Historical information

This green glass bottle has been handmade from about the 1840s to 1870s. The bottle, possibly used to store 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. A 'ponty' tool would have been used to form the shallow base. The mouth of the bottle was cut off from the blowpipe and a piece of soft glass would be added to the mouth to then form the lip. Bottles like this would usually be sealed with a cork.

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, green glass. Applied blop lip, deep scratch on neck. Shoulder seam, body tapers inward towards base. Wide heel, shallow base. Glass has ripples, creases, scratches and has a rough surface on the outside on one side. Sediment inside bottle.