Another Roman Bottle

This is one of 3 of my Roman Bottles which now brings me up to 6 total. I just love these bottles. The first photo has all of the dirt and dried mud on it when I received in several months ago. The other two photos are after a very careful cleaning. I never scrub or clean them throughly as I don’t want to crack or break it. They are very delicate, not to mention old and they are not replaceable.

 

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Very nice. You did an excellent cleaning on it!!

 

Good work, but how did you clean? A wet cloth? or just a water soak?

Just curious. Not like I have come across any of these bottles in my time.

 

Nice! Is that an amphora like they used to store garum/liquamen/wine etc.,?

I wonder what was in it back in Roman times.

 

How do you know its Roman? (not being smart here - I don't know what identifies it as Roman as opposed to something else, or something modern that's just dirty).

 

I soak them in water water. No detergents, no scrubbing and I do it very carefully. Most of the dirt comes off with just a light rub of the fingers. If you scrub or brush and the dirt is in a small crack or fissure, you’ll destroy the bottle.

 

Most of this type are scented fragrances. Used when they buried someone.

 

Ohh gotchya, that’s pretty cool!

I thought maybe it was like these garum amphorae from Pompeii.


It’s hard to tell the difference tbh. Except the Pompeii garum amphorae have a handle.

 

My source for buying them Guarantees them to be Roman. All found in excavations in Italy. I’ve dealt with them for years, and any problems I’ve had, they have taken care of me better than the original item I bought. A very trustworthy company.

 

These are amazing. It's hard to believe that something so delicate has survived for so long. You should consider having them professionally photographed.

 

How would one know whom to buy from? I think that a Roman bottle could make an interesting gift.

 

Are these in your collection?

 

They aren’t cheap. But I like them and I get them at a very good price.

 

Oh no I don’t collect them just Roman coins.

I didn’t even know it was legal to collect them as antiquities since often looters take that kind of stuff and sell it on the black market to fund terrorism and things like that.

I just posted them from Wikipedia because they looked a lot like yours so I was curious if they were the same thing or if yours were something different.

 

Thanks, it would be nice to have one or two of them.

 

Definitely a talking piece!

The ones I posted were used to store garum which was a kind of fish sauce made from salted fish guts. Apparently it was also really expensive and the stink from making it resulted in the Roman's requiring garum makers to live outside the city. Kind of like the people who made Tyrian Purple dye.

 

I would certainly think so. Lol

 

Your items never cease to amaze me!
One day…

 

Thanks and I have lots more but like it says under my name, I’m a borderline hoarder. At least my wife doesn’t get on my case about the coins, the antiques and everything else. Lol

I need to get busy and get to my other 2 new bottles. One day. Sigh

 

When those bottles were literally blown by a bottle-maker, they were blowing through a metal tube with no airflow backstop. So, if you accidentally inhaled whilst blowing a bottle - you were toast. It is a testament to the patience, skill and sheer guts of the bottle-maker that those were made in the first place.