# Is there a name for this type of pontil/mark?



## harryr1961 (Mar 28, 2016)

Hi Y'all,  long time no post.  I bought a piece recently with a pontil I don't recognize.  It has a center "post" hole, or perhaps the pontil is just very thin and was pushed deeper into the gather?  The center depression is just over 1/4 inches.  Any help would be appreciated.


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## Harry Pristis (Mar 28, 2016)

This looks like a blow-pipe or "open" pontil scar.  The post hole is from the opening in the blow-pipe.  Your bottle has a generous helping of "stickum glass" left on the bottom.  Here's an example of another blow-pipe pontil scar.

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## MuddyMO (Sep 17, 2016)

I tend to call these 'tubular' pontils...


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## andy volkerts (Sep 24, 2016)

It is an open or blowpipe/tubular pontil. Made when the glassblower broke the bottle off the blowpipe at the bottle's neck and then dipped the blowpipe into a small gather of glass and stuck it onto the bottom of the bottle so his assistant could mount the applied top or lip onto the bottle. When finished adding the top or lip ring the blowpipe would then be broken off from the bottom of the bottle , leaving that ring of excess glass on the bottom of the bottle. It sounds complex but I have seen written that a good team of bottle makers could do a hundred bottles an hour or more........Andy


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## Harry Pristis (Sep 24, 2016)

andy volkerts said:


> It is an open or blowpipe/tubular pontil. Made when the glassblower broke the bottle off the blowpipe at the bottle's neck and then dipped the blowpipe into a small gather of glass and stuck it onto the bottom of the bottle so his assistant could mount the applied top or lip onto the bottle. When finished adding the top or lip ring the blowpipe would then be broken off from the bottom of the bottle , leaving that ring of excess glass on the bottom of the bottle. It sounds complex but I have seen written that a good team of bottle makers could do a hundred bottles an hour or more........Andy



Who was holding the bottle after it was broken from the blow-pipe at the neck and before it could be affixed at the base?
The answer, of course, is that there were two blow-pipe involved in the process.


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## andy volkerts (Sep 25, 2016)

Hello Harry. Of course you are correct, I left that part about the assistant also holding the bottle by the second blowpipe out because I couldn't think of a way to include it into the whole paragraph with out a lot of confusion, BUT, you have made it clear. What a team! I find the whole process of hand making a bottle fascinating. Not only was it hot and dirty work, it was very dangerous on top of everything else. I can not imagine anyone willing to do the same job today for 100 bottles an hour for 10 hours, for any amount of money!!


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## Harry Pristis (Sep 25, 2016)

I agree, Andy.  Production of hand-blown bottles must have been hellish with heat and humidity (water => steam was used in some steps).  Young boys were extensively employed.  Sooner or later, everyone on the production floor must have received a serious burn.


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## andy volkerts (Sep 25, 2016)

Talk about Child labor abuse! The early glassmaking plants pretty much used young boys as assistants to the glassblowers in the making of bottles and other glassware, didn't have to pay them much either......Andy


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## RJ2 (Oct 13, 2016)

nice bottle btw


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