Story highlights A bottle tossed into North Sea between 1904 and 1906 is found on Germany's Amrum Island

The finders follow instructions on a postcard inside and send it back to UK researchers

The Marine Biological Association says it could be the oldest message in a bottle ever found

(CNN) More than a century ago, a British scientist named George Parker Bidder dropped 1,020 glass bottles into the sea in an experiment designed to figure out how currents worked at the bottom of the ocean.

Now one of those bottles, dropped between 1904 and 1906, has washed up on a German beach -- raising hopes it might claim a world record as the oldest message in a bottle ever found.

Its finder, a German woman named Marianne Winkler, followed the instructions written on a postcard inside and sent it back to the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

For those at the British group, the arrival of the envelope was a bit of a surprise, said its communications officer, Guy Baker.

But the name on the postcard -- George Parker Bidder -- was a big clue since he's a former president of the association.

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