This type of pocket bottle (see also B.58.29, B.58.30, B.58.31) was made by the German half post method, in which a partially inflated gather (the post) was dipped into the molten glass to add a second layer (the half post) that extends part way up the body. The ribbing on each layer was made in a ribbed dip mold, and in the case where the maker wanted a swirl, he would twist the gather after it was removed from the dip mold. In the 1920s it was thought that this type of bottle was only made at the Pitkin Glassworks in East Hartford, Connecticut, and “Pitkin” became their generic name. In actuality, they were produced at many factories in both New England and the Midwest.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.