Best in the West Bottles (12/16/08)
Every year for the past 30 years, the 49er Bottle & Antique Show has been held at the Gold Country … More >>

Early American “chestnut flasks” – ca. 1770s to 1830s (10/17/08)
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Patination and Historic Bottles (10/17/08)
The internal and external surfaces of a glass bottle that has been buried (probably a majority of collectible bottles) will usually react variably to the natural chemical processes of decomposition in both water and the earth. This process of weathering is called “patination” in the archaeological world (Jones & Sullivan 1989). More >>

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Pontil Scars (But Were Afraid To Ask)? (9/29/08)
One of the easier to identify and most consistently accurate indicators that a bottle was manufactured during or prior to the American Civil War (i.e., the 1860s or before) is the pontil scar present on the base. More >>

“The God of Things As They Ought to Be” – Bottle or salt/pepper shaker…or god? (9/4/08)
The title of this blog is the wonderful and strangely upbeat phrase embossed around the pedestal base of this whimsical little bottle…or is it a salt/pepper shaker. Actually, the "em-bossing" is "de-bossed" or indented into the glass instead of raised relief like typical bottle embossing. More >>

Dating Bottles with the Side Mold Seam–The Myth (9/4/08)
One of the most pervasive and longest running myths in the world of bottle dating is that the side mold seam can be read like a thermometer to determine the age of a bottle.(See image #1, which is an illustration pointing out the major “parts” of a bottle, including the side mold seam. Illustration from my Historic Bottle Website – a purely educational website.) More >>