National Bottle Museum, Ballston Spa, New York

Another fun and interesting museum ~ you wouldn't think a bottle museum could be interesting, but Gary, the manager of the museum, has been here 20 years! He has a degree in history but obviously finds bottles very interesting. When we walked into the small museum, there were four young men and women in there working, mostly to give tours of the museum, which we got from of the them. They offer a glassworks teaching facility and an extensive library on bottle making.

Oldest bottle in the Museum, circa 1710-1725

The museum is housed in a historic three-story brick building that was a part of a flourishing resort community in the 1800s. The city boasts of having many popular mineral water springs. As such, Ballston Spa was a popular "watering hole" for the rich and famous during the heyday of the mineral water industry. In fact, you can still walk across the street and purchase a bottle of Poland Spring Water.

Millions of glass bottles per year were manufactured by hand for the mineral waters of Saratoga County alone, enabling the area to participate in world commerce during the early 1800s. A glassworks set in the wilderness above the Town of Greenfield employed hundreds of workers and glassblowers from the 1840s to the 1860s. In that era, all bottles were manufactured exclusively with hand tools and lung power.

The museum has about 3,000 bottles of all colors, shapes and forms. All of the bottles are accessioned into their collection to be held in trust for the public. When creating interpretive exhibits, borrowed bottles and related objects are often combined with those from the collection. In some cases, all exhibit objects may be borrowed. The museum has access to collections all over the United States, and borrowing objects from members makes frequent changes and more spectacular exhibits possible.

Two-piece mold

This bottle was made when a hot gather of glass is blown into the mold to give it a finished shape and pattern. The steel mold is hinged to separate it into two sections.

Glassmaking was America's first industry. In 1608, the London Company was anxious to increase England's source of supply, and constructed a glass house factory at Jamestown, Colony of Virginia, establishing America's first industry. The hardships of the New World forced the glassmakers to abandon their craft in favor of agriculture. A second attempt was made in 1621 was also unsuccessful. The development of the successful glassmaking industry in America is credited to Caspar Wistar who established a factory in Allowaytown, New Jersey. The so-called Wistarburg Works began production in 1739.

Out of this beginning grew a major industry which produced bottles, jars, and window glass entirely by hand. By 1850, there were 40 glass factories in New York state alone, each making millions of bottles every year with only hand tools and lung power. 

Whimseys and "End of Day" pieces from the collection of Joyce Blake:

Commemorative flasks from the Wheaton Glass Company in Millville, New Jersey:

Uranium Glass

The amount of uranium dioxide used in Vaseline glass is 1% to 2% per volume of the glass. It emits a short range radiation which dissipates almost immediately. Its radioactivity is roughly equivalent to that of a TV or a microwave oven. 20th Century Vaseline glass was pressed in small quantities at high cost and is very collectible. Fake Vaseline glass looks like the real thing but will not flouresce under black light.

The earliest evidence of glass colored with uranium oxide dates back to 79 AD. Vaseline glass, also called Uranium glass or canary glass, is colored with uranium dioxide, a compound more stable than the element of uranium. Between the middle of the 19th and 20th centuries, uranium dioxide was commonly used as a dye for glass, paints and some textiles. In the past and even today, uranium compounds have been used as brightening agents in dentures.

There was also a display of pictures painted by local residents:

Dr. Hands Pleasant Physic

Oh yes, this stuff was really sold ~ for children and adults with alcohol at 6%. "A physician's prescription for infants, children or adults suffering from constipation. It is pleasant in taste and does not cause griping. Of special value during pregnancy and after confinement. The alcohol present is essential as a solvent and preservative." Hand Medicine Co., D.B. Hand, M.D.

Free-blown bottles were produced without the benefit of a mold and were shaped by the glassblower using a combination of tools, motions and blowing. Free-blown bottles can be recognized by their lack of symmetry, their smooth high luster fire polish finish, and by the absence of mold marks and lettering.

