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Peabody Essex Museum (Catalog no. M467)IMAGE INFORMATION

A very singular and curious, Reel in a bottle executed by the donor in Philadelphia

Object Status:

Unlocated

Accession Date:

February 1814

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 71

Notes:

"Predating the still-popular ship in a bottle, the reel in a bottle was considered a type of puzzle. Some were made by placing the collapsed reel in the bottle; when the poles were expanded, the yarn wrapped tightly around them. Others were actually constructed through the narrow mouth of the bottle." The Peale Museum's example may have resembled this American one ca. 1830s in the East India Marine Society Collection, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.