Pressed Glass Decanter by Thatcher Glass Mfg. Co.

 Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Pressed Glass Decanter.

If you hunt bottles, you'll probably find a few decanters - not often but occasionally. The decanter shown above was found along the Indian River.  It is about 9.5 inches tall and in perfect shape.  The top is perfect.  It isn't chipped, the bottle was made with an irregular ruffled edge around the lip.  It looks fine sitting on a windowsill reflecting the morning sunlight.

There are no marks of identification on it except on the bottom, where there is a good amount of information.  You can see that below.

Bottom of the Same Decanter.

Most prominent is the FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR REUSE OF THIS BOTTLE message encircling a variety of other marks that need deciphering.  

The Federal Law message dates the bottle to somewhere in the range of 1935 to 1964.  One of the other numbers on the bottom is "62" which could indicate a date of 1962.  I haven't yet done enough research to decipher all the marks, but I think I could find the information. I know there is probably a factory code (probably the D), a mold number and some other things.

Below is the maker's mark displayed in the center of the bottom.

MTC Maker's Mark on Bottom of Decanter.

A little research revealed that to be what is referred to as the MTC mark - one of the variations used by the Thatcher Glass Mfg. Co.  Thatcher was referred to the father of milk bottles.  He didn't invent the first, but was responsible for many of the early innovations and did a lot to make milk bottles "the" method of delivery.

Here is a link for a lot more information on the Thatcher company.

4-page_spread

The extent of the available research on the company is impressive.  It is the kind of research that is not produced by big names but to a large extent by devoted enthusiasts who are as systematic and detailed in their research as any top name scientist.

I think the linked site will help me decode some of the other numbers on the bottom of the decanter when I devote the time to it.  

Here is a link to an article that tells how to tell the difference between pressed glass and cut glass.

https://www.libraryofvintagethings.com/2025/11/11/pressed-glass-vs-cut-glass-how-to-tell-the-difference/

When you do find a decanter, you never find the stopper at the same time, but usually find enough lost stoppers to be able to find one that fits and looks good.

Brown Embossed Lysol Cork Top Bottle.

Brown Embossed Lysol Bottle.

This bottle has Lysol in script repeated four times around the shoulder of the bottle.

Bown Lysol Bottle Bottom.

Around the bottom outside reads: LYSOL INCORPORATED    BLOOMFIELD N.J.

Inside that is: BOTTLE MADE IN USA.

In the center is a triangle with something within.  I could be the WT mark, but is too faint to make out for sure.

The first-ever Lysol antiseptic disinfectant was made in 1889 by Gustav Raupenstrauch. It was created in order to end the cholera epidemic in Germany, where it was causing huge destruction. Next time, the product was advertised by Lehn & Fink in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic. It was advertised as an effective product for fighting the influenza virus.

Here is another bottle, that to me looks like it might be older.

Finally, Lysol was introduced to hospitals and drug stores in 1930, and around 1962 the company began manufacturing the Lysol disinfectant spray. 

Here is a link for more of the history.

What Was Lysol Originally Used for? History of Lysol - 1920 to 2021

NuJol Embossed Quack Cure Bottle.

 

NyJol Bottle.

Nujol is in infamous quack remedy created in 1850 by "Old Bill" Rockefeller, father of John D. Rockefeller. The elder Rockefeller was the definition of "snake oil" salesman, claiming Nujol, which was made from pure petroleum, as a cure for everything from Cancer to constipation. John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company continued offering the cure-all for sale up to the time of World War II.

The bottle has an H on the bottom, which could indicate one of numerous glass makers.  More research is needed.

Chas. H. Fletcher's CASTORIA bottle. Blue embossed bottle Manufactured by Owens.

 

This beautiful blue bottle is in great condition.  The glass is clear and without cracks, scuffs or other damage.

One side is embossed: CASTORIA

And the other side is embossed Chas.H.Fletcher's in a script style.

The bottom has the Owens O in a square.  There is a single dot on each side of the Owens mark.

I've posted photos of both Pitcher's and Hatcher's Castoria bottles.  Pitcher's became Fletchers.

Here is a link to a post showing a Pitcher's Castoria bottle.  TreasureGuide's Bottle Barn: Bottle embossed DR. S. PITCHER'S and CASTORIA.

