Can anyone identify the origins of this flask?

[Ystranc]

I recently got this copper water flask in a mixed lot at auction, I'm pretty sure it's a water bottle and not a hot water bottle...
...I've seen a few pictures of similar ones online but no information on its manufacturer or intended use.
Do any of you recognise the design or have any info on it.

 

[lol]

Very stylish...…..cocktail shaker?

 

[Ystranc]

I think it may just be a copper water bottle but it is quite nicely made. It doesn't have the wide neck of a cocktail shaker but I can't really definitely say what it was originally for. It has an indentation in the base (called a punt) similar to the base of a wine bottle meaning that it was meant to stand upright, not be used as a hot water bottle in a bed. There are a few reasons for making a bottle with a punt but one of the main reasons is that it collects and helps settle sediment from liquid.

 

[Ark79]

Hot water bottle

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=o...8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#imgrc=6M7PAQO1GFQ9LM:

 

[Ystranc]

Hot water bottle

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=o...8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#imgrc=6M7PAQO1GFQ9LM:

Yes I've seen that photo already but I'm unconvinced, if it's a hot water bottle why the punt in its base and also most hot water bottles that I've seen are quite a bit thinner gauge copper and made to lie down in a bed with the opening at the top...this thing is tough and made to stand up...
I think that photo is a case of someone assuming it was a hot water bottle then posting it online so it becomes dogma.

 

[Ark79]

Yes I've seen that photo already but I'm unconvinced, if it's a hot water bottle why the punt in its base and also most hot water bottles that I've seen are quite a bit thinner gauge copper and made to lie down in a bed with the opening at the top...this thing is tough and made to stand up...
I think that photo is a case of someone assuming it was a hot water bottle then posting it online so it becomes dogma.

You could be right ystranc. Know nothing about them. Your picture was the first I have seen one. And the link was the first google search lol. The punt in the base could just be a design more than a functioning use.

 

[Ystranc]

Maybe, I've been finding a lot of images of this particular design and it was obviously commercially made on a large scale...there has to be more information out there.

 

[Ystranc]

Some more possible information, one person claims these are hot water bottles and were used on stage coaches/mail carriages during the Victorian era, I have had carriage heaters before but none like these. I need to verify this somehow. I just wish there was a manufacturers mark or Royal Mail mark on them, that would help.

 

[Ark79]

Had a few try’s to find info on one of these but no avail. Turn it into a side lamp and call it a day mate

 

[Ystranc]

Lmao great idea! It's a bit on the heavy side for a hip flask anyway.

 

[Ark79]

Am amazed there is nothing on the web. No info I found an old post on gumtree. Someone was selling it for £70. Technically you could rename it mate who would know

 

[Ystranc]

I couldn't do that to future researchers, the search engines already turn up enough misinformation without me adding to it...
...I just hoped that the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the venerable members of this forum would be able to enlighten me a little........sadly no

 

[Ark79]

Lmao Knowledge and wisdom you say hard pushed to find that here

Jokes aside. A could entertain the idea of a flask for an old coach. Sounds plausible. The punt could be a design to house a divot of sorts for steadiness/secure

 

[1 shot willie]

An old Olive Oil storage flask maybe.........infusion flask?

 

[Ystranc]

I wish I knew Bill, it drives me mad when I get something like this...I can get a bit obsessive about it until I find out what's what.