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Before ca. 1640 wine was taken from cellar to table in stoneware flasks called bartmans or bellarmines. From ca. 1640 English glass makers developed thick, robust, dark green bottles. Initially these were quite small with globular bodies. The early wine bottles were rather unstable so the development through time was first towards a larger, wider body less easily knocked over and then, when binning became necessary, towards a cylindrical shape. Bottle shapes developed roughly as follows:
1. Ca. 1640-1680 "Shaft and Globe"
2. Ca. 1680 the "Onion" shape came into favour with two types, round and bladder (flattened).
3. Ca. 1720 the bottles sides were straightened developing into the "mallet" shape.
4. Ca. 1735 the bodies became thinner and the "cylinder" was developed to allow storage of the bottles on their sides. Two types of cylinder were produced, the squat and slender. From 1735 to 1860 the general trend was for a gradual increase in the height of the body relative to the length of the neck. From 1820 onwards it became possible to make bottles by machine in three part moulds although some were still free blown.
Some terms used in describing wine bottles:
Body:- the main bulbous part of the bottle
Neck - The thinner section above the body
Shoulder - the tapering area between the body and the neck
Kick-up - the area on the base of the bottle which was pushed back into the body with the pontil rod
Pontil mark - mark in the kick-up made by the pontil rod.
String rim - the glass applied around the top of the neck
Mouth or lip - the opening at the top of the bottle
Most bottles were plain but many were also marked or sealed with a combination of the following:
The owner's initials or name
Name of his town, village, house or tavern
The date
The bottles are described as "marked" in old bills but the term "sealed" is now generally accepted.
In order to "mark" the bottle a pad of molten glass was applied to the finished bottle and the seal die applied whilst the glass of the seal was still rheid. If the die was applied whilst the glass was too runny the seal would be blurred, if too solid the impression would not take. continue
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