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 flaskView attachment 1844545 View attachment 1844546

 

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[RVRoamer74]

Sounds like a great find. I seem to be having trouble opening the attachments. Might be on my end though. Anyways, Congrats!

 

[glass half fool]

Thanks If it something on my end I will try to post another pic

 

[William the Conqueror]

Attachment does not work, sounds like a cool find though!

 

[glass half fool]

I will try a few more pictures

 

[RVRoamer74]

Good pics. Awesome looking old bottle. Some here on Tnet could give you some good ID help hopefully. Nice save!

 

[pepperj]

Awesome bottle! It's great to see an open pontil on the bottom. Still a bucket list for me after 50yrs, have dug shards-but not whole. Pre 1870 Though a rough guess is in the 1845-50. Need more time researching image though.
https://sha.org/bottle/pontil_scars.htm

 

[dansalata]

looks like a historical flask..need better pics but great find!!!

 

[glass half fool]

I have taken about 30 pictures so far and none of them are all that good The color of the glass is blue or aqua and it is frosty looking So even when I have it in my hand the image on the bottle is not all that clear .I will try some other backgrounds to see if something else shows the image better .Meanwhile here are a few that I already tookView attachment 1844652hanks for looking

 

[NJKLAGT]

In case you miss it in the bottle forum, "dancing sailor / banjo player" flask: https://www.hecklerauction.com/auctions/167/view/?lot=49

AWESOME

 

[sandchip]

Sounds like a GXIII-8 to me. Probably could pick a better adjective, but what a smashing find!

 

[Steve in PA]

That's a cool flask, I like the subject matter on it.

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Killer flask!
I've never had luck taking good photos of bottles, it's like they are camera shy.
Sometimes holding the bottle up to the sun helps.
Kudos!
Carl

 

[glass half fool]

Thanks to all that checked in on this thread .Especially NJKLAGT He did as much digging and hunting as I did to be able to identify it It appears that the time frame for the sailor/banjo player flask I located on June 2020 26 would be 1845 to 1870 And it does have an open pontil . It is a first for me. From the sounds of it they don't come along all the often Before I started digging this spot I had a feeling it would have a lot of bottles I did not have in my collection . Well that has been the case And based on the broken pieces that I had seen the potential for that number to increase are pretty good. Hope to get back out sometime this week .And I might have a couple of helpers on a couple of those efforts Again thanks to all that offered info on my find

 

[etex]

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[xcopperstax]

That looks like a really excellent bottle! Congrats on it and keep it in a safe place!!!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Beautiful old bottle, congrats!

 

[glass half fool]

That looks like a really excellent bottle! Congrats on it and keep it in a safe place!!!

Yes a safe place I keep it where I can see it .Because I am still no sure it happened .I had only been digging about 10 minutes that day when I found it .With it dirty I was not sure what I had .But when I looked at it just a minute my brain was screaming that is old .I looked at the bottom and thought that is an open pontil.I had never seen one in person but I knew it had to be even with the dirt .I cleared a place to put it down climbed out of the spot I was in and got my camera. I wanted to get a picture before is disappeared I have spent the last 3 days trying to get a good picture of it but I can not gt any that really show the panels in detail .But it just looks old in a way that any other bottle I ever found before looks Thanks to all and your kind words

 

[thrifty76now]

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.

 

[Gaspipe]

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.