sha.org › bottle › medicinalMedicinal Bottles - Society for Historical Archaeology As noted by Munsey, many of these type bottles and jars had the labels placed in a recessed (indented) area of the bottle with a thin covering of glass placed over the label. This type of labeling first began in about 1862 when it was patented by William Walton of Newark, N.J. (Griffenhagen & Bogard 1999).