Chapter 13a
The Single-Year Bottlers
Coffin & Co. and its  Bottles
© Bill Lockhart 2000

Coffin & Co. (1881)
     Although not precisely a bottler, Coffin & Co. may have produced the earliest of the El Paso soda bottles (although Houck & Dieter opened on April 1, 1881).  In the El Paso Times of June 10, 1881, an advertisement appeared, stating:
 
 

 WE HAVE JUST RECEIVED A Complete Outfit for Manufacturing Mineral Water, Seltzer, GINGER ALE, LEMON, SARSAPARILLA  ETC., ETC.  All orders in the City and along the line of the Railroad will receive prompt attention.  Overland Building, El Paso, Texas.   Coffin & Co. (EPT 6/10/1881 4:6).

Even though the ad suggests that Coffin & Co. was new to the city, the  same ad may have run for several months.  Although their only known bottle was patented April 13, 1875, that was the date when Arthur Christin patented his stopper (used in the bottle) and probably had no connection to when the bottle was actually used.  Christin stoppers were mostly used in Colorado and were apparently only used there between 1875 and 1877 (Preble 1987:11-12).
 

Figure 13a-1 - El Paso Times, 6/10/1881

     An additional Christin bottle was recently excavated in downtown El Paso as part of a University of Texas project monitoring construction.  The bottle contained Belfast Ginger Ale and was filled by Arthur Chiristin, Chicago, Illinois.  It contains the same 1875 patent date and has a complete stopper assemblage.  Although it is not clear who distributed the beverage, it may also have been a product of Coffin & Co.

     Several people named Coffin were listed in the 1885 and later city directories, but no connection with Coffin & Co. has been established.  By 1884, Coffin and Seaton advertised as "dealers in Grain, Hay, and Ground Feed  Wholesale Dealers in Flour" (EPT 5/23/1884 2:5).  Again, a connection, if any, has not been ascertained.  Coffin & Co. placed no additional advertisements in any surviving El Paso newspapers, and nothing more is currently known about the firm.
 Bottles

Coffin & Co.
     I have only found one bottle embossed with Coffin & Co.  The bottle is completely unique among El Paso glass containers.  The Christin finish looks like a blob top, but it contains an internal groove ca. 1.0 cm. wide and ca. 0.2 cm. in depth.  The throat is also wider than a Hutchinson finish and is not constricted where it enters the bottle.  An Arthur Christin Ginger Ale bottle from Chicago, Illinois, was excavated in downtown El Paso in 1998, but there is no evidence that it was connected with Coffin & Co.
S 01
Method of Manufacture:  Two-Piece Mold
Color:  Common Green
Size (in cm.):  19.5 (h); 6.0 (d)
Primary Labeling Style:  Embossed
Finish:  Christin [The Christin stopper was patented April 13, 1875 by Arthur Christin.  The stopper, itself, was made of hard rubber and sealed against a rubber gasket held within a special groove debossed into the inside of the neck.  Bottles of this type appeared in Colorado but are rare outside the state (Clint 1976:26; Preble 1987:11-12).
Capacity:  ca. 10 oz.
Overall Bottle Design:  Cylindrical
Front Description 
Body:  Embossed - (no plate mold) COFFIN & Co. (downward arch)/EL PASO (horizontal)/TEXAS (horizontal)
Heel:  Embossed - ARTHUR CHRISTIN
Back Description 
Body:  Bare
Heel:  Embossed - A & D. H. C./PAT. APR. 13TH 1875 (note that the superscript "TH" had dots directly under each letter)
Base:  Bare
Manufacturer:  A. & D. H. Chambers (1865-1880s) (Preble (17) dates Chambers at 1843-1886.)
Dating:  [1875?-1881]  The bottle could have been manufactured as early as 1875, but the only known ad was issued in 1881.  Christin stopper bottles were primarily used in Colorado (by Jacob Schueler of Denver) between 1875 and 1877.
Collection(s): Author's collection.
 
Table of Contents
Chapter 13b - G. Edwin Angerstein and his Bottles