pile of 19th century "pictorial" hutchinson bottles discovered behind ace on ashland

long after the hodgepodge of 19th and 20th century buildings forming the ace hardware on ashland were demolished last year, excavation work finally began. multiple machines dug deep below grade in preparation for the foundation work of a new development, and just a few days later i was summoned to the site when a machine operator stumbled upon a massive pile of antique bottles, including an unusual number of "pictorial" hutchinson bottles featuring deeply embossed animals (e.g., lions, bears, wolves), dating to the turn of the century.

image courtesy of hutchbook.com.

image courtesy of hutchbook.com.

the stretch of "blobtop" bottles and fragments pictured above were found on a lot where four neighboring stables once stood (based on an 1886 sanborn insurance map). research is underway to identify the wood-framed buildings located just west of the stables facing ashland avenue. based on the sheer quantity of glass (including whiskey bottles, flasks, condiment bottles, "torpedo" bottles, etc.) unearthed over the course of two days, i strongly suspect at least one of the buildings housed a saloon sometime between 1890-1910.

the following group of images were taken onsite, shortly after several clusters of bottles and fragments were unearthed, quickly sorted, and lightly cleaned for identification purposes. 

besides the large number of hutchinson soda bottles i was surprised at the notable number of unmarked or unembossed "torpedo" shaped blobtop bottles unearthed from each pile. i’ve always found torpedo bottles rather fascinating, due in large part to their appealing shape. the bottles were hand-blown in a two-leaf hinged mold made to produce rounded bottoms, designed to prevent the bottles from being stood upright. the shape certainly dates it to an older method of manufacturing bottle closures, as the rounded bottom kept the content inside (i.e., carbonated soda or mineral water) in constant contact with the cork - this prevented it from shrinking and causing the bottle to lose its pressure. incidentally, the design also worked in favor of the merchant, since the consumer would have to finish the beverage before the bottle could be set down. 

the final group of images were taken in my studio as i began organizing the various bottles extracted from the site.