One of the earliest of the distinct U. S. bottle styles strongly identified with sauces were the gothic or "cathedral" styles.  These designs (also see the gothic pickle bottle section later on this page) originated during the mid-19th century "Gothic Revival" period in American and Europe which also had its effects on the architecture of the period (Deiss pers. comm. 2003).  This style varies in specific design but all share the distinction of having varying sized peaked "church window" like panels on most or all of the sides.  Gothic sauce bottles were made in both square and hexagonal cross-section shapes and are often quite ornate in appearance - an early and apparently successful attempt to use packaging to attract the eye of potential purchasers by stylistically emulating the already popular Victorian gothic design elements of the 19th century.  These gothic style bottles do seem to be distinctly American in origin and manufacture (McKearin & Wilson 1978).  Some less ornate designs simply have the long lower body indented and peaked panels without the upper smaller panels, or just one upper panel instead of two.  These would all be considered as gothic styles.

The example to the left is typical of the style with three separate panels on each side with the two upper panels having additional decorative features inside the panel.  Incidentally, glassmakers universally called this style "gothic" as in "gothic pepper sauce"; the term "cathedral" does not appear ever in glassmakers catalogs to this authors knowledge (Whitall Tatum & Co. 1880, 1902; Illinois Glass Co. 1903; Obear-Nester Co. 1922).  The cathedral designation almost certainly modern collector jargon.

Both the four (square) and six sided (hexagonal) designs seem to have appeared about the same time (1840s) and both cross-section shapes continued in use to some degree as late as the early 20th century although both configurations of the style were most popular from about 1850 through the 1880s (empirical observations).  The image to the above right shows a base view of both conformations.  Gothic sauce bottles were primarily used for pepper sauces of varying types with the use for other sauces/condiments (catsup/ketchup and some syrups) occurring to a much lesser degree (Switzer 1974; McKearin & Wilson 1978).  Gothic pepper sauce bottles and the related pickle types were both common products from dozens of different glass making concerns during the era of popularity, as they are found in many different glass makers catalogs (Whitall, Tatum & Co. 1880; Hagerty Brothers 1898; Illinois Glass Co. 1899,1903,1906,1911; Obear-Nester 1922).  The following discussions cover the two major classes of gothic sauces: square and hexagonal.  It should be noted that five sided gothic sauce bottles have been reported (Spude et al. 2006) but have not been personally observed by the author and their existence is questionable (i.e., possibly a miscounting of the sides).

Square: The gothic peppersauce bottle pictured in the upper left corner of this section is a square gothic sauce dating from the 1850s to mid-1860s time period based on diagnostic features including an improved or iron pontil mark on the base and a key mold base conformation.  This example is typical of the design popular during the 1850 through 1880 period.  Click on base view to see an image of this bottles base showing the very distinct iron or improved pontil scar.  The picture to the right is of a bit later version of a square gothic pepper sauce (ca. 1880 to 1885 based on the context of where excavated) which has a crudely applied double ring finish (the typical finish on most gothic sauces), post-base mold, no evidence of a pontil scar nor of any mold air venting.  This particular gothic sauce was made 20+ years after the example above with the only noticeable difference (besides subtle design differences) is that it is a bit narrower in diameter.  The author has noted with both the square and hexagonal shapes a distinct tendency towards narrower bodied bottles as the 19th century progressed.  In addition, the square styles appear to have largely fallen out of favor by the early 1890s (discussed below) though were being made by at least one bottle maker until 1898 (Hagerty Brothers 1898).  Click on the following links for more images of the gothic pepper sauce bottle to the right:  base view; close-up of the neck and applied finish.  (This bottle is also the square example in the base image above.)

Hexagonal:  The other common conformation for gothic peppersauce bottles was six-sided/hexagonal as portrayed by the gothic sauce bottle to the left.  This particular bottle lacks a pontil scar on the base (which has the embossed letter "S" as shown in the base view image above right) though has a crudely applied double ring finish, key base mold blown, and no evidence of mold air venting.  It dates firmly from the mid-1860s as bottles blown in the same mold - based on a close examination of the precise embossing details of the "S" - were salvaged from the Steamship Republic© which sank off the coast of Georgia in late October of 1865 (Gerth pers. comm. 2007).  Given that the lifespan of a heavily used mold for a popular generic style bottle type like this was likely just a few years, one can be confident that this bottle dates from the mid-1860s.   Click close-up of the upper embossing pattern, neck and finish to see these features.

Variations of the gothic style were in use for an extensive period and appear to not have begun to disappear until the advent of bottle making machines during the early 20th century and even lingered into the early 1920s on bottles which may have been machine-made (Obear-Nester Co. 1922).  It should be noted that all of the later listings of the gothic style found in glass making catalogs are of the hexagonal shape; the square types appear to have virtually disappeared during the 1890s (Whitall Tatum & Co. 1880, 1892, 1896; Hagerty Brothers 1898; Whitney Glass Works 1904; Illinois Glass Co. 1899,1911; Obear-Nester Co. 1922).  Click IGCo. 1906 catalog - pages 204-205 to see an illustration (lower left) of a gothic pepper sauce from the Illinois Glass Company 1906 catalog which is the same mold as offered in 1911 (Illinois Glass Co. 1906, 1911).  These later mouth-blown hexagonal examples have tooled finishes, exhibit mold air venting marks, and were made in cup base molds (Spude et al. 2006).  (Example noted below.)

Other images of gothic style sauce bottles are available by clicking on the following links.  This helps show a bit of the diversity of shape found in these bottles:

• Early 20th century gothic peppersauce - This is an typical example of the later mouth-blown hexagonal pepper sauce bottle which was likely made sometime between the 1890s and 1910s.  It is 8.5" tall, has a tooled double ring finish, and was blown in a cup base mold; presence of air venting is unknown (photos from eBay®).  This shows the slight but distinctly narrower profile typical of the later hexagonal gothic pepper sauces noted earlier and is virtually identical to the Obear-Nester Glass Co. example illustrated (and discussed) below.  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle:  base view showing a cup base mold conformation and an embossed "K" which might indicate production by the Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. whose 1916 catalog showed an identical item; view of the decorative elements on the lower body; view of the decorative elements of the shoulder; view of the upper shoulder, neck and finish (Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. 1916).

