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This 23 fl. oz. bottle of George Washington was definitely a liquor bottle, issued to commemorate the United States bicentennial.
Here's a milk bottle with the name "Brookfield." The neck has a double baby face, so now we have a good idea of what the god Janus might have looked like at an earlier age.
The last time I was in New York, I ran into Scott Jordan, a man with a most unusual pastime. Scott goes to New York building sites and gets permission to excavate before the heavy work begins.
Back in the 19th century, folks would regularly dispose of trash by throwing it into a backyard pit (researchers hit a bonanza when they dug up Thomas Edison's Menlo Park grounds), and of course bottles and china have survived.
Scott's holding a cobalt bottle that I bought from him. He dug it up at a New York City building site and it dates to the 1890s. It says 8 OUNCES, S.S. STAFFORD INKS, MADE IN THE U.S.A., and it has a spout.
The bottle is referred to as a "master ink," and was used to fill smaller ink bottles, like the one on the right, which is from the same period.
Collecting cobalt bottles is very satisfying. One might spend a lot of money on early hand-blown bottles, but one can just as easily find lovely examples for just a few dollars.
Dear Mark, I'm fascinated by your cobalt blue collection. How did the bottles acquire the blue color? Was the actual color of cobalt used? Does the color change over time? How wonderful that you found room for yet anaother collection. Have a great remainder of the week. Gina
ReplyDeleteDear Gina,
DeleteAccording to Wikipedia, cobalt glass is made by adding cobalt salts of alumina to molten glass. In olden days, cobalt paint could be made from the powder of cobalt glass (and it could also be made by grinding blue minerals, which made the color blue very expensive*). Today cobalt blue paint is made chemically.
I don't think cobalt glass changes color per se over time, but, as Lynne mentions below, it will become iridescent, which can be quite lovely.
*I've often wondered whether the Virgin Mary would be depicted in blue robes if green or orange had been a more expensive color!
Hi Mark, Those bottles look beautiful with the sunlight streaming through them. The human-headed milk bottles also came with a policeman design--a pun on the phrase "Cop the Cream".
ReplyDeleteWhen I used to explore the woods for bottles, I would sometimes find cobalt ones from Bromo-Seltzer and Phillips Milk of Magnesia, both of which came in conveniently small sample sizes, with cork tops a bonus.
--Road to Parnassus
Hi, Jim,
DeleteI wasn't aware of the policeman bottle, but now I'll be on the lookout for it! Thanks for mentioning it.
I remember those Bromo-Seltzer and Milk of Magnesia bottles, but they are not in my collection. The ones that I've seen have tended to be cloudy inside, and I look for the clearest examples. I also limit my collection to bottles only and not ones below a certain size (I've got to draw the line somewhere!!).
Dear Mark - you would not be wrong in thinking that I am 'blue' with envy at your lovely cobalt bottle collection. You are displaying them perfectly - did the window come with the special shelf fitting or have you adapted it?
ReplyDeleteI have a collection of coloured glass which I display on a glass shelving system in front of our large sitting room window, I could not think of another way to get the light through the glass. Fortunately the grandchildren are now old enough not to go charging past it, it could be a disaster waiting to happen. Higher up like yours is the answer.
Dear Rosemary,
DeleteMy garden window came with the shelves and protrudes out from the kitchen like an oriel. When I redid my kitchen several years ago, the clever man who helped me suggested that the bottom shelf be exactly level with the counter top. That in turn optically enlarged the kitchen in the most amazing way. People would come in and say, "Oh my, you widened the kitchen, didn't you?"
I'm so glad you have your glass collection displayed in the window. I'm always baffled by people who put glass — even stained glass hanging ornaments — in dark cupboards!
i found thousands of bottles in the garden of my 1870s house. Some of them have the most amazing iridescent patina. Only one cobalt glass tho-- a bottle for bluing, of all things!
ReplyDeleteHi, Lynne,
DeleteThat's so funny about the bluing! I hope that some (a lot) of those bottle were worthy of salvage and display!
yes those that weren't broken are displayed along the fence and some of them are inside as well
DeleteI love anything George Washington but in blue he looks especially regal. This one of those collections where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The effect of the light coming through the collection is just wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHi, Steve -
DeleteYour observation of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts is so true of many collections, and often of very ordinary things. I had an aquaintance who collected antique copper and tin oiling cans, and the collection was unexpectedly visually rich.
Hi, Mark - What beautiful bottles! I love the collection layered in front of your kitchen window. Such impact grouped together. And the silhouettes very striking against the light.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this fabulous collection!
Take care,
Loi
Hi, Loi! I'm glad you enjoy my collection. I photographed it on an overcast day, which actually showed off the individual bottles better. But in the early morning, and on a bright day, the grouping is a sight that elates me. And starting one's day with little things like that can set the tone of the day!
Deletefrequently when renovating an old house we find old bottles in the wall cavities - apparently plasterers and builders were fond of their lunch time drinks! haha.
ReplyDeleteJust 1/2 way through a major renovation of a 1930s John Russell Pope house right now and we have found about 4 liquor bottles in the walls (all empty sadly) and a whale oil lamp (for night time working??)
Hi, Stefan,
DeleteIf and when anyone pulls down a wall in my house, they'll find all sorts of things because I've put items in my walls - including a time capsule - just for that purpose. It's a fun thing to do!
I do approve of the colour, and the impact you have created by installing them in a window, and together.
ReplyDeleteDear Columnist,
DeleteYears ago I saw the house interior of the poet Pablo Neruda, who was an avid bottle collector (he also collected ship figureheads). Perhaps his stunning decor was in the back of my mind when I started grouping my own bottles.
Dear Mark,
ReplyDeletePeople collect violin shaped bottles? How interesting!
Being a collector myself I immediately thought: hmmm perhaps I should start collecting bottles too - but I think AGA might have a fit.
That was interesting about the chap who visits the building sites and finds bottles and things in the old rubbish tips. There is a man at the Portobello Market in London who looks a bit like Father Christmas. He does the same thing and finds lots of old bottles and earthenware. We have bought a few over the years. They are ceramic earthenware ones of the Victorian period for holding mustard, jam and the like. They makes nice pin bowls, vases for flowers and candle holders.
My favourite in your collection is the double headed baby bottle. Very unusual.
I hope you are enjoying the weekend!
Kirk
Dear Kirk,
DeleteI do that all the time, too — see a great collection and think of collecting the very same thing. Unfortunately, there's no AGA in my life to put on the breaks, so I have to practice a lot of self-control, not always with success!
I almost didn't buy the double-baby-headed bottle because it's a slightly lighter cobalt (I look for unique shapes, size and a certain intensity of blue), but he won me over anyway.
Wishing you and AGA a good week ahead,
Mark
AGA is not one to apply the breaks, Mark. At present our sitting room contains his collection of seventeen clocks - three of which are grandfather clocks. They chime the hour over the space of a few minutes... We hear it so often that we forget but it startles friends when they come to call (as happened this evening!)
DeleteI can appreciate that; when I was a teenager, I had a ship's clock in my bedroom that rang bells on the quarter-hour. I never heard them, but after houseguests said they were kept awake all night, I had to quit rewinding it.
DeleteHello Mark,
ReplyDeleteThis is new for me, I hadn't never seen these bottles before. But, I love the color!
Thanks for sharring and have a nice weekend
XX
Jérôme
Merci, Jérôme, les bouteilles faire un splash glorieuse de couleur, et je reçois toujours une réaction quand les gens entrent dans ma cuisine.
Delete