Milk Glass Jar, W. T. & CO. PAT JUNE 7th 1892

[Vetus Vitrum]

We had some rain a few days ago and the river just came down enough for me to look for new finds. I find a number of milk glass jars but I believe this is my oldest so far. Base marked W. T. & CO., used by Whitall Tatum & Company from about 1875 until 1901, the base also reads PAT June 7th, 1892, the letter F in the center and 692 below. With some confidence I date the jar between 1892 and 1901. The jar is about half full of a greasy muck and I have to destroy the corroded lid when I clean it. I believe this particular jar was known as a phenix jar. Whitall Tatum & Company became Whitall Tatum Company, sold to Armstrong Cork Company and later to Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company.

 

[naylor]

Does it have a tooled or ground top? If you can rule out that it was machine-made, then that would also help to confirm your date range. These milk-glass jars are usually so hard to identify and date, but I think you're on the right track.

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

I will remove the lid, clean it up and study the top tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks, good idea.

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

I will remove the lid, clean it up and study the top tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks, good idea.

It is definitely a machine made jar. I will have to rethink my date by a few years. Accurate information is difficult to come by.

 

[indianainsulators]

Try these two links:

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/WhitallTatum1.pdf

https://bottleinfo.historicbottles.com/pdffiles/WhitallTatum2.pdf

 

[Vetus Vitrum]

Try these two links:

https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/WhitallTatum1.pdf

https://bottleinfo.historicbottles.com/pdffiles/WhitallTatum2.pdf

Hello, I have contacted both David Whitten of glassbottlemarks.com and Bill Lockhart, the author of the article, "Whitall Tatum – Part I – Whitall Tatum & Co.". David confirmed the initial dates that I had assigned to the jar and said that the jar was most likely manufactured on a semi-automatic machine. He stated though fully automated machines were not introduced until 1904, the semi-automatic machines were in use back into the 1890s. He also told me it is difficult to tell the difference between the two processes. David Whitten's site and the articles by Bill Lockhart have been very beneficial in researching the bottles and jars I find.

 

[RIBottleguy]

Nice find! No question your estimated date range is on the money. A lot of people think that 1903 is the magic cutoff date for blown to machine made bottles but the line is quite blurry. Wide mouth 1890s jars have the appearance of being machine made and they still made blown bottles into the early 1920s.