Dating summary/notes:  Gothic style sauce bottles are most commonly associated with historic sites that date from the period spanning the 1850s through the 1880s; the gothic sauce bottles pictured here are typical of that era.  Glass color is almost always aqua though on occasion other colors may be encountered from colorless or light amethyst (manganese dioxide de-colorized glass) to deep greens or blues (Switzer 1974; McKearin & Wilson 1978; Hawley 1998; Gerth 2006).  The gothic style gradually became less common/popular, as indicated by glass makers catalogs and empirical observations, from the early to mid-1890s on though were known to be produced until at least 1922 (Whitall, Tatum 1880,1892,1902,1909; Whitney Glass 1904; Cumberland Glass 1911; Illinois Glass Co. 1899,1911; Obear-Nester Glass Co. 1922).  The following is a summary of some key date ranges for two classes of gothic sauce bottles:

• Square and hexagonal examples first appeared in the late 1840s to possibly early 1850s.
• Pontil scarred examples (glass-tipped, blowpipe, and iron pontil scars) date from the above noted origination time to the American Civil War period.  After that point (approximately 1860-1865) these bottles are virtually all "smooth base", i.e., lacking a pontil scar, indicating they were finished while being held by a snap case tool (Switzer 1974; Russell 1998; Gerth pers. comm. 2007).
• Square examples appear to have largely disappeared by the early to mid-1890s with some made as late as 1898 (Hagerty Brothers 1898).  All square examples studied by the author have had applied finishes indicating that this style was unusual by the mid to late 1880s.  Bottle makers catalogs after the late 1890s only list hexagonal designs, if they list any gothic design sauces.
• Hexagonal examples were mouth-blown produced at least as late as 1911 and possibly even into the 1920s (Cumberland Glass Co. 1911; Illinois Glass Co. 1911; Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. 1916; Obear-Nester Glass Co. 1922).  Those made prior to the late 1880s have applied finishes; those after that time (1890s and later) typically have tooled finishes.  Early 20th century examples are not uncommon in colorless or light amethyst glass (Rinker 1968; empirical observations).  Early 20th century examples made by the Illinois Glass Co. are often based marked with I. G. Co. and were virtually identical to the example in the illustration to the right (Obear-Nester Co. 1922; Zumwalt 1980; empirical observations).
• The latest hexagonal gothic sauce bottles were likely machine-made, though examples have not been observed by the author.  The example listed in the 1922 Obear-Nester Glass Co. catalog (illustration to the right) was likely made by machine given the late date, though mouth-blown production can not be ruled out.  The illustration shows the typical type of relatively narrow hexagonal gothic pepper sauce bottles made by various glass makers from the 1890s through the first couple decades of the 20th century.  In fact, that illustrated design conformation - having embossed decorative features within the tall arched lower panel - is typical of the gothic sauce bottles made during the 1890s through 1910s to early 1920s era, including the mouth-blown items noted in the previous point.  Most gothic sauce bottles produced before the 1890s were conformed like the bottles pictured earlier in this section (Illinois Glass Co. 1899, 1906, 1911; Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. 1916; Obear-Nester Co. 1922).  (Note: This illustration also shows [bottle on left] Obear-Nester's horizontally ribbed "hexagon pepper sauce" bottle offering; the subject of the next section below.)

As noted earlier, there was a trend in gothic sauce bottles for the diameter of the bottles - both square and hexagonal - to narrow a bit over time from the 1870s to about 1900.  However, this is a feature that is only easily apparent after examining a large number of these type bottles and should simply be used as one of several physical features to consider when estimating the manufacturing date of this type.  Generally speaking, the dating of these type bottles based on manufacturing related diagnostic features follows quite well the guidelines presented throughout this website and summarized on the Bottle Dating page; see that page for more information.

This moderately variable category of sauce bottles is unified by the fact that the bottles have some type of molded decorative body features dominated by variously detailed and oriented ridges or ribbing.  These bottles primarily contained various types of pepper sauce (aka peppersauce - one word) though some were used for foods like ketchup, vinegar and likely other semi-liquid food products (Switzer 1974; Zumwalt 1980). 

All do share a general similarity of overall conformation of being a "sauce-like" tall and narrow, usually a capacity of 12 oz. or less, and typically (but not always) have a relatively narrow bore and double ring finish.  One should be aware that there is a lot form and decorative variety within this category not specifically covered by the pictured bottles, though those discussed in the following are commonly encountered designs (Zumwalt 1980).  It should also be noted that ketchup bottles often have vertical body ribbing and grade into this category somewhat, though ketchup bottles tend to have a different overall conformation and usually a different type finish, i.e., commonly have external screw thread finishes, at least from the 1890s and later.  (Ketchup bottles are covered in the next section.)

Vertically ribbed:  Tall, relatively narrow sauce bottles with varying types of vertical ribs, ridging or fluting were a very common conformation from as early as the late 1840s or early 1850s well into the early 20th century (Switzer 1974; Zumwalt 1980).  Mouth-blown vertically ribbed sauce bottles were typically made of aqua glass, though colorless or light amethyst (manganese dioxide decolorized glass) examples are fairly common and deeper greens and blues occasionally seen.  Machine-made vertically ribbed sauce bottles - though not specifically discussed here - exist and lean strongly towards being dominated by colorless glass like the majority of 20th century, machine-made food bottles and jars (Zumwalt 1980).

The common, vertically ribbed sauce bottle pictured above is of late 19th century origin and is hexagonal in cross-section.  It has the original label (with a peaked "gothic" type look) noting that it contained "Pepper Sauce" and was produced and/or bottled by the India Mills of New York.  Nothing is really known about this company except that it was located at 534 Washington St. in New York City (Zumwalt 1980).  However, this vertically ribbed style (and similar variations) were certainly used by many different sauce producing companies and made by many different glass companies during the era from the 1880s to 1910s.  This particular example has a tooled double ring finish and was blown in a post base mold though has no obvious air venting marks indicating a likely 1885-1895 manufacturing date range.  Click on the following links for more images of this bottle:  base view; close-up of the label; close-up of the shoulder, neck, and applied finish.

The picture to the right is of a typical early vertically ribbed/fluted (10-ribs) sauce bottle that was a very common and popular style from the 1850s through at least the early 1900s (Whitall Tatum 1880; Alther 1909; empirical observations).   (Photo courtesy of David Whitten).  The pictured example also has three horizontal rings on the neck which was a common stylistic feature for this class of vertically ribbed sauce bottles.  This example has an applied double ring finish, lacks evidence of mold air venting, and is not pontil scarred on the base which is embossed with S. G. W. LOU. KY. indicating manufacture by the Southern Glass Works of Louisville, KY. who used this mark from 1877 to about 1885 (Whitten 2005b; this reference is available on this website by clicking HERE). 

