HOW WERE THE FLASKS USED?
There is no contemporary information of which I'm aware, that gives any indication of how the flasks were used, and therefore I can only give my personal view of this.
By the early 19th Century, the sale of spirits, particularly gin, to the masses was a huge market, but this is documented elsewhere. It seems almost certain that the purpose of the flasks was for 'off-sales'; that is to say for the sale of alcohol for consumption off the licensed premises. The manufacture of the flasks by the pottery and their transport to the wine and spirit merchant, would have represented some financial investment, and in order to try to increase the chances of their return by the consumer, they were almost always marked with the merchant's name. The presence of multiple old corks within certain flasks is an indicator of their re-use, where the corks have been pushed into the bottle, in order to release the contents, in the absence of a corkscrew!
Other than indicating to whom the flask should be returned, the impressing was also regarded as a form of advertising, and this evidenced by the examples from T.Oliver, Drummond Arms, Drummond Street, which are also impressed with the words; 'ACCOMMODATION FOR TRAVELLERS'. A further example from Garrett, 1 King Street, Tower Hill, bears the additional text; 'Captains Carriers & the Trade Supplied'.
There is no contemporary information of which I'm aware, that gives any indication of how the flasks were used, and therefore I can only give my personal view of this.
By the early 19th Century, the sale of spirits, particularly gin, to the masses was a huge market, but this is documented elsewhere. It seems almost certain that the purpose of the flasks was for 'off-sales'; that is to say for the sale of alcohol for consumption off the licensed premises. The manufacture of the flasks by the pottery and their transport to the wine and spirit merchant, would have represented some financial investment, and in order to try to increase the chances of their return by the consumer, they were almost always marked with the merchant's name. The presence of multiple old corks within certain flasks is an indicator of their re-use, where the corks have been pushed into the bottle, in order to release the contents, in the absence of a corkscrew!
Other than indicating to whom the flask should be returned, the impressing was also regarded as a form of advertising, and this evidenced by the examples from T.Oliver, Drummond Arms, Drummond Street, which are also impressed with the words; 'ACCOMMODATION FOR TRAVELLERS'. A further example from Garrett, 1 King Street, Tower Hill, bears the additional text; 'Captains Carriers & the Trade Supplied'.
The likelihood is that the consumer would request a quantity of his chosen drink from the merchant or public house, and a flask would be filled with the appropriate amount from a bulk container, be it a cask or barrel. using a spirit measure. The presence of the text '1/4 & 1/2' on the sides of some flasks suggests that they could be used for either a quarter-pint, or a half-pint, depending on the customer's order.
It may be the case that flasks were sometimes pre-filled with spirits, ready for immediate sale, and there is a series of figural reform flasks from a Liverpool retailer, which are variously stamped 'RUM', 'GIN', 'BRANDY' and 'WHISKY' on the reverse, below the merchant's name, possibly suggesting that at least in some instances, they were not just filled to order.