26. CRACKED-OFF & Burst-off - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS, though it virtually identical in overall conformation to the straight or sheared finish (#15) which is covered.  Also known as a wetted off finish, straight finish, and possibly other names. 

This simple style of finish is, like the straight finish (#15), simply an extension of the neck with little if any tooling or post blowpipe removal work.  It is really a lack of a finish but did function well enough with the highly compressible cork closure.  Very often the bore of a cracked-off bottle was fire polished making it impossible to determine if the bottle was actually cracked-off or sheared from the blowpipe, though it is believed that most bottles were cracked-off.  The cracked-off finish pictured to the left is on a yellowish green "scroll" flask that was made at an Eastern American glassworks in the 1850s.  Most American figured flasks received post-blowpipe removal fire polishing and/or tooling to smooth out the rough finish rim.  However, on some "cheaper" though popular mass produced flasks like the scroll style, little time was spent in smoothing out the finish as compared to other, better made and more expensive flasks of the era (McKearin & Wilson 1978).

The burst-off method of removing the blowpipe is a distinctly different process than cracking-off, though produced a rough finish rim that is very similar to the cracked-off finish.  The image below right is a typical burst-off finish.  The burst-off finish looks very similar to the cracked-off finish but does have some subtly differing characteristics (Kendrick 1968; Boow 1991):

• The top surface of the finish is usually very jagged and sharp. (A cracked-off rim may be jagged but is rarely as sharp.)
• The glass at the bore which forms the jagged top is distinctly thinner than the glass of the neck right below.  (If a bottle was cracked-off the glass thickness at the rim is equal in thickness to the glass just below the detachment point; i.e., no narrowing at the rim.)
• There is rarely any type of pontil mark on the base as these bottles were produced in a later era.
• There is often - but not always - a "bulge" on the upper neck below the jagged finish which was a result of the glass expanding beyond the top surface of the mold. 

Click English ink bottle to view the entire bottle of early 20th century English manufacture whose finish is pictured to the right.  Click on the following link to see an amazing film clip from the early 20th century showing glass blowers using the burst-off method of detaching the blowpipe:  Early 20th century mouth-blown bottle making film clip.  Film clip is compliments of the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. (Many thanks to Phil Perry, engineer with that company.)

Practically speaking, virtually all mouth-blown bottle finishes started out as a cracked-off/burst-off neck which with the application heat, additional glass, and/or tooling converted the crude cracked-off neck end into some other more functional type of finish. The cracked-off finish is much less common than the similar straight and rolled (#30) finishes, since the cracked-off neck end usually received some post blowpipe removal fire polishing and/or tooling which turned the cracked-off neck end into these other two finish styles.  For more information on the cracked-off and burst-off blowpipe removal processes click on Part I - Methods of Finishing a Bottle.

Like the straight finish, the cracked-off finish can be found on a wide array of American bottle types manufactured primarily from prior to 1800 to the early 1870s.  This includes many types of figured flasks, a variety of other liquor bottles, early patent & proprietary medicines and hair treatment bottles, ink & mucilage (paste) bottles, cologne/perfume bottles, food and condiment bottles, and occasional wine bottles.  This finish is rarely if ever found on soda, mineral water, and beer/ale bottles, fruit jars, and bottles produced after the 1870s with a few inevitable exceptions.  Many of these bottle types utilized types of closures for which a simple cracked-off finish was not suitable for proper sealing. 

Bottles with a burst-off finish are occasionally encountered on American historic archaeological sites, though most of the crudely made, burst-off bottles seen today were relatively recently imported from England for the American collector market.  These cheaply produced English bottles primarily date from the 1890s to 1920s era (Wills 1974; Boow 1991).

27. MUSHROOM or "Tippecanoe" - This one-part finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  This style of finish is so unique that it is really only found on one specific bottle - the H. H. Warner & Co. (Rochester, NY) medicinal/bitters named Tippecanoe.   This could be described as an extremely flared finish with a lower surface perpendicular to the neck which then is gradually rounded back to the bore.  It is much easier to visualize than to describe - see the picture to the left. 

These are also called a "mushroom lip" and sometimes just a "flared finish" (Ojea & Stecher 1998).  The design patent for this bottle (November 1883) noted that - "...the neck of the bottle, made with a broad rim at the top resembling a fungus or toad-stool growing out of the end of a log" (Graci 2003).  Given this, the mushroom finish is the most historically accurate name.

These uniquely "log" shaped bottles are actually relatively common and date from 1883 - when the product was introduced taking the place of the Warner's Safe Bitters and Warner's Safe Tonic - through the 1890s and possibly even into the early 1900s (Seelinger 1974).  The Tippecanoe was made with a "true" applied finish to a much later date than most bottles in the late-19th century.  This late use of an applied finish was probably a function of the unusual finish which likely defied being produced with purely tooled technology; additional glass had to be added to form this shape.  (Note: There is at least one other medicinal "cure" bottle with a similar finish but it is unlikely to ever be encountered due to its extreme rarity.)

