Topic: HELP NEEDED TO ESTIMATE ORIGIN AND DATE OF MOLD BLOWN DECANTOR

[Loius]

 ::)Hello to all,
Please help to identify this piece please.
this bottle with stopper is approx: 5 inches tall, (135 mm.s)
The mold blown bottle part has 8 mold seams running up the sides which fade out towards the neck.
The stopper has 2 mold seams running horizontally across the stopper.
the glass is quite thick & heavy;grey in color,clean and clear apart from some bubble inclusions and has some lead content.
the base has been completely ground flat & polished and also has a very wide polished out pontil.
Evidence of great wear to base.
any help most gratefully accepted.
Loius.

[Paul S.]

hello Loius           Not an easy piece to assess for origin or date, and probably nil chance of finding a maker.
You don't say whether the 5" includes the stopper, but in any event my thoughts are that this is too short for wine or similar, so we're looking possibly at a cologne bottle or some form of spirit/liqueur container.

I'd suggest this is an inexpensive mechanically mould blown piece, but your comment that it has eight mould seams is very unusual  -  three or four seams is usual, and sometimes only two.     Unfortunately, your pix are too small and definition is lost when these are blown up.
Sometimes better quality pieces will have a number engraved on the stopper (often on the stub) with an identical  number somewhere on the neck of the body (or even the base) - it's worth looking - although if this is a moulded piece then there may be nothing - I assume the decoration is moulded.

Very wide and shallow depressions under the base - with fairly narrow amount of flat area remaining - can be indication of early C19 date, but not a reliable method of assessment, and this piece might date anywhere from 1860 to 1920.             Wear can be misleading, since utility items tend to experience more than prized pieces.   

Could be from almost anywhere - but interesting piece  -  let's hope someone else has a better idea of its origins.  

   

[brucebanner]

At first glance that looks like a pickle jar and about the right height.

[Paul S.]

that did cross my mind too, Chris,...........   my opinion is that the size of the opening in relation to the body is too small for a pickle ..............  and although I can't guarantee it's an infallible rule, stoppers for pickles are usually hollow, whereas this one appears to be solid.           But who knows  -  anything is possible.
The comment that there are horizontal mould lines on the stopper would suggest this one has been produced in a pinch mould, which would indicate it is solid.

[Lustrousstone]

Eight mould seams are extremely unlikely; something like this would only require a three part mould (=two seams), including the base plate. The more parts to a mould the more expensive it was/is. I agree it looks like a pickle or perhaps for bath salts or similar

[Paul S.]

Here is the tallest, shortest and narrowest - of pickles - from a selection of over twenty.         Have just checked all of them and not a single solid stopper to be found.
Although I don't have the stopper for this narrowest example (it's the only one I'm missing), the opening is still substantial in relation to the diameter of the body, so I'm still going to plump for the op's example being for cologne/perfume of some kind.

Heights of these three are 7" - 3.5" and 3.3/8"  -  apart from these extremes, pickles seem generally not to vary much in size, although in decoration the variety is enormous.