Wistarburgh 1740 to 1750 ( mallet ) or Porter bottle.

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Steve/sewell

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My wife and Mom got together and bid and won this bottle for me on eBay last week. I had showed my wife the bottle and my Mom being of German descent has heard enough about Wistarburgh and the German connection to be dangerous on the subject. This is the most crude and at the same time most unbelievably beautiful bottle I have ever held or seen.

Money has been so tight at my house for the last half of year that new bottle acquisitions have been on the back burner for quite a while. This bottle and another one a Wistarburgh snuff bottle really caught my eye and the old Steve would have been all over these like hair on a Gorilla. I still watched the auction and dreamed about the porter bottle but it was already at 300.00 and way past what I am able to afford right now.

Moms are great and you should do anything for them no questions asked,money no object. I put inside of the hallway coat closet last year an apartment type washer dryer combo so she wouldn't have to traverse the basement stairs any more when doing her laundry work. She has been so great full and I don't think in the last year I have ever been to her house where she didn't continually remind and thank me for it.

My wife and my Mom co-conspired to acquire this bottle for me, it is the best in my collection for two reasons,first it really is my favorite as how can you beat an early American made mallet type bottle as crude as this from Americas oldest most successful glass factory Wistarburg. Second it is a gift from two people I love the most in this world my Mom and my wife. What a gift wow I was stunned. This bottle for a new washer and dryer combo?...., I say I came out on the better end of the stick in this exchange.

This bottle has it all going on with it!!! First the color is a yellow green,with amber striations. It has thousands of bubbles and wavy lava flow like patterns that consume the whole bottle. There is a large indent or push up type of bottom and the pontil mark although small is there.The wavy marks seen all over the bottle to the eye make the bottle look as though it was running water for a long time coupled with the fact there is very little base wear.

The bottle is eight and a half inches tall. The body of the main vessel is four and a half inches wide by five inches tall. The neck is three and a half inches tall and is finished with a very unique string/rolled lip combination not seen on Continental or British porter bottles similar in style from the same time period.The base area of the bottle is very thick and heavy while the side walls in the main vessel are quite thin. The only glass damage is a very small (16th of an inch )chip in the string lip which because the bottle is so darn crude looking you don't really detect.

The neat part about the bottom of this bottle is that there is a glass makers mark which is the letter C and a dash mark located next to the pontil just off center. There were at Wistarburgh three separate companies in the early years The bottle is quite old and numerous tops matching this in color and makeup were found at the Wistarburgh factory site.

First though a little history about the works Caspar had founded. The forming of the joint venture between Caspar Wistar the German Immigrant living in Philadelphia and 4 glass workers he contacted back in his home country of Germany in the Palitinate region of that country was the first of its kind here in the early colonies.

The four glass makers arrived in Philadelphia in the fall of 1738. The glass makers names were Johann Wilhelm Wentzel,Caspar Halter, Johann Martin Halter, and Simeon Griessmeyer.Wistar set up the first of its kind on the shores of the British colony a glass works which was owned as a joint venture in its inception between one capitol investor and 4 Artisan's

The company as a whole was called the United Glass Company but in reality it was three separate companies within a company sort of like General Motors. Caspar Wistar was the principal owner in all three companies holding a 2/3rds majority ownership as the major investor in each one.The four glass makers were entitled to 1/3rd of ownership and profit from their respective companies.

The first Company company was formed between Caspar Wistar the investor and Johann William Wentzel the glass Artisan. The second company was owned by Caspar Wistar the investor and Caspar Halter the Artisan. The third company was a little different as once again Caspar is the investor but this time two men Johann Martin Halter and Simeon Griesmeyer share the roles as Artisan's.In all three companies Caspar Wistar and the Artisans shared Expenses,Assets and profits. These arrangements survived until Wistars death.

Although the bottle clearly has a letter C on it I doubt it stands for Caspar Wistar. I do however feel very strongly what the letter C may signify.Since Caspar Wistar the major investor owner was not a glassman he did not blow the bottle. Caspar Halter on the other hand was the most talented gaffer of the whole lot and it is quite possible that the C stands for a bottle blown by Caspar Halter. With three companies working under one roof it is easy to see why the individual companies would mark their bottles accordingly.

This bottle was in the ground for a long time at 260 to 270 years or greater. It is amazing this bottle survived buried for as long as it was. I am overwhelmed with joy in acquiring this bottle. To hold a piece of American history in your hands this old before our country was born is the greatest feeling in the world. I hope all of you in the glass bottle hobby have felt or have the same chance to experience this.

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9 The letter C makers mark and the small has line. This is not a pontil mark.

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10. The color is out of this world.

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