# C.J. Dresen Muskegon Michigan Blob Beer



## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 3, 2012)

We found this in the dump where we are digging in Southeast WI. I can't find any info on it except that it has similar words on it to a Muskegon Brewery (Pure and Without Drugs or Poison). WF&S Milwaukee is embossed on the bottom and it is a Baltimore loop blob top.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 3, 2012)

Here is a close up of the front


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## UncleBruce (Nov 3, 2012)

It's not listed in _AMERICAN BREWERIES II_ so it is a bottling company.  There is a definite lack of information available for turn of the century Michigan companies.  I did find this image in google books _MICHIGAN FEDERATION OF LABOR_ under Muskegon.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 3, 2012)

I did find this


> Joe Dresen was born Nov. 3, 1909 to Charles Joseph Dresen (1863-1958) and Stephanie
> Fortenbacher Dresen (1874-1947). Joe was the youngest of eight children who included
> six sisters and one brother. According to a 1970 Muskegon Chronicle article the senior
> Dresen was born in Milwaukee and as a very young man worked on farms and in his
> ...


 
 This was a beginning section of a section on the Dresen estate out of the Senior Perspective publication in Western Michigan. I just want to find out how rare the bottle is and what it may be worth? The Article did state that C.J. Dresen did have a Brewery but only for what I account for less than 10 years.


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## marjorie040 (Nov 4, 2012)

C. J. Dresen was born in Wisconson in1864 and died in Muskegon, MI 1958. He's in the US City Directory for Muskegon from 1897 to 1948!! All of which confirms the above info!
 I have a directory ad for his business but can't seem to cut and paste it.

 Regards,
 Marjorie


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## druggistnut (Nov 4, 2012)

Rollon,
 If you decide to part with it, I could trade you a nice Wisconsin blob or pottery bottle for it.
 Let me know.
 Thanks,
 Bill


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## Plumbata (Nov 5, 2012)

Awesome bottle, and C J Dresen sounds like one heckuva fellow. Very industrious and business-minded. Also, getting paid 1.75 per day back in 1882 was one helluva gig. I'd work that job 7 days a week for years until i saved enough to buy some land... Or open a brewery. []

 Anyway, regarding the bottle, the "pure & without drugs or poison" wording makes it quite desirable/valuable, even if it is common, which I doubt.

 That is one awesome dump you and your daughter have to dig. Excellent stuff with good value; I wish i had a place like that to root around in.


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## hemihampton (Nov 5, 2012)

The pure & free of drugs or poison comment seems common on Michigan bottles from the 1906+ period. I have many with this saying. LEON.


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## druggistnut (Nov 5, 2012)

> the "pure & without drugs or poison" wording makes it quite desirable/valuable, even if it is common, which I doubt.


 
 >>The pure & free of drugs or poison comment seems common on Michigan bottles from the 1906+ period.<<

 I have to dispel (again) the myth that the embossing had ANYTHING to do with the 1906 Safe Food and Drug Act.

 Look up Section 5404 of the Compiled Laws of 1897 (Michigan), and you will read all about why this law was passed. It required a sticker or stamping or printing of the words.

 This is from ABN, on the same subject. You were in the posting, Leon. >>
 https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/m-551955/mpage-2/tm.htm

 There are MANY embossed beers in Michigan with this wording on them. I believe two other states passed the same type of law, at about the same time. If I am recalling it right, they were also midwestern states.
 Bill


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## mtfdfire22 (Nov 5, 2012)

the best way to put that theory to rest is to look and the makers marks. i have several " pure and without...." bottles which have makers who were out of business before 1906. good example was my 7 oz. saltzberg Kolb from bay city mi. its a little split size blob top and the maker was out of business by 1904 if memory serves correctly.


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## druggistnut (Nov 5, 2012)

Here is correspondence between the Prosecuting attorney of the city of Detroit and the State Attorney General, regarding this issue:


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## druggistnut (Nov 5, 2012)

I would assume that many bottlers found that it was more cost-effective to have the bottles embossed, than to clean off/affix a new label on every bottle, as it was recycled through their system.
 Bill


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 5, 2012)

The Muskegon Hotel open in the place of his brewery in 1914. So I assume that  he was in Business for around 10 years maybe less. The bottle manufacturer was from Milwaukee WI.


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## hemihampton (Nov 5, 2012)

OK, Let me rephrase my comment to say " The pure & free of drugs or poison comment seems common on Michigan bottles" 
 I'll also say that many of my Michigan bottle with  labels do say Guaranteed under the food & drugs act, June 30th 1906. I always just assumed they were not going to emboss on the glass all the long text you see written on these labels. BILL, NIC, Why do mine say 1906 on the labels and are these not part of or have anything to do with the 1906 act?  LEON.


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## hemihampton (Nov 5, 2012)

Another


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## druggistnut (Nov 5, 2012)

Leon,
 Good question.
 I think all of the bottles/products affected under the 1906 FEDERAL Act are imprinted as such, "In Accordance with..., OR Under the FDA of 1906,  etc..." . I have never seen that EMBOSSED on a  bottle, have you?  
 The bottles with embossing only are from the 1897 Michigan legislation.  I don't think (someone correct me, if I am wrong) I have seen a labeled 1897 warning. The bottles that came out after 1897 that were not embossed with the Michigan requirement MIGHT have had a label, instead of embossing, but I have not seen one. If I end up seeing a label, as such, I will let you know and post it here.  That leads me to believe that what Nic stated is correct, any Michigan bottle embossed with that "pure and without drugs or poison" dates between 1897 and 1906, when the federal requirement came in to being, and paper labels were then printed with the warning.
 Hope that made sense.
 Bill


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 5, 2012)

Very cool. I now have a round about date for this bottle......Thanks for all the input.


