I’d like to dedicate this entry to the unlisted RI bottles
that I missed, got outbid on, or saw in a friend's collection.
A fairly recent member to join the club, Steve Plante has
quickly become a prominent collector of Rhode Island ACL soda bottles. His favorite way of “digging” for bottles is
to go out kayaking and pull them out of rivers and ponds. I had overlooked this particular method until
about five years ago when I discovered how easy it was to find bottles in
the water, especially on hot days. One of
his recent finds was a completely unlisted QuaKo Acme Bottling Co. Providence, RI.
While an embossed Acme Bottling Co. bottle exists, this brand is pretty
significant. Quako originated in Philadelphia, so why a small bottling company from Rhode
Island started to bottle it is fascinating.
A while ago I saw a nice looking unlisted Wright & Hay Pharmacists Newport, RI
medicine on ebay. The same seller had a
pharmacy bottle from Woonsocket,
RI listed as well. This bottle had a decent lip chip and would
normally sell for $5 on a good day.
However, two feuding Woonsocket
collectors had “unfinished business”, and drove the price to an insane
$406. One of the bidders also went after
the Newport
bottle, so I had to back out. Oh well!
Another beer bottle that really should be listed is the Eagle Brewing Co. (embossed eagle and shield) Providence, RI. This is hands down the finest looking crown
top beer bottle from RI. I have an acid
etched blob from this company, and there is an embossed example listed, but
there is no mention of an eagle!
A few years back a good friend of mine bought a box of
freshly dug bottles from northern RI.
For $10 it was a stellar buy, because he got a Sullivan Bros. Providence
Hutchinson worth about $1,500. Another
bottle in the box was (believe it or not) even rarer than the Sullivan! It was a J.S.
Hazard & Co. Westerley (spelling error), RI gravitating stopper soda.
While not as sought after as RI hutchinsons,
gravitating stopper (patented in 1867) sodas are tough to find, and there was
only one known from RI. Now there are
two! Note- Other J.S. Hazard squat sodas
are fairly easy to come by.
A fairly unusual source of finding unlisted RI bottles is
the Red Book of Fruit Jars. This
excellent reference book is the fruit jar bible. The majority of jars don’t have a location on
them, but a base embossed F.H. Perry &
Co. Prov. RI fruit jar caught my eye.
The lid has an 1882 patent date on it.
Because it is base embossed, it doesn’t have tremendous value, but it is
certainly something I am looking out for!
There is no picture of this jar yet!
One of my favorite local bottles is owned by my friend
David. A few years ago another friend of
mine found a The Gladstone Spring Water
Co. Narragansett Pier, RI demijohn.
This massive bottle is the only RI mineral water demijohn in this
size. I can only hope there is another
one out there sitting in someone’s basement!
