what kind of bottle is this?

[cglisson01]

Got this bottle at the flea market today. It looks like the old torpedo bottles, but it has a machined top, and the rounded bottom looks like it was added separately. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[2find4me]

Would have held soda or beer, can't quite tell from pics but looks like 1930's?

 

[RED Matthews]

The big question is are there seams on the finish - the top? If not it is most likely a balast weight bottle from early ocean crossing ships. RED M.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Yeah, that's a crown top torpedo bottle. Probably from the thirties or so. British bottle-making techniques took a long time to catch up to the North American techniques. Hey, Red Matthews, do you know of any sources to confirm that these were used as ballast? I've heard that repeated lots of times but never in anything from the time period. I'm starting to wonder if this might be like the whole Chinese opium bottle thing on the West Coast, which was made up in the seventies by people who 1. can't read Chinese and 2. don't know that opium has the consistency of tar and could never be gotten out of a bottle, but is still believed by almost everyone out there. Hey, wait a minute, I just thought of something, if the round bottom was to keep the cork from drying out, what the heck was the point of a round-bottom crown top bottle?

 

[cglisson01]

Thanks for the helpful reply. Sad that its newer than I was hoping. Lol but you do make a funny but good point mentioning the crown top with round bottom. I never gave that any thought.

 

[cowseatmaize]

There isn't any CB, certainly not enough to say they were made heavy to be used as that which was an old theory. The best argument that could be made would be the simple packing order, heavier at the bottom of the ship to work as a ballast. The return trip would be the same, maybe ice, coal or whatever. In the case of ice it's not only heavy but the below water line decks might act as refrigeration.That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.[]

 

[RED Matthews]

I understand your logic "CanadianBottles" - I always figured demijohn's would make the best ballast for the trip to America. But I remember reading a mention of ballast bottles in connection with the Boston 'Tea Party. I couldn't tell you the books name right now. As far as round bottom bottles, I have several, round and torpedo pointed bottoms on them. I have one that has a wire clamped glass stopper with a rubber washer and a wire snap down mechanism to hold it closed. That bottle has an applied round patty of glass that must have been on the holding end of a punty rod - I am not sure of that but it must have been smoothed in a final operation. It is the only bottle I have seen with an applied bottom. and I am not even sure about that - but I haven't found any helpful information about it either. RED Matthews