Comments on: Matthew Slocombe, Bottle Expert

By: Abraham Goldgewicht K.

Abraham Goldgewicht K. — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 06:03:33 +0000

I live in Port Limon, Costa Rica. Theccity was found 1870. Everything had to be brought in by ship un orden to start the construcción of the railroad to the center of the country. I started collecting the bottles buried under the old buildings being turned down leaving room for new ones. Every bottle tell me a story. I felt like you. I own a building to which I trace the origins back to 1877. Thanks for sharing the passion.

By: Moulin

Moulin — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 10:29:30 +0000

Bonjour j’ai une bouteille que j’aimerais vous montrer. Merci

By: michael okeefe

michael okeefe — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 14:26:28 +0000

i have an amber looks like a wine bottle -seam almost to top but not about ten inches tall short tapering neck about three inches till it gets to the belly of the bottle which at widest part about ten inches around lots of air bubbles -what makes it unusual is the circle of what looks like about half way up it has inside the bottle a circle of uneven thumb prints going around the inside of the bottle but in an uneven line in a horizontal way the thumb prints-then barely above that looks like a finger print design in a vertical way goin g in circle around the inside top also on the inside of it the top of the bottle rim not perfectly shaped looks like it old be pretty old no markings that i could tell -has a small handle near the top about 3 or 4 inches long coul;d u make a guess to what i have looked and looked cant find a match anywhere

By: Karen Lloyd

Karen Lloyd — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:46:39 +0000

Hi I don’t know if you can help but over 40 years ago when I was younger I loved going bottle digging amount my many finds I have a lid from a bovril jar I think around the edge it has the saying the glory of a man is his strength and at the centre it looks like a man fighting a lion, have you any details on this as I have never been able to find out any thing. I would really appreciate any help you can give me
Thank you
Karen

By: Jeanette

Jeanette — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 19:44:35 +0000

Please please can anyone help me.
I am an ex publican and in that trade I often came across unusual bottles, however I have what seems to be a very old filled and corked hand made bottle with out a label or marks. The liquid appears to be a red wine or port and has a large dimple underneath.
The bottle is a dark greenish brown colour and is almost like a misshapen wine bottle, I suppose because of its age and being handmade.
Can anyone please shed any light on what its age and contents could be, also its value.

Thanks
Jen

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 17:24:45 +0000

I lived in a small cottage which was the village stores. Digging the garden we came upon the village refuse dump and it was fabulous . We dug and dug finding a huge selection of bottles… Their rubbish was our awesome find.; RW lemonade , bovril, meat paste and tooth powder lids, medicine and HP sauce bottles ….. Even a carriage lamp all rusted ! , all delicate shades of aqua, browns and occasionally black glasses. We were hooked , there is something wonderful about seeing the top …or bottom of a bottle and not knowing what you’ll find.

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 15:13:02 +0000

This brings back great memories in the late 1970s of taking thirty 16-year olds on a bottle dig in a Victorian tip in Manchester. No protective clothing, no risk assessment, plenty of swinging spades and risky excavations. It brings me out in a cold sweat just remembering it! But what enthusiasm it generated for what was basically a treasure hunt. We had no casualties and I’ve still got my collection of old beer bottles.

By: Cherub

Cherub — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:48:52 +0000

I have a friend in London who collects old bottles and I once spent an afternoon adding to his collection at an old flea market that used to be a church in Edinburgh (sadly now a nightclub I believe).

I live round the corner from the former site of Wemyss Ware pottery which closed in the 1930s and often find little broken fragments when I’m digging in my garden. I keep them as they sometime have pretty patterns. The Bohemian designer Karel Nekola lived in a little cottage in the next street. They have some wonderful large pieces in our local museum.

Also nice to see Matthew is still with the SPAB!

By: Vicky

Vicky — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 12:43:29 +0000

Wonderful! I love the shaft and globe bottles with surfaces changed by being buried for centuries. Excellent article.

By: Libby Hall

Libby Hall — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 11:55:14 +0000

I’m enjoying Kate Griffin’s contributions very much.

During the drought of 1976 the pond behind my husband’s aunt’s 16th century row of thatched cottage dried up. (The deep pond had been made when the clay was dug out to build the wattle and daub walls.) There had been no rural rubbish collection there until, I think, the 20th century, and generations of Victorians and Edwardians had flung their empty bottles and pottery jars into the pond. I’ve never had more fun in my life than digging in the bottom mud of that pond! Such treasures – and so many undamaged because they had settled gently through the deep water.

If was fascinating to see how much sauce, and patent medications had been consumed. Extraordinary amounts. My favourite bottle of all was a bottle that had contained ‘ZuZu sauce’.

We hadn’t begun to tap all the riches when it finally began to rain again and the pond filled up. I’ve looked at it wistfully ever since wondering what treasures still remain deep in the mud. If only we’d had time to get down to earlier centuries!