Richard Snow, 1892

Pretty cool being able to put a picture to an old bottle I have...an 8 sided, pannelled soda water that has R. Snow / Whitby C.W. embossed on it.

It is known that Richard Snow produced soda water c.1860. A few confectionaires of this time period also sold a side line of flavoured soda waters. Most used unmarked stone or glass bottles. Richard was an exception using the light cobalt blue pannelled style that was likely blown at Lockport N.Y. Canada did not have a productive glass manufacturing company unti 1865 in Hamilton, Ontario. The Hamilton Glass Works, they did not produce the earleir styled pannelled bottles. It may be possible that Richard Snow sold his soda water line to James Wesely who began manufacturing soda water in 1869. There are a few very scarce bottles that exist which are embossed J.C. Wesley / Ontario Soda Water Works / Whitby / 1869... both in aqua and blue, also the rare gravitating stoppered example J.C. Wesley / Whitby / 1874 and finally the much coveted cobalt blue J.C. Wesley / Whitby / 1883 hutchinson style soda bottle. The earliest 1869 bottles are very much likely a product of Hamilton Glass Works and are referred to as private proprietory moulds..these were used up to 1869 before the introduction of a round interchangeable slip plate that beared the vendors name on these early squat soda style bottles. Even though J.C. Wesley was in business from 1869 through to 1883 or so, all his bottles are very scarce.

The R. Snow / Whitby C.W. pint bottle has an iron pontil scar on the base dating it to about 1857 or so. A pontil was an iron bar that was attached to the base of the bottle by an apprentice glass blower after the body of the bottle was hand blown by the master glass blower. The body of the bottle was then hand turned using the attached pontil rod while the master blower hand applied the lip. The use of the pontil rod will leave a characteristic mark on the base of he bottle. Pontils fell out of use c.1860 when a " snap case " became favourable....eliminating the use of a second man. The snap case could be placed on the body of the bottle by the master blower and then he could finish the lip himself. This was an important transistion in the development of the North American glass industry as bottle blowing ( common utalitarian wares ) now became a one man process. So it is generally regarded that pontilled wares preceed 1860. The cobalt blue, iron pontilled R. Snow / Whitby C.W. ( Canada West...which pre-dates conferation of 1867 )soda water bottle is one of Canadas very best early bottles. There is also, to the best of my knowledge...a snap case example of this bottle known, it is damaged and the majority of the base is missing so it is kind of speculative to say it is not pontilled. Assuming it is a snap cased example...that would mean Richard Snow bottled soda water in Whitby C. W. from as early as maybe 1855 through to about 1860. It may be also safe to assume that perhaps one day a primitive glass quart bottle with his name may be found, aswell as primitive stoneware bottles that will be stamped accordingly. Also early soda water manufacturers sold their products in torpedo shaped bottles...to find an early cobalt blue torpeo soda water bottle marked R. Snow / Whitby C.W. would be an absolutely "fantastic" treasure

There are also a few very early Toronto soda water manufacturers that used the same style bottle as our friend Richard Snow. Noteabley one of the most desireable is the H. SPROATT /TORONTO. This is a 12 sided cobalt blue quart bottle that stands 10 inches tall, a beautiful crude early primitive soda water. These very rare wares are found both pontilled and with plain bases. HENRY SPROATT also used torpedo style bottles, salt glazed stone wares and early squat style blob top pint bottles. All the Sproatt bottles are very rare and very valuable. Also the firms of R.HALL / TORONTO / C.W. and R. GREEN /TORONTO used the same style of bottle that no doubt were products from the LOCKPORT GLASS WORKS in upstate New York. The HALL and the GREEN are exceptionally rare as is the RICHARD SNOW / WHITBY C.W. bottle. To date only two R.SNOW bottles are known to this author and one is badly damaged. The early Toronto sodas I refer to can be seen in the late Dean Axelson`s Encyclopedia of Toronto Embossed soda water Bottles 1830 - 1940. The R. GREEN is perhaps the very best Canadian soda water bottle uncovered to date. But the R. SNOW is not far behind, definetly in the top ten and valued as such. I`m not so sure that anymore of Mr.Snows wares will ever be uncovered in the future...incredibly rare to say the least as he likely only produced soda water for a few short years as a sideline to his bakery business in the late 1850`s Happy Hunting.

I was doing some excavating this week on a job site and came across some bottles and the one that caught my eye was a pint size bottle with a glass plug in it and the bottle has a "JC. WESLEY, WHITBY, 1874" embossed on it. The Bottle dosn't have a scratch or any marks on it. It has 3 small air bubble in the glass though. I think what saved these bottles was that they were buried in sand and not dirt or gravel.

If I was to put a value on this who would I get in contact with. I'm in the Oshawa / Whitby area?

