ANTIQUE APPRAISAL: ANTIQUE BOTTLE APPRAISAL

An important factor when preparing an antique bottle appraisal is to recognize the age of the item. The earliest bottles were made by blowing the glass at the end of a punty rod. These free-blown bottles had a neck, a shaped body, a flattened base, and a mark on the bottom where the punty rod was removed.

Another characteristic to look for when preparing an antique bottle appraisal is whether the bottle has any seams, bubbles and imperfections. The antique bottles do not have seams, but they do lack uniformity. These bottles have been produced since very ancient times, but they were not common in America until the early 1800’s.

The mold-blown bottle, which became popular for commercial use in the United States, was made from a hollowed-out mold of wood or metal. The mold-blown bottles have seams on the sides but not on the neck. The neck of the bottle was finished by hand. An antique bottle appraisal should indicate the approximate age of the item using these basic guidelines.

Three-piece molds were first used in 1809 and up to about the 1880’s. If an antique bottle shows the seam marks from a three-piece mold, it is considered rare, and should be clearly stated in the antique bottle appraisal.

Bottles that came from wooden molds will show “whittle marks” and that will be stated in the antique bottle appraisal as an item that probably dates the 1820 to 1860 period.

Automatic bottle-making equipment was developed in 1903, and an antique bottle appraisal will generally list these items as machine-made.