Mischa Williams
Finding whole artifacts with OA11 was extremely exciting. Finding whole artifacts that were not rusty nails was even more exciting. So when an intact, complete glass bottle was found, including a discernable label, I was instantly excited. We (Fox) found the bottle on the last few days of site, in context 107 or the “destruction layer”, touching the northern stone wall. Finding this bottle gives a surprising amount of insight into the history of the site.
The bottle, held by Fox member Lucas, showcases the red “Kist Beverages” logo. Kist is a by-product of the Citrus Products Company, which was created in 1919 Chicago. Kist was most famous for its orange flavoured soda, with its only competitor at the time being Crush orange soda. These were the earliest orange sodas on the market, and Kist eventually branched out from Chicago, with retailers and manufacturers within North and South America . It was eventually bought out in 1965, and discontinued in 2008. The bottle can be identified due to the glasses having been designed to look like an orange peel, although this design was originally intended for Crush bottles.
This particular bottle is relatively local, as it was “bottled under license” (see image) in Stratford. The label on the back of the Kist bottle has not withstood the test time, possibly from being pushed against the stone wall for around 60 years. The embossing of the glass just below the writing shows that this was a 10 oz bottle, as opposed to the 7oz bottle they also sold. There is more embossing on both sides of the “10 oz”, however it is difficult to make out the full word.
What can be read shows “… ONT 10 oz. F L.”, with the F L standing for fluid ounces.
The base of the bottle gives the most useful information when it comes to dating. “4873” is the mold number, which tells us the style of the bottle. Above that is a “Diamond-D”, which is a maker’s mark. This tells us about the company that manufactured the bottle. In this case, it would be the Dominion Glass Co. We know that this mark was used between 1928 to the early 1970s, so that is the earliest and latest the bottle could have been made. Above the Diamond-D is a dot, which is not an error, but rather tells us where the bottle was made. If it is above the Diamond-D, the bottle was created in Hamilton. We also know that production in Hamilton started in 1940, thus narrowing the timeline. To the left of the Diamond-D is a month’s code.
This particular one is the May-June code, which looks a bit like a square U. Although the mouth is a bit ambiguous for dating, this particular month codes only appeared post-1949. Thus the bottle had to be post-1949 to the early 70’s. Our final clue on the bottle itself is the Year code. This is a single digit number to the right of the Diamond-D, this one being a 4. Therefore, the bottle must have been made in or around either 1954 or 1964. Although these two dates are relatively close together, we must look at the site to figure out the actual date. We know that the house in BcGn-15 was demolished around 1964. As the bottle was found near the floor of the site, one could argue that a worker happened to be drinking a Kist soda, and threw it in the pit as it was being demolished. This theory would make the most sense, as it is unlikely that the previous owner kept a soda bottle for 10 years. Thus, the mystery of the intact bottle is solved, and helped in the dating of the destruction of OA11.
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