STEINIKE & WEINLIG / SCHUTZ (hand holding stick with snake wrapped around) MARK - SELTERS - (Click close-up view of front embossing to see such.) These are imported mineral water bottles (SELTERS is German for "soda" as in carbonated water) that are often found in the U.S. - including this one which came from the Portland, OR. area.  The vast majority of these bottle - called the "apollinaris" style in glass makers catalogs of the era.  The following is from my educational Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website at this link: Apollinaris Bottle discussion.

Apollinaris is the name of a famous German spring the water from which was first bottled in 1852 (Wikipedia 2010).  At that time it was most likely in tall, relatively narrow handled earthenware jugs which were commonly used for other German mineral waters.  It was later (probably by the 1870s) also bottled in the distinctive type bottle shape shown, which is usually olive green in color.  Apollinaris water continues to be sold worldwide today

These bottles were also used and reused extensively - at least in the West - for beer.  See the etched San Francisco beer bottle that I also have for sale down the page a bit.  (It was also purchased to illustrate the multiple use nature of these thick glass bottles.)

This example was certainly made in Germany as evidenced by the base which is embossed with a GLASFAB. / H. HEYE / HAMBURG A/W.  (Click base view to see such.)  This embossing indicates the bottle was manufactured by Herman Heye, Glassfabrick ("glassmaker") Hamburg.  Click Heye Family Glass Works to view the article on the company on my other website.  The bottle is 9 3/4ths" tall, and 2 3/8th" in diameter, blown in a three-piece mold and has an applied short "blob" finish (image to right).  It is commonly found in North America, apparently being popular and imported in quantity.  These probably date from the 1870s to early 1900s.  It is the smaller size apollinaris bottle one sees; most are the 25-32 oz. "quart" sizes (like the beer below) which are essentially never embossed - at least the ones used in the U.S.  These Steinike & Weinlig bottles seem to just come in this 12 oz. + or - size in my experience, but could be found in a larger size also.  This bottle is essentially mint with just a few tiny scratches but hammered whittle, sparkling medium olive green glass, and no staining whatsoever (or chips or cracks or dings) and just a beauty!  $35

CONGRESS & EMPIRE SPRING CO. / HOTCHKISS' SONS / C / NEW YORK / SARATOGA. N.Y. - CONGRESS / WATER - This final Hotchkiss Sons' Congress & Empire Spring Co. is an interesting one.  Upon close inspection I'm virtually positive (99%) that this deep emerald green example was blown in the same mold or at least mold half as the yellow olive/lime green listed above!  This doesn't jive with Tucker's noting that there is no embossing on the reverse of that particular mold which is the earliest of the Hotchkiss Bros bottles.  However, this example is boldly embossed with CONGRESS (arching) / WATER which Tucker noted as beginning with C-16.  Click on the back image to the right to view a larger version of the image.

I've compared every letter on the front of this example and the yellow olive/lime green C-15B Variant #1 example listed above and they are the same mold...at least in regards to the mold engraving on the front of the bottles.  This example also has the apostrophe after HOTCHKISS' just like C-15.  I'm not an expert on Saratoga Springs mineral water bottles but I've compared a lot of bottles with other mold variations over the years and this and the first HOTCHKISS' bottle above are almost certainly from the same mold...at least the front of it.  The embossing on the reverse of this bottle also just looks "different" than the embossing on the front, i.e. the "G" is totally different and the lettering is bigger and bolder making me think that the smooth back portion of the mold was added at another later time.  As an additional difference the base is embossed with a cross - like a Christian type cross not an X.  Click base view to see such.  Such could have been done with a new base plate or added to the base at a later time - a process that would have removed all traces of of the small embossed dot noted for the other example.  This is totally different than either of the bottles above and not noted in Tucker.  Tucker's great book was done in 1986 and I know of no updates making it quite possible that additional variants and molds have been discovered since publishing 40 years ago.  Click close-up of the front embossing to see such.

In any event, this is a very nice example of a scarcer pint Saratoga Springs mineral water bottle in the rich color often associated with bottles used for the product.  It is 8" tall and 3" in diameter.  It has the typical applied "mineral" finish/lip with a bit of slop below the lower collar.  Click close-up of the shoulder, neck and finish to see such.  Condition of the bottle is excellent with no chips, cracks or staining.  Lots of little bubbles are found in the glass a few of which are at the surface with no depth at all.  Nice and possibly a rare mold for the Congress & Empire Spring bottles.  $195

ROYAL SODA WORKS / HILLSBORO / ORE. - That is embossed within a "plate" on this scarce crown finish soda bottle from Hillsboro, Oregon.  I've never seen one of these before but I'm sure they are "around" in some quantity as Ron Fowler called them "common" in his "Oregon Soda Pop Bottling" book (1981, 1998 revised) on the subject.  According to his listing, the company was in business from 1911 until at least 1932.  This bottle would certainly date from the early end of that range as it is mouth-blown and has a tooled crown cap accepting finish (aka lip).  Apparently the owner of the company was Mrs. Hazel A. Morgan and it was located at 1343 Main Street in Hillsboro.  Fowler also noted that in 1925 it had 3 employees and bottled 125 cases of their soda a day.  No mention of what type soda they produced but must have been decent since the company was in business all through Prohibition and possibly after for some time period though it could well have bit the dust due to the Great Depression though Fowler noted in business until "1932+."

