I will likely get booted from this blog, but I am curious about a food bottle I dug awhile back. This one is embossed "Lewis Packing Co. ( monogram) San Francisco" The top is very delicate, and tooled into a very thin "wax seal" type, and what intrigues me is not only that I have never seen this bottle before ( maybe I just don't hang out where there are millions of them), but the absolutely hammer whittled glass. For a 1890 era bottle, it is extremely whittled. Anyone out there seen one like it? This really is not an "April Fools" post. It is just one of those oddball bottles that I just could not toss back. Thanks, Dale M.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteThe Lewis Packing & Vinegar Works had its beginning in 1889 at 625 Front St., with the works located at 525 Chestnut. Charles Harris was listed as President, Wm. A. Lewis as secretary. By 1908 the company was no longer under vinegar works but simply as the Lewis Packing Company with offices at 950 Montgomery St.
There are at least five different shaped containers embossed with the same wording as yours. Betty Wilson (Zumwalt)lists this particular example, clear approximately a pint as ER - 9*.
WOW! Pretty crude for such a late bottle. I like it.
ReplyDeleteFantastic looking bottle !
ReplyDeleteI had two of these that I dug yrs ago. One was neatly made, and the other was crude and whittled like the example pictured above. I remember thinking that it was an awfully crude bottle for an 1890s S.F. food.
ReplyDeleteCould a non-liquory company possibly have jumped in on the German action??
AP
My thoughts exactly. The glass is that odd flint type and heavily whittled with the style of embossing that almost looks foreign. Looks like "German connection" bottle to me.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, found this bottle with a paper label and paper neck. Although there is not much left of the label, you can read "San Francisco", "Lewis Packing Co." and "pickles" near the bottom. Paid $5 at an antique fair in Alameda, Ca.
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