Quality OVER quantity? 2022 Bottle Hunting Wrap-up

[FreeRangeAsparagus]

Why not both? In this post I’ll discuss and show off a portion of 1,598 bottles I found in the river this summer. Hope that’s interesting enough to keep folks reading!

This year I really kicked the bottle collecting into high gear and took advantage of Massachusetts’ heat wave that dropped the water in parts of the Charles by a few feet. The low water remained remarkably clear and I could reach deep spots I usually can’t due to pressure or clarity issues.

I went from having 3 major spots to realizing it would be harder to find a place in the Charles that you couldn’t find bottles in. I hunted through four towns over two months and found 1,598 intact bottles as well as a few hundred pounds of broken ones. The majority were slicks and modern beer bottles but I ended up saving about 200 for the collection. Of those, I pulled the very best to show off in this post. Can’t wait til it’s warm enough to get back in the water next year!

Here are photos of the bottles as I laid them out in the yard after every outing. That's me for scale in the 8th photo, hello!

 

[FreeRangeAsparagus]

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[FreeRangeAsparagus]

Everything in order of how I'll be sharing photos.

 

[FreeRangeAsparagus]

1: Moxie Nerve Food, Lowell, Mass. Broken at the very top but still an exciting find.
2: I forgot to take a close-up of this one, it's a Mount Vernon Full-five whiskey.
3: Hood's Sarsaparilla.
4: Nice dark pontil.
5: Weird cloudy aqua flask, feels very light for the style.
6: Pureoxia tenpin I posted about earlier this year.
7: Mellin's Infant's Food.
8: Odd diamond-shaped bottle. I think the embossing on the bottle reads "PAT'D JUNE 29TH 1897" and then some very worn numbers.
9: Woodbury cold cream jar.
10: Consolidated Fruit Jar Company lid.
11: The smallest, shallowest cold cream jar I've ever seen.

 

[FreeRangeAsparagus]

12-13: Joseph Kern & Co, Forest Hills, Boston + Dark green blob top beer (I think).
14-17: Jacob Wirth, Boston + T. Daly & Co, Boston + Otis S. Neale, Boston + Berkman & Co, Boston.
18: Palmer Premium Blue Co.
19: Sloan's N&B Liniment.
20: My first cobalt Milk of Magnesia
21: Buchan Portobello Ginger Beer bottle
22: Nice clean earthenware jar
23: First true torpedo bottle!
24: Grattan & Co Ginger Ale, Belfast, Ireland
25: Scuffy's shoe polish

 

[FreeRangeAsparagus]

26: Phillip's Milk of Magnesia
27: Cobalt Bromoseltzer
28: Lysol
29-30: Waterman's inkwell + slick inkwell
31: Omega Oil
32: Dr Hayne's Arabian Balsam
33: Hire's Root Beer Extract
34: Dr JW Bull's Cough Syrup
35: Santalets Sharp & Dohme
36: Sawyer's Crystal Blueing

 

[FreeRangeAsparagus]

37: Dr Spitcher's Castoria
38: Funky small bottle
39: Jas E. Cooper Pharmacist from my town. I found multiples of these in many different sizes.
40-41: The two smallest bottles I've ever found, maybe the size of my thumb.
42: A gallon jug shaped like an apple.
43: C.W. Merchant, Lockport, NY. Unfortunately, this one broke in half and I had to glue it back together, but it's still an interesting find.
44: Rumford Chemical Works. Found two of these nearly side by side at the site of an old barn that bordered the river.

 

[Roy]

37: Dr Spitcher's Castoria
38: Funky small bottle
39: Jas E. Cooper Pharmacist from my town. I found multiples of these in many different sizes.
40-41: The two smallest bottles I've ever found, maybe the size of my thumb.
42: A gallon jug shaped like an apple.
43: C.W. Merchant, Lockport, NY. Unfortunately, this one broke in half and I had to glue it back together, but it's still an interesting find.
44: Rumford Chemical Works. Found two of these nearly side by side at the site of an old barn that bordered the river.

Wow!!! Looks like you had a great time.
I hope you have a lot of room to display all those bottles... Roy

 

[Mailman1960]

Why not both? In this post I’ll discuss and show off a portion of 1,598 bottles I found in the river this summer. Hope that’s interesting enough to keep folks reading!

This year I really kicked the bottle collecting into high gear and took advantage of Massachusetts’ heat wave that dropped the water in parts of the Charles by a few feet. The low water remained remarkably clear and I could reach deep spots I usually can’t due to pressure or clarity issues.

I went from having 3 major spots to realizing it would be harder to find a place in the Charles that you couldn’t find bottles in. I hunted through four towns over two months and found 1,598 intact bottles as well as a few hundred pounds of broken ones. The majority were slicks and modern beer bottles but I ended up saving about 200 for the collection. Of those, I pulled the very best to show off in this post. Can’t wait til it’s warm enough to get back in the water next year!

Here are photos of the bottles as I laid them out in the yard after every outing. That's me for scale in the 8th photo, hello!

Holy crap, I thought I had a problem. It's not a bad problem to have.
GIDDY UP!!!!!

 

[UnderMiner]

You have some magnificent examples in that giant hoard. Good job cleaning the environment and uncovering all that amazing history at the same time. Love that Est. 1825 round bottom bottle!