Bottle Typing

Bottle Typing (Typology)
& Diagnostic Shapes

 HOME: Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes

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INTRODUCTION

The shape of an historic bottle is usually indicative of what the bottle was most likely used for, i.e., what it contained.  What a bottle was used for is referred to on this website as a "bottle type" or "type of bottle", i.e., liquor, mineral water, druggist, food, etc.  The process of ascertaining what a bottle was used for is termed typology or simply "typing" and is the subject of this webpage and the many connected sub-pages.  Since it was the contents of a bottle that guided the consumer in making a selection, not the bottle itself, contents are the most important consideration in establishing categories for bottle classification (Herskovitz 1978).  The following is from Reher & Wedel (1990):

Glass containers are engineered along very specific design principles.  Container size, orifice diameter, neck length, and other attributes as well as the rations between such morphological characteristics are determined largely by such basic principles as frequency of access, amount of contents removed with each access, and the type of content (bulk solid, liquid, semi-liquid, etc.). 

Most bottle shapes were closely associated and identified with a certain product or products as "form follows function" to a large degree in bottle shapes and styles.  Soda/mineral water and beer are prime examples of products very closely identified with certain distinct bottle shapes that were rarely used for other products.  However, there were many exceptions and different "standard" bottle styles have varying degrees of fidelity to type with some shapes less connected to a specific product than soda and beer bottles.  For example during the 19th and early 20th centuries small (one pint or less), flat liquor flasks were also used to contain medicine (often including alcohol however), Jamaica ginger (also high alcohol), vanilla extract, and other liquid products, though 90%+ of these flasks were likely used for liquor (empirical observation/estimate).

Of course, there will always be a few wild exceptions that leave one scratching their head as to why that shape was used for that product.  For example, the early 1890's amber bottle pictured to the right is embossed Aromatic / Disinfector / Pat. / Sept. 9, 1890 (which research on the internet indicates was a company located in at least Philadelphia and New York) and is very similar in shape and size to a round bottom soda bottle, but in fact, held a poisonous disinfectant!  The embossing is also upside down relative to the bottle base because the bottle was inserted upside down into to a metal dispenser for use (Rochester Midland Co. 2005).  Oddities like this abound in the historic bottle world and one just needs to be aware that there are always exceptions to any general statement or "rule" with the dating and typing of bottles.

Berge (1980:37) notes the following in his milestone BLM historic cultural resources report entitled "Simpson Springs Station - Historical Archaeology in Western Utah": 

"A drawback of functional classifications is that many unlabeled or unmarked bottles are assumed to have been used for one purpose when in reality they may have been used for something quite different.  A small, square bottle could have been used for shoe polish, oil, pills, dental powder, or a number of other purposes.  Classifying a shoe-polish bottle several times as a pill bottle would obviously lead one to erroneous conclusions about the users.  It is not suggested that functional interpretations be eliminated; rather they may play a part in description as possible uses, and in site interpretations.  The functions of many bottles with traditional shapes are well known." 

Berge also noted that "...analysis of remnants of the contents left in the bottle may lead to precise identification; however, this would give the last use only, and bottles are often used for secondary purposes..." and "...possibly the only positive method of identifying primary content is by the original label."

As indicated above, there are no guarantees in regards to typing otherwise unmarked or unlabeled bottles, but as Berge noted "...the functions of many bottles with traditional shapes are well known."  Similar to the manufacturing related dating features discussed elsewhere on this site, typing is based on the relative probability of determining what the bottle was used for, i.e., the probability that the determined use is correct.  Though the relative probabilities noted here are not and can not be specifically - or statistically - quantified, the relative probability predictions are based on the information gleaned from hundreds of references and bottle maker catalogs as well as the authors observations over many decades.  Critical to predicting the likelihood of a certain bottle shape being closely associated with a particular type of contents are bottles with the original labels still intact and embossed bottles, where the original contents are obvious.
 

A note about embossing:

What a bottle was used for (what "type" of bottle it was) can often be easily ascertained if there is embossing on the bottle.  As an example, if one considers the tall, amber cylinder bottle pictured to the left which is embossed Teakettle (teakettle trade mark) / Old Bourbon / Shea, Bocqueraz & McKee / Agents / San Francisco a person already knows its a liquor bottle from California, because it says so.  It could well have been reused for other products, but one can be sure that it was originally used for a proprietary brand of bourbon.

But from when does this bottle date?  That is the other primary question most people have about a given bottle besides what it was used for.  If this bottle is run through the questions on the Bottle Dating pages, one is able to narrow the manufacturing date of this bottle to between the mid-1860's and early 1880's based on key manufacturing based diagnostic features, i.e., lack of a pontil scar (Question #4),  applied finish (Question #5 ), lack of mold air venting (Question #7), and a post-mold base type (Question #6). 

