# L. Werrbach Milwaukee Wis



## blobbottlebob

I was thinking about beginning a thread with random dive log entries. When we were first scuba trained, we were taught to log our dives in a book. This way we could track our depth, bottom time, conditions, gear used, etc... One advantage of doing this is to calculate the levels of nitrogen absorbed in your system (especially if you are going deep). You can then stay at the surface longer to lessen the risk of nitrogen related injuries. Another is to demonstrate your experience when on a dive trip. Presumably, by showing a vast number of logged dives, you would be more capable of going on more advanced adventures. (for example drift or deeper dives).

As soon as I started finding things, though, my dive log began to be a running record of adventures and finds. Early on, my log entries were more crude with simple drawings. As I continued to draw bottles and finds, I got a little better at it. The log is fun to look back on as a record of my adventures both good and bad.


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## blobbottlebob

I tried to think of an early post and I thought of a dive about a year after we were certified. I found an interesting early soda bottle. By this time, we were finally getting some results and maybe even developing a little searching skill.


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## blobbottlebob

Okay. Some observations about this log entry.
 The location is accurate enough that I know where I was. Though on one tank, my drawing shows that I went about a mile underwater. (Unlikely). I mentioned two anchors that I brought back. That, I don't do anymore unless there was something really unique (or antique) about them.

The bottle information is funny now that I know more.
I wound up with two mug based weiss beer bottles. One from Graf, the other Gutsch. Both are fairly common but at least antique. I seem excited that finally I found two half pint milks that are ACLs. I had probably seen them come out before but never found one. I note that one of my dive buddies found a Cantrell  & Cochran rounded bottom bottle. While they don't come out too often even now, it would be nothing worth mentioning. I also feature a Dr. S Pitchers castoria bottle. Which is not very good. The find of the tank, an early transitional hutch, I only briefly mention as a "new" one. That meant I had never found one from this manufacturer.


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## blobbottlebob

The manufacturer was L. Werrbach, Milwaukee. That is how this thread started. I began to think of all the amazing Werrbach bottles that I found there. Really, quite a nice variety of types. I plan to tell some of those stories...

The bottle that I found that day has always been a favorite. I rarely find glass going back into the 1880s or earlier. It is super rare here (for me at least). I can count every embossed pontil, for example, on one hand. So, this bottle stands out. It is an hutchinson soda with the original stopper intact, but you can just see how early it is. Pre-hutchinson sodas or mineral waters featured long skinny necks and large blobs. As hutchinson sodas become more prevalent, bottle form evolves into shorter necks and stronger shoulders. This is because of the metal stopppers that sealed hutches. The rounded hutch shoulders provided a better seal for the rubber gasket.


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## blobbottlebob

What I remember most about this trip was that my two dive buddies found what they thought was an antique wagon or small buggy. They kept going up and down stirring up the area. I wanted to keep looking for glass. As I drifted away, I found this hutch partially buried.

It has (what I think is) a beautiful matte patena from being down there so long. It has a thin ring-like blob and sloping shoulders. I don't recall ever finding a bottle the same shape. Here's a pic.


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## blobbottlebob

Here are some of my Werrbachs. I found every one except the beautiful cobalt mineral water.


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## nhpharm

Love them!  What a cool lineup!  And a story behind them all...that is just awesome.


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## CanadianBottles

Those are some beautiful bottles!  Several of those would be the find of a lifetime for me if I ever found a similar Canadian version.


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## blobbottlebob

Hey thanks guys! Very nice comments.
hpahrm - I plan to tell more stories as I get around to them of the other bottles in the picture.
Canadian - I hope you do find similar Canadian versions.


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## blobbottlebob

Fast forward to 1999. 
It is the end of summer. I had never found a soda (or mineral water) earlier than the Werrbach discussed above. I was going to my favorite spot with no great hopes of early sodas in particular (because they are not found there) but maybe some nice glass could turn up.


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## blobbottlebob

Here's the bottle today.


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## blobbottlebob

Here's my recollection on finding it. 
It was an early morning dive for me. If I got up early enough, I could swim out from shore, swim back, clean up and still make it to work on time. My pre-dive plan was to swim way out away from shore because the shallow area was already getting a little picked over.  When I sank down, my depth gauge showed twelve feet. I wanted to be deeper. I could surface and swim out without wasting bottom time but I thought that I was pretty close to a drop off.  I set a compass heading for deeper water and kicked fast and hard in that direction. I was even using my hands to propel me along by pushing off the bottom as I went. Without realizing it or grabbing at anything, there was an object in my hand from pushing off. It was likely a rock, but I looked at it. I could see that it was a bottle, a really early bottle. I surfaced and stared at it. I couldn't believe that I had found my first mineral water or what I called a blob soda. I had no idea I was in an area where it could be found. Plus, I wasn't even really searching yet. It was just in my hand without me knowing it. Amazing! After I stowed it, I was going to return to my original dive plan. Then I realized, I couldn't possibly find a better area. I searched in widening circles finding a few more bottles, but nothing within 30 years of the manufacture of this bottle.


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## blobbottlebob

Some notes about this.
The bottle was not listed in my main guide to Wisconsin bottles by Roger Peters. That made me think it could be unknown. It turns out to be known but it is also fairly rare. A lucky find, no doubt about it. You don't often get a rare variant on your first find of a bottle type. 

I still have not found many of these early sodas. They just don't turn up (for me at least). I have only found one other. The little circle at the bottom is my hutch soda count. When I find a whole one, I keep a running tab at the bottom by year. I never find anywhere near 55 a year anymore.

More Werrbach stories to come  . . .


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## blobbottlebob

In 2002, the year I married my wife, I found a Werrbach clay. Only my third stoneware beer. Another beautiful bottle for my mixed Werrbach finds.


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## blobbottlebob

The bottle today.


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## blobbottlebob

I love the cobalt swirling on the blob.


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## blobbottlebob

My recollections on finding this bottle.
I wasn't finding much and decided to cover some ground. Swimming along, I bumped the bottle. I was confused by the feel of that blob but quickly realized that it was a clay. This thing looks so prehistoric.


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## sandchip

The bottles are great, but your drawings and documentation are priceless.  Provenance accompanying any artifact makes it so much more desirable to behold, and hats off to you for your efforts.


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## blobbottlebob

Thanks so much Sandchip. Very nice comments. I'm really glad that I kept up the log as it is fun to reminisce and read details that I had forgotten. I do have more stories to tell when I get around to it here.


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