bottle id

[treasureseeker51]

i found this bottle on a beach in southeastern louisiana after katrina and have not been able to find any info on it. could you id it for me. thanks in advance for any help. on pic # 5 the bottom in concave , very smooth and no markings anywhere on the bottle. it has a faint line on both sides as if it was made in a mold, but it is very faint. the shape is odd by the way it leans over to one side just a little and is not uniform all around. it has a couple of dentlike defects on the side of the lean. good luck on solving this one.

 

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[RickyD]

If the seams on the side disappear somewhere around the base of the neck, then it is a pre 1922 bottle. If the seams go all the way to the top, then it is newer. Whether the seams are faint or not means nothing when it comes to its age. The fact that the bottle shows major flaws probably means it is an older bottle. Its color also shows a problem manufacturers had with their glass bottles and jars well into the early 1900's, metal impurities in the glass, which over time turned the glass from clear to another colored tint, the color of the tint depending on the impurity. The indented bottom was called a "hicup" bottom. I've seen indented bottoms that pushed up any where from an inch, to more than four inches. Before weights and measures laws this was a great way of getting better profits by having a bottle that appeared to hold more content than it actually did. This form of deception was commonly used on more expensive beverages such as wines and brandies, which is probably what your bottle's contents was. And that leads to the nearly invisible seams. Many or the more expensive liquors, used bottles that were spun before being removed from the mold in an attempt to erase the seams. Or, in your case, it just may have been erosion from the sea. Anyway, hope that helps.

 

[treasureseeker51]

hi ricky, thanks for the info.the lines go all the way up to the top and are more like grooves instead of raised lines. the mold was probably crudely made and left the grooves instead of raised lines where the mold came together.again, thanks for the info. take care

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Is it just me that sees a modern bottle? The first 3 pics are so blurry they are useless. I cant tell for sure by the other pics but it kinda looks like a modern wine or champagne. If the mold lines goes to the top, its most certainly 20th century.

I have a turn-of-the-century manufacturers book on every glass bottle shape imaginable. My book shows this bottle shape as Claret in the liquor section. Its called a "turn mould Claret" or "Bordeaux". The only other possibility is a large olive oil. I do not see this exact type of lip pictured but it may be newer than my book. I could take pics when I get my camera working again.

The turn mold process would explain the faint mold lines, as RickyD said.

 

[RickyD]

Unfortunately, the mold line going all the way to the top seals its fate as a newer bottle. Full bottle molds didn't come into use until 1922. No exceptions that I know of. But obviously it was made in less than a quality mold. So your bottle could have been made in one of the earlier full body molds. One thing I didn't mention about spinning to erase the mold seam was the bottle usually showed slight horizonal creases along its base, and a visible horizonal line around the top of the bottle's main body, where the top of the mold would have been. In your case I think the faint mold lines are from years of rolling around in the sand and surf. Still a cool find.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Unfortunately, the mold line going all the way to the top seals its fate as a newer bottle. Full bottle molds didn't come into use until 1922. No exceptions that I know of.

I was always taught that the full seam line came into use around 1900 or thereabouts when the Automatic Bottling Machine came into use. It probably took several years to change over and I agree that by the mid-20's all glass manufacturers were using the Owens ABM.

Hand blown bottles are still made in Mexico and some other countries.

 

[RickyD]

Unfortunately, the mold line going all the way to the top seals its fate as a newer bottle. Full bottle molds didn't come into use until 1922. No exceptions that I know of.

I was always taught that the full seam line came into use around 1900 or thereabouts when the Automatic Bottling Machine came into use. It probably took several years to change over and I agree that by the mid-20's all glass manufacturers were using the Owens ABM.

Hand blown bottles are still made in Mexico and some other countries.

I've been hunting old bottles for years, and have many books on their values. That's where I found the stats on the full bottle mold coming into existance in 1922. But I think you are right. I think the transition began earlier. The reason I say that is I found a virgin dump site for a town that was in existance from 1901 to 1927 when it was condemned and tore down. Though the biggest majority of the bottles found had a seam that disappeard at the neck, there were full seamed bottles found, one example that stands out was the Clorox bottles found. So I guess we can call it a 20 years transition between the two. And just like Mexico, there are now companies within our states that are making "antique" looking bottles. Anyway, thanks for the imput.......

 

[DirtDigler]

We've always referred to the "hiccup" as a "kick" in the base of old wine bottles. Numerous stories have evolved as to it's purpose. Some say it was a deception. I have also heard that it was to catch the sediment in a wine bottle to prevent it from pouring out with the good wine. Usually stored on it's side, once uprighted, the sediment would sink into the bottom and stay there until the bottle was very low in content. The deception theory works too, but after awhile it looks like someone would catch on.