Roman bottle mold

[bostaurus]

They would have to be very tiny bottles..
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Ancient-Marble-Greek-Romans-Bottle-Mould-377-/260683323082?pt=AU_Ancient_Artifacts&hash=item3cb1efd6ca

 

[Wangan]

Looks like a mold for bells or something.I thought everything was earthenware back then?

 

[Inkspot]

Looks more like a conical and round ball bullet mold to me. But, hey what do I know.

 

[GuntherHess]

Looks like its for poured metal. maybe lead fishing weights.

 

[old.s.bottles]

ORIGINAL: Wangan

I thought everything was earthenware back then?

Glass has been around for a while

http://www.glassonline.com/infoserv/history.html

I dont know if its roman or what it was specifically designed for but it could definitely be used to make bottles and marbles assuming it can withstand the heat. I've always assumed bottle molds were made for just producing one bottle at a time, but the blower could pop out three at a time with that mold.

 

[bostaurus]

It seems to me that marble would have thermal shock problems with hot glass or hot metal. Anyone have some knowledge of stone? Not the best for counters..stains and cracks if you drop a cast iron pot on it...Marble is so easy to work you would think it would have been used in more recent times. It would have lasted longer than wood.

 

[GuntherHess]

The Romans did blow bottles in molds. They used molds to give the glass textures and fancier shapes.
It dosent make sense that they would use a simple mold like that to blow glass. They could blow those simple shapes faster as free blown items. The openings also appear too small for blow pipes.
I dont think there would be any problem pouring a low temperature material like lead in marble.
They would probably use sand casting for bronze.
Marble probably wouldnt last long at glass temperatures.

 

[LC]

I learned one hard lesson about pouring lead , never , and I say never spill water into molten lead , it will cause it to explode and blow back all over you if you are not quick enough to get away from it .

 

[RED Matthews]

I don't know if its roman or what it was specifically designed for but it could definitely be used to make bottles and marbles assuming it can withstand the heat. I've always assumed bottle molds were made for just producing one bottle at a time, but the blower could pop out three at a time with that mold.

This eBay mold set-up was for light weight containers, and no doubt with flared lips on the containers.

This thread has disturbed me. Now I will have to go back and review it from the start. The marble mold seems to be usable for making certain plain glass containers. I had a friend with several tear bottles from the Roman glass making era; including some from Egypt. He had a marble two piece mold for one of the tear bottles. These containers were used to collect tears in morning ceremonies. According to him they were included in burial caskets with who ever died.

Some early glass Syrian and far east glass was formed in stone molds. Glass goes back at least 3,500 years and possibly even 5,000 years now. No doubt earthen ware goes back that far also.

It is all fascinating. RED Matthews

 

[GuntherHess]

I learned one hard lesson about pouring lead , never , and I say never spill water into molten lead , it will cause it to explode and blow back all over you if you are not quick enough to get away from it .

When i was a kid I once melted lead in a bullet cartridge that I didnt know still had a live primer... not good.