Once again I must bring to light unlisted RI bottles that I
have seen but do not have. While it can
be frustrating, I like to focus on the excitement of knowing (and
seeing/holding) an unlisted RI bottle, especially those of particular
significance.
At one of the Little Rhody Bottle Club meetings this spring
a member brought in a truly exciting bottle.
It was a gravitating stopper soda embossed Rocky Point 1872. While
there is no concrete evidence that this is indeed a RI bottle, the odds
certainly point in its favor. Other
towns called Rocky Point exist, but they aren’t as old as the 1872 date. If it is in fact from Rocky Point (of the
amusement park fame), it is a tremendously important piece of RI history, and I
would put it on par with the RI hutchinsons.
On another note, a fellow digger remembered digging a broken
soda bottle embossed “Rocky Point,
RI” (he forgot the rest of the
embossing), so bottles (or a bottle) from Rocky Point does exist!
Update: A couple searching for sea glass at Rocky Point recently found one of these bottles there, so it is confirmed! This is officially a RI bottle.
Update: A couple searching for sea glass at Rocky Point recently found one of these bottles there, so it is confirmed! This is officially a RI bottle.
A rather curious bottle surfaced on ebay a few months
ago. It was embossed Inhale Dr. Townsend’s Oxygenated Air. I know there is a rather fascinating bottle
embossed “Dr. Townsend’s Inhaler Providence, RI”, and a Google search quickly
confirmed this was a RI bottle! It is
certainly an unusual one, and I really would like to find one with the original
contents! Or would it just be empty?
Also new at a recent club meeting was a D.B. Griffin Chemist Wakefield, RI medicine bottle. While this rectangular bottle is listed, this
aqua example is not, and the dimensions are completely different than the
listed ones. I literally turned my head
and a friend of mine bought it for the high asking price. I sense a future trade…
I was recently contacted by a new digger who was digging at
a big dump I had visited in the past. It
had been dug before and it was a long drive for me. However, I had to give this guy credit for
not only digging there but finding some bottles! Another bottle he had from another site was a
J.C. Sullivan Registered Pharmacist Valley
Falls, RI. It’s a brand new bottle
from a smaller town.
Bottles from Otis
Clapp & Son can be found in almost every antique shop in New England.
Located in Boston and Providence, they were hugely successful. One
of their rarest bottles is a common square example in milk glass. I don’t know of
another milk glass bottle from RI, and when it showed up on ebay I put in a
sizable bid and came up short. Next
time!