28. POURING - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS but was included in Berge (1980) who called it a spout.  It is more of an alteration made to another distinct style of finish than a distinct style itself.  However, the "pouring lip" was specifically noted in Jones & Sullivan (1989) and is also being covered here as a stylistic variation.

The distinct feature of this finish is the pouring spout created to facilitate the slow, even removal of liquid contents - see pictures.  Pouring spouts can occur on finishes formed by most all of the major finish manufacturing processes covered in Part I: cracked-off, sheared, applied, tooled, and machine-made. 

The majority of bottles with a pouring finish were intended for the bulk sale of ink - a type of liquid that one generally wanted to pour in a slow, controlled manner.  However, pouring finishes were also used infrequently on some liquor bottles, occasional medicines, syrup, and rarely other products.  Pouring finishes are virtually unknown on soda, mineral water, wine/champagne, and beer bottles.  Pouring finishes were used for a long time (and are still used on some syrup bottles) so no dating utility can be derived from its presence (or absence).  Pouring spouts have been noted on the following finish types: mineral (#2), bead (#3),patent (#7), packer (#8), prescription (#9), oil  (#11), flare (#14), and straight (#15) (Covill 1971; Jones & Sullivan 1989; empirical observations).

The teal green applied pouring finish in the picture above is on a Carter's "bulk" ink bottle that dates from the 1880s.  "Bulk" or large capacity ink bottles like this were used to refill smaller ink bottles and ink wells; thus the obvious utility of a pouring spout.  Bulk inks with this finish can date from the 1830s and 1840s to at least 1930.  Thus, no dating utility is possible based on this finish alone; other diagnostic features must be used.  The more or less mineral finish (close to brandy finish however) like shown on the Carter's above was probably the most common finish on bulk inks - with or without a pour spout (Covill 1971).

The reddish amber pouring finish pictured to the right is on a Wharton's Whiskey (Philadelphia, PA) that was blown at the Whitney Glass Works (Glassboro, NJ) around 1860 (McKearin & Wilson 1978).  This bottle essentially has a straight (#15) or cracked-off (#26) finish that received substantially post-blowpipe tooling to form the large pouring spout (and of course, the addition of an applied handle).  Liquor bottles or semi-decanters like that pictured were not too uncommon during the mid-19th century (approximately 1845 to 1875), but were very uncommon on American made bottles outside of that date range.  (Note: European-made bottles with applied handles continued until around 1900 and many were imported into this country.  They tend to have much smaller, tighter applied handles nestled at the junction of the neck and shoulder.)

29. INSIDE THREAD - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS but was included in Berge (1890) who called it an internal thread.  This was probably because - like the pouring finish above - the inside thread finish is also a modification done to another distinct finish style and could simply be considered a closure type instead of a distinct finish (see Part III - Types of Bottle Closures).  Also called inside screw-thread, inside screw cap, inside screw top, and possibly other names.  An early 20th century glass catalog referred to this finish as "inside screw top, brandy" (Illinois Glass Co. 1903).  Inside threads have been observed within the following finishes: brandy (#12), straight brandy (#25), double ring (#1), and blob (#20).

The distinctive feature of this finish style are the continuous type threads which are found on the inside of the finish.  This finish is by far the most common on mouth-blown tooled finish liquor bottles made between the late 1880s and National Prohibition in 1920, and in particular between 1890 and 1915. This era's bottles virtually always had the hard rubber type stopper shown in the colorless bottle pictured to the left (Wilson & Wilson 1968; Munsey 1970)).  During this era a few other types of bottles were made with inside threads including some soda/mineral waters (mostly foreign made), chemical and/or ammonia bottles, perfumes and colognes, and some ink bottles (Elliot & Gould 1988; empirical observations).  An earlier and much less common type of inside thread finish with a glass stopper is also found on mineral water, beer/ale, and liquor bottles and flasks dating between 1861 and the mid-1870s.  These different variations are covered below.

The colorless, tooled inside thread finish above (inside of a straight brandy finish) is on an S. A. Arata & Co. (Portland, OR.) pint flask that dates between about 1905 and 1911 (Thomas 1998a).  Inside thread finishes on flasks were much less common that on cylinder fifths and quarts of that era, but was common enough to warrant mention here.

The dark amber applied inside thread finish (inside of a straight brandy finish) in the two pictures to the right are on a Weeks & Potter liquor bottle (Boston, MA) that dates between 1861 and about 1870.  Weeks & Potter was a Boston proprietary medicine concern, founded in 1852 and operating well into the 20th century.  They produced many patent & proprietary medicines including the Sanford's Radical Cure and several Cuticura products including the famous Cuticura System of Curing Constitutional Humors (Baldwin 1973; Fike 1987).  These bottles most definitely held liquor as ones with labels have been observed noting that they contained "Old Bourbon Whiskey."

