Page 32 - BBR July 5 2020 Auction

128. STURGEON’S PRESERVED MILK. 9.9ins long, deep aqua glass round bottomed hamilton style shape with a very distinct bulb shape in the neck below the square lip finish. Two heavily embossed lines of capital letters one side. many characterful aspects to this bottle - air bubbles, striations in the neck etc. If we are being picky there are a couple of miniscule nibbles to the lip, typical on such square finishes. (9/10) NR £600-800+
Researched background information below by
BBR editor Guy Burch.
Sturgeon’s are extremely rare with perhaps around six known, most having been found down under. The person responsible
for them stubbornly rebuffs all efforts at discovery.
The curious distinct bulb
midway down the neck is not
as pronounced as Soyer’s Nectar (registered
1848) but, like a hand-formed version of Fisher’s Seaweed extract’s neck bulge, it hints
at a deliberate purpose. Given most Sturgeon’s have turned up ‘down-under’ a strong Australasian connection is likely with a date of around 1840-60 judging by the character of the glass and embossing. It probably contained heat treated milk, not powder? In 1835 M Guimauld’s formula for the preservation of milk by agitation in cold air to desiccate it was described. The earliest reference to preserved milk is in 1830 when Yates & Co advertised the sale of Preserved Milk “on commission per Thomas Coutts”. Scientific American reported the experiments of Mr Yates on June 19th 1848 saying “if milk be introduced into bottles, then well corked, put into a pan of cold water, and gradually raised to the boiling point, and after being allowed to cool, be taken out and set away in a cool place, the milk may be preserved perfectly sweet for upwards of half a year”. Called latteina in Italy, great emphasis was placed on firmly corking the bottles perhaps indicated by the extra bulge in the Sturgeon’s and the heating might mean robust ovates were preferred?
In 1848 Yates, who were corn factors, were selling cans of preserved milk made on the farm of Earl Talbot at Tixall near Stafford a process that had been patented. This was E D Moore’s patent tinned preserved milk, a paste that was mixed with boiling water. It was advertised that year and later as Moore and Buckley’s patent concentrated milk (1853) at
Rare early bottle that contained Fadeuille’s Patent Preserved Milk.
the Great Exhibition where they were awarded medals. They boasted a half pint could be made at a cost of 21⁄2d “being less than one-half the price hitherto charged for the Liquid Preserved Milk for Emigrants.” Those travelling on board ships were often advised to take supplies with them. Although the adverts are usually for tins it is sometimes described as in ‘pints’ perhaps suggesting bottles? The Leeds Times of 1841 carried a letter in which a recent settler in New Zealand,
whilst in rapture about the new land made a point of saying “bottles of preserved milk would be very excellent.”
Gail Borden Jr patented a method of making condensed milk in America in 1856 (patent no 15553) and there were later patents and companies but the name of Sturgeon has so far not been found specifically connected to milk. One possibility is suggested by the
firm of Sturgeon & Sons of South Ockendon and Grays Hall Farm. The patriarch was Thomas Bennett Sturgeon (1790-1855) who was
a noted stock breeder in Suffolk before moving to Grays in 1823/4. He had bred and supplied a strain of Merino Sheep that became
the dominant one in Australia and New Zealand. Three of Thomas’s sons, Thomas Jr, Charles and Alfred, were in co-partnership with their father, the business being known as Sturgeon & Sons. Described
as “victualling suppliers” they were involved in a convoluted legal spat, discussed in Parliament, accused of supplying bad hay to the Admiralty at Deptford inn 1854. Henry Jr (1822-1888), who had
farmed Middle Farm, South Ockendon, emigrated with his wife and most of his children to New Zealand in 1875 - is it possible their business also supplied preserved milk and the bottles may be ones specifically made as ships provisions?
Early Marino sheep engraving