The almost identical, ringed neck, vertically ribbed/fluted sauce bottle to the left is embossed on the shoulder with WELLS, MILLER  & PROVOST which was a successful New York City food packing firm established in 1837 by John Wells.  (Photo courtesy of Glass Works Auctions.)  Ebenezer Miller and Stephen Provost joined with Miller by 1844  and operated under their three names until the mid-1880s (Zumwalt 1980).  This particular bottle has a crudely applied one-part extract type finish (more or less), blowpipe pontil scarred base, and was hinge mold blown with certainly no evidence of mold air venting (the author has never observed a pontil scarred, mold air vented bottle).  These attributes are consistent with a manufacture during the 1850s or early 1860s.  One of these bottles with an original label noted that it contained "tomato catsup" and similar bottles from this company have been recorded in cobalt blue and deep green, though the vast majority are aqua (Zumwalt 1980; empirical observations).  Pickle bottles from this company were also excavated from both the steamships Arabia and Bertrand which sank in the Missouri River in 1856 and 1865, respectively (Switzer 1974; Hawley 1998).  This gives some indication of how commonly used these bottles were during the mid-19th century.

Although the style was most popular during the era noted (1850s to 1880s) they were made by at least one glassmaker in the early 1900s as they are listed in the Robert J. Alther 1909 glassware catalog as a "fluted pepper sauce."  Click Alther 1909 catalog page 55 to view the page from the catalog that shows their version of the bottle which appear identical to the examples pictured above, including the vertically fluted body ribs and three tightly grouped horizontal rings on the neck (Alther 1909).  Although the author has not seen an example with diagnostic features indicating an early 20th century production, it would be expected that these bottles would have a tooled finish and evidence of production in a cup base mold with air venting.  (If users of this website have seen such a bottle, the author would be very interested in hearing about it.  Use the email link located on the FAQ's page.)

Horizontally ribbed:  Distinct horizontal ribbing was also a very common conformation for a wide variety of sauce bottles from at least as early as the 1870s until well into the 20th century.  Many types of sauce bottles fit into this category with only a few covered here; users should be aware that this category has a wide range of types and variations.  The binding feature here is that these bottles have distinct horizontal body ribbing, usually held no more than 12 to 16 oz. (often much less), and typically have double ring finishes - at least through the mouth-blown era and into the 1920s with machine-made items (empirical observations).

The so-called "beehive" sauce bottles pictured to the left and right were used by the E. R. Durkee & Co. (New York) and are embossed on the base as such.  (Photo to the right courtesy of Glass Works Auctions.)  Click Durkee sauce base to see an image of the base.  The pictured bottles range from 7" to 7.5" tall and may have tooled or applied double ring finishes and evidence (or not) of mold air venting depending on the time of manufacture.  These are not narrow bodied like the other sauces pictured here though there are other obvious similarities.  (As emphasized throughout this website, this is yet another example of the fact that in all things connected with bottle identification, there are virtually always exceptions.)  A few other companies utilized bottles of this style from at least the 1880s to well into the 1910s and possibly later, although the vast majority of the beehive sauce bottles encountered are from Durkee (Zumwalt 1980; empirical observations).

The horizontally ribbed sauce pictured to the left is an early machine-made item that also had virtually identical mouth-blown counterparts.  These were called "ring pepper sauce" or "oval ring pepper sauce" bottles by the likely dozens of different early 20th century glass makers that produced the style.  This particular example has a the "I in a diamond" maker's mark for the Illinois Glass Company (Alton, IL.) and likely dates from the mid-1910s as this style was shown in their 1911 catalog but not in the 1920 or 1925 editions.  This oval (in cross-section) style was popular from the late 1890s through at least the late 1920s and early 1930s (Illinois Glass 1899, 1911, 1920, 1925; Cumberland Glass 1911; Fairmount Glass ca. 1930).  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle: base view vaguely showing the maker's mark for the Illinois Glass Co.; side view; close-up of the shoulder, neck, and finish.  Very similar looking ringed peppersauce bottles were also made during the same era (1890s through 1920s) that were round ("round ring pepper sauce") and square ("square ring pepper sauce") in cross-section instead of oval (Illinois Glass 1906; Cumberland Glass 1911; Obear-Nester Glass 1922).

Spiral: This style falls halfway between the two styles noted above in that the ribs spiral down (or up depending on perspective) the bottle with the overall "look" visually more similar to the horizontally ribbed styles than the vertically ribbed. This style is typified by the three differently colored sauce bottles pictured to the right.

The pictured bottles to the right (7.5" to 8" tall) are commonly encountered on late 19th to early 20th century historic sites and are embossed with S & P. PAT. APP. FOR on the base.  The S. & P. is for Stickney & Poor, a very successful Boston producer of "Mustards, Spices, Extracts, &c." during most of the 19th century and apparently into the 20th (Zumwalt 1980).  These bottles have tooled double ring finishes (with the upper portion distinctly larger than the lower portion) and were blown in a cup-base mold which likely had air venting (although evidence of air venting is lost in the heavily decorated body styling) - all attributes indicating manufacture between the 1880s and early 1910s.  These bottles were neck labeled since labels could not adhere well to the lumpy body; click Stickney & Poor label to see an image of part of the neck label noting the company name.  All three of the pictured bottles were produced in the same mold and show the slight differences in neck length (bottles are about 1/2" different in height) common with mouth-blown bottles depending on where the bottle was cracked-off from the blowpipe.

Other images of ribbed style sauce bottles are available by clicking on the following links.  This helps show a bit of the diversity of shape found in these style bottles:

• PEPPERSAUCE - This is an early 20th century, mouth-blown pepper sauce bottle that is embossed with 3 FLUID OZS / PEPPERSAUCE on one semi-flattened side.  This is a variation of the oval (in cross-section), horizontally ringed peppersauce style that was very popular from the early 1900s to 1930s, though this example only has two rings at the shoulder and two above the heel.  It has a tooled double ring finish, was blown in a cup base mold, and has multiple mold air venting marks including on the base which is a strong sign of production after 1900 into at least the early 1920s.  It was made of colorless glass which has a slight amethyst tint indicating de-colorization with manganese dioxide which was most commonly used between the 1880s and late 1910s (Giarde 1989).  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle: base view; close-up of the shoulder, neck and finish showing the upper body rings and the location where the side mold seam disappears.
• More in the future...
   

