ThePortForum.com

I opened an unknown port bottle at the weekend for a family birthday. It turned out to be a 1927 Dow’s in terrific condition. What I found interesting was the bottle shape. As shown in the picture, it has a flat side. I have not seen a port bottle like this before and wondered if they were common back then. We pondered whether it was simply a gin bottle or designed to lie better in a cellar but we were all just guessing. Could someone put us out of our misery please. Thanks.

I’ve seen a fair number of bottles from that decade, but never one with a flat side like that. How unusual!

Any clue as to who the bottler might have been?

There was a bottle with a flat side at auction in April, with the cap clearly showing it was port - was this the one you opened? If not then there is another one or there at least.

Not at all common - this is the first time I've seen one! No idea why it might have been made/used like that.

Not seen that one before.

Just tossing some ideas out there…
- bottle was reused from something else
- probably not Oporto bottled.
- that was all a bottler could get their hands on.

The capsule was too damaged to read. It says something like ‘Hope and ….’ but that was really all I could work out and could not find anything in any books. I guess it is a UK bottling. Yes this was the one from an auction earlier this year. It was a bit of a gamble given the capsule but turned out well on this occasion.

“Hope & Brooks” ??

?O?R & ?EQU?? is what I can make out.

Or is it ?O?K

Interesting, it looks rather like an olive oil bottle with the flat side and color.

Personally I wouldn't overthink it, the world was so vastly different in 1929; there were more bespoke things happening in manufacturing.

I've not seen one like it before, so wonder whether it might be a manufacturing error that found its way out into the big bad world.

The flat surface looks as though the hot glass got laid on a flat metal surface before it had cooled sufficiently to hold its shape.

- Certainly a curiosity to hang onto

uncle tom wrote: ↑17:43 Fri 28 Jul 2023 The flat surface looks as though the hot glass got laid on a flat metal surface before it had cooled sufficiently to hold its shape.

A bit, yes. But were that the case, I would expect that at minimum there would be an obvious bulge where the flat part meets the round part. That seam should not be nearly so crisp. Also, hot glass that is still sufficiently liquid enough to flatten that uniformly is also not yet solid enough to retain the otherwise perfect bottle shape elsewhere.

This looks intentional to me, though I can't come up with a reason for doing it.

Are there any markings on the punt of the bottle that might give a clue as to the manufacturer?

After googling around, it’s possible it was used for either olive oil or poison. At least originally. Those are the only two things I could find that used similar types bottles. Of course, that’s just googling and reuse of bottles was common so…

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑13:33 Mon 31 Jul 2023 After googling around, it’s possible it was used for either olive oil or poison. At least originally. Those are the only two things I could find that used similar types bottles. Of course, that’s just googling and reuse of bottles was common so…

Pretty sure I don't want a bottle of Port that's re-using a bottle that was used for poison, even if it has been thoroughly washed!

Glenn E. wrote:

Andy Velebil wrote: ↑13:33 Mon 31 Jul 2023 After googling around, it’s possible it was used for either olive oil or poison. At least originally. Those are the only two things I could find that used similar types bottles. Of course, that’s just googling and reuse of bottles was common so…

Pretty sure I don't want a bottle of Port that's re-using a bottle that was used for poison, even if it has been thoroughly washed!

Oh come on, live dangerously LOL!

Brightwells have a couple of bottles in their current auction with the same flat side to them (n.b. both lower levels and colour drop, so no intention from me to bid). In this case they are clearly labelled Sandeman 1927, and bottled by George Sandeman and Son; it's only the second time I've seen port bottled in this bottle shape, thought it might be of interest.