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I guess this is off-topic since I am not planning to scrap this. But it is metal...

Does anyone know what type of canteen this is?

http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad252/ilyaz73/Old%20bottles%202/IMG_2509.jpg

It's about 12" tall. Do you think it's copper? I think it dates to between 1930 and 1960 maybe 1970, but can't pinpoint its age more accurately, at least not yet... This was found together with a bunch of old bottles during a creek clean-up, probably from an old dump . The canteen is till intact -- I poured water into it and it did not leak. So far did not find anything written or stamped on it. Considering cleaning the rust off but it might damage more than "beautify" so I might end up simply cleaning the iron/steel rust off and leaving the rest alone...

Thanks

I think you might be off by 70-90 years. If its made of tin, it should date 1850-1910,I don't know that tin would corrode like that though. If its copper it should date to about the same time period, but copper canteens were used for fuel transport because the copper will not spark, and copper oil canteens have a narrow tapered spout /\. Since yours has a wide mouth \/, it might be for water, but it would likely have been lined with tin/pewter for that purpose. If it is copper, in that form it is not a regulation issue military canteen.

Does the interior appear the same as the exterior?
What led you to believe it would date 1930-1960?

Verbane wrote:I think you might be off by 70-90 years. If its made of tin, it should date 1850-1910,I don't know that tin would corrode like that though. If its copper it should date to about the same time period, but copper canteens were used for fuel transport because the copper will not spark, and copper oil canteens have a narrow tapered spout /\. Since yours has a wide mouth \/, it might be for water, but it would likely have been lined with tin/pewter for that purpose. If it is copper, in that form it is not a regulation issue military canteen.

Does the interior appear the same as the exterior?
What led you to believe it would date 1930-1960?

Most of the bottles found at the same locations are apparently from those years (Here's the link to the whole album: http://s941.photobucket.com/albums/ad252/ilyaz73/Old%20bottles%202/?start=all). Of course, it's possible that older things were thrown away together with newer ones so it might be older. This was probably a "regular" dump, not a "specialized" one since I found pieces of granite and what looks like chunks of a car frame there.

I'll try to look inside when I get home.

Can it be zinc? I think zinc can rust green but I might be wrong about that. Brass?

UPDATE: looks like the copper (brass, actually) canteen shown above is similar to one of these:http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-brass-canteen-style-cello-hot-104016000

I was able to partially clean and read the logo ("CELLO"). Not sure I can ever clean this up to make it shiny but it' still pretty cool!

A brass hot water bottle, that would explain why I couldn't identify the mouth of the canteen. Nice Find

Verbane wrote:A brass hot water bottle, that would explain why I couldn't identify the mouth of the canteen. Nice Find

Thanks. Do you happen to know if it's possible to remove all the oxidation from it, both green from brass and brown from iron? I think originally this bottle looked like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66091746/cello-metal-water-bottle-with-stopper?ref=sr_gallery_7&ga_includes%5B0%5D=tags&ga_search_query=antique+water+bottle&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet= Not sure if I can get it anywhere close to the original look but I want to give it a try.

ilyaz wrote:

Verbane wrote:A brass hot water bottle, that would explain why I couldn't identify the mouth of the canteen. Nice Find

Thanks. Do you happen to know if it's possible to remove all the oxidation from it, both green from brass and brown from iron? I think originally this bottle looked like this: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66091746/cello-metal-water-bottle-with-stopper?ref=sr_gallery_7&ga_includes%5B0%5D=tags&ga_search_query=antique+water+bottle&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet= Not sure if I can get it anywhere close to the original look but I want to give it a try.

That might be tough to do. My only suggestion is vinegar. I would start with 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water, and soak it a while, maybe a couple days. That should remove a lot of the verdigris. You might need to use more vinegar to see results. Warning, this is what I would do based on current condition/value.

Verbane wrote:
That might be tough to do. My only suggestion is vinegar. I would start with 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water, and soak it a while, maybe a couple days. That should remove a lot of the verdigris. You might need to use more vinegar to see results. Warning, this is what I would do based on current condition/value.

How concentrated should the vinegar be before I mix it with water. Would something like this work: http://www.target.com/p/HEINZ-HEINZ-WHITE-VINEGAR-128-OZ/-/A-13386295

Or something more potent?

Thanks

Regular cooking/canning. It should say 5% acidity.