Cylindrical English Wine and Beer Bottles 1735-1850
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Cylindrical English Wine and Beer Bottles 1735-1850 Olive R. Jones Studies in Archaeology Architecture and History National Historic Parks and Sites Branch Environment Canada - Parks ©Minister of Supply and Services Canada 1986. Available in Canada through authorized bookstore agents and other bookstores, or by mail from the Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Supply and Services Canada, Hull, Quebec, Canada KIA OS9. L'original francais s'intitule Les bouteilles a vin et a biere cylindriques anglaises, 1735-1850 (nO de catalogue R61-2/9-33F). En vente au Canada par l'entremise de nos agents liraires agrees et autres Iibrairies, ou par la poste au Centre d'edition du 9.0uvernement du Canada, Approvisionnements et Services Canada, Hull, Quebec, Canada KIA OS9. Price Canada: $9.50 Price outside Canada: $11.40 Price subject to change without notice. Catalogue No.: R61-2/9-33E ISBN: 0-660-12215-4 ISSN: 0821-1027 Published under the authority of the Minister of the Environment, Ottawa, 1986. Editing and design: Sheila Ascroft Cover design: Dorothy Kappler The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and not necessarily those of Environment Canada. Parks publishes the results of its research in archaeology, architecture and history. A list of titles is available from Research Publications, Environment Canada - Parks, 1600 Liverpool Court, Ottawa, Ontario KIA IG2. CONTENTS 5 Abstract 7 Acknow ledgements 9 Introduction 11 The Dark Green Glass Tradition in England 17 How the English Glass "Wine" Bottle Was Used 27 Closures 29 Developing a Chronology for Cylindrical English "Wine" Bottles 33 Finishes and Necks 49 Catalogue of Finish Styles 73 Bodies 73 Style 84 Manufacturing Techniques 91 Heels and Bases 107 Capacity 115 Measurements 115 Capacity Estimates 115 Dating Estimates 118 Estimating Average Bottle Age from an Archaeological Assem blage 120 The Measurements 131 Conclusions --- 133 Appendix A. Bottle Measurement Data 141 Appendix B. Body Style Measurement Data (Tables 7-23) 161 Appendix C. Age Estimation of Old English Wine Bottles, by C. Vithayasai, P. Cohen and R. Aylesworth 169 References Cited Submitted for publication in 1984, by Olive R. Jones, Environment Canada - Parks, Ottawa. ABSTRACT The "wine" bottle was the principal product of British bottle-glass factories in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The bottles were used to ship, store, mature, and serve a variety of products, primarily beverages, and were widely used not only in Britain but also in her colonies and in other countries that traded with Britain. For this study 211 cylindrical sealed and dated bottles and 127 complete undated bottles were examined to establish criteria for dating cylindrical "wine" bottles made between 1735 and 1850. Date ranges for changing finish styles and manufacturing techniques were established. The dates of introduction for dip moulds, the three-piece mould, the finish forming tool, and the snap case were investigated, with some success. Using the regression technique, measurement data were used to develop a formula for estimating the capacity of bottles and formulas for estimating the date of manufacture for complete bottles, neck, and base fragments. The dating formula results can be used to estimate mean manufacturing dates for "quart" bottles from archaeological assemblages. Based on capacity, body height, base diameter, and dates of manu facture, four distinct body styles have been isolated: a wine-style, beer style, undersized beer-style, and imperial wine-style. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the years many people have contributed substantially to this study. They have been generous in sharing their time, their collections, and their experience. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to James Henderson, Environment Canada - Parks, the late Dr. Julian Toulouse, and H.L. Douch, Curator of the County Museum and Art Gallery, Truro, Cornwall. I would also like to thank Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, N.Y.; Charles and Nina Gardner; Gordon and Gaelies Renny; Arlene Palmer, formerly at the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware; John Austin, Colonial WiUiamsburg Foundation, WiUiamsburg, Va.; P.J. Blandy, Findlater, Mackie Todd &: Co., London; The House of Sandeman, London; Nicole Genet, Ministere des Affaires culturelles du Quebecj Al and Andrea Simard; John O. Sands, The Mariners Museum, Newport News, Va.t Justerini and Brooks, London; Roy Morgan; Gordon Litherland; Peter Hulleberg; Rudy Eswarin; Guildhall Museum, Poole, Dorset; Mary Hilderman Smith; City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery; G. Langley, Avon County Library, Bristol; Herbert Woodward; Cyril Weeden; Curator, Marylebone Cricket Club, Lord's Ground, London; Mr. and Mrs. Dominick Labino; Technical Centre, Owens-Illinois Inc., Toledo, Ohio; Antony Pacey, Kay Al1an, Mary O'Donnel, Louise Lepine, Jeanne Alyluia, Catherine SuJIivan, Lester Ross, Ann Smith, and Ron Whate, currently or formerly employed at Environment Canada - Parks. Figures 14-54 were photographed by either o. Jones, R. Chan, or G. Lupien, unless otherwise credited. 