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All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> What is it? AFTER 1900 >> RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless?

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RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/23/2005 10:30:58 PM    whiskeyman Posts: 1976 Joined: 4/17/2005 From: NE TENN-SW VA Status: offline RHONA...I dig a lot of Sauer's here. You should also as it was made in Richmond,VA. There are assorted variants with different lettering sizes and also both a BIM & ABM version. The dump I am presently working was closed in the 1950s; Not sure when it was begun, but have found BIM bottles. Most of what we're digging is from the 1920's to 1930's...White House Vinegar, Jumbo Peanut Butter, some Deco Sodas, corker Clorox, Lysol, Listerine, Sauers, etc,etc,...and assorted odds and ends. Someone tell me...why is it you can dig about 20 plain ketchup bottles that have NO damage and the 3 Deco sodas you dig are all cracked, chipped, bruised?...HA! Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 21

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/23/2005 11:13:22 PM    RazorsEdge   Posts: 238 Joined: 5/8/2005 Status: offline hey all this talk about worth and you guys saying that some 1900 stuff is worthless....The only dumps I ever find are 40s at the earliest.....Is there even a possibilty of finding a valuable item? Is anything from the 50s valuable? i will keep digging because i find cool stuff, but i would like to know if i should stop expecting to pull out a bottle where my eyes turn into dollar signs when i see it (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 22

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/23/2005 11:18:42 PM    whiskeyman Posts: 1976 Joined: 4/17/2005 From: NE TENN-SW VA Status: offline yes...there are collectible...ie...not worthless, bottles from the 50's. Candy containers come to mind right away....baby bottles, milks, some sodas. canning jars...And, there's always the possibility someone cleaned out their attic/basement/garage and threw away older stuff.....Also cities/towns doing urban renewal demolition work may have dumped some older items as well. Marbles are good too. (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 23

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/23/2005 11:45:10 PM    Trying not to break it Posts: 2053 Joined: 12/18/2004 From: balt. md. Status: offline HI WHISKEYMAN, maybe because i live so close to balt. and mcormick spice was so big here is why i find so many of them. where i'm digging now i have found things from 1900 to an no return no deposit pepsi bottle. i keep hoping to find the older things, the foundation of the 2 houses are shown on an 1860 map. oh yes. my family names from sw va. are hodge and ferguson. good luck digging and finding. rhona (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 24

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 12:31:16 AM    RazorsEdge   Posts: 238 Joined: 5/8/2005 Status: offline HOW did you find a map that old i would love to see something like that of my area!!! (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 25

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 12:31:35 AM    madman   Posts: 4467 Joined: 2/5/2005 Status: offline well said d boy (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 26

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 12:36:37 AM    baltbottles   Posts: 819 Joined: 11/25/2002 From: Baltimore Maryland Status: offline Well all I have to say about this topic is that as of right now this forum has 2829 members that’s a lot of collectors. And we come from different backgrounds, different cities, and even countries. But I would bet most of us started out collecting common stuff because we thought it was cool looking or old or mite be worth something. My collecting interests have changed over the years as I’ve learned more about the bottles and due to other aspects of my life. I remember as a kid about 11-12 finding ACL soda and milk bottles and thinking there were the greatest things ever. I used to save anything I liked but as time went on I had hundreds of bottles and no ware to keep them all. But having read many books at the time and talking to other collectors I decided to just collect blown bottles and having found a few turn of the century dumps made this possible. As time went on I soon had several hundred blown bottles so then it was time to get rid of all the blanks and just collect blown embossed bottles. Buy this time I started buying a bottle every now and then at a flea market or antique shop. Nothing really rare but just stuff I liked. After a couple years I had several hundred bottles again so I decided to just focus on blown embossed bottles from Baltimore. This lasted about 4 years until I had almost 800 Baltimore bottles. But I could only display about 1-200 at a time so I made the decision to sell everything but about 25 bottles and just collect Pontiled Baltimore bottles. Now its been about 4 years since that decision and I have a nice collection that I am proud of. But this has taken me about 12-14 years to get to this point (from ACL milks to colored Pontiled whatever’s). But I must also say not all of the members of this site have been at it that long (many are just starting out) so give them time let them decide what the like and want to collect. And many of then don't live near a large city were you can find those early bottles. Its almost imposable to find stuff older then the 1880s in many parts of the country and some places even 1900 is the limit. And how many of you have actually dug a pontil era woods dump I can say I never have, there just not around. I never found my first pontils until I got into privy digging. And try privy digging in places other then large cities or towns. It takes an already challenging thing and makes it almost imposable. But all I really wanted to say is let the newbies be newbies. Let them collect whatever they can find and let there interest and knowledge grow and when they are ready for those flasks and bitters and pontils the collector at heart will find a way. Chris _____________________________ Please visit my website at : www.geocities.com/baltbottles/index.html (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 27