Open pontil scar ~ a sharp jagged glass scar was left on the base of the bottle when the pontil rod was broken off after forming the lip. The empontiling method became obsolete by the mid 19th century.

Wooden Mold

Open pontil scar -- a sharp jagged glass scar was left on the base of the bottle when the pontil rod was broken off after forming the lip. The enpontiling method became obsolete by the mid-19th century.

In order to form an applied lip, the glassmaker added a gather of glass to the severed neck and tooled it into the desired lip style. Applied lip methods were commonly used in the first three quarters of the 19th century. 

The sheared lip, so called because the molten glass was literally cut away with a pair of shears, was used extensively on historical flasks of the early 19th century.

Prior to the mid 19th century the typical two piece mold formed only the body and shoulders of a bottle; the neck and lip had to be drawn out and formed by hand. By the end of the century, technology had advanced to the point where nearly the entire bottle, including the lip, was formed in the mold as this example leaving only the top edge of the mouth to be finished.

Three piece molded bottles were most commonly used in the early to mid part of the 19th century. What do you think of the color of this bottle? I think it's really beautiful.

This is a dip molded bottle. Some versions of the wooden molds were simply hollowed out cavities which served to form the body of the bottle up to the shoulder. 

Demijohns

Demijohns were primarily used for shipping liquids, but were also used to ship dry goods such as rice, seeds and flour. Demijohns with wooden cases are called carboys. 

Bottles of the USA

This display was called Bottles of the USA. They received a bottle from almost every state in the United States, and had them on display.

I thought this bottle unique in design. Who do you think it looks like? 

Prior to the invention of slug plates, each customer would have to purchase a custom made mold in order to have embossing on their bottles. With the invention of a removable insert, the same mold could be used for multiple customers. The slug plate appeared in the late 1840s and was widely used in the 1850s and 1860s.

Molds were used to create mouth blown bottles using the blow pipe until the invention of the Owens Automatic Bottle Machine in 1903. The Owens machine revolutionized bottle making and made bottle production cheaper and faster.

Bottle in a Ship

During the excavation of a site for a proposed skyscraper in New York City, an 18th century ship was found. Marine archaeologists were called to the site, and the two men leading the excavation and study of the vessel wrote a book about the ship called, "The Ship that Held up Wall Street." The ship had been sunk in the harbor to stabilize land fill used to extend the shoreline farther into the river. Many 18th century artifacts were recovered, including this bottle. It was mended and given to Bob Fox, one of the architects. Knowing Jon Peterson's love of antique bottles, Bob gave it to Jon. John Peterson recently donated the bottle to the Museum.

Poison Bottles

Fire Grenades

The fire grenade was popular during the 19th and early 20th century for extinguishing fires. They were designed to be thrown into a fire with the glass bulb-shaped grenade shattering and the contents extinguishing the flames. At first, the grenades were filled with salt water but was soon replaced by carbon tetrachloride (CCI4), which is heavier than air and was more effective at extinguishing flames. This gave families time to get away from the fire. Eventually, the grenades became more utilitarian and less decorative.

Vinegar Bitters

A drug tragedy in which over 100 people were killed by a poisonous solvent used to dissolve the drug sulfanilamide, greatly increased the need to broaden existing legislation and ensure product safety before marketing. 

Some of the original recipes of bitters and old medicines would have a disagreeable bitter taste, but thanks to the Civil War and its many survivors who were treated with field medicines that had cocaine, morphine or opium, they became more commonly used.  

Thanks to the many survivors looking for anything to help with their withdrawal, many sellers of bitters and medicines with high alcoholic content and other harmful substances popped up all over the country.

Old Salina Bitters

Medicine Bottles

Seltzer Bottles

Purple bottles

These last two pictures show the many shelves of bottles they have in the museum. The smaller pictures above and just a few of the bottles on one section of a shelf. The bottles with the white inside depict milk bottles (they are filled with styrofoam pellets). We enjoyed our visit to the museum, and Jim talked with Gary for quite a while, both of whom can talk and talk ..... All in all, we do enjoy our visits to these unusual places.