Beautiful sea foam green bottom of an antique bottle featuring a prominent pintle mark. A pontil mark is a scar or roughened area of variable size and type left on the base of a bottle where a pontil rod was attached during the glassblowing process. The pontil rod—also known as a ponty, punty, or punte—was typically a long metal rod, about 4 to 6 feet in length, used to hold the hot bottle after it was blown. Its length ensured that the intense heat of the freshly blown bottle, which could exceed 2000°F, did not reach the hands of the glassworker. The pontil rod held the bottle during the stage when the blowpipe was removed, a process known as "cracking off," allowing the lip or finish of the bottle to be completed. Glassmakers called the application of the pontil rod and the consequent detachment of the blowpipe "reversing." After the finishing was done, the pontil rod was sharply tapped to break it free, leaving behind the pontil mark. This mark provides visible evidence that the bottle was held by the rod, distinguishing it from bottles with smooth bases, which have no such scar.

Measures approximately 2” in diameter. Set in .925 sterling silver, comes with 18” sterling chain.