This bottle has the Samuel A. Whitney patented (Patent #31,046, January 1, 1861) inside thread finish that accepts a glass threaded stopper.  The patent noted that this finish arrangement was "...applicable to a variety of bottles and jars...(but) is especially well adapted to and has been more especially designed for use in connection with mineral-water bottles, and such as contain effervescing wines, malt liquors, &c..." (McKearin & Wilson 1978).  This stopper is seen rarely but occasionally on mineral water and/or ale bottles and even on at least one bitters bottle - Old Homestead Wild Cherry Bitters (Ring & Ham 1998; Graci 2003).  It is most often observed (though still not commonly) on pint & half pint liquor flasks as well as tall cylinder liquor bottles - like the Weeks & Potter bottle - all of which often have Whitney Glass Works embossed on the base.  Click HERE for a close-up picture of the glass stopper showing the patent date embossed on the top (the stopper is about 3 cm long).  A later and subtle variation of this type closure and finish was patented in 1872 by Himan Frank (one of the sons of the William Frank & Sons Glass Company [Pittsburgh, PA.]) and was comprised of two patents - one for the finish and stopper (Patent #130,208)  and one for the tool that formed the finish (Patent #130,207) (U. S. Patent Office 1872; Lockhart et al. unpublished manuscript 2007).  Bottles with the Frank closure and finish are much less common than the Whitney version in the experience of the author.

The amber tooled inside thread finish (what would otherwise be called a brandy finish without the threads) to the left is on an Old Castle Whiskey (San Francisco, CA) that was, according to Wilson & Wilson (1968), produced by the F. Chevalier Company between 1895 and 1901.  However, this bottle also has the makers mark PCGW on the base indicating it was manufactured by the Pacific Coast Glass Works, which did not commence business until 1902 (Toulouse 1971).  Thus this bottle was very likely produced between 1902 and about 1910.  This example is very typical of the type of inside thread finish commonly produced during the heyday of the style between the 1890 and 1910, and is particularly common on Western American liquor bottles of that era.  These type bottles are uncommonly found east of the Mississippi (Wilson & Wilson 1968; Munsey 1970).  Click HERE to view a close-up picture of this bottles hard rubber stopper.

The colorless to slightly pink tooled inside thread finish (inside a double ring finish) to the right is on a quart sized ammonium or chemical bottle that most likely dates between 1890 and 1910 based on diagnostic manufacturing features (i.e. tooled finish, single point air venting, post-mold base).  An inside thread finish on this style of bottle is unusual, but is indicative of the variety of bottles that such a finish can be found on.  The close-up picture (far right) shows the threads inside the bottle finish.

30. ROLLED or Folded - This one-part finish was also not specifically noted in the IMACS.  It is also referred to as a welted lip and a folded-in/folded-out finish depending on which way the edge of the finish edge was folded.  These can also be called a straight or sheared finish (#15). 

As noted in Part I, this is a method of finishing as well as a type of finish - click rolled or folded finish to go to that section of the Bottle Finishes & Closures - Part I page.  This early (generally pre-1870) finish is simply constructed by folding the hot glass at the blowpipe removal point over onto itself and was a common finishing method used on an array of different types of bottles.  It was utilized commonly on figured flasks made between about 1815 and the 1860s (picture to the left), medicinal and "hair" treatment bottles (1830s to about 1870), various food and sauce bottles, inks, snuff, and various utility bottles made during the same era.  More often than not the glass was rolled into the bore of the neck as is shown on the first three finishes pictured here.  Less frequently the glass was rolled outward and onto the extreme upper edge of the neck as pictured on the bottle to the lower left.

The neat and well made rolled finish pictured above (blue-green bottle) is on a New England Masonic-Eagle flask (Keene, NH) that was made between 1815 and 1825 (McKearin & Wilson 1978).  This is typical of the type of rolled finishes that are found on the higher quality early American liquor flasks made prior to the American Civil War.

The aqua crudely rolled finish (folded-in) to the immediate right is on a Dr. D. Jayne's Hair Tonic (Philadelphia, PA.) bottle that dates from the 1850s (the base has a blowpipe pontil scar).  This is a typical rolled finish as found on quickly and cheaply produced medicinal and other utilitarian bottles made during the 1840s, 1850s, and at least early 1860s.

The relatively symmetrical, aqua rolled finish (folded-in) above right is on a Dr. Gould's Pin Worm Syrup (probably New York) bottle that dates from the 1860s or early 1870s (Baldwin 1973).  The Dr. Gould's bottles are found with blowpipe pontil scars, though this bottle has a "hinge mold" base with no pontil scar.  This bottle represents the general end of the era for the use of this finish type/method in the early 1870s.  In fact, the Dr. Gould's bottles were also made with applied finishes.

