Bottles found durimg renovation to medieval cottage
We are renovating a cottage which parts dates back to 1300s. We keep finding glass bottles and would like to try and date them. I suspect most are Victorian an don’t go back that far really but if you could help that would be great. I have attached three photos of our best finds. Most tend to be more cracked etc but these are in relatively good condition although need a proper clean up. Any advice on how to clean properly without damage?
Comments
The vertically ribbed cobalt blue bottle is almost certainly a poison bottle.
All of your bottles have significant etching or staining resulting from being buried. Glass which is continuously exposed to moisture will go through something of a chemical transformation on the surface.
You can find a technical explanation of that here - http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/conservationmanual/File5.htm
From a practical standpoint, the way that bottle collectors clean the white residues off the surface is by polishing. The process is similar to that of polishing / tumbling rocks.