Dating summary/notes: Given the wide span of production, the dating of this large class of sauce bottles can not be done based on shape alone.  Instead, it must be done based on manufacturing related diagnostic features and/or through research of the historical record when possible.  The latter is usually not possible unless the example has the original labels or is embossed, a rare occurrence.  Generally speaking, the dating of these type bottles based on manufacturing related diagnostic features follows quite well the guidelines presented throughout this website and summarized on the Bottle Dating page; see that page for more information.

Tomato ketchup/catsup (both spellings are correct and used interchangeably here) was contained in a moderately varied array of different shaped bottles, though there are some styles that are strongly identified with the product.  For example, the bottle to the left is a classic and distinctly shaped style used for ketchup for a very long period of time.  Generally speaking, ketchup bottles are relatively tall and narrow (a typical height of at least 3 times the body or base diameter) and have a moderately narrow mouth or bore for the size of the bottle.  The most common styles (like most of the examples pictured here) also have a long gradually tapering shoulder to neck portion that is distinctly taller than the body section below it.  Earlier examples (ca. 1890 and before), like most other type bottles, had cork accepting finishes of one type or another.  However, from the 1890s and later, externally threaded finishes with metal screw caps became increasing the most common closure/finish combination for ketchup.  Most styles also had some type of molded body and/or shoulder features like vertical body ribs (image to the left; common on 1890s to 1920s bottles) or vertical body side panels (typically 8 sides or more) as shown by the bottles pictured here.  Flat panels on the body are very typical of bottles from about 1910 to at least the mid-20th century (and even today on glass ketchup bottles still being used; most ketchup now comes in plastic).

Ketchup bottles were a standard offering from most bottle producing glass companies as evidenced by most late 19th to mid-20th century bottle makers catalogs.  Sizes varied from a few ounces up to at least a quart (Whitall Tatum & Co. 1880; Illinois Glass Company 1903, 1920; Obear-Nester Glass 1922; Owens-Illinois Glass Co. 1952).  The illustration to the right is from the Obear-Nester Glass Co. (St. Louis, MO.) 1922 bottle catalog and was offered in only the 14 ounce size - a typical size for ketchup bottles.  This one notes its availability with an interesting "combination finish" which would accept a screw cap, a crown cap, and/or likely a "Goldy" cap.  Click Goldy closure to view a description of this type closure and finish on the Bottle Closures page.

The mouth-blown ketchup bottle pictured to the above left is a very typical general shape for packaging this product during the late 19th through much of the 20th century; it is not that much different than the shape used today for glass bottled ketchup (somewhat of a rarity in the U. S. since most is now packaged in plastic bottles).  This example is embossed on the shoulder - inside a circular "medallion" - with PREFERRED STOCK CATSUP / A & L (monogram) / EXTRA QUALITY.  The A & L  stands for Allen & Lewis, a large regional "Wholesale Dealer in Staple and Fancy Groceries" located in Portland, Oregon.  "Preferred Stock" was a proprietary brand name used by the company for many of their products.  (See the labeled olive oil bottle later on this page.)  Allen & Lewis began business in the early days of Portland in 1861 and continued until at least 1917 and probably much later (Zumwalt 1980).  The pictured bottle dates from the 1900 to 1915 era based on the "improved" tooled external screw thread finish (called a "screw top tool finish" by glassmakers), multiple mold air venting marks on the shoulder and possibly in the embossing pattern, a faint amethyst tint to the glass, and cup base mold production - all of which point towards the first two decades of the 20th century (Fairmount Glass Works 1910).  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle:  reverse view showing the ribbing; close-up of the shoulder, neck and finish;  close-up of the shoulder showing (faintly) the embossing; close-up of the finish showing the "improved tooled finish" with the mold seam ending point indicated.

The likely ketchup bottle pictured to the left is representative of the fancier earlier sauce bottle styles and an example that most likely dates from about 1875-1885.  It has a relatively crudely applied double ring finish, lacks evidence of mold air venting, and exhibits some other minor manufacturing crudeness though was blown in a cup base mold which was a bit unusual for this early of a bottle and given its moderate size.  This style could well have held other types of sauce (i.e., pepper sauce) though bulbous bodied, ornate styles similar to this were frequently noted in bottle makers catalogs as intended for ketchup; they were even called "decanter catsups" by some (Whitall Tatum & Co. 1879, 1909; Hagerty Bros. 1898; Illinois Glass Co. 1903, 1911; Alther 1909).  Click on the following links to view more images of this sauce bottle:  base view; close-up of the shoulder, neck, and finish.  A very similar "decanter catsup" was offered by Robert J. Alther (San Francisco, CA.) in their 1909 catalog; click Alther 1909 catalog page 55 to view this item.

In general, like with some other bottles styles (e.g., liquor cylinders) the earlier bottles (mid-19th century) used for catsup tended to be wider in the body than later (post-1880s) ketchup bottles, although there were (of course) exceptions.  The steamboat Bertrand cargo from 1865 had three clearly identified different types of catsup bottles which were tall (>11") and slender with vertical flat body facets (Switzer 1974).  These bottles look to be the precursor style to the early 20th century examples discussed here.  The point here is that there was a lot of variety in shapes used for ketchup, particularly during the period from the 1840s to the 1890s.  By the latter time styles began to become a bit more uniform though there was still some variety; see pages 200-205 of the 1906 Illinois Glass Company catalog found on this website at this link: 1906 Illinois Glass Company Bottle Catalog.

The machine-made, 8-sided ketchup bottle pictured to the right was produced by the Illinois-Pacific Glass Corporation (San Francisco, CA.) between 1926 and 1930 for the Heinz® company for containing ketchup and other sauces including pepper sauces (Zumwalt 1980; Lockhart et al. 2005d).  The base is embossed with H. J. HEINZ CO. / 255 / IPG (in a triangle) / PATD.  Click the base view to see the base of this bottle showing the embossing and makers mark.  The PATD. refers to Heinz's December 5, 1892 patent for this bottle style; the 255 is Heinz's assigned number for the style.  The company assigned an internal number to all their scores of patented bottle styles beginning about 1873 (Zumwalt 1980).  This particular bottle was found with a crown cap on it (note rust staining) as the bead on the rim of this "combination" finish is exactly the right size for a typical sized crown cap.  It is not thought original but related to a re-use of the bottle as it had several holes punched in it and was likely re-used as a salt shaker or sprinkle bottle.  This general style of 8-sided catsup bottle was called the "octagon catsup" or "paneled catsup" by bottle makers (Illinois Glass Co. ca. 1925; Fairmount Glass Works ca. 1930).

