Did you ever dig an old bottle out of the ground behind a barn, or find a row of little colored bottles lined up on a relative's kitchen windowsill?
Old glass bottles are some of the easiest antiques to fall in love with. They're small, they catch the light, and the embossed words on the side tell you exactly what someone once hoped would cure them. They also have a few tricks up their sleeves, because a lot of the "old" bitters bottles you'll find today were made in the 1960s and 1970s as tributes to the originals. Here's how to read a bottle, what a pontil mark is, and how to tell a Victorian original from a later reproduction.
We have seven old glass bottles and pontil-marked pieces in the shop right now, with miniature bitters bottles starting at $6. Each one is the only one we have.
See the bottles →
What apothecary and bitters bottles are
Apothecary bottles held the tonics, syrups, oils and powders sold by druggists. Bitters were a particular kind of patent medicine: herbal mixtures, often with a good deal of alcohol, sold as cures for nearly everything from indigestion to "liver complaint." They were hugely popular in the 1800s, and makers competed for attention with bold names and fancy bottles shaped like log cabins, barrels, fish and figures. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 put limits on what these medicines could claim, and the golden age of bitters faded after that.
When and how old bottles were made
Before the early 1900s, bottles were mouth-blown, often into a mold, and each one was finished by hand. Around the turn of the century, automatic bottle machines took over, and by the 1920s most everyday bottles were machine made. That change left clues you can still see:
- Mold seams: on a mouth-blown bottle, the side seams usually stop at the neck or shoulder, below a lip that was finished by hand. On a machine-made bottle, the seams usually run all the way up through the lip.
- Bubbles and waves: older glass often has small bubbles, ripples and uneven thickness. Machine-made glass tends to be smoother and more even.
- Screw threads: a crisp, even screw-thread top usually points to a machine-made bottle from the 1900s.
- Base marks: many 20th-century bottles carry a glass maker's mark on the base, such as the Owens-Illinois mark.
What is a pontil mark?
A pontil (also called a punty) is the iron rod a glassblower attaches to the bottom of a piece so it can be held while the top is shaped and finished. When the rod is snapped off, it leaves a scar on the base. On American utilitarian bottles, pontil scars mostly belong to the years before the Civil War. Glass houses largely switched to smooth-based bottles in the 1850s and 1860s, and by the 1870s a pontiled medicine bottle is rare. There are several kinds:
- Open or glass-tipped pontil: the rod was tipped with a blob of hot glass. It leaves a rough, round scar, sometimes with sharp bits of glass sticking out.
- Sand pontil: the glass on the rod was dipped in sand first, so the scar is a wider, gritty patch with fine grains in it. It's common on early medicine and bitters bottles.
- Iron or "graphite" pontil: a hot bare iron rod was pressed straight onto the base. It leaves a round scar with reddish, gray or black iron residue. Collectors call it graphite, though there's no graphite involved.
- Ground or polished pontil: the scar was ground away, leaving a smooth, shallow dish in the base. You'll see this on finer pieces like decanters and art glass.
One important thing to know: glassblowers still use pontils today. A pontil mark tells you a piece was made by hand, not that it's from the 1800s. Our hand-blown amber bud vase is a good example. It has a rough pontil mark on its base and little bubbles through the glass, both signs it was blown by hand, but it's a vintage decorative vase, not a Victorian bottle.
Wheaton and the commemorative bottles
Wheaton Glass of Millville, New Jersey, was founded by Dr. Theodore C. Wheaton in the late 1800s to make bottles for druggists. In the late 1960s the company began making commemorative and collector bottles, and in the 1960s and 1970s Wheaton and other glass makers turned out tribute versions of famous old bitters and medicine bottles, many of them miniatures a few inches tall in bright purple, amber, blue and green glass. They were sold as decorative pieces, and many were made to sit on a windowsill with a cork in the top.
These are their own collecting category, and we think a charming one. They're just not the 1800s originals, and an honest seller should say so. Original bitters bottles are usually full size, and the rare ones sell for serious money. A three-inch miniature with the same name is a later tribute.
How to spot a reproduction
- Size: most original bitters bottles were full size. Tiny versions of famous bitters are almost always later miniatures.
- Base marks: turn it over and look for a modern maker's name or mark on the base, which an 1800s original wouldn't have.
- Too perfect: crisp, even embossing, bright saturated color and very smooth glass all point to later manufacture.
- Tooling: check the lip and base. A smooth base with machine-even seams is not what you'd expect on a pontil-era bottle.
- Wear: a bottle that's been around 150 years usually shows scuffs and base wear. Wear can be faked, so use it as one clue among several.
Clear glass that has turned light purple is a different story. Glass made with manganese can turn lavender after years in the sun, which collectors call sun-colored amethyst. Deep, even purple glass was colored on purpose.
See it in person: old bottles in the shop
Wheaton-style tributes, a machine-made medicine bottle and a real pontil mark, all side by side. Each one is a single piece, so when it's gone, it's gone.
For more on reading glass, see our guide to pressed glass vs. cut crystal.
Caring for old bottles
- Wash by hand in lukewarm water with a drop of mild dish soap. Never use the dishwasher.
- Avoid sudden temperature changes, which can crack old glass.
- For stubborn inside staining, soak with soapy water and swish with a bottle brush. Some old staining is etched into the glass and won't come out, and that's okay.
- Let corks dry out of the bottle so they don't trap moisture.
For more, see our guide to cleaning and caring for vintage finds.
Apothecary bottles in the shop
- Lancaster's Indian Vegetable Jaundice Bitters miniature: a 3" amethyst purple tribute bottle with bold embossed lettering and a cork stopper.
- Phil A. Berring's Apple Bitters miniature: the same size in warm amber, with raised apples. It makes a sweet pair with the Lancaster's.
- Straubmuller's Elixir amber bottle: made by Wheaton of New Jersey, with an embossed Tree of Life and the promise of "the Golden Life of Health and Vitality."
- Miniature light blue Horseshoe Bitters bottle: soft pale blue glass with an embossed horseshoe shape.
- Miniature blue glass bottle with cork: azure blue with an embossed horseshoe and a rustic cork.
- Amber cod liver oil bottle: a 9" screw-top bottle from the 1930s and 1940s with an embossed fish and fish scale sides, from the days of a daily spoonful.
- Hand-blown amber bud vase: honey-gold glass with brown spatter and a real pontil mark on the base.
Every piece is the only one we have.
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Collectable glass →Treasures under $10 →Vintage home decor →
Keep reading: Pressed Glass vs. Cut Crystal · Collecting Vintage Advertising Tins · How to Clean and Care for Vintage Finds
Did someone in your family line old bottles along a windowsill, or take a spoonful of cod liver oil every morning? We'd love to hear what you remember.