Foster Clark’s Bottles

Bottles embossed with the name of ‘Foster Clark & Co, Maidstone’, for ‘Eiffel Tower Fruit Juices’. In 1910, Foster Clark’s became a limited company. Bottles made after this date have ‘Foster Clark Ltd’ rather than ‘Foster Clark & Co’. The firm also made lemonade.

In the 1890s, the bottles had burst-off lips and an embossed image of the Eiffel Tower trademark. This then disappeared after the late 1890s.  In the 1900s, the long neck was retained but the applied lip appeared (visible on the bottle farthest right). By 1908, the short-necked bottle was superseding the long-necked one. The bottles in the photo were discarded after the death of Mary Everett in October 1908. Five were found, all bearing the name of ‘Foster Clark & Co’ (i.e. dating before 1910), and all were for fruit juices rather than lemonade. Three were of the short neck variety and two of the long neck, showing that the latter was already coming in by late 1908.

The bottles contained a powder for making up fruit juice drinks.

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Posted on

April 3, 2015

118 Comments

  1. fiverr eebest8

    Hey, thanks for the post.Much thanks again. Really Great.

    Reply
    • Denis Nyhan

      Found one of these little lemonade bottles today while picking stones on our land in West Cork Ireland

      Reply
    • Tom Scriven

      Just found one on Malvern, worcestershire outskirts in a stream!

      Perfect condition

      Reply
    • Ian

      Found one in Youghal Co Cork Ireland today while raking topsoil in my garden. Eiffel tower lemonade on it. Reading some of the other locations is very interesting. Ian

      Reply
      • MichaelRyan

        Just found one embedded in sand at Lake Windermere
        Limited version
        B C U G B printed on base
        Perfect condition

        Reply
  2. Trish Crane

    I have some – are they worth anything . I can send some photos

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Hi Trish,

      They’re worth nothing I’m afraid. These bottles are extremely common.

      Tom

      Reply
      • Jane.

        Found one today in Cornwall! Not more than a mouthful of lemonade!

        Reply
        • Neil Paffard

          ! recall the contents as crystals. One teaspoonful diluted would have made a drink.

          Reply
        • Abby

          I just found one in a bank by the side of the road in Dorset.

          Reply
    • Sandra Aitken

      Found one with Ltd on it in Southampton

      Reply
  3. Bob Hodgson

    I found one today outside a rabbit hole near Skipton, North Yorkshire. Nice condition, unbroken, a bit stained inside and nice to read the history.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      That’s a long way from Maidstone – probably taken up by steam train. Thanks for letting us know! Tom

      Reply
      • Luke ryder

        Found one digging fence post holes today. Later version with Eiffel tower lemonade embossed. In good condition. Just on outskirts of Coventry.
        Thanks for the history lesson 😊

        Reply
        • Jan

          I bought 5 at a Market in Norfolk 2023. Gave a few to my daughter. I bought 2 back to New Zealand they make nice little vases, with a few flowers.

          Reply
          • Dean

            Found one today In Chiswick west london

      • Meg

        Found one today! On the Sussex/Kent border nr Lamberhurst, under a tree root. The tree had fallen down, exposing the bottle in perfect condition. Beautiful.

        Reply
      • James Nash

        Dig up one of these in Bradford-on-Avon today!

        Reply
      • Marc Russo

        We just found one here in Western Australia, very very very far from home. It has LTD not Co so it’s a little bit later

        Reply
  4. Bob Hodgson

    Meant to add it is the 1908 – 1910 pattern and writing.

    Reply
    • J.harland

      Found 1 in Carrington Manchester, 22/02/2021 Eiffel Tower fruit juice.

      Reply
    • Ruth Waterman

      Found my two bottles when I was a child more than 43 years ago, love them,part of who I am!

