GII-72,GII-72a and the GII_72b Eagle / Cornucopia Pint flasks.

[earlyglass]

By the way, your photos look great Steve!

Mike

 

[GuntherHess]

I was once told that those "pinches" were something done by the glassblower with a tool to strengthen a particularly thin area of the bottle. I have a small double eagle flask with the same pinch in a very thin part of the bottle and it is a perfectly straight line, which made me think that explanation might have some validity.

glass blowers will cool an area of glass on the bubble if they see it is getting too thin. THat causes the thicker hotter side if the glass to expand more.

 

[Steve/sewell]

Thanks Mike,Ill post the aqua colored one as soon as I have it.Thanks NHpharm and Gunther for your input.It is either a mold pinch or a stab with a wide edge blade of some sort.It matces in length pretty close the mold seem on the bottom.

 

[Steve/sewell]

Mike I forgot to ask you,and I have seen this twice in your picture now.None of the bottles I have posted have three medial ribs,they have one large one in the center at the halfway point.The next area you might call a rib are the double lined portrait oval's surrounding the Eagle and the Cornucopia.I noticed all of the flasks in your picture have one larger medial seam. Starting with the left most flask the bright green one it appears to have 1 large medial rib and two oval portrait seams surrounding the Eagle. On flasks 2,3,and 4 they also have a large medial rib but only have one portrait oval line surrounding the Eagle and the Cornucopia.Mckearin states that the GII-72 series and the GII-73 series each share 3 medial ribs.THis is hard to fathom as if you are going to count what I would call the portrait seams there would be 5 total ribs on the GII-72 and 73 bottles.McKearin describes the GII-74 the bottles you pictured as having a smooth medial area no ribbing.It looks like your bottles have at least 1 large medial rib like mine and bottles 1 ,5 and 6.have 2 portrait ovals and bottle 2,3,and 4 Have 1 large medial rib and 1 portrait oval

 

[RED Matthews]

Steve and others; In my homepage under demijohns I have pictured some marks that created a line form in the sidewalls. These are called “folds†as far as I know; they were created when the parison was too hot in an area; where the bottle-maker touched the parison form with a wet wooden blade tool. It cooled the zone and created a chilled portion on glass similar to what this is in your bottle. This is similar to what phpharm, was talking about I think. RED Matthews.

 

[Steve/sewell]

Good information Red,Ill let you know my schedule for the rest of this month and September to see if a trip up your way would fit in.Thanks for checking in. Steve

 

[Steve/sewell]

I believe I may have solved some of the mystery surrounding bottlehead9s GII-73a bottle and my GII-72b which are very similar minus a couple of details.The base on each of our bottles are nearly identical as the mold that was used was keyed or dovetailed in look. The larger half of each of our bottles on the base was the Cornucopia side.The larger half of the whole bottle was the Eagle side which included the whole center medial rib. Toms bottle like I stated earlier is the GII-73a .

I believe I have found the missing link as I have a bottle here which is a recent eBay pickup which fits Mc'kearins description of the GII-73 to a T. The only difference between the 73 and the 73a is the keyed mold on the base of the GII-73a ,so I thought as did also the Mc'kearins and other glass historians.While this is true, it is how it arrived that way which I find fascinating.The Cornucopia on the GII-72b and the GII-73 and the GII-73a are exactly the same coming from the same mold.The first difference between these bottles is the shield on the Eagle.There are horizontal lines or bars at the top of the shield on the GII-73 and GII-73a On the GII-72b this same area is smooth and the scallops at the top of the shield are taller and even where on the GII-73 and 73a the points are separated by two long flat areas.

I have in my collection now an aqua colored GII-73.The base is not keyed but the rest of the bottle matches up perfectly with Toms GII-73a.Here is the neat part I discovered.The mold on the base of this aqua bottle was altered as it travels diagonally slightly from one medial rib on one side of the bottle through the pontil and into the other medial rib on the other side of the bottle. You can see grinding marks and other rough areas along with the faint brush type marks.the bottom on this bottle is all over the map in look.

The next part I discovered was the bottle was shortened to achieve this as although the Cornucopias are exactly the same on all three bottles on this aqua GII-73 the area below the bottom of the cornucopia is much closer to the very bottom of the bottle.I believe now the keyed mold was eliminated for an easier to use type of mold which was two equal halves.One other neat aspect,the mold used for the Eagle on both the GII-73 and the GII-73a were exactly the same at one time until the alteration changed this also by shortening in overall height the GII-73 Eagle.Tom one difference in our two bottles on the Eagle side is although they look strikingly similar the size of the Eagles head and the overall width of the eagles are different on each bottle.

In conclusion I feel your bottle Tom the GII-73a and my bottle the GII-72b were made at the same mold shop or by the same person.I also feel it is quite likely that the mold alteration occurred at the same shop or glass works later in time simply because of all the extra effort to close a dove tailed mold was very cumbersome.Here are the pictures of the aqua GII-73

 

[Steve/sewell]

2.

 

[Steve/sewell]

3.Notice the tilted X at the lower left of the Cornucopia tail.

 

[Steve/sewell]

4.You can see the very small potstones in the X to the left of the tail.