# Went to the flea market.



## Jriley08 (Jul 8, 2011)

I bought this bottle last week at a flea market and wasn't able to find any info on it on the internet. I paid 20 dollars for the bottle and on one side it says "Polar Water A Natural Water Purified by Electricity" with an iron cross between polar and water. On the other side it say "This Bottle Is The Property of the Polar Water Company Pittsburgh And Is Never Sold"


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## Jriley08 (Jul 8, 2011)

I would say the bottle would probably hold about 2 liters of water. The bottle actually has the original seal as well.


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## downsouthdiggers (Jul 8, 2011)

Awesome!


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## epackage (Jul 8, 2011)

Great stuff I love big water bottles....Jim

 ps
       Welcome to the forum

 http://books.google.com/books?id=WlQmAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=%22polar+water+company%22+pittsburgh&source=bl&ots=1kXLtZmciw&sig=UO_1oTQSTlHzAuL0n9UUYaNGooc&hl=en&ei=SIgWTrGgD4Lx0gG18exP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22polar%20water%20company%22%20pittsburgh&f=false


 http://books.google.com/books?id=c1gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=%22polar+water+company%22+pittsburgh&source=bl&ots=GKpjkFWTbx&sig=AX50tNF9K0MmYo_m84AiN_PtQIE&hl=en&ei=SIgWTrGgD4Lx0gG18exP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22polar%20water%20company%22%20pittsburgh&f=false


*Apparently they were still in business in 1965 and beyond, and maybe still today*

 The "consummate bottled waterman" who "needs no introduction to anyone within the bottled water industry" and has been "a trusted friend and confidant" to fellow professionals in the field.

 This composite description fits Bill Bell of Tyler Mountain Water to a tee, according to his bottled water peers. It's no wonder Bill has been named to Beverage World Bottled Water Hall of Fame in 2002.

 Bell was inducted at the IBWA show in Phoenix, honored for his 35-plus years in the business, which started with Polar Water Company in Pittsburgh in 1965. He would go on to form his own company, W.G. Bell Sales and Aqua Filter Fresh, which led him into leadership of Tyler Mountain Water in 1986.

 The ensuing years would see Bell add to his bottled water portfolio, serving on the board of directors of several companies in and around the business, including Clear Mountain Spring Water, Wissahickon Spring Water, Reid Plastic Holdings, Consolidated Container Corporation and Glacier Water Services.

 Amid all this corporate involvement, Bill has found time for the International Bottled Water Association, recently completing a term as IBWA's chairman.


*and there was this question posed to Digger O'Dell*


 Hello, I am looking for information on a 5 or 6 gallon Polar Water bottle see description below any ideas. Hello,I recently acquired a large 5 gallon clear class bottle that has Polar Water company on the side it also has a hex symbol similar to what you see on some old mason jars. The jar is inside a wooden frame that looks like a crate and has boards in each corner that are supported with springs to keep the bottle steady. What can you tell me about this container. 

 Regards Ray 

 While I have not seen your bottle I have seen a two gallon size embossed Polar Water.  I could find no reference to the company in sources dating from about 1870-1917.  It could be a later bottle.  the ones I have seen are aqua not clear like yours which further suggests it to be a 20th century  piece.  The presence of the wooden crate makes the item very collectible in my estimation as finding bottles  in such condition is difficult.  The problem is the size.  Not many collectors want to have a house of full of five gallon water bottles so the value I'd estimate to be in the $40 range.  I wish I could tell you more.

*The following is from this site*

 http://home.vicnet.net.au/~fluoride/2005/the_truth_whole_truth.htm

 "I have a letter from the Polar Water Company, of Pittsburgh, where the water supply has been fluoridated for a lengthy period. Who do you think buys water from this company, Mr Speaker? It supplies water to one of the chief proponents of fluoridation of the city's water supply - Dr. G.J. Cox, who is Professor of Dental Research at the University of Pittsburgh. He was largely instrumental in having fluoridation of the drinking water in that city adopted by the city council on 26th November 1951. He is prepared to introduce fluoride into the people's water supply, but he apparently will not drink it himself. The second name on the list is, which contains 12 names, is Dr Jonas Salk, the discoverer of the well known vaccine used in immunisation against poliomyelitis. Apparently, he will not drink water from the public supply. Why will he not?"

