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| 1921 DyanShine Ad |
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| 1922 Advertisement |
The "Dyan-Shine" shoe & leather polish was invented by Warren Douglas Barton in 1918 during World War I. Barton started the Dyan Shine Shoe Polish Manufacturing Company, and manufactured his shoe polish in Waco, Texas beginning in the year 1919.
Later on, Barton moved the business to St. Louis, Missouri in the year 1927. [3][4] This product is still currently sold. The two images above are very early examples of Barton Mfg. Co. advertising. | |
| 1922 Dyanshine ad. |
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| Figure 1: Dyanshine patent application. |
I recovered this round little polish bottle from a small-ish man-made pond on farmland in Eudora, Kansas. It has a black plastic cap that screws on.
The base of the bottle is embossed:
BARTON'S / DYANSHINE around the circumference of the base.
In the center is the letter K / an 'H' over a smaller 'A' trademark / the number 8.
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| Figure 2 |
The 'H over A' trademark belongs to the Hazel-Atlas Glass Company (Figure 2). The number 8 under the HA logo either denotes the bottle's mold number or set number.
Though it seems that Hazel-Atlas did not date their bottles, we can confidently assume that this bottle was manufactured after 1930--due to the presence of external screw-top threads--and before 1964, when the company was acquired by Brockway Glass Co.
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| 1932 DyanShine ad, St. Louis, MO. |
In addition, by looking at several decades' worth of advertisements for Barton's Dyanshine, it's clear that Dyanshine bottles were corked up until the early-mid 1930s.
The letter K embossed on the base refers to the plant #2 in Zanesville, Ohio.
This particular Zanesville plant was actually the second factory of the Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Company, which Hazel-Atlas acquired in January 1920.
The first (original) factory was permanently closed on November 1, 1956. KGBCo was able to retain their identity following the acquisition up until 1937 when the Kearns-Gorsuch name was dropped completely.
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| 1916 KGBCo. Catalog showing shoe polish bottles |
To the right is a page from the KGBCo catalog in 1916 showing some of their polish bottles. Note the round shoe polish bottle, likely the predecessor to the bottle that I found.
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| 1922 Advertisement |
Sources:
[1] "Volume CCLXXII. March, 1920." Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. Washington Government Printing Office. 1920.
[2] Gleason, Marion N. Clinical toxicology of commercial products : acute poisoning, home & farm. Williams & Wilkins, 1957.
[3] "W.D. Barton Sr. Dies Saturday in Fort Worth." Waco Times-Herald. March 18, 1951.
[4] Smyrl, Viviam Elizabeth. "McLennan County." Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. <http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcm08>.
[5] Whitten, David. "Hazel-Atlas Glass Company (1902-1964)." Glass Bottle Marks. <http://www.glassbottlemarks.com/hazel-atlas-glass-company/>.
Mine looks just like the one in the 1932 ad above. Who knew this could be so fun! Good luck with your vast collection!
ReplyDeleteHi Dana, this is probably long overdue, but I just wanted to say thanks for your comments and good luck to you as well!
DeleteI just dug one up in my yard!
ReplyDeleteI have bottle with the label and the box it came in. My bottle has the H with an A under it with a 2 underneath that.it has a twist/locking metal cap. Still has the polish in it. Do you know how old this might be?
ReplyDeleteI found one but it has an f in a octagon and a 20 on it. Can anyone tell me what year it's from?
ReplyDeleteMine is similar, screw threads, and an F inside a hexagon with the number 18 below it...no idea what year :( ...anyone?
DeleteMine is similar, screw threads, and an F inside a hexagon with the number 18 below it...no idea what year :( ...anyone?
DeleteI found one in my local lagoon. Exactly the same, except on the bottom there is also a 33.
DeleteI just found one in my yard....I think dog brought it in and looks like F and no. 4 on bottom of bottle...no cap but looks like it twists. I cleaned it up and gonna use it as decoration.
ReplyDeleteJust found a bottle in my great grandmothers baseboards of her old stone home rippled glass bottle..embossed on the bottom. US pat.no.D-181,618...
ReplyDeleteMine has the cap and dauber, but no factory markings. How do I date it then?
ReplyDeleteJust found one that has Barton’s Dyanshine on the bottom and a 9 or a 6 in the middle. It is
ReplyDeletea 3 1/2 oz jar.
Found mine in old dump 3 1/2 oz.size with no. 6 or 9 on bottom looks like was a cork top no threads pretty goo d shape
DeleteThank you for the informative and entertaining article. My friend just dug one up in Berkeley CA. This cute little bottle made it all the way to the Pacific ocean!
ReplyDeleteI just found one in Llano, TX with Barton's Dynashine on the bottom and the number 15 in the center. The number 5095 on the side at the bottom edge. It must have had a cork as there are no screw threads. Thanks for publishing this info!
ReplyDeleteI've got one that has the H over the A and the number 1 under that.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know what they r worth one with the cork
ReplyDeleteI just found one with a H over A and the number 2. Found on a ditch trail in Nevada City, California
ReplyDeleteI found one with a H over A and the number 9. Can anyone tell me more about this bottle?
ReplyDelete