# Message in a a bottle ... ?



## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

I bought a nice "black glass" bottle at our flea market - Cape Town's 'Spa Aerated Waters & Cordial Co" - a fairly sought after bottle:


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## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

Normally this bottle would have an internal screw stopper made of ebonite :


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## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

However, this one had some rolled-up paper inside, just sticking out of the lip. Imagine my surprise when, after buying the bottle, I took out the paper, unrolled it and found this:


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## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

A slightly worn "Harlene for the Hair" advertisement - probably Edwardian in age ! Will definitely smooth this out as best as I can and either frame or laminate it !

 Just shows, you never know what you might find in a bottle !


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 18, 2012)

wow that is wild. Very cool looking bottle. What is the age on the bottle.


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## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

Hi, Rick ~ the company was in the Directories from 1904 to 1905. Bottle made by L Lumley & Co of London.


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## surfaceone (Sep 18, 2012)

> ORIGINAL:  SAbottles
> 
> However, this one had some rolled-up paper inside, just sticking out of the lip. Imagine my surprise when, after buying the bottle, I took out the paper, unrolled it and found this:


 

 Hello Dale,

 It may be National Play-doh Day over here, don't know if they are celebrating Substitute Teacher Appreciation Week in Chicago, but I think it high time to make this 'Spa Aerated Waters & Cordial Co.' Awareness Day. [8D]

 Great bottle with a wonderfully graphic surprise inside, sir. Thanks for showing us.




From.

 The Edwards folk borrowed concepts from Mucha:




From.

 And seemed to advertise copiously:









Hair Raising Stories.




From.


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## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

Great ads, Surface; they certainly seemed to like them "Rubenesque" ! Guess you got more er 'bang for your buck' or something like that ... !


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## botlguy (Sep 18, 2012)

This is a neat thread. I like the story, I like the bottle, I like the advertisements, I like the "plump" ladies. Thanks for sharing.


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## surfaceone (Sep 18, 2012)

> ORIGINAL:  SAbottles
> 
> I bought a nice "black glass" bottle at our flea market - Cape Town's 'Spa Aerated Waters & Cordial Co" - a fairly sought after bottle:





> L Lumley & Co of London


 
 Hey Dale, 

 I think you're being modest on the scarcity factor:






 "PA Aerated Water Works / Cape Town
 â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”
 L. Lumley & Co LTD
 â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”â€”
 One of the scarcest South African black glass Seltzer Bottles known 
 (courtesy Ken Gibbon)" From.






 "ENGLISH VICTORIAN LUMLEY COPPER PINT HARVEST/MEASURING JUG

 Louis Lumley & Co. (London, 19th century)
 Stamped: L. Lumley & Co. / 1 / America Square / London. This charming, small measure was hand crafted in traditional, haystack form with a deep lip and pouring spout, small neck and broad base. It displays a curved pistol handle and dovetailed construction.
 c. 1870 " From.


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## SAbottles (Sep 18, 2012)

Yes, you're right, Surf, it's not a common one. And thanks for the Lumley pictures & info - great stuff !


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## RED Matthews (Sep 18, 2012)

Well between SABottles and surfaceone, I found out a little more about one of my questionable bottles.  First off the Ebonite threaded stopper.  I have a bottle with the same finish and the same stopper.
 My bottle is green and made by a "/  N & Co.  "  "/ 4518 ".   My bottle is embossed with a large oval belted outlining border with a belt buckle at the bottom.  In the belt is the following, "/  THE ASHTON MINERAL WATER Co. Ltd.  ".  Inside that is a double arched embossing of 
 "/  PORTLAND St  " over  "/  ASHTON-u-LYNE  ".    I haven't found out much about this bottle  anyway.   So fill me in if you can.
 RED Matthews


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## Plumbata (Sep 18, 2012)

Awesome, great find on the bottle and I've always had a soft spot for ephemera. Super score!

 Regarding messages in a bottle, a couple friends and I were walking along the Illinois river on a fine Wednesday afternoon earlier this summer; my friend Nick was looking for old bottles and absentmindedly singing the 1979 Police song "Message in a bottle" as he picked up another modern bottle. I looked and immediately exclaimed "Holy s*** that* IS* a message in a bottle!!!" He didn't notice until I blurted out my astonished observation. So yeah, we found a wine bottle with a message in it, wherein the author disclosed that she was bisexual and the message was signed with a lipstick-kiss. The gal who wrote the message did so on the back of a cell phone bill (dated May 5th this year) so we called her up. Conversation was a bit awkward but she called back and asked if we would like to meet up at a bar later that night. We already had plans to go to "Cams" because a friend and his girlfriend were moving to Florida and we were having a going away party at the bar.

 Well... The bar she suggested was Cams, and the reason she was going was that she was a friend of the girlfriend! Frigging incredible coincidence. So we did indeed meet up and overall the whole story was pretty awesomely serendipitous. She and a friend had gotten drunk off of the wine and tossed the message bottle off a bridge about 20 miles north of where we found it. She was pretty cool (quirky, but very pleasant) and provided good conversation. A truly ridiculous chain of coincidence. Sometimes the truth is indeed stranger than fiction.


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## toddrandolph (Sep 20, 2012)

Plumb,
 I always enjoy reading your posts, but really liked this one. A good read and a good laugh, even though mostly non-bottle related.


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## SAbottles (Sep 20, 2012)

Indeed, Todd; but then the thread is "unexpected discoveries" and I guess his young lady was an "unexpected discovery" ! (& maybe she was a 'bottle blonde' ?)


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