Other images of ketchup bottles are available by clicking on the following links.  This helps show a bit of the diversity of shape found in these bottles:

• 1920s-1930s era catsup bottle - This is 16 narrow paneled body, machine-made, 1920s to 1930s era catsup bottle made by the Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. (Wheeling, WV.) that most likely was sealed with a Goldy cap though it will also accept a standard crown cap.  Lief (1965) noted that the Goldy closure was most popular on catsup bottles and, though invented in 1897, appeared to have the most popular during the 1910 to 1950 era, though similar versions are still in some use today (Lief 1965; empirical observations).  This style with the many body panels was called the "fluted catsup" by some glassmakers as shown in the illustration earlier in this section (Obear-Nester Glass Co. 1922; Illinois Glass Co. 1924).
• PLUMMER'S / TOMATO CATSUP - This is one interesting example of the scores of unusually shaped catsup bottles that were manufactured during the last half of the 19th century (Zumwalt 1980).  This particular example likely dates from the 1870 to 1880 period and is 8 1/4" tall, about 2 3/8" in diameter, has an applied double ring finish (the classic mid to late 19th century sauce bottle finish), and believed to have no evidence of mold air venting judging from the flatness of the embossing (image links below).  Even though an unusual conformation it still has an overall shape that "fits" the sauce bottle category, i.e., tall and relatively narrow, double ring finish, relatively narrow bore, moderate (8-16 oz.) capacity, and an attractiveness that catches the customers eye - a common theme with sauce bottles as illustrated on this page.  Of course bottles within the other types also fit this general description, though if one had an unembossed bottle that was otherwise identical in form to the Plummer's, a reasonable conclusion would be that it was likely used as a sauce bottle.  Click on the following links for more images: base view; close-up of the embossing; close-up of the finish.  (Images from eBay®.)
• CURTICE BROTHERS CO. / PRESERVERS / ROCHESTER, N.Y. - That is embossed inside a circle on the shoulder of a standard early 20th century ketchup bottle that contained their "Blue Label Ketchup."  This example is mouth-blown (similar ones were made by machine also), almost certainly has air venting, blown in a cup base mold, and has an improved tooled external threaded finish.  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle:  base view showing the initials B. B. G. Co. which likely stands for the Berney-Bond Glass Company (PA.) though that is not certain (Toulouse 1971; Lockhart pers. comm. 2007); close-up of the embossing; close-up of the neck and finish showing the distinctly molded external screw threads; image of another dark amethyst example.  Curtice Brothers was a large ketchup and preserves producing firm that began just after the Civil War and continued until at least the late 1960s.  They used the pictured style of bottle from at least the early 1890s into the early to mid-1920s (Rinker 1968; Zumwalt 1980).  The almost identical Allen & Lewis bottle at the top of this section was most likely a regional imitative "knock-off" of the Curtice Brothers nationally popular brand.
• ...more to come in the future...
   

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Dating summary/notes: Given the wide span of production, the dating of this large class of ketchup/sauce bottles can not be done based on shape alone.  Instead, it must be done based on manufacturing based diagnostic features and/or through research of the historical record when possible when the bottle has either the original labels or is product and/or company embossed.  Generally speaking, the dating of these type bottles based on manufacturing related diagnostic features follows quite well the guidelines presented throughout this website and summarized on the Bottle Dating page; see that page for more information.  However, there are a few observations related to the closure and finish that can assist a bit with dating (based on bottle makers catalogs and empirical observations):

• Prior to about 1890 most ketchup containing bottles (like most bottles) were sealed with a cork.  Bottles during the pre-1890 era are, of course, all mouth-blown with double ring or various one-part finishes ubiquitous.
• During the 1890s the transition over to external screw-thread finishes and screw caps began and accelerated so that by about 1910 most ketchup bottles had this finish or some other finish that did not require only a cork closure.  Probably the most commonly encountered bottle on historic sites with a mouth-blown and tooled (often of the "improved tooled" type) external screw-thread finishes are ketchup/sauce bottles.
• The switchover from mouth-blown to machine-made ketchup bottles - like most narrow mouth/bore bottles - occurred primarily during the mid to late 1910s.  During the first half of the 1910s most ketchup bottles are mouth-blown; by the last half of the 1910s they are largely machine-made, though mouth-blown examples occurred to a small degree into the early to mid 1920s.
• By the mid-1920s, virtually all ketchup bottles were machine-made and had either external screw thread finishes or some other re-sealable closure, like the Goldy.  Most have sided bodies like the Heinz patented bottle discussed above.

The club style sauce bottle is a distinctive shape that is closely identified with sauces intended for meats, and in particular, various brands of Worcestershire sauce.  The origin of this style was apparently the bottle designed by or for the Lea & Perrins® (L&P) company (illustration below & picture to the left) and which was first reportedly used in the 1840s (Rinker 1968; Rock 2001).  Due to the incredible success of L&P, the sauce was copied by scores of other companies and put up in bottles of the same shape as L&P - often with the same embossing pattern (just different lettering for the producer).  L&P pursued trademark infringements extensively and successfully during the early 20th century (Zumwalt 1980).  Based on bottles observed by this author on scores of 19th and early 20th century historical sites, it appears that L&P still outsold all of the other competitors combined by a wide margin (empirical observations).  Note: Since L&P was by far the biggest producer of "club sauce" it is the bottle primarily covered here; the competitors bottles would follow the same general dating guidelines though not the company specific ones, of course.

