Victorians loved a dramatic mourning moment, but despite the legend, they weren’t actually bottling their tears. Most of those “tear bottles” were just tiny perfume vials or decorative keepsakes that undertakers added to mourning displays for extra emotional flair. Think of them as symbolic sorrow props: pre-filled with a little salt water so the household could look devastatingly sad without doing the hard work of crying. Peak Victorian theatrics — grief, but make it aesthetic. #tearcatchers #v