And here is the link to a clear glass Fletcher's Castoria bottle.  TreasureGuide's Bottle Barn: Bottle embossed DR. S. PITCHER'S and CASTORIA.

The following link will take you to a complete documentation of the history of the company and the bottles and manufacturers.  And I do mean complete.  This is impressive and very detailed research.

Here is the link.

CastoriaHistory.pdf

Embossed SMALLY KIVLAN ONTHANK Fruit Jar Boston.

 

Embossed top to bottom:
LIGHT
SKO
QUEEN
TRADE MARK
WIDE MOUTH
REGISTERED

This jar would date in the range of 1907 - 1921.

Embossed SMALLEY KIVLAN ONTHANK BOSTON.

Presumably the type of closure that would have been used.

Smalley, Kivlan & Onthank, Boston, Massachussets (1907-1921) Information about this firm is sparse. After the lawsuit that forced them to discontinue the use of the Smalley Jar Co. name, Edgar Smalley, John L. Kivlan, and Charles F. Onthank reorganized as Smalley, Kivlan & Onthank at 21 Blackstone in 1907. Toulouse (1971:312) set the date when the firm became Kivlan & Onthank at 1919, but Roller (1983:301) noted the reorganization after Edgar Smalley’s death in 1921. Even though John Kivlan and Charles Onthank stopped using Smalley’s name in 1921, they did not officially end the business until the courts forced involuntary bankruptcy on the pair as Smalley, Kivlan & Onthank on September 15, 1925 (Boston Herald 9/16/1925).

Source: SmalleyCompanies.pdf

See also

A. G. Smalley & Company – The Museum of American Glass in West Virginia

Antique Food Container Bottles and Purpling.

Old Food Bottles (3 Purpled)

These are old food container bottles found along the Treasure Coast.  This type of bottle seems to be more likely than others to turn purple.  That is said to be caused by manganese dioxide used in the glass before 1914, although that is not a perfect cut-off date and some bottles, including more recent example, were artificially purpled.

In my finds, it seems the most sun-purpled bottles are food container bottles.  Maybe pickle bottles.  I always wondered if the contents might have some effect on purpling, but I've seen no evidence of that in the literature.

I do have a couple pharmacy bottles that are nicely purpled, but other than that very little purpling among my finds.

The bottle on the right is the only one marked with a patent date - Aug. 20, 1901.  Of course, the patent date isn't the date of manufacture, which you'd expect to be somewhat later.

None of these are blown bottles.  On the bottle that has not purpled, the seam marks would suggest an older age than the other bottles.  The general impression would be that older bottles are more likely to be more purpled, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

It seems you can't tell much about age from sun-purpling other than the general date of 1914 being generally accepted as general dividing line.

Below is another food container bottle, but that one has a maker's mark (J. K. & S), which dates it to around 1857 - 1900, older than the above bottles, and obviously a different type of glass (light green) that did not purple

The J K & S maker's mark is rare.  I showed an example in an individual post on that bottle in this blog.

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Green Embossed Licoreria La Bodega Bottle.

 

Embossed LICORERIA LA BODEGA  INC. PONCE, P.R.

The Federal Law message pretty much dates the bottle.

The trade mark seems to be a sailing ship with something over it that looks something like an ax.

To give a better idea of the coloring here is another photo.

The bottom shows the I in diamond/circle trademark along with the number 65 on the left and 44 on the right.  Those would be decent numbers for the date range although I haven't been able to narrow it down with certainty.     Either of those numbers would be reasonable date codes from what I've learned.

Owens-Illinois Mark used from 1929 - present.

FALLS CITY BREWING CO. brown embossed bottle.

 

Embossed on shoulder in star: 

FALLS CITY

BREWING CO.

INCORPORATED

LOUISVILLE, KY.

And on the heel:

REGISTERED.

The embossed labeling is small and not easy to read.

The story all began in 1901 when the biggest brewers in Louisville formed one giant company that made ALL the beer and owned almost ALL the tavern real estate in ALL the land. The tavern owners had to rent property and buy their beer from the Central Consuming Company, creating quite the monopoly.  By 1905, the local tavern owners were annoyed and fed up, rightfully so, and decided to come together and start Falls City Brewing Company and the rest is history….or is it?

By 1911, Falls City Beer had an annual production of 75,000 barrels and its first motorized delivery trucks...

Here is the link for the rest of the story. 