The light olive-yellow bottle to the left is an early American free-blown utility bottle with a relatively wide bore and a simple bead finish (#3) which was formed by rolling (with a tool) the hot glass outward onto the extreme upper portion of the neck. This bottle could have been used for anything from snuff to mustard to medicinals and likely dates between 1790 and 1820 (McKearin & Wilson 1978).  Folded or rolled-out finishes are probably less common than folded-in finishes though they are found frequently on larger mouth (bore) utility and pickle/food bottles.  That this finish was formed by rolling the upper neck glass and not formed with applied glass (i.e. applied finish) can be ascertained by running ones finger just inside the bore of the bottle and noting the absence of a crease or groove where the sheared/cracked neck and applied glass meshed.  The inside portion of this particular finish is smooth and seamless to the touch indicating that the upper neck glass was simply "pushed" out from the bore and on to itself.  (See the Finishes page section on the rolled finish method for more information.)

31. GROOVE RING WAX SEAL - This one-part finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  Also called a grooved-ring, grooved ring wax sealer, wax sealer, wax seal, and pressed laid-on ring. 

This finish appears from the top to be two round - but parallel - ridges with a groove separating them.  This groove was called an "annular groove" by early glassmakers and commonly formed with a special tool which was pressed into the hot, plastic applied finish glass (U. S. Patent Office 1860).  The rounded outside edge of the finish slopes down and towards the upper neck of the jar.  This finish is easier to visualize than describe; click on the picture to the left.  This design allowed wax, wax-dipped string, or other sealing compound to be placed into the groove.  While canning, a properly sized round metal cap with a turned down edge (or sometimes a glass lid or large cork) was then pressed into the warm wax to seal the jar.  Click groove ring wax seal finish with cap in place to view such.  Alternatively, the cap was first placed into the finish, then hot wax poured into the groove to seal.  The oldest wax seal jars used corks "luted" with wax (Toulouse 1969a; Roller 1983). 

This finish was formed by two quite different production methods described briefly as follows by Creswick (1987): "On the earliest wax sealers the groove was formed by depressing the shoulder while the jar was still on the blowpipe to form the groove...The later more numerous wax seal jars, have a pressed laid-on ring..." (Creswick 1987). 

The quart jar finish pictured to the right (entire jar pictured below left) is of the former method described above.  (Photos courtesy of Greg Spurgeon Antiques.)  On many of these early groove ring jars, the finish was reportedly formed by the gaffer adeptly pushing down on the blowpipe after forming the jar and removing it from the mold but before the glass had solidified.  The jar was then cracked off the blowpipe after finish formation.  The pictured jar is embossed with PATENT / SEPT. 18, 1860 and is referred to as the "Hemingray jar" as Robert Hemingray - of Hemingray Brothers & Co. glass manufacturers (Covington, KY. 1862-1882) - was the holder of the jars mold patent and part owner of the company that produced it (Toulouse 1969a, 1971; Creswick 1987).  Click R. Hemingray patent #30,063 to view the original 1860 patent.  It should be noted that according to the original patent description, the Hemingray jar finish was actually mechanically formed by the moveable upper portions of this unique patented mold, not by the gaffer pushing down with the blowpipe as described by Creswick above.  Even with this manufacturing variation which replaced a mechanical process for gaffer manipulation skills, the finish formation still occurred before the blowpipe was actually cracked-off from the jar (U. S. Patent Office 1860).  View and read the linked patent above for more information.

These early (primarily 1840s through 1860s) types of groove ring finishes can be differentiated from the "pressed laid-on ring" (discussed next) by usually having a roughly cracked-off rim to the inner ring (click finish image above for larger version with the roughness pointed out), no excess glass in evidence below the lower edge of the outer ring from the application of additional finishing glass (there wasn't any finishing glass added), and evidence of the side mold seam running into and over the top of the outer ring to the cracked off surface, although this latter feature can be hard to observe (it is faintly visible on the left side of the illustrated finish).

The jar finish pictured in the upper left corner was formed by the much more commonly observed method - the pressed laid-on ring.  This is actually a type of applied finish since additional glass was applied and manipulated once the jar was removed from the blowpipe and being held by the base with a pontil rod or snap tool. (Note: The content manager of this site has never observed a purely tooled groove-ring wax seal finish though they probably do exist.  "Tooled" is as defined on the Bottle Finishes & Closures page.)  The pressed laid-on ring version of the groove ring wax seal finish type is found only (though commonly) on fruit jars dating from the early 1860s into the 1890s.  An exception to this dating is that several different varieties of groove ring wax seal "Ball Standard " jars were actually some of the first machine-made hollow-ware, being first produced in 1896 continuing until about 1912 (Toulouse 1969a; Creswick 1987).  These jars exhibit typical machine-made manufacturing attributes and can not be considered a pressed laid-on ring.  See the Machine-made bottles portion of the "Bottle Dating" page.

This pictured pressed laid-on ring finish is on a San Francisco Glass Works (California) produced quart fruit jar dating from 1869 to 1876 (business years for that glass works), though the jars were likely produced as late as the early 1880s by the company's successor - the San Francisco & Pacific Glass Works (Toulouse 1971; Creswick 1987; Hinson 1995).  This general style of jar was produced in quantity by scores of different companies throughout the U.S. in both quart and half-gallon sizes.  Though frequently embossed like the pictured example, these early type canning jars are more commonly encountered with either base embossing or no embossing at all (Toulouse 1969a; Creswick 1987).  This style of jar is discussed on the Food Bottle & Canning Jars typology page.

