West African find

[rchrischris]

On Badagry Beach in Nigeria while digging a hole to make a fire a very old bottle was found. It is square and not symetrical with no markings. It was found in 1977 and until now identification has not been possible for me. I have attached photos, any assistance to more understand the bottle's origin would be appreciated.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Welcome to the forum, that's a beauty of a case gin! I think this might be the first bottle I've ever seen posted that was found in Africa. I'm not familiar with that design of case gin at all either, the base especially looks totally different than any of the ones I've seen. Looks like it's got a kickup which is an odd thing to include on a gin bottle - I wonder if someone had decided to try bottling wine in case gin-style bottles to make it easier to transport?

 

[rchrischris]

Thank you for your expertise, I appreciate the information.

 

[Hezezilla]

Badagry was a major slave trading hub in the 1800s. It became a part of the Lagos Colony in 1862 and later successor states which today is now Nigeria. I'm sure some thirsty slave traders brought some gin with them. Badagry was known to have had visitors from across the globe so this bottle could just about be from anywhere. There were Dutch, French, British, and Brazilian traders, privateers, colonists and missionaries all throughout that region. Love how wonky that thing is. Best of luck!

 

[rchrischris]

It was found about 3/4 mile from one of the collection facilities. Nothing was there really in the 70s, so camping on the beach and buying fish from the small village nearby was a popular weekend adventure.