There are two parts to this post. The first part is based on fact and the second may be true but I really made some of it up.
If anyone lives by the sea, especially the Atlantic coast, you will be familiar with sea glass. It is those fragments of glass that have been tossed around in the sand and sea until they acquire a satin finish. I was in a Victorian house in Asbury Park NJ that had suffered a fire that destroyed the back of the home from the first to the third floor. The woman who owned it was away in Florida when it was broken into and robbed and set on fire. If you are familiar with Asbury Park you will know it went into a big decline but is undergoing a long recovery, especially at the boardwalk. It received a lot of recent notability thanks to Bruce Springsteen and the Stone Pony Club. This house was on the border of the bad neighborhood. There were actually three apartments, one on ech floor. She was selling off whatever was left and everything was covered with soot. Up on the third floor laying in the kitchen and covered in black, I saw this bottle. I recognized it as old from the neck and I liked the embossed design. I bought it along with a few other things.
When I washed it I realized it was an old Roses Lime Juice bottle from around 1900. The finish on the bottle was created by it washing around in the sea for a long time. A little research told me that Roses Lime Juice was first used by the British Maritime for prevention of scurvy. Mr. Rose found that they really did not like the sour preserved stuff and the lime juice preserved with rum was not good for maritime safety. He sweetened the lime mixture without rum and the sailors approved. It soon became popular with the public also.
I imagine that some British merchant seamen were drinking this on board ship and tossed it overboard when it was empty. Some beachcomber picked it up in New Jersey and brought it to the Victorian home one hundred years ago or more. The person who lived in the third floor apartment recently found it in the attic or in the yard and was using it for decorating in the kitchen. Now I have it as a decoration in my kitchen. That's my story.
Any sea glass collector will tell you that finding an unbroken bottle is the sea is rare, unless its a beer bottle from a boat slob party. To find one that someone else found a century ago is pretty amazing. I laid it on an old lobster box to take the the picture for effect. I know this forum is for questions but I thought you all might enjoy the story.