The club sauce bottle style followed the same design exceptionally close across a wide time span, from brand to brand, and in the different though relatively limited sizes that were produced.  These bottles are always cylindrical, relatively tall and narrow in cross-section (between 3 to 4 times taller than wide), have parallel vertical body sides and virtually parallel neck sides (usually with a very slight taper towards the base of the finish), the neck/finish combination is about the same height as the body from the heel to the base of the steep shoulder, and are almost always topped with the distinctive three-part club sauce finish, though on occasion it is found with a two-part mineral type finish (Lunn 1981).  Earlier club sauce bottles will tend to have some variety to the finish, though bottles from the 1870s on almost always have the "classic" three-part club sauce finish (Switzer 1974; Zumwalt 1980).   The earliest L&P bottles were cork sealed, although a large majority of the L&P and competitors bottles were closured with a combination glass stopper & shell cork with a club sauce finish having a cork resting ledge on the inside of the bore.  That closure/finish combination was used by L&P until 1958 when a plastic pour spout and external screw thread finish was adopted and is still in use today (Anonymous 1958; Rinker 1968; Zumwalt 1980; Rock 2001).  Click Glass & Cork closure to view the section of the Bottle Closures page that covers this type closure.  Click on the IGCo 1906 pages 204-205 to view the Illinois Glass Company (Alton, IL.) offering of a "Worcestershire or Club Sauce" bottle in 3 sizes with "Shell Corks and Glass Stoppers to fit" (lower right corner).  The Illinois Glass Company illustration clearly shows that their version came with the distinctive three-part club sauce finish.

The bottle pictured above is an early machine-made (1910-1920) Lea & Perrins bottle embossed with LEA & PERRINS (vertically on the body) and WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE (horizontally on the shoulder), which was the typical embossing for these bottles for about 70 years, i.e. 1850s to about 1920.  This particular example also has J D / S / 26 embossed on the base which is for  John Duncan & Sons (New York, NY) - aka John Duncans' Sons - who were the American licensees for importing the sauce from about 1877 until 1930.  (In 1930 L&P was bought by the company that made the competing HP Sauce according the L&P website [link below].)  The L&P sauce was reportedly imported into the U. S. from about 1877 to 1900 in casks and then bottled by Duncan.  Sometime around 1900 to 1902 the secret formula was given to Duncan and a plant for producing the sauce from imported materials was built in the U. S. (Rinker 1968; Lunn 1981; L&P website 2007).  The embossed bottles were apparently discontinued in 1920-1921 and unembossed, label only bottles of the same distinctive shape used after that.  Aqua glass was also reportedly discontinued in 1944, though may have largely disappeared by the early 1930s in favor of colorless glass (Rinker 1968; Toulouse 1971; Zumwalt 1980; Lunn 1981; Rock 2001).  (Note: The L&P bottles today have embossing once again, though only on the shoulder.)  Click on the following links for more images of the pictured bottle: base view showing the J D / S / 26 embossing and the shell encased stopper to the left (note: the "26" is most likely a mold number with no known significance at this point in time); close-up of the front shoulder, neck and finish; close-up of the back shoulder, neck and finish.  This bottle exhibits evidence of early machine manufacture in that it has relatively crude wavy glass, multiple small bubbles, and uneven base glass distribution.

The illustration to the right is of a bottle with the same body embossing pattern as the example above but is 60+ years older.  (Illustration courtesy of California State Parks.)  The illustrated example is of one of the earliest molds for L&P that came from the context of a mid-19th century historic site in "Old Town" San Diego, i.e., 1855-1865 (Peter Schulz pers. comm. 2007).   Other similar examples are known to date to the early 1850s (Lunn 1981).  These earlier examples typically have a crudely applied "club sauce" finish, were (probably) blown in a post-base mold, and lack evidence of air venting.  The A C B Co embossed on the base is the makers mark for Aire and Calder Glass Bottle Company (Castleford, Yorkshire, England) who are conclusively known to have produced these bottles (Lunn 1981; Rock 2001), although some authors attributed these bottles to the Albion Bottle Company of Worchester, England (Rinker 1968).  Although neither of these glass company names perfectly fits the initials on the base, other bottle types have been noted that are embossed with AIRE & CALDER BOTTLE CO. - a perfect fit to the initials.  In any event, the A C B Co bottles are the earliest versions typically found in the U. S.  Click ACBCo to view an image of this base embossing on an example salvaged from the SS Republic© and thus known to date from 1865 when that ship sank.  Click Lea & Perrins to view this same 1865 bottle in its entirety.  (Photos by George Salmon Photography, courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration)

One example (of dozens possible) of a competitor to L&P was the product contained in the bottle to the left which is identical in form to the L&P bottles.  It is embossed horizontally on the shoulder with HALFORD - HALFORD, on the front vertically with LEICESTERSHIRE and on the back vertically with SAUCE.  (Images off of eBay©.)   These bottles contained Halford's Table Sauce which was advertised in 1880 as follows:  “The Most Perfect Relish of the Day.  An absolute Remedy for Dyspepsia.  Invaluable to all Good Cooks.  A Nutritious Combination for Children.  Invaluable for Soups, Hashes, Cold Meats, and Entrées" (advertisement found on internet).  Even meat sauce claimed medicinal properties in the 19th century!  This bottle has a crudely applied club sauce style finish, was blown in a post base mold, and likely had no evidence of mold air venting - all features supporting a manufacturing date of about 1865 to 1885.  These bottles were likely manufactured in England during the noted period as American and English bottle making technology at that time was roughly on a par with each other (Zumwalt 1980; empirical observations).  Click on the following links for more images of this club sauce bottle:  base view; back and shoulder view; front and shoulder view.

Lea & Perrins® bottles are quite likely the most commonly found embossed bottle on mid-19th to early 20th century historic sites.  The author has observed them in the trash dumps ranging from the fanciest big city hotels to isolated sheep camps in the Great Basin.  They came in at least three sizes - half pint (probably the most common size), pint, and quart although the two larger sizes at least were likely "scant" sizes, i.e., did not quite hold the full quantity (Illinois Glass Co. 1903, 1906).  Later mouth-blown bottles are embossed on the base with J D S (and usually a mold number) like the machine-made bottle discussed above.  Some of these late mouth-blown bottles were reportedly made in England - possibly by Aire and Calder or Albion or possibly neither (Toulouse 1971).

An image of a different club sauce style bottle is available by clicking on the following link:

• LORD WARD'S / WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE - This 8" bottle is embossed vertically (LORD WARD'S) on the body and horizontally (WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE) around the shoulder imitating precisely the embossing pattern of the much more popular Lea & Perrins bottles of the era.  These bottles have the diagnostic features typical of its known age of 1865, i.e., very crudely formed club sauce applied finish, lack of both mold air venting and pontil scar, and an overall crudity bespeaking its Civil War era manufacture.  Little is known about the company though this bottle is known to date from 1865 as it was recovered from the Steamship Republic© which sank off the coast of Georgia during late October of that year (Gerth 2006).  (Photo by George Salmon Photography, courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration.)
   

