I wrote this in answer to an inquiry from Mitzi Rossillon, but I thought I
would place it on the list as the information may prove helpful to someone
else.

Mitzi wrote (in part):


I have only the base from an aqua bottle which
was about 3 1/2 inches in diameter.  The base is marked C B K, with the C
and B on the first line and the K centered beneath them.  The letters are
about 5/8 inches tall.  The site with which they are associated is an
1870s placer mining camp occupied by a Chinese miner (although perhaps not
exclusively).  Any thoughts? Mitzi Rossillon Renewable Technologies, Inc.
Butte, America

Hi Mitzi,

 What I have found will probably be no help, but here it is anyway.
Although I did not go through the entire 600+ pages of Toulsouse to check
(he does not cross list the marks and only lists them alphabetically by
the most common one used by the company), I only found that configuration
on bottles from only two companies, one from Italy and one, Kilner
Brothers, from England.  Kilner is KB with a C underneath.  The C referred
to the Colinsbro plant.  I found a soda water bottle with that mark in the
El Paso Coliseum excavation.

 I have also seen one bottle marked C. B. Co. (although it was on a 20th
century bottle), but I have never found a reference for the mark (I tried
that one on HISTARCH with no luck).  I suspect that the K on your bottle
indicates something besides the actual manufacturer–a second plant, a
designer, or even a date code–all of those are found on various bottles
(in letter, not numeral format).

Toulouse (1971:99) notes a Craven Bros. Glass Co. that operated from 1882
to 1895.  The plant was also associated with John V. Craven, 1879-1882.
Although this is about a decade late for your site, it appears to be the
best contender I have found.  In Fruit Jars (1969:55), Toulouse lists a C.
Burnham & Co., Manufacturers, Philadelphia.  He dates the jar ca. 1860 but
includes no company information.  Maybe someone in Philadelphia could look
the company up in the city directories there. We should start providing
that kind of service for each other.  Of course, I would drive everyone
crazy with requests. (Anyone in Los Angeles want a small challenge?  Look
up Abe Heineman for me.  He was the west-coast representative for Empire
Bottling Works or Empire Products Corp. in LA.  The library wants $21 per
hour to find things like that, and I am funding my research myself).

 Although Toulouse is the most widely accepted source for dating
manufacturer's marks, he has many inaccuracies that have been caught by
other sources (including, in one case, me).  In addition, much of his
information is anecdotal or comes from city directories.  Although the
directories are often our only or one of our few resources for information
about a company (especially a small one), they are often inaccurate as to
start-up dates.  In El Paso, I have found them to be as much as three
years late for the beginning date of at least one company.

 Toulouse also fails to list all known glass manufacturing companies.  It
 is highly possible that many of the marks we cannot identify could at least
be rationally guessed about if we had more access to the names of all the
glass houses that had existed in the U. S.  Most of the very old ones
(post-1800) have actually been described along with many from the early
1800s.  However, an unpublished manuscript by Lee Fratt makes it quite
clear that Toulouse left out many possibilities for identifying marks on
beer bottles.  Toulouse worked from known marks rather than starting with
manufacturing companies and tracing the marks.  He also wrote both books
and his articles for collectors, so he was coming from a slightly
different view than one of us probably would.

 I hope this is helpful to someone out there, and I welcome any comments
 on dating glass or helping each other out.

Bill

Bill Lockhart
New Mexico State University
Alamogordo, NM
(505) 439-3732