The bottle is a standard 10 oz. or so capacity soda bottle common to the period.  These type soda bottles were machine made almost entirely by 1918 according to research I've seen.  Fowler's book also has a line drawing of a machine-made example that has the same embossing and listed as very common (though I've not seen one of those either).  The bottle also is embossed on the rear heel with 11-S  A B Co indicating that the bottle was made by the American Bottle Company (Streator, IL.) who were in business from 1905 until 1929.  (Note: There is an in depth article on the company on my educational Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website at the following link:  https://secure-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/AmericanBottleCo.pdf )  That article has a table of codes used by the company noting that the 11-S marking indicates that the bottle was made at their Streator, IL. plant during the period from 1906 to 1912.  Since the Royal Soda Works didn't start operation until sometime in 1911 we can deduce that this bottle was likely made for less than 2 years indicating that it may be much scarcer than previously thought.

Fun stuff, eh?  The bottle is 8" tall and 2.5" in diameter.  Click base view to see such.  The vertical side mold seams disappear about 3/4" below the base of the crown finish which is the furthest point the "lipping tool" reached.  Above that one can faintly see the horizontal striations caused by that tool.  The embossing is in a plate (aka "slug plate" in collector jargon) and the shoulder has an assortment of air venting marks that helped speed up the blowing of the bottle by releasing the pressure as the hot glass expanded.  The color is a greenish aqua and the glass is heavy to withstand the carbonation of the contents.  Condition is essentially perfect with no staining, chips, cracks or other post manufacturing issues.   There are a very few tiny (pin head size or less) peck marks on the surface of the glass where the bottles likely bumped a bit when either being filled or when being shipped by the case.  It is just a fine example of one of the few mouth-blown bottles embossed with Hillsboro, Oregon.  $35

Beer/Ale

G. B. SELMER / CALIFORNIA / POP BEER. - PATENTED OCT. 29TH. 1872 - Offered here is one of the most unusual "beer" or "pop" bottles I have encountered.  I picked this up a long time ago from where I don't know - possibly the early days of Glass Works Auctions (?) - but only recently started doing a little research on this bottle specifically and the product in general.  I have never seen another example of this bottle. I likely bought it since it had "California" on it and assumed it may be a West Coast product.  However, a search of the US patents found that indeed the product was a patented formula.  Click Patent #132,574, dated October 29, 1872 to view the details for what one Charles C. Haley of Troy, New York called an "IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEER."  That is about as far from California as one can get in the US (ignoring Alaska).

Having been a home brewer for many years I read through the patent details several times and they are somewhat confusing.  It does include some ingredients that are not usually found in beer, e.g. oil of sassafras and spruce, cream of tartar and African ginger-root.  Some of those things were commonly put in soda pop.  Strangely enough, what is missing from the recipe is malted barley (though 3 oz. were included in the yeast preparation) which most beer is based on containing a LOT of.  It appears to have been replaced with, of all things, granulated sugar...70 pounds of it!  Thus the "pop" in the name of the concoction with the "beer" being traditionally yeast fermented to provide the alcohol kick.

I have seen a few other embossed California Pop Beers over the years, several of which were used by John A. Lomax in Chicago, IL.  Ken Farnsworth's (et al) great book "Bottled in Illinois" notes (and pictured) that Lomax used several different bottles that were embossed with his name, city and "Original California Pop" but no reference to beer even though other bottles Lomax used for various beers: ale, brown stout, porter, spruce beer, lager & weiss beer as well as other bottles used for mineral water, medicated aerated water, soda, cider and likely other beverages.  Also in the book is another producer of the product in Chicago - Dorman & Geer - who had embossed bottles noting the patent name "California Pop Beer" as well as the October 29th, 1872 patent date.

