River bottles

[Mihai]

Hi CanadianBoy,

I was tempted to give it a go with hunting bottles from a boat but it looks like a bit too much for me in this time of my life. I just bought my house three months ago, for which I'll have to pay for 25 years, I have to pay for all the furniture and apliances I have and in this context I work a lot and I cannot aford, not only financialy but time wise, to go more often than once in a while to get some bottles from Thames.

On another level I think that Thames is pretty much draged already and I'm amaized how many people still find good staff in this river that pass thru a 7 million people city. I saw in another thread on this forum somebody asking why are not so many privies in England. My answer is because England and especially London were populated places hundreds of years ago and like they have to do something about the Great Stink in 1858 they probably have some organized way of taking the rubbish. The victorian rubbish dumps are common. If this theory is correct than the presence of rubbish deposits on Thames shores is less probable than in New World where the number of people per square mile, and maybe the laws, didn't stop anybody from throwing bottles, bless them, in rivers.

But as often I will be able I WILL hunt for bottles, clay pipes and whatever the good river will give me.

 

[madpaddla]

Mihai:

Still finding the milks huh! ! Great job and keep it up. Remember that the bottles really, really shine in the water on clear sunny days (Summer), but being in England I don't know how many of those clear days you guys get. haha

Two things to help ya with your bottles: Watch for the seams and the type of letters (style) can indicate era made. And one more Important note for you: Use the river to clean areas for ya. Such as, clear away some brush/roots/movable rocks/etc. from the sides of the river beds. Come back in a few days to that same spot and see what shows up. Especially after a big rain, the river flow will "sweep away" excess dirt leaving you a clean slate of possible bottles etc.

Also keep all those old pipes, marbles, etc. Coming from your area could be quite old. AND that show on the BBC where they "raid" someones house for valuables and then go to an auction house is AWESOME and full of information, especially for you.

Madpaddla

 

[Mihai]

This site is killing me. After I wrote two pages I was kicked out and lost everything. No problem, I start again.

Madpaddla, you are right, last year we didn't have Summer at all, it just passed from Spring to Autumn. This year looks to be the same, with temperatures still below zero and some snow. I must admit, was warmer before this "global warming".

And yes , I still find only milk bottles, like people in this fine town used to drink only cow-beer. This elusive 18th century wine black bottle...

It's a good ideea to put the mighty river at work, especially because Thames is, for a long distance, a tidal river and twice a day water comes and goes. The only trouble is the banks are build in concrete and is not much to do about it.

You said something about marbles. Maybe you want to have a look at mines. No, not that ones. Some looks like modern but there have to be some old ones.