Info Request on Octagonal Bottle
On summer vacation in 1965 we dug bottles in Granite MT. We found two of the Octagonal shaped bottle shown in the attached picture. I have not seen them in a bottle book and am requesting any information on what they contained and how old they might be. Thank You!
Comments
Thanks for posting this - it is a really interesting bottle. If I did not know where it came from, then I might first be wondering whether it is modern or not because it is simply so atypical of a 19th century bottle. It would be helpful to know more about the other bottles and shards that you found there - specifically their age.
I think most collectors would say:
- the color suggests a hair bottle.
- age wise, late 19th century but could even be earlier 20th century
- the fancy shape suggests possibly a bitters bottle.
- the simple sheared and refired lip is entirely unusual and makes me wonder whether it could be European.
No matter what the consensus of opinion, you are not going any further with your investigation unless you are lucky enough to find an example with labels.
Years ago, I owned a bitters bottle of a similar shape that had full labels. I believe it was German. Once I recall the name, I will report back with further info.
Granite, MT was a silver mining town in the Rocky Mountains that was booming in about the 1890s. This bottle is dark brown and about 9 inches tall. It was found in a dump over the hill from the Miner's Union Hall. We found many tall plane brown beer bottles (cork top) and green champagne bottles. Other finds included a couple sarsaparilla bottles, Chinese liquor bottles (squat brown pottery), soy sauce bottles (also squat brown pottery with a little spout), heavy aqua soda bottles, a lady's-leg bitters, and several opium bottles. I was 8 at the time. It was one of the best vacations ever, and started our family digging bottles.
Ken
If the bottle is plain amber as you say then I retract my thought about this being a hair bottle. I thought it was a red/amethyst color as the photo suggests.
The bitters bottle that I was thinking of is Capuziner Stomach Bitters - one sees the bottle at shows periodically if you know what you are looking at (no embossing) but labeled examples are darn scarce.
Chris