original and rare nearly mint mid-nineteenth century aqua violin or scroll figured flask bottle. the light blue aqua tinted glass features the same distinctive design on both sides, with medial and inferior scrolls that don't touch, and vertical ribbing at the sides that end in a dimple-like scroll at the shoulder. there are two 6-pointed stars of the same size on each side. at the flat base is a shallow indented pontil scar with reddish residue from the iron pontil, and seams from heel to base of neck indicate use of a two leaf mold. the curvaceous, asymmetrical shape is finished with a crude sheared lip that is worn at the edge and exhibits a large flat chip. there is also a flat, very small chip at the base. the oversized, intact glass is otherwise intact and in good condition. crudities are consistent with its age and date of manufacture, including large bubbles, open bubbles, stretch marks in the neck, and allover whittling and asymmetry. scroll flasks are recorded as group ix in the the mckearin historical flask groups, but it is unknown which of the 52 recorded molds this bottle fragment represents. this style of flask was introduced around 1830 and gained extremely popular through the 1840's and 1850's, apparently waning by the beginning of the civil war; it appears that very few if any were made after that time. most scroll flasks were likely made by midwestern glassmakers, though most do not have makers marks to allow for precise attribution (and some were produced in other regions). scroll flasks were fabricated by blowing hot glass into a two piece iron mold. the hinged mold was then opened and the bottle was removed while still attached to the blowpipe. an assistant would then attach a pontil rod to the base of the bottle, and the glass blower could then detach the bottle from its lip by shearing the still soft glass. most often scroll flasks are found with a plain sheared lip. some flasks would receive additional work to finish the mouth and lip. commonly found are the applied band of glass and, infrequently, an applied lip. measures 8 1/2 inches in height and about 3 inches wide.