Fly catchers like this were found in many southern homes throughout the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Doors and windows would be left open in the summer and flies were a problem.  Horses were the stabled in every home and where there is livestock there are flies.  This Fly Catcher is an ingenious invention to try to control them.  The bottle was filled with sugar water and the lid closed.  Flies were attracted and entered the bottle through the hole in the bottom and couldn't get back out. Some homes had strips of sticky fly paper hanging from the ceilings so this was a little more gentile method than that.

This bottle was made of clear blown glass and has three glass feet that would have been attached to the hot glass when it was made.  The finial is a heavy ball of glass with a long stem that fits securely into the bottle.  It is very heavy glass and weighs 2 lbs 15 oz.  There are a couple of tiny pin-head size air bubbles in the glass and the inside mouth of the bottle has a little roughness or flea bites.  But the glass is clear and unclouded.  It stands 10.5" high with the finial in place and 8.25" withouth.  The finial is 4.5" long.  The bottle is 8" wide.    It is fairly rare to find a beautiful old bottle like this in perfect condition with the original finial.