# Found ~150 blue & black hand-blown bottle stoppers



## davemill (Oct 22, 2015)

So I was visiting a carpentry shop today to purchase a used power tool. The owner showed me a box of hand-blown glass bottle stoppers he had found under the floor when remodeling an old pharmacy. Here are the photos: [attachment=stoppers2.JPG][attachment=stoppers1.JPG] They are all three colors shown above: Black, deep blue and cyan/teal. All are hand blown, with unique shapes and cut marks at the bottom. The two exceptions are the flat one in the box that looks like a drain plug and the large one on the table, both of which have seams. I couldn't see any scratches on the conical parts, so they look to be unused. My uneducated guess is that these are unused bottle stoppers that the pharmacy kept for medicine bottles. They are all dusty in the box, all I did was wipe a few with a clean towel to take the picture of the ones on the table. My guess is that there about 150 stoppers in the box. Any advice for my carpenter friend? Should he just put the whole lot for sale on eBay?


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## Nevadabottles (Oct 23, 2015)

Wow, those are cool!


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## teamballsout (Oct 23, 2015)

RED M. would be the one to know. hope red is ok he hasnt been on since he said he was headind west with the crows. Im sure he is missed by many! Dosent even look like those stoppers are ground yet or cork wrapped? maybe dates could be found on the news paper they r sitting on. could be a rough date. I like em tho sorry if im of no help.

jason


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## CreekWalker (Oct 23, 2015)

I would separate by color in lots of 5 each, with option to purchase a set of different colors. Then repeat sales.


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## botlguy (Oct 23, 2015)

I believe those are more decorative than useful. Being tapered unevenly they would not seal well and would not hold a cork sleeve. I've seen similar ones on imported art glass pieces.Also, they look like solid glass rather than hollow which they would be if blown. They are probably hand / tool formed and no two are exactly the same size or shape.              Jim


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## 2find4me (Oct 23, 2015)

Those look like newer art deco stuff, but if he really found it under the floor of an old pharmacy then I could be wrong. Take a look and see if you can find anything on the newspaper strips. Also a close up of that big stopper would be interesting to see. Maybe put the whole lot on eBay starting at 9.99, you never know what will happen. They look free blown. All the unique shapes makes me think modern art though.


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## davemill (Oct 29, 2015)

They are all unique, and most have a bubble inside. You can see the bubble most clearly in the photo of the teal colored ones. They are also tapered unevenly.  They will probably get posted on eBay in lots as suggested.


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## davemill (Oct 29, 2015)

Thanks for the responses everyone! They are all unique, and most have a bubble inside. You can see the bubble most clearly in the photo of the teal colored ones. They are also tapered unevenly.  According to the carpenter, the building was over 100 years old, and he found lots of vintage garbage beneath the floor, plus a few choice(?) pieces like a spitoon! They will probably get posted on eBay in lots as suggested.


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## 2find4me (Oct 31, 2015)

Post the link when you list them. And good luck!


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## Btl_Dvr (Nov 19, 2015)

Although the "stopper" section is uneven as seen, wouldn't they be "ground" to even them up and fit correctly? I would guess it was at the end of the time of them being used and could be ground to fit a particular bottle if needed. Just my guess.


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## CanadianBottles (Nov 21, 2015)

That's a very interesting find, and quite a puzzling one too.  I think they would have indeed been ground down to fit bottles later on, but I'm not sure what a pharmacy would do with that many decorative stoppers.  I can't imagine they used them for prescriptions.  They look like something that would be used for display bottles.  I think the newspaper fragments are your best clue.  From what I can see I'm getting a bit of a 1960's vibe from them, the font looks mid-20th century.  I wonder how long the building had been a pharmacy for, if it started 50-something years ago those could have been from a prior business.  It seems odd that a pharmacy would be grinding down its own stoppers as well, you would need special equipment for that and I would think that a pharmacy would just order its bottles already finished.  I really can't think of a satisfactory explanation.


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## RICKJJ59W (Nov 21, 2015)

They were probably for show on the top shelf with Colored bottles. To bad no one here is on FB which I think is weird lol It's just another place to talk bottles and ask questions.


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