"Patent" bottle from Haiti

[NewbieBottleHunter]

I happen to be doing some scientific diving off the north coast of Haiti at the moment (and experiencing Tropical Storm Erika as I write this). One of our scientists turned up a bottle on a soft mud slope at around 15 meters depth. It has an applied finish and the mold lines (not very apparent in the photo) show that it was made in a 3-part mold. It has the word "PATENT" embossed on the shoulder but other than that no distinguishing features. Wondering if this is a common enough bottle to be able to lead to an identification based on this sketchy description and photos. The same scientist found the base of a case gin bottle (the sturdiest part). I was able to identify it as such but we were wondering if a rough date estimate might be able to be determined as it has a sharp pontil scar on the base. I assume that pontil marks on case gin bottles fazed out at some point in time and that might lead to an approximate age. Thanks in advance for any education you can throw my way. [attachment=P8280005.jpg] [attachment=P8280003.jpg] -Ken

 

[andy volkerts]

Looks like an English Ale bottle to me, anywhere from 1880 to 1910 Is my best guess...........Andy

 

[cowseatmaize]

Pontil phased out around 1850-70 in most areas, a lot depended on the glasshouse and the tools and techniques they had available. Without more to go on an approximate end date is the best I can do and it still could be much earlier.

 

[sunrunner]

snap case came in the late 1850s in England ,the three part mold became popular at this time so I'm guessing late 1850s 1860s.

 

[NewbieBottleHunter]

So the "Patent" bottle likely held ale and probably dates from 1880-1910 and the case gin base with the pontil scar would likely date from the late 1850's through the 1860s. I'll let the person know who found these--he'll be happy to know a little bit about his finds. [attachment=P8290002.jpg] I didn't come away empty handed. I managed to pick these up on a muddy slope at around 16 meters depth. The slightly smaller green glass bottle was under a layer of fine sediment and didn't have too much in the way of encrusting organisms on the outside. The slightly taller black glass bottle was at the surface and has a lot more encrusting sponges and crustose coralline algae on it (also a chip on the rim). I'll give it a better cleaning when I get home and have access to some acid solutions to dissolve away the non-glass encrustations. Both have nice applied finishes with some squeeze out visible. There are no visible mold seam lines on the green bottle but I'm going to assume it was made in a 2-part mold (though there seems to be a seam around the base so it seems to have been made with a base plate as part of the mold. I found a bottle similar to the black glass one a few years back in Bermuda. I believe it was identified as a porter bottle. That one had a definite pontil scar and I believe had a similar 1850-1860 type of date range to it. The one I just found has a pushed-up base but is currently too covered with gunk that needs to be cleaned off before I can conclude whether or not it has a pontil mark. I currently see no signs of one and I'm assuming it dates from the snap-case period and as such later than my earlier find. Hoping to possibly score some more glass before this coral reef survey work is complete. Cheers. -Ken