Member Finds a Rare Milk Bottle |
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Member Brad Blodget of Worchester, Massachusetts (one of our several out of state members) recently found a rare old milk bottle from his hometown. Brad and a group of local milk bottle collectors from his area took a day off and visited the homes of two of the members to see their collections. They also had lunch together between visiting the two homes. While at one house, Brad asked his friend where he kept his Worchester milk bottles? He was told they were on the very bottom shelf. It was difficult to see the bottles on the bottom shelf, so Brad had to lie on the floor on his side (ripping his trousers on a shelf in the process). He inspected the dusty bottles one by one. The bottles were several rows deep. Patiently he moved them around which enabled him to see all of them. He was familiar with the bottles he saw and then, “WOW,” there was a bottle he had never seen before. A mint embossed quart from LIBERTY FARM/ WORCHESTER which dated back to 1901 - 1908 (very early for a milk bottle). What a rush – instant euphoria, a feeling that collectors get when one finds something they didn’t even know existed for a category they collect. This phenomenon doesn’t happen often enough but when it does – WOW! Brad informed me the Liberty Farm bottle is steeped in history. One of the early owners of the farm was an abolitionist. Liberty Farm was the home of Abby Kelley Foster, outspoken abolitionist and early suffragist along with her husband, Stephen Symonds Foster. The original brick house built in 1810 is still standing at 116 Mower Street in Worchester and is a historical landmark. This story has a happy ending because Brad was able to trade a bottle he owned for the Liberty Farm bottle. It was definitely a good day for member Brad Blodget. Editor’s Note: Brad told me this story over the phone about acquiring the bottle and the historical significance of the glass artifact. The story was so interesting I felt I should share it with the other members. Thanks brad for sharing your story and the history of this great bottle with us.
A few days after talking to Brad on the phone he sent me a handmade drawing of the slug plate from the Liberty Farm bottle and some more information about the bottle. It read as follows: Here is a freehand repro of the slugplate on the REQ (round embossed quart) from Liberty Farm/A.H. Durland/Worchester (Mass). The bottle is a Thatcher dated on the bottom, 1907. It was manufactured before the manufacturers to uniformly emboss their bottles with a seal in order to be legally used for the sale of milk in Massachusetts. This particular bottle has an acid etched seal: W I presume you read the history of Liberty Farm of Worchester on Google. The farm was in 1885 from the Foster family by C.D. Thayer. Starting in 1901, Thayer leased the farm to A.H. Durland who ran the milk route. The lease ended in 1908 when Thayer sold Liberty Farm to Frank Clarkson who parceled up the farm for sale to developers. Today, all is gone except the old farmhouse, which is still privately owned and is on the National Register of Historical Places. |
07. This indicates that the bottle was officially sealed at Worchester. The “W” of course stands for Worchester; the little 
is the official seal of the city of Worchester (Worchester has always called itself “the heart of the Commonwealth)” and of course the “07” is for the year.