There seems to be a lot of interest in old bottles and how they were made. People inquire about the color, shape and contents of many of the old bottles. I hope to answer some of your questions in the upcoming articles I will be writing for the L’Observateur.

Let me start off with a strange looking bottle that has a marble located inside the bottle. The marble is located at the top of the bottle and to one side. This bottle is dated about 1840 and is commonly known as a blob top soda bottle with a marble inside.

In 1830, the St. Patrick Cathedral was under construction and John Matthews, a contractor, got the idea to purchase all of the scrap marble that was left over. He had a mountain of marble chips. With a little ingenuity he came up with a process to make soda water. He used the chips to form carbonic acid. This was a key ingredient in carbonation of beverages. Matthews would make 25 million gallons of soda water. Flavors would be added and this ingredient would create a new taste sensation. This led to the use of a thick wall blob top soda bottle which had a marble in the top. The carbonation would force the marble to the top of the bottle, forcing the closure of the bottle.

Before, corks were put in bottle tops, but pressure would often push the cork off the top of the bottle. With the marble inside the bottle the pressure forced the marble to the top so it couldn’t be pushed out, thus closing the bottle top. What an invention!

Several of these bottles are on display at the Louisiana Treasures Museum, located at 10290 Highway 22, West Ponchatoula. The museum is located five miles west of the Ponchatoula exit and owned and operated by Lt. Wayne Norwood. For more information of hours of operation call 225-294-8352.