Evermore
New Member
I'd really like to settle something once and for all, so any knowledgeable help will be greatly appreciated. I have recently seen several supposedly antique poison and other pharma bottles in antique malls that are of a light blue glass that I am 99% certain are fakes. But I can't seem to find anyone else that can say FOR CERTAIN whether or not they are real or some sort of new (perhaps from China) reproductions. Just holding them triggered all sorts of red flags in me. They are lighter in weight than other bottles I've held over their size. The bottoms have no pontils but have a smooth "wavy-ness" where the thickness of the glass is unevenly distributed. They have seams along the side that are quite sharp to the touch, and especially at the lip. The "lips" are chipped off and are irregular. (One commentor to another post I made about them on another site, suggested that they are English, and Victorian and that the "chipped top was to keep in the cork stopper , then it was usually topped with red sealing wax to stop the contents from leaking out." Plausible enough, I suppose, but I've never heard of such a thing). Also, when I have seen them on shelves they are also spotlessly, brilliantly clean to have supposedly come from the Victorian age. Not a hint of "sickness," no suspended bubbles, nothing to indicate to me that they are more than just a few years old. Still I seem to be fighting an uphill battle with various internet "experts" that can't actually back up their comments with any hard proof other than to question why anyone would bother to fake a small bottle. I can think of many reasons, but it bothers me that I can't solve this once and for all. Is that even possible or is this the bottle world's equivalent to a blurry film clip of Bigfoot - just open to opinions and no certain agreement? Help!!!---Darren