Crude Chestnut type flask need info

[KSESTATE]

Hello 1st post, I have a chance to acquire this pontil flask. As you can see the lip is very bad depending on how you look at it. Our problem is to ID this flask. Looks like a Chestnut type, but all I've seen have a handle and none with the shape of this lip. Pulled before handle applied? Apprentice piece he took home?? A bad one that got buy?? Is it even a US bottle?? All are unknown. And with that said what's a fair price to pay?? If you like oddities, this i it. Large, Thin, Pontil, and a bad lip what more could you want from a late 18 early 19th century bottle, Help so I can add to my collection, Or is it so much it should go to auction, Counting on the communities knowledge for this one. thanks.

 

[nhpharm]

I had one of these almost identical several years ago and honestly I could never make heads or tails of it. The color of the glass and the pontil looks like New England glass. The base was heavily scratched but I really was suspicious because they were pretty deep scratches rather than the fine wear I usually see and there was no other wear to the bottle. It had a knarly huge pontil. The lip certainly doesn't look like what most US glasshouses used...its a ring of glass around where they snapped the bottle off the blowpipe. In the end, I concluded it was a fantasy or reproduction piece simply because the way the lip was installed made no sense from a utility standpoint...you really couldn't properly cork the bottle or pour the contents without it going everywhere. But I had no proof. I sold it to a friend as a reproduction...

 

[KSESTATE]

a

I had one of these almost identical several years ago and honestly I could never make heads or tails of it. The color of the glass and the pontil looks like New England glass. The base was heavily scratched but I really was suspicious because they were pretty deep scratches rather than the fine wear I usually see and there was no other wear to the bottle. It had a knarly huge pontil. The lip certainly doesn't look like what most US glasshouses used...its a ring of glass around where they snapped the bottle off the blowpipe. In the end, I concluded it was a fantasy or reproduction piece simply because the way the lip was installed made no sense from a utility standpoint...you really couldn't properly cork the bottle or pour the contents without it going everywhere. But I had no proof. I sold it to a friend as a reproduction...

thanks this person was not by chance in Michigan???

 

[Dogo]

I totally agree with nhpharm. Those deep scratches are a dead give-away. I think I saw a similar bottle years ago, but my memory has gotten foggy. You did the right thing, unfortunately not everyone would have.

 

[Harry Pristis]

I think this fits well into the broad category of "Persian saddle flask" . . . a recent one, at that.

 

[Dogo]

Good point about the 'saddle flask' . I knew that top looked familiar. This looks so much thinner that I didn't make the connection.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

Could it have been wrapped in wicker at one time? May explain the wear?
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[nhpharm]

If it was wicker wrapped, there shouldn't be base wear as the wicker typically wraps around the bottom as well. In the end, I felt strongly enough on the one I had to determine that I was going to sell it as a fantasy or reproduction piece. I don't know what the origins of mine were-it came in a large collection. I think in this case it is definitely buyer beware.

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

If it was wicker wrapped, there shouldn't be base wear as the wicker typically wraps around the bottom as well. In the end, I felt strongly enough on the one I had to determine that I was going to sell it as a fantasy or reproduction piece. I don't know what the origins of mine were-it came in a large collection. I think in this case it is definitely buyer beware.

I thought it might. Oh well, just throwing it out there. When ever I see an odd crude bottle that has a round bottom or just an unstable looking base, I always go to the wicker theory. Italian and all I guess, lol!
ROBBYBOBBY64.

 

[KSESTATE]

Thanks for all your help and insight. Guess its just a whimsy flask and a great conversation piece!