Details
A Rare Crystal Coin Bottle
1781-1810
Of flattened rounded shape, with simple shallow concave foot and delicately waisted neck, the translucent rock crystal finely carved on both sides, following the design of a Spanish Eight Reales coin (Pieces of Eight), with a portrait of Charles III to one side above the date 1781 AD, and the royal Coat of Arms to the other, stopper
26in. (5.6cm.) high
Literature
Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, London, 1971, p. 76, no. 198.
Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles, No. 3, 1972, fig. 24.

Lot Essay

In the first of the two publications above, both sides of the bottle are illustrated with a pencil rubbing of the two sides showing how well defined the coin actually is.

For another 'Eight Reales' bottle bearing the date 1789 formerly in the Joseph Baruch Silver Collection, see Alexander Brody, Old Wine into Old Bottles, A Collector's Commonplace Book, Hong Kong, 1993, pp. 26-27 and 148, no. 26

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