The Otis Collection pt. 5

Welcome back!  A lot has happened since my last post, including my official purchase of the rest of the Otis Collection, which was close to 500 bottles, plus the ones I already bought.  I have a bit of catching up to do, so I will stick to that for now!

With this post I can finally finish up my new finds from the Otis collection.  As my financial situation allows, I will continue to purchase small amounts of his unlisted bottles.  For now, here’s the rest!

Another nice and early blob top was from J.H. Branaghan Pawtucket, RI.  Branaghan was a successful dealer in liquors, as evidenced by the large variety of bottles made by the company.  This aqua blob top is easily one of the first Branaghan bottles ever produced. 

Another J.H. Branaghan bottle is of a newer vintage but still very appealing.  This handmade crown top has the embossing in a shield design which was used extensively by the Burke Bros. of Providence.  The bottom is embossed Mfrs. Bottle Co. Boston, a company which also produced the Burke bottles. 

One of the most handsome handmade crown tops from the bunch was a J. Keron Herbola Central Falls, RI.  This green aqua bottle features a nice tombstone shaped slugplate on the front.  J. Keron’s Herbola drink started him on a successful career which would lead to the creation of the Kerona Co.  These Kerona bottles are some of the most common RI soda bottles around.

Well, I must confess that this next bottle is even more handsome than the last.  The successful Caproni Bros. also produced a wide variety of soda and beer bottles.  An amber handmade crown top Caproni Bros. Spruce St. Providence, RI is a swell bottle.  Its large size and unapologetic bulging beer bottle style neck give it a commanding presence.

An uncommon and unsurprisingly unlisted blob is from the American Wine Co. Pawtucket, RI.  A large bottle is listed, but not this average-sized blob.  RI companies dealing expressly in wine are uncommon, but a few like the California Wine Co. enjoyed considerable success.

There was one bottle I missed during the collection selloff I mentioned in the last two posts.  I wasn’t the only one scouring the collection.  A friend of mine picked up a blob soda and never put it down again.  I figured it had to be a nice one, but I didn’t know how nice.  I read the bottler’s name, but quickly forgot it when I saw the town.  It was a G.A. Wagner Berkeley, RI.  At the time I didn’t even know that there was such a town.  Some searching showed it was a small mill village in the town of Cumberland.  It is exceedingly rare for a small town like this to have an embossed bottle.  Usually the only bottles from small towns are milk bottles. 

Well, he enjoyed it for a few weeks then listed it on ebay.  The opening bid was high but reasonable for a blob this rare, and I happily got it for the minimum bid!

The Otis Collection pt. 4

This is my fourth post on the Otis collection, and there is still more left!  Even the 68 bottles I bought (a small fraction of the 600 piece collection) made a huge impact on my collection.  Enjoy the rest!

Of all the bottles I purchased from the Otis collection, this one was probably the most unusual.  It is embossed The H.—L. Brand Prov. RI USA.  It has a bulbous food (sauce bottle) shape, but a soda-style blob top!  Unfortunately I was unable to find any information on it, but it is certainly one of the stranger ones I’ve come across!

Another nice blob was from the What Cheer Bottling Co.  I originally through only machine made crown tops existed, but this clear blob makes things interesting.  What Cheer is the motto of Providence and dates back to the mid-1800s.  A large number of varied businesses took on the name, and many still exist today.

One of the most successful bottling companies from Pawtucket was the Standard Bottling Co.  I had 8 different bottles from this collection, and added 3 more with this recent purchase.  One example as a narrow-bodied handmade crown top.  It has the signature American flag and the number 5 next to it.  I’m not positive, but I believe this is a date code for 1905. 

The other unlisted example is probably the rarest Standard bottle around.  It is embossed Standard Bottling Co. Pavonia Providence, RI.  Beer bottles embossed with the type of beer are exceedingly rare in RI.  In fact I’m now the lucky owner of the only two types known (the other is a Henry Wilkens Tivoli from Providence). 

