Glassmaking & Glassmakers

Bottle & Glass Makers Markings
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The subject of bottle makers marks is a complex one - as is virtually everything to do with bottle dating and identification.  However, the subject is important to the dating of bottles, how the bottle was made to some extent, and for the determination of origin (website "goals" #1, #3, and #4 noted on the Homepage).  Some glass containers make quite obvious which glass company made the item.  For example, the quart canning jar pictured to the right is boldly embossed on one side with PACIFIC / SAN FRANCISCO / GLASS WORK (sic) making it easily clear that the jar was manufactured by the Pacific Glass Works of San Francisco, CA. - the first glass company west of the Rockies - which operated under that name from 1862 to 1876 (Toulouse 1971).

Other makers marks are not as obvious as this jar.  The image above is of the base of a Wisconsin beer bottle embossed with C. C. G. C. / No 1. on the base; it is also embossed E. L. HUSTING / MILWAUKEE/ WIS. in a circular body plate (the reverse side is also embossed THIS BOTTLE / NOT TO / BE SOLD).  This bottle was certainly made by the Cream City Glass Company (Milwaukee, WI.) which operated from 1888 to 1894 (Toulouse 1971; Lockhart pers. comm. 2007).  Eugene L. Husting was in business under his name from 1877 to 1900 which more than spans the time that Cream City Glass was in business, producing a certain (as certain as the historical record is accurate) date range for the production of this bottle to between 1888 and 1894 (Van Wieren 1995).  This is typical of the type of makers marks found on the bases of mouth-blown beer bottles produced from the 1870s through the 1910s until National Prohibition and is an example of how useful makers marks can be for the accurate dating of historic bottles.  (Photo courtesy of Bill Lockhart.)

The following is quoted from the introduction to the book Bottle Makers and Their Marks by Dr. Julian Toulouse and is one of the better quick summaries on the subject of maker's marks pertinent to the goals of this website. (Note: Dr. Toulouse wrote his book from the perspective of assisting collector's as well as archaeologist's as implied in the following quote.):

Trademarks, whether registered or not, brand names, and other marks and symbols of identification found on bottles are datum points in determining the history and ages of the collectors' bottles.  When the owner of the mark is known, and when more exact dates can be assigned to its use, the mark becomes a means of dating the piece upon which is appears.  If the mark was used for many years, we may have to rely on other considerations in order to date the piece within the mark's span of years. (Website author's note: "considerations" would include manufacturing based diagnostic features (a primary goal of this website) and/or local research in to the user of the bottle, if that fact is known via embossing or labeling.)  If the period of use of the mark was short, the age of the bottle may be pinpointed to a short period of time.  In some instances, lucky for the collector but unlucky for the user of the mark, the period may be reduced to one or two years.  One factory making beer bottles in the 1880s, whose ownership, name, and mark changed five times in eleven years, has helped historical archaeologists date a number of sites in the western United States. (Toulouse 1971)

The picture to the left is the base of an 11 oz. beer bottle (entire bottle pictured to the right) which shows the some of the distinctive marks that the Owens-Illinois Glass Company - which had many plants around the country - used beginning in 1929 or 1930 to at least the mid-1950s.  More specifically, the marks on this particular bottle indicate it was made in 1951 ("1" to the right of the diamond O-I mark) at the Oakland, CA. plant ("20" to the left of the makers mark).  Why not 1931 or 1941?  See the machine-made bottle dating page Question #11 for more information on this bottle.  Also consult the article by Bill Lockhart - located at the following link - for more information on the marks of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, whose marks are probably the most commonly encountered U. S. makers marks of the 20th century (Lockhart 2004d).

The complicated world of bottle makers marks (description and interpretation) has fortunately been a subject that has been pursued by many researchers with the information available through an assortment of existing publications and websites.  Given this fact, maker' marks are not covered in depth on this website to the extent that other subjects are, i.e., those dealing with manufacturing based diagnostic features and the various types or classes of bottles.

The information below directs a user towards some of these sources of information or provides links to other works that will assist in the interpretation of most known makers marks.  Some marks - like the Owens-Illinois Glass Company mark shown above - have a lot of good information available to allow for definitive interpretation; a link to an excellent article on the subject is found below.  Other suspected maker's marks have not even been accurately assigned to a particular glassmaker and even if the maker is known, much company specific research has yet to be done.  In short, though a lot of information is available there is still a lot yet unknown; the author of this website is a member of a group that is currently pursuing that task.

Bottle Makers and Their Marks - by Julian Toulouse

THE classic published reference on the subject of maker's markings, as noted above, is the aptly named Bottle Makers and Their Marks by Dr. Julian Toulouse.  Published in 1971, this book is a wealth of information on bottle makers marks and the history of the companies that produced them.  To quote from David Whitten's website - "(Toulouse's)...book is the best reference work ever published on glass manufacturers' marks on bottles, but it does contain many errors which have been discovered over the 33 years since it was first published."

Much new information has been uncovered and old information refined since the publishing of the book.  Regardless of this, the book is still the best one-stop source for maker's mark information.  When used in hand with the Whitten's website and more recent information - like the articles linked below - a bottle information seeker has powerful tools in their quest to find bottle dating "truth."  This book is currently being reprinted by Blackburn Press; check the Historic Bottle Related Links page under Toulouse (1971) for a link to this website and the reprint.  It is not cheap but worth it.

