A Sampler

[Semar]

Here are some bottles from a local dig. If the Park Rangers catch you...well, don't get caught.
From left to right: Springfield Brewery beer Amythest (from the sun), DR T W Graydon Cincinnati Ohio Diseases of the lungs, small pontiled basket pattern sampler or cologne, Valentines Meat Juice, a small poison? And from the next town over: Fred S. Canedy, Wellfleet, Mass. written in cursive.

 

[UnderMiner]

Very nice recoveries!! Especially the bottle that purported to treat diseases of the lungs!

 

[Johnny M]

Here are some bottles from a local dig. If the Park Rangers catch you...well, don't get caught.
From left to right: Springfield Brewery beer Amythest (from the sun), DR T W Graydon Cincinnati Ohio Diseases of the lungs, small pontiled basket pattern sampler or cologne, Valentines Meat Juice, a small poison? And from the next town over: Fred S. Canedy, Wellfleet, Mass. written in cursive.

Great dump I bet! Finding pontils too. Sounds like its worth the risk. I remember a surface dump here in Watertown CT that was awesome but you couldn't dig it properly without getting spotted by a crazy old lady whose deck faced the dump.It was in a grassy,weedy area about 75 or 100 yards behind her house.Probably not even her property. Found it by accident poking around a rotted shack I spotted walking the creek in about 1979 or 80. I dug it twice with a clam rake but within half an hour both times she was screaming and hollering. The last time she said she was calling the cops.It was a 60's ,70's early 80's age and I found 2 Saratogas sticking out of the mud first time. Just Hathorns but still....Probably a dump for 2 or 3 houses. It was rooty and kinda dense on top but no ash and stuff was clean and old. About a 2 foot thick seam of random trash.I solved that problem over about 2 seasons by transplanting root balls and spreading fluffy white seeds(gathered in baggies from a patch near my house) from that darn bamboo stuff that takes over moist,scrubby areas. It's called Japanese Knotweed and once it takes it covers areas completely and is up to 10 feet high or more. After 2 years or a little more maybe the majority of the area flourished with the stuff! You could sneak in being careful not to bump into the big stalks and send shock waves up through the leaves to signal your presence . It was still a covert op but I found some decent stuff. Best crier was a broken pontiled Bertinguiot ink. I dug a Harrisons Columbian turtle ink there in teal that I sold to soon.Regret that one. I was probably 17 or 18 at the time. Fond memories. Sometimes the only solution is to grow your own cover! LOL

 

[Hezezilla]

Great dump I bet! Finding pontils too. Sounds like its worth the risk. I remember a surface dump here in Watertown CT that was awesome but you couldn't dig it properly without getting spotted by a crazy old lady whose deck faced the dump.It was in a grassy,weedy area about 75 or 100 yards behind her house.Probably not even her property. Found it by accident poking around a rotted shack I spotted walking the creek in about 1979 or 80. I dug it twice with a clam rake but within half an hour both times she was screaming and hollering. The last time she said she was calling the cops.It was a 60's ,70's early 80's age and I found 2 Saratogas sticking out of the mud first time. Just Hathorns but still....Probably a dump for 2 or 3 houses. It was rooty and kinda dense on top but no ash and stuff was clean and old. About a 2 foot thick seam of random trash.I solved that problem over about 2 seasons by transplanting root balls and spreading fluffy white seeds(gathered in baggies from a patch near my house) from that darn bamboo stuff that takes over moist,scrubby areas. It's called Japanese Knotweed and once it takes it covers areas completely and is up to 10 feet high or more. After 2 years or a little more maybe the majority of the area flourished with the stuff! You could sneak in being careful not to bump into the big stalks and send shock waves up through the leaves to signal your presence . It was still a covert op but I found some decent stuff. Best crier was a broken pontiled Bertinguiot ink. I dug a Harrisons Columbian turtle ink there in teal that I sold to soon.Regret that one. I was probably 17 or 18 at the time. Fond memories. Sometimes the only solution is to grow your own cover! LOL

Wow, first time hearing about growing cover. Most people would've just done midnight digs. I got a good story about one such dig from an old timer. Back in the early 80s he found a good turn-of-the-century dump full of early sodas. Tons of hutches. Anyways, only way to not get caught by a nearby land owner was night digs. He went one night and pulled 3-4 embossed hutches and a variety of other goodies. On his way out he finds a friend of his (also a digger) hiding in the grass. His friend tells him to hit the deck cause he got caught and the police was called. Next thing he knows, a rock the size of a mini-jug lands at his feet. The cops were throwing rocks at them to get them going . The police chased them all through the woods and they didn't escape for another three hours!

 

[Semar]

Love those 'Tales from the Trash Heap' .

Too bad there weren't night vision goggles back in the day.
When the Feds took over most of the land on the ocean side where I live, they brought in 'Archeologists', a dirty word around here for bottle diggers. Contractors back in the day would find bones when excavating for a cellar; lots of 'em just dug another hole moved the bones and kept their mouths shut 'cause if the Park found out then all work was halted until a thorough site survey could be performed by the archeologists.
A friend of mine was going to be the new head of archeology for the Park Svc. here, but he died before he could take the job. He called us 'Pot Hunters'; that's what they called us in the Southwest where he was trained.
Nowadays digging on park land ends up badly because you face Federal charges if caught.
Every now and then you'll find an old bottle that fell out of a sandbank, or when scratching for quahogs. I've got a saying; Where there is a lot of history there will be a lot of old bottles.
Semar