A jar or bottle for holding liquid, especially a distilled spirit. Occasionally, used as a general term for any container.
A container with a narrow neck and wider body, for holding liquids such as spirits, wines or waters. Often used for medical or pharmaceutical preparations but also for other products like vinegar, oils and foods. Bottles can be made from a variety of materials including glass, plastics and metals. They can be plain or adorned with decorative labels and designs or even have a handle for carrying. Bottles were invented in the early 19th century and remain the most common packaging for liquids to this day.
The complex of bottle type and diagnostic shape webpages that follow will always be a “work-in-progress” for the author as there is a nearly endless diversity in bottle types & shapes that were manufactured during the era covered on this site. These pages attempt to represent an on-line “type collection” and “dating guide” for bottles produced during the period from the early 1800’s through the mid-20th century.
Frequently, it is not possible to definitively date or categorize a particular bottle based on the information found here alone but running a bottle through the questions on these Bottle Dating pages often helps to narrow the likely manufacturing date range and can help determine what the bottle was probably used for. The more key manufacturing based diagnostic characteristics that can be discerned, the closer the probable date range will be.
In addition, the process of “Bottle Typing” can provide additional clues about what a bottle was used for. The term bottle episode arose in the 1960’s and is most commonly associated with an episode of a television show called Community (season 2, episode two) where a group of characters are involved in a bottling spree that leads to them reliving their past failures in an attempt to save money on a wedding.
A word that combines the terms bottle and episode is also sometimes used for any sort of theatrical disaster or flop, particularly one that is so bad it can never be recovered from or repaired. This sense of the word is probably related to the fact that a bottle is generally considered to represent courage or nerve and that the word fiasco itself was 19th Century theater slang for a dismal flop, on or off the stage.
