Historical information

Brown Phenyl bottle glass, shaped as a parallelogram (or diamond); would have been sealed with a cork. In the 1950s, Phenyle was commonly used in outdoor toilet pans and gully traps as a powerful germicide. It was from an era when most common household poisons had their own unique shaped bottle so if the label was removed or illiterate people still knew what the contents were.

Physical description


Brown glass, shaped as a parallelogram (or diamond); would have been sealed with a cork.

Inscriptions & markings

Embossed: “This bottle is the property of VDMA” “Not To Be Taken” “Poisonous” “Regd No 2140”. It also has stars embossed to indicate a poison bottle. The base has the AGM markings for post 1934.

Subjects