1880's violin scroll flask? Salem oak / Jersey devil.

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

"Repro" is a much misused term. This scroll flask is not a reproduction, but a modern, albeit hand blown with early methods, fantasy bottle. To be a reproduction, there would have to have been an original blown at an earlier time, which there was not. There are reproductions, adaptations and fantasy bottles, all different things and not to be confused or used interchangeably. Just trying to clarify matters here for everyone's benefit.

Robby, you're right when you described it as "a fantasy flask". It is original in the sense that that mold had not been produced before, but not original in the conventional sense of being blown in the early to mid-1800s.

Got it. Thank you all for the clarification. I style i don't really collect. How do I do this? Lol! I know somebody who will love it. Guess that's all that matters.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[saratogadriver]

Agree with Sandchip. 20th century fantasy bottle. Robby, do you have McKearin and Wilson's book with the charts? If you collect flasks at all it's a must. Generally the best way to figure out if they made that mold in the 1800s...

Jim G

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

Agree with Sandchip. 20th century fantasy bottle. Robby, do you have McKearin and Wilson's book with the charts? If you collect flasks at all it's a must. Generally the best way to figure out if they made that mold in the 1800s...

Jim G

Thanks for the resource. Not big into flasks, hence my questions. Lots to learn. Loads of reproductions. Now fantasy? Oh boy!
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[EXCHF5200]

Csa, as you acknowledged, you're not from the area. No one locally refers to the Jersey Devil as the "Leeds Devil". With that said, I believe that Jersey Devil bottle to be a repro. Thats the problem with buying a bottle as opposed to finding one. It appears "too clean" to have been unearthed. Regardless, it is still a cool bottle.

 

[Csa]

I am actually local. North Jersey guy my whole life. Just bought a beach house in LBI. Agreed everyone calls it Jersey Devil NOW. my point to Robby was before 1900 it wasn’t really known as Jersey devil so having that name and image on a flask from late 1800s would have been odd. As you and the experts point out it must be a fantasy glass flask, and there never was an “original” version of this piece.
Btw- I hear there are some decent bottle dumps in the pine barrens. Any body in that area looking for a digging partner this summer?

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

Csa, as you acknowledged, you're not from the area. No one locally refers to the Jersey Devil as the "Leeds Devil". With that said, I believe that Jersey Devil bottle to be a repro. Thats the problem with buying a bottle as opposed to finding one. It appears "too clean" to have been unearthed. Regardless, it is still a cool bottle.

I have not been able to date this bottle exactly. I get a 1950's date range. They never made this bottle in the 1800's. I can't even find information about Downer glass works of Williamstown NJ. Rumor has it that they were only in business a few years. Clevenger did make a reproduction in the 1970's.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[dab46]

I don't know, but reading all the comments it has to be a rare repro.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

I am actually local. North Jersey guy my whole life. Just bought a beach house in LBI. Agreed everyone calls it Jersey Devil NOW. my point to Robby was before 1900 it wasn’t really known as Jersey devil so having that name and image on a flask from late 1800s would have been odd. As you and the experts point out it must be a fantasy glass flask, and there never was an “original” version of this piece.
Btw- I hear there are some decent bottle dumps in the pine barrens. Any body in that area looking for a digging partner this summer?

Always available to lend a hand if you want to comb the pineys.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[American]

Well it's not a repro of anything. It's a commemorative flask blown for the Jersey Devil Bottle Diggers Club from Mt. Holly, NJ in the late 70's. I belonged to the club and we all had one of these scrolls at the time. It was made in the same time period that the scroll flask commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Medford Lakes Canoe Carnival in 1981. The scroll flask was a favorite for commemorating all kinds of clubs and things back then.

 

[American]

Has a very sharp pontil and loads of bubbles. DG is embossed standing for Downer Glass. My question, Is this an original? Was there ever an 1800's flask made like this? Are they all reproductions? Thanks for any information.
ROBBYBOBBY64.

70's bottle club commemorative flask made for the Jersey Devil Bottle Diggers Club in Mt. Holly, NJ that I use to belong to. We all had one at one time. I think my daughter still has mine.