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nhpharm

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It's getting real hot here in Texas, but I only make it out once every two weeks so I try my best to keep digging through the summer. Sunday I made it out bright an early and probed a privy right off that sounded great. Sadly, though it was loaded with bottles, they were all junk...slick whiskey flasks and ketchup bottles...privy was just barely pre-prohibition. Filled that one in and found a second privy about 3' away (but across the lot line). This one was a bit of a different story...a late 1860's and early 1870's privy with at least 10 broken cathedral pickle bottles in it. Not much intact but I did find 2 umbrella inks, a fancy little cologne bottle, and a strange bottle that is identical to the C. Lediard 6-sided bottles that surface from time to time but completely slick. Really a pretty bottle and just nestled in the very bottom of the center of the privy. Filled in the second privy and moved on to a deep trash pit about 5' away. The top of the trash pit was loaded with 1910's stuff and there I found my first intact straight-sided Galveston, Texas straight sided Coca-Cola bottle. I've dug these from Houston and San Antonio before but never intact from Galveston...they seem to be quite scarce and I was very happy to find this addition to my Galveston collection. Deeper in the trash pit things transformed to 1860's trash and I found a Leudemann barrel mustard, a pontiled multi-sided bottle, a small Wright cologne bottle, some jaw bones (maybe a dog?), and a few other odds and ends. Overall a fun (but hot) day!
 

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hemihampton

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Those Inks are cool. I rarely find that style or type of Ink Bottle. LEON.
 

nhpharm

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I dig a lot of them...apparently a lot of literate people where I am digging! Two of these have inward rolled lips and one has a ground lip which I hadn't seen on an umbrella before. Nonetheless, I find most of mine in 1850's-1870's privies and pits. In the 1880's privies and pits I find mostly the J&IEM turtles and in the 1890's-1910's privies and pits mostly the Carter's style cone inks.
 

sandchip

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Good going! Is the Lediard's slick amber or puce?
 

nhpharm

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It's amber...quite dark amber.
 

nhpharm

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Made it out again Sunday to the same lot. First hole was a small barrel privy that had a few broken bottles and a nice yellow amber bubbly Patent whiskey bottle (McCully base embossing). Second hole was a very early square privy with just one bottle in the whole thing...a dip molded pontiled slick. In the middle of the square privy a small barrel privy had been sunk and in it I found an early local pharmacy (fairly common but a size I did not have), a neat flask with a ring neck (I've been told these are Lyndeborough), and a few other broken bottles. Filling in the hole, I found another pontiled puff and a early applied lip Hamlin's Wizard Oil. Nothing earth shattering but real early stuff for Texas!
 

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hemihampton

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Nice, I only dug one Privy old enough for Pontiled puffs & had a few in there (mostly slicks though). The stuff was from around 1860's. Very hard to find 1860's or older in Michigan. Even 1870's stuff pretty tough to dig. Congrats. LEON.
 

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