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Family History Documents and Artefacts => FH Documents and Artefacts => Topic started by: Maggie. on Sunday 21 April 13 18:08 BST (UK)
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My Grandmother gave me this pretty little bottle just before she died in the 1950s. It is 2.5 inches high with a hall marked silver screw cap with blue inlay, which when removed reveals a tiny glass stopper in the bottle neck.
I have always assumed it was for scent or smelling salts, but inside the bottle are 32 little glass balls, 31 are 5mm diameter and one is twice the size. They were inside the bottle when I was given it and they look like they belong, although perhaps they had another purpose and belong elsewhere. I've been trawling around the internet looking but although I can see lots of similar bottles I'm not finding any containing balls. Anyone have any idea what's going on here?
Regards,
Maggie :)
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Top and stopper removed, balls taken out.
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That is lovely Maggie, and hallmarked too.
It really could be for perfume just as you thought. The balls may possibly to help slow distribution of liquid.
You wouldn't need much perfume in there and as such there would be less likelihood of spillage.
Tipping the bottle would allow drops to be applied rather than a flood.
Of course I am just theorising here.
Su
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I expect the same could be said of smelling salts.
A quick swish of the bottle under the nose, or a drop onto handkerchief would work wonders I imagine.
You should give it a try.
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Hi Maggie...How lovely :o
I think it's a scent bottle...there's one here like it:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271191358734&clk_rvr_id=470626036489
Carol
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Also the glass balls could be to help mix contents before use.
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Good heavens Carol - almost identical apart from a slight difference in shape. Well done you, and I really did think I'd looked before posted. I must try harder. :-[
Did they add small balls to diffuse the perfume then, as msr suggests? There is no hint of perfume on them now, but then after 60+ years I would imagine any whiff would have faded. I do remember my mum commenting that she had no idea what the purpose of the balls was.
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Also the glass balls could be to help mix contents before use.
You probably wouldn't need as much perfume would you weste?
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To weigh it down and stop it from being knocked over when the perfume level was low..the top looks quite solid and heavy..just a guess.
Carol
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Great find Carol, and the suggestion of weights could be heading in the right direction.
Have you worked out the hallmarks on yours Maggie?
I can't quite see the one on the bottle Carol found, but it would be interesting to see if they are the same place.
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Have you worked out the hallmarks on yours Maggie?
They are very worn msr. There is a lion and an anchor, which is Birmingham isn't it? And an 'A', which is 1875.
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Interesting. Looking at the pictures attached to Carol's eBay find, that top is hinged whereas mine screws onto the bottle. It is also 12cm tall whereas mine in only 6cm (2.5") tall.
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Yours might be the baby Sister Maggie ;D...my sister has collected them for years and I know some of hers came as a pair...unless...with you having a bowl it was part of a dressing table set.
Carol
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Well both pieces used to live on my dressing table - not that the bottle ever contained my perfume. The little lidded bowl was usually filled with my hair clips, badges, pins and sundry rubbish. Nowadays they are both on display in a cabinet.
I haven't mentioned the matching bowl on the thread - just in a PM exchange with Carol. I'll post a pic of it in a bit.
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Oh yes Maggie...I would love to see it.
Carol
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Coming up Carol. :)
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This little thing matches the scent bottle. It's 4.5cm tall and 5cm wide. I'm sure the lid is silver but unfortunately the rim is so dented that it looks like grandma has been throwing it at grandpa and any suggestion of a hallmark has been obliterated.
Maggie :)
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I don't think that they are a match, the original "scent" bottle looks to have an enameled top and the cutting of the glass is a different pattern, it also looks to be finer.
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I wonder if the 32 glass marbles are the marbles from a peg solitaire game - the game where you have holes in the shape of a cross and have to jump one over the other to leave just one peg in the central hole. The English version of the game has 32 pegs.
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Must admit I can't see any bottles with beads on ebay or elsewhere. What intrigues me is the amount and the fact one's bigger. Although as was suggested would n't need as much perfume. Could it be something which can decant into something even smaller? They do look as they belong but could be a red herring. We'll probably kick ourselves when we find out!
