Ships, Folk Art, and Whimsey in Bottles

This is a chair built in a bottle by James R. Langen of Jacksonville Beach, FL. The chair extends tightly into the sides of the bottle and is made in natural wood. The legs are large dowel shaped and there are 2 stretchers between each leg. The back has 3 dowel rungs. The seat is tightly woven and very well made. It is made from heavy gold and blue threads interwoven. The back left leg is initialed "JRL," the initials of the maker and on the other leg is "'81" for 1981 the year the bottle was made. The bottle is sealed with a wooden shaft with a wooden cross piece making it impossible to remove the stopper. This is even more a puzzle with the placement of an additional long wooden peg going the opposite direction through the cross piece. Outside the bottle is an inch square cube. Under the bottle is a label: "__mes R. Langen ______ North 10th St. ___ksonville Bch. FL 32250." Another example appears in bottle ID 356.