Mystery Bottles (2) discovered in Belizean Swamp - help needed
I recently returned from a trip to Belize and satisfied one of my great adventure dreams by discovering what appear to be old bottles in the mud of a mangrove swamp near the base of an unexcavated Mayan temple. The gentleman who was our guide suggested that pirates and modern day drug runners might have used the area to lay low, but that sounds a tad too fanciful to my ear.
There were two bottles: a brown bottle that appears to have a seam up to the top of the neck, but not on the mouth and lip (see pics.) The bottom of that bottle is marked at 12 o'clock with "WX105", a "10" at about 3 o'clock, and "KX" at 6 o'clock. There appears to also be a circular seam around the bottom of the bottle which I am assuming is from an Owens Bottle Ring used in its manufacture and would likely date the bottle to between 1910 and 1960 (perhaps the "10" means 1910?!?) Odd to find it in the swamps of Belize. There's a slight crack in the bottom, but the bottle is solid and still holds liquid (it was filled with mud and swamp water.) Any other info one could offer would be deeply appreciated.
The second bottle is clear and appears to have no seams along the sides, though it does have strange horizontal rings around it. They don't appear to be seams, per se. The bottom-most horizontal ring appears to be an inward indentation and the upper two (at the shoulder and on the neck) appear to be outward ridges. The bottle has indications of rainbow coloration (likely from long exposure to sun - hard to see in the photos.) There are no markings on the bottom and it curves in like a champagne bottle. The lip appears to have been seated on the bottle: there is what looks like an overlap where the lip joins the neck and when you look in there is an inner ring of glass. I have no idea about this bottle - any thoughts or conjectures would be appreciated.
There were two bottles: a brown bottle that appears to have a seam up to the top of the neck, but not on the mouth and lip (see pics.) The bottom of that bottle is marked at 12 o'clock with "WX105", a "10" at about 3 o'clock, and "KX" at 6 o'clock. There appears to also be a circular seam around the bottom of the bottle which I am assuming is from an Owens Bottle Ring used in its manufacture and would likely date the bottle to between 1910 and 1960 (perhaps the "10" means 1910?!?) Odd to find it in the swamps of Belize. There's a slight crack in the bottom, but the bottle is solid and still holds liquid (it was filled with mud and swamp water.) Any other info one could offer would be deeply appreciated.
The second bottle is clear and appears to have no seams along the sides, though it does have strange horizontal rings around it. They don't appear to be seams, per se. The bottom-most horizontal ring appears to be an inward indentation and the upper two (at the shoulder and on the neck) appear to be outward ridges. The bottle has indications of rainbow coloration (likely from long exposure to sun - hard to see in the photos.) There are no markings on the bottom and it curves in like a champagne bottle. The lip appears to have been seated on the bottle: there is what looks like an overlap where the lip joins the neck and when you look in there is an inner ring of glass. I have no idea about this bottle - any thoughts or conjectures would be appreciated.
Comments
Still looking into the clear/aqua bottle.
#2 would be aqua not clear. It has an applied lip and dates to an earlier age - mid to late 19th century.
The bottle's origins are unclear, although one might presume that since Belize was a British colony until the mid 20th c that the bottle is British made. It very well could be.
The shape suggests liquor - perhaps scotch - although the bottle is generic enough that it could have held liquid of any number of brands.
The etched / iridescence is caused by leaching of components of the glass - decomposition if you will. It is commonly seen in bottles that have been buried.
I completed an appraisal of several hundred bottles that were found (and still resided) in a central American country - they were mostly of British origin but some American. Ships transported a lot of goods to the region. There were many great bottles in this group from the 19th and 18th centuries. These were collected 40-50 years ago - others have preceded you in the search for lost treasures.
Chris
I've reconciled myself to the fact that I will likely never find a specific history for the aqua (thank you) bottle, but knowing that it seems probable to be of British origin is fascinating and makes perfect sense. I am a little stumped by the three horizontal rings that surround the bottle. I can't seem to find any examples of other bottles with those markings. Any thoughts about those?
What I've read is that the vast majority of turn molded bottles were produced between 1880-1915, but that some might have been imported to the new world as early as 1850.
When one considers the presence of the applied taper top paired with the dating of the turn-mold production process it's likely safe to estimate that the bottle can be dated to between 1850-1870. Worth noting is that apparently all turn-mold bottles are mouth blown.