Antique ROWLANDS MACASSAR OIL London Pontil Bottle c1840 Flint Glass Open Pontil For Sale

Antique ROWLANDS MACASSAR OIL London Pontil Flask c1845-1855 Blue Flint Glass Crude Early

Before pomade tins, before branded plastic, before anything resembling modern grooming—this sat on a Victorian dressing table while London still smelled like coal smoke and horse traffic.

This is an early Rowlands Macassar Oil bottle, made when glasshouses were still fighting gravity and consistency—and often losing in beautiful ways.

Circa 1845–1855

Here’s why:

• Solid rod pontil → pre-1860, typically earlier side
• Flint glass with slight blue cast → transitional purity, mid-19th century
• Heavy, thick base + uneven planes → early hand-blown, pre-standardization
• Tooled (not applied) lip → post-1830s but still early execution

This lands cleanly in that prime early Victorian production window.

A superb early rectangular flint glass toilet bottle, embossed:

“ROWLANDS MACASSAR OIL
NO 20 HATTON GARDEN LONDON
THE ORIGINAL AND GENUINE”

• Height: just under 4\"
• Color: clear flint with a subtle blue/icy cast
• Base: solid rod pontil scar
• Lip: flared, hand-tooled
• Glass: thick, weighty, and wonderfully crude
• Form: slightly skewed, with gentle warping across planes

The base glass is exceptionally thick and even, while the body shows classic early instability—giving it that “alive” look collectors chase.

Let’s not sugarcoat it—it’s excellent.

• No chips, cracks, or dings
• Clean, bright surfaces
• Strong embossing
• Light production irregularities only (as made)

This is one of those examples where condition and age actually coexist… which is annoyingly rare.

Rowland’s was a major London perfumery and cosmetic firm operating out of Hatton Garden, a historic jewelry and trade district.

They became famous for:

• Macassar Oil (their flagship product)
• Kalydor (skin cream)
• Odonto (tooth powder)

By the mid-1800s, they were aggressively branding—note the phrase:

“THE ORIGINAL AND GENUINE”

That’s Victorian marketing for: “everyone is copying us and we’re mad about it.”

Macassar Oil was a hair grooming oil used to:

• Smooth and style hair
• Add shine
• Supposedly promote growth

It was heavily perfumed and… very greasy. So greasy, in fact, that it led to:

• The invention of “antimacassars” (those cloths on chair backs)

Yes—this bottle helped create a whole category of furniture protection. Not a bad legacy.

Rowland’s leaned hard into:

• Exotic branding (“Macassar” referencing Indonesia)
• Prestige London address
• Anti-counterfeit messaging
• Claims of refinement and social status

Owning this wasn’t hygiene—it was presentation.

• Railways exploding across Britain
• Early telegraph systems emerging
• Gas lighting becoming widespread

• Still pre-germ theory (Lister comes later)
• Heavy reliance on tonics, oils, and “improvers”
• Cosmetics often blurred into medicine

• Early Victorian era under Queen Victoria
• Expanding empire
• Rising middle class obsessed with appearance and propriety

• Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace
• Massive urban growth and industrialization
• Widening gap between wealth and poverty

This bottle lived right in the middle of that transformation.

This is the kind of piece that checks all the right boxes:

• Early
• Honest
• Attractive
• Historically relevant

And most importantly—it hasn’t been “improved” by time. It still looks like it just wandered out of a 19th-century glasshouse slightly crooked and unapologetic about it.