The Pomranky Collection includes several pontle bottle fragments.  Pontle marks occur on the bottom of antebellum bottles in the nineteenth century.  They are produced when an iron rod ("pontle rod"), that was attached to the bottle to hold it while the lip was blown, was broken off.  About the time of the Civil War a holder that allowed the bottle to be held without marking the sides was invented.  The bottle illustrated on this page has a "refired" pontel mark and is made of dark olive glass.  Follow the following links to see other bottles and related artifacts:

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