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Dating summary/notes: Given the wide span of production for this style, i.e. from as early as the 1840s to as late as the mid-20th century (and even in a similar form today), the dating of club sauce bottles can not be done based on shape alone.  Instead, it must be done based on manufacturing based diagnostic features (like found throughout this website) and/or through research of the historical record when possible with company/product embossed bottles or those with the original labels intact.

However, Lea & Perrins® bottles do have some fairly precise dating parameters as follows.  Please note that these dating parameters pertain to bottles found in the U. S., not Canada or other countries (Lunn 1981):

• Some of the earliest bottles - early 1850s to possibly the early 1860s - will often (but not always) have pontil scars and no base inscription (Zumwalt 1980; Lunn 1981).
• L&P bottles with the A C B Co on the base date from the late 1850s or early 1860s to about 1877.  (Note: This base embossing can be found on bottles imported into Canada up until the early 1920s [Lunn 1981].)
• Mouth-blown examples with J D S  on the base date from no earlier than about 1878 and as late as the early to mid 1910s.
• Machine-made examples with J D S on the base date from the mid 1910s to 1920 or 1921, at which point John Duncan's Sons began using plain, unembossed bottles of the same shape.
• Some mouth-blown bottles may have been produced as late as the 1920s or 1930s, though this has not been confirmed and is considered unlikely (Lunn 1981; Rock 2001; empirical observations).
• "Green" glass (aqua) was discontinued in 1944 and likely changed to colorless glass at that time for the non-embossed L&P bottles of that era.
• Machine-made bottles with the club sauce finish and glass/cork stopper date prior to 1958; those with external screw threads date after that time (Anonymous 1958). 

L&P still comes in the same shaped glass bottles today but with an external screw thread finish, dark amber in color (not aqua or colorless), and with LEA & PERRINS shoulder embossing.  The following link is to the official website for Lea & Perrins®:   http://www.leaperrins.com/about/heritage.php 

Mustard (dry and prepared) was most commonly packaged in stylized "barrel" shaped bottles from the mid-19th century until well into the 20th.  As with all the sauces/condiments covered here, mustard was almost a culinary requirement during the 19th century (and before as its use dates back to ancient times) to spice up otherwise bland dishes and to cover up the off flavors of foods in the age before refrigeration and other effective food preservation techniques.  Mustard was also thought to be a cure for ailments ranging from congestion to hysteria, snakebite to bubonic plague (Gerth 2006).   Although bottled in a variety of wide mouth, typically squatty bottles, mustard was commonly bottled in barrel shapes for much of the time period covered by this website.

Barrel mustard bottles - based on glassmaker catalogs and the authors empirical observations - are dominated by those with 3 molded rings (aka staves, bands) above and below the central label area, like the examples pictured here.  Other conformations ranging from 2 to at least 6 rings have also been noted as well as some with vertical staves.  Most examples have rings that are separated by a distinct space, like the example above left.  Mustard was also packaged in other shapes of ceramic and glass bottles (examples discussed below) though the barrel shape is the most closely associated with the product (Switzer 1974; Zumwalt 1980).  See pages 208-211 of the 1906 Illinois Glass Company catalog which offered the standard barrel as well as about a dozen other shapes, including one that was beer mug shaped!  The image to the right above is from the 1906 Illinois Glass Company catalog (page 208) and shows their barrel mustard offering (left barrel bottle available in 6 sizes) and what is likely the second most common general shape of that era for containing mustard - the "pot mustard" (right bottle).

Barrel mustards are typified by the fairly uniform shapes shown here.  Besides the molded rings and cylindrical shape, these bottles have relatively wide bores (1" or more) for easy product access, usually a distinct pedestal heel/base, a narrow banded one part finish, and a body that distinctly bulges outwards in the middle with both the finish and base being narrower in diameter.  Glass makers catalogs, including the Illinois Glass Company, referred to these bottles as "barrel mustards" and offered them sizes ranging from 3 oz. to a quart though the most commonly encountered size seems to be around 6-8 ounces (Illinois Glass Co. 1903,1906,1911; empirical observations).  By 1920, the barrel mustards were being offered with screw thread finishes (for the "American Metal Cap") by the Illinois Glass Company and cork finish examples were apparently no longer available (Illinois Glass Co. 1920).   Barrel mustards (and other wide mouth food bottles & jars in general) were some of the earliest types that transitioned from the cork to some other finish as corks are an increasingly unreliable sealing closure as the bottle bore becomes larger.  This appears to be so because the surface area against the cork increases allowing more opportunity for the cork to not fit well (Lief 1965).  Interestingly enough, the 1920 Illinois Glass Company catalog noted that their barrel mustard style could "...only be sold on and west of the Mississippi River."  Why?  Some type of agreement with competitors?

The barrel mustard pictured above is an 8 oz. size (measured to the top ring) and the general type most commonly encountered.  It has a tooled one-part finish (more or less a "wide patent" or "bead" type), made from colorless glass with a slight amethyst tint, blown in a cup base mold although with no obvious evidence of mold air venting making the likely production date between 1880 and 1900.  Click on the following links to view more images of this typical size and design bottle:  base view; close-up of the upper body, neck, and finish with some of the tooling striations in evidence and the ending point of the side mold seam (where it was "wiped out") fairly obvious.  This mold seam ending point marks the furthest point on the "neck" that the outside pads of the lipping tool could reach.

The  barrel mustard bottle to the right is a relatively early example embossed horizontally on one side between the two sets of rings with MOUTARDE DIAPHANE / LOUIT FRERES & CO. (Zumwalt 1980).  "Diaphanous" (implying a very fine product) mustard and similar other imported versions were apparently the "Grey Poupon" of the of the mid-19th century.  These bottles were usually made of colorless or aqua glass; very rarely in other colors.  (This bottle also has a faint "straw" cast to the glass indicating the possible early use of selenium and/or arsenic to decolorize the glass.)  Click on base view to view an image of the base of this bottle which exhibits a faint blowpipe type pontil scar (pointed out in image) though the scar has a diffuseness to it that is reminiscent of a sand pontil.  The bottle body has no evidence of air venting and was blown in a post base mold although the side mold seam just barely curls around the heel to join with an apparently post plate seam.  Very similar shaped mustard bottles of French origin with pontil scars were found on the Steamship Bertrand which sank in the Missouri River in April 1865.  These mustard bottles were among the very few bottle types salvaged from that ship that exhibited pontil scars.  The Bertrand mustards were a bit unusual in that they had 4 closely stacked rings instead of three spaced ones, though the rings were in the usual positions above and below the open label area (Switzer 1974).

