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And now for something completely different in terms of a Whatzis...

By The Armorer on August 17, 2006 | | Comments (35)

Heck, I've even given you a *size* referent *and* I haven't pulled in close to remove all context. In case it isn't obvious - that's a nickel.*

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It *is* completely consistent with Castle Artifacts.

So, whatizzit - purpose, origin, etc. Yes it's on the net.

You may begin.

*I know at least *one* of you was going to answer "It's a nickel!" - so I took that away from you snarky bassids.

Update: Some hints in the hunt for the Snipe. Seek a German Clark in Belgium. And destroy him.

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35 Comments

By MM2 on August 17, 2006 8:59 AM
Gun oil?
 
By MajMike on August 17, 2006 9:15 AM
dark glass, so some kind of liquid contents that doesn't behave well or degrades with exposure to light. slender bottle, so exposed surface area of the liquid contents is being minimized. probably due to volatility of said liquid at ambient temps. i'm looking at a Civil War era green bottle for battlefield use of Trappey's Bull Hot Sauce (makes hard tack edible).
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 17, 2006 9:27 AM
MajMike - 1. I wish that was true, that's hilarious! 2. You're closer than you think. Wrong century though. And you wouldn't have wanted to consume the contents. As if *that* won't give it away...
 
By hdw on August 17, 2006 9:49 AM
Nitroglycerin bottle?
   
By Eric Wilner on August 17, 2006 9:54 AM
Heavy glass bottle, with a fuse hole in the stopper: early hand grenade? I have a vague recollection of some grenades having been made of glass, though specifics elude me. I'll guess WWI, and French. Alternatively, it's a Venetian nerve-gas bomb, an early version of the ones seen in Moonraker (the movie, not the book).
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 17, 2006 9:56 AM
In humor, veritas.
 
By Trias on August 17, 2006 10:09 AM
I suspect it's a mustard gas or white phosphorous container.
 
By Tim on August 17, 2006 10:34 AM
Well, duh. It's a bottle rocket.
 
By jim b on August 17, 2006 10:44 AM
So it's a veritas bottle? I think the main reason I keep checking this stuff is there is a slight chance (very slight) that one day I may see something I have actually used.
 
By MajMike on August 17, 2006 10:47 AM
i'm leaning towards picric acid crystals stored under water....
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 17, 2006 10:49 AM
Hmmm. A challenge.
 
By Eric Wilner on August 17, 2006 11:11 AM
OK, so it's a 15th century Turkish plague bottle. The fuse hole in the stopper is actually an air hole so the fleas don't suffocate. Think of "Fleas in a Castle" as being a precursor to "Snakes on a Plane."
 
By Boquisucio on August 17, 2006 12:30 PM
Its a WW1 era French Self-possession Aiding Device. Though those in the French MOD Procurement and Logistics Branch, referred to it as: Dispositif de Secours de l’Élan-et-Valour, it is better known in the Civilian World, as Good ol’Absinthe Wormwood Liqueur. They were standard issue to the French Poilu at the Western Front, and was employed in the vain attempt to create an artificial spine and will on to the French soldiers facing the Huns on No Man’s Land.
 
By Gwedd on August 17, 2006 12:40 PM
BOQ, Absinthe, perhaps... but where is the slotted and spoon and sugar cubes? And for heaven's sake, where would the French find ice water to go with it? I can't see making a proper louche of the absinthe without ice water.... yuck.... Absinthe, though, would explain a lot... particularly the French fascination with Zouaves when everyone else is in khaki or muffti..... Respects, AW1 Tim
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 17, 2006 12:56 PM
Snerk. Um, inventive, Boq, but, sadly, along with MajMike's Recoil Booster (dude - you should make it and market it!), wrong.
 
By MajMike on August 17, 2006 2:07 PM
traveling inkwell.
 
By William C. Thomas on August 17, 2006 2:15 PM
Morphine container?
 
By Karla (threadbndr) on August 17, 2006 3:27 PM
Very slender neck inside diameter and tiny, tiny dispensing hole in lid. This whole thing is only about 7 inches long, and the neck of the bottle is what 3/4 inch? That glass looks turn of the last century to me - like it's mold blown. Too small for grenade/moltov cocktail. Were mustard gas shells loaded in the field? Belgium and German make me think WWI trench time.
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 17, 2006 3:36 PM
Karla's spanking you boys. Run with it, Karla!
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 17, 2006 3:41 PM
Oh, and I should make something clear - what looks like a hole in the stopper, isn't. The stopper is also made of the same glass as the bottle.
 
By Trias on August 17, 2006 3:52 PM
Fire the bottle snipe the bottle?
 
By MajMike on August 17, 2006 4:42 PM
iocane poison (from Australia)
 
By Boquisucio on August 17, 2006 5:06 PM
Were Petula Clark German songs played in Belgium by mistake??? They should fire that D.J.
 
By MajMike on August 17, 2006 5:16 PM
It's Not Unusual.
 
By Eric Wilner on August 17, 2006 6:13 PM
Ah... non-perforated glass stopper. A glass stopper suggests something nasty-corrosive, that would eat cork or rubber. Nitric acid for Sprengel explosives? (Binary liquids - how topical!)
 
By Old Fat Sailor on August 17, 2006 7:17 PM
Mercury salts bottle for the irrigation of the Disease of Love?
 
By ibm on August 17, 2006 9:23 PM
Projectile from a Smith gun? No, not a Smith gun. There was another thing that threw something Ian Hogg described as a bottle filled with an incendiary mixture ( and no tin a nice way ). IBM
 
By Justthisguy on August 17, 2006 10:16 PM
Ammo for Bates 8-barrel bottle thrower. (What you were thinking, ibm)
 
By Eric Wilner on August 17, 2006 10:27 PM
Waitaminit... German Clark. Would that be Clark I, chlorodiphenylarsine, or Clark II, cyanodiphenylarsine? Sneezy gas? I can't seem to find anything on the historical use... physical characteristics are consistent with keeping in bottles with maybe a wax seal, no pressure vessel required. This is close to Karla's guess of mustard gas, while not actually being mustard gas....
 
By Old Fat Sailor on August 18, 2006 4:06 AM
For a solution used to impregnate early gas mask?
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 18, 2006 6:23 AM
Eric shoots, Eric scores! Sneezy/vomiting agent, intended to be used in conjunction with phosgene by breaking the integrity of the mask so the phosgene could do it's nastiness. You're actually almost there. And you *do* have enough info now to google (sue me, Sergey) your way to victory!
 
By MajMike on August 18, 2006 8:09 AM
arsines in Ypres?? (try saying that five times fast)
 
By Eric Wilner on August 18, 2006 9:39 AM
Oh! Now that I look at that diagram of the 77mm Clark munition on page 2 of proceedings14.pdf, it actually shows the bottle! D'oh! Looks like the 77mm gas shell contained the glass bottle, stopper end at the base of the shell, surrounded (except for the stopper end) by TNT. I presume the phosgene was distributed separately, as only Clark I and II are listed as toxic agents for this shell.
 
By John of Argghhh! on August 18, 2006 10:24 AM
Correct, Eric. The phosgene was delivered by other guns. This bottle is from a stash of bottles discovered in the same place as those loaded munitions were found. These were never filled. This is the document Eric is referring to.
 
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