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I'm in the process of cleaning this ladies land and when going through all the rusty junk metal there is like a whole ditch with bottles. Here is a picture of what I got cleaned up so far. Just the out sides are clean for top get a brush or sponge for the insides.I believe they are 60s late 50s and up. After I get them cleaned up more I will be putting them on eBay unless anyone is interested I will be having more pics soon.
You may want to take a look at this old thread.
can't get it to work what's the title on it?
No picture.
Are you talking about the old thread I linked to? What happens when you click on the link? The title was "OT: Antique bottles?"Quote:
Originally Posted by kcscrapper
It's called "OT: Antique bottles? " opened fine for me, it's a thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by kcscrapper
One of the best places to find old bottles is on land that had their own trash pit and burn barrels. Bottle values stated with age of bottle, then condition and glass color. Embossing on glass bottles is more valuable than paper labels, things like special bottle shape raise value (syrup bottle that is shaped like log cabin - big winner). Most collectors look for a specific type of bottle, in fact 70% of most bottle collections are of a specific type . My collection is mostly beer and soda bottles. I have some pretty old fruit jars and medicine bottles. Value as with any type of collection is determined by what an individual wants, needs or desires and is able to pay to have it! Bottle values or way down from what they were in the 80's. Some of the most valuable bottles are old poison and drug bottles, any bottles that has "Cocaine" on it jumps way up in value (our sick minds). Bottles are a part of manufacturing, merchandising and american history. The United States was the leader in the development and use of bottles for products, especially 19th and 20th century, with almost anything and everything available in a bottle.
determining the age of the bottle starts with how the bottle was made. The first bottles were hand "free" blown, having no pontil or mold lines, ending about 1860. Pontil bottom bottles go from 1618 - 1866 and modern hand blown still!. Embossed raised lettering started in 1790 and still used, The three part mold bottles 1806 - 1889. Sheared lip bottles 1800-1830 (first machine use for bottle making). Crown top bottles started in 1895 (just like todays soda & beer bottles). Machine made bottles started in 1903.
Cleaning a old bottle can raise it's value and make it much easier to sell. Improper cleaning can make a bottle worthless! A nick or broken bottle has almost no value to a serious bottle collector. I have a small library on bottle collecting and so so on determining value. My best bottle is one I found on a private high school, we were putting in a new water main. I was watching my backhoe crew whlle they were trenching. I noticed a lot of broken glass on the most recent dirt pile. Stopped the digging, got down into the trench, looked into the dirt, about five feet below the surface, found a old "trash vein". We discovered a old dump site, found relics from the early 1800's. I salvaged a old (about 1840's) hand blown beer bottle. The only artifact I kept, we stopped working for about a week. The school and a museum hand dug that entire dump site finding many artifacts. The delay cost us money, but it was the legal, responsible and the right thing to do.
Post some pictures of your bottles, I'll help you with them or I can direct to the people who can! Don't try to clean them until you find out the proper techniques (very important).
http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...psaiabomct.jpg
I forgot to put the pic up
KC
That bottle on the right with a lid looks to be an old style canning jar. Take the lid off and if the lid has white glass in the bottom you got a keeper.
Some more bottle info: The first machine made bottles started in 1903 with the invention of the "Owens" machine in 1903. This was mostly used for "Wide Mouth" jars with few exceptions. By 1906 the Owens machine was producing just about any type of glass bottle or jar. By 1908 there was wide use of other types of bottle making machines and just anything could be sold in a bottle!
1906 is a import year in bottle collecting, dating and for the American consumer. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed by Congress (Yea those guys). Because of this act on 1 January 1907 and for the first time labeling was required on all food and medicines. This required markings & labeling on glass bottles and jars (boxes too!) on any food, alcohol or medicine. The makers of these consumer goods now had to disclose of what were the ingredients in their bottles of "Cure All's". In fact the word "Cure" vanished from most labeling after 1907. This was also the birth of Patented medicines and the start of disclosure of harmful substance for consumer protection. Before that anything and everything was sold and consumed by all for better or worse (mostly the later).
Starting in 1907 bottles had labels with defined contents (lots of mislabeling and fraud too). List of ingredients on bottles of food and medicine now included some of the following substances: Alcohol, Morphine, Opium, Cocaine, Heroine, Alpha or Beta Euciane, Chloroform, Cannabis Indica, Chloral Hydrate and Acetanilide. Both Bayer & Eli Lilly corporation sold "Heroin Hydro-chloride" as cold medicines, no harm and no problem the ingredients were now on the label and perfectly legal! Both now highly sought after by bottle collectors and valuable. Lots of harm came in a bottle of medicine or your favorite beverage, with this act bottle collectors have a way of dating old bottles and we now have the FDA.
1914 the wise congressmen (no laddies just good old boys then) required volume quantities on bottles. So if your bottle has pint or qt., or maybe gal. for a gallon. You have a bottle made after 1914, there was few standards for abbreviations, nor industry uniformity and molds were expensive to make and they would wear out so bottle embossing was kept to a minimum. Also remember the government was mandating these requirements. Didn't make companies want to comply then, just like today.
