# New to bottle collecting, need some help dating these.



## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

This is a small selection of bottles my brother and I have dug up near my house over the past few months. We've excavated well over one hundred bottles so far and there's plenty more to go. As far as we can tell the dump goes from the early 1900's up into the 40's or 50's.


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

JA Folgers & Co. bottle. I like this one because the sides are indented. The seam on the side goes all the way up to within about 1/8" from the top where it joins another seam around the outside of the lip. It is 6" tall


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## RED Matthews (Jan 15, 2013)

Well I just read your post.  I think you expect to learn a lot from your picture but there is a lot more to it than that - first.  Do you know about the mouth blown bottles and how to identify them?  Your bottles look great and some are obviously old enough to be collectable.  They all look like they might be before 1910 in fact.  Bottles made after 1913 were mostly made on a glass machine, and after that their collection value slows down if that is the only thing you are interested in.  If you know what to look for on the bottles you find it will enhance your success.  If you comfortable with your observations - great.  If you need some help there is a lot of that here.  I spend a lot of time trying to help newbie collectors become aware of what to look for.  If you are interested, I can send you some reading material about these markings.  
 RED Matthews    Home page below.


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

Benetol Bottle. The seam on the side disappears just at the base of the neck. No other markings or seams appear on the neck or lip. The base appears to have been molded separately and attached the seam around the base is very clean and bulges out a little as though it was pressed together. There are 4 little bumps on the shoulder opposite the lettering and one bump above the lettering. There are also three of these bumps on the base. The bumps no doubt have to do with the molding process.


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

Closset & Devers

 This is one of my favorites. The manufacturing technique is identical to the benetol bottle in every way. The inside of the neck is very rough and pitted. It may have been made that way, I don't see how it could be from damage. Closset & Devers was a coffee and spice company in Portland, Oregon (40 miles north of where this was found) I found a bottle that was almost identical to this but larger and someone had dated it 1905. This one is 5" tall


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

Smaller Closset & Devers bottle.


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## RED Matthews (Jan 15, 2013)

Back again..  I just read your next two post - so I know you need help.  The seam around the bottom creates some questions for me.  Is it on the edge or is it set in a quarter inch or so.  

 Are the dots you mentioned small like there was a drilled hole in the mold?  If so these would be vent holes that were drilled in the mold cavity to let air out so the parison could be blown out against the mold surface.  On the bottom of the bottle these vnt holes quickly became filled with swabbing oil and had to be cleaned.  The cleaning was with a pointed tool and no doubt air pressure or wire to keep them open to let the bottom glass blow down tight to the bottom plate and fill in the embossing if there was any. 

 I just went back and looked at your picture again.  That seam around the heal is normal and no doubt had some filed face vents on the bottom of the mold or the top of the bottom plate to let air out.  It is normal on that age of bottle.  The finish was obviously tooled, if the seams stopped showing below it.  You should also be able to see ring marks on the glass that show you the turning of he finish shaping tool.  You would have to show us a picture of the bottom - so we could tell if it had was empontilled or not.  Like I said the bumps on the bottom were probably from vent holes.

 RED Matthews


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

Zepyrol was a mouthwash. It was made by Stearns-Hollinshed Co. in Portland,Oregon. I looked this one up and couldn't find any zepyrol bottles that looked like this. They were all about the same size and shape but the logo just said zepyrol and it was written in a bow-tie like shape with the outer letters taller and a taper in the center. I'm guessing this one might be earlier than those since it wouldn't make sense to go from a stylized logo to a simpler, more boring one. The seams are interesting on this one. The seam on the side disappears at the base of the neck. The neck and lip have a different set of seams which are offset from the seams on the side by almost 90 degrees. The seam on the neck does the same thing as the JAF & Co. bottle once it gets up to the lip. 5.25" tall.


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

And then there's this guy. No markings on it except for a W on the bottom. It appears to have been frosted or iridescent or something, it looks kind of rainbow-y on parts of it. The glass is a very bright blue as you can tell. The seams on the side also disappear at the base of the neck. 7" tall


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## I have legos (Jan 15, 2013)

Here's a rough shot of the bottom of these bottles. I'll work on getting some close up details soon.


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## RED Matthews (Jan 15, 2013)

Well all I can say is that you are learning.  The lack of seams on the neck and finish indicate that it was a mouth blown bottle where the finish had to be tooled to form.  I doubt if the Closset & Davers bottle finish was hand tooled to that form - so it must have had two seams.  Some bottles had the finish formed in the top of the mold - but the top of the finish had to be ground sealing flat after it was made.  

 I didn't see any pontil marks on any of the bottoms in your group.  Tyey were not all that clear, for me to take the time to identify better.  Maybe tomorrow - because my better half is telling me to come to bed  Good Night.    RED Matthews


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## Asterx (Jan 16, 2013)

Hi there, looks like you're having fun digging. Thats great, and nice pictures too. Looks like a mix of machine made and BIM (blown in mold) with tooled tops. The W bottle, the square C&D and the Benetol look BIM to me. The rest are probably machined. You might run into a poison or two in that dump which would be fun. Enjoy the bottles... and the legos [] Keep us posted.


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## surfaceone (Jan 16, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  I have legos
> 
> Smaller Closset & Devers bottle.


 
 Welcome, Legos,

 Nice digging! This appears to be a Priof finish, and would put it in the 1920ish era.




From.


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## 2find4me (Jan 16, 2013)

Would love to see your other photos, thats some cool glass!


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## Plumbata (Jan 16, 2013)

Nice finds! That Folgers bottle looks very "traditional" for a machine-made piece, I like it!

 Regarding the smaller C & D bottle's lip, I am quite certain that it is actually a finish designed for usage with the Kork-N-Seal cap (re-usable versus a crown or priof cap).


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## surfaceone (Jan 16, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  Plumbata
> 
> Regarding the smaller C & D bottle's lip, I am quite certain that it is actually a finish designed for usage with the Kork-N-Seal cap (re-usable versus a crown or priof cap).


 
 Hello again, Legos,

 I think my esteemed friend, Plumby, is quite right on it being a Kork-n-Seal. That would place it closer to the TOC.




1911 IGCo. Catalog.


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## frozenmonkeyface (Jan 17, 2013)

I like this one. I don't know enough to help you date it or anything, but if you end up wanting to get rid of it message me with what you want for it or let me know if you stick it on Ebay. Thanks!
 -Wendy


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## frozenmonkeyface (Jan 17, 2013)

I mean the blue one with the W on the bottom. I thought I responded to that picture but apparently I didn't.


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