I really, really don't want to beat a dead horse here, but if Ron chooses to
use the Beck, Phillips & Co. designation as the manufacturer of the
container, he would be flat out wrong. The main evidence for this assertion
comes from several clues. First and foremost is the size, shape, and color
of the container itself. I unfortunately immediately deleted Ron's initial
post, but I seem to recall that he indicated the bottle was diminutive, 1
1/2" if I recall correctly. And I believe he also indicated that it was
cobalt. And that it had a mark of a reverse P and a forward P (sharing the
same stem) within a circle in addition to the BP&Co. mark. Did he also
mention that it had a prescription finish?

Ok, the small size and prescription finish clearly suggest that it was most
likely a bottle containing some sort of pharmaceutical product. This is
generally reinforced by the cobalt blue color (although this is not as hard
and fast of a rule). These facts would reinforce the interpretation
forwarded by Fike, who presents a description of a slightly larger (what did
I say that it was . . . between 2 and 3 inches?) vessel that is also cobalt,
and which also has the matching manufacturer's mark (the 2 P's sharing a
single stem)! His attribution of the container holding dyspepsia tablets
makes perfect sense.

Another line of argument lies within the P's themselves. If the BP&Co.
indicates the manufacturer of the container, are the P's there to designate
the contents? It is infrequent that such symbolic representation is used for
product identification during the early period of glass container
manufacture. It is infinitely more logical that stylized representations
(such as the 2 P's) would be used to identify the manufacturer of the
container.

Final line of argument lies in the fact that the website that you are basing
your attribution on clearly indicates that it relies heavily on Toulouse for
a lot of its information. A quick look at "Fruit-Jar Manufacturers..." shows
that Toulouse has Beck, Phillips & Co. (your Pittsburgh attribution as the
manufacturer) is primarily a manufacturer of jars. In my research I have
rarely seen many jar manufacturing companies also manufacturing cobalt
prescriptions (George, Bill, hold your tongues, I said rarely).

Anyway, I really don't want to sound like I'm harping on anyone, because I'm
not. I just want everyone to become a little more aware of how to read and
interpret the information we see on the bottom of containers that we find in
the field. This is often the only information we have to effectively
interpret a site.

Matthew Sterner
Senior Project Director
Statistical Research, Inc.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol Serr" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: BP Co bottle


> Hmmm....this is puzzling.  Wish I remembered about the bottle I had
> seen...like yours.  Apparently it is not still posted online...wherever
I'd
> seen it.  Darn.
>
> Thanks Ron!
>
> At 03:58 AM 7/1/2004 -0400, you wrote:
> >Carol,
> >
> >This has the mark "BP & Co" and below there is a raised embossed circle
with
> >a "P" next to a reversed "P" and the color is cobalt and a rounded body.
I am
> >sure it is the Beck & Phillips. That date is most interesting.
> >
> >Ron
>
>