discovering more pre and post-chicago fire bottles motivates me to complete analysis on the john kent russell privy pit

late last week i was bombarded with several 19th century chicago soda and ale bottles sourced from auctions, fellow bottle enthusiasts and privy pits. a few will go into my personal collection of historically important 19th century bottles with the most notable being the cobalt blue glass george lomax soda or mineral water bottle, which is the only known example of an open-pontiled chicago soda and/or mineral water bottle. despite being cleaned (i.e., tumbled), the mid-19th century privy-dug george lomax bottle is in remarkable condition, with some of the finest crudities in the form of extreme surface whittling, abundant seeds  or air bubbles an applied blob top with slope over and of course, the open pontil scar left on the kicked up base.

soda and mineral water bottles from george's brother, john a. lomax were apart of last week's acquisition, which included five bottles dating from the civil war up until the early 1880's when lomax's bottling career drew to a close. all of the bottles contain smooth bases with embossed lettering (i.e., initials of the bottler), applied tops and necks of various lengths. the cobalt blue and aqua-colored bottles were all dug from privy pits in the city of chicago.

the two other bottles that found theit way into my personal/private collection are a rare civil war-era squat body amber glass william h. hutchinson porter bottle and a very rare cobalt blue pony style c. 1859-1860 w.h.h. (i.e., william h. hutchionson) pittsburgh soda bottle. both bottles contain smooth bases with key hinge mold lines and applied tops.

the latter is unique in that it was hutchinson's first and only attempt to expand his product outside of chicago. the ill-fated pittsburgh operation was over in less than a year, so not many of these bottles were put into production and/or circulated.

i finally came across a form of advertising pertaining to w. h. hutchinson & sons in the form of a softwood crate designed for holding a large quantity of "crown" bottle caps. the panel depicted below likely dates to 1915-1920, decades after they abandoned the production of bottled ales, soda and/or mineral waters first established in the late 1840's by founder william h. hutchinson. during the late 19th and early 20th century, the company was a supplier of bottling equipment

when i received these bottles i was once again inspired to revisit the remaining privy vault components that have been in storage for nearly a year and have them refinished and photo documented. there was a section of wrought iron banding and a single stave left over from the john kent russell house privy that was constructed nearly five feet underground in his backyard back in 1855.

the images below represent the last of the privy building materials that had been stored and left unrestored for months. after refinishing the pieces to one degree or another, i photographed them in my studio and have concluded my documentation of any and all materials recovered from that privy discovered late lat year.