 (G.J. Cox in fact was the first to make an actual proposal for "fluoridisation" of water supplies in whole communities, stating that "the prophylaxis could be applied in such a way that the individual would be hard put to escape the treatment..." 


*from this site....*

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CraftonReunion/message/10021

 Charles Glassmire Â© 2005

 During the war, it was the weekends that saved our Irish family, although I
 rarely saw my father except on Sundays. He slipped out into the darkness before
 mother roused me for school, and returned late in the evenings, tired and dirty.
 He downed his supper and immediately sank into the easy chair to fall asleep
 while reading the evening paper.

 Dad rode "Helper" for the Polar Water Company, on a horse-drawn wagon delivering
 large sixty-five pound glass bottles of drinking water to businesses around the
 city. The Helper was supposed to heave one bottle over his shoulder and grab the
 second by the neck to carry inside to water coolers in office buildings and
 factories, and sometimes up to the second and third floors. No one shoveled snow
 then, and if you fell, the idea was to throw the bottle as far as possible to
 avoid the deep cuts, which took forever to heal.

 The horses knew the route around town by heart, and if a driver took too long
 making a delivery, he returned to the street to find the team had decided to
 move on by themselves to the next stop a few blocks away. So it wasn't unusual
 to see a team of horses pulling a driverless wagon, weaving through the busy
 auto traffic, pulling to a halt before some business, and waiting patiently,
 while a frantic red-faced driver came running down the block, muttering curses
 through his teeth.

 The teamster who drove the horses was called "Wieners", and no one quite
 remembered why. He was a lonely man, hugely built, and you had to lean close to
 listen on those rare occasions when he spoke, for his lisp made him difficult to
 understand. He was missing his front upper-teeth from fighting over the years,
 and he tried to cover the opening with his lips when he talked. His once-tan
 leather jacket was worn down to the white hide in spots and, like his brimmed
 hat; his trousers had long since yielded up any recognizable shape.

 His only friends were Andy and Johnnie, two German brothers who also drove team,
 and they stood up for each other, lying religiously whenever there was trouble
 with Mr. Carter, the foreman. If Wieners brought a load back early on a
 Saturday, Andy and Johnnie would swear the street was blocked up that way, and
 the last deliveries couldn't be made. The three would surround Mr. Carter, move
 in close and talk loud and stare him down. So he never said too much.

 You could never tell about Wieners. There was some deep anger in him, and he'd
 been known to swing on a man right in the middle of a conversation. Just up and
 punch you for no reason. The three loved to fight, and when they couldn't find
 someone to fight with, they would beat on each other until one was unconscious.
 "If he hit you," Dad said, "all you could do was punch him in the face, and then
 run like hell!" Dad laughed. Even the police were afraid of him. When he started
 tearing up the town, they would send four men to arrest him instead of the usual
 two.

 The two men sat side by side, driving the wagon through the day and into the
 night when they were behind schedule, with Dad hustling water from the helper's
 seat. The company just took city water and charcoal filtered it to remove the
 chlorine and clay, but the drivers told the customers it was pure Artesian Well
 Water, siphoned up from 125 feet down and trucked special into the city. The pay
 was eighteen-dollars a week and there was no such thing as "overtime" then. You
 just worked until all the water was delivered.

 The winter nights were the worst. Most drivers carried a quart of whiskey tucked
 in behind the seat, and Wieners seemed to have a special fondness for this
 protection against the cold.

