Owens Illinois 64 oz. Beer Bottle with Stopper

Big 'ol half gallon Brown Glass Beer bottle

Owens-Illinois glass company. It has the wire closure and stopper. The stopper works well and says Gem Stopper Co Phila PA and the number 1. The glass has two side seams. No label remnants or any type of embossing other than on the bottom. The base shows the logo flanked by 6 4 and below is 17. There's a red string at the top, not sure if that is original or added by someone (i.e. price tag)?

I'm selling for my Aunt (70/30 split). It comes from her brother's collection who passed away in Northern California.

I'm not much of a bottle expert but I can spot a thing or two. Thanks for any info you can provide!

 

I did a little searching this morning since I was in the middle of posting 30+ items to eBay yesterday. First off, the Owens-Illinois logo with the oval, diamond, and I is from 1929 to 1954. After 54 there's no diamond, just oval and I. So this bottle is an early one.

The 6 and the 4 are coincidentally the same as a half-gallon in ounces. The left number is the plant code (Charleston, WV) and the right number is the date code for 1934 since it has no period after it. If the single-digit date code is followed by a period then it's from the 40s (194X). Then from 1947 on they used two digits for the date codes. The number 17 is a code for the form and in this case it means a half-gallon bottle.

So if you get one with the diamond oval logo and a date code of 9 then is it '29 or '39?

Great resource found here: http://thisoldbottle.com/bottle-id-owens-illinois-glass-company/

I'm thinking start this at $50 auction and see how many are interested?

 

$50 could be wishful thinking? I just received a reply from another eBay seller who says that the stopper looks like it might have been added to the bottle since the top appears to be formed to accept a traditional bottle cap.

In fact he mentioned that the stopper looks like it is from the late 1800s and could be worth more than the bottle. I will have to dig deeper into the Gem Stopper Co Philadelphia.