I have been given a family heirloom that I have admired since childhood. I want to identify its approximate age, origin etc… I am not interested in selling it at all. I am looking for the best reference information. I have done all the Google searches and can’t find anything remotely resembling this bottle. I have looked for books at B&N and not found any pics or descriptions that match.
The glass is a very dark green that looks black in normal light. It shaped like a doughnut standing up. There is not actually a hole in the center like a doughnut, but both sides dive straight in and meet. The silver overlay is beautiful and is inscribed with the word sterling right at the area when the neck comes out of the bottle. It has a glass stopper of the same type of glass and is about 2 inches in diameter and ½- ¾ inches thick. The bottom of the bottle has been smoothed and has a small ¾ in bowl shape depression in the center, possibly a pontil scar that’s been smoothed. I would like to find pictures on the web or a good book to help identify it.
Any help or direction would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Sn-man
It is next to impossible to make even a decent guess without pictures. If you can post pictures of the bottle (seams if any, the thick part around the mouth, the bottom) would help in identification.
Do you know if the bottle was made local to where you are? If it was, you should try to find a local historical archaeologist, and they would be able to help you. There are reference books for id’ing bottles, but again a time and/or place of manufacture is probably needed.
The shape you describe is generally known as a “pinch” bottle. You don’t have much to go on, with no markings but the silver (and frequently the overlay was added by someone other than the glassmaker) but the uniqueness of the glass color might make an ID possible. I’d start with visits to your local antique shops or malls looking for similar bottles. If you manage to find one of the same design or color, you might be able to pick up some info from the price tag, or talking to the dealer about the item. (You can also do what I did - search eBay, using keywords like “pinch” and “overlay.” Then you can e-mail the seller for more info.)
The reference section of your local library is also a good place to look. They will have price and identification guides (antique malls have these, too, but you’re expected to buy them) and there are dozens on bottles and individual glass companies.
If you don’t have any luck on your own, look for an appraiser in your area who specializes in glass. You’ll have to pay a fee for this service, but it might be worth it when they tell you the bottle is Loetz or Steuben!
I really need to get a digital camera! Trying to describe this is crazy. I will check the library on the way home. If no luck there, I will check some antique shops. Thanks for the replies.
A little bit more in way of a description:
The bottle is probably 18th or 19th century. It doesn’t look at all like the link, but would probably qualify for as a “pinch”. The best way to describe the shape is to think of an 8-inch doughnut standing on edge, maybe two inches thick front to back. Any seam lines have been ground or polished out. The pinch is a perfect circle where the center of both the front and the back are pinched together and actually touch inside. The size and shape make the pinch a natural spot to grasp the bottle, thumb on one side, and fingers on the back. The mouth is shaped with lips on the thin sides. To pour, you would hold the bottle with the front facing you and rotate your wrist down keeping the front towards you. (Guessing based on the looks of it)
I am an antique dealer. Pictures are really necessary for this sort of thing. However, I will say that I seriously doubt your piece is earlier than the late 19th century - sounds like it dates to 1870-1920 period. Silver overlay is where the glass is actually encased in a silver cage of any design. Silver resist is where there is a pattern painted on the glass in silver. Both were developed in the late Victorian period. Hope you can get pictures up.