I recently found myself falling down a rabbit hole. I came across a video of someone digging up antique bottles out of a riverbank. I was mesmerized watching them dig the bottle out of the mud. Then, I watched another video, then another. I was a little shocked at how many people were making videos of finding old bottles.
We humans have been bottling our concoctions for eons. Experts say the oldest known wine bottle was made in the mid-4th century, and yes, it’s still intact. We’ve used bottles to hold our oils, perfumes, drinks, and medicines for hundreds of years. Even in this modern era, there’s an allure to collecting bottles.
I have several vintage and antique bottles in my collection. My favorites are the squared bottles from the early 20th century. I love the art deco style, and the bottles from that era just have a different vibe to them. I’ve got a couple of them in my collection, and they take pride of place.
Other bottles in my collection include old beer bottles, a couple of old milk bottles, and a soda-pop bottle from the 1960s. I love the design of the vintage brand name on the front. Everyone who’s ever seen it instantly comments on its age.
One of my coolest bottles is an old perfume bottle that was once my grandmother’s. It still has the perfume in it, and she passed away almost 50 years ago. It’s a tiny little bottle, maybe two inches tall with the lid, and shaped like a crown or star. It contains a perfume called “Windsong” by Prince Matchabelli. It was my grandmother’s favorite.
I inherited one of my mother’s favorite bottles, and I just love it. It’s a vintage pancake syrup bottle from the 1980s. I know that’s not all that old, but it’s cool. It’s glass, is in the shape of a woman, and was shipped out with its label on backwards. She had that syrup bottle on display for decades.
A friend of mine has a really cool collection of colored bottles. I know some of them are a little newer, but she’s got a few older ones that are just beautiful. Her collection is mostly cobalt-blue glass bottles. She’s got a few green ones and a couple of red ones, but it’s the blue ones that really draw in the eye.
I noticed a resurgence in decorative bottles in the past few years. Most of them have been created specifically for one type of alcohol or another, but they are pretty cool to look at. I think one of them is shaped like a human skull and Jack Daniels has come out with a shark-shaped bottle to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the movie Jaws.
Vintage and antique bottles have the power to spark memories a person wouldn’t normally consider. I hadn’t thought about that tiny little bottle of perfume until I started writing this post. It sits in one of my display hutches, but I rarely look at it. But as soon as I did, it brought back memories of my grandmother. They hold more than just our fluids, they hold our history–one drop at a time.
Until next time,
Miss Chris!!!
Christine Graves has been writing for more than 30 years. She runs several blogs, including Priestess of Words, Collected Keepsakes, and Mystic Realms, all of which are part of her company, Graves Publications.
Christine is also an avid crafter and multi-media artist. She runs two online stores. Prairied Treasures is where she showcases her handmade greeting cards and other multimedia art, and Pathways through the Past is where she sells her AI art creations on a wide variety of products.
If you’d like to stay up to date with everything she’s got going on, you can sign up for her Graves Publications newsletter.
