Dewars match holder

[Aerated]

Hi all,
I dug this piece out of a small hole here in New Zealand. It dates from about 1895-1900.
It was made by Doulton Lambeth pottery company England. Funny thing about this is I think it might have been stolen, then dumped as it was wrapped heavily in old cloth.
This is just one of a few non-bottle items ive dug & kept.Ive also dug a few enamel advertising signs too & a ornate wrought iron hamilton (torpedo) bottle holder.
Thanks for reading & keep digging!.

 

[Aerated]

I think a description might help!.
The piece is 11cm high & 11cm wide at the base. Around the base written in white are the words "Dewars Perth Whisky". The top of the piece is in the shape of a Scotch thistle,
Which has the words "John Dewar & sons" in green. Quite ornate.
It purpose was to hold matches, & was placed on the bar in a Hotel.

 

[IRISH]

That is a fantastic Match holder Aerated, very hard to get that sort of stuff in good condition. Also welcome to the forum, good to see a New Zealander here [] .

 

[Aerated]

Thanks Irish,
Very much appreciated, Ive been digging, collecting bottles/relics for a long time, its good to communicate with other diggers worldwide & learn about the methods/finds of other diggers.Funny story behind this find.- After probing some glass at 2 foot, I started digging down. The first bottle I came across was Suprise,suprise a half size ring seal beer!.After digging a MINT Lea & Perrins, I started to excavate a large Colbat blue "Blue Peter" (A large blue chemical bottle, 1/2 gal. approx). I was pretty happy to be digging this bottle, when suddenly this cloth heap rolled onto the top of the bottle im trying to dig!.
Well, I picked it up and unraveled it. After peeling away the layers of history I was suprised (& shocked!) to be holding In my hands the piece you see.
AND I got the whole Blue bottle too!. Other than that, they were the only 2 items worth keeping.


P.S Ive also found a lot of Australian bottles over here, if your interested I can post photos

Cheers,
Aerated

 

[luvtodig]

Aerated, let me add my welcome as well[] Nice pic of match holder!! We all love to see pics of any finds..looking forward to that[] In another life, before moving to Illinois, I was a manager of a Irish Pub, in of all places Arizona lol...could the match holder have sat on the bar?? in Pubs and Bars, liq. companies have always gave things like that to the Pubs to sit on bars, or on the backbar to advertise for their particular beverage...just some thoughts...thanks[]

 

[IRISH]

Aerated, I would like to see the Aussie bottles you have found, I have heard that you get quite a few Aussie bottles there and I believe that there is often New Zealand bottles found around Sydney and that part of NSW, only ones I've seen here are a few broken 1850s torpedo's found in port Melbourne, can't remember what names they had on them unfortunately.
luvtodig, that's exactly what they where for, they where basicly just an add for the company that supplied them, that's part of why they are so collectable.