# J. A. Lomax Bottle



## Ggoodfellow (Sep 5, 2011)

I have a family member who was digging on a construction job in downtown Chicago and found hundreds of bottles in rows in an abandoned basement.  He gave five of them to me.  Other than just owning a piece of history, I was trying to locate more information about their origin.  I've included a picture.

 All of the bottles are tan, almost ceramic looking, but they have hints of cobalt blue paint.   Not sure if they were blue and are now coated in something.  The bottles are each stamped with the following text:  "J.A. Lomax, 14, 16 & 18 Charles Place Chicago.  Trade Mark J A L.   This bottle must be returned."

 Are these molds of some sort?  Cobal blue bottles that are ruined with age?  Something else?


----------



## RICKJJ59W (Sep 5, 2011)

I have a cobalt J.A Lomax hutch,it is embossed with the same exact thing as your bottles. Your bottles are made of salt glazed pottery.
   I am not sure when Lomax started his company I think yours may date into the 1880s.


----------



## swizzle (Sep 5, 2011)

They're worthless. I'll do you a favor and pay for the shipping on them to help you get rid of them. Just send them all to me and then you won't need to worry about them anymore. [][][]

 Ok so they are probably worth a few bucks. I like the cobalt hutch better though. Not by much, Stone beers are always sweet. Get an honest opinion on there value before you start handing them out. If you have that many then look for the best looking ones for yourself and see if you can find any different variations. Looks like you stumbled onto a nice little bundle of joy. Good luck. Swiz


----------



## LC (Sep 5, 2011)

If they found hundreds or more of those bad boys , the value will go down on them I would say in time  .


----------



## LC (Sep 5, 2011)

> ORIGINAL: RICKJJ59W
> 
> I have a cobalt J.A Lomax hutch,it is embossed with the same exact thing as your bottles. Your bottles are made of salt glazed pottery.
> I am not sure when Lomax started his company I think yours may date into the 1880s.


 
 Did you dig that Lomax Rick ?


----------



## Sodasandbeers (Sep 5, 2011)

I have seen these, but not often.  The blue Hutches are more common, but worth more.  There are Weiss Beer bottles and date about 1875-1885.  I expect they would sell for $25 to $50 a piece.


----------



## swizzle (Sep 5, 2011)

Yeah but if I had that many I'd be happy to get $10 to $15 and pass on some better lot deals to some of my digger buddies. Share the love man!! Share the love!!


----------



## Wheelah23 (Sep 5, 2011)

Someone around here dug thousands (I mean that literally) of stoneware beer bottles from the Pfannebecker brewery, in the backyard of the place. The value dropped considerably, because now all the local collectors know there are tons of them out there. I'd say keep this find under wraps until you've sold a lot of them.


----------



## treasurekidd (Sep 5, 2011)

I don't know anything about them, but I like both styles just fine. There just aren't many stoneware beers from RI, and I've never even a real RI hutch live and in person. That cobalt one is sweeeeet.


----------



## RICKJJ59W (Sep 5, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  L C
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
 No Lc I bought that bottle 5 years ago with "dug bottle money" when i used to sell on Ebay. Sell lots of seconds,buy a  decent one.


----------



## blobbottlebob (Sep 5, 2011)

Hey Goodfellow,
 People are giving you great advice. These are salt glaze (stoneware) weiss beer bottles. My guess is about 1880s - so that fits nicely into the age range that someone else thought. Lomax bottled a lot of stuff but oddly enough, I don't recall seeing too many clays like the ones you have. Because it is a big bottler from a big town, these won't be sky high in value - but any collector (of Chicago stuff) (or I suppose just old bottles) would love to own them because they are so frickin' cool. Those are great old bottles. Who knows? Maybe you'll catch the bug and add more Lomax bottles to your collection. As Rick showed, they have cobalt hutches, but they also have a huge range of other colorful bottles. Could be fun!


----------



## Sodasandbeers (Sep 6, 2011)

Here is a listing of the J. A. Lomax bottles from Chicago:

Lomax Bottles on SodaandBeers.com

 There are other Lomax bottles including a sided example from G. Lomax and another from Philly.  They can be found at:

All Lomax Firms


----------



## blobbottlebob (Sep 6, 2011)

Nice link Sodas&,
 (Is that your website??) I like this one from there.


----------



## Ggoodfellow (Sep 6, 2011)

Many thanks for all of the great information.  You guys/gals really know your stuff!

 Hadn't given much thought to selling them for profit and was more interested to know their history, but who knows 

 Thanks again for your help.


----------



## glass man (Sep 6, 2011)

WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!![&:] JAMIE


----------



## swizzle (Sep 6, 2011)

Well you gotta sell some of them to make room for a wider variety. If you're interested in one bottle the open your eyes and surf the eye candy on this forum. You may find a new obsession in collecting fine old hand blown glass and stoneware. Hope to see you posting more of your finds in the near future. The best of luck to you. Swiz


----------



## Sodasandbeers (Sep 6, 2011)

Yes it is my site.  There are about 21,000 different molds listed on it as well as a lot of information on these bottles as well.  The article on early sodas bottles gives information and pictures of the really early stuff.  The link is on the home page.


----------



## j.dinets (Sep 20, 2011)

Hello: This reply is probably too late, but J. A. Lomax was a very large and prolific bottler, with pontil sodas going back at least to the late 1850's(JAL).  As the company expanded the address changed starting with 14 charles place.  The address on the bottles therefore changed with time as well, middle period cobalt blob sodas will have the address 14 & 16 charles place. Late cobalt blobs and hutchinsons will have the full 14, 16 & 18 charles place location embossed or debossed as the case might be on the bottle. My guess would be that they date from the late 1870's to the mid 1880's.  His son ,George Lomax becomes president of Consolidated Bottling Company which lasts well into the machine era of bottles.  I had heard of this find and the many types of pottery bottles found: Hoffman Bros, Dempsey and Ryan, James Stenson, Mueller Bros . A really fantastic grouping, do you know of any other company pottery bottles that were found there? Best of Luck, and enjoy them


----------



## blobbottlebob (Sep 21, 2011)

> Hello: This reply is probably too late


 Better late than never j.dinets. Thanks for offering helpful info to someone and BY THE WAY ------- Welcome to the forum.[]


----------

