Owens Bottle Company: “O inside a square” mark

             Owens Bottle Machine Company (1903-1919)

                      Owens Bottle Company (1919-1929)

                                          Toledo, Ohio

 Known as Owens Bottle Machine Company beginning in 1903, and based in Toledo, Ohio, the official company name was changed to “Owens Bottle Company” circa 1919.

Besides the Toledo plant, Owens operated its first glass manufacturing factories at Fairmont,  Clarksburg, WV and Charleston, all in West Virginia,  but as time passed Owens gradually acquired other plants throughout the 1910s including  locations at Evansville, IN;  Loogootee, IN;  Okmulgee, OK;  Chekotah, OK (Graham Glass Company);  Greenfield Indiana (Greenfield Fruit Jar & Bottle Company);  Glassboro,  New Jersey (former Whitney Glass Works plant);  in 1919, the facilities at Huntington, West Virginia (formerly Chas. Boldt Glass Company) and others.

Some plants were purchased, upgraded and went on with continued heavy production, while certain other plants were acquired and soon thereafter sold or shut down, as was rather typical for a large corporation trying to remain as profitable as possible.


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In 1916, Owens acquired the American Bottle Company (A. B. CO.) plants with manufacturing locations at Streator, Illinois and Newark, Ohio.

Author and researcher Julian Toulouse, in Bottle Makers and their Marks (1971) stated the “O in a square” or “Box O” mark was first used in 1911, but according to U.S. Patent & Trademark Office data, Owens claimed first use was actually in the year 1919, around the time Owens Machine Bottle Company officially became Owens Bottle Company.

"O in a Square" mark as seen on the base of a 1920s ketchup bottle.
“O inside a Square” mark as seen on the base of a 1920s-era ketchup bottle, shown below.

In 1929, Owens Bottle Co. merged with the Illinois Glass Company, of Alton, Illinois, to form the giant Owens-Illinois Glass Company.

Presumably, the mark was phased out around 1929 after the merger with Illinois Glass Company, although it probably took a period of time, perhaps a year or two,  before all molds in then current use would have been re-tooled with the new mark for Owens-Illinois: “O and I entwined with a Diamond”.

Tremendous numbers of machine-made containers of many types are found with the O inside a square (or “Boxed O”) mark on the bottom, as shown here, including medicine bottles,  salve, utility, food and beverage bottles,  packer jars, and other types. The mark is typical on many bottles found at dump sites and in old landfill areas that date from the late teens and 1920s. One of the most commonly found bottles found in old dumpsites would be the standard “fluted sides” ketchup bottles that bear this mark.

Owens Bottle Company ketchup bottle marked "O in a square" on the base.
Typical 1920s-era “fluted sides” ketchup bottle made by Owens Bottle Company. The bottom is marked with their “O in a square” logo, shown above.

See “OWENS” on page four, and the  Owens Illinois Glass Company page showing marks used after Owens Bottle merged with Illinois Glass Company in 1929.  Illinois Glass Company, headquartered in Alton, Illinois,  used the ” I inside a diamond mark”, as shown on this webpage. 


Click here to see an article (by Bill Lockhart et al), about OBC and it’s associated glass plants, with much more detailed background information on the history of this company, other marks used, factory locations, periods of operation, etc.:

https://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/owensbottlecompany.pdf


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

Please click here to go to my website Home Page.

Also, check out my summary page on Sea Glass / Beach Glass.  Sometimes old Owens Bottle Co. bottle bases might be found among so-called “Beach Glass”. 


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19 thoughts on “Owens Bottle Company: “O inside a square” mark”

  1. I have an owens bottle with the # 63 to the right of the square but it also has what looks like the number 9 at the bottom corner.The bottle was found at the site of an old Apothecary and still has its cork.

