A bottle with strange contents

[Greensleeves]

I believe the glass balls were inserted to stop the contents evaporating.

[Maggie.]

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.

[Maggie.]

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.

[groom]

I dont suppose that many have survived with all the glass balls.

[msr]

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.

[Maggie.]

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.

[Maggie.]

Red post.....     I expect you are correct Groom.    Glass balls may been 'rescued' by children for playing marbles.

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. 

And you were indeed close to the mark at #2. 

[Greensleeves]

I can remember ancient female relatives wielding bottles of smelling salts filled with little glass balls.....

[Lydart]

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' !!)