# HUGE Amber Demijohn



## epackage (Jan 29, 2010)

Any ideas on the value of this thing, it stands 21" tall and 13" across???  Thanx as always...Jim


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Jan 30, 2010)

Nice Demi John! I'm just guessing at a value, $150-$250.
 I personally love the hell out it! 
 Is a tooled top?
 It doesn't look like it has a pontil


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## epackage (Jan 30, 2010)

Yes it is a tooled top, I will post pictures of the bottom tomorrow so you can get a better idea ...ty...Jim


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## NorCalBottleHunter (Jan 30, 2010)

At the Vallejo show last year, I saw an open glop top, dark yellow, with tons of whittle for $350, I myself own a few carboys and amber I don't normally see in that shape, might be just me though


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## epackage (Jan 30, 2010)

One a little smaller than this at about 18-1/2" just sold on ebay for $485 but it was an open pontil....I am deciding whether or not to buy it, I imagine it would look awesome with the sun shining behind it.
       Jim


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## glass man (Jan 30, 2010)

BEAUTIFUL.GOTTA HAVE SOME REALLY HUGE BOTTLE SHELVES FOR EM THOUGH![8D] JAMIE


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## Poison_Us (Jan 30, 2010)

Just missing the stand that goes with it that helps you pour out the contents..  Very nice.


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## RED Matthews (Jan 30, 2010)

Hi epackage;  I just came back here looking for a picture of the bottom.  I to am a collector of demijohns.  This one looks like an nice one.  Have you been to my homepage?  I pictured a couple odd ones that have a bar type mark on the bottoms, which I have not identified yet.   Let us know if your selling this one. Thanks 
  RED Matthews


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## epackage (Jan 30, 2010)

Hi Red, here is the pic of the bottom, I have no idea what type of pontil this is if it is one at all(sand pontil maybe), It is a very attractive bottle to say the least but I haven't decided whether or not to buy it yet. It's gonna cost me $200 total($50 is in travel and tolls to pick it up) so I am really on the fence about it. Any of your incredible insights would be greatly welcome....as always thank you....Jim


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## epackage (Feb 5, 2010)

*Red Matthews   RE: HUGE Amber Demijohn*

Hi Red, any ideas now that I have a pic of the bottom...


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## RED Matthews (Feb 5, 2010)

*RE: Red Matthews   RE: HUGE Amber Demijohn*

Hello Jim;   I have done it again, but here is what I see from the two pictures.
     I seem to see two mold lines up and down from the push up dome.  This tells me that the bottle was blown in a two part bottom hinged mold. 

 There also seems to be a mold mark just below the heel radius about 3/16â€ down from the edge.  This tells me that the dome pushup was made by a center post, which the open mold half was locked up on; when the mold was closed around the bottle blowers created parison.   The shape of the parison is what determines and provides good glass thickness of distribution in the final blow mold. 

 I am quite sure that if you examine the sides of this bottle, there will be two seems on the long side of the blown bottle.  Quite often these seems will only go up to the start of the shoulder curvature.  Some times they will go up to the start of the neck.  In the first case the mold was a two part cup mold for the bottles lower portion.  Then in the second case,   there would have been two shoulder mold sections that open hinged out for removal of the finished bottle.    

 I know that you thought it was free formed â€“ and maybe it was.  I just went back and looked at the sides to see if there was a horizontal line at the bottom of the shoulder.  I could not detect it in the picture.  So now you would have to look at the lower part of the bottle and see if there is a faint mold seam going up the elongated edge and if it is there!  How far up does it go?        I donâ€™t think the bottle was empontilled in any event.      
 I also think that a total investment of $ 250.00 would be just about the correct price in todayâ€™s market.       I might add that most kidney or oval bottles of this type needed a mold to control the oval, at least for the bottom half.  

 The plain round large demijohns that were free blown didnâ€™t have the problem of shape control.  I have one that holds about seven gallons of liquid and there are no seams and no mold marks.  There is no sign of empontilling because this bottle weighs about 27 pounds empty.  That is a lot of glass to work on the end of a blowpipe.  It sure took strong men to handle the pliable gather, during the shaping of the parison.  

 I have read that these big demijohns were set into a cradle or floor mounted holder while the finish ring of glass was applied and tooled.  And, that had to be a tough job, because the glass strip would be hard to apply around the cut off neck.  The logical requirement for the pliable glass application almost always needed to have the neck horizontal to lay the glass on the neck.      How is that for TMI,  RED Matthews


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## epackage (Feb 5, 2010)

*RE: Red Matthews   RE: HUGE Amber Demijohn*

Thanx Red as usual your information is always spot on, thanx again.....Jim


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