# Fire Grenades



## saymrclean (Jul 14, 2012)

I just purchased 2 "Clyde's Dowser Lion Head Fire Grenades. 1 is aqua without a stopper, the other is white milk glass with the stopper. Can anyone provide any info? Are there reference books available.


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## epackage (Jul 14, 2012)

Welcome to the forum....I believe they were made by the Clyde Glassworks in Clyde NY. Ron Feldhaus wrote a price guide on them, here is his email address is vrfeldhaus@aol.com    Good Luck...Jim


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## surfaceone (Jul 14, 2012)

saymrclean,

 Welcome, and thanks for telling us of your purchase.





From. either of them look like this?

 Now might be a good time for some of the old Show & Tell...

 Do they have Cyde markings?


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## saymrclean (Jul 14, 2012)

I can not find any markings!


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## RED Matthews (Jul 14, 2012)

Well here is RED Matthews again.  It is always Fascinating and Interesting to see the things that come up in this ABN FORUM.  I have always been a fan of the Clyde Glass Works and their products.  The made a lot of beers, sodas, canning jars and lids and other glass products;  The main two that impress me are glass canes, and these Dowser's.  Since the glass factory was on the Erie Canal their products had early shipping both east and west so their products went to New York City to Chicago.  

 They also made a lot of milk-glass dishes, boxes, ladies dresser sets and cologne bottles.  

 The Dowsers were a big volume product - I suppose because the didn't have fire extinguishers yet.  The Dowsers consisted of two parts; the bottle and the stopper.  They were hand blown into three leaf molds and had a burst off finish, which was left rough on most dowsers because the didn't expect anyone to drink out of them.  I think all of them had the three lions heads on them.  They also made milk glass stopper for the dowser that three heads on them.  They were hand blown in a three part mold and had a whetted-off end on the stopper.  Half of the ones on the bottle trade flow do not have the stoppers.  They were no doubt dropped and broken.  These dowsers were made in milkglass and clear glass mainly.  I  know where there is a bluish one that I think might be Sun Colored - but I haven't been able to get it yet.  

 I have five milk glass ones - four with stoppers and two clear glass ones - one with a stopper.   I also have two or three glass canes and some pieces of canes.  Some of their jars and bottles, also. 

 The Dowsers had the lions, the dresser liquid bottles had just flowered vines on them.  

 I can't think of anything else to add.  Thanks for the link information, I never had heard about Feldhaus book .   RED Matthews


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## RED Matthews (Jul 14, 2012)

Here is part of a yellow one. 




 Maybe not!  I tried to cut and paste -(
  RED Matthews


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## RED Matthews (Jul 14, 2012)

So saymrclean;  I had to review the thread and was surprised to see that this was your second post on the forum.  Your sigh up didn't disclose where you live.   Any way welcome.  If you want to contact me - that is ok - my PM is usually full - so my email re bottles and glass is <bottlemysteries@yahoo.com>   My home page is shown on the bottom of my ABN postingsw.

 If you want to learn some basics about bottle collecting, I can even email my newbie blurp to you.  Enjoy  RED Matthews


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## RED Matthews (Jul 14, 2012)

So  saymrclean  here it is any way.  

 Hello and welcome to our unique group of people that like items made out of glass. I have worked in the glass world 76 of my 83 years, The history of this effort is outlined some in my homepage. I have a little write-up of some of the early things you will need to review before you discard the wrong old bottles. It is what I call a newbie review.

 This is a collection of material information for newbee's in the hobby of Historic Bottle Collecting. There are several approaches to bottle collecting, and every one has a different interest, that keeps them going after bottles that represent their interest. My interest in putting this together; is to look at the development of bottle making and the methods that were used when the bottles were Hand-Made and Mouth-Blown. This is intended to mainly cover the bottles that were made in the development of the American Glass Making Industry, the first industry in our country.. New diggers and collectors, need to realize how to identify bottles that were made by Hand and Mouth-Blown vs the bottles that were made on an AUTOMATIC BOTTLE MACHINE (ABM). These glass items can be left for future collecting objectives; or recycled into the batch additive to today's glass production. If there are two vertical seams on the finish of the bottle, leave it or recycle it. The logic is the value isn't going to be worth taking it home; unless it is an unusual figural or fancy bottle. There are a lot of interesting bottles made later, but ones interest has to become more specialized. For example I have a bitg collection of large advertising bottles â€“ that were never even filled. Whiskeys, beers, perfume, Coca Cola and many products. Multiple finish Wolfe bottles, and bottles that were made with special mold designs. So you canâ€™t leave justification for saving others also.
 The number one thing to learn is how to identify and know Mouth Blown Bottles. One of the best things to learn is how to identify the pontil marks.
 #1 When a bottle has a round ring of glass on the bottom, it is telling us that the ring was made by having an empontiling done with the previous blow pipe with neck glass left on the end of that blow pipe. The diameters (inside and outside) will be about the same as the neck of the bottle under the finish. So this is a Blow pipe or Open Tube Pontil, on the bottom of your bottle. That previous blowpipe was laid on a rack by the glory hole to keep that glass tube end hot enough to stick to the next bottle. These are often referred to as: an open pontil but that is up to the collectorsâ€™ use of words.
 #2 When the bottle has a contact mark on the bottom that illustrates that what was used to empontil it, that mark will be a round form with different textures in the mark. The mark is made by an iron punty rod and the diameter and style is different for: small to huge heavy glass bottles. These heated punty rods were often soft coated with a sticking agent like: graphite, red lead or white lead . The coated punty is then placed in; an open boxes with: powdered iron, glass chips, glass dust, sand, to mention the main ones. It is then stuck on the bottom of the new bottle to become a handle for the bottle-maker to apply glass to the neck of the empontilled bottle.
 Some punties are even just coated with some hot glass from the melting crucible. Identifying the exact method of empontiling is not as important as just realizing it has been on a punty rod.
 #3 Now the last thing to look at is the finish on top of the bottle you are thinking of keeping. If the finish was applied hot glass it will be just a ring of glass or it might have lines going around it and down on the neck of the bottle indicating that a pinch action tool had been inserted in the neck and the hot glass rotated to shape the hot glass, that was put on the neck. In this looking at your bottle or jar â€“ if you see two vertical mold lines on that finish â€“ then it was made on an ABM (Automatic Bottle Machine) and left for a future collector. The only exception is if the bottle is a unique figural or has some other indications of being a collectors item. This will come after you have more experience. This is no doubt enough to get you on a good road. RED Matthews <bottlemysteries@yahoo.com>

 RED M.


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## saymrclean (Jul 15, 2012)

Thanks for all the info,it is greatly appreciated. Now I need to find out if these are real or reporductions.


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## RED Matthews (Jul 16, 2012)

Well saymrclean;  I doubt if they re reproductions.  That wouldn't make any sense for such a cheap item as these.  Without a stopper, they seem to run up to 56 of 60 bucks,  with the proper stopper they run from $75 and up.  The different colors also go a lot higher depending on availability. 

 The key thing that kill the idea of reproduction is the bursted off finish.  The dresser bottles have flowers and vines (no Lions Heads and those finishes are ground to be smooth.
  RED Matthews


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