32. CAPSEAT or "Common Sense" - This one-part finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  This finish could be considered as a modified (less symmetrical) wide bead finish (#3) with a closure related adaptation.  However, it will be addressed as a separate finish since the overall style does not fit any other finish types well, the fact that it is quite visually distinct, its uniformity between manufacturers, and its diagnostic identification with milk bottles.  It could also be called a milk bottle finish since this finish was by far most commonly used on milk bottles; the milk bottle shape was rarely used for non-milk products (but there are some notable exceptions - see the Milk Bottles section of the Food Bottles & Canning Jars typology page).

This style of closure (and finish to some degree) was patented by the Thatcher Manufacturing Company in September 1889 (click Barnhart's 1889 Patent to see the original patent for the closure) but did not gain widespread acceptance until the precision and standardization necessary for predictable seating and sealing was attained as automatic bottle machines dominated the market in the early 1900s and later, i.e., mouth-blown, tooled finish examples are relatively uncommon (Giarde 1989; Lockhart et al. 2007c; empirical observations).  Machine-made milk bottles with the capseat ledge were made by press-and-blow machines where the cap seat itself was formed by the plunger of the neck ring portion of the first parison or blank mold (Lockhart pers. comm. 2007).  See the machine-made bottles section of the Glassmaking & Glassmakers page for more information.  Also see the Milk Bottles section of the Food Bottles & Canning Jars typology page for more information on the diagnostic attributes that indicate the production of a given milk bottle on typical press-and-blow machines.

This finish has a relatively wide bore (mouth) in which there is an edge or ridge about 1/2 cm (1/4") below the inside edge of the rounded finish.  This ridge is where the disposable paper cap (sometimes called a "pog" or "ligneous disk") sat to seal the contents from contamination (image to the left).  The mouth of most milk bottle capseat finishes are the same diameter - approximately 1 5/8" (42mm) wide on the inside with about a 56mm outside diameter.  This style in the described size is very diagnostic of milk bottles (round, square, and rectangular) and is found on bottles dating up to at least the 1950s.  Occasional other wide-mouth food type bottles/jars were made with the capseat ridge just inside the finish and which accepted differing size caps or even a different closure (discussed below). 

The pictured capseat finish at the top of this section is on a Cloverdale Dairy Co. (Ely, Ruth & McGill, NV.) pint milk bottle that dates between 1925 and 1930 based on a makers mark for the Pacific Coast Glass Company (Toulouse 1971).  This bottle is the typical "Common Sense" milk bottle shape which dominated the market from the early 20th century until the mid to late 1940s when square milk bottle came into fashion and popularity although the "Common Sense" style continued to be made into at least the 1960s (Owens-Illinois 1960; Lockhart pers. comm. 2003).  This Nevada milk bottle is discussed more as a dating example on the Bottle Dating - Examples of Dating Historic Bottles page.

There was apparently some use of this type finish - and presumably the same closure - on a few other types of bottles.  Most notable were some food bottles produced during the first third of the 20th century.  The image to the left is of a relatively small (6 3/4" tall) mouth-blown pickle bottle from the early 20th century that has a tooled capseat accepting finish, though with a bit different overall conformation to the finish than the typical milk bottle.  (Click sweet pickle bottle to see the entire bottle.)  Whether bottles with this type finish actually used a capseat closure can not always be ascertained today - unless found with the original closure in place - as it may have used a cork or other closure instead.

For example, the pictured pickle bottle appears to have a capseat accepting finish.  The base is embossed with K. G. B. Co. which indicates manufacture by the Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. (Zanesville, OH.) who specialized in "Packers' Ware."  Kearns-Gorsuch is known to have produced a proprietary closure for food bottles that they called the "Spring Top" closure.  It was designed to fit the type of finish shown on this bottle which otherwise looks like a capseat.  This closure was patented in 1899 and consisted of a round glass lid with a rubber seal that fit into the "capseat" ledge, all of which was held in place by a spring clip that hooked under the lower edge of the finish (Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. 1916).  Click spring top closure to view the pages from the 1916 Kearns-Gorsuch catalog that illustrate this closure.

The point of this discussion here is to point out that there are often pitfalls in assuming that a given finish type has only one closure possibility when in fact most closures would fit several different finish conformations (and vice versa).  It also points out the fact that there were an immense number of different closure types used during the period covered by this website, many of which are little known today.  Indeed, the author of this website made the simple assumption that this bottle took a capseat because it seemed the most likely possibility, when in fact, additional research later indicated it most likely did not.

