Bottle Stoppers can be found along the shoreline in Folkestone - if you are lucky!
The stoppers were used as a way of sealing the tops of jars and bottles before plastic and metal tops were used. The oldest stoppers date back to as early 1,500 BC, but they didn't come into wider use until the 19th century.
Stoppers were mainly utilitarian or decorative, and used for perfume bottles, ink jars, sauce & food bottles, soda & alcohol bottles, as well as by the apothecary.
The glass stoppers we find are often highly worn and frosted, which gives us a clue that they are very old, and likely to be Victorian - an exciting piece of history, and it always feels very special to find one!
Comments