This aqua glass Hamilton patent ‘torpedo’ bottle is an example of one of the earliest embossed bottles linked to New Plymouth. Designed to hold aerated water, it is marked ‘TARANAKI’ on one side and ‘NEW ZEALAND’ on the other, and is most likely to have come from the Taranaki Hotel during the 1860s. This establishment, which eventually became the Royal Hotel, was a rival to the White Hart Hotel, which was run by Henry Shuttleworth during the same period. A similar torpedo bottle, embossed ‘SHUTTLEWORTH’ and ‘TARANAKI’, is also in the collection. It was part of a collection amassed by Brian Bridgeman, a Taranaki butcher and metal worker. Over a thirty-year collecting career Bridgeman became something of a legend for his comprehensive collection of New Plymouth-related bottles, many of which he dug up himself. Collectors around the country would come calling for advice, to trade or to glimpse parts of his collection. Bridgeman died in 1991 much of his treasured New Plymouth collection was placed on loan at Taranaki Museum. His family was keen to keep the 228 bottles, many of which were rare and irreplaceable, together and in May 2011 Puke Ariki purchased the collection. For more information see Bottled History: The Brian Bridgeman Bottle Collection in Moffat, A. Flashback: Tales and Treasures of Taranaki. Wellington, Huia, 2012, pp.169-174. http://www.huia.co.nz/shop&item_id=3428