Bottle/Insulator Makers Marks Website

The following link will take a user to David Whitten's exceptional webpages that cover most known glass makers marks (bottles and insulators):  http://myinsulators.com/glass-factories/bottlemarks.html 

David is a serious avocational student of bottle and insulator makers marks and his pages are a wealth of information on the subject.  This page is a highly recommended (and free!) "first stop" for those wishing to figure out what a given makers mark stands for on a bottle they may have and do not have Toulouse's book (though there is much more current dating information on Whitten's website).  The site also includes some great history behind the companies. 

Also see his main webpage - Glass Factories that Manufactured Insulators - at the following link:  http://www.myinsulators.com/glass-factories

Bottles and Extras Magazine - glass maker related articles

Bottles and Extras is the official publication of the The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC).  The articles published in Bottles and Extras cover the gamut of subject matter of interest to collectors including the concerns that actually produced the bottles - the glass manufacturing companies or "glass works."  Some of the articles pertinent to this subject are reproduced here with the much appreciated permission of the FOHBC (thanks Kathy!).  They are primarily in the Adobe® pdf format which users must have Adobe Reader® installed on their computer to view.  Most computers come with this software; it can also be downloaded free at the link further down the page.

    Knox Glass and the Marks that Toulouse Missed  - Bill Lockhart (Winter 2004)
    The AB Connected Mark - Bill Lockhart (Spring 2004)
    Owens-Illinois Glass Company - Bill Lockhart (Summer 2004)
    Liberty Glass Co., Lamb Glass Co., and Updates - Bill Lockhart  (Fall 2004)
    The Illinois Glass Company - Bill Lockhart, Bill Lindsey, David Whitten, Carol Serr (Winter 2005)
    The Ihmsen Glass Company - Bill Lockhart, David Whitten, Bill Lindsey, Jay Hawkins, Carol Serr (Spring 2005)
    Louisville Glass Factories of the 19th Century: Part 1 - David Whitten (Spring 2005)
    Louisville Glass Factories of the 19th Century: Part 2 - David Whitten (Summer 2005)
    Louisville Glass Factories of the 19th Century: Part 3 - David Whitten (Fall 2005)
    Cunningham Family Glass Holdings - Bill Lockhart, David Whitten, Bill Lindsey, Jay Hawkins, Carol Serr (Summer 2005)
    Illinois Pacific Glass Company - Bill Lockhart, Michael Miller, Bill Lindsey, Carol Serr, David Whitten (Fall 2005)
   The F. H. G. W. Mark - Bill Lockhart and David Whitten (Winter 2006)  (Also includes more Illinois Glass Co. information.)
   Whitall Tatum & Co. - Bill Lockhart, Carol Serr, David Whitten, Bill Lindsey, Pete Schulz (Summer 2006)  (Note: The image to the right is of the last of the Whitall Tatum & Co. makers markings used from the mid-1920s to 1938.)
   Tracking the Elusive Monogram: Carl Conrad & Co., Olean Glass Works (Co.), and a Man Named O'Hara - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, David Whitten, Bill Lindsey and Carol Serr (Fall 2006)
   The American Bottle Co., A Study in Contracts and Contradictions - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr, Bill Lindsey and David Whitten (January/February 2007)
   The Distinctive Marks of the Charles Boldt Glass Co. - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey (March/April 2007)
   Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey (July/August 2007)
   De Steiger Glass Co. - Bill Lockhart, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey (September/October 2007)
  The C. L. Flaccus Glass Co. - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey (November/December 2007)
  Herman Heye Glasfabrik - Bill Lockhart, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey (January/February 2008)
  William Frank & Sons, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1866-1875) - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr, Jay Hawkins, and Bill Lindsey (March/April 2008)
  The Knox Glass Bottle Co. - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr and Bill Lindsey (May-June 2008)
  The Kearns Glass Companies - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr and Bill Lindsey with contributions by David Whitten (July/August 2008)
  Berney-Bond Glass Company - Russ Hoenig, Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr, Les Jordan, Bill Lindsey and Phil Perry (September/October 2008)
  Marks Used by the Mississippi and Lindell Glass Companies - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, David Whitten, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey (January/February 2009)
  Southern Glass Co. - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, David Whitten, Carol Serr, and Bill Lindsey with Michael R. Miller and David Whitten (November/December 2009)
  Owens Bottle Company - Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, Carol Serr and Bill Lindsey (January-February 2010)
 

The following are some additional articles not specifically related to makers markings and/or from other publications (see References page for the source):

  A New Twist for Uncapping Old Information about Glass Artifacts    Bill Lockhart (webpage [2001d])
  The Other Side of the Story: A Look at the Back of 7-Up Bottles   Bill Lockhart (The Soda Fizz - Jan/Feb 2005)
  A Tale of Two Machines and A Revolution in Soft Drink Bottling - Bill Lockhart (Bottles & Extras, Spring 2006)
  The Origins and Life of the Export Beer Bottle - Bill Lockhart (Bottles & Extras, May/June 2007)
  Rabbit Trails: The Twisted Path to Bottle Identification - Bill Lindsey (Bottles & Extras, May/June 2009)
 

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1/11/10

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Bill Lindsey
Bureau of Land Management (retired) - Klamath Falls, Oregon
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