Winter Finds #1 2026

 

A friend walked in to where I work and carried in a soda crate full of seltzer bottles! Apparently they were on the side of the road for free. Among the finds was a B. Weinbaum & Sons Providence, RI double etch. I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but possibly from the bottle being rotated while wrapped in the sandblasting metal trace mold.

A chilly marsh dig turned up a damaged Puritan Bottling Co. Providence, RI. I have a bunch of variants from this company, and they just seem to keep coming!

Also from the marsh was a scarce Ruhland & Co. Cranston, RI blob. It turned out to be the same as a crown top version I had, only with a blob top!

I spotted a group of smaller perfume bottles on ebay. Among many common names was a Caswell Massey & Co. New York & Newport. While also a common name, I have never seen a small perfume shaped example!

At the Somers CT bottle show I picked up a D. Miller & Co. Wine Merchants Olneyvvill Sq Prov. RI blob. The embossing is definitely an odd choice, and unlisted!

 

Fall Finds #3 2025

 A friend recently found a G.E. Greene Pure Drugs Wyoming, RI pharmacy bottle. These are extremely rare to begin with, but this one was square with a mortar and pestle, making it a new bottle! I was excited and bummed until another friend of mine showed me one he dug! I was able to trade him for it.

An estate sale in Cranston turned up a T.M. Morris Bristol, RI soda. I was almost positive it was going to be a double until I checked (as I have learned to do).

A friend who owns an old house in Johnston invited me over to look at some bottles that were in his house when he moved it. There were hundreds, and while most were unremarkable, I did find a T. Roswell Parker Olneyville, RI. This is a tough Olneyville med, and it was a new size!

While digging in a local 1930s dump, I was rather shocked when I saw a blown pharmacy bottle base sticking out. I was even more surprised when I saw it was embossed O'Hare's Pharmacy E.J. Gallagher Providence, RI! At 4-3/4” this is was a new size as well.

I was looking through the discard pile at a friend's dump when I spotted a shoulder embossed Sullivan Bros. Providence, RI crown top. It was the first shoulder embossed version from the Sullivan Bros that I've seen!

 

Fall Finds #2 2025

Also from the pharmacy bottle collection was a small Blanding Druggist Providence med. This is a nice earlier example!

Perhaps my favorite find was a Sterrat & Johnson Arctic Centre, RI med. I found a smaller size years ago, and this 4" example now joins it.

An online ad for some bottles looked promising, and sure enough it contained a Moritz H. Meyer Providence, RI blob. I have an example in amber that is also very rare.

A collection of dug bottles from a recently passed professor contained some interesting finds. Among them was a massive 9-1/2" Purogen. This 32oz bottle is one of the largest medicine style bottles from RI, and currently one of two known!

A friend of mine found an old dairy farm dump. While most of the bottles dated to the 1930s-40s, I found a nice late throw German Seltzer Co. Providence, RI crown top. It was a different size and embossing variant than the other smaller size I have!

 

Fall Finds #1 2025

 A friend recently dug a neat medicine embossed McAllister's Syrup of Violets. I wasn't able to find any info on it. However, when we went digging together I found one too and wanted to crack the mystery even more. Persistence paid off, and I found out that it was indeed from RI! It was likely from Lonsdale or Central Falls, RI.

A marsh dig turned up a Kerona Co. Central Falls, RI green quart. These are usually embossed "Old English", but this was probably an earlier variant!

A friend recently purchased a large collection of New England pharmacy bottles. I bought most of them including a few from RI. Among them was a Barbours 18 Broad St. Westerly, RI. This pharmacy has more variants than any other Westerly druggist, and this was a different one!

An A.W. Fenner Jr. Providence, RI was also a new variant.

A scarcer cursive style Otis Clapp & Son Inc. was an unlisted size at 5".

 

Summer Finds 2025 #3

 A recent club meeting produced an A.W. Howe Broad St. Providence, RI pharmacy, a nice variant for the collection!

I spotted a collapsing abandoned barn, and inside was a basket full of bottles! Most were common, but T.E. Hickey & Co. Providence, RI blob turned out to be a new variant. I have the exact same bottle but with a crown top.

In a group of bottles listed online I spied a Standard Bottling Co. Pawtucket, RI narrow blob top. I have seen narrow (aka Aetna style) crown tops from Standard, but not a blob! These have always been one of my favorite styles.

A friend found a farm dump that produced a few milks and a Morris Bros. Bristol, RI ABM crown top. It was a variant I had only seen pieces of, so despite the damage it was an improvement!

