[Norman McCormick]

Hi Jim,
These leather bottles, costrels, were an essential piece of kit for carrying water, beer etc in the days before mass produced pressed tin etc. Early colonial, American, frontiersmen would have been very familiar with this type of vessel. If you look at Austrian village/town bands you will normally find women marching alongside with a wooden costrel filled with ??? presumably to slake the thirst of the band members and probably in days gone by armed followers when on the march but really nowadays just part of the costume I suspect, see girl in bottom right of picture. Leather bottles are a good idea if you think about it lightweight and not easily broken unlike glass which would have been too expensive anyway and irreparable if broken. Leather drinking vessels, jacks, were also made in a similar fashion with double rows, of I think, saddle stitch and covered in a type of pitch and wax inside and out to make them waterproof. Anyhow enough of my ramblings
My Regards,
Norman.