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The Demijohn Page 3b
3b  
The Demijohn Page            
An odd-size demijohn only nine inches tall, with a capacity of 1.75 quarts.  This unusual capacity doesn't correspond well with any common system of measure.  This capacity may be a result of the irregular side-wall of the bottle.  The color, the lack of a pontil scar, and even the shape suggest a continental origin, perhaps France or Germany.  It was blown in a three-piece mold.  The crudely-applied (and skimpy) lip suggests this bottle may date to the mid-1800s.
Black-amethyst demijohn, 14.5 inches tall (5 liters), blown and turned in the mold which obliterated all the mold seams except at the shoulder (visible in the image).   Hand-finished lip, smooth base, Continental, circa 1900.  An uncommon color.  (Images produced using a 500watt photo-lamp.)
A ten-liter demijohn in a smokey-olive-amber color.  About 18 inches tall, blown and turned in a mold which obliterated all mold seams.  Applied and tooled lip, a four-inch pontil scar on the base.  The mouth opening is 1.5 inches in diameter.  It is not typical to find a pontil scar on a turn-mold bottle.  Continental in origin, from the latter half of the 1800s.
Olive-green tapered cylinder, 18.25 inches tall (5 gallons), blown in a three-piece mold, crudely applied and tooled lip, bottom with pontil scar.  Origin is unknown, 1840-60.  The glass is loaded with veils of micro-bubbles and swirls of black specks.  Notice how the applied lip is not mated smoothly inside the neck of the bottle.
Decanter bottle with seal, 12.25 inches tall (a half-gallon), black(olive-green) glass, pontil-scarred base, applied double-collar lip, started in a dip-mold.  Embossed on the applied seal is MADERA (sic).  Madeira is a wine fortified with alcohol made on the Portuguese island of the same name.  The island lies some 500 miles to the SE of Portugal.   The wine was developed to serve British tastes.  The British (or Americans) who used this bottle probably used it to decant the cask in which the wine was shipped.  There is no apparent wear on the bottle, except for slight base wear, and the bottle may have had a covering to protect it in use.  British, circa 1800-1815.
A square-shouldered or "flowerpot" shape in bright yellow-green glass, 17.5 inches tall, about 10 inches in widest diameter (about 5 gallons).  It has a sheared lip with an applied and tooled string.  There is a 3.75-inch diameter pontil scar on the base.  The mouth of the bottle has been fire-polished; but, despite the care taken in finishing the mouth and lip-string, the opening is irregular -- actually oval.  The glass is full of micro-bubbles.  Continental, latter half of the 1800s.








 

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