# Did I just find what I think I found......... At the Goodwill?



## Slowmovangogh (Jul 20, 2021)

Can any one confirm for me that this is what I think it is? I was at the Goodwill this morning looking for a picture frame and saw this sitting on a shelf. I am still realatively new to the hobby, but this looks to me like a Black Glass Wine Bottle. There are no apparent seams so I think it is free blown. I also don't see a pontil mark on the bottom. If anyone can let me know if my suspicions are correct and give me an age range on it I would appreciate it.


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## TxBottleDigger (Jul 20, 2021)

Pretty good one, circa 1850-1890. I wouldn't necessarily call this a wine bottle. Could be ale or whiskey.


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## bottles_inc (Jul 20, 2021)

I would say liquor bottle, not wine. Wine bottles have a pretty distinctive look. This looks like rum or whiskey or some other hard liquor to me


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## BottleEnthusiast (Jul 20, 2021)

i dont expect it to be free blown, possibly turn mold?


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## TROG (Jul 21, 2021)

English bottle that held Ale or Stout  with a refired  pontil and dates around 1860


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## saratogadriver (Jul 21, 2021)

TROG said:


> English bottle that held Ale or Stout  with a refired  pontil and dates around 1860





Agreed. That lip is classic English.   They were made over a wide period of time in the second half of the 19th century.

Jim G


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## willong (Jul 21, 2021)

Fishnemesis said:


> Can any one confirm for me that this is what I think it is? I was at the Goodwill this morning looking for a picture frame and saw this sitting on a shelf. I am still realatively new to the hobby, but this looks to me like a Black Glass Wine Bottle. There are no apparent seams so I think it is free blown. I also don't see a pontil mark on the bottom. If anyone can let me know if my suspicions are correct and give me an age range on it I would appreciate it.



I would caution you against getting too excited. It's a nice bottle; and I am personally fond of black glass. However, it is neither free-blown nor vary rare in my opinion. It was most likely turn molded: blown in a mold and then rotated in that mold to erase the seam marks. Is the lip applied, or just tooled? (To me, it looks applied in one of your photos, but the shot is not large enough or clear enough for me to say for sure. You can feel inside with your pinky finger to determine if there is a junction, ledge, lap or etc.)


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## klaatu (Jul 22, 2021)

Still, a very nice find


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## treeguyfred (Jul 22, 2021)

It is a nice one... Almost certainly of English or Irish manufacture. I clearly see the gloppy glass of an applied lip finish. that plus the uneven bottom and shoulder indicates fairly early manufacture 1850's -1870's possibly a dip mold, the last photo shows bumpy glass not the high gloss of a turn mold, and no concentric lines that is seen in turn molds that early.
I expect that you didn't pay much at all at a Goodwill store


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## Harry Pristis (Jul 22, 2021)

TROG said:


> English bottle that held Ale or Stout  with a refired  pontil and dates around 1860



*"Re-fired pontil" is a collector myth.  
Thought exercise:  When in the bottle-making process -- the steps in producing the bottle, from gather to  annealing -- could a pontil scar be re-fired??*


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## willong (Jul 23, 2021)

Harry Pristis said:


> *"Re-fired pontil" is a collector myth.
> Thought exercise:  When in the bottle-making process -- the steps in producing the bottle, from gather to  annealing -- could a pontil scar be re-fired??*


Presumably, such a process would require a special snap case, which would have to hold the bottle in reverse of the normal orientation that snap cases were designed to do. 




I'm inclined to agree with your assessment of myth--I have never heard of such a reverse orientation snap case, and doubt that the process would have been economically practicable.





Snap cases were designed to hold a bottle during lip forming, thus supplanting pontil usage.


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