What is a pontil bottle?
What is a pontil bottle?
A pontil mark is one of the best ways to determine the age and quality of an antique glass piece and is one of many attributes that can make a glass bottle or piece of glassware more desirable and valuable. The presence of a pontil suggests that the piece was blown freehand, rather than using a mold.
How can you tell if a bottle is vintage?
Embossed Markings Missing letters, uneven spacing, or other embossing errors provide clues to a bottle’s age. Specifically, collectible Coca Cola bottles and milk bottles often include letters or marks that indicate the bottle’s source. These marks may be useful in learning how old the bottle is.
When did Bottles start having screw tops?
Screw tops were invented in the early 1800s, but not standardized so they would not come into their own until the era of machine-made bottles in the 1900s. Crown tops were a Victorian innovation, circa 1890s. They also did not come into widespread use until the era of machine-made bottles in the 1900s.
What does a rough pontil mark mean?
A pontil mark or punt mark is the scar where the pontil, punty or punt was broken from a work of blown glass. The presence of such a scar indicates that a glass bottle or bowl was blown freehand, while the absence of a punt mark suggests either that the mark has been obliterated or that the work was mold-blown.
What is the most expensive antique bottle?
A bottle of Gautier Cognac 1762 sold at auction for $144,525.
How do you date a Duraglas bottle?
The term “Duraglas” was first embossed in cursive on bottle bases at some point during the year – so expect bottles with “0” date codes both with and without the word. Duraglas was a glass formula that was stronger than most previous glass mixtures.
Do old bottles have seams?
YES – The bottle has embossing or visible vertical side mold seams somewhere on the body between the heel and the base of the finish or lip. A bottle may have mold seams but no embossing, but all embossed bottles were molded in some way and have mold seams even if they are not readily apparent.
Does old glass have seams?
If you examine a piece of pressed glass you will always find either two, three or four seams running through the glass, although sometimes the seams were well hidden in the pattern. Around the 1920’s, Pressed Glass lost its popularity and crystal became the ‘in thing’.
Does all hand blown glass have a pontil mark?
Glass was hand made until fairly recently, and up until the mid-19th century was primarily hand blown using a pontil iron. Pretty much all glassware made up until about 1780 will have this rough pontil mark.
What is Georgian Glass?
A Georgian glass is nothing but an expression of English technical and artistic attainment of the 18th century. It is noteworthy that the Georgian period covered the years 1714 to 1830 and added the regency era of 1811 to 1820. The first four George’s were in power as Kings of England.
What makes old bottles turn purple?
An interesting characteristic of colorless glasses which contain manganese dioxide as a decolorizer is their tendency to turn different shades of purple when exposed to the rays of the sun or to other ultra-violet sources. This changes the manganese compound into a form that causes the glass to turn purple.