33. CLUB SAUCE - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  It could possibly be considered a variation of the reinforced extract finish (#10) discussed previously and covered in the IMACS, though the club sauce finish has several distinctly different characteristics.  The "club sauce" finish was specifically noted in Jones & Sullivan (1989) and is also being covered here as it is a distinct finish style as it very common on (and typical to) certain bottle types, i.e., club sauce style bottles (Lunn 1981).  The finish could be called the Lea & Perrins® finish as that bottle is by far the most common one that utilized this finish and that company likely originated it at least as early as the early 1850s.  The picture to the left is of an early 20th century Lea & Perrins® bottle with a machine-made club sauce finish (photo courtesy of Bill Lockhart).

The three-part club sauce finish (it must be three-part to be considered this finish style) is variable but typically consists of a narrow rounded upper part which is typically no wider in diameter than the rest of the finish, a taller flat to slightly rounded outwardly flaring or tapering (from top to bottom) middle part, and a narrow rounded to usually somewhat flared lower collar or lower part.  The inside (bore or throat) of the finish usually (but not always) has a "stopper finish" or cork seat ledge similar to the ledge in the capseat finish (#32) above.  The shank of the glass stopper that were typically used in these bottle was sheathed by a cork (known as a "shell cork" in glass makers catalogs) which sat firmly on this ledge creating a reasonable seal (Illinois Glass Co. 1920).  Click glass and cork stopper to see that section of the "Bottle Closures" page for more information.  This finish can be found on applied, tooled, and machine-made bottles dating from at least the 1850s until the 1930s.  Because of this long span of use, no dating information can be derived from just the finish itself; other diagnostic features must be used.

The club sauce finish is ubiquitous on Worcestershire and other similar sauce bottles, most of which are the same shape and size as the famous Lea & Perrins® Worcestershire Sauce bottle.  The hyperlinked picture shows both a Lea & Perrins® and a similar competing product which came in a very similar and imitative bottle.  Both bottles have tooled finishes with the original stopper in place (no shell corks) and date from the late 19th century.  This finish style on an aqua or clear glass bottle (or an identifiable neck fragment) shaped like the distinctive Lea & Perrins® bottle is quite diagnostic as a sauce, even without product embossing.

The amber tooled finish to the left with the matching glass stopper in place is on an Oregon Blood Purifier (Portland, OR) that dates from the 1890s.  This shows that the general club sauce "type" finish  can be found on other types of bottles.  Although resembling the club sauce finish, this finish would be more accurately called a "three-part" reinforced extract finish (#10) since it is on a medicinal bottle and the upper part (lip) flares out wider than the rest of the finish.  The majority of bottles found with this finish held Worcestershire or similar sauce products.

34. GROUND - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  It is primarily a modification to other distinct finish styles, though some finishes like the one to the left do not fit neatly into another finish style.  This is also called burst-off and grind lip, blow-over finish, blow-back finish, blow over ground off finish, ground lip, ground rim, and Mason finish  (if on screw threaded fruit jar).

As noted, the ground finish was more a method of finishing than a type of finish, since the functional parts of the finish were fully mold formed and not tooled to shape.  Once the bottle or jar is removed from the blowpipe and usually annealed, the rough top surface of the finish (i.e. the rim) was ground down flat to facilitate closure sealing or simply to "finish" the jar.  This finish has the following diagnostic characteristics: the extreme upper surface is flat (not rounded at all) and slightly rough to the touch (like fine grit sandpaper); there are usually tiny chips or roughness along the inside and outside edges resulting from the hand grinding process; there is an opaque, sometimes "white-ish" appearance to ground surface; and the mold seam ends right at the outside edge of the extreme upper finish and does not go on to the rim.  See the main Bottle Finishes & Closures page for more information.

This finish can be found on a variety of different bottle types with differing closures including various jars, liquor flasks (both types usually in conjunction with external screw threads), various wide and narrow bore (mouth) food jars and bottles, though the ground rim is by far most commonly encountered on canning jars made between the late 1850s and about 1910.  The amber ground finish/rim pictured above is on a Lightning canning jar which dates from 1882 to the early 1900s (Toulouse 1969a; Creswick 1987).  The upper finish part (lip) itself could be called a wide bead finish (#3), though the Lightning finish closure/finish combination is so distinct that it is usually just called that - a Lightning finish and/or wire bail closure (Creswick 1987).  Ground, unthreaded finishes like this Lightning jar were very common during that last third of the 19th century until about 1910, on canning jars which accepted various types of glass or metal lids held in place by a myriad of different type closures.  (By 1910, the majority of wide mouth canning jars were being machine-made and ground rims quickly faded from the scene within a few years [Toulouse 1969a].)  Fragments of these type fruit jars would be very common in historical middens in rural and semi-rural areas, though because of their re-useable nature can be found with much newer items (see deposition lag).

The ground finish pictured to the immediate right is on an small, yellow-amber, mouth-blown ointment jar that dates from the 1880s.  This small jar is a good example of the a non-fruit jar use of the ground rim/lip to achieve the relatively smooth, flat finish surface necessary for some type of sealing lid or cap.  This finish could be referred to as a straight finish (#15) with a ground rim.