Despite its status of a small city and a considerable amount of documented bottles, Woonsocket bottles are still hard to come by.  I suppose living in southern RI doesn’t help, as I (almost embarrassingly) have never been to Woonsocket.  I was able to acquire two completely unlisted sodas which made me decide a visit to this city was in order within the year.  The first example was a BIM crown top Joseph G. Lefevbre Clinton St. Woonsocket, RI.  Woonsocket was known for it’s French-Canadian population, and this bottler’s name is a fine example of that. 

The other equally exciting soda was an early machine made crown top Millerville Soda Works Woonsocket, RI.  Millerville is a town in Massachusetts located right over the border from Woonsocket.  This must have been a short lived company because there is not a single mention of it online.

The Otis Collection pt. 3

I was happy to improve my run of Jacob Wirth bottles.  As one of the most successful bottlers in the state, his newer blobs and crown tops are easily acquired.  I had eight different bottles from Mr. Wirth until this purchase, when I acquired two of his earliest Providence bottles.  Jacob Wirth started in Boston around 1868, and opened a new branch in Providence in 1880.  The first bottle, a crude applied lip aqua blob dates from 1880-1885, and the second example, the earliest example of his signature diamond design likely dates from 1885-1890.  Roger Heatley is the expert on Jacob Wirth bottles, and more info can be found at his excellent website here: 

http://www.jennrog-collectables.com/wirth_providence.htm

Among Al’s unlisted bottles were a few examples I would refer to as “specimen” bottles.  They are badly damaged which means they have little or no value, but they have a lot of historic value since they are rare and unlisted.  One of these was a H. Gorman & Co. Providence, RI midsize blob.  This intermediate size (8”) between a squat soda and tall blob was a transitional bottle, and dates to ca. 1870-1885.  There is a tall blob Gorman listed, but not this small size!

Probably the biggest heartbreaker was a beautiful amber Chas. F. Young 38 S-Main St. Providence, RI amber blob.  He made the only amber colored squat blob from RI, which is quite rare.  An example like this is exciting because it shows he was in business until the era of the "tall blobs", and the embossing is nearly identical to what is found on the squat blob.

Another uncommon bottle was a quart-sized blob top from the German Seltzer Co. 7 Ticknor Ave. Providence, RI.  Quart blobs are considerably less common than you average 10-12oz. blobs.  This example has 27 Oz. embossed in the slugplate, making it unlisted. 

Another nice smaller-town blob was a Sanitary Bottling Co. Webster Ave. Arlington, RI.  Arlington (now Silver Lake) was a town in Cranston, and amusingly enough the porcelain stopper on this bottle is marked Cranston.  This bottle is only listed as a crown top, so this blob is new!

The Otis Collection pt. 2

Well it should be no surprise that this week will cover more of the Otis collection.  I’ll start out with a completely unlisted Lawson’s Drug Store Wesminster St. Providence, RI.  Always an exciting find, these drug store bottles seem to be of a later vintage (1905-1915) than other embossed pharmacy bottles.  A thorough search was unable to turn up any solid information on the company.

Even more exciting was an unlisted medicine from a “small town”.  A small oval cork top D.O. King MD Auburn, RI easily grabbed my attention.  There is only one other medicine bottle known from Auburn, a section of Cranston. 

One apparently scarce pharmacy bottle was an E.C. Thornton & Co. Pharmacists Providence, RI.  It is listed as RI-631, but the height (a little over 6”) was unknown. 

I was happy to get an E.T. Luther Druggist Olneyville, RI pharmacy bottle.  This section of Providence has a handful of pharmacy bottles, including one of my very first RI bottles.  This example is an unlisted 3-1/2” size. 

I kind of have a thing for older blob top sodas.  The early examples with crude embossing and applied lips just have a great character to them.  Easily one of the best examples of this was a Finck & Hainbach Pine Cor. Page St. Providence, RI blob.  Out of the hundreds of RI blobs I’ve seen and handled, this was easily the crudest looking tall (9”+) blob I’ve ever seen.  It is unquestionably one of the first tall blobs ever made (early 1870s), as they debuted about the same time Karl Hutter invented the popular lightning stopper for them.  Sadly it is damaged, but it is still a pleasing sight to the eyes!