Recently on eBay there was an offering of another apparently very rare , similar shaped (different lip however) dark amber "quart" sized bottle embossed as follows:  BEBEE & MILLER / CALIFORNIA POP / 868 RIVER ST. / TROY, N.Y.  - the same city that Charles C. Haley resided in according to the patent!   However, I can find no listing for a Haley nor a Miller as a brewer in Troy, NY (American Breweries II book by Dale Van Wieren) but did find a Beebee involved in the beer business in Albany, NY in 1876 at a street number not 868 River St.  (Troy is essentially now a suburb of Albany, NY.)  This recent sale was for over $500 for a bottle that had a big chip out of the lip!  Images at the following links of the eBay item:  Image 1, Image 2, Image 3.  The backside of the bottle (image 3) shows it is embossed with THIS / BOTTLE / NOT TO BE / SOLD though no mention of the patent date like this offereing. 

So...is it a beer or a soda bottle?  The very heavy glass (bottle weighs almost 2 lbs.) would speak to it being a carbonated drink, but both soda and beer have carbonation with soda bottle tending to be a bit thicker on average.  I guess it is a mix of both and as Mr. Haley noted "...an improved beverage which I have denominated "California Pop Beer."  Since the above noted Troy bottle is very similar to my California Pop Beer (different finish/lip) and the Haley patent from there also, I suspect my G. B. SELMER was from the same area as I can find no mention of it in the Bottled In Illinois book nor the Breweries book.  Since I don't have access to all the soda bottlers in the US, I suspect Selmer was a soda water producer...maybe.

The details about this bottle are as follows:  It is probably just under a quart in size, is 10.5" tall, 3.5" in diameter at the base, has a crudely applied brandy type finish/lip and was blown in a two piece with separate base plate post base mold.  Click on the following links for more images:  base view; close up of the shoulder, neck and finish.  The glass is a very thick and very dark but golden amber which can only be seen through with a bright light behind it and even then, just in the middle portion; black amber glass I guess.  The condition of the bottle is near perfect with no chips, cracks, dings, staining or other post-production issues  It has some light wear to the base indicating it may have never been buried.  There is only a tiny bit of scuffing on the body of the bottle and most of that is on the back under the patent date.  (The vertical lines in the two close-up image above are just reflections not lines on the body of the bottle.)  Unusual product, interesting and quite rare bottle.  $425

THREE "BEER TONIC" BOTTLES - These three bottles are some of the stranger though historically interesting beer bottles all likely dating from the first half decade of the 20th century just prior to National Prohibition in 1920.  Along with the renaming of liquor stores as "Family Liquor Stores" (at least here in the Northwest) there was also a push to tout the "medicinal" qualities of plain old beer.  This seems to be a nationwide push which, of course, didn't work well enough to preclude National Prohibition.  I cover this fascinating historical period more on my Historic Glass Bottle ID & Information Website at the following link:  https://secure-sha.org/bottle/beer.htm#Malt%20extract/tonic%20styles

These bottles are all about 11-12 oz. in capacity,  7.25" to 7.50" tall and about the same medium dark amber glass that dominated beer bottles then and even now.  All have tooled finishes (aka lips) and were mouth blown in post-base molds.  All also have various mold venting marks (small pinhead sized bumps) on the shoulder and elsewhere typical of late mouth-blown bottles in th3 1890s to early 1910s.   

The two PRIMA TONIC bottles (far left and far right bottles in the images) have S B & G Co embossed on the reverse heel.  This indicates they were blown by Streator Bottle & Glass Co. (Streator, IL.) which used that marking from 1881 to 1905 when they were part of a merger to form the American Bottle Company.  Both bottles are embossed about the same though in different font.  The far left bottle is embossed at a 45 degree angle with PRIMA TONIC / REGISTERED PROPERTY OF / INDEPENDENT BRG ASSN. / CHICAGO.  The other is embossed horizontally and slightly differently with PRIMA TONIC / REGISTERED PROPERTY OF / INDEPENDENT BR'G. ASS'N. / CHICAGO, ILL. 

These bottles likely date from the late 1890s to 1905 as they have crown cap finishes (lips) that weren't not used much until the late 1890s and later. Click on the following links to see the base views of these bottles: far left bottle base; far right bottle base.  According to the American Breweries II book (Van Wieren), the Independent Brewing Assn. operated from 1890 to 1909 with the business name also being the Prima Tonic Co.  As already noted, these bottles date no later than 1905 given the makers marking.  Both bottles are in good condition but having some minor scuffing here and there from re-use as implied by the "Registered Property of" the brewery.  The tapered base example also has as small edge of the base nick as visible in the base image.

