C. A. Murdock Mfg. Co. Druggist Glass Bottle

1900 Photo of C. A. Murdock Mfg. Co. building on 1225-1227 Union Ave., Kansas City, MO.

C. A. Murdock Manufacturing Company, est. 1882-1915, organized by Charles Austin Murdock, originally specialized in producing and distributing spices, coffee, flavoring extracts, and condiments.  This company, based in Kansas City, Missouri, shipped their products to Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Arizona, and New Mexico.

This particular bottle appears to be a druggist/ pharmaceutical bottle of some sort, based on its shape and embossments.

We can clearly see that there are at least two flat side panels where the bottle manufacturer added the company's proprietary embossments: "C. A. MURDOCK MFG. CO. KANSAS CITY".  Because proprietary embossments on glass bottles is almost only ever found on mouth-blown bottles, we can surmise that this bottle pre-dated the 1920s (as this was about when glass manufacturers gleefully began using machines and molds to manufacture their bottles).

Next, it's plain that this bottle has a tooled finish based on how the side seams stop right at the edge of the finish, which is clearly marked with a seam that circles the neck.  This essentially means that the "finish" or lip of the bottle was applied after the main body was blown.

The base of this bottle is pretty cool; the glass maker mark is embossed in the middle, an 'I' inside of a diamond shape, indicating the Illinois Glass Company.  If it hasn't been clear before that this was a mouth-blown bottle, I hope that looking at this bottle from its base helps.  The irregular air pocket shape of the interior of the bottle is a dead give-away; plus, check out all the large and small bubbles within the glass itself!  

Strangely, there appears to be the number '1' directly to the left of the trademark, which is unexpected and confusing.  Even stranger, there appears to be a very crude circular seam mark surrounding much of the base, which is reminiscent of the Owens Glass Co. machine suction scars.  However, we know that Owens did not acquire Illinois Glass Co. until 1929.

As for a precise date of manufacture for this bottle, May Jones, renowned bottle stalker, estimated that this particular iteration of the Illinois Glass Co. mark was used as early as 1873.  So, we must settle for the birth of this bottle occurring somewhere between 1882-1915, which was mentioned before as C. A. Murdock Mfg. Co.'s years in business.