Vintage Bottles and Pots
A wide selection of quirky, rare, and intriguing vintage bottles and pots will help you add value and curiosity to your collection.
A vintage bottle or pot can be collectable for several reasons. There may be some historical significance attached to the item; the brand or advertising is of interest; where the bottle was made is significant; for the colour of the bottle, which can hold some value and for the artistic worth of the design of the bottle or pot.
Among the variety of collectable antique bottles and pots are milk bottles, beer bottles, ink pots, perfume pots and bottles; both wine and spirits, mustard and jam pots, medicine or poison bottles; and toothpaste or face cream pots. Many bottles have been dug up and sold on, while others may be sold on by other collectors.
Many 19th century bottles and pots were stoneware and would have contained ginger beer, mineral water, ale, mustard, or even glue and will feature the name of the brewer or manufacturer. Victorian toothpaste and ointment pots can also come up for sale and usually will have been made from porcelain, with decorative print and illustrations on the lid. Ink pots are highly sought after and can come in a range of different shapes, though are usually circular or square. Old milk churns can sit in your garden as a rustic piece of decoration.
Some bottles aren't necessarily old, but unique in shape or use. Many collectors like to seek out brand named perfume bottles to add to their collection, the designer name adding value.
A collector can also look out for codd-neck glass bottles, from the 19th and 20th centuries – these have a marble and rubber washer in the neck, and were invented in 1872 to contain fizzy drinks and seal in the carbonation.