I found this pretty little Victorian scent bottle about seven years ago.
At the time we were renovating our house, a former stable/cow shed/cart shed. The area designated to become our kitchen needed to have the dirt floor level lowered by about three feet - major excavations were needed. It soon became apparent that the excavated soil contained lots of broken china, bottles and jars... It must have been the rubbish heap from many years ago.
Luckily, I was able to get the builders to work on a different part of the building, while I got down to some serious, and careful, excavation work of my own. I found old poison bottles, lots of ink bottles, glass stoppers, stone veterinary medicine bottles, jars, lots of beautiful broken china and stoneware, huge old hand-made nails and assorted agricultural equipment.
It was exciting stuff!
As I carefully scraped the soil away from each 'find' I would get very excited
sometimes that care and excitement were rewarded.
The prettiest item I found was this scent bottle.
It was covered in dirt, and filled with mud and looked very different from this.
It was buried in the soil, three feet down, with lots of detritus and mud around and above it.
The stopper was immovable and no matter how much I soaked it, I couldn't get it out.
It has lived on a shelf with all my favourite finds - up high and out of reach of young grandchildren.
The stopper was immovable and no matter how much I soaked it, I couldn't get it out.
It has lived on a shelf with all my favourite finds - up high and out of reach of young grandchildren.
A few days ago I picked the bottle off the shelf and found that the stopper was loose.
It was a real 'Sword in the Stone' moment!
Finally, I was able to get the soil out of the bottle and clean it up to reveal the true beauty of the cut glass.
It is very small and measures about three inches.
Originally it would have had a silver top, something like these.
The design has been cut through the top layer of cobalt blue glass to reveal the clear glass underneath.
It dates from about 1880.
It dates from about 1880.
 |
| A similar scent bottle |
A little research has turned up these similar scent bottles.
 |
| Another similar one - see the bottle stopper ? My bottle is lacking the silver lid - such a shame! |
Isn't it remarkable that mine has survived intact, and that the tiny glass stopper didn't get lost!
It would have been wonderful to have it with the silver top, but even without it, the scent bottle is beautiful!
I will never know who owned it, or why it was thrown away, but that doesn't matter.
It is a pretty little object and I am delighted that I managed to rescue it.
I am to happy to be joining in with my dearest friend, Meggie on the Prairie, - for 'Show and Tell'.
Her blog is a truly delightful pot pourri of life in Texas.
Her blog is a truly delightful pot pourri of life in Texas.
what a lovely story.... I wonder if the building had been used to store old bottles.. such a pretty blue x
ReplyDeleteHello Dom, It was great fun excavating and finding them - I hated it when I had to let the builders begin work again, I am sure there were other 'treasures' just waiting to be unearthed! x
DeleteWhat a beautiful bottle and so lucky that it is still intact. I have unearthed lots of china fragments in our garden but not a single whole item as yet.
ReplyDeleteM x
Hello Vintage Jane, It is such a pretty bottle, especially now that the bottle is clean. There were so many beautiful pieces of broken china, I was tempted to make a mosaic from some of them! Good luck with you 'treasure' hunting.
DeleteA truly remarkable find, dear friend. Just think, if you had not be there, all those pieces of history would have been wisked away without notice. Great story to go with your beautiful "show and tell"
ReplyDeleteHello Meggie, I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had during my two or three days of excavating the site! I know the builders thought I was a little crazy, but I felt the results justified my efforts! I'm very happy to be joining in with your Show & Tell!
DeleteIt's stunning! Is it Bristol blue...or is that something entirely different?
ReplyDeleteJane x
Hello Jane, It really is exceptionally beautiful when the light comes through i. I believe the colour is cobalt blue. Unfortunately I don't know anything about Bristol blue - I must do some reading!
DeleteSome may call it luck, but I say, you were meant to find it. The bottle is exquisite and in such good shape; love the story, XOXO
ReplyDeleteHello Susan, Isn't it amazing to think that treasures like this can be lying so far down under the surface and thanks to the renovations I was fortunate enough to find them. A little bit of history to go with the old farm buildings.xx
DeleteOh! This is the stuff of a short story about the kitchen maid that lusted after her mistress's perfume bottle and the rough boyfriend who only saw the value of the silver topper ... such a fun bit of snowy day imagining! What a fun tale you tell of retrieving it from the midden!
ReplyDeleteHello Susan, Brilliant story! Now all I need is a slice of one of your cakes, or some of your home-made cookies, a cup of tea and I'd love to settle down to hear the rest of it! Great fun ... and who knows, it could hold more than a grain of truth!
DeleteYears ago, my kids used to go rummaging through an area where a dump had been many years before. They would come home excited about the bottles and other treasures they had found. Your beautiful bottle is an exceptional find!
ReplyDeleteHello Ms Sparrow, I understand their delight. It is all the broken ones which make unearthing something whole such a wonderful experience. I really hated letting the builders back in, I knew that with a few more days I could have found something really special....the trouble was the building could have caved into the pit!
DeleteHello queen Arthur, what a treasure to find. I can imagine the joy of you searching in the ground and finding all kinds of treasures. This little bottle is a real beauty. Groetjes, Gerda
ReplyDeleteHello Gerda, My little collection of jars and bottles, tools and metalwork - all found deep under the ground are definitely treasures as far as I am concerned. I still have so much pleasure from looking at them. I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to excavate them!
DeleteYeah, I can imagine! Just come here to say hello. Thanks for you visit and nice comment at my "place". Goetjes, Gerda
DeleteWhat a lucky find - it's gorgeous. Imagining all sorts of reasons why it was tossed out or maybe just have been lost. Love the blue cut glass
ReplyDeleteHow very interesting to have found all sorts of different glass, stone and other things..
ReplyDeleteyour cobalt blue perfume bottle is so so beautiful.
I can imagine it has pride of place in your bedroom or shelf..
val
Oh I love anything in blue and white - how pretty! Jx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful little jar. I've had some fun finds in gardens I've turned for the first time, but nothing more than old medicine bottles for my windowsills.
ReplyDeleteBack in the UK, I used to find lots of clay pipe stems and bowls. Here in France I find bits of broken plates and HUGE nails.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing find... and beautiful. We had an oldish house in San Diego. I found beer cans in the attic from when the place was built. They were empty.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic find!
ReplyDeleteI love your new header too.
Oh yes, I would have been thrilled! What a lovely find! I'm so glad you have it and can enjoy it. It does make one wonder why it was lost or thrown away all those years ago!
ReplyDeleteElaine, this is indeed a lovely scent bottle. My Quay Lo hubby at one time collected lots of beautiful antique snuff bottles and each and every bottle has a story behind it. I am sure you will enjoy this beauty for a long long time.
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful and so nice that it still has it's touches of blue. The last time we were at the beach we found 2 perfume bottles. They are an amazing find. I can't imagine one buried! Sweet hugs!
ReplyDeleteHow cool! Often dreamed of digging something up of value, but, no, nothing, ever. :-(
ReplyDelete