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references · updated 2026-07-26

Three Rivers Glass — Maker's Marks

confidence: high volatility: cold verified: 2026-07-26fresh

Reference catalog of Three Rivers Glass Co. maker's marks, built on the Bottle Research Group's 2019 Encyclopedia of Manufacturer's Marks chapter (Lockhart, Schriever, Brown, Lindsey & Serr) and cross-checked against Michael David Smith's Texas Glass (1989) and the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. online catalog. Five variants, all anchored by a five-pointed star: THREE RIVERS {star} (possibly 1925–1927, earliest), 3 RIVERS {star} (1925–1937, most common), 3R {star} (bases only), {star} 3 RIVERS {star} (El Paso Union Bottling Works), and THREE {star} RIVERS (least common). Pre-1925 hand-blown ware is unmarked; two-digit heel date codes run from at least 1928; marks are usually weakly struck (mold-lubricant buildup), not worn; dual 3 Rivers/Ball bottles date to exactly 1937. Records where BRG and Smith disagree, including one point where this wiki's own transcriptions of Smith contradict BRG's reading of him.

The Three Rivers Glass Company marked its machine-made bottles and jars (1925–1937) with the name “Three Rivers” in several forms, always anchored by a five-pointed star — “the only constant in identifying a piece of Three Rivers glass” (Smith 1989:33). The authoritative treatment is the Bottle Research Group’s 2019 chapter in the Encyclopedia of Manufacturer’s Marks on Glass Containers (Lockhart, Schriever, Brown, Lindsey & Serr), which documents five variants, corrects Smith’s “worn away” explanation for faint marks, and establishes the dating rules collectors rely on.

Dating Rules at a Glance

  • Pre-1925: no mark. Three Rivers made all of its glass by hand during its first years (a consequence of the Hartford-Empire machine-patent monopoly), and BRG has only ever seen marks on machine-made ware: “Apparently, products manufactured prior to 1925 were unmarked.”
  • 1925–1937: the star marks. First use coincides with the firm adopting machines in early 1925; the end point is 1937, when the Ball Brothers finished filling the orders outstanding when they bought the company (see Ball Brothers Foreclosure and Antitrust Case). Except for the probably-early all-letters form, BRG cautions that current evidence cannot date any variant more narrowly than this full span — the variations may reflect dates, sizes, or glass styles, or may “only have been changed at the whims of the mold makers.”
  • From at least 1928: two-digit date codes on the heels of milk and soda bottles — possibly all bottles. BRG’s example is an eBay peppersauce bottle with a 1929 date code.
  • Exactly 1937: dual-marked Ball bottles. Bottles carrying the 3 RIVERS {star} logo on the heel and the cursive “Ball” mark on the base can only have been made during 1937, while Ball Brothers ran the plant to fill existing Three Rivers contracts. BRG documents an El Paso soda so marked (Lockhart 2010), and Smith’s price list independently records the combination on an “Ideal Bottling Co.” soda (Smith #37, “very unusual”).

Why the Marks Are Faint

Smith (1989:33) advised collectors that “some logos will be somewhat worn away” and recommended holding a suspected piece up to strong light. BRG corrects the mechanism: in their experience most marks were weakly struck, not worn. Because the logos sit on heels and bases — where mold lubricant accumulates — a mold that was not cleaned regularly (or was cleaned improperly) could build up enough residue to render the mark indistinct or obliterate it entirely. The practical advice stands either way: expect faint marks, and use strong light.

The Five Variants

THREE RIVERS {star} — possibly 1925–1927 (earliest)

The full company name with a star, on heels or bases. BRG found only a couple of examples (both via eBay): a milk-bottle base with “THREE RIVERS” arched around a comparatively large star — roughly five times the size of the stars in later logos, partly obliterated by the ejection scar — and a soda bottle with “THREE” arched over the star and “RIVERS” in an inverted arch below. BRG judges this “probably the earliest mark used by the glass house, possibly 1925–1927 — although the dates are an educated guess.” Toulouse (1971:494) recorded the mark without the star and dated it “1927 to 1935, rarely used” — and BRG’s observation of its scarcity agrees with Toulouse. Giarde (1980) noted the mark on milk bottles.

3 RIVERS {star} — 1925–1937 (most common)

The numeral form, the most common configuration BRG observed, occasionally accompanied by a letter, a number, or both. Toulouse (1971:494) recorded it in an arch and dated it “1925 to 1937, commonly used” — but the arch actually reflects the Mason-jar configuration (Toulouse 1969:306 described “‘3 RIVERS’ in a half circle, with a number, 107, indicating a design specification”; Roller 1983:352 noted the same jar; Creswick 1987:129 illustrated a Mason embossed “3 RIVERS {star} (arch) / 511 / 4”); on bottles the logo was often embossed horizontally. Found on the heels of at least two El Paso sodas (one being the 1937 dual-marked Ball bottle above) and on the heel roll of pint milk bottles made for the Mistletoe Creamery of El Paso (Lockhart 2010). Since this is the most common variant, BRG notes the full 1925–1937 range fits it best; other variants may have run shorter.

3R {star} — 1925–1937 (bases only)

The monogram form. Smith (1989:33) called it common, found only on bases, and frequently followed by a single-digit number — often a “7.” BRG, whose sample was mostly soda and milk bottles, found only a single example and suggests it may have been used more on smaller bottles. Smith’s price list #52 (a 15-oz. “No. 1 in Quality and Size” root beer bottle) records a piece marked twice — “3R{star}” on the bottom and “3 Rivers {star}” on the side — direct evidence the two forms were used concurrently on the same ware.

