DUPRS_0016 Selser's Glass Bottle

DUPRS_0016 Selser's Glass Bottle

Selsers Blossom Nectar Honey Bottle

The artefact is fragmentary as it is the bottom of a glass bottle. The square bottom is intact and shows embossed letters spelling: WM A SELSER. The biggest side piece is a corner with the side bearing two embossed letters: AR. The average glass thickness is 0.5 cm. The glass is clear with two bubbles on the bottom – each bubble having a proximate diameter of 1 mm.

The artefact is likely the bottom of a WM A Selser Blossom Nectar bottle.

Selective Surface collection, east Stanley Park, Historic Chatham Township (modern Summit, New Jersey)

Drew University, Department of Anthropology

Late 19th-early 20th century

Juliet LaVigne

American Bee Journal (Vol 39)

First-fifth Annual Report of the State Bee Inspector for the Year [1912]-1916: Also Report of the Convention of the Iowa State Beekeepers' Association, Issues 1-5

Glass

Selser sold honey in one pound and half pound bottles. The bottle was probably manufactured between the late 1880s and 1910s. Since the artefact is only a small portion of the original bottle, it is difficult to give a more accurate date.

William Selser bought land in Pennsylvania and started a bee farm based in Philadelphia. Selser came from a family long involved with various manufacturing industries. Earlier in his life Selser was involved with both leather tanning and fruit importing. Selser’s honey manufacturing was at one time known as the “most complete honey-bottling works” in the world. He sold honey primarily in the tristate area.
While there is some information about his business when he first started selling honey there is little to do with the business in later years. So one can only give a general idea of the bottle’s origins. It may have been purchased and thrown out or it could have been kept and passed down through the generations.