Perhaps oldest bottle ever for me

[glass half fool]

If this is the wrong forum for this question please take it down. I have been digging this site since Oct of 2019 .It has been the best producer of old bottles I ever dug Yesterday I found what I think is the oldest bottle I ever found .However I am not having any success on learning anything about it . It has a blue or aqua frosted appearance to it .That makes it hard to get a good picture of the images on the front and back On the front it looks like a man playing some type of musical instrument A guitar, a banjo the bagpipes .it is hard to tell At the bottom is has Balt. MD stamped on it On the back it looks like the same guy dancing . The top is a crudely made . It has no other markings that I can tell How ever the bottom looks like it might have an open pontil I have never found one to know for sure what they look like . IF anyone has any info as far as dates or other info I would appreciate it I am adding a couple more pictures but as I said before I am having trouble getting a clear picture of it due to the frosty look of the glass Thanks for any info on this flask View attachment 1844545 View attachment 1844546

 

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[ArfieBoy]

GHF, very nice find! Does the frosting on the bottle have sweeping lines with slight rainbow covering on it, or is it just even frosting all over the bottle. If it is sweeping lines with rainbow hints in it, then it is mineralization deposited over the years from being in the dirt. That might make it a little more valuable to collectors (I wouldn't even consider selling if it was mine). Hard to tell what kind of frosting from the pictures. Congratulations!

 

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[glass half fool]

That is a pretty old bottle.Before I took up metal detecting in the late 60's I used to did at old farm dumps for bottles.

thrifty This is not a family farm dump site .I have at times had good luck digging those sites over the years .This 10 X 10 and at least 4 feet deep.Thanks for looking

 

[glass half fool]

Nice flask . Yes it is open pontiled and dates to the 1850’s . I don’t now about rarity or value. In general aqua is the most common color glass for this type of historical flask. Condition of yours shows much ground or water action. Many flasks like yours while very neat finds do not carry a lot of monetary value especially in less than mint condition. Wherever you found it hopefully will have more to find . The age of your bottle is a great sign . When I used to dig privies flasks similar to yours were not uncommon finds . Keep looking.

The value is it is my first bottle I ever found from this time period .I am just getting to be down 4 feet.It is the first bottle I found at the depth at this site.With the amount of area I need to uncover it seems unlikely that this will be the only bottle that is from the same era ..Plan to go digging this morning Thanks for looking

 

[glass half fool]

GHF, very nice find! Does the frosting on the bottle have sweeping lines with slight rainbow covering on it, or is it just even frosting all over the bottle. If it is sweeping lines with rainbow hints in it, then it is mineralization deposited over the years from being in the dirt. That might make it a little more valuable to collectors (I wouldn't even consider selling if it was mine). Hard to tell what kind of frosting from the pictures. Congratulations!

It is not clear glass that you look through More like if you made a mug wet and put it in the freezer. They say everything has a price . For me if some one offered crazy money you would not say no never .Than the question is what is crazy money .My favorite dead president come in a denomination that is a nice round number .if enough of them where exchanged in the deal .I would not rule it out before some consideration. But that is certainly not my intent

 

[sandchip]

GHF, very nice find! Does the frosting on the bottle have sweeping lines with slight rainbow covering on it, or is it just even frosting all over the bottle. If it is sweeping lines with rainbow hints in it, then it is mineralization deposited over the years from being in the dirt. That might make it a little more valuable to collectors (I wouldn't even consider selling if it was mine). Hard to tell what kind of frosting from the pictures. Congratulations!

Almost always, the "staining", as it is more commonly referred to, is the result of water in the soil slowly leaching the soda and potash out of the glass, leaving a silica skeleton of sorts behind (the visible cloudiness, iridescence or flaking). I've never seen mineral deposits on early glass (not saying that they don't exist), and I've seen barnacles, which can look cool as hell, but neither add value to the glass. A sparkling attic mint bottle will always demand a premium over other examples. Your flask is a great find and a great bottle, but not worth a heap of money. With any bottle, it's Color, Crudity, Character, Condition, and the wild card Rarity, which may or may not inflate the value. Put all those together and you usually have $$$. Always exceptions in bottles though, like the Indian queens and National Bitters (ear of corn). They come in so many colors, but the ones that seem to bring the most is oddly enough, aqua. Go figure...

Once again though and with all said, great find. It would be priceless to me if I found it.

Also, depending on how much etching, wear or scratching is present, if any, it may be a candidate for professional cleaning which may up the value.