The Civil War (1860s) era mustard barrel to the left is embossed with WESTERN / SPICE MILLS and is a very crudely made, early mustard bottle although it is not pontil scarred.  (Image from eBay®.)  It is 4¾" tall, colorless (faintly gray), and almost certainly has no evidence of mold air venting.  It also has a very crudely cracked-off (or burst-off) finish with just a bit of grinding done to the finish rim to keep from being dangerously sharp.  Western Spice Mills was a St. Louis, MO. firm which, being at the gateway to the rapidly opening West, did a lot of business on the upper Missouri River as well as downstream along the Mississippi River.  Gothic style pepper sauce bottles with this company name embossed were found on the Steamship Bertrand (1865) and on the Steamboat Arabia which sank in the Missouri River in 1856.  Although early information on the company is sparse it obviously dated as far back as 1856 and is known to have continued in business until at least 1877 (Switzer 1974; Zumwalt 1980; Hawley 1998).

The aqua barrel bottle to the right is approximately 4" tall, has a rolled (outward) finish  It could be of either American or European origin and likely dates from the 1860 to 1880 era.  Aqua was certainly the second most common color for this style, though still lags behind colorless glass which was for some reason the standard "color" of choice for mustard bottling.  This was true even prior to the 1880s when colorless bottles were relatively uncommon as they were more expensive to produce than aqua glass (empirical observations).

Other images of barrel and non-barrel mustard bottles are available by clicking on the following links.  This helps show a bit of the diversity of shape found in these bottles:

• Pair of barrel mustards - These two barrel mustards date from 1865 as they were recovered from the Steamship Republic© which sank off the coast of Georgia during late October of that year.  Both are 5" tall, have typical rolled/tooled one-part finishes, lack mold air venting, and have smooth (non-pontiled) bases.  The bottle on the right in the linked picture has staining most likely from contact with the metal parts of the sunken ship (Gerth 2006).  (Photo by George Salmon Photography, courtesy of Odyssey Marine Exploration.)
• WILLIAMS' - This was most likely a West Coast mustard brand and is embossed WILLIAMS' in a "banner" on one lower side.  It is machine-made by a blow-and-blow machine (no valve mark), about 4.3" (11 cm) tall, has a wide (1.5") bore, lug type external thread finish, and a slight amethyst tint.   It has an "S" in a five-pointed star embossed on the base which was the makers mark for the Southern Glass Company (Los Angeles, CA.) in business from 1918 to 1930, though they used that mark from 1925 to 1930 (Toulouse 1971; Lockhart et al. unpublished manuscript 2007).  This bottle shows that the use of manganese dioxide to decolorize glass - the reason for the pink tint - continued until at least the late 1920s at some glass companies.  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle:  base view showing the interesting makers mark; close-up of the shoulder and finish (no real neck) showing the lug type external screw threads.
• CHAs. GULDEN / NEW YORK - This is embossed on one side of a bulbous bodied mustard bottle from this famous condiments firm.  This bottle was certainly used for mustard; the Gulden brand is still being made today though now packaged (unfortunately) in plastic.  It has a wide bore to facilitate extraction of the product, a tooled one-part finish (like most mustards), blown in a cup base mold, and likely has air venting though that is not certain (image off eBay®).  From these features it is reasonable to conclude that the bottle dates somewhere between the late 1880s to early 1910s.  Similar "mustard" bottles were made by and listed in the 1894 Agnew Co. catalog (Agnew 1894).  This specific design for Gulden was first patented by the company in 1875 and variations were used until the late 20th century (Zumwalt 1980).  Click 1922 Good Housekeeping advertisement to see an ad for Gulden's mustard.  Click screw thread finish Gulden's to see a bottle like that in the 1922 advertisement (apologies for the poor quality image from eBay®).
• It should be noted here that the "spice" bottle style covered later on this page (image to the right) was also commonly used for mustard during the last half of the 19th century (Zumwalt 1980).
• ...more to be added in the future.

Dating summary/notes:  Many different shapes were used for the packaging of mustard, though the stylized barrel shape is the most closely associated with mustard for much of the time period covered by this website.  Unfortunately (for dating utility based on shape) the barrel mustard style was made a very long time, i.e., at least from the 1850s into the 1920s when vertically paneled or fluted shapes rose in popularity (Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. 1916; Illinois Glass Co. ca. 1920; Fairmount Glass Works late ca. 1930; Owens-Illinois Glass Co. 1940s; Zumwalt 1980).  Given the wide span of production, the dating of these bottles must be done based on manufacturing based diagnostic features and/or through research of the historical record when possible (which usually is not unless the example has the original labels or is brand/producer embossed).  Generally speaking, the dating of these type bottles based on manufacturing related diagnostic features follows quite well the guidelines presented throughout this website and summarized on the Bottle Dating page; see that page for more information. 

A few type specific general dating observations are possible with barrel mustards:

• Earlier barrel mustards (early 1880s and prior) tended to be somewhat squattier (proportionally wider) with a wider bore or mouth, though these features are relative and only moderately reliable in calling a bottle "earlier" or "later."  For example, a comparison of the first pictured bottle (latest produced example pictured) to the second and fourth bottles shows this subtle but observable difference.  The third bottle pictured (Western Spice Mills) is narrower in the body but has a level of crudeness that strongly hints at an earlier production date.  As with just about everything in bottle dating and typing, there are exceptions to most trends, though that does not necessarily negate the utility of these trends when considered in hand with other information and diagnostic features.
• Glass tipped or blowpipe pontil scars can be found on some French-made mustard barrels (like the LOUIT FRERES bottle above which is commonly found in the U. S.) later than would be observed on other types of bottles; possibly as late as the mid-1870s which is a decade+ later than typically seen on American-made utilitarian type bottles (Switzer 1974; empirical observations).
• Many "later" barrel mustard bottles -  i.e., early 1900s (mouth-blown) until sometime during the Great Depression (machine-made) - tended to have very widely spaced rings and distinctly less taper to the entire bottle.  Click on 1906 Illinois Glass Company catalog - page 208 to view an example of this barrel type.  The specific example - the "St. Lou