Rare – Revolutionary War Whiskey Bottle, ca. 1740-1780, found in river

This is another great piece being offered, it is a Revolutionary War bottle, measuring 8 1/2” high x 4 ¾” diameter at the base, circa 1740-1780. These bottles are usually referred to as “black glass”, but actually they are a very dark green.

I acquired this bottle from a scuba diver who did most of his dives in the Pamunkey River in Hanover County, Virginia. He told me that he had found hundreds of pieces of bottles, but never a complete example. Actually, I currently have some shards of glass from the river that I have on the website.

When a hurricane went through the area of Hanover County, Virginia, along the Pamunkey River, it exposed these pieces in a creek bed. Hanover County had two villages which in the 17th and 18th centuries were considered as potential sites as the Virginia Capital. Newcastle Town was built on the banks of the Pamunkey River around 1739 and Hanover Town was first settled in the early 1740s.

Hanover Town was badly damaged by British troops during the Revolutionary War and very little remained when General U.S. Grant’s Union troops crossed the Pamunkey River there in 1864. Newcastle suffered from the Revolution as well with silting in the Pamunkey River and nothing remains of both Colonial-era communities.

Soldiers actually drank from these bottles, (probably British), during the American Revolution. In the Fort Ticonderoga, NY Museum collection there is an identical example of this bottle in their collection (see pictures). There is also one in the Williamsburg Revolutionary War Museum (see pictures).

This bottle is the nicest example I ever came across, there are no chips or cracks, which is amazing for being under water for over 200 years. It has stretch marks on the neck and a very nice, applied lip. It has a deep kick-up base and the signs of being under water. This is such a nice bottle, it would be impossible to upgrade it.