OV's
Other Violin Bottles
The OV category covers Violin shaped bottles that don't fit into the preceding major classes. They will not be described in detail here, however, but are covered in some length in the "Classification of Violin Shaped Bottles" book. As a rule, they do not occur in quantity. While a few are common, many are scarce. Most are very desirable and become part of the collector's wish list.
One of the most popular OV's is the Garnier Creme de Menthe bottle from 1966. Several labels should be attached for the complete bottle. It is quite large standing about 14" and is made of pottery. In the following picture is a 1998 Italian bottle complete with contents and labels, plus the Garnier.
Wheaton also produced some nice violins complete with plastic scroll stopper. Colours known are clear, blue and green. The size is about 7 1/2" high. The bottle is plain with no strings or "f" hole embossing and was produced between 1967 and 1975.
German/Austrian liqueur bottles at 5" can be quite nice, especially if found with contents and labels intact. "DMG" is embossed on the lower part of one size. Colour is clear with a plastic scroll stopper. The bottle is plain with no strings or "f" holes.
Possibly the rarest and oldest violin bottle is an 8" amber that pours from the bottom. The shape is a basic violin with indented "f" holes. No strings, tail piece, bridge, neck or tuning pegs are represented. it has been dated to 1900-1910 or possibly a little earlier and was reported to have contained spirits. Part of the selling package was a carefully crafted string assembly with a metal tail piece, wooden neck, tuning pegs and a scroll head - most likely all packed in a box. With all pieces intact and assembled it makes a striking presentation. There is one on display at the National Bottle Museum. Ebay recently had one of these bottles for sale with an 1882 year sticker. It was listed as a perfume.
Another scarce "pour from the bottom" bottle had a patent applied for in 1892 by George West. It is a very detailed, perfectly proportioned amber 6 3/8" replica of a violin. There is no information on the contents, but it has been advertised as a scent as well as a spirits dispenser. There is also a report that a stand patent for the bottle was applied for. The entire ensemble would be rare.
There are 4 musical violin bottles. One is brown ceramic 10 3/4" high with a front label that reads "Beethoven's Fifth". There is a wind up mechanism located in the base that plays a few bars of the music when lifted. It is considered scarce. Another unusual, scarce musical bottle is 14 3/4" of fancy brass casing surrounding a glass violin shaped bottle. Its wind up mechanism plays the "Blue Danube Waltz" when lifted. It has a very detailed fabricated neck, tail piece, scroll head stopper and actual strings. The metal base has "Japan" stamped on it. A third is also ceramic - a brown Italian wine bottle that rests on a greenish ceramic draped fabric. Its' mechanism plays "Isle of Capri". The fourth is an 11" brown ceramic bottle mounted on a 2" high rectangular black ceramic base housing a wind up device that plays "Humoresque" when raised. Affixed to the face of the base is a label with a bar of music and the words "Musical Violin". A ceramic stopper represents the scroll head and tuning pegs. It is uncommon.
Stumpy's are quite popular, though uncommon. There are almost 8" in height, 4 1/4" wide, flat on back, and slanted 80 degrees on the front. There is an embossed string assembly with sound holes on its' face and a 1 3/4" decanter type neck. It is almost 3" thick at the base and 2" at the shoulder. It was marketed in the 1940's by Dell Glass Company and were advertised as bookends. They are usually found in light blue and amethyst, green is scarce. These are normally collected in pairs.
There are various Italian ABM cork stoppered liquor bottles that are ornately molded in the shape of a violin and ranging in heigh from 8" to amost 12". They often contained cordials, liqueurs and special wines for export, but they were native to the various districts of Italy from which they came. The backs were usually flat or plain to acommodate labels. Most are clear, but shades of amber, yellow and green are available. The molds of some were made to produce flared lips of similarly designed bottles which later sold as vases. These bottles seem to now be produced in quantity and have the words "Italy" and "200 ml" embossed on the bottom.
Corday/Zigane scent and perfume bottles are reported in several sizes ranging from 3" to 7" tall. The bottles suggest a violin shape but there are no string or sound hole embossings. Some have a chin rest representation where the word "Corday" is often found and their beautifully crafted glass stoppers are emblematic of a violin scroll head.
There are, of course, others that can be found. Salt and peppers are bottles and there are other numerous examples of bottles in the shapes of violins. All are collectible and can find a place quite happily in a collection.
