Victorian Miniature Glass Bottle River Find Otley Yorkshire COA

Description

This listing is for the exact miniature Victorian glass bottle shown in the photographs. It is a hand-blown river-bank find from Otley in West Yorkshire, UK, and is attributed to the Victorian period, approximately 1850–1900. Its unusually small scale makes it an appealing example of nineteenth-century glass manufacture and everyday material culture.

Before fully automated bottle production, glass containers were formed by skilled workers using a blowpipe, hand tools and moulds. Small vessels required careful control because the maker had to create a compact body, neck and rim while the glass remained hot and workable. Subtle irregularities in wall thickness, symmetry, bubbles or the finish around the mouth can reflect hand manufacture and are part of an historic bottle’s individual character.

Miniature bottles had many possible uses. They could contain perfume, scent, medicine, samples, concentrated preparations or other small quantities of liquid. Without a surviving label or secure commercial context, this example is described conservatively as a miniature bottle rather than assigned to one specific product. Its form, glass colour and manufacturing details are best assessed from the photographs.

The Victorian period saw rapid growth in commercial packaging, pharmacies, personal-care products and branded goods. Glass was valued because it was reusable, relatively non-reactive and allowed contents to be seen. Bottles were produced in an enormous range of sizes for domestic, medical and industrial purposes. A miniature example illustrates how even very small containers formed part of this expanding material world.

River-bank finds acquire distinctive surfaces through burial, water movement and contact with sand, gravel and minerals. The glass may show iridescence, staining, internal deposits, scratches, chips or softened edges. These features are not modern decoration; they form part of the object’s recovery history. The specimen has not been represented as perfect, and its complete condition should be judged from the supplied images.

Please inspect every photograph carefully. They show the actual bottle you will receive, not a stock image or substitute. The views document the body, base, neck, rim, colour, transparency, bubbles, surface patina and any areas of damage or loss. Full sizing is shown in the photographs, so use the pictured scale or measurements for its precise dimensions.

This object would complement collections of Victorian bottles, miniature glass, pharmacy history, perfume containers, West Yorkshire river finds and social-history artefacts. Its compact size makes it suitable for a cabinet, printer’s tray or educational display about nineteenth-century manufacturing and packaging.

A generic certificate of authenticity with a lifetime authenticity guarantee is included. Keep the certificate and the Otley locality information with the bottle to preserve its provenance and collecting interest. It will be packed with care for transit.

The exact miniature hand-blown glass bottle pictured is the item that will be supplied. Its historic manufacture, river-found surface and small scale make it a distinctive Victorian collectable from West Yorkshire.