Sunday, December 4, 2011

1952 Patent D-105529 Hobbleskirt






On yesterday's ride I took a few breaks to do a little insulator scouting.  I parked the HP Velo at the side of trail and hopped a small creek to inspect some ground  under an old telegraph pole.  This time of year all the leaves have fallen and strong winds blow the ground clear in places.  At the base of a tree I saw the familiar glint of green glass and I thought ah-ha! an insulator.  As I walked up I noticed the thing wasn't an insulator but a bottle.  What I could see was just an inch or two of the thick green glass base of a narrow bottle stuck into the soft mud .

When I saw the embossed Script on the bottle with lack of printing inks or other decoration of modern times I realized I was holding a piece of real of 20th century American history.  Because of my interest in antique glass insulators I am aware of the bottle collecting hobby.  Once again an amateur archaeology project fell right into my lap.  In the creek I rinsed loose the sediment from inside the bottle and tucked it safe into a side pocket of my seat back bag.

 After some quick and easy research online I learned these facts:

Patent D-105529 Hobbleskirt Coke Bottle

Produced 1938-1951

Front emboss:
Coca-Cola
TRADE MARK REGISTERED
BOTTLE PAT, D-105529

Rear emboss:
Coca-Cola
TRADE MARK REGISTERED
MIN. CONTENTS 6 FL. OZS.

--

Produced 1951-1958

Front emboss:
Coca-Cola
TRADE MARK REGISTERED
IN U.S. PATENT OFFICE

Rear emboss:
Coca-Cola
TRADE MARK REGISTERED
MIN. CONTENTS 6 FL. OZS.

--

Produced 1958-1965

Front emboss:
Coca-Cola
TRADE MARK REGISTERED
IN U.S. PATENT OFFICE

Rear emboss:
Coca-Cola
TRADE MARK REGISTERED
MIN CONTENTS 6 1/2 FL OZS



Clearly visible embossing on the lower front reads:

5225

The first two digits represent the year the bottle was made 1952.  It almost seems as though Coca-Cola knew their bottles might one day become collectible items so the designers made it easy for production runs to be easily identified and authenticated.

Another cool feature I learned about the "Hobbleskirt Bottle" is that the city that the bottle was from is embossed on the bottom.  I found this bottle just outside the city limits of Mansfield, Ohio.  Today lucky for the collector market this unique hierarchy of bottle production versus population density favors the small town distributors whose demand required smaller quantities of bottles.  This means fewer surviving examples with small town embossed names compared to the well known big cities of America.  Scarcity once helped by demand drives the value up fueling a healthy collector market.

During my photo shoot I went all out using the tripod and artificial lighting and also taking the opportunity to experiment with the white balance settings of my camera.  While reviewing my shots I noticed that the second shot, the rear emboss detail the whole bottle looked crooked.  To be sure I went back and set up again but this time I adjusted the white balance.  The following images have a purple cast I don't like but more importantly after a careful alignment of camera and subject the second series of pictures shows the bottle is a true leaner. All I did was to rotate the bottle 180 degrees.       




I did find some insulators too. 

Nice dome glass on far right beehive.



15 comments:

  1. Wow, what a great find. You certainly make a great pitch for taking a trip to Ohio. It's funny, I was talking with my kids about glass soda bottles just the other day. They were saying, "Dad, did they put soda in cans so they could sell them in vending machines or did that just make aluminum cans more popular than glass?" I had to explain to them that they used to sell bottles out of vending machines and that kind of confused them until I could find some photos online to show them. Then they pointed to an object on the outside of the machine and asked what it was for – they were pointing to a bottle opener. Boy, boy did I feel old.

    ReplyDelete
  2. recumbent conspiracy theoristDecember 5, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    Great story Nate! Here's another funny one. Last trip to the grocery store we picked up a four-pack of Coke bottled in re-issued early 1900's green glass bottles. My son noticed the old timey embossing on these modern made straight side bottles right away. (I think its cool Coke puts out these re-issues around Christmas time.) Then I couldn't believe it when I found an authentic 60 year old one a couple days later.

    ReplyDelete
  3. the bottle is a remake im not saying u didnt find it outside but its a remake trust me iv been bottle collecting since i was a kid and the real ones look alot different

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://www.antiquebottles.com/coke/ go onto this site it will give u some info ur bottle is a repro probobly made in the 1980s

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a coca cola bottle ...its a pat. Number D-105529 but below that reads 80L43 ... what does it stand for?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello. I got a bottle with the same design and the same inscription on the front but the difference is that was made from molten iron. I can send you pictures if you want. maybe you can tell me something about it. my mail is jonatanhot@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I dug a bottle the same exact type except it said chico calif on the bottom. I believe the bottom has lines does not mean repro.It may be repro that was made in the 50's.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just found 2old coke bottles in the walls of a 120year old house they are green with glens falls NY on the bottom 6 oz paten number0-5529 no other numbers how old are they

    ReplyDelete
  9. medive41@aol.com I have 6 un opened coke bottles from FL. Pat D 105529 what are they worth?

    ReplyDelete
  10. What yr is my Bottle! Found this in a submerged tree stump in the Hudson River when the river was low.
    6 ? 41 shows on bottle. The question mark is actually a makers symbol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a bottle like that, with same patent number and "41" on the front. Minr says Tiffin Ohio on the bottom. does yours have writing on the bottom

      Delete
  11. This doesn't make sense. You must have the 2 bottles and years produced mixed up. The one with the pat. number is only supposed to have been produced until 1951 according to your article but you said yours was produced in 1952 and I have one from Cincinnati ohio that has '60,'68 or '69 on it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Found a pat.-d 105529 6 fl. Oz no bottom of the bottle found it buried this way anyone have any knowledge on this error?? Thank s

      Delete
  12. 1952 is not the year. The D patent coke bottles were from 1938-51. The first number is the year of other Coke bottles but not the patent D.

    ReplyDelete