The condensed history of Falls City Brewing Company – @fallcitybeer-blog on Tumblr

Horlick's Malted Milk embossed bottle.

 

Here is what I learned.

In the initial stage of manufacturing, milled malted barley and wheat flour are mashed together in hot water where the starch is converted into sugars.  To this sugar solution dairy powders are added. The water content is then evaporated to form a syrup that is dried in vacuum band driers to form a cake. This cake is milled into the finished powder...

1873: James Horlick, a pharmacist joined his brother, William, in the US and together they founded the company J and W Horlicks in Chicago to manufacture a patented malted milk drink as an artificial infant food...

This bottle I found is not nearly that old.

Octagonal Mucilage Glue Bottle Bearing Crescent Moon Symbol as Hazel Atlas Maker's Mark.

 

Octagonal Mucilage Glue Bottle.

If you are not a youngster, you might recognize this bottle.  It is a mucilage glue bottle that had a rubber tip with an opening for applying glue to paper or other surfaces.  The glue was made by the LePage company.

The bottom reads: CRESCENT PRODUCTS.

The crescent moon symbol is the maker's mark.  In this case, it could be confusing since there were more than one bottle companies that used the crescent symbol as a maker's mark.  In this case, it is the mark used by Hazel Atlas, as hard as that might be to believe because of their very common and distinctive H over A symbol.

That is what my research and AI tells me although it still seems pretty confusing if not doubtful.
.

Invented by William Nelson LePage in 1876, mucilage glue was originally made from fish skins and became a staple adhesive in classrooms and homes.

The glue was packaged in small glass bottles with rubber applicator tops, and the bottles became collectible over time due to their distinctive shape and markings.

LePage’s glue was eventually acquired by Henkel Corporation, which still owns the brand today.

Here is a link to the company's history.  Very interesting.

The History of Lepage's Glue | Just Use Glue

Vintage Mucilage Retail Display.
Source: See link above.

In the 1990s the white PVC glues had largely replaced mucilage.

Royal Crown Soda Bottle with Debossed RC and Star on Shoulder. Nehi Bottling Company. 1935 1939.

 

Royal Crown Bottle
with Debossed RC and Star on Shoulder.

Royal Crown Cola was introduced to a limited audience in mid-1934 but was not fully available to the public until the following year. The new cola soon came to dominate the Nehi product line. The initial bottles appear to have been produced with paper labels that were similar to the ACL labels that followed in 1936 (Vaughn 1995a:28-31). 400 Although later bottles were made with ACL neck designs, the technology was not sufficiently advanced to produce ACL on the early ones. It was not until ca. 1937 that ACL machinery was able to apply the enamel to two curves in the glass at the same time, although the 1937 bottle used at El Paso did not yet use this technology. Thus, the earliest two logos were embossed or debossed on the bottle’s shoulder (Figures 10a-10 & 10a-11)  Source: EPChap10a.pdf

Tbis is a transitional bottle.  ACL machines were not yet able to print on two curves so the shoulder marks were embossed or debossed.  This bottle is debossed.

Also some bottles at this time had paper labels and others were ACL.  I think this bottle had a paper label.  There is absolutely no indication of any ACL paint on the bottle.

Debossed RC and Star.

Michael Elling (personal communication) noted that the bottles with embossed/debossed shoulder label was used from 1935-1939. He further claimed that paper-label bottles were used during the same period of time. Only the larger, more successful bottlers used the ACL bottles at that time.  Source: EPChap10a.pdf

Embossed: PROPERTY OF NEHI BOTTLING CO.

For additional information see EPChap10a.pdf

Brown Fehr's Beer Bottle with Embossed Label.

FEHR'S Beer Bottle.

I've not found much information on this Fehr's beer bottle yet, but I did find the pair of Fehr's bottles sold on eBay (shown below).

Vintage Fehr's beer bottles.

The green bottle on the left seems to have the same label as the brown one at the top of the post

Generally, before the 1930's beer came in green bottles, but after the Prohibition they were bottled in brown glass to better preserve freshness by filtering out the sunlight. So, it seems that the brown bottle is later. And it looks like it.

I've found very little information on the Fehr's beer company.  I assume, though, that it is the same as the Frank Fehr Brewing Company of Louisville, KY.


