Facebook Blurb # 29 – The Shape of Water

In today’s “Biz Buzz” column of the Daily Inquirer, it was reported that San Miguel Corp.’s previously announced plan to drop plastic bottles for its purified water business, and return to glass containers, would finally be implemented. SMC will use RGB (reusable glass bottles) which, because it is re-designed to have thicker bottoms, will minimize breakage and tipping, and will have a re-use life cycle of 100 times.

While this presents new quarry for glass bottle collectors, it also reminds one of a time in the past when glass water storage jars stood on the shelves of refrigerators – plain, ribbed or intricately designed.

This specimen is a dark green bottle with the word “Water” and a floral design embossed on its face. The trademark at its base, a superimposed diamond and oval with an “I” in the center, indicates that it was manufactured by the Owens-Illinois Glass Co., a 1929 merger between the Owens Bottle Co. (est. 1896) and the Illinois Glass Co. (est. 1873). While the company used several trademark variations over the years, this particular one indicates that the bottle was produced between 1929 to the late 1950’s. Indeed, these words are also embossed at the bottom of the bottle – “Pat. Sept. 15, 1931.”