# Round bottom..Ballast bottle?



## Grandpa Dave (Sep 3, 2022)

I have seen a few ballast bottles, but not with a crown top. The letters KB are on the bottom. Anyone have any ideas or possibly age on this one?


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## CanadianBottles (Sep 3, 2022)

Yeah it's a ginger ale bottle, probably dates to around the 1910s-20s or so.  I don't think the round bottom actually served any purpose by that point, but it was still sometimes used because it was associated with high-class imported ginger ale.  In the crown top era it was more common to see the semi-rounded bottoms which could stand on their own but were easy to knock over.


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## UnderMiner (Sep 3, 2022)

Well if its a hand-tooled crown top that's turn of the 20th century. Very unusual to see that on a round bottom-bottle because wasn't the point of the round-bottom so the bottle was always placed on its side so the cork in the top stayed wet? Crown tops didn't use corks so the round bottom is unnecessary. Maybe it was just made by a company trying to hold on to its tradition and the look that had defined its product to its customers in the past. People probably still recognized the shape as being the product they purchased in the 19th century before bottle caps were invented. I'm sure nostalgia sold even back then. Also people still had their fancy silver round-bottom bottle holders, they had to use them for fancy and special occasions.


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## HunterTheFox59 (Sep 4, 2022)

I've also got a crown-top torpedo bottle with an applied top. It's also marked with KB which I believe stands for Kilner Brothers. I'm not sure though as I don't know much about these bottles.


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

HunterTheFox59 said:


> I've also got a crown-top torpedo bottle with an applied top. It's also marked with KB which I believe stands for Kilner Brothers. I'm not sure though as I don't know much about these bottles.
> View attachment 239645
> View attachment 239646


Yes, I believe the KB does stand for Kilner Brothers--English glass company.


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

Yes, I believe the KB does stand for Kilner Brothers--English glass company.


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

CanadianBottles said:


> Yeah it's a ginger ale bottle, probably dates to around the 1910s-20s or so.  I don't think the round bottom actually served any purpose by that point, but it was still sometimes used because it was associated with high-class imported ginger ale.  In the crown top era it was more common to see the semi-rounded bottoms which could stand on their own but were easy to knock over.


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

Thanks for the info...


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

UnderMiner said:


> Well if its a hand-tooled crown top that's turn of the 20th century. Very unusual to see that on a round bottom-bottle because wasn't the point of the round-bottom so the bottle was always placed on its side so the cork in the top stayed wet? Crown tops didn't use corks so the round bottom is unnecessary. Maybe it was just made by a company trying to hold on to its tradition and the look that had defined its product to its customers in the past. People probably still recognized the shape as being the product they purchased in the 19th century before bottle caps were invented. I'm sure nostalgia sold even back then. Also people still had their fancy silver round-bottom bottle holders, they had to use them for fancy and special occasions.


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

Thanks for sharing the info...


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 4, 2022)

UnderMiner said:


> Well if its a hand-tooled crown top that's turn of the 20th century. Very unusual to see that on a round bottom-bottle because wasn't the point of the round-bottom so the bottle was always placed on its side so the cork in the top stayed wet? Crown tops didn't use corks so the round bottom is unnecessary. Maybe it was just made by a company trying to hold on to its tradition and the look that had defined its product to its customers in the past. People probably still recognized the shape as being the product they purchased in the 19th century before bottle caps were invented. I'm sure nostalgia sold even back then. Also people still had their fancy silver round-bottom bottle holders, they had to use them for fancy and special occasions.


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## CanadianBottles (Sep 5, 2022)

UnderMiner said:


> Well if its a hand-tooled crown top that's turn of the 20th century. Very unusual to see that on a round bottom-bottle because wasn't the point of the round-bottom so the bottle was always placed on its side so the cork in the top stayed wet? Crown tops didn't use corks so the round bottom is unnecessary. Maybe it was just made by a company trying to hold on to its tradition and the look that had defined its product to its customers in the past. People probably still recognized the shape as being the product they purchased in the 19th century before bottle caps were invented. I'm sure nostalgia sold even back then. Also people still had their fancy silver round-bottom bottle holders, they had to use them for fancy and special occasions.


Yeah I think these round-bottom bottles were associated with imported ginger ale sold in upscale hotels and restaurants.  I assume by that point the round bottom was just a tradition like you say.  I suspect that even in the 19th century some bottlers were using the round bottoms because of tradition and its association with expensive imported products rather than an actual need to keep the cork sealed.  While the round bottom was mostly used for imports from the UK, there were also some domestic bottlers who used them, and I doubt many of those were actually being shipped very far from the bottling works.  I wonder if the end of the round-bottom actually came about because of a decline in the popularity of imported ginger ale and its replacement by Canada Dry and other domestic brands.


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## UnderMiner (Sep 5, 2022)

CanadianBottles said:


> Yeah I think these round-bottom bottles were associated with imported ginger ale sold in upscale hotels and restaurants.  I assume by that point the round bottom was just a tradition like you say.  I suspect that even in the 19th century some bottlers were using the round bottoms because of tradition and its association with expensive imported products rather than an actual need to keep the cork sealed.  While the round bottom was mostly used for imports from the UK, there were also some domestic bottlers who used them, and I doubt many of those were actually being shipped very far from the bottling works.  I wonder if the end of the round-bottom actually came about because of a decline in the popularity of imported ginger ale and its replacement by Canada Dry and other domestic brands.



Agreed, the new and cheaper domestic brands likely ended the demand for upscale imported soda. I know that was the fate of Clicquot Club which had branded itself with a European sounding name when imported soda was all the rage but then it went through a slow decline due to the cola wars and was ultimately bought out by Orange Crush. The fact that in the later years Clicquot started calling itself Klee-Ko shows the transition from upscale European centric branding to common Americanized domestic branding.


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## NC btl-dvr (Sep 7, 2022)

UnderMiner said:


> Well if its a hand-tooled crown top that's turn of the 20th century. Very unusual to see that on a round bottom-bottle because wasn't the point of the round-bottom so the bottle was always placed on its side so the cork in the top stayed wet? Crown tops didn't use corks so the round bottom is unnecessary. Maybe it was just made by a company trying to hold on to its tradition and the look that had defined its product to its customers in the past. People probably still recognized the shape as being the product they purchased in the 19th century before bottle caps were invented. I'm sure nostalgia sold even back then. Also people still had their fancy silver round-bottom bottle holders, they had to use them for fancy and special occasions.


Actually the early metal crown caps had a flat piece of cork to seal between the crown top and the metal crown cap.
Jay


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## diktheduk (Sep 7, 2022)

NC btl-dvr said:


> Actually the early metal crown caps had a flat piece of cork to seal between the crown top and the metal crown cap.
> Jay


That's the way they were when I was a child.


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## hemihampton (Sep 7, 2022)

NC btl-dvr said:


> Actually the early metal crown caps had a flat piece of cork to seal between the crown top and the metal crown cap.
> Jay



They also had a small round thin metal disc attached to the crown tops cork called a Spot. LEON.


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## Grandpa Dave (Sep 8, 2022)

The bottom has embossed KB. From what I can find, that was used by Kilner Brothers Glass Co. Dates are sketchy--late 1800's to early 1900's.


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