      Reply
  5. Jill

    I found one this week whilst digging in my garden. Embossed with G. foster Clark &a Co. Maidstone. I’m in Berkshire

    Reply
  6. Martin

    I found a long-necked lemonade bottle Foster Clark & co so pre-1908 in a garden in Bromyard, Herefordshire today. Chipped rim sadly.

    Reply
  7. B Gould

    one found today on the isle of wight. 🙂 don’t care about value- nice bit of history.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Absolutely – and thanks for letting us know. There must be thousands still buried all across the country.

      Reply
      • Karen Lodwidge

        One found today in the New Forest

        Reply
        • sarah

          I have found one today in Ironbridge, Shropshire.

          Reply
          • Jason

            I’ve found 3 all different ages in the west of Scotland .
            One has lovely bubbles inside the glass .all totally undamaged

          • Steven Young

            I have a couple of these fruit juice bottles which I dug up in Cardiff forty years ago. Still used…but for small flower displays!

      • Paulo

        Found one in Box Wiltshire this weekend I noticed that the inside of the neck was sort of excentric – I wondered if this was a manufacturing defect or to make it easier to pour the contents.

        Reply
    • Meg

      Found one today! On the Sussex/Kent border nr Lamberhurst, under a tree root. The tree had fallen down, exposing the bottle in perfect condition. Beautiful.

      Reply
      • Maisy

        Found out e today in haxey, next to old railway track

        Reply
  8. Helen Moore

    We have found a Foster Clark Ltd bottle with “Eiffel Tower Lemonade” written on the side, could you tell me how old this is please.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      If it says ‘Ltd’ on the bottle it dates to after 1910.

      Reply
      • Rod

        Hi . Just found Foster Clark Ltd
        Maidstone
        Eiffel Tower
        Lemonade
        With No 3 on bottom .
        Digging garden in a Victorian cottage in Suffolk . Perfect condition .

        Reply
      • James middleton

        Found a nice eifel tower , Ltd bottle today while rotovating a garden in Ringwood Hampshire.

        Reply
    • Becky

      We’ve found one where we work in Coggeshall. Eiffel Tower lemonade know the worth or age ?

      Reply
  9. Bernadette Tanham

    We live along the old Lancaster Canal (de-watered bit) and I have just dug one up from one of the beds. Limited so after 1910. People go on about littering today but from the amount of bottles of bits of china I frequently dig up the Victorians were also very good at it. The other bottles I usually find are for Peck’s paste.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      It sounds like the rubbish you’re finding dates to the 1910s or 1920s, when Peck’s products were popular. This rubbish will have been collected from households and dumped in the old canal beds rather than casually being discarded as litter – although people did litter too.

      Reply
  10. Patrick Reilley

    My son found one today in Vincentown NJ, US. It was actually in an old mill pond that is now a park. This on is Pre 1910 with “G. Foster Clark & Co” on one side and Eiffel Tower Lemonade on the obverse. But this ottle is much shorter and wider that what I have scene online with a long neck and wide flange, like it would be corked. Could this be an export only version. Happy to provide a picture upon request.

    Reply
  11. Paul

    I dug one up today in my garden in Jersey, Channel Islands. It’s a short-neck variety with ‘& Co’ written on it. Luckily, it’s in perfect condition.

    Reply
  12. 'Bob'

    I found a Foster Clark & Co, Maidstone and Eiffel Tower, Fruit Juices short neck bottle, 28.08.2017 in very good condition. In a little hamlet near Truro, Cornwall (UK).

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Thanks for letting us know, Bob. Having travelled all the way from Kent, it had become a national favourite.

      Reply
    • PhillipBrowne

      I found one of the post 1910 lemonade bottles in fine condition a couple of weeks ago. Was found on a scrap pile near where workers had been excavating. Hollymount, County Mayo Ireland. Was in back of our ancestral home, ancestors had left for Michigan, USA about 150 years ago.
      We- myself and two brothers and our 94 year old father were visiting Ireland for the first time . We live in California and loved seeing a wee bit of Ireland finally!
      Happy also to find this site and learn about the little bottle. Will happily add to my collection!

