OLD bottle

[KEvans]

I have a bottle I dug out of a sandbank in about 15 ft of water in the Carribean. It is obviously very old and I would like to find someone who can give me an approximate age and origin. The attached photos give four different views. The material in the mouth of the bottle is coral. KE

 

[Harry Pristis]

Nice find, KE!

This is a black glass utility bottle that was used for all sorts of liquids, but commonly for wine or spirits.

I would estimate your bottle dates to 1795 to 1815, or so. (I am guessing that there are no vertical seams apparent on the shoulder.) It is hard to say a date with any confidence with this one pic.

Need a pic of the base and an idea of the color of the glass to make any guesses about the origin. Many of these bottles were made on the Continent, many in England, some here in the USA.

Here is a tall cylinder which dates to about 1770 for comparison.

-----------Harry Pristis

 

[KEvans]

Thanks for the reply. Here is a pic of the bottom. KE

 

[Harry Pristis]

Well, could be an English kick-up -- what color is the glass? Olive-green or olive-amber?

Your bottle was started in a dip-mold, then finished by the glass-blower. But, nothing in the pic of the base to refine the estimate of 1795 to 1815. How about a close-up of the lip, as with the pic I posted.

Good quality pix, KE, but crop the close-up of the lip a bit more than you did these, please. More bottle, less margin is what we need here.

-----------Harry Pristis

 

[KEvans]

This close up of bottle mouth should be what you want.

 

[Maine Digger]

Gee Harry, It looks like KE took your bottle picture and cropped it[] What a great crude neck, is this what's referred to as a 'string-ed' neck? Was the lower ridge just a loop of molton glass that was looped around the neck? I gather, you wouldn't find too many of these in New England?

 

[KEvans]

Harry, I guess I did not answer your query about the bottle color. I would say olive-amber comes closer than anything. After the intense exposure to sunlight for lord knows how long down there in the Bahamas, it is more black than otherwise. KE

 

[Harry Pristis]

RE: OLD bottle -- Black Glass

That is a somewhat earlier lip than I anticipated, KE. That is a crude one!

The separation of the string and the olive-amber color suggest a Continental, rather than English, origin. The 1770 bottle in my pic is Continental. All of my "separated string" bottles with a deflected lip like yours are olive-amber -- Dutch or Belgian is a reasonable guess.

It looks to me like you have a 1770s lip on a well-made 1800 body. You can safely say a date range of 1770 to 1800, but I think it's closer to the 1770s. Unfortunately, the evolution of Continental bottles is not as well-understood as for the English bottles.

Willy Van den Bossche has a very nice book in print now entitled ANTIQUE GLASS BOTTLES: Their History and Evolution from 1500 to 1850. I recommend it.

The black glass will not be appreciably affected by sunlight under any circumstances, and certainly not under 15 feet of water.

Great find! Show us some more of your bottles.

-------------------Harry Pristis