Historical information

This broken black 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.

Black glass is one of the oldest bottle colours and dates back to the early 17th century. In the 1840s to late 1870s black glass bottles were mainly used for liquor and ale. All glass is made from silica, which is found in quartz sand. The naturally occurring sand has impurities, such as iron, that determine the colour of the glass. Residual iron leads to green or amber coloured glass, and carbon in the sand makes that glass appear as ‘black’. A strong light behind the glass will show its colour as dark green or dark amber.

This handmade bottle appears to have been made in a cylindrical dip mould. The molten glass was blown into the mould to give the body a uniform symmetrical shape and size. After the body was blown, the glassblower removed it from the mould and formed the shoulder and neck by free-blowing the glass. The base was pushed up with a pontil tool that gave it the concave shape. The finish for the mouth was added by hand to form the collar. The mould gives the body a slightly textured surface. There is usually a line around the shoulder where the mould meet the base, and a lump or mark in the centre of the base, called a pontil mark, where the push-up tool was removed.

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, black glass, 'gallon' style. Applied lip, straight collar with circular lines from being hand moulded. Shoulder seam, body tapers inwards towards base. Heel has varied width, shallow base has small pontil mark. Mouth is chipped. Glass is discoloured and has uneven surface and encrustations.