      Reply
  13. Benita

    Found last week in Wilmslow Cheshire would you know how it made its way here?

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Thanks for letting us know, Benita. Foster Clark’s was becoming a national brand by the late 1890s, supplying stores all over the country and moving their products around by rail or by road.

      Reply
  14. David

    Found a Lemonade one today digging the garden at Norfolk

    Reply
  15. Gary

    Ive been working with the environment agency and national widelife and we found one today in fosdyke sea defence while sorting badger burrows out

    Reply
  16. Tait

    Found today at 11am.20th.jan.2018 Foster clark co.Maidstone, Eiffel Tower lemonade bottle excellent condition,whilst digging in Chobham surrey.

    Reply
  17. Tom Mowat

    Dug up a Foster Clark Ltd. Eiffel Tower Lemonade bottle today. Location Kincardine O’neil, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.

    Reply
  18. Marie

    We found one today at Cliveden National Trust whilst pulling up a board in one of our outbuildings, unbroken and just a bit dirty!

    Reply
  19. Kate

    I have two bottles of G. Foster Clark & Co, Maidstone with Eiffel Tower fruit juices on the other side. I dug them up in Saffron Walden, Essex about forty years ago and added them to my small collection. Among others I have a A Geo R Sims bottle of Tatcho Hair Preparation found to contain 2.7 parts Borax, 2-5 parts glycerine, and small parts of quinine, formaldehyde, alcohol, and perfume!

    Reply
  20. Richard

    We dug up a Foster Clark & Co Maidstone Eiffel Tower Lemonade bottle in our garden near Oswestry last weekend. It was full of soil but has scrubbed up well and is in perfect condition.

    Reply
    • Nigel

      Found a foster Clark short neck lemonade crystal bottle in an old Elizabethan cottage in Iwerne Courtney Dorset

      Reply
  21. Greg

    I found one in Tickenham near Bristol. Pre 1908. Great condition. Now has a single daffodil in it. Great talking piece on my table. Everyone asks about it. Nice to say it’s over 100 years old.

    Reply
  22. Jackie Bowen

    I found one today in my garden in Cirencester! Blue glass perfect condition complete with glass stopper

    Reply
    • Andrea

      My husband found one today behind our garden in what used to be a gravel pit 100 years ago! Interesting find. Ware, Herts

      Reply
  23. Tracey Heppleston

    Found a Foster Clark ltd Maidstone clear bottle with Eiffel Tower Lemonade on the other side in perfect condition.

    Have been digging up part of our garden which was an old farm dating back to 1593. The guys found all sorts of objects but no treasure , yet!

    Reply
  24. Michelle Enstone

    Have just found a Foster Clark Ltd Eiffel Tower Lemonade in our garden in Somerset

    Reply
  25. Ashleigh Johnson

    Dug up one of these bottles in Eastbourne yesterday.

    Reply
  26. Victoria Tate

    my nine year old daughter fished one out of our stream in West Dorset. Good for her to get involved in the history of this object.

    Reply
  27. Kevin

    I just found one in my cellar. Eiffel Tower Fruit Juices on one side and G.Foster Clark & Co on the other. In Perfect condition.

    Reply
  28. Elizabeth Burn

    Hi We have inherited bottles found by my father in law not sure where but one is foster Clark and co Maidstone Eiffel Tower fruit juice did you say this was before 1908 ? We have a ESS Camp Coffee and chicory bottle which says Glasgow on one side and Paterson’s on another side. also a bottle with P H Galloway Ltd Chemists London S E17

    Reply
  29. Tom Licence

    Hi Elizabeth, if it’s FC ‘and co’ it’s before 1910. That was the year the firm became a limited company. Best regards, Tom

    Reply
  30. Maggie May

    I have found a Foster Clarke & Co. Maidstone, green bottle with lip, Eiffel Tower Lemonade. I assume this is pre 1910. It was lovely to read your information regarding these bottles. I am in the Scottish Borders!