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 12:37:26 AM    Trying not to break it Posts: 2053 Joined: 12/18/2004 From: balt. md. Status: offline state archives. i did genealogy (sp) research. rhona (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 28

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 1:16:02 AM    madman   Posts: 4467 Joined: 2/5/2005 Status: offline hey whiskeyman, i feel your pain, ive dug hundreds of kechup bottles also frenches mustard, all in perfect shape when all the good stuff was damaged!!! what gives mike (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 29

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 1:33:22 AM    madman   Posts: 4467 Joined: 2/5/2005 Status: offline heres some bottles on the worthless list, but i always keep them cause it was the first bottle i ever found, and there cool !! mike Attachment (1) < Message edited by madman -- 5/24/2005 1:34:35 AM > (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 30

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 1:37:49 AM    madman   Posts: 4467 Joined: 2/5/2005 Status: offline hey diggerboy ive seen the pix of your collection very nice!!!!! good luck on future diggs mike (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 31

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/24/2005 3:19:49 AM    RazorsEdge   Posts: 238 Joined: 5/8/2005 Status: offline Well i must say this lil post of mine got a big reaction! (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 32

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/27/2005 10:08:41 PM    preditor   Posts: 173 Joined: 1/19/2004 From: Ellenboro NC Status: offline For me its the thrill of digging something out of the ground that no one has seen in years and would never have been seen again if i had not taken the time to go out and look for it. as for what they are worth who cares anyway a bottle is like anything else its only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. i dig up more bottles i dont want than ones i do usually but i keep the ones i like, and either sell, give away or throw away the ones i dont. i love to display my bottles and admire them but looking for them is the fun part to me. But thats just my opinion thanks for listening to it. Preditor (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 33

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/27/2005 11:12:31 PM    ronvae Posts: 253 Joined: 8/14/2004 Status: offline I want to find old bottles when I dive, the older the better, but that is because I want to be the first person to touch it in 100 years. I wonder what the person was like who threw it in the lake? I wonder what they would think of me in my scuba gear, if they were happy, what kind of day they were having, if they had ever passed my grandfather on the street, etc...I don't care how rare a bottle is, or if it is worth anything, I just want it to be old. That having been said, I have a soda from about the 1940s that I absolutely love, because somebody drank the soda, put 1/4 of a treasure map inside, weighted it with a large nail, applied a unique, re-sealable cap, and dumped in the lake, where it sat for 60-70 years before I found it. I foam at the mouth trying to come up with an explanation for what possessed them. THAT having been said, most bottle-hunting dives I come up empty. But I have been outside, really, really, "IN" nature (the muck at the bottom of a lake is as natural as you can get), with a goal. Not finding stuff makes it more fun when I do find stuff. The search itself is the point. Nice thread, good topic. (in reply to preditor) Post #: 34

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/28/2005 11:51:33 AM    diggermeister Posts: 149 Joined: 5/3/2005 From: North Carolina, USA Status: offline It is great to be in touch with such well-spoken and enthusiastic people. Baltbottles; wonderful post above! Your point on the 'changing nature' of one's collection was well taken. And I heartly agree, there is little to compare with the thrill of discovery... _____________________________ If I Wasn't Crazy; I'd Go Insane, GARY http://groups.yahoo.com/group/federal_law_forbids_bottles (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 35

