Historical information

This brown glass bottle has been handmade from about the 1840s to 1870s. The bottle, possibly used to store ale or soda or mineral water, was found in the coastal waters of Victoria. It is part of the John Chance Collection.

Glassblowers made bottles like this one by blowing air through a long pipe into the molten glass blob at the end of the pipe. The glass was blown out to fit into the shape of the cylindrical dip mould. Once it hardened, the glass was removed from the mould and the glassblower would continue using the pipe to create the neck while carefully using a tool to hold the base. The base may have been part of the dip mould, otherwise, a 'ponty' tool would have been used to flatten the base. A tool would have been used to cut off the bottle from the blowpipe. A piece of soft glass would be added to the mouth, then the double collar would be formed. Bottles like this would usually be sealed with a cork, which may have been held in place with wax or wire and tape.

Significance

Although this bottle is not linked to a particular shipwreck, it is recognised as a historically significant example of handmade, 1840s to 1870s beverage bottles imported for use in Colonial Victoria.

The bottle is also significant for its association with John Chance, a diver in Victoria’s coastal waters in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Items that come from several shipwrecks have since been donated to the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village’s museum collection by his family, illustrating this item’s level of historical value.

Physical description

Bottle, brown glass, rough surface, uneven colour. Crude, applied mouth with double collar; wide straight upper, ring lower. Slightly bulbous neck. Shoulder seam. Body tapers inward towards base and has smooth ripples. Shallow base with wide heel. No obvious pontil mark. Sediment inside bottle.
Glass is scratched in places.