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Hi Maggie – thanks for getting in touch! ‘Awaiting moderation’ is simply a auto-response telling you that I haven’t yet got round to reading your comment. If the bottle you’ve found has a lip rather than a burst-off top it should date to the 1900s. If the neck is short, it probably dates to the period 1906-1910. Glad you’re enjoying the website. I’ll be putting more items on soon, from our ongoing digs in Yarmouth. Tom

      Reply
  31. Glen

    On the beach today i found a little green Foster Clark & co bottle with Eiffel Tower Lemonade uncovered by the waves during the storm the other day. Largs north Ayshire.

    Reply
  32. Joanna Wheatland

    Found a Foster Clark Ltd lemonade bottle today while walking beside the old Wilts & Berks canal bed (abandoned in 1914) outside Chippenham, Wilts.

    Reply
  33. Malcolm

    A few years ago I found a Foster Clark & Co Maidstone Eiffel Tower Lemonade bottle with number 1574 on the underside. It was embedded in the roots of a huge willow tree that had fallen at the nature reserve at Narborough Bog, Leicester.
    Where were the bottles made? Is there glass making in the Maidstone area?

    Reply
  34. Terry

    I have a FOSTER CLARK LTD, MAIDSTONE on one side and on the other is EIFFEL TOWER, LEMONADE. It also seems to have a G on the bottom, or, it could be a mold position number. No chips or crack and does have some lovely air bubbles. We current call Georgia, USA home.

    Reply
  35. Nomad

    Found mine in Gresford, Wrexham LL12. Pre 1910 as has no Ltd company on it.Amazing that hundreds of these beautiful bottles have survived.Mine has the long neck which has had it’s lip expertly chipped away, bringing it to a sharp edge.For what reason I don’t know.Maybe to use as a die or stamp..

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Hi Nomad,

      This kind of lip is called a ‘burst-off lip’ (or sometimes, incorrectly, a ‘sheared-lip’). It was created deliberately at the point of manufacture by allowing a bubble to form at the top of the neck, and then burst. It was cheaper and quicker than rolling over the top of the glass to create an ‘applied lip’ of the sort that came later. Foster Clarke bottles with burst-off lips were in use until the early 1900s. By c. 1903 they had been replaced with the applied-lip variety.

      Reply
  36. Nick KING

    We found a Foster Clarke Ltd bottle when a work team of rangers was digging on a part of GODOLPHIN National Trust property in Cornwall last week.
    A long way and time from Maidstone !

    Reply
  37. Lorraine Burnett

    We found a Foster Clark Maidstone Eiffel Tower Lemonade whilst digging in our garden today I Devon. The neck has been broken off unfortunately but a nice find.

    Reply
  38. Kevin Storey

    We live in Kent in a house that was a pub until the 1960’s, we just found a Foster Clarke & Co long necked, burst-off lip bottle marked Eiffel Tower Fruit Juices. From your excellent website that dates it from around 1900 to 1903. Many thanks for sharing your information.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Glad to help, Kevin. This product tended to be purchased and consumed pretty quickly, so it was probably discarded about that time. There may be other rubbish with it. At Guston, near Deal, I excavated a lot of Victorian and Edwardian rubbish that had been dumped in chalk pits at the rear of a row of cottages. It was common at that time to throw away rubbish at the end of the garden, in a secluded or overgrown spot.

      Reply
  39. Giles Broomfield

    Dug up a pre 1910 ‘co’ short neck version in my garden in Winchester Hampshire a couple of years ago. Perfect condition bar a little cloudiness in the glass.

    Reply
    • Jean Carter

      II have Foster Clarke Ltd bottle with Eiffel Tower Lemonade on sides and 785 on bottom. Bought it at Craft Fair on Poole Quay in the 1990s. Wondered what the history of it was. It makes a nice vase for small flowers!

