A tiny 3" tall (w/ out stopper) oval-shaped deep PURPLE AMETHYST colored antique PHILADELPHIA PENNSYLVANIA pharmacy bottle. Bottle comes complete with original GROUND GLASS STOPPER inserted into the neck of the bottle. This is an ORIGINAL ANTIQUE hand Blown Into Mold bottle (BIM) with a tooled top, dating well over 100 years old, over ONE CENTURY old!
It is hard to find embossed drug store bottles with their original ground-glass custom-fit glass-stoppers still inserted in the top. This is the original stopper that was made for this bottle and the fit is ... PERFECT! When we originally got this bottle, it still had a string tied from the stopper to the neck of the bottle, just as it came out of the glass house that made it. It was never filled, never used, never discarded, it is in the same pristine condition as it was the day it was made, truly impeccable! Then there is the TRANSLUCENT purple color ... You hear about old glass turning purple ... this purple color is the result of having manganese in the glass. Manganese is a mineral, a rock, that was mined, crushed, and pulverized into a powder, then added to vats of molten liquid glass, and acted as a decolorizing agent to turn the natural aqua-tinted glass into a pure crystal clear colorless glass. Then it was blown into a mold to create a bottle. But when exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun or other sources of UV rays, it triggers a chemical reaction and the manganese starts to oxidize and slowly turns a lavender or amethyst color. The end result is what collectors refer to as SCA (Sun Colored Amethyst) glass. The longer it is in the sun the purpler it becomes. This bottle was exposed to some concentrated UV rays which had the same affect as the sun, but a lot faster. It has not been colored, stained, or altered. No matter how an antique bottle has turned purple (direct sunlight or UV rays in controlled environment) they all turn the same purple color as it is the same chemical reaction taking place. The only difference is the time it took to turn purple. What is important is that an item is old enough to turn purple as with few exceptions, only clear glass from before 1915 have manganese in them and will turn SCA. After this, with the start of WWI, manganese was no longer available as foreign imports decreased and domestic resources turned towards the war effort. Selenium sulphate then replaced manganese as a glass de-colorizer and when exposed to UV rays, it turns a yellow / straw color, and a dark burnt amber color. Generally speaking NO MORE purple glass after 1915! Not only does this deep purple/amethyst color make this a great looking antique bottle, but it also authenticates it as being truly antique. It is not often that bottles come up for sale that are in uncirculated condition like this one, check it out!
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9707-08s, 1074-75x, 9903-06x
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