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## hemihampton (Nov 5, 2012)

OK, Leon.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 6, 2012)

Sounds good. Let me know what you have in Mind for trade.


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## hemihampton (Nov 10, 2012)

What size is the bottle? Is it a big quart size or smaller pint size? LEON.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 10, 2012)

It's probably like 12oz. Way bigger than the 7oz bottles.


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## hemihampton (Nov 10, 2012)

OK, I just picked up 3 different ones today at the Detroit bottle show. All 3 the smaller 12 oz or pint size bottles. With 3 different ones from 2 different sellers I would guess maybe not to rare? LEON.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 10, 2012)

If you don't mind me asking. What were they worth? The one I have is the one on the left.


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## hemihampton (Nov 10, 2012)

I only paid $10.00 each which I thought was cheap so I jumped on them. Worth more to me but I don't know much about non Detroit beer bottles. I Specialize in Michigan (and other states) Beer cans. LEON.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 10, 2012)

Ok. that gives me an idea. thanks for the info.


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## hemihampton (Nov 10, 2012)

Have you Dug any other Michigan bottles in that dump? LEON.


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## DaddyDaughterDiggers (Nov 10, 2012)

Not that I can remember. I will be looking through all the bottles over the next few days. If I find some I will let you know.


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## Stephanie3265 (Jul 31, 2013)

Stumbled upon this by accident. My grandpa was CJ Dresen. Neat to see some of the bottles found their way to Wisconsin!


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## mtfdfire22 (Jul 31, 2013)

You may be just the person to help us out with some history on him and his company. Do you have some of his bottles? If not let us know and we can keep an eye out for you.


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## hemihampton (Jul 31, 2013)

I think he owned a Saloon in 1890's. Wonder if Stephanie can give more info? LEON.


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## Stephanie3265 (Jul 31, 2013)

Let me correct that he was my Great Grandpa. His son Joe was my Grandpa. 

 I do have I think two bottles. My grandpa had a few he passed on to his kids and I was able to locate one at a local Antique store. I have never seen a clear bottle like the one in the picture above!

 He did own a Saloon/Brewery. I have a photo of him standing inside the doorway of a building in Downtown Muskegon with another man. The sign above them says "Dresen and Hoos". Pretty neat old photo. Unfortunately I don't know a terrible lot about him. My grandpa passed away when I was young and my grandma didn't know him that well. After the Saloon closed he opened up a coal company that my Grandpa ran for years after. All I really have are old photos, some old stories from my grandma, an old article about him from the historical society and things I could find about him in the library.


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## mtfdfire22 (Aug 1, 2013)

Is their any chance you would be able to post some of the pictures? Many of us here like to see the photos that go along with the history. Chance are if he had a partner, he had a bottle with different embossing such as "Dresen and Hoos brewery" or something along those lines.
 Its not very often we get the chance to find photos of brewers or breweries that we have not seen before. This is all very important in the history of our country.


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## sscokebottles (Aug 1, 2013)

> I think all of the bottles/products affected under the 1906 FEDERAL Act are imprinted as such, "In Accordance with..., OR Under the FDA of 1906, etc..." . I have never seen that EMBOSSED on a bottle, have you?


 
 I have.  







 A lot of the crown top Vernor's bottles made in the early 1900's/ Teens are embossed with "GUARANTEED UNDER THE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT JUNE 30th 1906 No 1248".
 They're very common bottles and you can always find a clean one in an antique store for less than $5 in Central and Eastern Mich. The only "rare" ones I think exist are the BIMs made by the Coshocton Glass Company (which is the one I think I have) around the 1910's or so. Even then, they are extremely easy to come across.


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## sscokebottles (Aug 1, 2013)

Oops, didn't realize this thread was a year old.


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## hemihampton (Aug 1, 2013)

I've seen lots of old Vernors bottles & not I have not seen to many with that 1906 statement, I see much more with out it. Tough  (or tougher) with that statement in my opinion. LEON.


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## Stephanie3265 (Aug 2, 2013)

Charles is the man in the middle. Not sure about the other two men. This was on Western Avenue in downtown Muskegon. Sometime after the Saloon closed, a hotel was built on the site. When they were demolishing the hotel they unearthed some more Dresen Beer Bottles.


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## sandchip (Aug 2, 2013)

Some cool signage on that storefront.  Especially like those curved ones on the columns.  Those in the panels across the bottom are tough to letter, being difficult to get positioned to pull a stroke with your brush.  Thanks for sharing, Stephanie.


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## sandchip (Aug 2, 2013)

Anybody notice the bottle looking thing to the left of "WINES"?  Would hit at about the knees of the men standing there, so it's probably around 2 ft. tall.


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## hemihampton (Aug 2, 2013)

Cool Pic. THANKS, LEON.


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