Friday, April 12, 2013

PGW Square

Here is one from my collection of which I have not seen another. This is a smaller square ( about a pint), in a nice olive color. It has a crudely tooled top and indented panels on two sides. The label is intact indicating that this was a "Cherry Tonic" with lost of information...except the actual company or location. In and of itself it is a pretty little bottle, and gets interesting when one looks at the base. P.G.W. Any ideas of who prepared or sold this product?



5 comments:

  1. Dale,
    Absolutely a terrific bottle. I don't believe I've ever seen that base embossing before! Always spelled out instead of abbreviated like that. Can't help with the label identification,but an incredible example of a rarely seen square.

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  2. Given the base embossing, I am thinking this square is circa 1876...am I correct? DM

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  3. In my opinion this would be 1875 at the latest, as far as the mold being made. After that date any new molds would have likely been embossed SF&PGW. The mold of course could have been used for sometime after the merger of the two companies.

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  4. Cool bottle, but I don't think it is western. Sure, there are some 70s (even 60s) bottles that were tooled, but those seem to be limited to smaller bottles in clear and aqua. Further, as far as I know this would be both a unique shape and a unique base marking. Possible, but what are the chances ?

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  5. I agree w the above post, in that the bottle is Eastern blown. I havent seen any Western blown pre-1876 bitters bottles with a tooled-top.
    My guess is that this bottle was made at one of the more than 75 glass factories operating in Pittsburgh during the 1870s-80s.
    I dont have the book, but could read some excerpts online from "Glasshouses and Glass Manufacturers of the Pittsburgh Region '1795 - 1910" By Jay W. Hawkins. There is mention of a Pittsburgh Glass Works ad in 1870 and another mention in an 1898 ad. Appears to have been several different owners over a period from 1850-1900

    AP

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