Q & A

C.R. of Winnipeg, Manitoba writes:

I have a malachite glass perfume bottle. I've been told it was made in Czechoslovakia in the early part of the 1900's. It has been mouth blown into a mould and has cherubs and flowers on it. My only dilemma is that the stopper is stuck tight in the bottle and any attempts to dislodge it, thus far, have been unsuccessful. I have soaked it in warm water, sprayed it with WD40 and various other things, unsuccessfully. Any suggestions?

Of course, I don't want to force it and take a chance on breaking the bottle or the stopper. This would not even bother me but the stopper is not stuck straight, the stopper is turned about a 1/4 of a turn to one side which upsets my sense of order and I feel takes away from the beauty of it. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

We asked Lee Caswell to respond:

Czechoslovakian glass (malachite glass) or perfumes are heavily reproduced and thus even though this maybe an old one the price has dropped because the market place is unsure as to whether it is old or new. A few years ago pre-reproductions it would have been $200-300 but, alas, now I would guess it to be approximately $100-150. and with the frozen stopper....probably only $50.

Just looking at your frozen stopper in the bottle....I don't know much about this matter....but penetrating oil may work. You need something to dissolve the oils in the perfume which have locked the stopper in place. You can buy this at Canadian Tire I believe, in the auto dept. In general I would leave this to a professional; someone in the glass grinding/repair business may help. The number of times I have seen a stopper completely broken off, it's very frustrating.