What was this bottle for?

June 17, 2007 12:12 PM

Find an old bottle? I've found them at garage sales, buried in the garden, in basements and attics. I always thought it would be cool to know what they contained and how old they were. Now I can.
posted by Tablecrumbs (14 comments total)

Cool, my mom will love this!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:15 PM on June 17, 2007

That was not snark, nor meant to sound as such.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:17 PM on June 17, 2007

Thanks, this is actually really interesting, in a dusty sort of way.
posted by howfar at 12:34 PM on June 17, 2007

Semi-related (and loud) link.
posted by serazin at 12:38 PM on June 17, 2007

Neat-o!
posted by dog food sugar at 1:36 PM on June 17, 2007

Awesome! There goes my Sunday.
posted by fshgrl at 1:50 PM on June 17, 2007

My sister will love this! Thanks.
posted by vronsky at 2:08 PM on June 17, 2007

It was interesting, but the guy telling the story seems rather full of himself and how special he is. Oh you have an IQ and are a dropout? You like explaining special relativity to "normal people"? It came across as someone who thought they were smarter than everyone else and that if people like him (e.g., smart people) were to run things it would be totally different. That if you are smart you must be against our government. It kind of reminds me the phase a lot of go through during our teenage years but we realize the world is a lot more complex.

Sorry, but I found his diversions into philosophy and his family life grating. A good book on single-handed sailing is Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy which is pretty much the classic of this genre.
posted by geoff. at 2:09 PM on June 17, 2007

That's a great site, with some awesome info. I'm a huge fan of historical bottles, but as an ex-archaeologist I have a love/hate relationship with them.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to ask everyone to please be careful with where you get bottles like these. I have personally had weeks of work ruined by unscrupulous people destroying excavations by raiding for bottles. Provenance + cool bottle > cool bottle by itself.
posted by gemmy at 2:32 PM on June 17, 2007

Cool, my boss will love this!
posted by _aa_ at 7:07 PM on June 17, 2007

Thanks, just sent this to my Dad.
posted by Venadium at 7:12 PM on June 17, 2007

I seem to remember learning somewhere that the different shapes of bottles in early days (17th-18th c.?) evolved because so few people back then could read. The stubby, wide-shouldered bottle contained this, the tall skinny one that, etc. But the bottle guy's page doesn't say anything about illiteracy per se, unless I skimmed too fast, though he does go into shaping itself. Maybe it's implied.

Also: Nifty link!
posted by scratch at 6:35 AM on June 18, 2007

Cool, my boss will love this!

Great, I just got fired!
posted by Pollomacho at 6:37 AM on June 18, 2007

That is kinda fantastic. Sites like this are, I think, one of the reasons for the Internet to exist.
posted by doift at 8:26 AM on June 19, 2007