom embossing of mini blob:
20220825_223816.jpg
The mini blob has no embossing on the sides but it does have a three-letter "UBC" logo on the bottom. Took an educated guess that "BC" stood for Bottling Company and what else could "U" be but Union - and that's what it turned out to be - the Union Bottling Company. Cross referenced the logo with the logo of the company and it was a match. Found their address, years of operation (1873-1904), as well as this newspaper ad from the 1870's:
Union-1875.jpg

Shell Motor Oil:
20220825_222333.jpg

20220825_222350.jpg

In situ:
20220825_230958.jpg

The oil bottle was the first find of the day, and the good finds only continued from there.

20220826_005153.jpg


20220826_005438.jpg
 

Upvote 26

Digger RJ

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Aug 24, 2017
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Went on a big adventure today in a muddy swamp. Five hours of constant walking, all mud, all new, likely never hunted by anyone before. The results, a couple hundred dollars in rare bottles including an original Shell Motor Oil, three late 19th C. blob tops - small, medium, and large, and two early 20th C. milks.

View attachment 2043298
From left to right: Willow Brook Dairy, Reid's Union Dairy Ice Cream Corp., Shell Motor Oil, G. Wm. Meyer, August Bay Bottling Co., and the mini Blob is from the Union Bottling Company "UBC".

Blob bottles in situ:
View attachment 2043299
View attachment 2043300
Bottom embossing of mini blob:
View attachment 2043302
The mini blob has no embossing on the sides but it does have a three-letter "UBC" logo on the bottom. Took an educated guess that "BC" stood for Bottling Company and what else could "U" be but Union - and that's what it turned out to be - the Union Bottling Company. Cross referenced the logo with the logo of the company and it was a match. Found their address, years of operation (1873-1904), as well as this newspaper ad from the 1870's:
View attachment 2043301

Shell Motor Oil:
View attachment 2043304
View attachment 2043305
In situ:
View attachment 2043303
The oil bottle was the first find of the day, and the good finds only continued from there.

View attachment 2043306

View attachment 2043307
Very Cool!!!! Congrats!!!!
 

pepperj

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Feb 3, 2009
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GEEZ!
What a day you had trudging through the mud.
Well worth the effort as you got some really nice keepers.
The Shell Oil stands out, though all the embossed ones are top shelf recoveries.
Congrats and well done.
 

OP
OP
UnderMiner

UnderMiner

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Jul 27, 2014
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GEEZ!
What a day you had trudging through the mud.
Well worth the effort as you got some really nice keepers.
The Shell Oil stands out, though all the embossed ones are top shelf recoveries.
Congrats and well done.
Yes, the Shell Oil is definitely the top find of the week and has already taken its seat on the top shelf. The blobs go on the middle shelf, simply because I have too many now. :D
 

Rhapsody

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Jan 1, 2022
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Went on a big adventure today in a muddy swamp. Five hours of constant walking, all mud, all new, likely never hunted by anyone before. The results, a couple hundred dollars in rare bottles including an original Shell Motor Oil, three late 19th C. blob tops - small, medium, and large, and two early 20th C. milks.

View attachment 2043298
From left to right: Willow Brook Dairy, Reid's Union Dairy Ice Cream Corp., Shell Motor Oil, G. Wm. Meyer, August Bay Bottling Co., and the mini Blob is from the Union Bottling Company "UBC".

Blob bottles in situ:
View attachment 2043299
View attachment 2043300
Bottom embossing of mini blob:
View attachment 2043302
The mini blob has no embossing on the sides but it does have a three-letter "UBC" logo on the bottom. Took an educated guess that "BC" stood for Bottling Company and what else could "U" be but Union - and that's what it turned out to be - the Union Bottling Company. Cross referenced the logo with the logo of the company and it was a match. Found their address, years of operation (1873-1904), as well as this newspaper ad from the 1870's:
View attachment 2043301

Shell Motor Oil:
View attachment 2043304
View attachment 2043305
In situ:
View attachment 2043303
The oil bottle was the first find of the day, and the good finds only continued from there.

View attachment 2043306

View attachment 2043307
nice photo layout on the coloration spectrum of those beauts, well done awesome hunt I'd be keeping that shell bottle (amazing it wasn't broken) for meself!
 

OP
OP
UnderMiner

UnderMiner

Silver Member
Jul 27, 2014
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nice photo layout on the coloration spectrum of those beauts, well done awesome hunt I'd be keeping that shell bottle (amazing it wasn't broken) for meself!
Thanks! Yes, it's very unusual to find an oil bottle like this in such good condition, especially since it is a very thin type of glass compared to the others.
 

CoilyGirl

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Nov 8, 2012
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Great assortment of bottles! That Shell one is so unusual and cool looking.
 

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