Is there a name for this type of pontil/mark?

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harryr1961

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Hi Y'all, long time no post. I bought a piece recently with a pontil I don't recognize. It has a center "post" hole, or perhaps the pontil is just very thin and was pushed deeper into the gather? The center depression is just over 1/4 inches. Any help would be appreciated.
 

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Harry Pristis

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This looks like a blow-pipe or "open" pontil scar. The post hole is from the opening in the blow-pipe. Your bottle has a generous helping of "stickum glass" left on the bottom. Here's an example of another blow-pipe pontil scar.

cologneNSP.jpg
 

MuddyMO

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I tend to call these 'tubular' pontils...
 

andy volkerts

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It is an open or blowpipe/tubular pontil. Made when the glassblower broke the bottle off the blowpipe at the bottle's neck and then dipped the blowpipe into a small gather of glass and stuck it onto the bottom of the bottle so his assistant could mount the applied top or lip onto the bottle. When finished adding the top or lip ring the blowpipe would then be broken off from the bottom of the bottle , leaving that ring of excess glass on the bottom of the bottle. It sounds complex but I have seen written that a good team of bottle makers could do a hundred bottles an hour or more........Andy
 

Harry Pristis

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It is an open or blowpipe/tubular pontil. Made when the glassblower broke the bottle off the blowpipe at the bottle's neck and then dipped the blowpipe into a small gather of glass and stuck it onto the bottom of the bottle so his assistant could mount the applied top or lip onto the bottle. When finished adding the top or lip ring the blowpipe would then be broken off from the bottom of the bottle , leaving that ring of excess glass on the bottom of the bottle. It sounds complex but I have seen written that a good team of bottle makers could do a hundred bottles an hour or more........Andy

Who was holding the bottle after it was broken from the blow-pipe at the neck and before it could be affixed at the base?
The answer, of course, is that there were two blow-pipe involved in the process.
 

andy volkerts

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Hello Harry. Of course you are correct, I left that part about the assistant also holding the bottle by the second blowpipe out because I couldn't think of a way to include it into the whole paragraph with out a lot of confusion, BUT, you have made it clear. What a team! I find the whole process of hand making a bottle fascinating. Not only was it hot and dirty work, it was very dangerous on top of everything else. I can not imagine anyone willing to do the same job today for 100 bottles an hour for 10 hours, for any amount of money!!
 

Harry Pristis

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I agree, Andy. Production of hand-blown bottles must have been hellish with heat and humidity (water => steam was used in some steps). Young boys were extensively employed. Sooner or later, everyone on the production floor must have received a serious burn.
 

andy volkerts

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Talk about Child labor abuse! The early glassmaking plants pretty much used young boys as assistants to the glassblowers in the making of bottles and other glassware, didn't have to pay them much either......Andy
 

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