      Reply
  40. Wayne O'Reilly

    Found a host of old bottles and jars whilst digging out at a house in Stamford. One says Eiffel Tower Lemonade on one side and Foster Clarke LTD on the other. Perfect condition. Also have old wine bottles, jars etc…
    Must have been somewhere to dump them

    Reply
  41. The Mad Cow

    Found in back garden in Gorleston, Nr Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. The property, built 1876, has been lived in for nearly 78 years by the same family, (4 generations).

    Reply
  42. Sarah Marr

    I haven’t got a bottle but a wooden box made from I’m guessing a packing crate with Eiffel Tower Sweetened Lemonade stamped on it …my great uncle used a lot of crates to made more useful sized boxes! Lovely old box!

    Reply
  43. Ryan

    Foster Clarke Ltd, Eiffel Tower Lemonade. Found in Chilham, East Kent. Perfect condition.

    Reply
  44. Jackie Dorrell

    Foster Clarke Ltd, Eiffel Tower Lemondade. Found in garden near Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Excellent condition.

    Reply
  45. Jess

    Found a foster clark ltd bottle in chippenham wiltshire whilst out walking. really good condition with the lid still with it unlike some bottles i find in underground mines 🙂

    Reply
  46. Sallyann Rose

    Hi I have found a G.Foster Clark & Co Maidstone in my garden, with Eiffel Tower fruit juices embossed on it too. Really appreciate your info on this little find.

    Reply
  47. C ROSS

    Found one in a charity shop in Scotland today.

    Reply
  48. Jane

    I’ve just found one in my garden in Whiteparish in Wiltshire. Foster Clark Ltd it also has B300 C13 UGB (sounds high tec)! Thanks for all the info Tom its a nice find and makes a sweet vase.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Glad you found it helpful, Jane. Yes, they make nice vases for snowdrops and the like! Tom

      Reply
  49. Michele

    Found 2 bottles in Plymouth

    Reply
  50. M.D. Priestner

    We found one yesterday in Warburton Cheshire. It was unearthed when the private Lane was disturbed by modern tractors and trailers getting stuck whilst carting huge loads of carrots that the Lane was never designed for. The whole area was tipped with “night soil” from central Manchester in the early 1900’s, most pottery, inkwells and the like have been destroyed by cultivation’s over the years so it was unusual to find one complete!

    Reply
  51. Yvonne

    Just found a bottle with screw top and square tablet crystals inside near Mildenhall, Suffolk.

    Reply
  52. scott marriott

    I have one with the Dark fruit juice still inside. Cork stopper in place. 3/4 full.
    Any interest to anyone?
    Found it in garden in Derby.

    Reply
  53. DAVID EVANS

    Found Eiffel Tower Lemonade yesterday in Cemetery rubbish dump Tunbridge Wells – much closer to home. & Co so 1910 or before. 110 years old and pristine after the dishwasher!
    Fascinating and now for 8 May 2 mon silence at 1054 hrs.

    Brown Bear

    Reply
  54. Andrea

    I dug one up in the garden on 21 May 20 near Norwich, Norfolk. It is in good condition.

    Foster Clark LTD. Eiffel Tower Lemonade. B300 C 17 U G B.

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Where you find one, there may be more bottles. People in rural areas would often dispose of their rubbish in pits at the end of the garden, or in old ponds, or areas of waste ground.

      Reply
  55. Aron

    I found one today in a stream by where I live in Hastings East Sussex, sadly has a bottom corner chipped off but the cork or wood stopper is still in the top, it’s ..’and co’ with Eiffel Tower fruit juices as well. Pretty happy with the find.