This "Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes" series of pages would also help a user narrow down the date range of this commonly shaped Western liquor bottle to between the mid 1870's and early 1880's.  Additionally, the Reference Sources page lists several excellent reference books on Western American liquor bottles which would help flesh out out the story of the Teakettle Old Bourbon bottle and confirm the date range of this bottle as that listed above (Wilson & Wilson 1968; Thomas 1977 & 2002).  The point here is that the dual process of both dating a bottle and determining what it was used for (typing) provides mutually complementary information in that the typing often gives clues about the age and the manufacturing related diagnostic features can sometimes provide clues about the bottle type.  Consulting other website pages (e.g., "Bottle Bases", "Bottle Body Characteristics & Molds Seams", "Bottle Finishes", etc.) also helps round out the general "story" of a given bottle.

Back to bottle bottle body embossing....
Unfortunately, embossing was not generally common on utilitarian bottles until after the Civil War, and even by the 1890's, embossed bottles still probably remained less than 40% of total production though the percentage varied significantly by bottle type (Fike 1987;  Fowler pers. comm. 2006). To quote McKearin & Wilson (1978:89) in reference to mid-19th century bottle production - "For the most part, the output of one (bottle maker) was similar to that of another - unmarked and anonymous."  Given this, it is certainly true that the majority of bottles produced during the period covered by this website (1800 to the 1950's) are either not embossed, or if embossing, it does not provide any information as to the date and/or use (type) of the bottle.  Conversely, users will note that a lot of the bottles pictured on this website will have embossing because an embossed bottle provides the potential for additional information about a particular bottle style or shape which is directly applicable to its non-embossed - but similarly shaped - counterpart. 

For example, one would expect an unembossed bottle of the same shape as the Teakettle sharing similar manufacturing related diagnostic features (applied finish, no air venting, post-mold base) to likely be a liquor bottle that dates from the 1870's or early 1880's.  The unembossed cylinder "fifth" liquor bottle pictured to the right has virtually all the same diagnostic features of the Teakettle except that it was blown in a four-piece instead of a two-piece mold ( a feature which does not affect the estimated dating range - see the mold type discussions on the Bottle Body Characteristics & Mold Seams page).  Because it has the same shape and shares the same primary manufacturing characteristics, it is reasonable to conclude that this bottle almost certainly dates from the same era as the Teakettle, i.e., approximately 1875 to 1885 and held some type of spirits.

In summary, form follows function most of the time and is the best one can do from this juncture in time unless the unembossed bottle in question has the original label.  Even then, as Berge (1980) noted above, this only tells one what the last use of the bottle was, if indeed the bottle was reused.
 

NOTE:  Attached to this complex of pages is one that is an ongoing pictorial coverage of all types of bottles with their original labels.  This page allows users to see specifically what many different shapes of bottles were used for as the original labels are still intact.  Click Labeled bottles to move to that section of this page.

 

Click here to move straight to the "Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes" section below.
For the first time user of this site it is recommended that
 the following information be read prior to moving to the Bottle Typing section.
 

First this cautionary note:  Like bottle dating, bottle "typing" (typology) is not a precise science.

Depending solely on the shape of a bottle to conclude what its contents originally were is not absolute, but the best one can often do.  There are a couple primary reasons for this:

1. The same type or style of bottle may have been used for distinctly different products.

Numerous examples abound of this phenomena - A soda style used for patent medicine, a "fifth" whiskey shape used for bitters or tonic, a liquor flask shape used for Jamaica ginger (medicine), a milk bottle used for maple syrup (image to the right from eBay©), and so forth.  It was entirely the decision and sometimes whim of the purchaser/user (filler) of the bottle as to what went into it.   As noted by Berge (1980), "Although (bottle) manufacturers had specific names and uses in mind for their bottles, the purchaser may have actually used them for something quite different."

However, consumers of the time - just like today - looked for certain products in certain shaped packages.  Because of this most users of bottles used some accepted or standard shape for a given product.  A square, short necked bottle like that pictured below was very commonly used for medicinal products and in particular "bitters" which was a very popular type of  usually high alcohol medicinal product during the 19th and early 20th centuries.  This general shape was also used for "schnapps" - another high alcohol nominally medicinal product.  In fact, early bottle makers called this shape either a "bitters" or a "schnapps" (Illinois Glass Co. 1903-04, Alther 1909).   If the bottle is embossed (or labeled) with the product name or type, then one knows for sure what it originally contained.  If the bottle is not embossed or labeled, then the shape can still be very indicative of what the contents most likely were.

