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Demijohn 1-  "Loaf of bread" bottle, 8.5 inches tall x 10 inches x 6.5 inches, bright yellow-green glass, crude and bubbly, smooth base; blown in a two-piece mold (by convention, the bottom or "cup" of the mold is not counted as a "piece"); applied and tooled lip, 1800s, origin and use are uncertain, but similar bottles, in wicker, contained Chilean wine.

A group of side-flattened ("kidney-shape") demijohns which represent probably a hundred or more years of bottle-making.   V

Welcome to a new The Demijohn Page.   The original demijohn website produced some interesting feedback, and I'm hoping that the same will be true of this new incarnation.  Some of the images from the original website are here, along with many new images. 

 

The information presented here is often a best guess based on many years of collecting experience, sometimes relying on other collectors.  As McKearin-Wilson note, "It is evident from advertisements and price lists that, from the early years of the 19th century, demijohns and carboys steadily increased in importance as products of our [American] bottle glassworks, east and west.  Even so, that the demand was not satisfied seems implicit in the continued importation of demijohns, which were frequently advertised in Atlantic seabord newspapers as arriving in lots of a thousand and more. 

 

"Because of importation, because of widespread domestic production, and because the bottles were not marked with a manufacturer's or glasswork's name, it is virtually impossible to attribute an individual specimen to a particular glassworks.  Nor does exact dating seem possible, though a broad general period may be determined by the method of fabrication and neck finish."

 

This website represents an effort to learn about glass-making in general and about these big bottles in particular.  Visitors to The Demijohn Page are invited to point out errors and to present evidence for new interpretations.  Send your thoughts to pristis at aol.com or post a comment to the site at the bottom of Page 5 or Page 6.  I hope you find something here that merits a comment.

-------Harry Pristis

Welcome to the Demijohn Page.  Presented here is a wide variety of glass bottles, mostly very large bottles when we consider bottles in our modern era.

   You can see above some of my European and American favorites which span more than 100 years, from the late 1700s to the late 1800s.  I am being deliberately vague in the dates and origins of most of the bottles you see here.  As you will see, date and place of manufacture is typically difficult to ascertain for these big bottles.  Enjoy your visit.                             ----Harry Pristis 

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