We had three different donors bring in some very interesting objects to the museum this past couple of weeks. Varying in time and scope, they illustrate a nice cross section of life in Middlesex County through the centuries.
Looking the farthest back in time is an early 18th century English wine decanter made of dark olive glass. It has a concave bottom and a thin neck with lip. It was found in the Rappahannock River some 90 years ago by a young boy. His daughter (now in her 70s) brought us three boxes of glass from his scavenging collection that he kept in the garage as he grew up. He added to it as he continued to discover glass in our waters in the Wake area throughout his life.
Another piece from that box is an early 1900s aqua hand-blown glass decanter with a whirl top decoration on the neck. It’s from the art deco period. There are bubbles in the glass consistently throughout the piece from being mouth blown. The bottom has a pontil rod scar where the iron rod was attached to the bottom of the hot glass bottle. Etched into the glass on the underside of the bottle is the word Spain. Interesting what one can find in our waters around this peninsula.
