_USNM_ _Inches in_
_No._ _Diameter_ _Provenience_
59.1688 5-1/2 Refuse pit D
59.1717 6 Structure F, firing chamber
59.1717 4-1/2 Structure F, firing chamber
59.1717 4-3/4 Structure F, firing chamber
59.1717 4-7/8 Structure F, firing chamber
59.1717 5 Structure F, firing chamber
59.1717 5-1/8 Structure F, firing chamber
59.1793 2-3/4 S.W. corner, Structure B
59.1870 5-1/4 Wall D, trench
59.1918 4 Structure E, N. side, Room X
59.1921 3-3/4 Debris area, N.E. corner, Structure E
59.1957 5 Structure F, N.E. corner of pavement
59.1957 5 Structure F, N.E. corner of pavement
59.1998 4-3/4 Structure E, N. of fireplace, Room X
59.1998 4-3/4 Structure E, N. of fireplace, Room X
59.2007 3-7/8 North of Structure E, lowest level
59.2007 4-1/4 North of Structure E, lowest level
60.83 4-1/2 Wall E, gateway
60.103 4-3/4 Trench along Wall E
60.117 5-1/8 Junction of Walls A-I and A-II
60.117 4-5/8 Junction of Walls A-I and A-II
60.120 5-1/2 Trash pit no. 2
60.123 5-1/2 Trash pit no. 2
Since beverage-bottle diameters diminished from about 5 inches in the
1750's and 1760's to about 4 inches in the 1770's and 1780's and to
3-1/2 inches in the 1790's and early 1800's, the peak of their incidence
at Marlborough occurs between 1750 and 1770, the period of greatest
opulence in the Mercer household.
[Illustration: Illustration 38.--Upper left, cylindrical beverage
bottle, about 1760. One-fourth. (USNM 59.1998.)]
[Illustration: Illustration 39.--Upper right, cylindrical beverage
bottle, late 18th or early 19th century. One-fourth. (USNM 59.1976,
59.2007.)]
OCTAGONAL BEVERAGE BOTTLES.--A rarely seen variation from the round
beverage bottle is a club-shaped, octagonal, molded type with long neck,
perhaps so shaped in order to permit packing in cases. Cider is said to
have been put up in such bottles, and it is also possible that brandies
and liqueurs were delivered in them. A quart-size bottle of this shape
at Colonial Williamsburg bears the seal "I. Greenhow WmsBgh. 1769."
Another, purchased in England, in the G. H. Kernodle collection at the
Smithsonian Institution, also has a seal with the name "Jn^o Collings,
1736" (USNM 59.2170). A pint-size example, 9 inches high and dated 1736,
is illustrated in plate 95e in the Wine Trade Loan Exhibition
catalog.[206] A restored bottle of this form from Marlborough (USNM
59.1687, fig. 80, ill. 40) is 8 inches high, but bears no seal. Among
the glass found at Marlborough are also three bases and other fragments
of similar bottles.
[Illustration: Illustration 40.--Octagonal, pint-size beverage bottle.
See figure 80. Half size. (USNM 59.1687.)]
SQUARE "GIN" BOTTLES.--Square bottles, usually called "gin" bottles,
occur in the Marlborough material. Two base sections and lower pieces of
the flat sides have been partly restored (USNM 59.1685, 59.1686, ill.
41), and a neck and shoulder have survived. The bases are 4 inches
square, and the whole bottles were probably about 10 inches high. They
did not taper but maintained a continuous dimension from shoulder to
base. The bases, which are rounded on the corners, have a slightly domed
kick-up with a ring-shaped pontil mark. The glass is olive green. The
necks are squat--barely 7/8 inch--and have wide string rings midway in
their length.
[Illustration: Figure 80.--OCTAGONAL SPIRITS BOTTLE.]
[Illustration: Illustration 41.--Square gin bottle. One-fourth. (USNM
59.1686, base; 59.1685, top.)]
[Illustration: Illustration 42.--Square snuff bottle. One-half. See
figure 81. (USNM 59.1680.)]
[Illustration: Figure 81.--SNUFF BOTTLE. (See ill. 42.)]
Square "gin" bottles were designed for shipment in wooden boxes with
compartments in which the bottles fit snugly. Although Dutch gin
customarily was shipped in bottles of this shape, indications are that
the square bottles may have been used for other purposes than holding
gin. For one thing, Mercer's ledgers mention no purchases of gin. There
is, in fact, almost no evidence of the sale of gin in Virginia; a single
announcement of Holland gin available in Williamsburg in 1752 is the
exception until 1773, when gin was again advertised in the _Virginia
Gazette_.[207] Its sale had been prohibited in England in 1736.[208] For
another thing, square bottles were both imported and manufactured in
America for sale new. In 1760 the Germantown glassworks in Braintree,
Massachusetts, made "Round and square Bottles, from one to four Quarts;
also Cases of Bottles of all Sizes ...,"[209], while George Ball, of New
York, in 1775 advertised that he imported "Green glass Gallon square
bottles, Two quart ditto, Pint ditto."[210]
[Illustration: Illustration 43.--Upper left, wineglass, reconstructed
from base fragment having enamel twist for stem. One-half. (USNM
59.1761.)]
[Illustration: Illustration 44.--Upper right, cordial glass. One-fourth.
(USNM 59.1607.)]
A smaller base (USNM 59.1642) has a high kick-up, the dome of which
intersects the sides of the base so that the bottle rests on four points
separated by arcs. This fragment measures 3 inches square. An even
smaller version (USNM 59.1977) is 2-3/4 inches.
SNUFF BOTTLES.--Several items in Mercer's ledgers record the purchase of
snuff, such as one for a "bottle of snuff" in 1731 for 15d., another in
1743 for 3s., and a third in 1744 for 1s. 6d. Among the artifacts is a
partly restored bottle of olive-green glass, shaped like a gin bottle
but of smaller dimensions, with a 2-1/4-inch-wide mouth (USNM 59.1686,
fig. 81). The bottle is 3-3/4 inches square and 7 inches tall. It has a
low kick-up and a smooth pontil mark. Also among the artifacts are a
matching base and several sherds of similar bottles.
[Illustration: Illustration 45.--Sherds of engraved-glass wine and
cordial glasses (fig. 82c). Same size. (USNM 59.1634, 59.1864.)]
MEDICINE BOTTLES.--Only a few fragments of medicine bottles occurred in
the Marlborough artifacts. This is surprising, in view of Mercer's many
ailments and his statements that he had purchased "British Oyl,"
"Holloway's Citrate," and other patent nostrums of his day. A round base
from a greenish, cylindrical bottle (USNM 59.2056) seems to represent an
Opadeldoc bottle. Another base is rectangular with notched corners. The
last, as well as the base of a molded, basket-pattern scent bottle (USNM
59.2093) may be early 19th century in date. Other medicine-bottle
fragments are all 19th century, some quite late (fig. 82).