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/28/2005 7:45:15 PM    Humabdos   Posts: 446 Joined: 6/13/2004 From: Greenville Texas The Blackest land whitest people Status: offline I go to a lot of garage sales and estate sales looking for old bottles, fruit jars, ect. Last year at a neighborhood sale I ran across an old bottle collector. He had stopped digging and collecting 20 years ago. In weeding out some of his"worthless bottles to sell he used Hugh Clevelands Bottle Pricing Guide. ( has nice photos but as a price guide is worthless!) I bought about 20 "worthless" bottles from him. One of them was a mint Rem-Oil Remington UMC Powder solvent bottle listed in Hughs book page 130 at $3-$6. Not long after that I saw one exactly like it sell for $73.00 on E-bay! I've seen it sell many times on E-bay for over $40. You got to be careful with those price guides! Humabdos (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 36

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 5/29/2005 11:30:10 AM    whiskeyman Posts: 1976 Joined: 4/17/2005 From: NE TENN-SW VA Status: offline Yes..it sure would be nice to live where one could dig older bottles. I've only dug two pontilled bottles and both were unembossed aqua... as for Historical flasks- dug the bottom half of a Pike's Peak. The only whole one I ever dug was an amber strapside with the anchor embossed upon one side.... I have dug one Drakes Plantation Bitters, 2 Doyles, several Hostetters & Atwoods & Siegerts, and a Browns Iron Bitters, thats it. This area just wasn't well populated enough for any of the older bottles to be readily found, although we were a town in 1856. There's some here, but probably under the older parts of town...ie..inaccessible. (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 37

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 6/2/2005 2:57:17 PM    tristian bottle   Posts: 137 Joined: 5/31/2005 Status: offline <<message removed by tristian bottle>> < Message edited by tristian bottle -- 2/2/2006 3:40:25 PM > (in reply to RazorsEdge) Post #: 38

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 6/5/2005 1:46:55 AM    RazorsEdge   Posts: 238 Joined: 5/8/2005 Status: offline hey ronvae i know what you mean about wondering what they were thinking.....its actually really funny, because, I posted something similar a while back....Heres the copy paste - "I just started not long ago also....its the perfect hobby for me because i love finding junk....i always am fascinated about the history of stupid things Like the cars i find, and a boat i found in the river, embossed bricks bottles, etc....I always wonder, how did they get this way.....Imagine the feeling of the person who bought a brand new 1952 ford custom line as they drove it off the lot.....how did it turn from that to being upside down in a ditch with no engine and bullet holes? How those 100 year old paving bricks went from being a brand new road to having a single one of those bricks in the river buried on an island.....Don't you guys ever wonder about stuff like that? I know this may sound weird, but if I had one wish, I would wish i had the power to see the history of things....just touch that 52 ford and see what really did happen that made it end up there.....anyways, i guess im just weird" PS - I hope somebody reads that because it took FOREVER to go back through my posts and find it! (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 39

RE: Did you know your bottle may be worthless? - 6/5/2005 2:43:47 AM    whiskeyman Posts: 1976 Joined: 4/17/2005 From: NE TENN-SW VA Status: offline RONVAE & RAZOR...my thoughts often wander too. I also tend to have something else occur. This usually occurs when prowling around an abandoned home site...I slip back into the past momentarily...eerie feeling, to suddenly seem to be in a familar place and yet in an older time. It only lasts a few fleeting moments, but it is a sensation I know well. I guess it comes from being aware of how alone you are at that moment and how quiet the world seems...allowing you to take a step back and imagine how it was... _____________________________ * Member: Bristol Historical Assoc....and... Friends of Steeles Creek Nature Center & Park President: Bristol Tenn-Va Bottle Club Author of: Spirits & Medicinal Bottles of Bristol,TN-VA. My WebSite: www.bristol-tenn-va-bottles.com (in reply to whiskeyman) Post #: 40

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