In 1872, Frank Fehr moved to Louisville, Kentucky and started brewing. He developed the recipe for Fehr’s XL (Extra Lager) and won Louisville’s Southern Exposition, every year from 1883 to 1887.

Fehr’s XL was the most widely consumed beer in Louisville when prohibition started in 1920.

Fehr’s Brewing sales peaked in 1949 as the brewery began wrestling with competition from large, national breweries. After putting up a good fight for 15 years, Fehr’s last pour was in 1964. 

Source: fehrsbrewing.com | It' Always Fehr Weather

I did a post on an older bottle from the Frank Fehr Brewing Company (shown below).

Olive Green Embossed John & Robert Harvey Whiskey Bottle. Glascow, Scotland.

 

Embossed: JOHN & ROBT HARVEY CO LTD
              GLASCOW  SCOTLAND

The bottle is olive green although the photos do not show the true color well.

John & Robert Harvey was an old, if not the oldest, whisky business in Glasgow, and dated back to 1770.

Like many in the industry the firm suffered badly in the wake of the Pattison crash that began in December 1898, and approached DCL with a view to a merger. The timing wasn’t right for the DCL, but in 1902, attracted by Harvey’s blending and exporting potential, the company – along with its closed Dundashill distillery – were acquired. Harvey’s became a fully owned subsidiary, although Dundashill was permanently closed in view of the DCL’s concerns around over-production at that time.

Yet by the early 1980s John & Robert Harvey was still listed as licensee of Aultmore distillery near Keith, and with a Glasgow HQ which it shared with Bulloch Lade and John Begg, among others.

Source: Harvey's Special | Scotch Whisky

John & Robert Harvey Embossed Whiskey Bottle.

On the shoulder of the bottle is the Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of This Bottle embossing, which was used from 1935 to 1964.

Bottom of the Same Bottle.

You can see the UGB makers mark on the bottle.

• U G B ……………………………… United Glass Bottle Manufacturers, Limited (large conglomerate of many glass factories in the United Kingdom). This mark dates from 1913 to about 1968 and is found on the bases of innumerable bottles of many styles and sizes that were made in Great Britain.   UGB included glass factories located at Ravenhead, St. Helens;  Sherdley, St. Helens;  Portobello, Scotland; Charlton, London;  Shettleston, Scotland;  Castleford, Yorkshire;  Harlow, Essex;  New Cross, London;  Brimsdown, London;  Kinghorn, Scotland;   Alloa, Scotland and Peasely, St. Helens.  The history is confusing and some factory locations operated for a very long time but others were relatively short-lived. 

From: Glass Manufacturers' Marks on Bottles & Other Glassware - Page 5

CHIVAS BROTHERS ABERDEEN SCOTLAND Green Embossed Bottle.

 

CHIVAS BROTHERS ABERDEEN SCOTLAND 
Embossed Green Bottle.

CHIVAS BROTHERS ABERDEEN SCOTLAND
Embossed Green Bottle.

The bottom is embossed C. B. C or G. which I take to mean Chivas Brothers Company or Glass.

Also on the bottom is a 3 in the middle and what looks like 101A.

Chivas Brothers Bottle Reading: 

Chivas Brothers was formed in 1857.

A Royal Warrant was originally granted by Queen Victoria to James Chivas in 1843, as ‘Purveyor of Grocery for Her Majesty in Ordinary’. The first Royal Warrant for Scotch Whisky was granted to Chivas Brothers as ‘Purveyors of Scotch Whisky’ in 1923. Chivas Brothers no longer hold a Royal Warrant...

In 1853, a new Act permitted vatting under bond for individual distilleries and The Spirit Act of 1860 allowed whisky from different distilleries to be blended without payment of duty.

This opened the door for modern blending and it is believed that James Chivas created his first Brand Name blended whisky during this time.

The Chivas traditions in the art of blending have been passed on to blenders and master blenders over the years...

Here is that link for more about the company history.  Our Story | The Chivas Brothers Story

And here is another link for more about the company history.

PowerPoint Presentation

This bottle appears to be the one on the left in the illustration below, there fore dating between 1939 and 1961.

Embossed Drambuie Bottle Edinburgh Scotland Brown Liquor Bottle.

 

This bottle is embossed on the heal: THE DRAMBUIE LIQUEUR CO. LTD.

                                                            EDINBURGH SCOTLAND. 

