# bimal vs. bim w/tooled finish



## crunchtime (Mar 8, 2005)

Twenty years ago when I was most actively digging bottles we used the term _applied top_ when the bottle had a lip that was made by applying additional glass to the top of the bottle and forming it into the lip with some kind of tool.  Newer bottles (1890's - 1905) would have a _tooled top_ finish;  No additional glass was added when the bottle maker hand-formed the lip with some kind of tool.  I see people all over the net and on ebay referring to tooled finish 1890's -1905 bottles as *bimal* (_Blown In Mold Applied Lip_) ... What's up with this?  [&:]


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## BRIAN S. (Mar 8, 2005)

Hi crunch !
 It could be just lack of knowledge. They are probably meaning BIM , or they have seen someone else put BIMAL in their description and just followed suit. I have seen a lot of crazy and misleading descriptions on ebay in the past.    Brian


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## BRIAN S. (Mar 9, 2005)

Applied lip : Mouth formed with the addition of glass to the top of the neck.
 Tooled lip : Mouth formed with a lipping tool from the glass in the neck as it came from the mold.


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## crunchtime (Mar 9, 2005)

Rich, 
 Completely correct ... extra glass was applied to the bottle after mold separation and a tool was used to form this glass into a lip (bimal).  This should not be confused with very early bottles where the extra glass was _laid on_ in a simple ring without the use of any forming tool.  Later on bottle makers discovered that they could shear the bottle from the blow pipe higher up from the top of the mold and _tool/form_ this extra glass into the lip without the extra step of applying more glass (not bimal).


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