The bottle in the middle is embossed TONSETTI / TONIC and has (faintly) the initials (EHE CO) on the lower backside.  This indicates the bottle was produced by the Edward H. Everett Glass Co. (Newark, Ohio) who were in business from 1885 to 1904 with this bottle likely dating from the late 1890s to 1904 timeframe.  Beyond that dateable timeframe I have no idea where the product was produced though it was likely somewhere in the Midwest?  Unlike the other two Chicago bottles, this has a one-part "blob" (more or less) lip or finish.  The base has the number 427 embossed which is a typical mold catalog number for in glass company identification.  Click the following link to see the base image:  Tonsetti Tonic base.  This bottle has some minor scuffing - like the other two - due to likely reuse but is otherwise in decent shape with no chips or cracks.  All three have a bit of content staining in the inside but it is subdued and non-distracting' the outside of the bottles is bright and shiny with only the noted minor scuffing.  All three for $50 (plus shipping).

"Liquid Bread" cobalt beer bottle - As the image shows, the base is embossed with A.B.G.Co. / 5 which indicates the bottle was manufactured by the Adolphus Busch Glass Company (Belleville, IL.).  That particular marking dates this particular bottle to between 1886 to 1893 without any other information to refine that dating.  The company also used other markings which are discussed in the article linked below about the company and its connection to the contents.

"Liquid Bread" was a popular product that was - for unknown reasons - bottled in cobalt blue bottles.  It was essentially just beer but marketed as a health product probably due to the increasing pressure from Temperance groups in the late 19th century.  "Liquid Bread" was certainly what this deep cobalt blue beer bottle held as all of them I've seen with labels stated such.  The subject is covered in an article recently updated on my educational "Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website".  In fact, this bottle was acquired as part of the research for the article as well as to illustrate that article; now time to divest it.  A link to the article follows:  https://secure-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/AdolphusBusch2.pdf  (See pages 208 to 220 of that article which cover in depth the fascinating history behind the product and the bottles.)  Click on the following link to see a trade card for the product showing a nurse pouring some for a hospital resident (?) or sultan?   https://secure-sha.org/bottle/Typing/beer/liquidbread.jpg

This bottle is a typical (excluding the blue color) 11-12 oz. export style beer bottle.  The style first originated in the early 1870s and was closely identified with the products of Adolphus Busch who built or acquired glass manufacturing facilities just to make bottles for his even then popular Budweiser.  My other educational website also has an article by Bill Lockhart on the origin and use of the export style of beer bottle.  It is available at the following link:  https://securre-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/ExportBeerBottles_BLockhart.pdf 

This bottle is 9.5" tall, has a crudely applied "mineral" finish (aka "lip"), and dates as noted and discussed in the article linked above.  Click image of neck and applied lip/finish to see such.  Condition of the bottle is very good with no chips, cracks, dings, or other post production damage.  It does have a bit of faint haze in a couple places on the outside and inside as well as a few minor scuff markings.  However, the bottle is largely glossy and pleasant to look at as the images show.  Makes a great window bottle!  $50

FREDERICKSBURG (arched) / (dashed line) / BOTTG Co / S. F. CAL. - That is all etched on the body of this medium olive green, "Apollinaris" style beer bottle.  These etched San Francisco beer bottles seem to be pretty rare in my experience.  I remember seeing images of a few etched "export" style beer bottles in Grace Kendrick's book from the early 1960s, but had seen very few in real life.  Until this example I had never seen this style etched though I have had and sold several of the similar shaped but embossed Fredericksburg Bottling Co. beer bottles in past years (see SOLD BOTTLES below).  I picked this one up years ago at a California bottle show to illustrate the style on my other educational "Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website."  The Apollinaris style of bottle was used extensively for both beer and mineral water - particularly in the West. 

These, like the embossed examples, were likely blown in Germany although American bottle makers listed these in their catalogs implying they made them.  See the following linked page from the 1906 Illinois Glass Company catalog I have scanned and posted on the noted website:   https://secure-sha.org/bottle/Typing/IGCo1906/IGCo1906page250.jpg   The right page at that link shows these available in several sizes including this offering which is the "quart" size which really only held about 25 ozs.; what was called a "scant" size.  The catalog also notes that the company did sell "Full Measure" 32 oz. quarts also.  I believe that the offerings in those catalogs were actually imported from German and sold as though they were actually produced by the American company.  But who knows...

Anyway...this example, like those noted in the catalog, was produced in a turn mold which is very evident as the horizontal spinner rings are pretty noticeable - they can be seen on the enlarged examples of the images to the right.  (The guys that produced these bottles were called "twister" blowers in the trade.)  This example has an applied "blob" finish (lip) with the usual short conformation typical of these bottles and likely dates from the 1890s to maybe early 1900s.  It has no chips, cracks or other post-production damage but does have some wear and scratching on the outside indicating that it was reused many times.  This is also obvious on the base which has a lot of wear around the resting surface; click base view to see such.  It also has a sediment stain ring inside (visible in the close-up shot above) which is a bit detracting but not too bad.  In any event this is still a nice example of a rare and historic type beer bottle that as far as I can tell, was only used in the West.  $45