Beer Bottle (Frederiksberg Glassworks, Denmark), ca. 1900

Green hammered glass beer bottle dating to ca. 1900, or no later than 1907 (in the 'authorised Danish bottle book' it is dated to ca. 1900). On the neck of the bottle it reads ‘3/8’, meaning three eighths of a ‘pot’ (almost a litre), an old cubic measure replaced by litres etc. in 1907. On the bottom it says ‘F.G.’ for Frederiksberg Glassworks (Frederiksberg used to be a separate county outside of Copenhagen, but today it is surrounded by Copenhagen county). The Glassworks was founded in 1882 and closed in 1926. First and foremost, green bottles were manufactured and in its heyday (1904) 6.55 million bottles were produced in one year!

It is not terribly difficult to get hold of old bottles like this on flea markets etc., but of course the realier and hand-blown bottles are quite sought after. There's a small group of extemely avid bottle collectors around - I sometimes meet them on markets and I am amazed how much they know these bottles.

Height: 23 cm. The surface is scratched – I suppose it has been lying around in the dirt, until someone found it and I bought on a flea market!