The Robertson Bottle Collection

 All spelling mistakes in this post are intentional.  I do actually know how to spell clean. This little bottle of floor Kleener is still stoppered, with some dehydrated product (I assume,) still inside.  The label is mostly intact, with the biggest nick to the paper shown in the picture.  The slogan on the label reads; “For cleaning all finished floors and keeping them in perfect condition. Will remove all spots, discolorations, etc., and put the surface in proper shape to receive another coat of finish.  Apply with a cloth and rub dry with a dry cloth. For deep-seated stains use a little curied hair with the Kleen Floor.   PINTS 40c. ”  I love to intentionally misconstrue that last sentence.  It makes it much more exciting!

 Prescription Bottles are as common now as they were back then.  And here is one from back then! The Illinois Glass Company would have made this little beauty sometime between 1873-1929.  I would say towards the earlier date, because it is just ever so slightly purpled.  Dare I call it pink?  Well,  no, it’s just a little bit tinted.  Apparently the IG Co. made an enormous amount of the glass bottles that get dug up from dump sites.  There was a lot of information on the IG Co. on the internet.  Even a catalog which has led me to believe this is a “Short Blake Prescriptions” Flint glass bottle.  Here’s the best picture I could get of the makers mark, it is very faint.

 I admit it, that acronym made me giggle.  The Grand Union Tea company is embossed on the side of the next bottle.   Isn’t it a beautiful amethyst color?  I always thought that it was the amount of sunshine that determines the shade, (longer=darker) but it’s not necessarily true.  The amount of manganese in the glass mixture is what really makes for a dark bottle.  They can be as light as pink.  I kind of hope there’s a pink one in the collection, because if not I might have to buy one myself!  Purple was collected by more than one family member, and this one was close to the top because it was not in the crate to start with.  Mom had it out as decoration in her home.  It’s a favorite of many! Anyway, the GUT Co. has a nice history, available on the internet so I won’t rehash it all here.  It was one of the first supermarket stores to carry a wide range of products, from food to pharmaceutical and is still in business in New York mo...

 The next bottle in the crate was a skinny bundle of paper.  Again I’m struck with just how heavy the bundle is.  Especially to unwrap it and find the bottle is only about 7.5 inches tall.  Modern glass is so light in comparison. Above the label, on both sides of the bottle it says SBA.  And this is further clarified by what is around the base of the bottle; “Seattle Bottlers Association Registered.”  The bottle was machine made judging by pontil marks.  It also still has a bit of rust on the rim from the cap.  That is what I know, next up is what I can surmise. There is not much information on SBA specifically that I could dredge up in a short internet search.  It does seem like these bottles are not exactly rare, since 2 sold for auction in 2013.  From what I read in a document on the old Seattle Coca~Cola bottle plant, there were at least 8 carbonated bottling plants in the Seattle area in the 1930s.  I don’t know what was in the...

 The first bottle I unpacked was one of the larger ones.   It had a good weight in my hand, a nice solid beginning.  And yes, there was a brand mark to provide a direction for research!  I’m sure they won’t all be this easy to identify, but it’s off to a great start.   This is a Foster Sealfast fruit canning jar.  Fun fact/confession; when Mom described them as bail jars, I always heard “Ball” jar.  Because in my infinite wisdom Ball was the  canning jar, not just a brand of.  Sigh, it’s a case for the saying “we live and we learn.”  I have learned now that the wire closure is known as the bail.  This particular bail is not rusty, and would probably work just fine if I had a lid to put on top. Maybe it’s yet to be unwrapped, waiting further on in the collection.   The jar itself is machine made, and (from internet research,) was probably from the glass factory in Marion Indiana from the 1910-20 timeframe.  Really, the amou...

 The bottles came to my hands in two large plastic storage bins.  Each piece is individually wrapped in butcher paper, like hundreds of tiny presents waiting to be opened.  What is this one going to be?  Is it still intact?  Will I recognize this bottle?  I hope to share my excitement with you as I unbox the collection here on this blog.  The collection is finished, and nothing in it is for sale.  If you know something about the bottle type, or have a memory to share I invite you to leave any kind comments below.   How did the Robertson glass bottle collection come to be?  Primarily through the efforts of one young man, my Uncle Nick Robertson.  Today we would have a diagnosis for what might cause a fixation or obsession, but at the time it was just how he was. He didn’t let things go easily. This is made evident in the large number of bottles he collected in his young life.  Most of which he dug for himself in Leadville, Co. b...