7 INTRODUCTION One of the most successful containers produced by English glass factories has been the dark green glass "wine" bottle. Innumerable fragments of these bottles are found in Canada and the United States and in former British colonies throughout the world. Stopped with cork, the bottles made airtight, inert, and sturdy containers for wine, porter, ale, cider, distilled liquors, and other products. Introduced in the mid-17th century, the English "wine" bottle under went major and minor changes in the shape and size of the finish, neck, shoulder, body, and base. In the mid-17th century the bottles were tall with a long neck and globular body. The bottle was later shortened with a body wider at the shoulder than at the base. By 1700 the bottles again had globular bodies but with very short necks. In the mid-1720s the bottle was lengthened and the sides of the body flattened, the body tapering outward from the shoulder to the base. In the late 1730s the cylindrical body was introduced. In the early period the bottle was short but by the end of the 18th century a taller version had become established. The taller bottle, in dark green glass, is still used today for certain types of wines, principally sherry. Date ranges for these changes have been established by 20th-century researchers using bottles with dated or datable seals attached to them, or from dated archaeological contexts (Price 1908: 116-25; Leeds 1914, 1941; Buckley 1931; No~l Hume 1961, 1969: 60-71; McKearin and Wilson 1978: 202-21). I found, however, that it was very difficult to match neck, body, and base fragments from archaeological excavations to the bottles illus trated in these chronologies. The illustrations were generally too small to show details of the bottles; the authors emphasized general trends rather than minute changes in individual features and described those trends in descriptive and comparative terms which are subject to individual interpre tation. It was also difficult to assess the range of acceptable variation within a given group. The cylindrical "wine" bottle in particular was in production over such a long period that subtle changes such as alterations in body proportions, changes in the lip and string rim shapes, and in the manufacturing process are all that can be used to date individual examples. For this study I chose to concentrate on the cylindrical body form produced between the late 1730s and ea. 1850. The changes taking place on the cylindrical "wine" bottle were not as well covered in the literature or as easy to identify as the dramatic changes that took place on the earlier forms. Yet hundreds of thousands of fragments of the cylindrical bottles are found on archaeological sites in Canada and the United States INTRODUCTION 9 and dating these fragments is a constantly recurring task. I also wanted to show that measurement data could be used to date individual bottles and fragments instead of depending on subjective and comparative descriptive terms. To do this I had to confine myself to one body form to get a consistent group of measurements. The ea. 1850 end date for the study was dictated by circumstances. The practice of applying seals to bottles began dying out in the 1820s. I examined only ten sealed bottles dating between 1830 and 1858. By the second quarter of the 19th-century glass factories in other countries, primarily the United States, began making bottles in the same style. Also, in the second half of the 19th century the "wine" bottle began to be replaced by a wide variety of other bottle styles so that the occurrence of the form in contexts dating after ea, 1860 is significantly reduced. The ea. 1850 end date has, then, been a convenient cut-off date. The bottles used in this study generally have body diameters 1, 2, and 3 (see Measurements) decreasing towards the base although in some examples all three diameters are the same. A few examples (e.g. Appendix A, No. 5) looked cylindrical although the measurements increased slightly towards the base. The earliest example I examined was dated 1737 but other authors record examples dated as early as 1734-35 (Durnbrell 1983: 91). Mallet-shaped bodies, which immediately preceded the cylindrical form and co-existed with it for some time, increased in diameter toward the base. My main objective was to establish criteria such as measurements, shape changes, and manufacturing techniques that could be used to establish a period of manufacture for complete and fragmentary cylindrical "wine" bottles found in North American archaeological sites of the ea. 1735 to 1850 period. A secondary objective was to examine the role of the "wine" bottle as a container. 10 INTRODUCTION THE DARK GREEN GLASS TRADITION IN ENGLAND In the early years of the 17th century English glassmakers switched from wood- to coal-fired furnaces. The subsequent changes in furnace design and increased caloric efficiency led, among other things, to the development of new types of glass.