    Reply
  56. Maurice tennenhaus

    Found one whilst fishing on the River Nadder near Salisbury

    Reply
  57. Gerard Reidy

    Tom I found a post 1910 Lemonade crystal bottle in my garden in county Clare ,Ireland. GR

    Reply
  58. Helen

    I’m just washing a small collection of old glass bottles which have sat in our bathroom for years. Never looked very closely at them but now see one is C Foster Clark & Co, Eiffel Tower fruit juices, short necked, in nice condition. On the bottom is a large X with a small j beneath. SO interesting to read the history here. I shall be checking all the others now!

    Reply
  59. Lesley

    Found 1 today in field sw Scotland lots of others too

    Reply
  60. Andrew

    Just found one of the Foster Clark & Co. Eiffel Tower Fruit Juices bottles 2 metres down in a trench being dug for foundations in Leominster. Seems like a small stash of mixed glass and ceramic bottles along side a probable farm track up until 1930ish.

    Reply
  61. Steve walker

    Found one today in Preston Lancashire unbroken vary good condition

    Reply
  62. Alan Purkiss

    Found one today in the roadside bank to my wood. Slight chip and hole in the bottom. Steventon in Hampshire.

    Reply
  63. Gary Rogers

    Just found a short neck LTD in woodland in NE Norfolk.
    Thanks for explaining about the crystals . I was a bit bemused as it looks like it would only be about a 100ml . Pity no one has invented an underground glass detector 🤣

    Reply
  64. Gary Rogers

    Tom I’ve just noticed that my Foster Clarke lemonade bottle has a screwcap top .
    Does this mean it’s much later than 1910 ?

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Hello Gary, yes indeed – the screwcap came much later. It would date after about 1925. Tom

      Reply
  65. Dee

    Just found one, neck broken when digging a hole to replant my lavender. There really is a lot of old glass and ceramics in the soil where I live in Birmingham.

    Reply
  66. Denis Nyhan

    Hi Tom, found a Eiffel Tower lemonade / Foster Clarke LTD Maidstone screw cap short neck bottle today in perfect condition while out picking stones on our farm in West Cork Ireland

    Reply
    • Tom Licence

      Hi Denis, thanks for letting us know. It’s interesting to see where they got to. The screw-cap ones came in in the 1920s. Tom

      Reply
      • Stuart Saunders

        Hi, I Recently saw a picture of a brown glass eiffel tower, is it genuine, I didn’t realise they were made in brown

        Reply
        • Tom Licence

          Hi Stuart, yes, some were made in various colours of glass during the WWI era.

          Reply
  67. Catherine Hudson

    Some workmen digging in my garden for a new fence today found a Foster Clark Ltd Eiffel Tower Lemonade bottle, totally in tact with rusted screw cap, unfortunately when I cleaned it up the cap disintegrated- still an interesting find nonetheless!

    Reply
  68. Susan Strahan

    We found a Foster Clark &co Eiffel Tower fruit juices bottle in the garden in Llanbedrog , North Wales

    Reply
  69. Kim

    Just found an amethyst short neck
    C. FOSTER CLARK & CO.
    MANUFACTURERS

    EIFFEL TOWER
    LEMONADE
    Half Buried extremely low tide in Falmouth Massachusetts Cape Cod

    * Mint condition

    Reply
  70. Tracy Dunmore

    My mum was planting some flowers in the back garden this morning and found a short neck bottle with the words foster Clark ltd Maidstone and on the other side it said Eiffel Tower lemonade with some of the crystals still in it. We are in north Devon😊.

    Reply
  71. Lesley Mathieson

    I grew up in Maidstone and have many happy and sentimental memories of it. I now live in Bedfordshire. We were ‘umming and arring’ over the expense of having a conservatory, but went with it. When the foundations were dug for the base the builder presented me with an Eiffel Tower lemonade bottle, made by Foster Clark’s Maidstone! I couldn’t believe it. Somebody was telling me we made the right decision!

    Reply
  72. Nic

    I just found 1 of these with powder still inside!

    Reply

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