Posted 12 years ago
gemma.chloe
(1 item)
Hi there, I bought this bottle from a lady in Greenwich market who owns a stall that sells nothing but little antique glass bottles.
I am currently doing a project relating to it at university and really need help dating it. There is a prescription label on it from 1957, but I understand that these types of bottles were often taken back to the chemist to be refilled, and also it looks like it pre-dates the 50's...
If anyone has any information on it or could tell me what sort of period it's from, it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
I would like to say that personally I think its just your basic English or British poison or at least some type of chemical that was "Not To Be Taken" as the label may state I have quite a few different examples of these bottles in many different color's and I have mostly green ones whether they are just ribbed like the one you have here or they are embossed with the wording "Not To Be Taken" or "Poison" "Poisonous" I hope this helps somewhat sorry I cannot put an exact dating on the bottle but I'm sure it was made one place and the label was most likely made by a label maker and put on the bottle at a later date for the sellers of whatever it contained!!
Thanks
Aaron H.
(Member of the APBCA - Antique Poison Bottle Collectors Association)
Aaron seems an expert, which I am not, but I agree with his identification as being English or British entirely.
The problem with these particular English bottles is that you have to throw all of the rules of thumb used to date American bottles away (lip design, where the mold line stops on the neck) because many of the companies that manufactured these types of bottles used old methods to make modern bottles.
The patterns described by Aaron always threw up a red flag when I saw hefty prices on them in antique shops. All indications may say "turn of the century" but in most cases they are decades newer. Your label and bottle may be closer in age than you think.
They are still stunning though...
Please correct me Aaron if you feel I have given Gemma bad info. I would hate to mislead her on a question pertaining to a university project.
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