The Selters water is a naturally sparkling, sodium bicarbonate mineral
water, but I cannot say whether or not the bottle closures allowed for the
retention of the bubbles. If had to wager a guess, I would say the final
product for the consumer would be still mineral water. There is nothing to
suggest an air tight closure was employed. The branding on the bottles
appears to be explicitly for the water. However, there also appears to be
a strong secondary/aftermarket use of the bottles for alcohol exporting,
specifically gin.
-Matt
______________________________________________
Matthew E. Cross
Archaeological Assistant — Historic Section
Illinois State Archaeological Survey
Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
23 East Stadium Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
217.300.3060
[log in to unmask]
On 6/17/16, 11:51 AM, "HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of Susan Walter"
<[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>So you are saying all of these bottles were originally made to be used
>for
>mineral water?
>Are you saying they held CARBONATED or NON carbonated waters ORIGINALLY?
>It’s the carbonation thing we're debating out here.
>
>My personal experience with all these fluids is weak.
>Carbonation makes me sick, and I don't nor ever have drunk alcoholic
>beverages. Even the thimble full of communion wine used to make me throw
>up.
>
>But I want to reiterate:
>So you are saying all of these bottles were originally made to be used
>for
>mineral water?
>Are you saying they held CARBONATED or NON carbonated waters ORIGINALLY?
>It’s the carbonation thing we're debating out here.
>
>Thanks,
>S. Walter
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Cross, Matthew
>Sent: Friday, June 17, 2016 6:46 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: great local debate
>
>While the bottles were originally filled with mineral water, they were
>often reused for booze. A polish shipwreck contained a number of these
>bottles intact and still corked. What did they contain? Gin.
>http://www.livescience.com/47382-shipwreck-alcohol-bottle-discovered.html
>
>
>-Matt
>______________________________________________
>
>Matthew E. Cross
>Archaeological Assistant ‹ Historic Section
>
>Illinois State Archaeological Survey
>Prairie Research Institute
>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
>209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
>23 East Stadium Drive
>Champaign, IL 61820
>
>217.300.3060
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
>
>On 6/16/16, 4:14 PM, "HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of Susan Walter"
><[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>June 16, 2016
>>Hi All,
>>Regarding those tall, cylindrical stoneware bottles, specifically those
>>marked ³SELTERS² did they contain carbonated fluids? I¹ve heard they did
>>NOT from one person, but others say yes they did. My various sources say
>>the contents included mineral water, wine, rum, gin, ale, and seltzer.
>>Many thanks as always,
>>S. Walter
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