“LYRIC” Medicine / Druggist Bottles

               Illinois Glass Company, Alton, Illinois

Antique LYRIC brand medicine / druggist bottles.   The great majority of the glass bottles marked “LYRIC” on the base were produced by the Illinois Glass Company, of Alton, Illinois.  Other plants owned or controlled (at least for some time) by Illinois Glass included their Gas City, Indiana location as well as factories at Bridgeton, New Jersey,  and Chicago Heights, Illinois (former Chicago Heights Bottle Company plant).

Although nearly all Lyric bottles are machine-made, a few of the oldest LYRIC bottles were handmade (mouthblown), not machine-made,  and were evidently made by the Chicago Heights Bottle Company in the 1913 time period right before Illinois Glass Company purchased that plant. Those early variants were also marked with the word “SANITIZED” on the base.  The letters “S” and “D” are enclosed within shields, and the letter “T” is larger than the other letters.  On some bottles the embossed lettering may be rather “smeared” or distorted and can be hard to make out clearly.

The LYRIC style bottle was patented on April 1, 1913 –   patent number 43,782.  See the patent documentation here: Design for a Bottle – US Design patent number 43,782 – Charles M. Schofield

For more information on the Chicago Heights Bottle Company (info on the Lyric type bottle on pages 219-220), see this page from Bill Lockhart and the Bottle Research Group: The Chicago Heights Bottle Company – SHA.org.

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“LYRIC” was Illinois Glass Company’s brand name assigned to a particular line of prescription bottles. These bottles were made in a range of sizes, and were generally intended to serve as “generic” medicine bottles, often containing a liquid pharmaceutical product such as cough syrup.  They were sold to, and heavily used by numerous apothecaries, druggists, doctors, medical laboratories and other entities for a number of years.

Without an original label present, it’s anyone’s guess what any particular LYRIC bottle might have contained.    Here is a keyword search on the Worthpoint.com site,  showing a sampling of various LYRIC bottles (with labels still attached) that have appeared on ebay over the last few years .   (Note that some of the results in this search are irrelevant for one reason or other).

Lyric bottles with original labels still attached (Worthpoint search)

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These bottles were apparently produced beginning in 1913, and made up to circa 1929 when Illinois Glass Company merged with the Owens Bottle Company (based in Toledo, Ohio)  to form the giant  Owens-Illinois Glass Company.    It is likely some LYRIC bottles post-date 1929 since it would have taken some time for all bottle molds then in use to be re-engraved with the new mark used by Owens-Illinois.

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Typically, they are found in ordinary clear glass (often the glass is stained with a dull surface “sickness” from long burial, as are the two bottles shown here).

The great majority of the  LYRIC bottles are machine-made, and were made in very large numbers – being found frequently in trash dumps of the 1910s and 1920s time period.

Note: Any of these bottles that are found in a very strong, dark purple color HAVE BEEN IRRADIATED,  meaning the glass color has been changed in recent years.  Some bottles in a very light, pale amethyst may have been naturally “sun purpled” – but a very strong, deep purple (often with a slight bluish tinge) indicates artificial irradiation or “nuking”.  Please check out this page on irradiated, purpled and otherwise-altered glassware.

Also, see my page on the “Diamond I” mark, which was also used heavily by Illinois Glass Company. (Most of the LYRIC bottles are also marked with the “I inside a diamond” mark on the base).

For an informative, in-depth discussion on the Illinois Glass Company and the various identification marks they used on their glass containers, please see this web article by Bill Lockhart and the Bottle Research Group:    Illinois Glass Company –  SHA.org

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For an extensive list of glass manufacturers’ marks seen on bottles, jars, insulators, tableware and other glass items, please click here to go to the Glass Bottle Marks pages (Page One).

Click here to go to my website   Home Page.

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