My friend Jan Boyer has a famous “bottle shed” in his
backyard. I have looked through it many
times, and still find bottles I’ve missed.
Recently he had a yard sale which resulted in emptying most of the
shed. One bottle I had passed over was a
plain olive green wine, but when I picked it up, was surprised to find it was
etched S. Levin & Sons Prov. RI. This was the earlier Levin style as the company became
Levin Bros. in 1902. Only embossed
examples are known…until now!
Some of the trickiest soda bottles to get are the early
straight-sided Coca-Colas from Woonsocket and Providence. They always go for more than I’m willing to
pay on ebay due to those avid Coca-Cola collectors. I got lucky recently on a block lettered Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Woonsocket, RI with a little flash in
it. I was delighted to find that it was
embossed Contents 8 Fl. Oz. on the heel, which was not shown on the listed
example. That makes six different
Woonsocket Coca-Colas now!
Another nice soda I picked up at Jan’s yard sale was a handmade
crown top New England Bottling Co. CH (monogram) 7-1/2oz. Westerly, RI. The website only lists one BIM example, and
that has the AJ monogram. These sodas
are around, but the BIM ones are pretty scarce!
I recently got the urge to go marsh digging, and among the
newer finds were two sizes of a screw cap RI medicine. They were embossed twice on the sides Otis Clapp & Son with a shield
flanked by two lions. One had Inc.
embossed after Son. Currently the club
hesitates to list screw cap bottles on the website, but a few have sneaked by.
Once again, my friend Jan has proved his unparalleled
vigilance when it comes to frequenting antique shops. He recently sold me a superb early T.E. Hickey & Co. Providence, RI
blob soda. Tall sodas don’t get much earlier
than this late 1870-early-1880s example.