The colorless ground finish to the far right above is on a Newman's Patent flask which dates from about 1890.  This liquor flask has a molded small external thread finish (#16) with a ground finish rim.  The closure is a small metal "shot" cap with the screw threads molded into the bottom of the "shot" which screws down to cover the entire neck (see picture).  Newman was a glassblower and eventual owner of the San Francisco Glass Works, where most (all?) of these bottles were made.  This unique screw thread style was patented in 1876 (these flasks are embossed Newman's Patent / Oct. 17, 1876 on the base) with the earliest examples (late 1870s) made in amber glass with a slightly different design than the later bottle pictured.  These flasks were popular and made for many years - probably to at least 1900 and were a precursor to many different styles of mouth-blown, ground finish outside screw-threaded flasks which were relatively common from the mid 1890s well into the 1910s.  These type finishes were commonly referred to by glassmakers as a "blow over ground off finish" (Illinois Glass Company 1903, 1908, 1911; Fairmount Glass Works 1910; Wilson & Wilson 1968; Clint 1976).

The emerald green small external thread finish (#16) with a ground rim to the left is on a very small proprietary pill bottle - Lactopeptine For All Digestive Ailments (New York, NY).  This bottle likely dates between 1900 to 1915 and was produced by the New York Pharmaceutical Association and later Reed & Carnrick.  The product was produced from before at least 1891 to at least the late 1940s in tablet, powdered, syrup, and "elixir" (liquid) forms (Fike 1987).

35. STRING RIM - This term is used in Jones & Sullivan's The Parks Canada Glass Glossary (1989) on pages 81-82 and the illustrations in Figure 62 & 63.  Those authors appear to use the term string rim two different ways, which are described in the following narrative.

First is the use of the term to more or less describe a group of early finishes.  The champagne finish (#18) described earlier was considered by them as a type of string finish, i.e. a "flattened string rim."  This term is accurate but not necessary since the champagne finish as described here includes the flattened band as part of its defined character.  The term string rim or string finish does describe well the general type of finish like pictured to the left on a European "onion" style wine or spirits bottle that dates between 1700 and 1730 (McKearin & Wilson 1978).   On this site the term string rim will refer to a finish that is simply a strip of glass of varying size wrapped around the neck just below the top of the finish.  However, this finish is very uncommon on American produced bottles within the time frames covered on this website and will be little referenced.  (For more information on early bottles - typically of English manufacture - that most frequently utilized this type finish consult the publication entitled Cylindrical English Wine & Beer Bottles 1735-1850 by Olive Jones (1986).  In particular, see the Finishes and Necks section on pages 43-71.  This entire book is now available as a pdf file on the Society for Historical Archaeology website at this link: http://www.sha.org/documents/Parks_Canada/Cylindrical English Wine and Beer Bottles - English.pdf )

Jones & Sullivan also used the term string rim to describe a component part of a finish.  More specifically, they describe a string rim as a "...ledge or ring that protrudes from the neck just under the lip.  In hand (mouth-blown) manufacture it is generally formed from added glass but may also be formed in the mold...the term is not really suitable to use for (machine-made containers)..."   As an example, they illustrated a squatty version of the mineral finish and referred to the lower collar portion as a "V-shaped string finish".  This website's definition of the mineral finish includes that type lower collar as an integral part of the finish.  Because of this, there is no need for separately naming this part, though it had utility to the intent of the Glass Glossary.  Jones & Sullivan also referred to the rounded "bead" ring below the external screw threads of most machine-made bottles as a string rim.  In the picture below (colorless bottle) the string rim would be the rounded ring just below the threads.  They did note that a more suitable term on machine-made bottles was to call this feature a "bead." 

Jones & Sullivan's use of the term string rim is due to the Glass Glossary's mission of providing defined terminology to allow historic archaeologists the ability to describe any finish by describing its component parts.  This website recommends the use of the listed finish names whenever possible to describe the entire finish, with the realization that not every possibility has or can be covered with a unique name.  Modifiers may be used to help clarify, i.e. squatty or short mineral finish, wide bead finish, and the like.  Unfortunately, finish describing and naming is impossibly complicated by both the immense variety of finishes produced in hand with an abundance of conflicting published information.  It is a problem that will not be solved here, alas.

#36. "BENEDICTINE" - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  Like the mushroom or "Tippecanoe" finish noted earlier on this page, the Benedictine finish type is largely identified with a particular type of bottle - Benedictine - but can be occasionally can be found on other types (see note below).  Benedictine was (and is) a liqueur made with a wide assortment of herbs and spices.

The Benedictine finish on Benedictine bottles are somewhat unique and could be basically described as a two-part finish with an slightly outwardly flaring (top to bottom) upper part with a flaring rounded ring lower part or collar.  Sometimes the upper part is more straight than tapered.  The collars usually (but not always) have distinct indentations or grooves on both sides to facilitate the wiring down of the cork closure.  (Click on the following link to see a picture of an early version with a wired down cork on the Benedictine website:  http://www.benedictine.fr/anglais/histoire_frame.html)  In a sense, this finish is a reversed version of the reinforced extract (#10) or collared ring finishes (#24) where the flared part is the lower part (collar) instead of the upper part (lip).  These finishes are found on Benedictine bottles from the 1870s to well into the 20th century.

