When we travel on ground expeditions, we find all sorts of items. Beer cans, trash, plastic bottles, just some of the nastiest stuff. We stumble across many treasures too such as old tools, torn books, paper, door knobs, coins, jewelry, and glass bottles. One day, we were along the Yadkin River in Wilkes County, NC and an old bottle was stuck in the water next to the bank. It was full of dirty muddy water and when emptied, something seemed to be stuck inside. After cleaning it as much as possible, a faint bluish-green marble was made into the bottle. What in the world could this be and where did it come from?

The bottle is embossed with Mellor & Sons trademark. Who? What? It’s not unusual for us to find old soda bottles and other glass bottles used for medicine and other things but none of those had a marble stuck inside. What made it even more interesting was the marble appeared to be part of the bottle. The next question is, how did the bottle end up in the Yadkin River?

You can imagine the rabbit holes that await you when you begin this type of research. It really depends obviously, on how far and how deep you’re willing to go. Of course, we don’t think we will find the person or persons who originally purchased the item. But what details can we find out about the contents and the bottle itself? Another embossed label appears on the bottle and it states Manchester and Redfearn Brothers Bottlemakers Barnsley. Well, alrighty then! Let’s begin our research.

Redfearn National Glass Company merged with National Glass Works in 1967. The last remnants of the merger are owned today by the Ardagh Group which has a glass company in Henderson, Vance County, NC. We know the bottle dates older than 1967, so let’s dig deeper. The Redfearn Glass company was started by George and Joshua Redfearn.¹ Are they brothers? Yes, George being the oldest died in 1867. Joshua carried on the business after his death. They both began their careers as bottle merchants when they purchased the Old Mill Glassworks in 1862. The operations were stationed in Yorkshire, approx. 200 miles north of London, England. The company began using the Owens Automatic Machine method for their bottles in 1906. In 1880, the handmade bottles were marked on the bottom with a simple RB. When we researched further into the company, we found Redfearn making bottles using the Codd-Stoppered method. The markings on these bottles were embossed on the bottom just like the one we have. Redfearn made those bottles between 1880 and 1920 in two main colors, clear and light green.

So what is a Codd-Stopper lid? Hiram Codd from Suffolk, England patented the Codd Bottle in 1872². Codd realized that placing a glass marble in the bottle to seal the contents would be a much better way versus the cork method that was popular at the time. Pressure from the mineral water or soda in the bottle would force the marble against the rubber washer at the upper neck. The marble would stay in place until the seal was broken. How did they break the seal? Two choices were offered, use the Codd Bottle Opener or use your thumb. Either way worked. What happened once the seal was broken? You would hear a loud POP and the marble floated downward into the bottle. Then the design of the inner bottle allowed the marble to move away from the upper neck when the bottle was turned up to drink. Our bottle is named the Pig Snout because of its shape near the opening.

What about Mellor & Sons? It appears that the company was located in Manchester, not far from Yorkshire in England. They sold everything from beer to mineral water. If a company wanted to use the Codd-Stopper for their product, they had to purchase a yearly license from Codd. This they did in 1882. Redfearn made the bottles using the Codd-Stopper for Mellor & Sons. Redfearn purchased the marbles, Codd’s patented groove tool, and the sealing rings directly from Codd to make the bottles for Mellor & Sons. Mellor & Sons exported their product to the United States. They hoped to receive the bottles back from their distributors so they could be recycled back into use. But when the kids found the marbles inside, most bottles faced a terrible death. To find a bottle today with the marble inside is a rarity.

So, what was originally in the bottle before it left England? Most likely mineral water. The Codd-Stopper bottles became obsolete in the United States by 1920 and were replaced by the metal crown cork lid. But in many places, around the world, the Codd-Stopper is still in use, especially in Japan where millions of bottles are mass-produced by Ramune.

So, how did the bottle travel from Yorkshire, England, and end up in the Yadkin River in North Carolina? Your guess is as good as ours. It should be said that resort areas such as Blowing Rock in the early 20th century, specialized on certain products that were not readily available elsewhere. Could it be that Mellor & Son’s mineral water was sold there? The headwaters of the Yadkin River begin right behind the Green Park Inn, constructed in 1891 on Highway 321. Is it possible that someone discarded the bottle there? We may never know how the bottle took a swim in the Yadkin. But its place now is among our treasures here at the Attic.

Don’t be afraid to research further into any subject. You never know what awaits you in between the rabbit holes. Happy Hunting and Enjoy Your Journey to the Past!

1. Lockheart, Bill-Lindsey, Bill-Serr, Carol-Schriever, Beau-Redfearn Brothers October 2019 pp.215-218 ↩︎
2. Munsey, Cecil Codd (Marble in the Neck) Soda Bottles Then & Now January 2010 pp. 4,8-9 ↩︎
3. Figure 7, p. 8 in Codd (Marble in the Neck) Soda Bottles Then & Now by Munsey, Cecil January 2010 ↩︎
4. Fig. 30 p. 21 in Codd (Marble in the Neck) Soda Bottles Then & Now by Munsey, Cecil January 2010 ↩︎