Augusta, Georgia "Big Dig" PICTURES

[AntiqueMeds]

Swamp Chill & Fever Cure

love that one whole or broken

 

[bottlekid76]

Wow, lotsa bottles in there! Too bad about the River Swamp but finding one is great! Makes ya wonder if there was possibly more in there...

Was the mini jug from Augusta the only one you guys found?

~Tim

 

[Wheelah23]

ORIGINAL: IloiloKano

ORIGINAL: RICKJJ59W

ORIGINAL: JOETHECROW

I believe my brother said they got $6,000 for it. Another thing they found that brought a significant amount of money was a "Monkey Jug", .................. I wasn't there for the last pick, and my brother sold most of his picks back to the diggers, ....... 

Steven,...welcome to the forum,...and I'm glad you could share your dig here....Looks like some potential for some really good stuff, having said that, I mean no offense to you, but it leaves me kinda cold, hearing the dig repeatedly referred to in such accounting terms,...and with the emphasis on money.[]

Hes a coin collector,that's all he cares about is $$$$$ [8D]

Yea, you are morally superior. Sigh.

Someone here is, and it ain't Rick. Rick was making a joke. Coins are money... I thought it was funny.

I don't wanna disrupt this post any more than I have to. Keep posting, I'm enjoying the pictures, though not the tone this discussion is taking. Anyway, I think it's safe to say most of us diggers are just jealous. People would do much more than jump fences in the dark to get at a dig like that.

 

[epackage]

Seeing that "swamp med" being broken would make me a bit squimish about using a backhoe, that could be the reason that bottle came out in pieces.... I guess the need to move alot of dirt quickly plays into it since it's the site of an operating business, but at what cost to those looking to get these bottles out and make money off of them? A real Catch-22 situation indeed[:-]

 

[div2roty]

I was just reading about the work of "Dave the Slave," or Dave the Potter. He was from South Carolina, and lived prior to the War of Northern Aggresion. I'd be interested to learn more on this piece, if you hear back from the boys.

Hey Surface, do you think Dave the Slave referred to it as the war of nothern aggression? []

 

[IloiloKano]

ORIGINAL: bottlekid76

Wow, lotsa bottles in there! Too bad about the River Swamp but finding one is great! Makes ya wonder if there was possibly more in there...

Was the mini jug from Augusta the only one you guys found?

~Tim

I am not an official party to the dig. My brother has a refurbishment company on the property, and a couple years ago after a severe storm blew over trees on the property and the roots were loaded with bottles, the diggers offered to pay him for an opportunity to dig. My brother originally refused, as it does cause a bit of a disruption to his business, but he relented after striking a deal for a share of the take, which he then offers back to the diggers if they wish to buy. I was there on vacation, and I spent a day with the diggers taking pictures, and I also found their company to be enjoyable. Since I have sold various items through ebay over the years, and since I have a good online reputation for coins, rare books and prints, as well as the odd collectible here and there, my brother suggested that I might sell his bottles from the next pick, which is scheduled for June. When he sold most of his bottles to the diggers from his last pick this past December, in many cases they couldn't offer even half market value, since they would have to sell them over time themselves. So my brother suggested that I could keep whatever I net after he gets half the sale price, which I figure should average better than a third of the sale price after my expenses, such as shipping costs cross-country from Augusta, Georgia to Southern California.

So I can't say whether another such mini jug has been or will be found, but I estimate less than a third of the property available for excavating has been dug, so chances are very good another will be found, as well as possibly 2 or 3 whole River Swamp Chill And Fever Cure bottles. And I saw two unbroken Frog Ponds already on the pick tables while I was there.

I am leaning towards listing items available on this web site in June prior to posting anything on ebay. That is, I see no reason to not allow "first dibs" here, in exchange for estimation of Buy-It-Now prices that should placed on any bottles that no one here wants. That's my thinking right now anyway. I still have a lot to learn about this category of collectibles.

A couple days ago I informed my brother the 23 SS Coke bottles arrived, and during the conversation he said he would ship the rest of his unsold bottles from the December pick as he has time. Translation: He has a business to run, but eventually he'll get around to it.

Anyone interested in Straight Sided Center Script Coca-Cola bottles from Augusta, Georgia? They're sitting in a bucket of diluted muriatic acid right now. I have no more "Dig" pictures to post, but I can take pictures of the bottles I have if someone would direct me to the appropriate forum for such.

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Matt,

Probably not so much. I don't know for sure that he survived the war.

"Dave belongs to Mr. Miles
Wher the oven bakes & the pot biles
31 July 1840"

"The forth of July is surely come
to blow the fife = and beat the drum.
4 July 1859"

"I – made this jar all of cross
If you don’t repent, you will be lost
3 May 1862" From.

"Dave they say, lay on the railroad tracks when he learned he was to be sold and relocated to a plantation to the west. The train severed his leg, making him less valuable to the buyer who then refused him. Dave, now one legged, continued his work as a potter, working with am able bodied companion, named ‘Baddlerâ€: the latter works, which can be seen at the Charleston Museum, were signed “Dave and Bladdlerâ€. The great potter stayed and worked in South Carolina all the days of his life. He continued to produce pots – large, great pots, inscribed with short phrases of poetic wisdom, and bravely inscribed in his hand and signed with his name, a testament to an undaunted spirit." From.

 

[JOETHECROW]

ORIGINAL: IloiloKano

So for any offense, but as I stated, neither I nor my brother are bottle collectors, and though I find them enticing, my brother is purely a businessman. As a coin collector, I am not offended when someone tells me about how much money they received for coins they inherited, so I didn't expect to offend anyone by my own manner in describing the one day I spent with folks who are indeed serious bottle collectors.

I am not a part of the dig. I just dropped by one day (during vacation to see my family) to photograph the operation. However, my brother offered to let me sell much of the items he will receive from his share in the next pick date this coming June, so I came to this web site primarily to gather a bit of an education about items that I may eventually attempt to sell. I just decided to share pictures I had taken when I saw there was a forum that seemed appropriate.

I hope you aren't too put off to enjoy the pictures, though these will be the last for tonight.

ORIGINAL: JOETHECROW

I believe my brother said they got $6,000 for it. Another thing they found that brought a significant amount of money was a "Monkey Jug", .................. I wasn't there for the last pick, and my brother sold most of his picks back to the diggers, .......

Steven,...welcome to the forum,...and I'm glad you could share your dig here....Looks like some potential for some really good stuff, having said that, I mean no offense to you, but it leaves me kinda cold, hearing the dig repeatedly referred to in such accounting terms,...and with the emphasis on money.[]

Steven...Wasn't trying to beat up on you...just found it a little disconcerting...As the post continues, I'm starting to get the bigger picture...Glad your finding cool bottles, and nice of you to consider letting forum members have a shot at them too.

Surf,...That looks like a "must have" book for me,...Super interesting stuff, I've seen references to Dave the potter once in a while over the years, but never got around to checking him out. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[div2roty]

Surface, lots of cool Dave the Slave info and material out there, thanks for sharing. I've always found southern pottery to be great looking and had previously read a little about Dave. Hopefully a few others have learned something from your links here.

 

[KBbottles]

Love the stratigraphy in some of the pictures! Its amazinf how beautiful trash of the past can be! Thank you very much for sharing. With such a huge site like that, the possibilities are endless! Good luck to the team!!!

P.S. There ARE people out there that drive hours to hop fences and dig in the dark even in crazy places like this but with a site like that filled in every day, i wouldnt be that stupid to attempt it, but it wouldnt surprise me if someone did