100 year old mystery substance inside bottle?

Country Dirt Kid

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
625
Location
Erie Illinois
I found this old blob bottle eroding out of some mud along the river. The bottle is full of solid white stuff and there is still a piece of cork in it. The bottle says
Carse & Ohlweiler Co Rock Island Ills. The company supposedly started in 1878.

My questions are.

1) What is that white stuff?
2) Is there a definite date range for this bottle?
3) What is that black glass donut?

Thanks for the help.
 

Attachments

  • bottle 1.JPG
    bottle 1.JPG
    29.5 KB · Views: 696
  • bottle 2.JPG
    bottle 2.JPG
    28.3 KB · Views: 658
  • bottle 3.JPG
    bottle 3.JPG
    30.8 KB · Views: 649
  • bottle 4.JPG
    bottle 4.JPG
    35.6 KB · Views: 658
  • bottle 5.JPG
    bottle 5.JPG
    35.6 KB · Views: 658
The white stuff is likely a residue of the contents. The age range likely turn of the last century. The dark glass thing I'll guess maybe a paperweight?
 
Black glass=porcelain doorknob, missing the metal insert

Bottle looks like grease or animal fat, that the river wouldn't wash its contents out.
 
Don't know anything about the bottle but that Glass Doughnut looks like an Old Glass Doorknob
 
I believe that bottle is what some older folk used to call a "sodie " water bottle. In the link below you can see some bottle labels (copies) for that company. As for what was in it, bottles were a scarce commodity in those days and folks reused them for who knows what. Also cork was the cheapest way to reseal a bottle. So you may never know or want to know what was in that bottle last.



https://www.etsy.com/search?q=carse and ohlweiler&ref=market
 
I've seen 30 year old milk and it was a brown solid. I though this might be grease like when you get done frying something and you pour the grease into a can and let it solidify so it doesn't clog up the drain. This is my best find ever, I don't know where to start cleaning it.
 
The style of blobtop on that bottle suggests 1870s to 1880s. Who knows what somebody put in it before they threw it out. If it were mine I would remove the cork and clean it out. It most likely held soda or mineral water.

Like others have said the black "donut" is a doorknob missing the metal part.

I would hit that place good looking for more stuff - you're into some good age there.
 
nice bottle. I know one sold on ebay for about $50 with no chips. I think that one was a hutch, so yours is older!
 
Back
Top Bottom