Vernors Ginger Ale 150th B-Day

[hemihampton]

The #'s on the Detroit Brewing bottle are # 640 B. The Independant #'s are 590 or S90. Can you decifer them? LEON.


P.S. The Independant is embossed with no paper label.

 

[hemihampton]

Sorry for delay in responding. Watching a Crime Mystery on TV. Responding during commercials.

 

[SODABOB]

Leon

This is the best I can come up with at the moment about deciphering the codes you posted ...

This is from earlier and is slightly edited for a better understanding of what's being said ...

Note: The key terms are "Heel" vs "Base" as to where certain marks are located.

1. C.G.CO. on the heel with no accompanying numbers.
2. C.G.CO. on the ​heel, followed by a two-or-three-digit number.
3. C.G.CO. on the heel (usually reverse heel) with a three-digit number on the base.
4. C.G.CO., followed by a two-or-three-digit number (or no number), all on the base.

Bottles with heel logos followed by numbers (#2 in the above list) were apparently only made by the Cohansey Glass Co.

 

[SODABOB]

And this ...

If ...

[Leon's] bottles were made by the Cohansey Glass Company, then it appears to me they were most likely made sometime between ...


1900 and 1909

 

[hemihampton]

Seems like a nearby Ohio bottle manufacture like Coshocton would be more likely then New Jersey?

 

[SODABOB]

Food for thought copy/pasted from my Post #486 ...

(Which originated from the BRG / Bill Lockhart article)

(Slightly edited)

Bottles with C.G. CO. heelmarks and no numbers; heelmarks or base codes; or basemarks of any kind (with or without numbers) – were made by the Coshocton Glass Company.

 

[SODABOB]

Leon

Question:

Do any of your C.G. CO. bottles have any numbers, letters, etc; on the base?

 

[hemihampton]

SO, Since mine has #'s on heel bill sez not possible to be Coscocton. I'm no expert so I can't dispute or disagree. LEON.

 

[hemihampton]

Leon

Question:

Do any of your C.G. CO. bottles have any numbers, letters, etc; on the base?

The Detroit Brewing bottle does have a faint Registered on bottom or base & the Independant has nothing, blank, zero, nada. LEON.

 

[SODABOB]

Leon

The Cohansey Glass Company we are talking about was in Downingtown, Pennsylvania and not in New Jersey. Based on the following history (that I posted earlier), they transferred all their work to Salem, New Jersey in 1909

According to the following, the Cohansey Glass Company never used bottle machines and all of their bottles were hand blown. Apparently they ceased operation in 1909 ...

"Trouble was eminent in 1909. In February and March, the glass works were only running two furnaces, but did not close down as had been rumored. A hundred men and boys were without work for several months. In June, the glass works closed down for the summer as usual. In September, the glass works did not resume operations. The start was delayed to October 1st and then to November 1st. The delay wasn’t caused by a lack of orders as the company had enough orders to keep the factory running steadily until the next spring.During this time of shutdown, several meetings were held between the workers and the firm. The matter was discussed,but a reply failed to be given. Many of the men left town for work in other plants. This was the first serious unemployment that had occurred at the glass works. Finally in late November of 1909, the official announcement came by the head of the Cohansey Glass Works. The plant would not run that year and the factory would be boarded up indefinitely. This was sad news for the town. Many merchants lost hundreds of dollars, having trusted the glass blowers to pay as soon as the plant opened. The men had been leaving town for weeks and there was a clearing out, many going to Bridgeton, New Jersey where there were large glass works. During December, the apprentices, who had been learning glass blowing, were summoned to the office,paid off and given their paper as journeymen, being advised to look for work elsewhere.One of the biggest bottle contracts by a patent medicine firm, which for nine years were made at the Downingtown plant, had been transferred to Salem, New Jersey, and the men who worked on the medicine bottles had left Downingtown and others followed.Why Did the Plant Close? Simply put, the work could be done cheaper in New Jersey. Material for the glass was cheaper and closed-at-hand,whereas they had difficulty in securing raw material (sand) at Downingtown in the quantity desired. Michael J. Owens invented a bottle-making machine which revolutionized the bottle making industry. By 1909, he haddeveloped a ten-arm machine, capable of producing more bottles per day with less workers."