Another friend found a Mt. Hope Distilling Co. Providence, RI aqua blob in a river. While common, I know there are a lot of variants, so I looked closely and saw that it was ABM, making it a new variant.

 

Summer Finds 2025 #2

 Years ago one of my first bottle digging friends Steve Anderson gifted me a few bottles including a Clarkes Kill Pain. Years of research failed to yield any information, but I did find a patent medicine dealing Clarke in Maine. I decided to give the research one final try before listing it on ebay, as the Narragansett Times had recently been digitized. I was shocked when I got a hit, and to my delight I found out the bottle was from Dorrville, RI! This was a name used for present-day Bradford, also formerly known as Niantic. Steve found many bottles diving in the river there, and I'm sure he would have been excited to see I solved the mystery!

A new construction site looked promising, but the summer heat was not exactly calling my name when it came to digging. I found a small shallow pit with a few bottles including an American Bottling Co. Union Station Providence, RI whiskey. Lo and behold, it was a variant!

A river walk yielded a few fun finds, but the big surprise came as I was leaving! A barely visible Acme Bottling Co. Providence, RI caught my eye. It was a new variant of an already rare soda.

I was pickup up a rare but listed soda bottle in Newport, and asked the seller if they had any others. I was delighted to also pick up a Moren & Sullivan Echo Bristol, RI soda! I've known about this bottle for years but it had eluded me, until now!

A friend found an Echo Eagle Bottling Co. Bristol, RI soda while walking a river recently. I was very surprised, as I was not aware that the Eagle Bottling Co. had ties to Echo. Apparently they bought the location from Moren & Sullivan and kept their original plant as well.

 

Summer Finds 2025 #1

 A snagged an Eagle Bottling Co. DC Providence, RI off ebay, and it turned out to be a new variant!

The small construction site also yielded an A.F. Cappelli Providence, RI blob that I sort of neglected because they are so common. I finally got around to comparing it to my other examples and surprise, new variant!

A friend spotted a Remington & Co. Smith St. Providence, RI pharmacy bottle for sale online and I snagged it. At 5" it was an unlisted size of a scarce med!

I picked through a sad group of soda bottles that had mostly been pulverized by sitting in frozen bins over the winter. A green Warwick Club Ginger Ale Co. quart managed to survive. It was yet another example I had in clear but not green!

After seeing so many Faerber bottles, I kept thinking that there had to be a tall blob from him somewhere. Years after suspecting it, a Peter Faerber Newport, RI aqua blob showed up on ebay! It's the only Faerber bottle I've seen with his first name spelled out.

 

Spring Finds 2025 #5

 A small house appointment only estate sale turned up a few nice bottles. Among them was a Blanding Druggist Providence. These are normally very crude and almost look pontiled. This one has a much newer look to it but still dates to the late 1870s.

I spotted a large 8" Edwin P. Anthony Providence, RI med on ebay. Sadly with a moderate sized crack it was not worth the cost of shipping. The seller had a large collection of bottles in NH so I decided to make the trip and took it home!

A small construction site unearthed a classic Providence city dump layer. A heavily damaged James O'Hare Providence, RI somehow survived in one piece. This is a scarcer earlier variant, and at 4-1/4" was a new size.

 

Also found were a pile of damaged blobs. Among them was a Caproni Bros. Atwells Ave. Providence, RI which was of course another variant!

A more exciting find an an Aetna style Caproni Bros. & Co. Spruce St. Providence, RI. Unfortunately also damaged, it is still a great looking bottle!

 

Spring Finds 2025 #4

On the hunt for an old time diggers collection, I was able to track down his digging partner. He was a very nice guy with a bunch of fun stories to share. Surprisingly he sold most of his RI bottles as he preferred bottles from the 1880s or earlier. I was about to leave when I spotted an odd bottle in his window. I nearly fell over when I saw it was embossed New Aetna Stopper Pawtucket, RI! It was an extremely rare salesman sample that was promoting the new closure. I have never seen anything like it and was even more shocked when he told me to take it. I owe him a dig now!

A friend who bought some of the Bergseng collection managed to turn up a few more conical style glasses. One was an O'Connor & Wilbur Pawtucket. All of these conical glasses are either unique or have very few known examples.

A Frank E. Crawford conical glass also joined the collection.

After obtaining an etched glass, I now also have an Anthony Pharmacy conical style glass!

The last one to join the collection was a J.A. Bernard Cathedral Sq. conical glass. I think it's safe to say that I now have the largest collection of RI dose glasses ever assembled!