 Sometimes the mood would change during a long hot afternoon. If the sun was
 right and the bottle empty enough, Wieners would begin quietly humming. He'd
 just cradle the reins in his lap, and wrap his arms around himself, and gently
 begin to rock with the rhythms of the song and the horses. As the day wore on
 the volume would increase, until finally he'd be singing out loud in some
 foreign language, oblivious to the startled passers-by; Rocking down the city
 streets, until even the horses seemed to feel the rhythm. Perhaps the song was
 some lost lullaby from childhood, resurrected and emptied into the wind again,
 an off-key serenade to the back-alleys and trolley tracks, his own private city
 symphony, from a time long ago...

*They also made acl's with this Polar Bear Label*

 from here...  http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/polar-beverages-quart-bear-picture-50411492


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## andy volkerts (Jul 8, 2011)

[]Great Info Jim. one of the reasons I love this site.......Andy


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## epackage (Jul 8, 2011)

Me too Andy, I was getting info like that from day 1 and I've been hooked ever since...[]


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## andy volkerts (Jul 8, 2011)

[]Jim How many pages is the Odells guide ya have for auction????


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## epackage (Jul 8, 2011)

292 with pic's and descriptions of about 10,000 bottles I'm gonna guess..


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## Jriley08 (Jul 8, 2011)

Definitely great information but does anyone know how old it is and what its worth? I'm don't normally care about what somethings worth if I like it but it's still nice to know.


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## suzanne (Jul 8, 2011)

I would venture a guess that it's 100 years old.  See if the mold seam goes all the way to the very top of the bottle.  If it does your bottle was made after 1900.  If not it was probably made before 1900.  You should upload a picture of the base.  

 It is very hard to determine value.  If it was in an antique store here the price would be 20 or 30 dollars.  On e-bay, you might get 99 cents.  A bottle price guide might say 100.00.


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## cowseatmaize (Jul 8, 2011)

I'm not sure it's the same company. 1910 or 100 yrs like suzanne said sounds good. I've never seen one but the electricity thing may make it a good one.
This 5 Gallon one with a cross looks a bit newer

 Polar Water Company 55 Water St., Pitts- Allegheny.

HISTORY Polar water

 http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=year%3A%221918%22%20AND%20subject%3A%22polar%20water%20company%22


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## Jriley08 (Jul 8, 2011)

The guy I bought this bottle off of had the bottle marked at 40 dollars originally but it was the last day of the flea market so it was marked down to 20. I tried to get him to come down a little more but he wouldn't. He told me the bottle booked at 75. The bottom of the bottle has a triangle with an "A" inside it and below that there is a 4. The bottle does have a seem on the lip.


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## Jriley08 (Jul 8, 2011)

Can anyone tell me a little more about this bottle or the company.


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## Wheelah23 (Jul 8, 2011)

Could you give us a better picture of the mark on the base? It might give us a better idea of the age. "A in a triangle" is not listed in the pretty comprehensive book "Bottle Makers And Their Marks" by Julian Toulouse. 

 I suspect it is from 1890-1920, but I could be wrong. Does the seam go COMPLETELY through the top of the lip? I doubt it does. A machine made blob would be quite unusual, and I've never seen one.


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## Jriley08 (Jul 9, 2011)

I took some pictures this morning. I hope this helps. The seam is right in the middle of the pic.


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## Jriley08 (Jul 9, 2011)

And here is a slightly better picture of the bottom of the bottle.


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## epackage (Jul 11, 2011)

I think that's an H in the triangle and that would make sense....

 H in a triangle..........J.T.& A. Hamilton, Pittsburgh, PA (1884-1943). Mark reportedly used approximately 1900-1943.


 I'm gonna say sometime after 1900 with that seam line thru the lip....maybe the 1910-1920 time period...i don't know where the seller would get a "book value" but I like it at $20...Jim


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## Wheelah23 (Jul 11, 2011)

I'd say 1920-1930. I've never seen a machine made blob, but I have seen blobs into the 20's, especially on larger bottles.

 J.T. & A. would make sense, some of those makers marks can be hard to read.


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## Jriley08 (Jul 14, 2011)

Yeah it is really hard to read but it looks like an A to me, but it also looks kind of like an H. I'm sure its connected at the top though. I just wish I could show it to somebody in person.


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