Offered here is a wonderful antique Emerson & Co. Bottlers bottle from Rochester, New Hampshire, dating to approximately circa 1895–1902. Standing an impressive 9 1/2 inches tall, this is a beautifully proportioned clear-glass bottle with a heavy rounded blob top and exceptionally attractive cursive-script embossing.
The front is boldly embossed:
REGISTERED
Emerson & Co
Bottlers
Rochester
N.H.
The sweeping script is unusually decorative for a regional beverage bottle—the sort of lettering that practically glows when displayed in a sunny window.
The Company
Eugene W. Emerson began in the drug trade, taking control of an established Rochester pharmacy in 1889. By the early 1890s, Emerson & Co. was also distributing bottled beverages. Period documentation places crates from the company in commercial circulation around 1891, and Emerson & Co. was among Rochester’s relatively small number of telephone subscribers in 1895.
By 1902, Eugene W. Emerson was listed specifically as a bottler at 25 Summer Street, Rochester. A 1904 New Hampshire report identified the firm as bottlers of beer and mineral waters. In April 1904, the trade publication American Bottler announced that Emerson & Co. had sold the bottling business to the Cocheco Bottling Company—giving surviving Emerson bottles a relatively limited production window.
Bottle Details
- Approximately 9 1/2 inches tall
- Clear glass
- Heavy rounded blob top
- Original mechanical swing closure
- White porcelain topper
- Large recessed front slug plate
- Elaborate cursive-script lettering
- Strong, highly legible embossing
- “REGISTERED” embossed above the slug plate
- Embossed “2” on the underside of the base
- Late-19th-century molded construction
The bottom “2” is most likely a mold or shop identification number used during manufacture rather than a date or capacity marking.
Condition
The bottle itself is in excellent condition with no chips, no cracks, no scratches, and no case wear. Overall, the glass is bright, clean, and shiny. There is some faint interior haze and a small amount of internal dust/dirt down in the heel area. The porcelain topper has two small chips along its top edge, as shown in the photographs. These chips are confined to the topper—the glass bottle itself has no damage.
A handsome and increasingly difficult-to-find piece of Rochester bottling history, made especially desirable by its large size, decorative script embossing, and surviving mechanical closure.
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