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Instructions
Date a Buchan bottle
Eliminate any clear glass bottles from the search for Buchan bottles. They did not produce clear glass at any time. Include pottery jugs in a collection of Buchan bottles for they made a number of jugs with spouts, handles and stoppers intended for the storage of liquids like oil or liquor. A Buchan bottle may be stamped with the intended contents on the outside or it may be left unmarked.
Identify the appearance of a Buchan bottle or jug by color and size. Internet sites maintained by collectors often feature good, color photos which help with identification. Early bottles intended for beer or ginger beer are nearly always limited to the combination of cream and tan color plus a few solid brown items. They sometimes still have the wire and cork closure attached, but they will always have a bulging top with indentations for securing the wire. A bottle with screw threads around the top is definitely from a later period.
Examine the underside of any bottle appearing to fit the descriptions. Beginning in 1877, the bottles were marked on the bottom with an impressed star and the name of the pottery. Beginning around the turn of the century, the mark changed to an impressed thistle and the word Buchan. Later bottles were more likely to be embossed with raised letters, BUCHAN. Bottles with no marks at all could have been made before 1877, but verifying their age would require finding a similar bottle whose age has been researched by identifying some other marks.
Study any printing on a Buchan bottle. They were often prominently marked for advertising the product inside. Printing is likely to be all black and may include what were early logos like bicycles or boats. Knowing the name of the product or of the company will greatly aid in identifying the age of the bottle because many of the products, like the popular ginger beer, were produced only regionally and for relatively short periods of time.