Age of stone snuff bottle?

[Greeno]

Greetings to all!

It has also been quite a while since I've come across a snuff bottle worth sharing, but I kind of like this one, so I'm planning to put it into my collection if it turns out to be what I suspect it to be.  I would appreciate feedback on age & quality. Thanks.

Measures 2.75" (with stopper) tall x 2.25" wide x 1.25" deep.  Stopper is gold washed silver and has the corner of one silver mark very visible where the tubular part was soldered to the cover, and 2 more square marks that are visible, but completely illegible.  Initially, I had thought/hoped the stone was a beautiful red jade, but alas I see bubbles when held to the light, so it is glass.

The stone bottle has a beautiful grain, signs of hand tooling should be visible in photos.  The only damage it seems is that one area of the foot seems to have been chipped, then ground smooth at one time or another, but it stands perfectly straight - no wobble.

I'm not exactly sure how to call the stone.  It appears to be a composite stone as you can see from the photo of the side that there are cubicle pebble forms, so I am leaning towards calling this pudding stone.  However, there are some examples of fossilized limestone bottles that seems to have a similar veining as my bottle.  Can anyone offer some help?

The bottom has an old paper label.  Anyone know what it says?

I have been looking at examples of bottles with this form made from stone.....most records seem to date them from 1740-1860.  Would that be a reasonable date range for my bottle?

Thanks for the help.
Greeno
 

[YT]

Dear Greeno,

Interesting material, It looks like a type of limestone or marble. Don't think it is fosiliferous.
It is very well used though.
Is the bottle well hollowed and can we see a picture of the opening?
Is the jagged black line a crack right to the foot?

Forgive my curiosity as I learn through questions.

Cheers,
YT

[George]

Hi there Greeno !

I am unsure about the material as well.. Would agree with YT that does not look fossiliferous though..

A pic for the top would help, but not so sure this has a lot of age ..

[Greeno]

Here's some photos of the top.  The yellow color of one photo is due to lighting (no flash).

The piece is well hollowed, a lot of room for snuff in this bottle, but very hard for me to photograph....perhaps if I can find my pen light I can get a better photo of the inside.  I tried the float test...not a floater, but close.  Holding the bottle while it was submerged in water, I could definitely feel that with a bit more hollowing that the piece could be made to float.

In the right light, you can see the grooves worn into the stone top where the silver stopper has rubbed against the stone.  There seems to also be some tonal qualities from the color of the stone that has been exposed to direct light vs. stone that would otherwise be covered by the stopper.

Any thoughts on the label?

[Greeno]

Whoops...here are the photos...

[Greeno]

Few more photos....

The crack appears to be a natural fissure in the stone that runs from the foot, to the neck, over the shoulder, then down just a bit on the other side of the bottle.  I can't see well enough inside the bottle to know if it goes through to the other side.

I took a few shots in different lighting so you can see the wear to the surface.  The bottle probably at one time had a lustrous polish, but the extensive surface scratches over time almost give it a matte finish in certain light.

[YT]

Dear Greeno,

Thanks for the additional photos and info.
I cannot decipher the two characters as it is quite faded although the Chinese experts here may be able to help.
The 18th/19th hardstone bottles are smaller in size.

Cheers,
YT