What is it?

Killbilly5150

This bottle has no mold seams, no numbers, a tooled lip, and has the most fantastic blue/green color i have ever seen!
I was wondering if someone could shed some light for me about this one, also has a kick up!

bigred

My wife bought this at a thrift store but has no idea what it was used for. It stands about 3" tall with a base which is 2 1/2" square. Any ideas what it is?

historic

Most likely a toothpick holder.

bigred

Thanks so much historic. Based on your comments I continued my search and discovered that it is a Victorian Pressed Glass Match Holder.

historic

Match strikers as I know always had some rough surface on which to strike the matches - for the old style "strike anywhere" match. If that is the case, then I am inclined to agree with you.

I am now seeing a rough edge on the base - maybe that is the striking surface.

bigred

It certainly looks like it. Rough on all 4 sides of the base. Thanks again.

BobB

Lola & Wayne Higby's book,"Bryce, Higbee and J.B. Higbee" (Marietta Ohio: Antique Publications, 1998) makes mention of this piece among 'novelties made by these 2 glass companies prior to 1919(?). The colored photo page 99 shows 2 varieties, - plain type in clear & saffire blue glass, and a variant with "striker" bars on base. Page 102 is the captions for the pictured items, these 3 being called "Gatling Gun", 3" high, 1-3/4" diameter. [Though any history buff will recognize the shape is more like a Civil War era mortar than a Gatling Gun (which rolls on two wheels).] Full description (p.181) gets even murkier: "GATLING GUN TOOTHPICK, Bryce, Higbee & Co. ca.1885...Minnie Watson Kamm's Eighth book ...noted that in a 1893 Butler Brothers catalog, this same piece called "Krupp Gun" sold for 5c..." "The toothpick is fairly rare, but more abundant in clear than in amber or blue. Also called the "Trench Mortar", some have been found with fine ribs on the base for striking matches, and others have been found with smooth bases...In his book '1000 Toothpick Holders', William Heacock reported that this toothpick has been reproduced...". Most all glassware got its names (and what it was described as being) from the marketing department, so gatling gun or mortar, toothpick or matchstick, take your pick. Also, I don't take most of what is written in these privately-printed collectors books as gospel. [Yours does NOT seem to have the striker bar illustrated in the book.] If in fact yours really has the blue/grey cast I detect in your picture, I would tend to think repro; clear glass from pot-furnaces of the 1880-90s would go to manganese purple if overcooked, not blue/green/grey. - GlassBobB

BobB

Excuse me -- looking closely again, I DO SEE the striker bar on your 'matchstick'! But if Heacock says it might be reproduced, I would look very carefully at the underside with high-magnification glass to see what kind of wear scratches are evidence that it has, for many, many years, been pushed around on mantlepieces (next to their kerosene lamps) or countertops (next to the cash register in country stores).