# A bottle of rum from 1670



## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

I have seen a similar post, trying to identify a bottle, but mine is much older.
 It's made out of clay(perfectly in tact), on one side, it has an emblem with some sort of an animal(I think it's a lion) with a crown and the word "Selters" around the emblem, bellow it it's written "Herzogthum Nassau". On the other side it's written 16 just below the handle, below the "16" there's written "Rum  70". It's a rum bottle that my dad brought from Germany, how much do you think it's worth(I couldn't find anything on ebay)?

 It's something like this:
http://www.cosbert.com/view_stoneware_cpc142_p1.html

 Though it's older, looks darker and more clayish'.


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## blobbottlebob (Apr 18, 2009)

Welcome Megamagition,
 The bottle is not quite that old. It is probably turn of the century. They are very neat but they are also not too rare. If you have a clean example with nice stamping, that might help. Otherwise, around here, I'm guessing that they are worth $5-10 dollars apiece.


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## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

I don't really have a camera around me , so I can't take a picture of it, though, I thought it would be worth much more, considering it's in great shape.


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## blobbottlebob (Apr 18, 2009)

It is possible tht you have something unusual or rare. Maybe someone else will know more about it?


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## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

If I possibly set up my webcam by tomorrow, I will post a picture of it.Until then, I'm waiting as many as possible opinions, thanks for yours also.


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## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

*This is the exact picture of the bottle, from the net. Mine is exactly the same.*

 Here is an article from a blog(about the bottle, the bottle in the article is lighter):

 Yesterday, hubby planted about 100 bulbs - hoping that some of them will bloom in spring ;-). He ameliorated the soil with the pickax and suddenly he had the impression he was hitting a stone. But it wasn't a stone, it was this clay bottle:




 After cleaning it, we discovered a stamp saying "Herzogthum Nassau" (Duchy of Nassau), a lioncel and the word "Selters" (seltzer):








 Let's sum up the information: We found a clay bottle once filled with mineral water, deriving from the former Duchy of Nassau. This Duchy was part of the German Confederation and existed barely 60 years (1806-1866). Folks, that means, our bottle is at least 150 years old, maybe even 200!! So very exciting! 

 But back to the information: The Duchy was situated in what is nowadays a part of the federal state of Hesse. 
 The mineral water originates from the well in Niederselters/Taunus Mountains: 
 * The following information is translated from Wikipedia* 
 The well was discovered in 1536 and soon the water was said to have curative effects. In the 18th century, the water was verifiably exported to Scandinavia, Russia, North America and Africa. 
 Between 1806 and 1866, the export of seltzer became the Duke of Nassau's most important source of income.

 By the way: Niederselters is about 360 km from Hornburg, quite an amazing distance for a bottle of mineral water at that time! It definitely means that the owner of our house (in the first half of the 19th century) was fairly wealthy!

Would this help determining the price?


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## cyberdigger (Apr 18, 2009)

Nice, but I don't think "Selters" means seltzer.There is a mineral water company still in business in Germany, by the name of Selters, which gets it's mineral water from the town of Selters an der Lahn..I don't know how well you can read German, but they have a website, and a pic of this very same jug:  http://www.selters.de/main.html


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## bostaurus (Apr 18, 2009)

When I started collecting in the early 70's in the UK these bottles were every where.  Of course there were different companies and some may have be more rare. 
 Maybe one of the European or British collectors could tell you more.


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## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

Well, I can't really read german and babelfish and google translator aren't really helping me, maybe I'll get my friend to help me translate it later on.
 EDIT:Found the bottle, it's still pretty old. 110-140 years old.

 Well, I hope that some european/brit' collectors will see this topic.


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## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

> ORIGINAL: Flaschenjager
> 
> *Hi megamagition* and *Welcome to Antique-Bottles.Net* -
> Just go to this site and find your vessel by using the toolbar on the left:
> ...


 Thanks for the site, they don't have an old version like mine though. I was really just looking for the price, if it isn't any higher than 50$, then I rather keep it as a precious item .


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## megamagition (Apr 18, 2009)

> ORIGINAL: Flaschenjager
> 
> *Hello -* I remember digging my first one of these. I really thought that I had something. Most seem to be quite common and have very little value though. Why don't you contact the folks on that site via email and maybe they can tell you more about your specific vessel?


 Thanks for the advice , e-mailed them recently, hope they don't ignore me.


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## Dabeel (Apr 18, 2009)

Hi megamagition,

 You should hold onto that bottle especially since you found it in your backyard.

 They definitely don't sell for more than $25.00 and they are rice to display in your home.

 Doug


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