Saturday, November 10, 2012

Late Summer Finds 3



After my recent large find of Newport, RI bottles, I was kind of bummed that they would be hard to find once more.  But, as luck has it, an exciting bottle turned up on ebay.  I have an unlisted size of a W.S.N. Allan Pharmacist Newport, RI, but this was a completely new version.  A larger 6-1/2” bottle sported a fancy ground throat (for a glass stopper) and the 1780 date in a banner rather than on the heel of the bottle.  Needless to say I was all over it and surprisingly won it for the minimum bid.



The ongoing construction site in Providence that produced the nice unlisted Edwin P. Anthony medicine is still churning out bottles, but admittedly at a slower rate.  I recently discovered a nice layer of ash which produced some bottles including a damaged W.R. Green Apothecary 1 Westminster St. Providence, RI.  Dr. Greene was a prominent pharmacist, and was know for having his shop open 24/7.  None of his known bottles have an embossed address, well that is until now!


Out of the few hundred different RI soda manufacturers, I seem to come across numerous versions from certain companies either due to their popularity or chance.  Finding my 4th version of an Empire Bottling Works Cranston, RI blob is rather surprising.  This example had the 133 Chestnut Hill Ave. address and “This bottle not to be sold” on the front heel.


After the successful yard sale in Charlestown, I returned to a house in Carolina, RI I haven’t visited for close to 8 years.  I went there as a youngster and bought a few bottles, and recently came into contact with the owner.  He was having a yard sale, and it was certainly a case of déjà vu.  After making a decent pile of bottles, he showed me a back room with bottles hiding in dusty boxes that had been packed in the 70s or 80s.  I battled cobwebs and mouse nests to rescue some neat bottles.  Among them was five unlisted soda bottles (including the previous bottle).  My favorite was a T. Blanchette Broad St. Central Falls, RI blob.  It had a different embossing pattern than the examples listed.

Also present was my 6th version of an Augustin Vitale Providence, RI blob.  This was really surprising since only one version is listed.  This one had a round slugplate with a bold monogram (as opposed to the example with the plain lettered monogram).
As for the other two you’ll have to wait until next week!