The FEDERAL LAW FORBIDS SALE OR RE-USE OF THIS BOTTLE message is on the shoulder, which puts the date between 1935 and 1964.

The concave bottom reads: BOTTLE MADE IN

                                          UNITED KINGDOM

There are also some numbers on the bottom.

Drambuie was first commercially produced in Union Street in Edinburgh in 1910. Only twelve cases were originally sold. In 1916, Drambuie became the first liqueur to be allowed in the cellars of the House of Lords and Drambuie began to ship worldwide to British Army officers' messes.

About 1940, the company moved to bonded premises in Dublin Street Lane where the liquor was compounded (the process of flavouring and sweetening the whisky spirit). The bottling plant was in the same lane while the company office was in York Place. After a short period at nearby Broughton Market, in 1955 the operation was moved to premises at the foot of Easter Road in Leith. Further expansion led to a move to purpose-built premises on the western edge of Kirlinsin 1959. These premises were vacated in 2001 and thereafter production was contracted out, in the first instance to the Glenmorangie bottling plant at Broxburn and, in 2010, to Morrison Bowmore Distillers.   Source: Wikipedia.

There is a lot of history to this liquor.  Skipping a few pages to get down to the bottom line, here is a bit of the story.

Skipping down to the end...

Here is a link to a much longer history.

History - The Drambuie Liqueur Company Ltd

Embossed Kerr Self Sealing and Kerr Mason Canning Jars.

 

Canning Jar Embossed:
KERR
SELF SEALING
TRADE MARK REG.
WIDE MOUTH MASON.

 

Kerr Mason Jar with AHK Mark on the Bottom.

"Businessman and entrepreneur Alexander Hewitt Kerr (September 4, 1862 – February 9, 1925) organized this company in Portland, Oregon in 1903 under the name Hermetic Fruit Jar Company.  The official name was changed in 1904 to Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company.  Kerr did not actually manufacture glass during the earliest years but was, more accurately, a sales company/distributor during the period from 1904 to 1909 and had jars made for them (with the Kerr name embossing) by other glass companies.

The first jars made for Kerr were evidently the Kerr - Economy brand jars, and that type was made in the earliest years  (c.1903-1909) by Illinois-Pacific Glass Company of San Francisco, and also by the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company (based in Washington, PA and later at Wheeling WV) from 1906 to 1909.

On February 15, 1909, Kerr purchased the Altoona Co-Operative Glass Company of Altoona, Kansas (which had recently gone bankrupt) and within a month or so KERR brand fruit jars were being produced at that location"...

Here is a link that provides dates on the trade marks and bottle maker's marks.

KerrGlass.pdf

Here is another link on the company.

Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation - Maker of Fruit Jars (glassbottlemarks.com)

The most common canning jars I've found on the Treasure Coast are Ball, Presto and Kerr.  Also a couple others such as Tropical and Presto.

Embossed Parsons Ammonia Household Cleaner Bottle.

 

PARSONS' HOUSEHOLD CLEANSER Bottle.

Embossed: PARSON'S HOUSEHOLD CLEANSER.

Other found Pareson's bottles are embossed PARSON'S SUDSY AMMONIA.

Parsons Ammonia and Cleanser Bottles.

Parsons Household Ammonia dates back to 1881. That makes it one of the older consumer products in the United States. Today, it has a new life as a sister product to the Brillo pad.

The brand was originally a product of the Columbia Chemical Works of Brooklyn, with offices on Jay Street. Through the 20th Century, it was known on every grocery shelf across the country, and under most kitchen sinks.

Ammonia has a slew of uses. Today, it is mostly seen as something that is used in window cleaners, but it was seen as a laundry item in an earlier time...  

Source: Parsons the Classic American Ammonia | BrandlandUSA

Source of the ad:

1909 Ad Columbia Chemicals C. C. Paron's Ammonia Cleaner Rag Cleanser – Period Paper Historic Art LLC

Small Ball Bottle. Embossed 2.5 OZ. 3.5 Inches Tall.

 

3.5 Inch Tall Ball Bottle.

This small bottle stopper type bottle is embossed on the neck. 2 1/2 OZ.

The bottle is 3.5 inches tall.

The Ball mark on the bottom would probably date to between 1933 and 1960 and I would believe made by the Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company.

I don't know the product it held.  I would guess a product for canning or jelly/jam production.

Any additional information would be appreciated.