Rare Antique Bottles - Seedsman

Brief history of the Seedsman Factory

The Seedsman factory was located at the corner of Camp and Templeton Streets, Maldon, Victoria, Australia. Research shows that a cordial ‘manufactory’ had been operating on this site since the mid 1850s under a number of owners.

WILLIAM and his son SAMUEL purchased the factory in the mid 1886 from a Mr. Venner (who was not the first operator in that factory) and largely expanded the business (and also the premises). Records show that the Seedsman factory was in operation until the 1920s. Another Seedsman son (Henry) operated a cordial factory in nearby Maryborough until about 1906. Research is continuing on both operations, but as yet, is in its very early stages. This article will be updated as more material comes to light during the research.

Seedsman name on antique bottles

Antique bottle collectors will be aware that any bottles bearing the Seedsman name will be valuable as they are very rare now. See the two samples bottles in this article and consider yourself lucky if you own a similar bottle or two.

Stoneware bottles and flasks

Many types of stoneware bottles exist and collectors might spend their entire time collecting just one type of antique bottle, perhaps only Seedsman bottles, for instance. However, there is no scarcity of stoneware bottles to start a collection. A collection might range from early porter and stout bottles to stoneware veterinary bottles or druggist's flagons. Even within one type of stoneware there exists huge variety, such as impressed, slab sealed, salt glazed, non-underglazed, transfer printed flagons, open or iron pontilled and much more besides.

All Seedsman bottles are very rare. The stoneware bottle, shown here, has sold for approximately $A700 in 2003.

In 2005 an exact replica of the bottle shown here was sold in Australia for approximately $A220 ($200 USD).

Hiram Codd bottles

Codd style bottles were cheaper than stone bottles (and more hygienic) and soon replaced them. Codd bottles are easily recognized by their 'marble' or 'alley' stopper. The principal of the alley was to stop the flow of cordial, ginger beer or other contents in the bottle when it was turned upside down. The pressure of the liquid in the bottle then kept the alley (marble) pressed against the opening of the bottle. The alley was popped down to drink the contents. These bottles are rare because children of that time nearly always smashed them to get the free alley or marble from the ruined glass.

Much of the information in this article is courtesy of Alan Seedsman, who is the great grandson of William Seedsman himself, who owned and operated Seedsman Cordials in Maldon, Victoria, Australia from about 1880 until 1920.

CORDIAL MANUFACTURERS, MALDON.

The Seedsman family were bakers and pastrycooks in London in the first half of the nineteenth century. James Seedsman and his sons William and James arrived on the Bendigo Goldfield in 1854. Born at Spitalfields in London in 1829, William went from goldmining to storekeeping and then applied for a publicans licence in 1867. He had the Alexander Hotel at Maldon which changed its name to the Globe and then to the High Street Hotel. In the mid 1880s, William purchased Venner’s cordial factory.

The business expanded and William’s son Samuel worked with him. Cordials and aerated waters were very popular and were sold in various containers. The two ‘marble’ or ‘alley’ bottles seen in this display, were a design patented in England in 1872, by Hiram Codd. They were used from the 1870s to the 1930s. Because children broke many of them to retrieve the ‘alleys’, complete originals became less common. Large stoneware containers were used for cordials or ginger beer. They were usually returned to the cordial manufacturer for refilling.