The end of Prohibition in late 1933 became another means of dating some bottles. As a way of discouraging bootleggers, starting on 1 January 1935 congress required every bottle of liquor (not beer or wine) to have the following label: Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle. So if you have bottle with this statement, you have a bottle that was made after 1937, that may had your favorite rum or whiskey in it.
There are many ways to date bottles, usually requiring more than one type of identification and being in the know about history, business and passage of laws being very helpful also. I probably have close to a dozen books on this subject and still not nothing close to calling myself a bottle expert. I know I like my beer from a bottle and if that beer bottle is thick glass, more than likely was made before 1941. Then Peal Harbor happened and beer bottle needed to be thinner!
Here is a good bottle link. Dating Page
I'll do some research on your picture, thanks for posting that. At first glance all fairly modern, but defiantly some keepers. The fruit jar looks to be a "beehive" Mason with a zinc lid. I don't think it will be a glass bottom base lid, not that old, a for sure $2 to $5 jar for a serious fruit jar collector. It should have some type of company trade markings on jar itself and maybe the lid (even the zinc lid has value over a steel lid). They all need to be cleaned, use a plastic pale (not metal of any kind) try some of the smaller ones first, in just plain dishwater soap soak them about eight hours. Then rinse with clean water and air dry upside down. That's first step only before any attempt with a soft bristle brush (never use steel type brush or 3mm scouring pads. I use a copper cleaning pad for my tough bottle jobs, but many steps before you start cleaning like that! That milky "glaze" could be a permanent damage that happens when bottles have been in moisture and some types of soils. I see no $100 bottles but those are few and far apart, like the painted label soda bottle!.
Hey stinky4291: is that a Schmitt Big Mouth lower right?
I live in a new build community and they continue to dig basements for the houses. I have found a lot of bottles that have "Owens" on the bottom. There is a lot of glass in the dirt that is dug up.
Bottles with screw top lids are the most modern of all bottles. As the bottle making process was refined and machine bottles became more perfected, better bottle closing devices were developed. The screw cap came out in 1920 and was very slow to be adopted. Food and medicine bottles being the first to use. Even still today wine, beer and sodas come without screw caps. Liquor and perfumes makers didn't really take to the screw cap until after WW II. Most of the better wines and perfumes still use cork base closing devices.
The little wide mouth, clear glass jar that you have is a old "Kraft" cheese jar. One of the Kraft food companies products was cheese spreads and cottage cheese. Both came in those type of jars, these had a wax paper lid. This lid had all of the products advertising and the glass jar became a drinking glass utilized in many american homes. Latter on in the 40's & 50's they started decorating them artistic themes, realizing people wanted the drinking glasses as much as their cheeses. I have some of these painted Kraft cheese "drinking glasses" in my collection. The painted ones go for $5 to $20 no problem. Later 50's and into the 70's Welch's jelly came out with their famous cartoon Jelly Drinking Glasses also very collectible and have good value (really not that long ago).
The three tall bottle in middle back are crown cap soda bottles. The green, because of it being green glass and if it is a soda bottle would be of value. That bottle has embossing on it, but I can't read it from the one picture. The tall clear glass bottle has some kind of design on it. The B-1 Sparkling water, a club soda and because it has a fairly decent painted label, gives it value. The fruit jar for sure a keeper and maybe the brown glass (beer ?) bottle bottom right. If it is a beer bottle, it should have had a label. Bottles with missing paper labels have very low values and at best $1 bottles.
From what I'm seeing most of these bottles were made after 1940, would need to see the bottoms to better date them. They are all ABM's (Auto Blown Machines) bottles. Proper cleaning and removing that milky white glaze if possible could make the "lot" able to be sold to a collector that is just starting. I could be wrong you might have $20 for everything at best, unless I'm missing a "sleeper".
I agree. You did the right thing.Quote:
I salvaged a old (about 1840's) hand blown beer bottle. The only artifact I kept, we stopped working for about a week. The school and a museum hand dug that entire dump site finding many artifacts. The delay cost us money, but it was the legal, responsible and the right thing to do.
Working for an old excavating contractor 20 some years ago, on an addition to a local high school, and he took us aside and very quietly told us, "They say there's a possibility of some Indian burial grounds on this site, and if we find anything, we're to stop work so some archeologists can check it out. If you see anything like that, I want you to cover it back up and keep on going. We don't have time for that ****."
:rolleyes:
Fortunately, the only unexpected thing we ran into was three big old septic tanks from the school.
love the interesting finds even if its not gold bars its part of the history of companies ours or not and how materials and advertising has come this far
As kids we found MANY old foundations in the woods... look around for a bit and you will find the houses "dump" usually a hillside or large hole. All the windows in moms house are loaded with the old glass we pulled out...we broke way more than we brought home:&.