Just post something...

I found a Hoster's beer bottle from Columbus today on the Ohio river. 1920's probably. The bottom is broke, but I found the base piece, and it fits perfectly. Now I need super glue.

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Next I went to an antique store and bought a Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and a Wagners and Sons Brewing Company beer bottle. The Wagners bottle is especially cool, because they were in business from 1933-1937.

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Dont use superglue as it will turn yellow and weaken over time. Locktite 349 is a uv cure glue that works great, and is used in museums along side hextall. Hextall can also be used to tint and cast missing pieces as well
 

Dont use superglue as it will turn yellow and weaken over time. Locktite 349 is a uv cure glue that works great, and is used in museums along side hextall. Hextall can also be used to tint and cast missing pieces as well

Thanks! I still haven't done anything yet. I'll have to find that stuff.
 

...I sure wouldn't mind finding one of those southeastern BIM 1915 hobbleskirts though...

Those are some great diggin' pics, Plums.

I guess this is what you're talking about? I picked this one up at the Rome, Ga. show many years ago and it's still one of my favorites. It looks like it was emptied once and laid to rest in a bed o'velvet. Not a hint of wear to be found. Columbia, SC on the bottom. These were blown at the Laurens, SC glassworks, known for the nice blue aqua glass. I found a nice blue aqua, ABM Macon, Ga. 1915 last summer that is mint except for faint milkiness inside. The neat thing about it is that it was blown in a mold used in hand-blowing that had been adapted for machine blowing as evidenced by the prominent mold lines resulting from the gap between mold halves that aided in venting, leading me to believe this one was also blown at Laurens, supposedly the only plant to hand blow the 1915s.

That reminds me. Back in the 80s, I knew a guy that had a tooled top Macon 1923 in mint condition. He and his gal lived a wild life, he's been dead and gone for years now, and I have no idea what might've become of that bottle. Never heard of another one.

1915 coke.jpg
 

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Yeah, the Laurens Glassworks hobbleskirts, thanks for posting yours! The odd outlier blown bottles are extra interesting to me. It sounds as though that couple with the blown 1923 had more of a preference for the Coca versus the Cola! Did you manage to inspect it personally? The only thing I can think of would be preliminary test-bottles (like coin test strikes) hand-blown in the mold to make sure it was ready to be installed in the machine. Maybe that was easier than running the machine and then seeing that something was wrong and having to disassemble and retool?
 

Some 45 years ago when I was actively digging bottles, a friend told me his Grandmother had an old bottle she might sell. Turns out she wanted $5 for it.
Thanks to sandchip's photo idea I was able to take decent pics of it.


DT 1.JPGDT 2.JPGDT 3.JPGDT 4.JPG
 

Very nice color in that sarsaparilla
 

That is an absolutely beautiful Townsend's, and a great story to go with it!
 

That is an absolutely beautiful Townsend's, and a great story to go with it!

I should have added to the story that this bottle has never been in the ground.
 

Great picture, as usual!
 

I don't know if anybody else has ever had this happen to them, but this morning, I opened up my shop and went back out to tend to the dogs. Went back in and there were two house wrens in there. I was trying to shoo them out towards the door, and one headed toward the window, hitting this bottle. I was in slow motion of course as watched it as it headed down. Fortunately, there was stuff under the window to break its fall before it could hit the concrete. I have these reminders every spring to shut the damn doors, but this was a close call. Nary a scratch. Whew...

senoia.jpg
 

Whew indeed, I'm glad that your small-town druggist survived trial-by-bird! I love me some BIM druggists and will always believe they are under-appreciated. Naturally I had never heard of Senoia, GA and took the liberty of looking into the history of the pharmacy:

In 1894, after moving to Senoia from Ohio, Hollberg established a mercantile business. His business began as a small general store. In 1909, Hollberg added the Hollberg Pharmacy and received a Rexall franchise in 1910, one of the oldest continuous Rexall franchises in Georgia.
from: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/f0d5fcfe-be1f-4031-b0fa-98256cea26d4

So would it be safe to assume that your bottle is from 1909-1910 or so, prior to getting the Rexall franchise, or did they not update and advertise on the bottles their Rexall association?
 

Thanks for the info, man. Your assumption sounds reasonable to me. Not sure if there are any Rexall variants out there. I picked this one up years ago in an antique mall in old downtown Panama City, Florida.
 

Years ago, I had my better stuff in my shop so that I could enjoy my bottles while I work. I know, sick man. One day a wren came flying in saw me and darted toward the window. Flew right between this one and another bottle, causing this one to rock slightly as he or she smacked into the glass. The bird froze against the window with a butt cheek on the shoulder of my bottle. I was able to hold the bottle with one hand, and grab the boyd with the other. Must've been stunned as badly as I was, because when I opened my hand outside, it just sat there for a minute before flying away. I made some sliding lexan doors after that scare, but didn't really like the inconvenience they presented, and later just moved my good bottles to a cabinet inside the house. The drugstore would've been a loss indeed, but the Covert's would've shonuff hurt my ol' feelings to put it mildly.

covert's.jpg
 

Got any pics floating around of your (or your son's?) slave-made stoneware jug(s)? I thought you had found at least one in a creek, do you have others? Definitely some awesome pieces of history.
 

Do you own a bottle shop, or do you just like bringing your "kids" to work? :-)
 

I don't know if anybody else has ever had this happen to them, but this morning, I opened up my shop and went back out to tend to the dogs. Went back in and there were two house wrens in there. I was trying to shoo them out towards the door, and one headed toward the window, hitting this bottle. I was in slow motion of course as watched it as it headed down. Fortunately, there was stuff under the window to break its fall before it could hit the concrete. I have these reminders every spring to shut the damn doors, but this was a close call. Nary a scratch. Whew...

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Been to Senoia a bunch of times while visiting my grandparents in Newnan, so it’s cool to see that bottle and I’m glad it survived. Really nice little town, and I guess famous now for the zombies...
 

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