Australian Antique Bottle Website

Most bottles found in Australia will fit into one of the categories below. The dates specified for each mark are probably correct +10 years. The reason for this discrepancy is because references on this subject all say different things... so its hard to be exactly sure.

Most Australian found bottles prior to about 1870 were made in England. Some were marked with the registration diamond, but unfortunately most are unmarked, such as the common goldfields 'black' bottles, which are nearly all unmarked, except of course for the famous ‘Black Horse’ bottle which does bear the British Registration Diamond (click here for a photo). Several very old types of pickle jars and salad oils also have a registered diamond mark.

British Registration Diamond used from 1842-1883:

Letters corresponding to years:

1842 - X1856 - L	1870 - C
1843 - H1857 - K	1871 - A
1844 - C1858 - B	1872 - I
1845 - A1859 - M	1873 - F
1846 - I1860 - Z	1874 - U
1847 - F1861 - R	1875 - S
1848 - U1862 - O	1876 - V
1849 - S1863 - G	1877 - P
1850 - V1864 - N	1878 - D
1851 - P1865 - W	1879 - Y
1852 - D1866 - Q	1880 - J
1853 - Y1867 - T	1881 - E
1854 - J1868 - X	1882 - L
1855 - E1869 - H	1883 - K

Letters corresponding to months:

January - CMay - E	September - D
February - GJune - M	October - B
March - WJuly - I	November - K
April - HAugust - R	December - A

Glass bottles commonly began being made in Australia in about 1870.

Melbourne Glass Companies (Victoria, Australia)

MGBCo 1888-1900

- images to be added -

Usually appears with dots between the letters, letter size may vary. Commonly seen around the bottom of marble bottles.

M 1900-1915

Different sizes, sometimes with dots either side. Used by Melbourne Glass Bottle Company until it bought out many other glass manufacturers and became known as the Australian Glass Manufacturers.

AGM monogram 1915-1922

Fairly unusual to see this mark, out of my collection only a few bottles have this.

AGM straight (larger letters) 1922-1929

Large letter size, may appear with dots in between, sometimes seen with numbers also.

AGM straight (smaller letters) 1922-1929

Smaller letter size, often seen with numbers also.

AGM round 1929-1933

Slightly varying letter sizes, often appears with numbers also.

AGM modern 1934-1948 & again in the 60s

Large A with G and M in between. Often referred to as ‘skirt’, or ‘eiffel tower’. Many other names exist. Bottles with this modern mark are generally not valuable, however they will be old and (maybe) collectable one day.

NSW marks

Vance & Ross, Sydney RB = Ross Brothers Ice cream trademark

(There are many different NSW marks, only a few of which are shown here.)