The biggest bottle i have ever seen any ideas?

tom smith

Jr. Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
24
Reaction score
73
Golden Thread
0
Location
Louisville KY
Detector(s) used
Garrett at max
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I located the trash pit on my house from the 1890s. I found 4 of these bottles and they were all on top of each other. If i had to guess if would be some kind of water bottle any ideas on that? Also right next to them i found the marmalade jar do you know anything about the age and what its worth? The large bottle had the top no IMG_0714.webpcked of but i found it. Is there any way to repair it and if so what would i use? Also is there some kind of chemical to clean the fire damage and and dirt?

IMG_0714.webpIMG_0716.webpIMG_0716.webpIMG_0716.webp
Thank you for help

Tom smith
 

Do not repair it, it will not increase its value, nor should you clean it beyond a simple soap and water treatment to remove loose dirt.
 

Can't help with the bottle but really like the jar! When is the jar from?
 

No harm in glueing the lip back on it....why in the world not?unless you don't want it.
 

Nice couple of retrievals from the bottle dump...!
 









[FONT=&quot]The damaged bottle appears to be a picnic beer bottle. Google it for more info.

The “Picnic Bottle

Similar to the growler, “picnic bottles” were popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. These plump bottles held a half-gallon of beer and were meant to conveniently serve large groups of drinkers.
[/FONT]
 









[FONT="]The damaged bottle appears to be a picnic beer bottle. Google it for more info.

The “Picnic Bottle

Similar to the growler, “picnic bottles” were popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. These plump bottles held a half-gallon of beer and were meant to conveniently serve large groups of drinkers.
[/FONT]

1/2 gallon bottle... Ok, but what's the rest of the large group going to drink?
 

Welcome to Tnet

Love these old stoneware pots. Those used by Keiller were made by the Maling pottery in Newcastle. There are several things that can be said about yours.

Note the letter ‘J’ at the bottom of the wreath. These letters correspond to a dating system which is not fully deciphered, except to say that the practice was probably adopted a year or two after 1862 and the letters were probably sequential starting with ‘A’ (although maybe not precisely annually sequential). Nevertheless, the lower the letter, the earlier the date. Later jars may have two letters (one above, and one below the wreath).

Since there is reference to the Vienna Medal of Merit awarded in 1873, that’s obviously the earliest date. Pre-1873 jars mentioning only the London Medal awarded in 1862 have not been seen with letters beyond ‘K’, so the ‘J’ letter may well be from 1873 or soon afterwards. The company name included the “& Son” (singular) tag from 1827/8 onwards and there was some bitter infighting in the family thereafter such that it’s not clear when they settled on “& Sons” (plural) but certainly that was the company name from 1872. Since they became a limited company in 1893 as “Keiller & Sons Ltd”), your jar is unlikely to be more than a year or so after that. The jars were produced in advance on a seasonal basis related to the Seville orange crop, with any surplus carried over to the next season.

The curved rim of your pot (used with a cork stopper) also argues for a date around 1873, since those mentioning both medals more usually don’t have that curvature and are characterised by a grooved rim to take a crimped-on metal cap that was covered with cloth. Although the product wasn’t commercially distributed in the US until 1880, older jars frequently turn up.
 

Those Dundee's are nice stone jars. I use to have a few. Don't know why I didn't keep one. DUH
 

I agree with villagenut. The bottle is worthless broken. Clean both ends well and try crazy glue.
 

While looking closer at my jar i found that it has No.11227 punched into it. Does that mean anything and i also include a photo of the bottom. So today i was doing some more digging and found another one of the stoneware jars but it is Unfortunately smashed. It would have been a one pound one. I also believe to have found the top to one of them what do you all think? The chipped bottom is the new one i found.

IMG_0727.webp IMG_0721.webpIMG_0722.webpIMG_0723.webpIMG_0724.webpIMG_0725.webp

thanks for all the help

Tom smith
 

I don't think there's much more that can be said, Tom. Except that the two jars are likely from the same era. Sometime between 1873 to 1894-ish and likely the early end of that range. The bottom marks are even less decipherable than the date letters below the wreath. There also doesn't seem to be a specific dating associated with the "1lb Nett" marking. Jars with and without the weight seem to be contemporary with one another, but the weight marking is more commonly seen on those that went for export.
 

As you've been told by bottle digging standards your finds are not "old; basically turn of last century. The broken soda type bottle even if complete, would carry no value .The Dundee jar is an extremely common find at many town type dumps. I have dug hundreds of them and when I used to sell at bottle shows I got a few bucks apiece for them. Don't quit your day job.
 

They made "picnic" beers and sodas up to 1 gallon in size, here is some of my collection of 1/2 gallon sodas from Michael Singer & Son from Paterson NJ...Singer & Son.webp
 

As you've been told by bottle digging standards your finds are not "old; basically turn of last century. The broken soda type bottle even if complete, would carry no value .The Dundee jar is an extremely common find at many town type dumps. I have dug hundreds of them and when I used to sell at bottle shows I got a few bucks apiece for them. Don't quit your day job.

Yes, those which are post-1873 (ie have a reference to both the London and Vienna medals) are by far the most numerous and fetch about £5 here. Those between 1862-1873 (and only reference the London medal) fetch about £15-20. Those which are pre-1862 with no mention of any medals are rare and may fetch £80-£120+
 

those marmalade jars are neat, they made different types , those were the days[h=1][/h]
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom