Date this bottle

[Det_ard]

While out boating and swimming today I found an old beer bottle on the bottom of a local [[unsustainable suburban) lake. I’m trying to date it. I took a couple photos but it’s kind of hard to photograph clear glass well.



On the front it says in embossed lettering

“KOPPITZ-MELCHERS
[five-pointed star]
BREWING CO.
DETROIT, MICH.�

“REGISTERED�





And on the back at the bottom it says

“PURE AND WITHOUT
DRUGS OR POISON’

Google yields info that Koppitz-Melchers Brewing Company ran from 1891 until 1919, then again as Koppitz-Melchers Inc. from 1934 until 1947 when I think it was bought by Goebbels.

I’d really like to date the bottle. It’s in amazingly good condition for something that’s been on the bottom of the lake for decades. Interestingly, the empty bottle weighs almost as much as a full modern 12 oz. beer bottle.

[Detroit_uke]

There's a website: taverntrove.com they have a photo of one from 1891. They may be able to help. Good luck in your search.

[lilpup]

Check this out - it's from the Bureau of Land Management hosted by the Society for Historical Archaeology:

http://www.sha.org/bottle/index.htm

Here's a direct link to the machine made bottle page:

http://www.sha.org/bottle/machinemadedating.htm

[eriedearie]

This is just so cool - look at the help you get in answering your question.

This one looks the most like the one you found!

http://www.taverntrove.com/items/Kop...-Inc_26715.asp

[REL]

I love Detroityes...

May I ask how you came across the bottle in the water? How deep was the water you found it in?

[Mikeg]

Here's my miniature Koppitz-Melchers salt and pepper shaker set, circa late 1930s:



I did not find these at the bottom of an unsustainable body of water,

[Det_ard]

Thanks for the info thus far. Eriedearie's link shows a bottle that looks virtually the same as mine, circa 1912. It's fun to imagine what the drinker was doing ~100 years ago. Probably the same thing we were doing today -- cooling off, fishing, swimming, drinking a few beers.

[Det_ard]

I love Detroityes...

May I ask how you came across the bottle in the water? How deep was the water you found it in?

I was just playing with my kids and teaching them to swim. I put on a mask and snorkel and was diving to around 10 - 15 feet to check out the bottom and look for fish. I saw what looked like the end of a sunken branch on the bottom jutting out from a weed bed. When I picked it up i realized it was a bottle. It was full of sand and I almost left it, thinking it was just a empty modern fifth. Instead I swam it back to the boat just to get it out of the lake. It was when I started to rinse the sand out that I realized it wasn't a fifth bottle.

Maybe these ladies were having a little beer as they fished one 1912 afternoon and just pitched the bottle overboard to avoid getting caught?

[Kathleen]

Some info on Koppitz-Melchers....

Koppitz Beer, Hotter n' a Firecracker!
http://www.michiganbeerguide.com/news.asp?articleid=156

[Hornwrecker]

There's some photos of the brewery in this HOF thread:

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/6790/103701.html

[BillO]

Here's my miniature Koppitz-Melchers salt and pepper shaker set, circa late 1930s:



I did not find these at the bottom of an unsustainable body of water,

I have a 1941 photo of my folks - in front of them is a set of these Koppitz shakers

[drippyhollows]

Last summer i was at the beach looking for rocks to skip. Picked a 1920 something indian head nickle in a foot of water. Lost it somewhere in my house

[Thames]

Last summer i was at the beach looking for rocks to skip. Picked a 1920 something indian head nickle in a foot of water. Lost it somewhere in my house

The dog probably ate it. Check it's poop.

[Mikeg]

I have a 1941 photo of my folks - in front of them is a set of these Koppitz shakers

My dad's cousin was a bartender in the same place where my mom's cousin was a waitress. They married in 1940, quit their jobs and moved to Milford, MI - presumably taking these shakers with them as a "souvenir" from their former place of employment. They never had children and when she passed away, these were among her possessions that weren't claimed by her surviving brothers and sisters.