July's being a good month ...

[deepbluedigger]

Have added this rare Daffys variation to my collection recently. Pontilled, probably about 1790 - 1830. Beautiful aqua / teal color. I'm expecting a couple more pontil meds to arrive in the post in the next week or so. Not very often I add so many to my collection in such a short time. I'll post pics of the others when they arrive.

.

 

[baltbottles]

I know what you mean it seems like its either feast or famine. Awesome pontiled med how about a group shot of all your Daffy's

Chris

 

[annie44]

Stunning bottle! Are all of the Daffy's fairly scarce/rare? I can't recall ever seeing one for sale at an auction house here in the United States.
Are they found in both smooth base and open pontil versions?

 

[deepbluedigger]

Daffy's was sold in bottles this shape for about 150 years, from the mid to late 1700s right through to the 1920s or 30s, so they turn up in pontilled and smooth base versions.

The most common types are from Dicey & Co of London. Late smooth base Dicey examples are the most common. Some others are extremely rare (the one above is one of only 3, possibly 4, known examples of the type: most that are not Dicey & Co have identical 'TRUE / DAFFY'S / ELIXIR' embossing on front and back) while some are common. There are hundreds of variations, including sizes, colours, and at least half a dozen different proprietor names (Barclay & Son, Wray & Co, and various others). There are some very rare ones in a globular shape in olive / black glass. I've been after one like that for years.

I've only got 4 pontiled Daffy's (and two smooth base). I don't need many. I'll post a group shot sometime soon Chris.

Dark glass ones are scarce but by no means rare, and are way, WAY, WAAAAAAAYYYYY overpriced at the moment. They're going through a kind of property-market type bubble right now (doubled in price in 12 months, still at the peak), and IMO will tumble in price by 50% or more once one or two obsessed individuals with very deep pockets, who have recently returned to the hobby after many years away, lose interest.

I can wait ...

 

[deepbluedigger]

This one arrived in the post this morning: "F.R. Spilsbury // His / Antiscorbutic // Drops by the // Kings Patent". Sparkling mint, roughly 1830s - 40s, nice pontil, hinge mould. Not a unique bottle but a very difficult one to get hold of. This one has never been in the ground: It was found during building work in the south of England about ten years ago. I've been chasing it for a couple of years. Came my way as a swap.

 

[Dansalata]

VERY VERY NICE

 

[deepbluedigger]

Posted this elsewhere but I'll add it here because it's another July addition (and I am sometimes a bit obsessive about keeping things neat): Slab sealed reform flask, circa 1841 - 45, used by a Lincoln (England) wine and spirit merchant. Only known example of a company named Dante / Napoleon flask!

It would be difficult for this month to get any better than these three. I don't want to be greedy, but I am keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

 

[annie44]

"F.R. Spilsbury // His / Antiscorbutic // Drops by the // Kings Patent".

That is gorgeous! I could look at that one all day - I can't believe how good the condition is, and it seems to be a high quality flint glass. Great embossing - it really has everything!

 

[Penn Digger]

DBD,

Is that Napolean and Caesar on the flasks?



Thanks for the e-mail.



PD

 

[deepbluedigger]

It's Dante on one side, with the cap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante) and Napoleon on the other, with the wreath on his head.

It's a bit strange that Napoleon is on an English bottle. The early 1840s was less than 30 years after the end of the Napoleonic wars, and Napoleon Bonaparte was still 'Old Boney' to the average British person at that time, and still the enemy. Kind of like Hitler is still thought of as the enemy by American and British people today, except Napoleon wasn't into genocide.

But there was lots of radical politics and revolutionary stirring in England right up to the 1850s and later (after all, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles both lived in England in this period, and Marx wrote Das Kapital while he was in London). Napoleon was a bit of a hero to some of the British revolutionaries because of his role in the French revolution. The two of them appearing together on this bottle is probably because of a very popular radical political book and series of lectures in 1840 - 41, which singled them out as 'heros' (along with William Shakespeare and Oliver Cromwell).