2. Any given bottle could have been recycled and reused many times for totally unrelated products. 

As an example, the bottle pictured to the left obviously began its life as a bitters container for  Lashes Bitters.  This  product originated in Sacramento, CA. though in the 20th century its popularity justified offices in Chicago and New York (Wichmann 1999).  However, as indicated by the label on the reverse, this particular bottle finished its useful life as an ammonia container - a decidedly poisonous substance - from a Cleveland, OH. concern.  Click label close-up to view more label details.   Medicinal and bitters bottles were commonly reused for bluing and ammonia (Busch 1987).  This machine-made bottle dates from between the mid 1910's and mid 1920's; when it was used for ammonia is unknown, but likely the during the same era.

An early reference to bottle re-use...

The following is from the book  "Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico - The Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin 1846-1847" (Drumm 1926) and indicates the high value of used bottles on the Western American Frontier:

"Our resting place is on the river bank opposite to an Indian village on the other side, and the warriors and squaws are coming over in flocks to see the wonderful objects of curiosity.  They bring things to sell - eggs, sandias (watermelons), tortillas, grapes and the like.  They wish to trade for bottles instead of money.  They readily give four bits a piece for an empty bottle, making a fine profit for the owners.  We can buy in the States the filled bottles for three or four dollars a dozen, drink the liquor, and then sell the empty bottles for six dollars per dozen..."

Throughout the country at that time used bottles were considered of value and typically not discarded unless broken and unusable (Busch 1987).

Another very early example of how a given type of bottle can be used or re-used for a non-type typical product, click on the following links: sunburst with label; close-up of the label.  This shows an example of an 1820s or 1830s era "sunburst" flask that was almost certainly re-used for "SPTS. CAMPHOR" by a Pennsylvanian druggist.  Spirits of camphor was used internally (an expectorant) and still is used externally (muscle aches and pains) though it is now considered to be a more or less hazardous substance if ingested; it is definitely not considered a liquor!  Even on a non-commercial level, bottles were very often reused.  Below is an image of an early 20th century family picnicking with the children using three reused liquor bottles and one reused medicine bottle (likely a Moxie Nerve Food bottle) as containers for milk and other presumably softer beverages; click to enlarge.  (Picture courtesy of Dan Herzog.)

This certainly shows that bottle recycling was not just a modern phenomena, as it was widely practiced in throughout the 19th (and before) through early 20th centuries when bottles were relatively more expensive to produce than today.  According to the Wilson's book Spirits Bottles of the Old West, an amber 1/5 gallon (i.e., "fifth" size) whiskey bottle - like the Tea Kettle Old Bourbon bottle pictured earlier on this page - cost an expensive 25 to 30 cents each to produce in the 1870's (Wilson & Wilson 1968).  That would be equivalent to at least $4.00 today (USGPO 1975).  Bottle re-use was common since the container itself was often more expensive to produce than the contents.   (Note: Probably the best overview on the subject of bottle reuse is found in Jane Busch's article "Second Time Around: A Look at Bottle Reuse" (Busch 1987).  This article is now available as a pdf file via the Society for Historical Archaeology website by doing a search at this URL:  http://www.sha.org/publications/publicationsOnline/pubExplorer.cfm

Regardless of the above points, there is still a high correlation between the shape of a bottle and the primary and/or original use of the bottle.  These Bottle Typing pages (and website in general) deal with the fact that a given shape (or manufacturing related attribute) was dominant during a certain period of time and/or for a certain product.  This information is also premised on that fact that the probability is high - but not absolute - that any given bottle with a similar shape was likely used for the same type of product.  For example an unembossed tall, amber glass, cylinder bottle similar to the Tea Kettle Old Bourbon bottle pictured above is highly likely to have also been used for some type of noncarbonated alcoholic beverage.

Summary Note: The more datable diagnostic characteristics that can be used in conjunction with the bottle typing information found on these Bottle Typing pages, the closer the probable date range for an item can be narrowed and the more confidence one can have with that estimate.
 

Note on Base Profiles/Cross-section shapes:  One bottle shape related feature which is not broadly addressed on this website is the base profile or shape.  This is typically the shape of the bottle base when viewed straight on.  It is also usually the cross-section shape of the bottle body, though there are exceptions to the latter, e.g., "mug-based" soda bottles have an octagonal base but a round body cross-section shape.  (Click Mt. Hood Soda Water to see an example of a mug-based Hutchinson soda bottle from Portland, OR.)  Base profiles and/or the body cross-section shape are a distinct feature of a bottle that has utility when describing a bottle and is addressed here on a bottle specific basis.  Base profiles are not addressed broadly because there is little specific dating or typing information to be gleaned from simply knowing the base profile, though the profile can assist at times with the typing of a bottle on a case-by-case basis. 

