Ahhhh...A Blob Top!

[DeepSeaDan]

Been quite a while since I dived a blob-top bottle - this one is the most minty example I've recovered from the deeps thus far. The crock is kinda rough; I'm thinking the hole in the bottom was purposefully made - could it be another variation of a "Chicken Waterer", like the crock that UnderMiner found? It's a pretty big hole, but you could make it work, I reckon.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Wow that McLaughlin is a beauty! Looks like it must have barely been used before it was tossed overboard. The crock is interesting too, I suspect you're right about the hole being intentional, and it looks like there's another smaller one next to it? Never seen anything quite like that.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

Wow that McLaughlin is a beauty! Looks like it must have barely been used before it was tossed overboard. The crock is interesting too, I suspect you're right about the hole being intentional, and it looks like there's another smaller one next to it? Never seen anything quite like that.

No, no other hole in the bottom. Can't think of any other reason why someone would deliberately sabotage a container. Perhaps they had an idea, tried it out and it didn't work, so they consigned it to Davey Jone's Locker.

 

[CanadianBottles]

No, no other hole in the bottom. Can't think of any other reason why someone would deliberately sabotage a container. Perhaps they had an idea, tried it out and it didn't work, so they consigned it to Davey Jone's Locker.

Only other possible explanation I can think of is someone in the 20th century making a lamp out of it. Those holes are usually on the side near the heel though, so it would have had to sit on some sort of base.

 

[UnderMiner]

Very perplexing that stoneware artifact. What reason would someone have for making a perfectly sealed container with no opening, just for decoration perhaps? Unless there is a small hole on the side this device won't work as a chicken waterer even with the bottom punched out as it is. I must admit I am learning more and more every day of just how little I know about old crockery.

The blob bottle is stellar, love the apothecary aesthetic of the embossed mortar and pestle.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

Only other possible explanation I can think of is someone in the 20th century making a lamp out of it. Those holes are usually on the side near the heel though, so it would have had to sit on some sort of base.

Ah-ha, you may have it with the lamp idea; a buddy of mine purchased a very old crock that was being used as a lamp and it has a handle ( I have the same one, shown here in the picture ). That makes more sense to me, as the hole is certainly in the wrong place if your goal is to hydrate chickens - perhaps moonshine was involved??