Found in Barn

[Anianna]

My camera doesn't seem to have picked up the purply nature of this bottle. It is a very pale purple, but it is purple. The only markings are "one quart" and then a 4 and a W vertically spaced on the bottom.

 

[Amyable]

Neat finds. To loosen up the leather on the horse tack, get a bottle of Neatsfoot oil and use a rag to massage it into the leather. It will bring it back to life! I found it at Fleet Farm.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

That top is tooled indicating later manufacturing. I noticed the bottom looks thick. Look for a molding seam down the side of the bottle. I need to know if it goes to the neck, or to the top. A lot of times that will give a good start for dating the bottles. I couldn't find anything on the trademark from the bottom. I'm thinking it's going to wind up being a wine or whiskey bottle. The color is stumping me. It's a result of manganese and nickel used in the manufacturing process. The color may be a result of being exposed to the sun. It was intended to be clear. Could be from between 1880-1914 according to the color, but I have to know more about the molding seam to know for sure.

ETA: Light Amethyst or 'purply' as you put it

is worth A LOT more than the other colors. It could be worth from $200 to $800 bucks. Just sayin

 

[ducks4you]

Quote:
Neatsfoot oil is fun when you're restoring REALLY OLD LEATHER. You wipe it on and watch the leather soak it up like a sponge. Take some rags, dip and ring out, then lay it on the leather, and it will seep in. IF the leather won't soak up the oil and it doesn't start to soften after you leave it for a week, then the leather is shot.
If the "tree" (That's the skeleton of the saddle) isn't broken, you might find a buyer. We do CW Reenacting and many of our saddles came to us as 1904 models, but we KNOW that they could easily be rebuilt 1859 saddles. The Cavalry reused their equipment and never in our history were MORE saddles produced than for the American Civil War, (called "McClellans" after General McClellan, who copied a Prussian saddle design). During the Civil War, the private's saddle was rawhide stitched OVER a wooden tree. In 1874, they covered the rawhide with black leather. In 1903 they changed the quarterstrap rigging to be adjustable. In the 1930's they re-rigged again and many of them resemble an English Saddle. In 1942 the US Cavalry was disbanded, but many mules were used in the tropics, with McClellans, as pack animals during the Viet Nam War. (Little bit of history trivia, there.) There is a market for old trees because many of them were very well made, and there are a lot of living historians out there who want originals. Don't expect a lot of money, but you don't need to throw your tree away, either, Unless, of course, it's broken.

 

[Anianna]

Quote:
The seam goes all the way to the top. If the bottle is anything like jars, the marks on the bottom may just indicate which machine it was created on. I had found one of them a few months ago and tried to research it. All I found out is that it most likely held something alcoholic given the neck style, but I don't have any books specifically on bottles and there wasn't anything at our library that helped much.

It may very well have been sun that affected the color, it was sitting in an open box in the barn in a spot that I think gets some afternoon sun. I was pretty startled by the pictures not showing the color. I even tried taking the pics without flash. Perhaps it has something to do with the fluorescent lights in my kitchen.


Oh, and thanks for the recommendations on how to restore the leather, guys. I still don't know that I will keep it since I don't plan on owning horses (I like horses, I just think their needs are a bit much for me to handle) and I still have no idea what most of this stuff is. I'm sure somebody else can put it to better use.

 

[ranchhand]

Whatever you do, don't throw anything away. I have a shop on etsy.com that is full of stuff most folks toss out. Link is in my sig, and if you want to get set up I'll be happy to help. It's great fun, and brings in a little extra income!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Quote:
The seam to the top means it was manufactured after 1900.

 

[Anianna]

Quote:
True, true, but I tend to collect stuff for just that sort of thing and then I never get around to it and end up with piles of stuff that needs to go in a hurry. We have a guy coming to take whatever we don't want to keep and he will probably make some use of a lot of this stuff. I plan to keep the stuff I can actually use or that mean something to me. My husband will just gripe if I keep everything!

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
True, true, but I tend to collect stuff for just that sort of thing and then I never get around to it and end up with piles of stuff that needs to go in a hurry. We have a guy coming to take whatever we don't want to keep and he will probably make some use of a lot of this stuff. I plan to keep the stuff I can actually use or that mean something to me. My husband will just gripe if I keep everything!

Dang, I sure wish I had a trip to the Bay coming up. Sigh.... not crab season anyway.

See if the guy will pay you or barter for the stuff, it's probably going to make money for him.

 

[ranchhand]

I spent my summers growing up at the bay, near Wicomico Church. Your location in the profile has just made me really want to go there!