original and very rare c. mid-1840's open pontiled blue aqua violin or scroll figured flask bottle. the light colored glass shades to a deeper blue near the base. both sides feature the same distinctive design, with medial and inferior scrolls that nearly touch and vertical ribbing at the sides. there are two 8-pointed stars sitting centrally, a slightly larger, better defined star in the middle body and a smaller more asymmetrical star at the shoulder. at the flat base is a crude open pontil scar and seams from a key hinge mold. the curvaceous shape is finished with a crude sheared lip that exhibits stretch marks down the neck and an open bubble on the interior bore. there are 52 molds of scroll flasks recorded in the mckearin historical flask groups, with this flask likely representing a variation of gix-10. 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.