I posted an image of one example of these "black" glass bottle base marks on the Archeoseek site (same link as the compact glass; you can click on the forum title).
http://archaeoseek.ning.com/group/artifactidhelp

It's not a great image, but will give you an idea of what they look like.  :o)

Carol

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lockhart, Bill
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 2:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Blackglass "Ale" Bottles

The Bottle Research Group has recently been investigating blackglass
"ale" or "stout" bottles that appear on ca. 1875-1900 US sites.  Our
current hypothesis is that the bottles were made in Great Britain.

Can any of our British members help us out (or anyone else, of course)?
 Below is what we have discovered so far.  If anyone has any additional
data to add, please replay to me offlist or to the list.

Thanks,

Bill Lockhart

	Basemarks on Blackglass Bottles

	Patrick Collison sent us a table with a series of marks (mostly
containing the letter "K") on kick-ups of blackglass "ale" bottles. 
These bottles, of course, may have held anything.  Most are made with a
three-piece mold, although some used a two-piece mold with a cup bottom.
 All had a kick-up, often with a small mamelon in the center.

	Many of these were embossed with letters and/or numbers on the
sides of the kick-up.  The Collison sample included nine bottles marked
with the letter "K" – usually in the form of "x K" (e.g. "5K"),
although two had letters to the left (L or M).  If the mamelon were
present, it was between the two letters.

	Other bottles had a vertical orientation for the numbers/letters
(e.g., "N / O" or "556 / O").

	Collison listed three bottles as being made by the turn-mold
process, yet they have basemarks.  We have encountered other basemarked
turn-mold bottles, although they were made in Germany by Hermann Heye. 
All of the turn-mold bottles were basemaked with a "K."

	These appear to be the type of bottle that mimicked the ceramic
ale bottles common in England during the 19th century.  Wilson (1981:10)
called them Stout bottles.  His two photos and descriptions included one
with a partial paper label that says both "Stout" and "Dublin."  The
bottles were base embossed with "XI K" and "S K" – both with the
mamelon in the center.  He called the color "dense-green glass."

	It is notable that all the bottles with "K" to the right have
either arabic numerals or Roman numerals to the left.  The "S" reported
in Wilson is likely a "5."  We have also seen a bottle with "II" and a
faint diagonal line between.  This could be recorded as an "N," but it
is more likely a Roman numeral "II."

	According to Bill Lindsey’s observations over the last 30
years, the range of the bottles could extend from the 1860s to ca. 1910,
although the vast majority come from 1875-1900 contexts.  He concurs
that the bottles were manufactured in the British Isles.

	Our current working hypothesis is that the "K" is the initial
indicating the Kilner Brothers.  This is not currently supported by any
evidence except the presence of that initial and the likelihood that the
bottles were manufactured in Great Britain.  We have no current evidence
to connect the Kilners with the turn-mold process.


 
 
Bill Lockhart
Associate Professor of Sociology
New Mexico State University
Alamogordo, NM
(575) 439-3732