Re: Can anyone tell me about a mini bottle found on the beach?

It appears to be a traveling inkwell, used by travelers from the late 1700's to 
the early 1800's. The other hole(s) are for a tiny quill pen.  Ed

JenW wrote:
> Can anyone give me some thoughts on what this might be? I recently
> found a small, handcrafted, green glass bottle in a brass case. I
> think it is old because of the way it was made. The case is an oval
> tube fashioned of brass about 4" long, 3/4"-1 1/4" measured at the
> oval end.  There are ridges pressed into each end of the tube to hold
> brass end caps, the bottom one flat, the top slightly convex.  The top
> section of the tube fits over the bottom section (think lipstick
> tube).  There are concentric circles scratched into the tube (for
> decorative purposes?).  The metal is not soldered at all.  It was
> obviously made very carefully to fit together and stay together. 
> Inside the tube is a brass piece with a hole cut fit to the neck of
> the bottle which holds it in place inside the tube.  I had to pull the
> tube apart at the seam to get the bottle out. It is rather thick,
> light green glass, about 1 7/8" tall by 5/8" wide and looks pitted
> from the sea water.  It has a small cork that looks like it was shaved
> to fit.  The bottle is a squared oval shape, uneven, doesn't stand
> straight, obviously hand blown and the glass has some black on it. The
> bottle is slightly wider at the top than the bottom and holds maybe an
> ounce. The bottom looks like it was snapped off a base or glass
> blowing pipe?? Some of the brass has black and green
> colorations/deposits.  The bottle looks like it's filled with sea
> water and little black floaties as the cork was saturated. Does anyone
> have any idea what this might be or how old? What it could have been
> used for?  It was found on Fort Story beach(near VA beach) after a
> high tide. Fort Story has a lot of history surrounding it. Could this
> have anything to do with the military? It doesn't look like it was in
> the water for years, but I'm no expert. Thanks, JenW


--
               Ed & Lucy Faulkner
Ink Bottle Collectors (& glass works bottles)
   http://mywebpages.comcast.net/edandlucy1/