# baby bottles



## deenodean (May 22, 2011)

Hi , I found these 2 baby bottles at a yard sale. One says ' The Best ' The Gotham Co. N.Y. Pat Sept 91 ( I suspect 1891 ). It has a small chip on the top. The mother tied a piece of cork on the chip with a piece of string. The nipples are missing. The seam stops 1/4 inch from the bottom of the lip, consistent with 1890 era. The other baby bottle has an inside thread with a hole thru the glass stopper where the hose would enter. There are NO markings on it. The seam goes to the bottom of the thread then stops. Could it be a British bottle? Both bottles are about 6 " in height. Any comments about these 2 bottles , value etc would be appreciated. Thanks...


----------



## surfaceone (May 22, 2011)

Hey Daniel,

 Welcome. I'm gonna append your other pictures to this post because they're gonna get separated soon. You do not have to create a new post for each picture in a thread. Just reply to your first post...



> Top of ' The Gotham '


 







> The inside thread bottle


 







> another view of the inside thread


----------



## surfaceone (May 22, 2011)

> The seam stops 1/4 inch from the bottom of the lip, consistent with 1890 era.


 
 Hey Daniel,

 Sounds like you've been reading Michael Polak or the Kovels. Those charts that offer dating by the height of the seams are far from gospel, and should not be treated as such.

 You've got a lovely pair of "murder" bottles. They're in the style known as "turtles" due to their shape.

 "The not so friendly bottle

 The banjo shaped feeders of the late 1800's were  produced in great numbers. Many had sweet sounding names such as 'my little pet' and 'mummies darling' while others were very nationalistic like' The Empire', 'The National' 'The Victorian'. Some simply advertised the chemist from which they were bought but many cashed in on the popularity of the Princess of Wales in the 1880's. Hence the most common inscriptions bore the words, 'The Princess or 'The Alexandria'. However these sweet sounding names often belayed the hidden dangers of these little inconspicuous bottles. The later day nicknames 'The killer' or the 'The murderer' was indeed more apt.

 Infant mortality rates were still extremely high even in the late Victorian era, with only 2 out of 10 infants reaching the age of two. Hygiene was often relegated to the point of non-existence, and the hand rearing of babies was fraught with danger."






 "The bottles were designed with a integral glass tube, and a stopper. Attached to the glass tube there was a length of Indian rubber tubing, which ended with a bone mouth shield and a rubber teat. This design of bottle was impossible to keep clean and even though openly condemned by much of the medical profession of the time, continued to sell well into the 1920's. Much of this popularity was attributed to the fact that the baby could be left unattended to feed, even before the baby was old enough to hold the bottle." From.











 There is an American Collectors of Infant Feeders group with a sorta hit or miss Website. You might write one of the group for better information on your Gotham.




From.


----------



## deacon_frost (May 23, 2011)

surf your web skills have always impressed me,,,very well done


----------



## deenodean (May 23, 2011)

Hi Surfaceone...thanks sooooooo much for the info , very well done !!  The pictures are great too! I'll check that other website and see if I can get a value on them. Since they were mass produced they are probably not rare and worth little but otherwise nice to have as a talking piece and to show.


----------

