It's a nice bottle! Not sure what would have been in it, maybe a fancy sauce. Toilet water could be a possibility, maybe. Probably not ketchup, though I suppose it's possible.
- Hi RelicRaker
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Your bottle was patented by Nehemiah Sleeper of Burlington, New Jersey.
The drawing and specification from the US Patent Office are shown below.
It is his initials which appear on the base of the bottle at the centre of the patent date.
Unfortunately the specifications do not state what the bottle was used for.
Perhaps a little further research into Nehemiah Sleeper might reveal what sort of business he was engaged in?
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A further quick search shows the following details from the census of 1870.
Nehimiah Sleeper, a 39 year old canning manufacturer, had been born in Pennsylvania.
He was living in Burlington with his wife, four children and a live in domestic servant.
Beautiful bottle! I'd say it's a sauce or toilet water bottle, probably the latter or for something related to women's products. It has what seems to be a floral design and thus seems a bit too "feminine" for it to have marketed a product for general, public consumption. Just my opinions. It's a neat bottle!
Nehemiah Sleeper designed the bottle for his partnership—Sleeper, Wells & Aldrich—makers of, you guessed it, catsup. A NJ bottle forum post has pix of a bottle with a partially intact label. Well, it's a fancy catsup anyway.
Yes, a might fancy catsup bottle, the fanciest I've ever seen! You're right CanadianBottles, the common Heinz bottles, a dime a dozen, can't begin to compare to that beautiful, almost Roseville-esque floral/leaf design. Great bottle RelicRaker and great research to you and everyone else!