1800s-1930s Aqua Shoe Polish or Perfume and 50 similar items

This is an unusual, antique cork-topped bottle with a dauber, likely dating between the late 1800s and 1930s. The gorgeous bottle is a lovely aqua to blue-green color with nice clarity. It is embossed on the bottom, "2 1/2 fl oz" with a circle above and a "7" below. Shape is also unique, with indentations on both sides making it octagonal. I am not sure what the bottle's intended use was but turn of the century bottles similar to this were used for shoe polish, glues and pastes, perfume, liniment and medicines such as Mercurochrome. The dauber, or applicator, may have been cotton and discolored by the bottle's contents. The dauber, originally attached through the cork with a metal wire, is broken. The remnants of the dauber are in the bottom of the bottle. My father, an avid bottle digger, found the bottle more than 40 years ago in the ruins of an old home in Virginia. The bottle is in nice condition, free from breaks or cracks. I did not remove the cork to clean sediment as I didn't want to damage the dauber. The bottle measures about 3.5" x 2" x 1.25".