I pulled a JC Wesley Whitby Aqua hutch 1883 out of the water today. Lucky find I guess. Didn't know it was scarce. Thanks

I have a aqua bottle also that I found many years ago it is embossed with J.C.WESLEY has 3 XXX's under the name then trade mark. registered WHITBY 1869. the other side of the bottle is written ONTARIO SODA WATER WORKS then at the bottom it reads THIS BOTTLE IS NEVER SOLD. I didn't realize it was so scarce. Would anybody know the value of this bottle? Thanks

great bottles guys, all the Wesley bottles are scarce. An aqua 1869 squat recently fetched $300+ on e-bay and is a fairly rare bottle, especially with all the embossing on both sides and especially with the iconic "Ontario Soda Water Works". This was a private mould bottle that was used before the introduction of an inter-changeable slug plate that bared the vendors name. Hamilton Glass works used these private moulds from 1865 through to about 1868 then introduced the round slug plate to make bottles cheaper for the growing soda water industry in the newly formed Ontario. You can google F. Riddell / Toronto / Hamilton Glass Works to view a slug plate example...he was a baker in the 1869 - 1871 time period. These 1869 Wesley squat style bottles can also be found in true corn flower blue .... very rare with only 2 known to this author. The second style used was the 1874 gravitating stopper bottle that came with a floating glass or wooden peg with a gasket affixed to it, the pressure from the soda water would hold the floating peg tightly against the inner throat of the bottle when full ensuring the seal....these are also quite scarce and command strong prices. Years ago I found what may have been pieces of a broken cobalt blue example while digging in Whitby, but to date I only know of aqua examples. Thirdly John Wesley used the 1883 Hutchinson style bottle, again with an internal wire loop stopper and affixed gasket...these are also quite scarce with the cobalt blue examples the harder to find. There are actually 2 different styles of the Hutchinson, one being the earlier tapered base with arched lettering ( 1883 - 1885 ), the second being the flat base straight embossed example (1885 - ?) Both styles have been found in aqua and cobalt blue....Rare bottles considering he was in business for almost 20 years. I suspect there may be a slug plate variant squat to be found, possibly blue and likely with "Hamilton Glass Works" embossed around the circumference of the base...even an aqua example would be absolute killer within the bottle collecting community....but a blue one....well...keep hunting guys, that would be a national treasure! I believe he may have bought out Richard Snow`s soda water making business around 1865 or so, this leads to the possibility of an earlier ware being used maybe in and around this time period. It may be a stoneware or glass bottle, and likely embossed Snow and Wesley, Whitby C.W., again conjecture on this authors behalf but you just don`t know until you find one. Recently a bottle surfaced near Brockville, Ont. embossed Starr Bros. and Smith, dating to about 1865. Starr Bros. being established confectionaires in Brockville from the mid 1850`s who much like Richard Snow produced a side line of flavoured waters, and Smith being a fairly new soda water manufacturer in Belleville, until this ware was unearthed it was not known these two firms had a relationship. Smith and Company from Belleville went on to bottle their own soda water in the slug plate style squat soda in the early 1870`s. These later Smith bottles are also quite scarce, the Starr Bros. and Smith bottle is an early gravitating stopper bottle dating to 1865 or so and is considered a very rare one of a kind....A Snow and Wesley would no doubt be of the same stature if one was to be found. Contact Steve at ssventures@msn.com for more information if desired.

Hi Steve, just looked up this post. I'm surprised to find mention of J.C Wesley soda bottles. About 35 years ago I dug an 1883 Cobalt Hutch. at the time it was the second of this type known. I believe 2 more were found in Pickering Village.What is the rarity and value of them now?

the cobalt Wesley Hutchinson bottle can be found with two variations. In my opinion both would be considered rare. I have had both variations in blue and aqua pass through my collection over the past 35 years or so. A very desirable piece for the collector of early Canadian soda water bottles. The last cobalt example I saw was offered at auction in 2011, it was the older style with the arched embossing, and the embossing was weak. It commanded $500 plus applicable commissions and taxes so lets say the buyer was willing to pay $600. This is likely fair market value...that being said I would not be surprised to see a choice example sell much higher. In the last couple of years there has been more awareness and interest in our history and as such values of the more coveted examples of all things Canadiana have risen. We can thank various reality tv. shows like Antiques roadshow, American pickers etc. for garnering strength in interest for our heritage and the wares of yesteryear. Early eastern township wares have really come into their own the last 5 years or so and if some of the record prices being paid in American auctions for choice rare early American bottles is any indication I think we can fully expect choice Canadian pieces to follow suit. Case in point, recently two seperate amber - yellow Beaver 1/2 gallon preserve jars from the late 1890`s fetched $15,000 U.S. each in different auctions...likely the two best jars in Canada and incredibly rare....but I degress. The best example I ever saw of the cobalt Wesley hutchinson was found in the long forgotten ghost town of Howells Hollow, east of the present day ghost town of Brougham. About 35 years ago by a member of a local club, his name was Kevin and I believe he was digging with his father Don at the time. This was a newer styled vertically embossed example in a rich, deep cobalt blue and absolutely pristine if I remember correctly...it has been many years. Is this perhaps the bottle you have ? I also dug a slew of broken examples in Pickering village years ago during construction directly west of the old hotel site and directly across from what was Marios music media at the time. The same site yielded my cobalt blue Wesley 1869 squat. The aqua hutchinsons are just as scarce as the cobalt examples. I would rate the cobalt Wesley hutch as likely Canada`s best Hutchinson bottle. If it`s available for purchase you can contact Steve at ssventures@msn.com

I found my Wesley bottle on westney road in ajax across from coffee time north of hwy 2 we were doing a subdivision there and I was watching the machinery when one of them uncovered a handful of bottles one of them being j.c. wesley

I buy good blod bottles from Ontario

I just bought a Hamilton Glass Works slug plate J.Kernahan London bottle from an auction in London.The bottle had what looked to be the original contents that had gone rock hard.The bottle was very dirty and took me some time to clean it properly.To my surprise it’s not aqua.It’s a light corn flower blue.Any Kernahan bottle are considered scarce to rare,anyone heard of this in blue?