Antique WISE Allentown Pennsylvania Cobalt Blue Blob Top Blobtop Bottle 7\" Pint For Sale

Before crown caps, before machine-made bottles, and just after the Civil War, this striking deep cobalt blue soda bottle was hand-blown for James Wise’s brewery and mineral water works in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Produced during the golden age of American soda bottling between roughly 1866 and 1875, the bottle once held carbonated mineral water or soda sealed with a cork and wire bail beneath the classic blob top. Its rich cobalt color, bold embossing, and beautifully textured hand-blown glass capture a time when soda was still considered both a medicinal tonic and a refreshing luxury served in saloons, hotels, and pharmacies.

J. WISE
ALLENTOWN
PA

The bottle stands approximately 7 inches tall, the classic pint-size soda format used during the mid-19th century. Bottles of this size typically held around 10–12 ounces of carbonated beverage and were the standard serving size for soda and mineral waters in the decades following the Civil War.

Hand blown in a mold with classic mid-19th century glass characteristics including:

• deep cobalt blue glass
• blob top for cork and wire bail closure
• domed push-up base
• heavy embossed lettering
• light orange peel surface texturing
• scattered seed bubbles typical of early soda glass

The rough glass visible beneath the lip is where the wire bail once seated to secure the cork, a common feature on early soda bottles designed to withstand internal carbonation pressure.

A very attractive example showing honest age and use.

• faint internal ghosting
• light surface wear and fine hairline scratches

It would likely brighten dramatically with only the lightest tumbling.

James Wise took over the bottling works established by his father Daniel Wise and expanded the operation in 1866, moving the brewery and bottling works to Fourth and Hamilton Streets in Allentown. From there he produced ale, porter, and bottled soda waters for the growing Lehigh Valley population during a period when railroads, ironworks, and immigration were rapidly transforming the region.

During this era, bottled soda water was still considered medicinal as well as refreshing, often sold through breweries, pharmacies, and hotels. Each bottle like this one was individually hand-blown by skilled glassworkers, making no two examples exactly alike.

With its rich cobalt color, strong embossing, classic blob top, and desirable Allentown Pennsylvania origin, this bottle represents an excellent surviving example of early American soda bottling from the 1860s–1870s.