glass bottle

[mentalnurse]

i was walking on my local heath today and under a tree in the soil i found this little glass bottle, it was full of mud and i had to dig most of it up. the glass looks very old and has some air bubbles in it that makes it look even older plus its very thick glass strange shape as well, it as a small M or 3 on the bottle not sure. dose anyone have any ideas what it could of been used for, looks like it had a cork stopper at some point.

 

[firecrest]

Im not sure what they are used for, but my sister went to a victorian scrap heap and dug up several small glass bottles. some were poison bottles, the beer was in stone bottles.

 

[British Red]

Many poison bottles were both coloured (green IIRC) and ridged (so you could tell in the dark (again IIRC) so on that level I wouldn't immediately say posion

As for the purpose...no clue....pretty though!

 

[mentalnurse]

poison was my first thought but not sure about the glass colour of them? it has a set in part on one face and in both sides.

 

[addo]

Looks nice. I used to dig all sorts up when I was a gardener, still got a few dotted around the house.
Interested to find out what sort it is.

 

[Toddy]

It looks like a Victorian or Edwardian essence bottle.
Used for everything from Almond flavouring to witch hazel to cough linctus (though that was usually in a brown bottle).
Generally used with a cork bung, which rarely survives.
Some of these bottles are collectable and there are interest groups on the net who will have lots more information on them than I have.

atb,
Toddy

 

[Sainty]

Why not ask the question here:

http://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/

There's a forum for everything, or so it seems.

Martin

 

[Mesquite]

Poison bottles were, as Red said, coloured. The primary colour was cobalt blue and green with ridging on them and usually poison embossed on them. The blue bottles are very collectable nowadays and good specimens can commended double figures and particularly rares ones in the hundreds.

The one you found Mentalnurse is a mass produced moulded bottle and without info on the bottle it's difficult to say exactly what it was used for but were usually used for cough linctus, perfumes, sauces, food flavourings etc. That style of manufacturing dates from about mid 1800's onwards. Earlier types can be identified by the fact that the rim is always chipped around and are known as sheartops because of the way they were broken off of the glass blowers blowpipe

 

[Iona]

I have a very old glass bottle, kind of rugby ball shaped with a longish neck... when I cleaned it up a bit, you can just read the words: "Sussex Drugs" on one side, and "Queens Rd, Brighton" on the other, so I guess medicines were dispensed in clear glass bottles.

 

[mentalnurse]

it looks like its from a mold not blown glass.

 

[Cap'n Badger]

Caster oil bottle buy the looks o' it....