{star} 3 RIVERS {star} — 1925–1937 (El Paso Union Bottling Works)

Stars at both ends of the numeral form. Not listed by Smith; BRG documents it on two different bottles used by the Union Bottling Works in El Paso, Texas — one with the mark on the heel, the other on the base (Lockhart 2010).

THREE {star} RIVERS — 1925–1937 (least common)

The star between the two words. Smith (1989:33) said it was rarely seen but occurred on either heels or bases; BRG has never found an example.

After the Ball Takeover: the “HA” Variant

Creswick (1987:129) listed a jar-base variant reading “3 RIVERS {star} HA” and attributed it to the Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. — the “HA” almost certainly being the Hazel-Atlas monogram. BRG draws two inferences: the jar was intended as a product (packers’) jar rather than a fruit jar (as Creswick noted and Roller speculated), and the mold was transferred from the Three Rivers plant to Hazel-Atlas, probably after the Ball Brothers took over. Since packers’ jars have never been comprehensively studied, all or most of the Three Rivers product molds may have gone to Hazel-Atlas — though BRG allows that the “HA” could instead be some form of mold code.

The transfer inference has documented precedent in Hazel-Atlas’s own history: BRG’s Hazel-Atlas chapter records early “-Atlas-” Mason jars whose Atlas embossing is “often lighter than the rest,” suggesting it “was cut into acquired molds,” and Whitney Mason jars with ghosted ATLAS/WHITNEY embossing implying Atlas ran re-cut Whitney molds — exactly the practice a “3 RIVERS {star} HA” jar would represent.

Where BRG and Smith Disagree

  1. Which variant Smith listed as most common. BRG (2019) states that Smith (1989:33) called THREE RIVERS {star} the most common format, that Smith did not record the 3 RIVERS numeral variation at all, and that — since Smith “reported the ‘THREE RIVERS’ variation twice” — he probably intended one listing to be the numeral form. Both of this wiki’s witnesses of Smith’s p. 33 contradict that reading: the vision-OCR transcription of the original 1989 print scans and the 2024 re-typeset digital edition each read “The most common logo variation was ‘3 RIVERS,’ in all capitals, followed immediately by a five-pointed star,” with “THREE RIVERS” + star listed as less common and THREE {star} RIVERS as rare — no variation is listed twice. Smith’s own price list (#52) also explicitly cites a “3 Rivers {star}” side mark. The likeliest explanation is that BRG mischaracterized Smith’s text; either way the substantive conclusion is unaffected — 3 RIVERS {star} is the most common form both in Smith as transcribed here and in BRG’s observed sample.
  2. Rarity of the all-letters form. BRG’s field observation is that THREE RIVERS {star} is scarce — agreeing with Toulouse’s “rarely used” (for the no-star form he recorded, 1927–1935).
  3. Why marks are faint. Smith: “worn away.” BRG: weakly struck, from lubricant buildup in the molds (see above).

BRG also laments that Smith, with 94 photographed bottles and jars at his disposal, “did not make a more thorough examination of the examples.”

Literature Trail

  • Toulouse 1969 (Fruit Jars): “3 RIVERS” half-circle Mason jar mark with design number 107.
  • Toulouse 1971 (Bottle Makers and Their Marks): THREE RIVERS (no star), “1927 to 1935, rarely used”; 3 RIVERS arch, “1925 to 1937, commonly used.”
  • Giarde 1980 (Glass Milk Bottles: Their Makers and Marks): both forms on milk bottles — though for 3 RIVERS he was “almost certainly following Toulouse.”
  • Roller 1983 (Standard Fruit Jar Reference) and 1997 history notes: the arched Mason-jar mark; company chronology.
  • Creswick 1987 (The Fruit Jar Works, Vol. II): illustrated the “3 RIVERS {star} (arch) / 511 / 4” Mason and listed the “3 RIVERS {star} HA” Hazel-Atlas variant.
  • Smith 1989 (Texas Glass, p. 33 marks discussion and p. 39ff. price list): the dedicated company history and the collector’s baseline.
  • Lockhart 2010 (Bottles on the Border): the El Paso soda evidence (Union Bottling Works, Mistletoe Creamery, the 1937 Ball dual mark).
  • BRG 2019 (Lockhart, Schriever, Brown, Lindsey & Serr, Encyclopedia of Manufacturer’s Marks on Glass Containers): the synthesis this article follows.

The Hoffmann-Hayman Online Catalog

The Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. (San Antonio) maintains an active (© 2026) online catalog of 75 numbered Three Rivers bottles plus an addendum — mostly sodas, plus the H&H “Crystalvac” coffee jars (#34, clear and amber), dairy bottles (#46), and an “unknowns” section. It identifies pieces by the Three Rivers “star” or “3R{star}” on base or heel and is keyed to the price list beginning on p. 39 of Smith’s Texas Glass — the same list behind this wiki’s ~80 inventory/items records (76 of them bottles). It is a companion/confirming resource for the marks above rather than a source of new variants.

The same H&H collection also documents the one mark on H&H ware that is not a Three Rivers mark: the Owens-Illinois “Diamond-Oval-I” (plant code 7 = Alton, Illinois) on Crystalvac coffee jars dated 1936–1939. The star and the diamond both appear across the Crystalvac line — evidence that H&H dual-sourced its jars from Three Rivers and Owens-Illinois concurrently through the 1930s. See Owens-Illinois and the Crystalvac Jars for the full analysis and the star-vs-diamond dating contrast.

See Also

Sources