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Who Collects Preserves Bottles and Jars?

I love to hear how people get started collecting bottles. When I tell people I work with that digging bottles is my hobby they usually look at me like I have two heads!
 
I love to hear how people get started collecting bottles. When I tell people I work with that digging bottles is my hobby they usually look at me like I have two heads!

28 years ago...while with my dad metal detecting....yea I get the looks..."Why is that guy wearing rubber boots, filthy, holding a pitchfork...is he a killer?"
 
I just love these jars -- simple, functional, colorful. They are dip-mold blown, I believe; they are not turned in the mold. They have disc-pontil scars, most of 'em. The neck is tooled irregularly, and the lip is neatly rolled.

I've tried to imagine a tool for rolling the lip, 'cause I haven't seen one represented anywhere. Any ideas?

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I just love these jars -- simple, functional, colorful. They are dip-mold blown, I believe; they are not turned in the mold. They have disc-pontil scars, most of 'em. The neck is tooled irregularly, and the lip is neatly rolled.

I've tried to imagine a tool for rolling the lip, 'cause I haven't seen one represented anywhere. Any ideas?


I find a lot of those, them and the squat amber cheeseborough Vaseline jars, I leave them for the beachcombers, makes them feel good that they found an old bottle/jar....good karma
 
Coincidentally, my first saved bottle is one that fits this thread.
It's a 1940s or 1950s cottage cheese jar which I found snorkeling in a flooded limestone quarry near Lamont, Illinois.

I grew up in Chicago, drinking Bowman Dairy milk. When I found the jar, I wasn't drinking milk any longer, but I was back working in Chicago after years living elsewhere while in the military. There was something nostalgic about the jar.

Then there was the bold embossing, the stout construction, and the perfect condition of this jar that appealed to me. I kept it for years before I got serious about collecting bottles. It's on my shelf now, among other, much older jars and bottles. Thanks for asking.
​Ma grew up in Naperville back when its population was around 3,500...on a dairy farm along the DuPage. I have more family back there than I can count. Now talk about privy heaven...that area is THICK.

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Here is a couple of unusual examples. The light green jar has a disc pontil scar. What's different about it is the crude lip finish. In my limited experience, these jars typically are well-made. You can see tool marks (no damage) around the skimpy lip.

The flared lip jar in black glass is just a routine early-1800s jar, except it is an unusually slender form.
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I'm certain that there are some preserving bottles and jars newly added to collections represented here. How about showing us your new additions.

Here is a mini mustard jar, crude and with a pontil scar.

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ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1477711221.866083.webpHere's a nice jar I dug recently. It's a 20oz The Heroine jar in "ball" blue. It's listed in the red book for jars at $500+. That's with the closure which I doubt I will ever find.
 

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