Another nice find was a T. Blanchette 606 Broad St. Central Falls, RI handmade crown top soda.  There are only two versions of the T. Blanchette soda listed, and both are blob tops.  Sodas made in the 1905-1915 period can be found in identical styles with blob and crown tops, as blobs weren’t completely phased out until about 1920.

The Otis Collection pt.1

About two months ago fellow collector Al Otis decided on a different path in his life which involved selling his bottle collection.  It consisted of over 600 different RI bottles, including many unlisted and one of a kind examples.  It was one of the top 5 collections of RI bottles, and I was definitely interested.  Being a poor college graduate, I regretfully could not purchase the collection even though the price was very fair.  In a bittersweet yet expected turn, a friend of his bought them to sell individually.  I was over in a heartbeat to set some aside.  It was pretty overwhelming, but I tried to get the rare and unlisted bottles.  While 68 bottles sounds like an inconsequential fraction of the 600 bottles, I was able to acquire what I believed to be the most important bottles I could afford.  Here are some of the finds:

An unlisted Caswell Mack & Co. Chemists New York & Newport was hard to pass up.  There are no listed rectangular versions of this bottle, and this one is fairly crude.  Dating from ca. 1863-1880, these Caswell Macks are some of the oldest bottles from the Caswell/Hazard/Mack/Massey empire.  

Another bottle known for its many varieties, a Barbour’s Westerly & Watch Hill R.I. was a nice find.  This small size had a different style font and underscore than listed versions.

I was very excited to discover that an already rare pharmacy bottle was an even rarer unlisted version!  It was a Potter’s Pharmacy (embossed owl on mortar) 246 Cranston St. Providence, RI.  The listed example has an address of 206 and a different looking owl.  The 206 address was an older location than the 246.

One of my top 3 bottles from the purchase was this brand new cosmetic bottle.  A Zenobia Toilet Specialties, Bronson Chemical Co. Providence, RI.  This is the only cosmetic bottle of its kind from RI, and the color and shape make it exceptional.

While in poor condition, it was exciting to see an unlisted version of a Downing Brothers Druggists Newport, RI.  All the listed versions are embossed B.F. Downing Jr., even though his brother worked with him for most of the duration of the company.

Not Quite Mine

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!

Winter Finds #5

This week I’ll finish off my finds from the last bottle club meeting.  A Mason B. Wood Druggist Watchemoket, RI was my next find.  Watchemoket was a small town that later became part of East Providence.  The shape is pretty appealing; it is round with a flat front.  This style was patented by the Whitall Tatum Co.  This cute druggist bottle was listed, but not in this size (3-1/2”). 

Another highlight of the collection selloff was an A.J. Hopkins & Son Improved Magic Healing Powder Providence, RI.  As far as I know, it’s been close to two decades since one of these has surfaced.  Since the picture on the LRBC website is black and white, there is a small possibility that the bottle was aqua like mine, even though it looks and is listed as clear. 

This entry is a particularly rewarding one.  The origins of this bottle go back 10 years.  I bought my Denham’s Homeopathic Pharmacy bottle as a kid with a bunch of other bottles.  When I got older I tried to research it online.  I didn’t get a single hit.  I figured it was probably out of state and put it back in my display.  Well last week I tried my new and improved search.  I found a Henry J. Denham.  To my great surprise I found an article stating that he opened a homeopathic pharmacy in Providence in 1875!  A few more articles further backed up this theory.  That makes this bottle quite the rare find.

One of the dark horse categories in RI bottle collecting is seltzer bottles.  A few are scattered throughout the online listing, but there is probably close to 100 different companies out there.  I usually don’t bid on them because they can sell fairly high and the shipping is absurd, but when a few came up for sale within driving distance, I chanced it.  My favorite out of the four I won was a nice early E.P. Anthony Mineral Waters Providence, RI.  As one of the most successful pharmacists in Providence, he must have had a soda fountain in his pharmacy which often featured seltzer bottles.  This early (circa 1910s) example is significant because it links a pharmacist to the beverage industry.

My newest ebay find was a nice Hazard Hazard & Co. Chemists NY & Newport medicine bottle.  An unlisted square style, I have one size already, and now I can add this 5” size to make a pair!  The Hazard Hazard name was the second newest incarnation of this company, lasting from about 1887-1893.