Lachrymatory bottles, or “tear catchers,” were tear-shaped bottles used during Victorian mourning practices. The practice of using tear bottles can be traced as far back as ancient Roman times, where women would shed tears for lost spouses or loved ones, sometimes the bottle being placed in the deceased’s tomb. The bottles were not used exclusively for tears, but it was found that the corking of the bottles would cause the evaporation and drying up of the tears to slow down. When the tears eventually did evaporate and dry out, it would signify the end of one’s mourning period. The use of these bottles as “tear catchers” became synonymous with the expression of love, loyalty, grief, and mourning. Lachrymatory bottles were revived during the 1860s as Victorian mourning practices became a prominent social practice during and after the Civil War.
Image courtesy of “The Victorianachronists” blog IMAGE LINK
The Ghastly Historian 