The best readily available source for classifying bottle base profiles is the "Bottle Base Profiles" webpage illustration that was included in the IMACS (Intermountain Antiquities Computer System) guide.  A copy of that illustration is available at the following link: http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/IMACSbaseprofiles/pdf  U. of U. 1992).  This illustration was from Fikes' 1987 book on historic medicine bottles - The Bottle Book: A Guide to Historic Medicine Bottles.  A combination of the IMACS and intuitive shape names are used when describing base profiles on this "Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes" page, the connected sub-pages, and on other site pages.

BOTTLE TYPING/DIAGNOSTIC SHAPES

Bottle typing is not particularly conducive to the use of a questions based "key" like was used on the Bottle Dating pages.  A key to identify bottle types based on different physical characteristics would be either impossible to effectively create due to the incredible diversity of bottle shapes, or if created, too ponderous to use. 

Instead, this page and the attached sub-pages are structured so that a user can peruse a large assortment of pictures of different bottles to find the shape/type they are interested in.  The major bottle type categories used here are based on an amalgam of dozens of references, most notably including Munsey (1970), Ketchum (1975), Herskovitz (1978), McKearin & Wilson (1978), Berge (1980), Fike (1987), Jones & Sullivan (1989), numerous glass makers catalogs, and the IMACS Users Guide (Univ. of Utah 1992) but does not align precisely with any one of these references.  Scores of other references were also consulted for the preparation of these pages and are noted where appropriate.

Some users of this site will inevitably disagree with what bottle types were included - or not included - in the broad categories used.  For instance some authors place cosmetic bottles (including perfume and cologne) into the "Medical and Chemical" bottle category whereas this website places them within the "Household bottles (non-food)" category (IMACS Univ. of Utah 1992).  Others place canning/fruit jars and milk bottles into the "Household Bottles" and "Non-alcoholic Beverages" categories, respectively, whereas this website includes both in a category entitled "Food Bottles & Canning Jars" which is intended to cover bottles and jars which contained non-alcoholic food products (Berge 1980).  The point behind these typology pages is not to establish a hierarchal classification system for bottle types but instead to help users identify what the most likely function or use was made of the specific bottle shape or type they are interested in determining such for.

In essence, this Bottle Typing/Diagnostic Shapes complex of webpages is an on-line "type collection" of the major types and styles of bottles made during the period from the 19th through mid-20th centuries.

 

NOTE:  Also attached to this grouping of pages are complete scanned copies (jpegs) of several never before re-printed bottle makers illustrated catalogs.  Click on the following links to access these catalogs:

1906 Illinois Glass Co. bottle catalog
1916-1917 Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. catalog
1920 Illinois Glass Co. bottle catalog
1926 Illinois Glass Co. bottle catalog
1933 Owens-Illinois Glass Company bottle catalog

 

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Labeled Bottles

Attached to this complex of "typing" pages is a separate webpage that is an extensive pictorial coverage of bottles of all types with their original product content labeling. 

The Labeled Bottles page allows users to see what many different shapes or "types" of bottles were precisely used for as the original labels (and often contents) are still intact.  It is hoped that showing a large assortment of bottles, which are often not embossed as to contents, will give users more of a feel for what shapes were used primarily for what products. 

This page is is almost purely a pictorial page with limited descriptive information on the pictured bottles; the labels usually speak for themselves.  Most of the bottles that are pictured are not pictured elsewhere on this website, and in fact, are often images found on the internet or submitted by users.  This page is also divided into the eight major bottle type categories noted on this page: Liquor & Spirits; Wine & Champagne; Beer & Ale; Soda & Mineral Water; Medicinal/Chemical/Druggist; Food & Fruit/Canning Jars; Household (non-food related); and Miscellaneous.

It is expected that additional images of product labeled bottles will be constantly acquired and added indefinitely to this page well into the future.  Stay tuned...Click Labeled Bottles to view the page.

Note: Submissions for addition to the Labeled Bottles page in the form of clear, good quality digital images are most welcome!  Of particular need are good images for the categories that are relatively underrepresented.  If submitting photos, views of the label(s), embossing (if present), at least one side (if not round), and the base would be appreciated though just a picture of the entire bottle showing the label clearly are also acceptable. 

If you would like to contribute to this webpage please contact the author of this website at: 
questions@historicbottles.com

 

SEARCHING THIS WEBSITE: 
To do a word/phrase or image search of this website one must use the following Google search link: 
Search the SHA/BLM Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website 
(Note: Search results for this website will be just below the final top-of-the-page Google paid ads.)

3/13/2022

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This website created and managed by:
Bill Lindsey
Bureau of Land Management (retired) - Klamath Falls, Oregon
Questions?  See FAQ #21.

Copyright © 2022 Bill Lindsey.  All rights reserved. Viewers are encouraged, for personal or classroom use, to download limited copies of posted material.  No material may be copied for commercial purposes. Author reserves the right to update this information as appropriate.