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Wapen van Bremen in a Bottle
Date Added: 04 November 2021
Wapen van Bremen - The four orlogships of the Bremen town hall in the upper town hall are heavily armed vessels and were used in the 16th to 18th centuries to secure the merchant convoys. The second youngest of these four warships, some of which are several centuries old, is called WAPPEN VON BREMEN (coat of arms of Bremen) or WAPEN VAN BREMEN (Low German) and dates from 1750. The model is presumably based on the ship of the same name from 1689, of which, however, there are no longer any plans or illustrations. Very hard mahogany was used for the hull of the ship in a bottle, as two bands of colour were left natural. The figurehead was made of animal bones and shows a Roman soldier, a symbol of the free republic ('res publica'), because Bremen was an empire-free city at that time, i.e. it was only subject to the emperor. The 62 cannons are turned from bamboo toothpicks. The model hangs, like its prototype, on a long chain under the neck of the fermenting balloon. To balance the ship, two additional, thinner chains were attached like on the prototype. Rigging was done with bamboo knitting needles as masts, the sails are made of white cotton, which was dyed in a mixture of strong coffee for the "ageing process". The hull, which was split several times, was inserted peu à peu into the fermentation baloon, where it was stitched together. When rigging, each mast had to be inserted individually, and the rigging boards had to be inserted into the sides of the vessel with the tips of the cannulas cut off.
Type: Armed Warship in a Bottle   Maker's Name: Schultz, Matthias
Category: Sailing Ships   Made Where: Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, Germany
Bottle Size: 20 - 25 Litres   Year Made: 2021
Bottle Type: Fermentation Bottle