My old mate is decorating one room in his house in the Art Deco style and had asked if I would save any bottles from this period . I have a love hate relationship with this art movement , some of it I do quite like but in general it is not really my thing but some of the clean lines in the design style are quite pleasant and as it was vogue back in the 30s then of course many bottle products were made in the Art Deco style which is quite a quirky thing for that period .
There does appear to be some conflicting dates as to when the Art Deco period began which came in just after my much preferred Art Nouveau period in 1908 and lasted until 1935 . This conflicts with other dates stating that it began in 1925 and finished in 1940 , perhaps this was when it was at its hight of popularity but the date lines whatever they are do fall in with the bottle era on this small tip .
On my last trip a few weeks ago I had noticed how many Art Deco bottles I had dug and most still had their Bakelite lids which was most unusual , most bottles apart from the vast array of Victorian beer bottles are found without their original lids and collectors are always on the lookout for original lids and stoppers .
Most of the bottles are perfume and these do carry the elegant stylised design with Cathedral shapes to the vessels while another is similar in design to a miniature juke box and each manufacturer had to be competitive enough to appeal to the hearts and minds of their Female clientele , hence the elegant and delicate styles incorporated to sell their wares . The bottles vary in shape and size but all have a certain appeal and although not quite my area of bottle interest I can appreciate some of the styles used .
The weather was kind today which set me in good stead for my short journey and the walk along the disused Railway track was a pleasant one as I made my way along the streamlined path now littered with the fallen leaves marking the onset of Autumn . A couple of weeks makes a huge difference , the days are now becoming shorter and the temperature will drop as the afternoon closes its doors on another day . There is still plenty leaf on the trees but they are beginning to wilt and fading to a more paler shade and soon they will be gone and this little tip will be even more exposed than it already is and then I shall leave this one for another more pleasant season . Truth be known it is a little late for my tastes , I have little interest in any bottles after the Edwardian period but it does have some potential to throw up a possible late throw out and one promising piece I did dig up was just the neck and lip part of a very early stoneware porter from about 1880 , despite it lacking its bottom half I just wonder what an earth an early bottle is doing in such a late tip but it is often known that later tips can and do throw up some very early glass and stoneware bottles so they are always worth investigating . I liken this approach to a supposedly done to death field , walk over it and one day you just may dig up a little gem .
This little lot are some of the many finds dug out of this very shallow tip , the bottles are literally a few inches under the soil and a foot or so down then that is your overall depth , so not hard digging but a little mind numbing after a few hours of continual digging up and exposing yet more sauce bottles and umpteen jars . Some of the jars are huge and in some ways they are a shame to leave behind , they would make excellent storage vessels for all manner of things , it seems such a waste . when I can I generally take home the ivory shade stoneware jam jars , these are ideal for pens and brushes etc and have that nice rustic look about them , go down to your trendy Nik oak store and you will see similar or the same selling for stupid money because they have that "shabby Chic " look about them , they cost me nothing , just my time .
The spoils for a friend .
Oo I love a bit of Deco...we had a 30's house and I got really into it. Here in France there are lots of antiques from the period available at flea markets and car boots....much more so in the UK because the French are too mean to throw anything away. 
I still watch Jeeves and Wooster and old pre-war movies....I just sold a 1920's reversible kimono opera-jacket (Japanese made for the deco market in europe) for £300 on my online shop and I bought it in the early 80's for a tenner. Different periods keep coming in and out of fashion in a cycle. 
