What Is It? November 2024

 The November What Is It is an ancient baby-feeding device. Roman terra-cotta bottles, such as the rare Third Century A.D. nurser pictured above have been uncovered, with dried milk inside, at infant burial sites. It may have been the very thing that caused the baby’s death. The mortality rate for bottle-fed children was worse than breast-fed babies.  The reason was that bacteria bred furiously in the milk-soaked nursers. It wasn’t until French scientist Louis Pasteur demonstrated the bacteria could cause fatal infections that the connection was made.  Rubber nipples and sterilization eliminated the bacteria, enabling nursing bottles to become the safe equipment they are today.
 The older a nursing bottle is, the less familiar in shape and material it is likely to be, and the more valuable. Most collectors strive for a well-rounded collection with representative samples of such popular types as 19th and 20th century glass, early-19th century pottery, 17th and 18th century pewter (Metal, particularly pewter, was a common material for nursers in Europe, during the 17th and 18th centuries. The lead content may have contributed to the infant mortality rate as well, but the material makes such nursers very desirable—and costly—collectors’ items. Most were melted down long ago for their metal.)
 Other guesses included one from Terry Cook of Fort Morgan, Colorado. She thought November’s What Is it might be an ancient clay oil lamp. It looks that way to us, too. Thank you, Terry for venturing a guess.

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