Who Collects Wine Bottles?

[Harry Pristis]

There are many, many hand-finished wine bottles to be collected. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Continental Europe, especially France, produced wine in bottles that were shipped world-wide. French wine bottles are common finds in privies and rivers in the USA.

For French wine bottles, at least, the form of the bottle may tell us something about the wine that it once contained. Here are some traditional forms:

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These are commonly exported wine bottles, but there are other traditional forms for different wines. Can you add any here?

One desireable feature of some wine bottles is an applied glass seal. Embossed on the seal may be a wine variety, a region, a chateau name, or some identification of the vintner.

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[Road Dog]

Here's a nice one I have.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here's a nice one I have.

Isn't that a great neck and lip-finish!! Full of character! That's a slender string around the llip to have survived all this time. Your bottle looks to be in excellent condition.

I am fascinated with these early wine bottles -- in this case a champagne bottle, I think. French wines, including champagne, were exported in such numbers that they can be found almost anywhere (if you're looking and you're lucky). I've actually recovered some of these champagne bottles here in Florida. Here's an image of two of 'em. I think your champagne bottle may be a little older than these two, but it's difficult to assign any firm dates to bottles that changed little for decades.

Show us some more!

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[Road Dog]

Yeah, I have a soft spot for these oldies though they are not my main focus. Your's look killer!

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here's a group of "lady's leg" wine bottles (actually the one on the right may be an American bitters bottle). This assemblage spans, from about 1760, more than a hundred years.

The two on the left are long-neck wines with blow-pipe (or "open") pontil scars. The bitters bottle has an iron (or "improved") pontil scar.

The pale green example is 13.5 inches tall -- a prodigious bottle!

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[BuckleBoy]

Some Great information and beautiful bottles on this thread!


-Thank you.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Here's another sort of wine bottle -- a carboy, a bottle used in wine-making. I got this one on the Costa del Sol (Spain) at an antiques warehouse. It and the two other carboys I acquired were wrapped in thin woven wood strips inside wood frames for stability. All were covered in chicken or pidgeon droppings from years of storage in a barn. I had to cut everything away from the glass and scrub the glass before I could put the bottles in the vehicle.

I've never measured the volume of this bottle (the largest I own), but I estimate it to contain 50 liters or more (that's more than 12 galllons). It is free-blown. It has no pontil scar, a sheared lip, and an applied string at the lip. This is a classic form which could have been made anytime in the early-middle to late 1800s.

Collectors distinguish carboys from demijohns by their shorter necks and wider mouths (and often by their larger size, though that is not always reliable).

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[BuckleBoy]

That's a beautiful bottle.

 

[Harry Pristis]

That's a beautiful bottle.

Thank you for responding, 'BuckleBoy'. I collect demijohns (and a few carboys), and am happy to post images of them.

How about you?? Do you have a wine bottle (in any size) to show us here?

 

[BuckleBoy]

That's a beautiful bottle.

Thank you for responding, 'BuckleBoy'. I collect demijohns (and a few carboys), and am happy to post images of them.

How about you?? Do you have a wine bottle (in any size) to show us here?

I'm fairly new to glass in general, but this spring while digging out an old cellar hole I did find a wine or champagne bottle with a tooled lip and a large kick-up in the bottom. Along with this find was a nice squat soda made here in Louisville between 1860 and 1863 (the only years that particular bottling works were open) and lots of broken stoneware. Since this particular bottle is unmarked, I can only surmise that it dates to a similar era as the other finds.

I enjoy seeing your posts. They give me a lot of good information about different bottle sizes and ages.


I posted a photo of the bottle I found below.


Regards,



Buckleboy

 

[Harry Pristis]

I'm fairly new to glass in general, but this spring while digging out an old cellar hole I did find a wine or champagne bottle with a tooled lip and a large kick-up in the bottom. Along with this find was a nice squat soda made here in Louisville between 1860 and 1863 (the only years that particular bottling works were open) and lots of broken stoneware. Since this particular bottle is unmarked, I can only surmise that it dates to a similar era as the other finds.

I enjoy seeing your posts. They give me a lot of good information about different bottle sizes and ages.

I posted a photo of the bottle I found below.

Regards,

Buckleboy

Thank you for your response, 'BuckleBoy' -- without feedback, it's easy to get the feeling that there's no one out there. It appears that you have dug a champagne half-bottle (roughly 12 oz). Privy items can have differing ages, but this champagne bottle could easily date to the 1860s. We can't see any of the bottle's "character" (air bubbles, creases, irregularities) with the privy dirt still on it.

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It would be great to see your bottle cleaned up. If you haven't done so already, you can just soak it in a bucket of water with a little detergent (I always add some laundry bleach to my soak). I like to get the dirt removed as quickly as possible because the adherent grit poses a threat to the gloss on the exterior of the bottle.

I hope you'll post your soda here or, better, in another thread.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Hey--thanks for the reply.


The squat soda is posted here:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,222028.0.html


I really love the bottle, because I had always wanted a squat soda...especially a local one (I live in the city).



I will post a few better photos of the champagne in a few days.



Best Wishes,



Buckles

 

[Road Dog]

I collect Pontil sodas.Nice Soda. Posted a few under "My Collections". Here is a huge bottle 14 inches tall and has a open pontil near 2 inches across. It could have held a beverage of sorts huh?

 

[Harry Pristis]

Nice demijohn, 'Road Dog'! I have seen a similar bottle with paper label for an Italian wine. Got more demi's??

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[Harry Pristis]

Here's the one that had the paper label for an Italian wine. It was in this wicker tub with a wicker handle from the basket to just below the applied lip (you can see part of the handle undone in the image). I saved the wicker 'cause it was still intact. The bottle has a big glass pontil scar.

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[Road Dog]

Nice Demi's! That last one looks like mine. I only have one other. It's an 1880-ish one.

 

[Harry Pristis]

Nice Demi's! That last one looks like mine. I only have one other. It's an 1880-ish one.

You're smart to collect blob top sodas and medicines -- no shelf-space problems there. I, on the other hand, have gone weak for the BIG bottles which are a display problem.

Here's one of my favorites:

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[Road Dog]

I've seen that type before. Wonder why the square shape?
SPACE? I guess you haven't seen the pottery collection with 600 Cookie Jars.

 

[Harry Pristis]

I've seen that type before. Wonder why the square shape?
SPACE? I guess you haven't seen the pottery collection with 600 Cookie Jars.

Well, I've seen one of these rectangular "loaf of bread" bottles in its wicker. It had handles to carry it like a picnic hamper. It IS a wine bottle, by the way.

Wow! Six hundred cookie jars! You win! My demi's are nothing compared with all those cookie jars!

 

[Harry Pristis]

This is a black glass double-bottle or magnum for wine. Someone suggested that this seal is American, rather than English in origin. I think this one dates to 1820-40. Anyone here have some seal bottles to show us?

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