Demijohn

[mile-ender]

Hey, was looking for a little help on this one.
Picked it up a couple of days ago at a thrift shop. It's huge. About 25" in height, and marked 54 on the bottom so I'm guessing a fifteen gallon. It appears to be (again I'm guessing) blown in mold, as the lower area is rougher and has indentations in the glass from where it sat as it cooled. At any rate any info is appreciated

 

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[Harry Pristis]

Hey, was looking for a little help on this one.
Picked it up a couple of days ago at a thrift shop. It's huge. About 25" in height, and marked 54 on the bottom so I'm guessing a fifteen gallon. It appears to be (again I'm guessing) blown in mold, as the lower area is rougher and has indentations in the glass from where it sat as it cooled. At any rate any info is appreciated

It appears to be a wine shipper or fermenter, probably Italian, probably first half of the 20th Century.

When used as a shipper for bulk fluids (wine, olive oil) these were protected by a heavy-duty wicker basket which separated at the middle of the bottle. Used as a fermenter, a simple wooden frame kept the bottle upright.

Here's an earlier form which I got in Spain still in the wooden frame:

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[mile-ender]

Thanks Harry.
What makes you say Italian, as opposed to, say, French?
The reason I ask is because of the one I saw on ebay - made in FRANCE THE LARGEST & Antique French Wine Carboy Demijohn Bottle wine | eBay
Do you figure it to be reasonable? If I were going to sell mine, what do you figure to be a fair asking price?

 

[Harry Pristis]

Thanks Harry.
What makes you say Italian, as opposed to, say, French?
The reason I ask is because of the one I saw on ebay - made in FRANCE THE LARGEST & Antique French Wine Carboy Demijohn Bottle wine | eBay
Do you figure it to be reasonable? If I were going to sell mine, what do you figure to be a fair asking price?

Holy Cow! What a winning strategy it was to list an exhorbitant price "or best offer"! You might want to try that on eBay.

The bottle is worth, to a knowledgable collector, less than $50.00. In fact, you couldn't find a buyer at a bottle show.

I guessed Italian because every one I've seen in the wicker cradle had a label indicating it was from Italy. It could be French or Spanish, too; but, the lip just does not strike me as French in style.

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[epackage]

I hate to disagree with Harry because he is a true GOD in the bottle collecting world, while he's very right about the value at bottle shows, these are bringing $175-200 on Ebay, the problem is trying to ship such a monster safely. That's a Herculian task to say the least, and you would be better off trying to find someone locally who regularly makes their own wine, good luck....Jim

This example recently sold for $195 and is almost a twin to yours in form and size, only difference seems to be color...

vintage gigantic italian huge carboy demi john glass wine bottle decanter green | eBay

 

[Harry Pristis]

I hate to disagree with Harry because he is a true GOD in the bottle collecting world, while he's very right about the value at bottle shows, these are bringing $175-200 on Ebay, the problem is trying to ship such a monster safely. That's a Herculian task to say the least, and you would be better off trying to find someone locally who regularly makes their own wine, good luck....Jim

This example recently sold for $195 and is almost a twin to yours in form and size, only difference seems to be color...

vintage gigantic italian huge carboy demi john glass wine bottle decanter green | eBay

Yes, you've exposed me . . . I am a true DOG of the bottle collecting world!

If any of these olive oil shippers are being sold for more than $100, it is truly anomolous. That is particularly true of these machine-blown bottles which were used for export until they were replaced by plastic containers in the mid-1900s. There are many, many of these bottles collecting dust in warehouses and basements in the USA, I suspect.

After looking at the demi's on eBay, I can see that the values of these bottles are not inflated across the board. That suggests that some sellers are attempting to create a "bubble" in which they can sell some of these white elephants at an exhorbitant price. Here's a current example of a listing that appears to me to be a joke:
HUGE GREEN GLASS BOTTLE - WINE BEER MAKING - DEMIJOHN CARBOY - DEMI JOHN | eBay

Antique bottle collectors are not buying these bottles, much less buying at this price. Home decorators who work with someone else's money may buy them as accent pieces (I've sold my share of late demi's and carboys to decorators). The skeptics among us might suspect straw purchases.

In the unlikely event that a spate of anomolous purchases inflates the value of these bottles generally, you can be certain that the bubble will burst. Such shippers would not be a good investment for a collection, if one of your investment parameters is long-term appreciation in value.

 

[epackage]

I agree Harry, that's why I said to check locally for any wine makers in the area, bottle collectors are definetly NOT buying them....and sorry to expose you as a bottle GOD, but those of us in the know know the truth!!

 

[mile-ender]

Thanks guys. Home decorators makes sense. At any rate it was a steal and I couldn't pass it up.
(on a side note, it's pretty much the same one as the ebay link I posted)