# Cleaning a bottle with a label



## mikeamondo

We're restoring an old house and while pulling down the ceiling in the basement, under the kitchen, we found several old bottles...  an 1858 Mason Jar and a Ball Mason Jar, as well as two dark colored bottles with labels on them...  Thos' something's something...  can't read it due to heavy dirt layer on the label.  I have no clue how to clean the paper label without destroying it.  We also found a Welch's Grape Juice bottle with a label intact and dated 1916... hoping it will clean up nicely as well...   So... does anyone have any advice about how to clean heavily soiled labels on old bottles?   
 thanks,
 Mike


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## cyberdigger

Hmmm.. restoring a paper label and riding my bicycle to the moon are 2 things still on my list..[]
 ..hopefully the dirt can be brushed off. Make sure everything is completely dry and use a very soft brush very gently. 
 Post some pics if you can, maybe someone will know what they are in their present condition.. show us the 1858 mason jar, too, if it has a smaller sized mouth..


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## mikeamondo

Was afraid of that...  the brush might do the trick, though.  You can almost read the labels as they are.  One has "One Full Pint" in raised letters in the glass.  I'll try and get some pics in the next day or two.


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## tigue710

best way I know is to try brushing them very gently with a dry brush while they are also dry...  If they are to fragile for that I dont know..


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## mikeamondo

I'm going to try and post some pics of the bottles...


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## mikeamondo

More later....  gotta go get a snake out of a friend's garage.....


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## cyberdigger

Come on now, what matter is more urgent here?? I want PICS!! []


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## mikeamondo

no snake... bummer.  The bottle shown above says Thos Moore... can't see anything else much.  This is the glass stopper which still has the cork on it.....


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## mikeamondo

The next couple are the 1858 mason jar...


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## mikeamondo

1858 Mason...


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## mikeamondo

Bottom of Mason


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## mikeamondo

Mason Ball Jar....


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## mikeamondo

Other unknown bottle...  dark brown glass... label says Cass..er .... something like that...


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## cyberdigger

The Thos Moore is a whiskey.. ....


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## cyberdigger

The Ball mason might be a midget... smaller mouth than the 1858?Uhh never mind.. looked again and saw either your thumb got smaller or the Ball is a quart! []


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## mikeamondo

Jelly Jar?  This has a patent date on the bottom... tried to take a pic, which I'll post on the next message, but it's hard to read.  Says something like No. 72, Patented (some date) 1903.. and then a 2nd 1908 date.  Anyone have any idea what it is?


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## mikeamondo

Here's the bottom.... could be wrong on those dates... I left the bottle at the house.


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## mikeamondo

So... those are pics....  also found 2 old hatpins (one very ornate), a National Biscuit Company box, countless cardboard inserts from milk bottle lids, a couple rusted pie pans and a shoe.  No idea how it all ended up in the floor boards!  Also... the bottles seem a couple decades older than the supposed age of the house!  Wondering if the house is older than 1925.  

 I forgot to shoot the Welch's bottle.  I'll be trying to clean up the labels in the coming days, if i can get a spare minute.....  
 Thanks!


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## mikeamondo

Sorry about the little pics....  the uploader says 200k max... I reduced them in Photoshop till it said 189k....  maybe I could have left them bigger....
 M


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## cyberdigger

I'd say the k-count is off a bit.. these are 20k pics max.. keep trying, me or somebody here will be glad to offer help with this!


 ...you see? []


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## mikeamondo

yep....  went back and checked and the files are under 20k....  not sure what PS was telling me.....  I use the damn program for a living, but I can't resize a pic!  Anyway...  I'm too tired to redo them tonight.  Let me know if you can tell any thing from these, and I'll post some new ones... larger... after i get them cleaned up a bit more.   Will probably be next week, as we'll be out of town all weekend.

 thanks!
 Mike


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