The pictured Benedictine finish is an applied example on a likely imported Benedictine bottle dating from approximately 1895 to 1910 (based on the context it was found in).  It is a bright medium olive green in color with very heavy glass, a domed kick-up base, and was produced in a three-piece mold.  Click Benedictine bottle to view a picture of the entire bottle showing the typical embossed crescent on one side (a label was often placed inside the crescent).

Note: Finishes very similar to the Benedictine finish - minus the ring grooves - were used on some American made flasks and quart calabash bottles made between about 1855 and 1870.  These finishes were described by McKearin & Wilson (1978) as a "tooled, broad flat collar sloping to heavy rounded ring" which describes the Benedictine finish well.  These bottles/flasks are usually aqua in color, though other colors are possible.  Click Cunninghams & Ihmsen flask to see a ca. 1857-1867 pint flask that exhibits a somewhat vague version of this finish style which is often seen on similar era flasks made in the Pittsburgh, PA. area during the mid-19th century.

#37. TAPERED DOWN - This finish was not specifically noted in the IMACS.  It is also called a inverted taper or funneled finish.  This is a finish that is fairly distinct and found primarily on bottles made during the first half of the 19th century, primarily soda/mineral water, ale/stout/porter, and some liquor bottles.  A variation of this finish was also used on many of the the gravitating stopper soda bottles primarily in the 1870s and 1880s.  These bottles had a finish that was actually more of hybrid between this finish and the blob finish (#20); it is usually just called a shape variation of the latter finish style (Mechow 2005).

This one-part finish is typified by being wider at the top  - which has a flat rim - and tapering inwards towards the base of the finish.  The sides of the finish are more or less flat also (i.e. not particularly rounded out or concave).  All of the few observed examples were true applied finishes.  The gravitation stopper accepting version of this tapered down finish has rounded sides to it making it more like a blob finish than the tapered down finish.

The pictured tapered down finish example (click to see the entire bottle) is fairly typical of those found on relatively early American (1830-1850) mineral water or ale bottles (picture from eBay® listing).  This particular bottle is free-blown with a iron or improved pontil scarred base.  This unusual finish does appear with some frequency on bottles that are attributed to the glassworks in the Pittsburgh, PA. area which may be where this bottle was produced (von Mechow 2005).  Of course, without some type of positive identification (label and/or embossing) there is no sure way to determine where this bottle was made or to what use it was actually put; it could have been used for spirits, medicines, or many other liquid products (Jones & Sullivan 1989; Mechow 2005).

#38. "PRIOF" - The "PRIOF" is a proprietary finish variation of the crown cap (#19) and was intended for use with the crown cap closure.  The purpose of this finish was to make it easier to remove the cap in that it could be "pried off" with a non-standard opener without breaking the bottle.  Paul & Parmalee (1973) describe this finish and origin quite well and are quoted below:

One of the last minor changes or variations of the crown closure was the development of the "Priof" method of bottle finish by the Illinois Glass Company.  The crown bottle, appearing in the early 1920s, had a projecting ledge below the lip of the crown which assisted the consumer in opening the bottle.  By using the ledge as a point of leverage, one could easily pry off the cap by using a knife, key, coin or any flat piece of metal.  One needed only to insert the lever between the ledge and the cap and twist.  Although this type of bottle finish was used sporadically through the years, it never became popular enough to dominate the market.  However, its major advertising feature was that it substantially reduced the number of broken and chipped bottles which resulted from the use of various unconventional openers.

The "ledge" is visible in the image just above the "PRIOF" embossing; in fact, the embossing is on the outside face of the ledge.  This finish was usually (always?) embossed with REGISTERED PATENTED "PRIOF" horizontally on the lower part of the finish, as shown in the image above.  This finish was not being offered in the 1920 Illinois Glass Company catalog so must have been invented/patented shortly thereafter as noted by Paul & Parmalee above (IGCo. 1920; Paul & Parmalee 1973).  It appears that this finish/closure was by far most commonly used on Citrate of Magnesia bottles made during the 1920s and 1930s, though undoubtedly saw some other use as a beverage finish/closure. 

The pictured bottle is body embossed with SOLUTION / CITRATE / MAGNESIA and dates from the 1920s.  It has the makers mark (on the heel) for the Illinois Pacific Glass Corporation (San Francisco, CA.) which was very closely affiliated with (owned by) the Illinois Glass Company.  This bottle dates more precisely between 1926 and 1930 as that was the period in which the "IPG in a triangle" makers mark was used (Lockhart et al., 2005d).  Click on the following links to view more images of this bottle:  entire bottle showing the embossing and body rings (typical of many Citrate bottles); close-up of the shoulder, neck and finish.

#39? Room for more finishes!
Just provide a suggestion with details and, preferably, a good digital picture.