PSA: Found a way to date old bottle dumps without any fancy equipment

I've been digging through old bottle dumps behind my grandpa's property in Ohio for like 2 years now and always struggled to figure out how old stuff was without sending it to a lab. Last week I noticed the seam lines on some blue glass bottles run all the way to the top, others stop halfway down the neck. Looked it up and turns out seams that go full length mean it's post 1900s machine made, partial seams are earlier. Cross referenced with a patent date on the bottom of one and it matched exactly. Has anyone else used simple visual tricks like this to date finds?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_webb12d ago

That seam trick changed everything for me when I started digging dumps in western Pennsylvania last year. I spent months just guessing ages and getting it wrong until a guy at a flea market showed me the same thing with a soda bottle from 1912. The patent date matching up is always the best feeling, like you cracked some kind of code without having to pay for testing. I totally get what you mean about simple visual tricks being the way to go, I've been using the shape of the lip on beer bottles too and it's insane how consistent it is once you start paying attention.

sandra_moore3012d ago

lol I feel this so hard because I spent like three hours last week trying to date an old inkwell by licking it to see if it tasted like 1800s dirt or something. Not my proudest moment, definitely got some weird looks from the neighbors. The seam trick is legit though, I've been using it on milk bottles I find and it's crazy how easy it is once you know what to look for. My grandpa just laughed at me when I showed him the difference, said I was overcomplicating everything when he could just tell by the color of the glass.

abbyhall12d ago

i mean honestly do we really need to be this precise about old bottles and inkwells? like who cares if it's 1880 or 1900 it's still just old glass. i get that some people are really into the history but licking an inkwell for three hours seems like a lot of effort for something that's probably gonna sit on a shelf and collect dust. grandpa's right though color tells you more than any seam or taste test ever will. half the time these dating methods are just people making up rules so they feel smart about their hobby. you do you but i'll never understand spending that kind of time on something so exact when it doesn't really change anything.