Case Gin Bottle

Dublin Core

Title

Case Gin Bottle

Identifier

Item Sm.013

Description

26 oz., olive glass, case gin bottle. Square with short neck and wrap-top, inwards taper at the base. Free-blown construction using a dip-mould.

No other identifying marks, but a typical bottle found in the colony of Queensland in the 1870s.

Creator

n.c.

Subject

Antiques & Collectibles / Bottles;
Bottles;
Glassware;
Liquor bottles.

Date

n.d.

Source

Old Smithfield township

Publisher

Private collection

Contributor

Gin was first brewed in the mid-17th century in the Netherlands as 'Geneva', which was a Dutch corruption of the French word for juniper, 'genievre'. In England it was called 'genever' or shortened simply to 'gin'. Gin was often dispensed by chemists and apothacaries as a medicinal bitter.

Gin was usually sold in square bottles. This type of bottle was commonly called a 'case gin' or 'taper gin', as the bottles packed into a case (6 to 24 bottles) better than round bottles.

Popular brands of Geneva imported from Rotterdam and sold in Queensland in the 1870s included A. Van Hoboken's AVH, Blankenheim & Nolet's, Holloand's, Kiderlen's double-refined, and John de Kuyper & Sons JDKZ Geneva, which sold for 5/- a bottle.

'Old Tom' was gin sweeetened with liquorice or sugar. Brands imported from England included Bernard's old Tom, T.W. Lowndes London old Tom and Sir Robert Burnett & Co.'s old Tom.

London 'dry gins' like James Gilbey's Dry Gin, made in a column still, did not become popular in Queensland until the mid-1880s.

Format

Material: Olive green glass
Diagnostic: Yes
Buried item
Size: 250 mm tall, 80 mm square at the shoulders tapering inwards to 60 mm square at the base
Volume: 26 oz.