Zara - age range?

[Blennywatcher]

Here is another bottle that I found on the same dive in Bermuda when I found the cobalt blue bottle. I think I can see seams on two opposing corners, near the shoulder. They are very faint ,only about an inch long and stop before the neck. The bottle was full of muck but cleaned up nicely by shaking some kosher salt inside to remove some encrustation. I read the other forum posts about Zara bottles so my question is about age: Pre or post 1900?

 

[Blennywatcher]

And a close-up view of the seal:

 

[epackage]

Pre 1900... Nice looking bottle

 

[RED Matthews]

GREAT BOTTLE !!! Now then that one has a seal - that makes it older, because it is created by a blunt of hot glass that was pressed on to the hot glass form and pressed with a tool to create the lettering. The neck was obviously sheared from a blowpipe and then just smoothed with a flame probably. I think we will want to see a picture of the bottom, to see if it has a mark of empontilling.

We will also need the words embossed on the seal. RED Matthews

 

[Blennywatcher]

OK, back with more photos, per Red’s request. The base is not empontilled; in fact it appears to have some embossing but I cannot make out the letters. Next photo is close-up of seal.

 

[Blennywatcher]

Close-up of the seal. Not all the letters are discernable but based on what I can see and other posts, I believe this is correct: “I-R-PRIV FAB MARASCHINO F. DRIOLI ZARAâ€

 

[Blennywatcher]

One last photo showing the features I love most about this bottle: the sides are indented slightly and the blob of glass where the seal was applied gives it a lot of character. I know I originally asked if the age is pre or post 1900 but now I want to know more! Does any of this help narrow down the age range?

 

[deepbluedigger]

Zaras are great bottles. There are a few collectors here who have very varied groups of them (different sizes, shapes, seals, and even colours).

The embossing on the base of yours is 'DRIOLI'.

I'd date that example to about 1900 - 1920. I've dug identical examples on sites dating to 1905, and 1915. The type of site that turns them up most often here in the UK is large country house sites of about 1910 - 20. The first World War doesn't seem to have noticeably interrupted their import to the UK, but they are definitely slightly more common just after the war, around 1918-early 20s. At some point in the '20s (maybe as late as the 1930s?) they changed to having embossed 'seals' rather than the real thing.

There are much earlier ones in very similar styles, but dip moulded or freeblown, with pontil scars. Some of the larger ones are very spectacular.

 

[Blennywatcher]

Thanks so much for the info! I’ve just started collecting in earnest this past year so I’m still at the stage of being thrilled to just find one of something - I can't even imagine the day I find a second example. This one gets to stay on the “pretties†shelf.

 

[Sir.Bottles]

Handsome guy!! I'll kill for that one!![] I love pictorial sealed bottle. Good for you