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As others have already said, they may not belong to the bottle, if not it is leading everyone astray. It makes a very secure container for something that would be easy to lose if left laying around loose.
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I don't think that they are a match, the original "scent" bottle looks to have an enameled top and the cutting of the glass is a different pattern, it also looks to be finer.
OK, not a match. They were given to me as a pair. I wouldn't say that one is finer than the other though, quality-wise they seem the same.
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I don't think that they are a match, the original "scent" bottle looks to have an enameled top and the cutting of the glass is a different pattern, it also looks to be finer.
OK, not a match. They were given to me as a pair. I wouldn't say that one is finer than the other though, quality-wise they seem the same.
Sorry, I meant the glass cutting, not so deep and bold
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I wonder if the 32 glass marbles are the marbles from a peg solitaire game - the game where you have holes in the shape of a cross and have to jump one over the other to leave just one peg in the central hole. The English version of the game has 32 pegs.
They are very tiny - only 5mm diameter so very fiddly to use to play solitaire. Also there is the one larger one, which is 10mm.
As I mentioned the balls have always been in the bottle as far as I have known, but they could well have a separate purpose.
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The glass cutting on the bottle is certainly more delicate and in panels alternating with uncut glass.
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I think the scent bottle is much earlier and may have belonged to her mother.
Carol
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Here is one with glass balls in it too http://www.rootschat.com/links/0tma/
And here http://www.rootschat.com/links/0tmb/ is a recipe for smelling salts where it says the bottle could be filled with various things, including glass beads, so as to reduce spillage problems (if you click on the text it expands so you can scroll up and down).
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I believe the glass balls were inserted to stop the contents evaporating.
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Thank you Gardener and well done - you have succeeded in finding the answer and the glass beads/balls DO belong and I'm pleased about that because they look like they belong.
The evaporation explanation makes sense GS, thank-you.
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I think the scent bottle is much earlier and may have belonged to her mother.
Carol
The hallmark suggests a date of 1875 and this would suggest that originally it belonged to my great grandmother. She was born in 1852 ........... perhaps it was a wedding present.
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I dont suppose that many have survived with all the glass balls.
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So, my theorising at #2 wasn't far from the mark after all.
So pleased you have some answers Maggie.
Red post..... I expect you are correct Groom. Glass balls may been 'rescued' by children for playing marbles. ;D
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That's a very interesting link to the perfumes and their preparation article, Gardener. I have two ancient notebooks containing hand written old pharmacy recipes. There are recipes for smelling salts there and it will be interesting to compare them.
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Red post..... I expect you are correct Groom. Glass balls may been 'rescued' by children for playing marbles. ;D
I suspect they are far too tiny msr - even for tiny hands. I think more likely that they'd be mistaken for sweets and eaten. :o
And you were indeed close to the mark at #2. ;D
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I can remember ancient female relatives wielding bottles of smelling salts filled with little glass balls.....
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My grandmother had one virtually identical, except that it was more of a fat flattened shaped bottle. It had the glass balls in too. She was a great sniffer of smelling salts ! What was sniffing them supposed to do ? And if they were efficacious, then why don't people still use them ?
(I've always wanted to use the word 'efficacious' !!)
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Short answer - I believe in the days of tight corsetry one could frequently become faint due to the pressure put on the lower ribs and diaphragm due to the corest lacing. A quick whiff of the smelling salts would revive the poor woman.
Most efficacious indeed. :)
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And a long answer:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smelling_salts
They are still used today.
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You have it solved but my first thought was would the balls have kept the salts liquid, like when there was ball bearings in nail varnish.
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Oh yes Sinann, I had forgotten about that!
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Lovely item Maggie! ;)
I saw one of these being bought - and sold - on Bargain Hunt recently and they were told it was for smelling salts! Didn't have the balls in it though! The enamelling is very attractive isn't it.
Just imagine reviving with a sniff of ammonia (plus other) - enough to give anyone a stiff back! :o
Wiggy :)
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I'm rather fond of it Wiggy - it's a nice little memory of my Grandmother and good to have it confirmed as to what it is.
Thanks everybody for your interest and input.
Maggie