New and Not Mine plus Criers

Some of you might recall that a shard of a new RI Codd soda bottle were found a few months ago.  The half-bottle was missing some key embossing that I was (despite exhaustive research) unable to extrapolate.   Well, that same Massachusetts digger (Rodney) struck gold recently and found an intact example!  It is embossed “Ashworth & Jackson X.L.C.R. Mineral Waters Lonsdale, RI”.  It is easily the most important RI bottle found this decade, and a complete surprise as well!  Lonsdale is a small town with no previously known soda bottles, and the bottler’s choice of a Codd bottle is very odd.  Perhaps it explains why they didn’t do very well!

A recent dig at the “big town dump” unearthed a true heartbreaker shard.  While most bottle people use the term to refer to a broken valuable bottle, I like to think it applies to any bottle you really wish was whole.  This one was a Phenix Bottling Co. Duffy & Co. Phenix, RI soda.  I don’t know if it was a blob top or crown top, but they were only listed for a few years before going out of business.

One of my early season marsh adventures uncovered another surprise heartbreaker.  A Central Bottling Co. Arctic, RI soda bottle shard remains shrouded in mystery.  The company is not listed in any directories.  Again, I’m not sure if it this one was a crown top or blob, but either way I really want a whole one now!

Veteran collector David Gates has a very respectable collection of Rhode Island bottles, including a good number of unlisted examples.  One completely unlisted bottle is a W.F. Fanning PhG PharD Druggist Cranston St.  This Providence medicine is currently the only example known from this pharmacist!

A Craigslist add sported a clear picture of a Wm. J. McGunagle Druggist McGunagle’s Block Valley Falls, RI medicine bottle.  A McGunagle’s Drug store bottle is listed, but not one like this!  Sadly I was a month late in seeing the ad.

Spring Finds #7

Well, here I am (in April), and instead of exploiting the best digging weather of the year, I’m out chasing “cold weather” leads.  Fortunately those leads were fruitful!  I added a McKenna Bros. Providence, RI blob.  This example has a period after Providence.

My second lead promised “150 or so soda and liquor bottles”.  Well, that turned into about 250 bottles, and the price didn’t change!  Although the bottles were located in central Connecticut, there was a whole box full of Westerly, RI sodas.  To my delight that included a few rarities.  One was a King Westerly, RI quart.  Quite common in the smaller sizes, this was the first quart I have seen.

Another nice surprise was a New England Bottling Co. Westerly, RI crown top.  This nice aqua version has “8 Fluid Ounces” embossed above the slugplate.  It is a very odd place to emboss the capacity, and is consequently unlisted.

One of the rarest Westerly sodas is the Lawton Bottling Works Westerly, RI crown top.  This is a completely unlisted bottle.

Another exciting find was a Moose Head Beverages Inc. Providence pyroglazed seltzer bottle.  The Moose Head ACL (applied color label) sodas are very hard to get, and the seltzers are no exception.

Spring Finds #6

A few years ago I passed up a handmade Hand Brewing Co. Pawtucket, RI crown top beer.  The machine made examples are one of the most common RI liquor bottles known, but I had only seen one handmade (aka unlisted) example.  I was still kicking myself until recently, when I was finally able to purchase two from a fellow collector from Mass.  To my delight, they were both different variants!

Also included in the BIM Hand bottle package was a machine made Hand Brewing Co. Pawtucket in light aqua.  This common bottle usually comes in a greenish aqua, so this light aqua is an unlisted color.

I didn’t expect to see another variant of the LaSalle Shiloh Bottling Wks. Providence green quart soda.  I have two versions of this shoulder and heel embossed soda, but now I have three!  They are all unlisted.  I believe LaSalle was the Shiloh Bottling Work’s brand of ginger ale.

The last unlisted bottle from my friend was a nice S. Levin & Sons Co. Providence blob top.  This narrow monogrammed example is unlisted.

A recent dig at the big town dump produced a Ruhland & Co. Cranston, RI crown top.  This is the scarce version of the Lewis Ruhland bottles, and is unlisted as a crown top.  Sadly this example lacks a bottom…