 

[glass half fool]

Almost always, the "staining", as it is more commonly referred to, is the result of water in the soil slowly leaching the soda and potash out of the glass, leaving a silica skeleton of sorts behind (the visible cloudiness, iridescence or flaking). I've never seen mineral deposits on early glass (not saying that they don't exist), and I've seen barnacles, which can look cool as hell, but neither add value to the glass. A sparkling attic mint bottle will always demand a premium over other examples. Your flask is a great find and a great bottle, but not worth a heap of money. With any bottle, it's Color, Crudity, Character, Condition, and the wild card Rarity, which may or may not inflate the value. Put all those together and you usually have $$$. Always exceptions in bottles though, like the Indian queens and National Bitters (ear of corn). They come in so many colors, but the ones that seem to bring the most is oddly enough, aqua. Go figure...

Once again though and with all said, great find. It would be priceless to me if I found it.

Also, depending on how much etching, wear or scratching is present, if any, it may be a candidate for professional cleaning which may up the value.

Thanks for looking sandchip. Through my novice eyes I see Crudity,Character and maybe condition .Again I don't know enough to have an educated guess This is why I said it was screaming old when I first looked at it .It just looked old and crude . I am in the category with those that don.t' know what they don't know Up to this find my whole collection of bottles might be just a couple hundred dollars This is a more valuable find because t is the oldest bottle I ever found not because how much is it worth .AGAIN THANKS SANDCHIP

 

[sandchip]

Thanks for looking sandchip. Through my novice eyes I see Crudity,Character and maybe condition .Again I don't know enough to have an educated guess This is why I said it was screaming old when I first looked at it .It just looked old and crude . I am in the category with those that don.t' know what they don't know Up to this find my whole collection of bottles might be just a couple hundred dollars This is a more valuable find because t is the oldest bottle I ever found not because how much is it worth .AGAIN THANKS SANDCHIP

As is, I would guess around $200.00. Cleaned by the right person, maybe a little more, but the cleaning costs, too. Here are links to a few that have sold in the past. Pay particular attention to the description of each, relative to the price realized. The OP olive example would've brought many times more if perfect. I'll continue to keep any eye out for the sold price for an OP aqua example like yours.

Thanks to NCH.

https://www.hecklerauction.com/auctions/118/view/?lot=28

https://www.hecklerauction.com/auctions/110/view/?lot=42

https://www.hecklerauction.com/auctions/167/view/?lot=49

 

[glass half fool]

sandchip Some additional great info that you included Thanks .It sure would be nice to find one of the other colors.Thanks for your insight

 

[sandchip]

First of all, my apologies. Your flask is a GXIII-9, not an 8. I should've caught that the 8 doesn't have the "Balto, MD" embossing. It is listed as scarce, opposed to comparatively scarce on the 8 in McKearin-Wilson's charts. Aqua is the only listed color. Hope this helps.

https://www.hecklerauction.com/auctions/151/view/?lot=217

 

[glass half fool]

OK but only you would know that out of the 2 of us .Again you and several others have been the foundation of all info that is out there and where to find it Last week at this time I did not know such a flask existed You mention cleaning in one of your post .I have been looking at this flask a lot over that time. And it is a noticeable white of grayish coating on the inside of the bottle Would it hurt it to just put in some distilled water or a white vinegar and let it soak And than do a little light brushing .Being it was down so deep I don't know how much it would have been exposed to water or wet soils Beyond the inside staining I do not see any chips ,marks or cracks It appears to me that this is not a throw back 1846073[/ATTACH]

 

[sandchip]

It won't hurt it to soak it, but I doubt that it would do any good, either. More than likely, the cloudiness is the silica that I mentioned earlier, which won't be affected by the weak acetic acid in vinegar, and stronger acids might make it look even worse. Barring any heavy wear, deep scratches or etching, your flask sounds like a great candidate for a tumbling by the right guy, which would do wonders to bring out the detail on it. Best of luck, my friend.

 

[Shakakka]

Did you put it ALL the way at the very edge of the table in that first pic JUST TO MESS WITH US!??!?!?!? LOL.

I don't know anything about bottles, but that one looks really cool. Great find. Now move it to the center of the table, please.

 

[Goldiver]

Very cool bottle! I saw one olive color example on Worthpoint that sold for $1750. in 2018.

 

[glass half fool]

Did you put it ALL the way at the very edge of the table in that first pic JUST TO MESS WITH US!??!?!?!? LOL.

I don't know anything about bottles, but that one looks really cool. Great find. Now move it to the center of the table, please.

I have been trying to get a picture that shows the detail of the embossing on the front and back panels .The glazing or frosted appearance on the inside of it has made it difficult to get a picture .So I have been moving it around the house hoping to find a spot that the light will show more of the detail of the embossing. After all these years I don't know much about bottles either .But as soon as I picked this one up I knew it was different than
any other I ever found . Thanks

 

[Calabash Digger]

very nice!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!