Frank Miller’s Crown Dressing, New York, U.S.A.

                     Antique Shoe Polish Bottles

FRANK MILLER’S CROWN DRESSING.     Frank Miller & Company began operation in Warsaw, New York in 1838. Some years later, Miller had moved to New York City, NY.  By the year 1867, according to an ad in the Hudson Evening Register, the company was located at 19 & 20 Cedar Street in New York City.

By the 1880s, the company name had been changed slightly to “Frank Miller & Sons”.  Miller & Sons manufactured a wide line of shoe dressings (shoe polish) , blackings,  leather/harness/saddle dressings, and similar products.


Antique glass Frank Miller's Crown Dressing bottle, circa 1880s
Aqua Frank Miller’s Crown Dressing bottle, circa 1885. This example is marked with “23” on the base.

The most popular product they manufactured and sold was their “Frank Miller’s Crown Dressing” which was specifically advertised as “For Ladies’ and Childrens’ Boots and Shoes”. This product was widely advertised across the country in newspapers and magazines of the late Victorian era, and many colorful trade cards were also printed and distributed to promote the products.


Frank Miller & Sons, New York, N.Y. This article appeared in "New York's Great Industries" (published in 1885)
Frank Miller & Sons, New York, N.Y.   This article appeared in “New York’s Great Industries” (published in 1885).

Bottles marked with “FRANK / MILLER’S / CROWN [Graphic representation of a king’s crown] / DRESSING / NEW YORK / U.S.A.”  are found rather frequently and most of them appear to date from the 1875 to 1895 period.

Many different molds were made to produce these bottles, and a close comparison of different examples  show the lettering and crown graphic design, from mold to mold,  is never exactly the same, but slight details in the engraving can easily be noted. The embossing on the bottles results from the painstakingly hand-chiseled engraving done to the inside of the bottle mold, and so it was virtually impossible to make each engraved design absolutely identical.


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Most of the bottles have a mold identifying number on the base, which served to identify different iron or steel molds from which they were made.

Sometime before 1885 the business offices had moved to 349 & 351 West 26th Street in New York City, as mentioned in the accompanying article in “New York’s Great Industries”.   Miller’s products were widely distributed throughout the United States, as well as other countries including Great Britain and Australia.

The Crown Dressing bottles are square in shape, handblown with a tooled lip, usually in light to medium aqua or bluish-aqua glass. There were many competing brands of shoe polish (shoe dressing), harness and boot blacking and similar products that were packaged in bottles of that same size and shape throughout that time period.  For instance, another brand which is found occasionally is the “SARATOGA DRESSING” bottle.  In general, these bottles measure about 5 inches  in height, and 1 and 5/8″ in diameter at the base.


 

Frank Miller's Crown Dressing ad - published in the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, 1891
Frank Miller’s Crown Dressing ad – published in the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, 1891

 


For an extensive list of glass manufacturers’ marks seen on bottles, fruit jars, insulators, tableware and other items, please click here to go to the GLASS BOTTLE MARKS pages, page one.

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