# morris canal



## njrob1961 (Sep 29, 2012)

found this bottle in the canal it reads---  cochran & co  Belfast    found alot of bottles before but never one from belfast


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## blobbottlebob (Sep 29, 2012)

It's a cool bottle NJro. It was a rounded bottomed mineral bottle. Also, called a ballast bottle (as they were used as balast in the trip from Ireland). They are not considered rare - a lot of this was shipped over. But they don't always have that big bold lettering like yours has. Pretty neat. Rounded bottom supposedly kept the cork from drying out.


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## hunting262 (Sep 29, 2012)

Wow nice bottle I was just looking in the grand river and found some pieces of Medicine bottles but nothin intact that's old.


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## surfaceone (Sep 29, 2012)

Hey Rob,

 Howdy, and thanks for the partial view of your Cochrane. They had several variations on this soda. Does yours stand up?






 "COCHRAN & Co / BELFAST - This is embossed vertically (horizontally?) on one side of a modified version of the round bottom soda that actually has enough flattened base portion (about the size of a quarter on this bottle) to stand upright, though it will tip over easy.  This bottle has an applied one part "blob" finish (with the typical flattened sides like the bottle above), was blown in a post-bottom mold (or the equivalent for a round base bottle), is almost exactly 9" tall, and lacks any obvious evidence of mold air venting.  These bottles - like the equally common and similar ROSS's bottles discussed above - are hard to date precisely but are of a late 19th to early 20th century (i.e., 1880s to 1910s) vintage, although those with the slightly flattened base appear to have first appeared in the early 1890s with most dating from around 1900 to 1920s (Illinois Glass Co. 1898, 1903, 1906; Elliott & Gould 1988).  Click on the following links for more images:  base view showing the small resting point that is indented in the middle; close-up of the shoulder, neck and finish showing the applied finish which shows a distinct line where the cracked-off end of the neck and the applied finish glass merged.  It also has the very heavy glass typical of these bottles, weighing in at just over one pound.  The bottle also has the greenish aqua color that is often seen in a variety of English made bottles, though that color was not exclusive to bottles from the British Isles." Thanks to Bill.

 "Cantrell and Cochrane
 The origins of one of the worldâ€™s most famous soft drinks companies lie in Belfast too. In 1852 Dr Thomas Cantrell opened a shop here, which included the manufacture of aerated waters and sweet beverages. He is also said to have perfected his own version of soda water here too. In 1868, he went into partnership with Alderman Cochrane and they opened a factory in Dublin the following year. Cantrell and Cochrane were born." From.


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## njrob1961 (Sep 30, 2012)

yes it does stand but not real wide base on it


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## mctaggart67 (Sep 30, 2012)

Personally, I suspect that these were more than "ballast bottles." In Canada and the United States, there were strong markets, particularly in large urban centres, for Irish ginger ales on account of the high degree of Irish immigrant settlers. I've done considerable historical research on the drinks trades in Canada over period 1800 to 1920 and have found dozens and dozens of advertisements for various branded Irish ginger ales available at drugstores, groceries, etc. I've also found advertisements from wholesale grocery importers in major Canadian ports, such as Halifax, Montreal and Toronto, which note the importation of products in large quantities from the Belfast and Dublin factories of Cantrell and Cochrane, Ross, etc., etc. I can well imagine that the same applied in American cities. In bottle collecting literature, this "ballast bottle" theory goes back to the 1950s, but does not seem to be supported by any evidence other than assertion. Cool bottles all the same!


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## tigue710 (Oct 1, 2012)

thats actually why they are called ballest bottles, because of the large market.  Merchants delivering Canadian/American export goods to Britain needed a quick cheap and easy to sell product for their returning ships to bring back to the American/Canadian markets.  Ships at one time actually loaded up with stone for Ballest if their return cargo's did not weigh the ship down.  The ready market for Ginger Ale was the solution to wasting cargo space with ballest.  Instead of rocks they could take back ballest bottles, full of ginger ale.  They actually were used for ballest, to fill in the load, and very successfully because there was such a strong market for the product.


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## mctaggart67 (Oct 1, 2012)

Yes, agreed, but in lots of bottle collecting literature these bottles were thought to have been shipped empty as "ballast."


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## sandchip (Aug 22, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  surfaceone
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> ...


 
 A guy called me yesterday asking about one of these.  I told him I thought they were all pretty common.  What is one of these typically worth?


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## Bixel (Aug 22, 2013)

To a bottle collector, maybe $10 if its just aqua. I see so many aqua Belfast round bottoms at shows, flea markets, in antique shops. People always have high prices on them, but really, they seem to be found a lot. Most North American collectors dont pick them up, as they dont have any connection over here really, and I consider them a great bottle for newbies to have as they are an old style bottle that can be had for cheap.


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## deenodean (Aug 22, 2013)

Here is a bottom embossed Cantrell & Cochrane with a partial label on it . The label says Superior Belfast Ginger Ale. The top of the label is gone but the letters OUE , Halifax can be seen. I suspect it is a James Roue label ( he was the designer of the famous Bluenose sailing ship). James Roue also had many ginger beers and soda bottles made for his liquids.   The paper label also says ' This bottle to be returned or paid for'. So these bottles must been refilled here in Nova Scotia. I agree that there are many of these bottles available , $10.00 is a fare price for the unlabeled ones. Most of these I have seen have a rounded bottom with the embossing on the bottom and not on the side. Nice find there njrob, thanks for showing it.


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## sandchip (Aug 23, 2013)

I had told him ten, so thanks everybody for the confirmation.


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