Six-Pointed Star "MO" Doll Bottle

[robertk]

Bottle Vitals​

Embossing	Date	Color	Shape	Size (Height x Diameter)	Value*
Six-Pointed Star with "MO" in the middle	1885	Clear	Round flask with neck	1.5" x 2.75" x 0.75"	$30.00

Bottle Views (click to enlarge):

Front	Back	Side	Side	Bottom
Six-Pointed Star with "MO" in the middle

This neat little bottle was a fun one to track down. Knowing that it came from a former hospital, I would have thought medicine, or maybe cologne, or something along that line. But it turns out it is a child's toy. In the 1880's, there was a new kind of toy called a "nursing doll". The idea was there was a liquid in the bottle, and the doll could be made to "drink" the liquid out of the bottle via a suction tube. This article fragment from 1883 explains it.

I could find any reference to this particular bottle, or whether it came with a doll or was a separate accessory. I was able to find a couple of examples with original packaging, though. It apparently came from Germany, and would have included a pacifier and rattle.

This one seems to have been just the bottle

As far as cleaning goes, this bottle is in "as found" condition. All I did was rinse it out with water since it's already in pretty good shape.

*Value is based on references I could find online, and there were not many. One said it sold for $20 several years ago but the comments said it "should have" been twice that, but I don't know what condition it was in and whether it still had the packaging, like the examples above. I kinda split the difference and went with a value of $30.

 

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[Limitool]

Well done sir.... That I never expected to hear. Good job on the research and write-up. But no info on what "M O" was for I assume? Now I did find some ceramic doll heads while digging up those bottles. And a couple of those heads said "Made in Germany". Maybe they go together...? I don't remember where I put those right now. Maybe their in that box I showed you out in shop with the old dolls...?

 

[robertk]

Well done sir.... That I never expected to hear. Good job on the research and write-up. But no info on what "M O" was for I assume? Now I did find some ceramic doll heads while digging up those bottles. And a couple of those heads said "Made in Germany". Maybe they go together...? I don't remember where I put those right now. Maybe their in that box I showed you out in shop with the old dolls...?

Nope, no info on "MO". I did find a few references that there may have been other letters in there, one I think said they saw "KB", so maybe they were initials or something? I don't remember any heads in that box, just complete dolls. But they could have been hiding amongst the fabric I guess.