Mud larking find. Bottom of a glass bottle with a Maltese cross under base

Mud larking.
For those of you who have never heard of this before, please let me explain.

If you are lucky enough to live near to a mouth of an estuary, you can go mud larking every time the tide has receded, The tide causes sand and mud to move, and when the tide is out, many objects or mostly, part/broken objects are uncovered and can be easily picked up.
You need to be very careful sometimes as the mud/water mix may not sustain you walking on it and you can sink very quickly.

The above item was found at the mouth of the River Exe, in Exmouth, Devon, South West England

As you can clearly see, there is a Maltese cross on the underside of the curved base, but no other markings at all. When measuring the radius from the central glass blob in the middle of the cross to the outside, it works out that the diameter is 96mm.

When searching Google, I have come across quite a few bottles, which have the Maltese cross on the side of the bottle and some have words and numbers, but I cannot find any photographs with the cross on the base. I still believe it is Maltese, but unsure if it is a jar or a bottle.
The internally curved base reminds me of modern day wine bottles.

Therefore, my question is:- Does anyone know anything about this item

https://www.antique-bottles.net/threads/early-machine-made-bottle-with-maltese-cross-embossed-on-the-bottom.678642/

https://glassbottlemarks.com/

https://sha.org/bottle/bases.htm

http://bottleinfo.historicbottles.com/pdffiles/Symbolsarticle.pdf

Some may be American but could have been imported.

Nice find. On the other hand, not so nice if you step on it 😂

No. I would not like to step on it. As I do not know how long it has been in the water it is very difficult to envisage anything. The edges still seem pretty untouched by the constant shifting of the sand against the glass, but, it could have been in just mud, so has been protected against the erosive powers of sand.

ZacUK,

Thank you as always for your brilliant help.
I have read through each link with great enthusiasm. I have passed on your links to my son in law, who found the item.
Many thanks once again

Geoff

Thanks - I was also thinking of the future, when maybe those links would come in
useful for finds yet to be discovered. I still have some bottles from years ago ...

with a Codd and a Hamilton, and somewhere I have a Warner's Safe Cure brown bottle.

"Warner"

I knew my surname was more famous than the Warner Bros film industry.

Now its a bottle. How much more famous can one become?

My son in law was very impressed with the links.

Quote: "COINMAN1"​
​
​Mud larking.
​For those of you who have never heard of this before, please let me explain.
​
​If you are lucky enough to live near to a mouth of an estuary, you can go mud larking every time the tide has receded, The tide causes sand and mud to move, and when the tide is out, many objects or mostly, part/broken objects are uncovered and can be easily picked up.
​You need to be very careful sometimes as the mud/water mix may not sustain you walking on it and you can sink very quickly.
​
​The above item was found at the mouth of the River Exe, in Exmouth, Devon, South West England
​
​As you can clearly see, there is a Maltese cross on the underside of the curved base, but no other markings at all. When measuring the radius from the central glass blob in the middle of the cross to the outside, it works out that the diameter is 96mm.
​
​When searching Google, I have come across quite a few bottles, which have the Maltese cross on the side of the bottle and some have words and numbers, but I cannot find any photographs with the cross on the base. I still believe it is Maltese, but unsure if it is a jar or a bottle.
​The internally curved base reminds me of modern day wine bottles.
​
​Therefore, my question is:- Does anyone know anything about this item

​Hello, just ran across this post, and had to comment! That is the base of a bottle or jar made in Great Britain. That light green color of the glass is VERY typical of older glass containers made in the UK, and if I had to give a date range I would say (in a very general sense) it looks to be from the 1870 to 1910 period. The "Maltese style" cross motif is also seen on quite a few American-made fruit jars and some beer bottles of the late 1800s and very early 1900s (you can find some of those discussions via google) but that is not American-made and has no connection with the design on American glass containers. I think that is the base of a pickle jar, fruit / canning jar, or chow chow or other kind of food jar. It might be the bottom to some other kind of bottle or jar but my "best guess" is a round wide-mouth pickle or chow chow jar. The cross could be either a trademark or brand of a certain company, a mark identifying a glass factory, or perhaps only meant as a decorative device. I am not familiar with that particular mark on British glass, but the "look" of the base is very similar to chow chow jars made in England, especially from the 1880s-1890s era. I hope this helps a bit!

Hi,

 

I live in Queensland Australia. I have just dug up the bottom of a bottle that is the same as yours. I found the piece on a country block of land that was originally a tin mining area in the late 1800's. I can not find any information about this mark apart from the reply you had about it being a jar of some sort. I am uncovering a lot of bottles all dated from this tin mining era. Many broken ones, but luckily there are complete ones as well. The Chinese were tin mining on this property has well and I have uncovered opium bottles, broken bowls and many ink bottles.

 

It gets you in. Once you find one, you keep digging to see what else is there. 🙂

Hello 

Is it possible to have a picture of an opium bottle ?

Thanks in advance

Guillaume 

Hello, 

 

Certainly, sorry for the delay. 

 

Cheers.

 

  

Hello 

 

Thanks for the photo 👍

The Red Book which is a suggested price guide for jar collectors lists two jars for sure with a Maltese cross on the base.  The jar listings are 1901 (Mason's Patent Nov 30th 1858) and 3060 (groove wax ring sealer with pressed or laid on ring.