A bottle is an impermeable container in various shapes and sizes that holds liquids or other substances. It is usually made of glass, an inorganic solid that is hard, brittle and impervious to the elements. Bottles are used to store and transport a variety of materials including food, chemicals and medicinal drugs. The bottle’s neck (also known as the nipple) can be sealed with an internal stopper or an external cap/closure to prevent leakage or spillage of its contents. Bottles can be categorized in many ways including color, size, shape, design and production method.
In addition to the basic chemical components of silica sand, sodium oxide and magnesium oxide, there are other materials often added to enhance the glass’s performance or appearance. These additives are typically in the form of a fine powder or granule. Glassmakers also often use decolorizing agents to neutralize the natural iron and carbonaceous impurities in their glass mixtures or batches.
These decolorizers are typically compounds such as arsenic, selenium and/or manganese dioxide. These are often added to the batch or mix in addition to sand, clay and other raw materials during the melting process. Decolorizing is an important step in the glassmaking process because it allows for the production of colorless, transparent or translucent glass.
The term bottle is generally associated with containers that hold liquids but it can also refer to other types of glassware as well. Bottles can be shaped by hand or by using an automatic bottle machine. Hand blown bottles can be shaped with or without the aid of a mold, with or without side and top seams and with or without a base. Machine shaped bottles can be identified by the presence of ghost seams, separate mold seams below and on top of the finish, and/or by the existence of a suction or glass cutoff scar on the bottle base. See the Machine-made Bottles portion of the Bottle Dating pages for more information.
A wide range of bottle types and designs have been produced over the years, from simple narrow-neck bottles to more elaborate apothecary bottles with elaborate nipples and collars. Most of these bottles have a printed label that can be either embossed or affixed with a sticker. A few of these bottles, however, were sold “labeled only” or were never labeled at all.
This glossary defines terms and acronyms that are specialized or of interest to bottle collectors. Some of the terminology is collector based, some is technical glassmaking jargon and some may be a combination of both.
Plate mold
A mold that accepts an engraved plate for embossing on a bottle – also referred to as a slug plate by collectors. Plate molds made proprietary bottles affordable by allowing bottle manufacturers to produce unique bottles for multiple customers without having to purchase expensive, uniquely designed glassware.
Baffle mark
A seam on a mouth-blown or machine-made bottle that marks the junction of the blank or parison mold and the baffle mold. It is sometimes mistaken for a suction or glass cutoff scar and may be joined by one or both. See the General Bottle Morphology page for more information.
