Digging Up Bottles
Well-Known Member
Hey all! I can honestly say it's been way too long since I've gone digging...about three years for me. Before I head back to college, I wanted to at least revisit my old dump site and see, after all these years, if any new bottles would turn up. So I called up a friend and we ventured out in the heat--into the jungle--to dig for some bottles. We would not be disappointed. After a few hours in the steamy summer air, this is what I managed to pull out. In the first photo from left to right (top first): 1940s Loudoun Farms Dairy / Pasteurized Milk / Purcellville, VA; 1901-1904 Geo. Brehm & Son / Baltimore County, MD / This Bottle Not To Be Sold; 1940s Royal Crown Cola (with 1/3 the painted label); 1950s Souder and Chick Dairy pint (painted label); early 1900s applied lip slick; 1910s 3-in-One oil (embossing on the sides); bunch of broken china, a busted Pluto Water, an early applied Crown top blank with the bottom blown out (it looked whole until we pulled it out), and an old butter knife. The second picture is a solo shot of the Loudoun Dairy bottle. This is by far my favorite find! Until yesterday, I didn't know that Loudoun had a dairy, let alone a plant in Purcellville, a town about 15 minutes down the road. I did some research on the dairy, finding only a short online article; however I did find that these bottles are extremely rare and desirable locally. One painted label variant sold at auction for $325 and a slightly different embossed version sold for $700! Of course, I'm not going to sell it. Owning a piece of local history is much better than selling it. The final picture is my heartbreaker. The George Brehm and Son Brewing Company bottle has really strong embossing and some nice stretch marks in what's left of the neck. I couldn't find that much on this brewery, but what I did find is this: There were two Geo. Brehm and Son breweries, one that operated from 1901-1910 and another from 1911-1920. My bottle is from the earlier brewery since the bottle was made by the Edward H. Everett company from Newark, OH (which I identified by the E HE Co. mark on the back of the bottle). Everett's company ran from 1885-1904. My friend took home two ACLs: a Rock Creek and Canada Dry (both 1950s variants). He also found a couple of nice cobalt facial cream jars and a silver plate spoon. Yesterday's dig definitely rekindled my interest for bottle digging! After a three year hiatus, I'm definitely going to try to get out there and dig as often as possible (especially during breaks). Once you're bit by the bottle bug, it never goes away. If y'all want some more pics, I'd be happy to do so. Thanks everyone for looking and good luck digging! - Tim [attachment=IMG_0632.jpg][attachment=IMG_0634.jpg][attachment=IMG_0635.jpg]