    1. Hi Gary,
      The Owens Bottle Company bottles (bearing an “O inside a square”) are found with lots of different code numbers on them. Bill Lockhart has written a very detailed article about Owens Bottle Co. and these bottles along with some theories (note: theories) on possible interpretations. I really haven’t tried to figure out what all the code numbers mean on the “Box O” bottles. It wasn’t until Owens Bottle Co. merged with Illinois Glass Company to form Owens-Illinois Glass Co. and they adopted the “Diamond and oval and I” mark in 1929 that base code numbers became more standardized and could be more easily interpreted and understood. Here is the Owens Bottle Company article referred to: https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/owensbottlecompany.pdf
      Thanks for your post!
      David

  2. I have a square clear glass jar with a red metal lid. The Owens’ O in a square is on the bottom. Also on the bottom are is: C.A.&C. Does anyone know what these initials stand for and possibly a date? Thank you. Laurie

  3. Hello!

    We have found an Owen bottle with a ‘o’ inside of a square inside of a feathered bottle ‘scar’ on the bottom of it as well as a plant identification number ‘6’ to the left hand-side, on the bottom (alongside what might have been an indentation, a small circle or something else which not legible on the right-hand side), all thing that indicate with some confidence that the bottle came from Charleston WV and falls into the 1919-29 period, BUT…

    the bottle displays an enclosed ‘EVERFRESH’ in chevron style above the word ‘MAGNESIA’ and we have found no photos or documentation for this ‘EVERFRESH’ logo or brand anywhere. Instead, any reference to ‘magnesia’ bottles made by Owens include a ‘Citrate of’ and doesn’t match the style or have the ‘EVERFRESH’ letters.

    Is there any information about the origin of the ‘EVERFRESH’ marking, and when it would have been used? What does it mean?

    We’ve included a link to an image below.
    i.imgur.com/nG23xWu.jpg

    Thank you for your time and any information you can provide.

    1. Miles, I don’t have any information about your bottle, but I’m posting your query here in case someone knows anything about the “Everfresh” marking or brand name.
      Take care, David

  4. Found an old medicine bottle clear glass on the bottom it says Owens with the O inside of a Square with w e n s beside it I looked on your website and couldn’t really find anything on that style of marking any help would be appreciated thank you

    1. Hi Eric,
      According to an online article by archaeologist/researcher Bill Lockhart, the “O WENS” mark (with the “O” enclosed in a square) was evidently used during the last decade of Owens Bottle Company production, from 1919 to 1929, and was the trademark embossed on the base of a line of “generic” druggist/prescription bottles. See more info at this URL: https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/owensbottlecompany.pdf . Hope this helps!
      ~David

  5. I have a tiny little 4 sides pyramid shaped bottle with an O inside a bottle. And the #5 below it. Can’t find it anywhere any idea what company this is? Id say it’s 2 1/2 inches tall bottle so I’m assuming it’s a perfume bottle of some sort

  6. I have a 5.25″ clear glass bottle shaped like a juice bottle. A square with an “O” on the bottom and a 3 to the left of the square and an 8 to the right of the square. Thick glass with some bubbles in the glass two seams from top to bottom looks like a large suction mark on the bottom.

    1. i have just found one just like this and
      would like to know more too i also found one very much like it that does not look as old

    2. Hi! I am an undergrad student working on an archeology fellowship at NMU, I have a bottle just like this that I’m trying to identify, did you find any more information? Please let me know!

  7. I have three small brown glass bottles with the Owens mark on the bottom (circle inside a square) and number “7”…each bottle has a beautiful seashell mounted on top. The bottles themselves are only 3.5 in. tall.

      1. Hi Jeni,
        Unfortunately, I don’t have this site set up so pics can be uploaded along with reader comments. However, if you email me directly (my email is on the right hand bottom corner of this site), I could send you Gayle’s email address and you might try contacting her for pictures of the bottles with seashells on them. I assumed they were some kind of homemade “craft” project using vintage bottles, but I am not really sure.
        Best regards,
        David

  8. I have a round bottle that say’s HCRLICK’S
    Malted milk on it. the bottom has a L-d 10
    Cold you tell me who made it?

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