For the Bottle Folks

rebelfirefighter07 · Oct 4, 2008

I wasn't doing any treasure hunting yesterday, I was just looking for some deer sign for hunting season. I was looking at a tree a buck had horned and my eye caught something sticking barely out of the ground. I kicked it up and it was this bottle. It was on the side of an old road bed that is rutted out and has huge trees growing in the middle of it. It runs through a deep holler. Theres nothing around it for miles literally. The bottle is small and has a purplish tint to it. There are several small air bubbles in the glass. It looks like it would have used a cork instead of a lid. The mouth of it is round but the sides of the mouth are not even, one side is thicker than the other. The neck is somewhat irregular. It sits like it should but the bottom is irregular too. I'm no bottle expert by any means but it seems that a modern bottle wouldn't have these little imperfections like this one does. What do yall think

Bigcypresshunter · Oct 4, 2008

Its a cork top medicine bottle. I cannot see if it has seams running up the side and around the top. If the seam doesnt reach the top, it is hand blown in a mold, pre-1900 bottle... The automatic bottling machine ABM was invented around the turn of the century. The glass is made with Magnesium* giving it that purple color. By 1915 most glass companies ceased using Magnesium* to make clear glass and switched to Selenium. http://www.patternglass.com/this_color_purple_99.htm

Nice 1800's cork top medicine, Magnesium* glass. IMO :thumbsup:

ADDED: *not Magnesium. it is called MANGANESE.

ivan salis · Oct 4, 2008

big C is on the money --pre 1900 cork top med's bottle -- nice find -- likey from off the old train that used to go thru there many years before. I like the slighly purplish tone of some those old bottles --glass was much more "colorful" back then to grab your eye when you went in to buy stuff. many bottle were very pretty colors.