Old Rum Bottle find pre1700?

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shunyadragon

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This bottle was found in the tidal flat of the sound west of Jockey's Ridge in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I was mapping wetlands as a Soil Scientist/Geologist.

It had oyster shells growing on it. No marks, irregular shape with no mold marks, concave bottom likely hand blown.


DSC_0032 (1).jpg
 

RCO

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I'm really not sure how you would date it , pre 1700 would be really old in my view , although there was a lot of ships in that area and some settlement along the coast , being that it was found without anything else nearby makes it even harder to try and date
 

hemihampton

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Looks old but I'm not sure about pre 1700? LEON.
 

CanadianBottles

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I have my doubts that it's pre-1700 but it's definitely an early one. Nice find!
 

shunyadragon

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I consider this bottle deposited in a storm from hurricanes deposited in the backwater tidal flats of the sound on the west side of the barrier islands. I often found various debris in these tidal flats. I was sort of hoping to get some dating ranges based on the design.
 
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shunyadragon

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If English then it is a typical 1790-1810 free blown beer/porter/wine type.
I would recommend a visit to the site linked below when trying to identify and date bottles.

https://sha.org/bottle/index.htm

:)

Based on the information from this site this a 'Mallet' style liquor bottle as described on the site.
  • English/European "mallet" style liquor bottle - This (left bottle) is another early bottle that pre-dates the general coverage of this website; it is also of English or continental European origin but is a type that is sometimes found in the New World at some of the earliest settlement areas. It is referred to as "mallet" style as it resembles a mallet, I guess. This bottle dates from sometime between about 1730 and 1780 (McKearin & Wilson 1978), was free-blown and has a large glass tipped pontil scar within the high kick-up base; click base view to see such.

Thank you for the reference!!!
 
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nhpharm

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The lip finish and shape of the bottle indicate to me 1800-1840 or so.
 

Harry Pristis

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Based on the information from this site this a 'Mallet' style liquor bottle as described on the site.
  • English/European "mallet" style liquor bottle - This (left bottle) is another early bottle that pre-dates the general coverage of this website; it is also of English or continental European origin but is a type that is sometimes found in the New World at some of the earliest settlement areas. It is referred to as "mallet" style as it resembles a mallet, I guess. This bottle dates from sometime between about 1730 and 1780 (McKearin & Wilson 1978), was free-blown and has a large glass tipped pontil scar within the high kick-up base; click base view to see such.

Thank you for the reference!!!

If the image and caption above are from sha.org, the info there on early glass is less reliable than I thought. The bottle on the left is NOT a mallet, it is a squat cylinder. The bottle on the RIGHT is almost certainly a mallet, though a late example, say from the 1760s.

The bottle in question appears to be a squat cylinder, probably an early one. I would like to see other images of the bottle -- the bottom and the bottle and particularly the lip in profile.

It is actually a base-diameter to body-height ratio which is the key to distinguishing mallets from squat cylinders, according to Roger Dumbrell in his book, UNDERSTANDING ANTIQUE WINE BOTTLES.


Here's what Dumbrell says in his book: "...mallet wine bottles have broad bases, considerably exceeding their body height [height to the start of the curve of the shoulder]. Conversely, the squat cylindrical bottle invariably has a body height greater than its base diameter."


That is:
It is a mallet when the body height to the shoulder divided by the diameter of the base gives an number of less than one.

It is a squat cylinder when the body height divided by the diameter of the base gives an answer greater than one.


Dumbrell does not use the term "transitional mallet," but we could infer that:
It is a "transitional mallet" when the body height divided by the diameter of the base gives an answer of about one.



blackglassmallets.jpg malletratio.jpg
 

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southern Maine diver

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Harry Pritis... you got it nailed! I think a lot of collectors throw that particular style bottle into to English "Mallet" category. I have been guilty of that myself. Thank you for the lesson in black glass Mallets and Squats...
 
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